The Gathering

enterprise_admin · SCI-FI 'SPACE' GENERAL

f you didn't see Battlestar Galactica's mind-blowing season finale last night, stop reading right now, because this Q&A — heck, this introduction — is chock-full of spoilers. (If you really want to get caught up and can't wait to catch it on the DVR, check out Marc Bernardin's TV Watch and then come back here when you're done.) Here's your last chance — stop reading now or forever hold your firebomb emails to our editors complaining we ruined all the surprises.

Okay, so, President Laura Roslin's cancer is back, former president and human outcast Gaius Baltar is not guilty of treason, and four of the final five Cylons are: Chief Galen Tyrol, former lover of known Cylon Sharon Valeri (whoa!); Samuel Anders, Starbuck's widowed husband (double whoa!); Tory Foster, President Roslin's right-hand woman and Anders' recent lover (triple whoa!); and Colonel Saul Tigh, the hard-scrabble Galatica XO and the most rabid Cylon-hater this side of New Caprica (quadruple-scoop-fall-on-your-face whoa!). They all realized they were Cylons after each hearing a mysterious song no human could hear, a song Chief Tyrol likened to something from childhood; a song revealed to be, of all things, Bob Dylan's ''All Along the Watchtower.''

Oh, and Starbuck is alive. Maybe. Or she could be a Cylon. Perhaps. But apparently she's seen Earth. Or, at least, that's what Starbuck told Apollo. Or what something that looks like her told Apollo.

What the frak is going on?!

Well, we went to Battlestar actors Mary McDonnell (President Roslin) and Edward James Olmos (Admiral William Adama), as well as the show's executive producer Ronald Moore, for their thoughts on the finale, where their characters and the show itself are headed, and the skinny on the recently announced flashback two-hour movie about the long-lost battlestar Pegasus. Read on, dear humans!

MARY MCDONNELL

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Did you gasp when you read the finale script?
MARY MCDONNELL: Yes, I gasped. I remember my first response was that I sat very quietly for a minute and went, oh dear, because of the amount of physical and emotional energy that takes to go back into exploring a person who has such a painful disease. On the other hand, I felt like we abandoned the disease so rapidly without explanation and there are so many people suffering from cancer. So I took a big, exhaustive breath, and I was kind of glad that we weren't leaving it in that foggy memory of, did that really happen? I was kind of happy to be able to embrace the journey again.

Both episodes in the finale deal with the connection that Roslin has to Hera, the half-human, half-Cylon child whose blood at first seemed to cure her cancer.
Yes, Hera's her mother. One day I was laughing on the set, and I turned to Grace [Park] and Tahmoh [Penikett, who play Hera's parents], and I said, ''You know, this is really interesting. You're my grandparents!'' Because Hera rebirthed Roslin, and they're the parents of Hera. And they just kind of screamed and ran away. [Laughs] I think the idea of birthing and rebirthing and being connected through the DNA, through the blood of the Cylon and the shared DNA now, is really golden stuff. It's like, what does this mean in terms of allowing Laura as a symbol — because I see every character as a symbol — to investigate a shared heredity of the enemy? This is, to me, kind of brave, because it's where we need to move anyway in the world. We need to understand the sameness. Suddenly, in spite of herself, in a way, [Roslin] is being led that way.

It would seem the show is moving to a shared destiny, given who the new Cylons are and, you know, the fact that they apparently know from Dylan.
It is kind of crazy. It's wonderfully haunting. The minute I read that [about the song], my mind just started going: When we find Earth, when will it be? What time period? What are we going to find? Are we picking up stuff already? What is going on here? Are we getting closer? Is [the show's time period] now? Will [Earth] be a mess? Will it be a nightmare? Will it be a great place and will we have to suddenly be comrades in being aliens together, having ventured into the space of this planet? How will they greet us? We'll see.

Was there any discussion of this on the set?
No, we just went with it. I mean, of course, there's always talk, but from my point of view there's no questioning it. [Ronald Moore] is always ten steps ahead of us anyway, so the resonance has a reason, and it will be revealed.

