Grrrr

Irritation.

I read today that the second half of the final season of Battlestar Galactica will not begin until January 2009. 

2009, d’ya hear?

Grrr.

Though I have also heard there may be a "prequel" series pilot in the works.  It would be set on Caprica 50 years before the present story line.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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24 Comments

  1. Papabile says:

    Yes…. it looks like late January 2009. Also, there will be 10 wibisodes between now and then. Additionally, they have cut a deal to do 3 more movies, like the stand-alone, Razor.

    BSG is such a fantastic show. I don’t watch much, if any, TV, excepting BSG.

  2. I know…I couldn’t believe that after waiting for 18 months for the final season, we have to wait another 6 mo’s for the end! Was it Earth in the distant past? The distant future? Was it even Earth at all?

    In TOS, the Galactica found at least two other planets called “Earth” that weren’t (OK, one was called “Terra”, but you get the idea…)

    The worst part is now I’m “committed” to the story…I just have to know what the “end” is!!!

  3. Mary Rose says:

    I was always a Babylon 5 fan, myself. And a “trekker” for quite a few years (until Capt. Janeway made a mess of the ST:Voyager series).

    I feel for you. I had to go this year without my usual “24” fix, plus, they canceled the only “new” show I watched – “Jericho”.

    I’ve pretty much sworn off TV and read more.

  4. Jacob says:

    Just consider how long ago they started. The mini series was made back in like what? 02? :P

    Drawing it out is getting kind of tiresome.

    And as for the webisodes, they’ll probably not be closed captioned, so we can count those out for me at least. :P

    I still think the last shot on Earth should have been of a half buried Statue of Liberty. :D

  5. mpm says:

    Does it need approval by the USCCB? Maybe that’s the holdup? [Maybe there are too many hard words in it. – Fr. Z]

  6. wmeyer says:

    It’s only a few months, d’ya hear? And it’s only a TV show, after all. ;)

    Bless your enthusiasm, Father.

  7. Dan says:

    I share your frustration, Father. I just want to know what happens! I’m pretty sure they found earth in the future, because it looked like the remains of sky-scrapers. I really, really hope that they don’t try to make another political statement with Earth having been destroyed, that would just annoy me.

  8. Bryan Jackson says:

    I definitely understand your feelings. It is quite a good form of entertainment. If you are interested in similar content, I would suggest Babylon 5. It is written as a video-novel in that the entire story line was planned before it began and has long reaching story arcs. It even has a pretty good representation of Catholicism in it (being that it was written mostly by agnostics/atheists). There is a scene where a monk is dying and meditating on Our Lord’s suffering in Gethsemane that nearly brings me to tears every time.

    It has many good themes such as good versus evil and order versus chaos and authoritarianism versus free will.

  9. I too share your pain!

    Such a brilliant show, and I’m desperate to know how its going to turn out. Of course here in Oz it will probably take the Channel 7 eighteen months to get around to showing what has already been made of Season 4 (thank goodnes for DVD and other modes of communication….)!

  10. Darcy says:

    I have to “third” the Babylon 5 suggestion. The writing is unparraleled in quality by any other TV series.
    It’s hard to believe the creator is an atheist (former Catholic); he treats religion so respectfully, including Catholicism. He does not assume
    an atheistic future like Star Trek. There is even Gregorian chant heard in a dark corner of the space station (the introit for Christmas Day),
    an order of monks who help stop an assasin, and a follow-on movie about an exorcism that does a chilling job of portraying evil for what it is.
    I could not get into BSG, but I didn’t get to see it from the beginning either. It seemed so dark and depressing from what I saw.

  11. Melody says:

    Indeed. My response was “Argh!”

    As for the ruins, most everyone thinks it was New York, but I think one of the ruins was the Opera House. This could make it anywhere, including the future.

    Does it need approval by the USCCB? Maybe that’s the holdup? [Maybe there are too many hard words in it. – Fr. Z]

    Comment by mpm — 20 June 2008

    This has me laughing.

  12. LCB says:

    Shows like this always make me wonder about the future. Star Trek: TNG had scenes where they talked about their computers only holding a few gigabytes (later on, a few terabytes).

    I also wonder if there is a ‘hard’ cap on technology, in that there are certain limits to what can actually be achieved. Will it finally take reaching that point for humanity to again turn inward, and realize that the only true progress in spiritual?

  13. Bryan Jackson says:

    Shows like this always make me wonder about the future. Star Trek: TNG had scenes where they talked about their computers only holding a few gigabytes (later on, a few terabytes).

    I also wonder if there is a ‘hard’ cap on technology, in that there are certain limits to what can actually be achieved. Will it finally take reaching that point for humanity to again turn inward, and realize that the only true progress in spiritual?

    I’m going to be showing my inner geek here. Star Trek has never talked about data in “bytes” but only in “quads”. There is no mention (outside of non-canon sources) of how much data a quad is, but many consider it to be a quadrillion bytes.

