Frakkin’ Clack – So say we all (or maybe just I)

It’s hard to believe that this is likely the last time I’ll be writing a post about Battlestar Galactica. The actors have said their piece already, and creator Ronald D. Moore has gone on detailed interviews and his usual podcast, into great detail, attempting to explain the decisions behind how things played out the way they did. The buzz has died down to near nothing now, only a few days later. Maybe it’s because all that needed to be said was said, people are still absorbing the happenings of the finale and the series as a whole, or are simply still in mourning.

My initial thoughts on the finale still hold true, even after a second viewing and a few days to let them stew. With Moore’s revelations after the finale, and also those he’s made throughout the series in podcasts, I now have some thoughts about the series as a whole that sum up to this: Ronald D. Moore should get out of TV and move entirely on to movies.

There’s been a lot of discussion in the past few seasons of Battlestar Galactica that Moore and the other writers of BSG have been winging it as they go along. In fact, to a point, Moore hasn’t really made a secret about that, sometimes referring to some of the earlier decisions made as being “painted into a corner,” only forcing him and his creative team to figure a way out. Luckily for him, they’ve done so with relative success, even though there are a few footprints still left in the wet paint.

Setting an end date for the series was a brilliant decision. The longer Galactica went on, introducing us to more mythology and mysteries, there were simply too many chances that something new would contradict something old, only further confusing and irritating the viewers. Moore’s been saying lately — and perhaps from the start — that this show was “never about the plot” but was about the characters, the people. However, there was still, indeed, a plot involved. Because Moore was instead trying to develop the characters, not enough time was being spent on the plot, even though there were still people extremely interested and invested in it. The plot, therefore, became a distraction. And, for Moore, it seems it was an irritating one.

Let’s briefly look back at some of the plot pieces left on the table that were not addressed as well as they could have been: the lack of a Cylon “plan,” the mentioning of 13 Cylon models and the quick handling of “Daniel,” the glowing spines of Cylons having sex … there are more. Fanatics of BSG will find no fault in how these aspects of the story were (or were not) handled, though, again, Moore has even said he’s made mistakes here. And while some of us were left confused, perhaps over-analyzing the meaning or lack of meaning behind these aspects of the plot, Moore says he meant for us to care for the characters, not this silly plot that he’s been wrapping bandages around.

My point about Moore sticking to movies is that four seasons was clearly too long for him to tell this story. Moore and the other writers were given too large a canvas to work with, with an initial deadline nowhere in sight. All along, Moore likely meant for this story to be about the characters; the “show bible” he sometimes references likely contains very little on plot and consists mostly of character stories. With the lack of overall story and plot, it went in many different directions that the writers had to frantically tie together, some a little messier than others.

Imagine a kid playing with Legos, stacking them with as many blue blocks he has before he puts a roof on top to call it a building. The higher he goes, the more wobbly the building gets, yet he keeps on going. Finally, when the construction is way over his head and just before the whole thing could come crashing down, he decides it’s time to put the final roof block on top and call it complete. And there it is, a finished building that’s nearly toppling over, some pieces jutting out here and there and a few unused pieces scattered about. Yet, this is what he calls complete. Mommy and daddy can find no wrong in anything their son does and find the building perfect, while other kids mock him for how the whole thing is a big mess.

It was never about how high or straight and neat the building was, it was about the blue blocks the child used to put it together. That’s Moore’s BSG, and I, for one, am not his proud papa.

If Moore was given a deadline and a set time limit of three hours, he could tell a story that he wants to tell without anything contradicting something that happened earlier. He simply needs a smaller canvas to work with, where there’s a set amount of time for plot and plenty of time for character development, and in all the right places.

The BSG mini-series stands on its own as a fantastic example of what Moore can do when he has a limited amount of time to tell a story and more time at the start to put it all together. I, for one, would love to see what he could do again with something that doesn’t take almost 80 hours to tell and not as many blue Lego pieces; it’s still cool to use the yellow and red ones and still call your building a masterpiece.

Clacked by Keith McDuffee
on Mar 24, 2009 @ 13:01 EST5EDT