Did you ever think, I might be a Cylon?
I reflected on it a few times, but I really didn't enjoy entertaining the idea, so I dismissed it rather rapidly. It isn't something I'd want to be, therefore... [Laughs] Besides, you know, my journey is already —

— complicated as it is?
As it is, yes. It's already going down that road in a very organic way, in a very surprising way. Because we all know that unbeknownst to me, my life was saved [by Hera]. It wasn't even [Roslin's] choice! She's like, ''Okay, I'm on the way out! Do this, do this, do this. Bye. I'm outta here. I did my thing, I did it well, I love you all, goodbye!'' [Pause] ''What? What?!'' And of all people, it was Baltar [who figured out how to save me], who kept me alive. ''Damn you!'' [Laughs]

Do you think Starbuck is the fifth Cylon?
I really don't know. I think she just has an extraordinary destiny, and her struggle to come to terms with that is what I find interesting about the whole story. Not whether or not she is a Cylon, but her struggle. We have this stunningly beautiful, very macho hotshot pilot who actually has a phenomenal internal spirituality that she resists. I'd rather talk about her the whole time, because I think she's just a really great character for young women to look [up to]. You do not divide yourselves, women, into male and female. Get it together. And men, as well! Stop living this divided, dual consciousness and bring your masculine and feminine [sides] together, because it can be extraordinary. That's how I see her.

Speaking of masculine and feminine, the relationship between Roslin and Admiral Adama is very tender — they allow themselves to be fully human around each other. Would you ever like to see it consummated?
First of all, Eddie [Olmos] and I just had a natural chemistry, a recognition of camaraderie. We have very similar values when it comes to acting, and how to behave on a set. Sort of two old warriors together, do you know what I mean? So there was a great deal of instant camaraderie, even though [our characters] were instantly put into the position of really annoying each other [at the start of the series], really adversarial, very much into the gender power struggle right from the get-go. [But we] fuel that with a deep affection.

Because Laura is a very isolated woman, she has virtually no friends, family, loved ones. But [with] this man, they've shared so many very difficult decisions together, not unlike parents. They're alone together a lot. He's a very, very strong male energy. There's sort of an unconscious femininity that's allowed to come out around him. Plus, if they haven't killed each other by now, there's someone to somewhat be trusted there.

Does she entertain any ideas about consummating some kind of relationship with him? The idea is completely threatening to everything she's trying to accomplish. She's not the type of woman who gives up easily or gives into emotional issues, let alone how it will complicate things right now if they took it [any] further. I think she needs to be very clear-headed. Short answer to your question is no, she doesn't entertain consummating that relationship, and anything that has happened is in spite of her own will

EDWARD JAMES OLMOS

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So what did you think of the finale?
EDWARD JAMES OLMOS: Yeah, it's pretty intense. You start to realize that you really don't know very much about everybody. I'm very happy, though, about the way that Colonel Tigh handles his realization [that he's a Cylon]. I think he would rather kill himself than do anything against a human. He doesn't realize that he has no choice. Once you're a Cylon, you're a Cylon, period. [Laughs] Except that Boomer's character has been able to cross over.

In many respects because of Adama's trust in her.
No, I think it was her baby that really pushed her to the point of being more human than android. The love of a child is really the premise of this story. My [character's] love of my children, Roslin's love of humanity — all of us are her children. I have my son [Major Lee ''Apollo'' Adama], and of course I just lost my [surrogate] daughter [Captain Kara ''Starbuck'' Thrace], which was brutal.

But you didn't, it seems.
Well, for me, for Adama, she's gone. For Adama, it's over. For us looking at the [show] and how it's unfolding, there's still a possibility [Starbuck is alive], but for Adama there's no possibility. I haven't seen her; they don't even explain what [Apollo] is seeing. Just like Number Six materializes to Baltar, we don't know what that is. What is she? Is she [Apollo's] Number Six? Is she only going to be seen by him?

There was also that great, tender moment between Adama and Roslin when he called her to motivate her to get out of bed. It's really remarkable how feminine Roslin is with Adama.
Most of the time she just allows herself to be the political leader. With me, she becomes the woman. Not that she hasn't allowed herself to be that way with other men; she has. But right now, in this time of the story, there's only a handful of us left.

Would you like that relationship to be consummated?
Right now, the way the show is going, it's really hard. The last episode is brutal. We're now way too deeply embedded in self-hatred and loathing of what we've been dealt that I don't think [Adama and Roslin] have any chance to do that right now. There was a point a couple of weeks ago when I looked at her and said, ''Do you still think about that log-cabin house on New Caprica?'' [During humanity's year spent colonizing a planet, Roslin, no longer president, shared with Adama her wish to build a log cabin in the woods, intimating she'd like to move there with the widowed Adama. —Ed.] She knew what I was saying when I asked her the question. That was, for us, a very interesting moment.

Down the line, I wouldn't mind it. I think it would be very much appreciated by Adama and Roslin if they could get to that level, to forget about everything except for themselves. But I don't think it's going to happen. I don't think the show is headed that way at all. [Laughing] Just the opposite — I think we're going to really, really end up at our wit's end.

