Thursday, March 26, 2009

Act - 10

Walking across the savannah, Saul and Ellen speak with Galen Tyrol a final time. He has decided to go to the northern highlands of Earth (likely Scotland) and live alone.

On the plains, Lee Adama sits with Laura Roslin, fulfilling what he knows is his father’s dying wish and comforting her in her final moments. They watch as herds of gazelle drink from the shallow ponds. Her vision weakening, she tries to use her glasses with the binoculars. "A very beautiful world," she says. When she asks what the name of the planet is, Lee tells her it's Earth. He adds, "Earth is a dream," believing that their new home, a long-sought destination, deserves the name.

Roslin's breathing becomes labored and shallow. Lee offers to give her a better look at the wildlife. He picks her up and carries her to a nearby Raptor. “One last ride with Captain Apollo,” she teases him, still playful to the end. Adama's Raptor flies over a pack of flamingos. "So much… life," Laura says, her final words as she closes her eyes and quietly passes.

Moments go by before Lee realizes that she is gone. In tears, Lee takes his father’s wedding ring out of his pocket and places it on Laura's hand.

Laura is riding on a boat now, in a gauzy dream-like place, crossing the lake to the other side. Just as in her visions before, on the shore she sees her parents, her sisters, Elosha and … Bill Adama. He smiles warmly at her, and as she steps off the boat he holds out his hand. As she steps down, she sees a small boy next to Bill, his other hand on the boys shoulder. No words are said, but she knows who it is “Liam…” she mouths the name. Yes, the Cylons do have immortal souls after all.

Then she turns to Bill and takes his hand, and in the next instant they are in a cabin by the river – her cabin, the one in her dreams. He hugs her and they kiss. This is the place they will spend eternity together.

A line of people walk into the wilderness, calm and ready to take on the world. Baltar is leading his flock to a new land. They have renounced technology and will find a separate place to make their new world. Helo, Hera and Athena are with them. Saul and Ellen Tigh bring up the rear. They come upon Lee Adama, and Baltar tells him that he more than welcome to join them. Tracey-Anne and Paulla seem to like this idea, but Lee says he is restless and he wants to explore. As they part, Lee offers Baltar his hand and thanks him. Baltar is confused. “For what?” he asks. “Everything,” Lee tells him.

Baltar and Caprica-Six look on at Hera playing as the Head-Six and Head-Baltar reappear. When Caprica-Six questions if the protection of Hera was all that God wanted of them, Head-Six replies, “Do you love this man?” “Yes,” Caprica tells her. “And do you love this woman?” Head Baltar asks Gaius. He looks at her. “With all of the heart that she has given me,” he says. “Then there will be more,” Head-Six tells them, looking at Hera. They will have children.

The scene turns to show Hera playing and looking upward. Scenes of wood and desert and sea pass by in a geologic montage to reveal an Earth city--New York City. The screen reads “12,500 years later.”

A group of people are gathered around a store front. They are all watching something on television. They are dressed oddly and watching the first moonwalk on the TV’s. It is 1969.

As a man (RDM) watches the screen intently, Head-Six and Head-Baltar look over his shoulder. No other people on the street appear to notice them. “All of this has happened before,” Head-Baltar says. “But will it all happen again?” Head-Six wonders.



We cut to a scene on the Moon, two astronauts explore the lunar surface. One of them is excited by some orange soil he sees in a crater. The other astronaut comes over, and as he does he looks into the crater to see it littered with machinery. He taps the other astronaut on the shoulder, and then points the TV camera away from the scene. Next, we see one of the astronauts descend into the crater. He bends down and digs something out of the dirt. It is the shiny chrome head of the old-school Cylon Centurion from the starboard landing bay museum.



A team of mountain climbers ascends the last few feet over a ridge. As they stand up, they stop and look down into a crevasse. There, high atop a mountain, is the wreckage of the port landing pod of the Battlestar Galactica, broken into 2 pieces. We scan up close and see the name plate, where it has always read “Galactica,” but the letters are oddly different, looking much like ancient Aramaic.



The scene cuts to modern day New York, and Head-Six and Head Baltar are once again strolling the streets unnoticed. Once again they come upon a store with TV’s in the window, and they look over the shoulder of the same man from 1969, now much older. We hear a female reporter’s voice-over as the screen shows film of the wrecked Galactica side pod. “The team, led by former Apollo astronauts Bill Adams and his son Lee, say that they have in fact found the wreckage of Noah’s Ark on Mount Ararat.” As the shot pulls back, we see that the reporter is a dead ringer for a Number Six. Head Baltar laughs. “Well, I guess that settles that argument,” he tells Head-Six. “I wouldn’t be so sure,” she responds.

The episode concludes with scenes of robots, from toys to advanced automatons growing and evolving, as Jimi Hendrix's--Earth's popular version--of "All Along the Watchtower" plays, ending with an image of an attractive-looking female automaton gazing out over Times Square from a giant outdoor television screen.

-- END

4 comments:

  1. I actually thought it was going to end very similarly to that... but what you said about RDM not taking enough chances rings true, especially here.
    He had the gist right, but not the detail when it mattered. The entire show was predicated on the basis that "Some think that life here started out there"... but I really did expect that they would have left something behind for mankind to find eventually, and was disappointed when that didn't happen.
    Actually, for my part, I was disappointed in everything from the season 2 finale forward. What a waste of an otherwise perfect show.
    --Gil

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  2. Mike, I always thought that it would have been more interesting and intriging to have it end much like you have also thought: with something having cashed onto the moon. Great idea that many fans of the show Im sure also share.

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  3. Well done, I like your version far better than what actually aired. The bits about the "Galactica" nameplate on the moon, but written in Aramaic script, is especially terrific.

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  4. This was an incredible read. Thank you. It gave me chills. I very much preferred this as well. Perhaps when an inevitable reboot is made in a decade or so this can give some ideas to the script writers.

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