    God gave humans the unique capacity to understand. He gave us the ability to learn, create, and destroy. Understanding creation and everything that can be done with it is a noble calling. I do not believe that spiritual and technological progress is a zero-sum game. Granted many technologies are used for evil, but that does not mean that they can not be used for good.

    When I was 12 years old, I served Mass in the Ordinary form. Every Sunday after Mass the priest would pour the Sacred Blood down the sacrarium after diluting the Blood with water to the point that it was no longer Sacred Blood. I initially did not think anything about this, and did not for many years. When I was in my later teen years (15 years old or so) and started to use the internet, I wandered on to talk about traditional liturgies and I read many things about the Mass that were never taught to me. I had never heard the Mass being referred to as a Sacrifice until I read about it on the Internet. Due to abuses against the Sacred Species, I quit going to the Ordinary form of Mass and began going to the (what is now called) the Extraordinary Form. I can only thank God for the knowledge of Him and His Church that I have acquired using technology.

    I apologize for the long winded wall of text reply.

  14. Chris says:

    I think the problem with the USCCB and BSG is that they are not using ‘common’ [read ‘street’] language. Perhaps the show should be dubbed for each region of the nation where it is being shown so as to use the common elements of the language used at the time. Like ‘yawl’ in the South or ‘you guys’ in the North, etc.

    Seriously, both situations are frustrating. I want them both to progress. That is kinda sad I realize. I have been following BSG from day 1 (NOT the original series, I was BORN in 83) and I have heard about the language deal as ‘coming’ for awhile.

    Any, here is to 2009. Just more time for me to convince my more friends to watch the DVDs and get addicted also.

  15. Jenny Z says:

    Why do they always do this to us? :(

  16. Hey! That’s faster than the missal.

  17. Louis E. says:

    I must do my orthodox duty and again deny the canonical validity of the Novus Ordo Galactica!

    The last (and first) season of Battlestar Gakactica went off the air in 1979,though Galactica 1980 followed in guess what year.

    Be not deceived by written-from-scratch heretical retellings.

  18. Legisperitus says:

    Verum dixit! Vivat forma antiquior Galacticae!

  19. Luis: Hey! That’s faster than the missal.

    A sad commentary on the state of the galaxy.

  20. Cally says:

    Chris,

    Please! It’s spelled “yall” (or for those high-falutin-using-words-like-ineffable types, y’all) :)

  21. Nuggen says:

    Now you know how us LOST fans feel!

    We feel your pain!

    (We really do!)

  22. Calleva says:

    I ‘4th’ Babylon 5 – it is the greatest TV science fiction series ever. As well as having an excellent plot (and side plots) IMO it has the strongest characterisations of any sci fi series, one starts to care about the characters.

    Unlike earlier commentators, I *really* didn’t like the overall portrayal of Catholicism by J M Straczinski – the reference to ‘Pope Bernadette’ had me choking. OK, that was in ‘Crusade’, the follow-on to B5, but it is set in the same universe. The only B5 novel that was approved as ‘canon’ was written by JMS’s wife, and she introduces a married couple who both happen to be Jesuits. Yuk! The agnosticism of B5 pained me somewhat, but perhaps this shows what a marvellous series it was (because I minded so much). Beautifully written, superbly acted, and with much greater depth than Battlestar Galactica (at least the eps of BG I’ve watched which were all early ones).

    ‘Crusade’, the sequel to B5, was cancelled after one series, which was a shame, but it wasn’t as good as B5 and didn’t have such strong characters.

    Another series which I would recommend is ‘Firefly’. It’s almost as well-written as B5 and it has better characters than Crusade does. It was cancelled after Season 1 as well (shame!) but there was a movie brought out to tie up loose ends, and, unlike the B5 movies, it was actually rather good.

  23. Rachel says:

    Firefly has some very clever and hilarious and surprising moments, and each episode is so well-written. Great dialogue and plot twists. But there’s also some seriously objectionable stuff (sex, profanity, etc.) One of the main characters is a prostitute, so you get all the disgusting scenes you’d expect from that. The pastor character, “Shepherd Book”, is the usual weak-minded stereotype.

    My spam word is “connect”. How boring. Can’t I pray for the bishops or think before posting or something?

  24. Darcy says:

    In reply to Calleva, I did not see Crusade because Straczynski himself disowned it. He said the network wanted to turn it into a futuristic version of Baywatch. Credit to him for not allowing that to continue. He may have messed up the Pope’s gender (there was one comment in B-5 like that meant for shock value, came off as a joke) but what is striking is the vision of the Church still being in existence 250 years from now (not a given in other sci fi series) and most of all his fair treatment of religion in general (incl. Judaism and evangelical Christianity). The overall themes such as “decisions have consequences” and “all life is sacred”, revenge giving way to forgiveness and justice, the need for moral principles (natural law) as a foundation for society… these are what make B-5 have a soul. The characters are what make it unforgettable.

    I will stop going on about it now. Fr. Zuhlsdorf, I hope you will check out Babylon 5 while you’re waiting for the next BSG season.

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