Respect Authority

In the years I’ve followed Battlestar Galactica, I’ve had one review – it’s amazing and you should watch it. Now that it’s over, I’m updating my review – it’s amazing and you should definitely watch it… from the beginning. I have the DVDs, you can borrow them. In fact, come over and I’ll watch them with you.

That being said, the finale was a little… disrespectful. Not to the fans, but to the show itself. Obviously fan boys will have a problem with the loose ends (Starbuck and the millions of coffee shops named in her honor, God and his time traveling mind minions) but the real outrage should be directed at Ron Moore - who’s ego nearly swallowed the show whole.

Battlestar, from the mini-series, was always a show that paralleled reality but it did so without penetrating it. It was about humanity when its chickens came home to roost… then surprise-attacked us and turned our social/political world upside down. It was brilliant because it was about 9/11 without being about 9/11. And because the protagonists were both the heroes and yet also the instigators, it was about us without actually being about us, because ultimately Battlestar Galatica is a television drama, set in space, with space planes and killer robots.

When, thankfully, the show was picked up and transformed into a full fledged series, it was given the latitude to use dramatic representations of familiar social struggles – like abortion, religious expression, and civic freedom - to advance more entertaining plots that revolved around gratuitous, post-apocalyptic sex scenes and, of course, space battles.

But where the show nearly ran off the rails (and when Ron Moore’s head imploded in on itself) was when the third season suddenly seemed in sync with the Bush administration’s dramatic third act. Battlestar awareness exploded after an incredible second season (the rigged election, the settlement, occupation). The show only got more popular after possibly the best season premiere in history of television (the resistance, the mustache, zero-velocity atmosphere jump). The show got so good that people started to wonder if it was intentionally mirroring and actively critiquing contemporary society through impossibly complex space allegories (sadly, Ron Moore was never that smart).

After season three’s premiere, Slate posted an article, “Battlestar: Iraqtica, Does the Hit Television Show Support the Iraqi Insurgency?”. The answer, of course, is that it didn’t. Nor did Moore magically preempt the moral dilemma behind Alberto Gonzalez’s attorney firings.

The insurgency was riveting because it refreshed the moral ambiguity of the characters in a way that fit the narrative and not because it was about Iraqi insurgents. Lee’s speech at Baltar’s trail was perfect because it brought a very specific resolution to the New Caprica story-arch and not because it ushered in some new and profound understanding of justice. My point is, when the show began to be praised for its relevancy rather than its quality – the latter suffered.

I can’t help but think that these articles and reviews influenced Moore and, in turn, the final season. Instead of the show’s social and political relevancy being incidental, it became grossly intentional and distracting (see the last moments of the finale). However, in spite of Ron Moore’s ego (and smug, self-indulgent cameo), the show’s momentum managed to carry the story to a fitting conclusion.

While Moore felt the need to beat the audience over the head with the show’s parallels to contemporary society during his final montage, the poignancy of the show was never based in its socio-political relevance.  What was truly relevant was its sublime warning against amoral post-humanism. No one thinks (nor should they, Ron Moore, you fucking moron) that Asimo is going to rebel against Honda and bring humanity to its knees. The fear Battlestar beautifully captured, in its best moments, was that humanity, disconnected from its roots and adrift in an techno-isolation of its own design, would destroy its defining qualities while trying to preserve what seems actual at the moment – be it security, enmity, or even society itself.

So sure, it may be a little difficult to swallow that after all the twists and turns, Balter and Six were being goaded along by omniscient angels (who looked exactly like them) to lead humanity to a planet they’ll call Earth and found our civilization. But the fact remains that Battlestar Galactica, despite Moore’s misguided direction during the finale season, is a defining and relevant show for our times. You should watch it (or rewatch it).