By MICHAEL HINMAN <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Source: SyFy Portal <http://www.syfyportal.com> Jun-13-2008
Tonight is the mid-season finale of "Battlestar Galactica," but we'll have to wait so long for the last 10 episodes, I can't figure out why they didn't just call this a season finale. Seriously, would it have been so bad to say that "Battlestar Galactica" ended with five seasons instead of four? The first season was only 13, and if you include "Razor," that would make the fourth season so far 12 episodes. And other series were able to do half-orders and call it a season, so why not "Battlestar Galactica"? I think if SciFi Channel were to have done something like this, maybe there wouldn't have been so many groans from TV Guide's report this week that, as expected, the back 10 episodes of the fourth and final season won't premiere for at least six to eight months from now ... if we're lucky. "Lost" is doing a reduced load and stretching it out the same way, but instead of calling it on big season, they are multiple seasons. SciFi Channel should've done the same thing. But seriously, that's not what I meant to write about. It's funny, I don't really plan my SyFriday columns. I sit down to write it either Thursday night or Friday morning (although the morning is almost over here), and I just speak straight up. I don't go back and edit or do anything else ... it's just flow of consciousness. So either that's good, or that's bad. Take your pick. But I'm excited about the mid-season finale of "Battlestar" tonight as I've been very impressed with the season so far. It bugs me when people attack the show because they don't understand how a serialized drama needs to have a number of setup episodes for the main story, especially as that main story is coming to an end. Did we have some setup episodes this year? You betcha. I mean, think back to the end of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." I still think it was a dumb idea to introduce a new character in the final season to replace Terry Farrell (I bet I know whose idea it was ... but I won't name any names, Rick Berman, don't worry), but it took six episodes -- yes, six episodes -- to set up the end game <http://www.syfyportal.com/news425118.html> for that series. And you know what ... the finale paid off. I love the last episode of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," and it was well worth all the setup. SciFi Channel did something this past week that I was very proud of. They took "Battlestar Galactica" so seriously that they truly, honestly and confidently believe that they can get some serious Emmy consideration for the show. Ronald D. Moore and Felix Alcala picked up major nominations last year, so maybe it convinced SciFi Channel that this show should be winning more than the Peabody (not to detract from the Peabody, but it seems people in general only care about the Emmys anyway). They held a screening of the mid-season finale Wednesday night in Los Angeles, targeting potential Emmy voters and bringing in some fans and the media. I would've loved to have been there, but I wasn't even told about it until like two days before the event, and it's hard to get plane tickets from Tampa to Los Angeles that quickly without spending an arm and a leg, and to be honest, I'm fresh out of those. But I heard it was a great event which started to promulgate rumors (i "promulgate" the right word here? I'm too lazy, er, busy to look it up) that there would be a big death. In fact, Daniel Malen over at The <http://thetvaddict.com> TV Addict predicted it would be our good friend Tory, which I think was a very bold guess. But you'll have to wait and see tonight if he was right or not. And for the first time in a long time, I will be going into tonight's episode not knowing a single thing. I have known major plot points for the first nine episodes (many of which we reported right here a year ago), but even then, I still enjoyed the season. Spoilers don't damage my viewing enjoyment, but refusing to hear anything about the mid-season finale should make this all the more fun tonight. So enjoy "Battlestar Galactica." It'll be a while before we get to see any more. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