Is it a relief that your character is almost certainly not a Cylon now?
Certainly. I never thought of me being one. I didn't know if they were going to throw a curve at me, but obviously Michael Hogan, who plays Tigh, was floored. All the kids who were chosen [to be] Cylons were floored. Just stunned. I remember reading it going, Oh my God — just like people watching the show. Tigh is a Cylon, oh my God!

Where do you think the show is headed?
You're going to be very surprised, because I've gotten some inklings as to what [the writers are] thinking. I've come up with story ideas. I personally — this is not [from] any of the writers, but my thing — I wanted to come into [the present day], find Earth, cruise on top of it, see it for what it is, and as we're coming down to it, we're blown up, we're nuked. And then [someone says to] the President of the United States, which is [George W.] Bush, ''They've been taken care of. Thank God you saved the world again.'' And you turn, and you see who told him that, and it's one of the Cylons. [Laughs]

That would certainly be quite bleak.
[Laughs] That's what the show is, isn't it? It's become very, very bleak. This is the darkest show I've ever seen on television. There's a lot of good TV out [now], but as far as what I've seen in my lifetime, [this show]'s been extraordinary. And it's not even on [premium] cable. Like, if [Battlestar] was on HBO, forg

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Okay, Ron, what was with including Bob Dylan's ''All Along The Watchtower'' in the finale?
RONALD MOORE: I had always had this idea of using that particular song in the show as a marker that there were other things going on here. There was this idea developed early in the series, that one of the Colonial scriptures says, ''All of this has happened before and all of it will happen again,'' that certain elements and situations and even people repeat in a cycle of destruction and rebirth and exodus and chase, etc. One of the ideas I wanted to play was, okay, if you found a song that we, the audience, recognize, you realize that you have a connection to this world too, and suddenly other pieces start to fit. Well, why do they wear suits and ties? Why do they look so much like us? What is the connection between them and us? It would put in stark relief the idea that there is a connection between the people on Galatica and our experience on Earth.

Are you curious about the fan reaction to who four of the final five Cylons are?
I'm sure it will be a shock. There will be strong feelings pro and con, much like there was at the end of the last season when we jumped ahead a year in the story line. When we did that, you thought the world might come to an end. People were freaking out, that it was a huge mistake and how could they possibly do this and the show's over! And other people thought it was this amazing thing. I'm sure this [finale's developments] will have the same effect. There will be precious few people in the middle who don't care.

When did you break it to the actors that they were going to be Cylons?
Pretty late in the game. Not literally when we shot it, but pretty late in the season.

I'm thinking especially of Michael Hogan, who plays Colonel Tigh — he was, for me, the most surprising choice, and certainly the most ironic.
Michael's very low-key. Michael went [nonchalantly] ''Wow. Okay. Very shocking. Shocking stuff.'' [Chuckles] He talked about it a little bit, wanted to understand it, but he liked it from the get-go and was very, very supportive of it. They all were pretty intrigued by it. I think Aaron [Douglas, who plays Chief Galen Tyrol] was the most hesitant. ''Are you sure? I want to make sure we're not losing something.'' I had to talk with Aaron a little bit longer than the others.

It's interesting that Aaron was the one who was the most hesitant, because his character has spent the most time on the series wrestling with the idea that he actually is a Cylon.
His chief objection — no pun intended — was that he's the common man in a lot of ways, the blue-collar guy, the salt-of-the-Earth character. And he was concerned that we would turn him into a master villain or something. I said, ''No, no, no, you are still going to be Tyrol.'' He doesn't even know why he's a Cylon, or what it means. It's a process of discovery for him, and trying to figure out what it means for him as a character. As it is for all four of them.

Well, they'll definitely have more time to figure that out now that the Sci Fi Channel has expanded your episode order from 13 to 22 hours. Were you planning on a 13-episode season?
I had sort of planned it in terms of 22, but the story-breaking process being what it is, we'd only broken up to episode 8, so we really hadn't had to face the reality of whether it was going to be 13 or 22 yet.

How do you feel having that many episodes worked for the third season? There was some fan grumbling that some of the more stand-alone episodes in the second half of the season weren't quite as up to Battlestar's high standards.
Yeah, I thought that was a valid criticism, and I think ultimately that provides the answer for the show about how much serialized [episodes we do] versus non-serialized. I don't know that it was a direct result of there being 20 episodes instead of 13, but certainly having a longer order, we said, okay, maybe there's a few here that are more stand-alone and are more accessible to people who aren't following the story as [closely]. There were a couple of good ones in those stand-alones, but by and large I'd say our serialized storytelling is more successful.

So is that what you're aiming for with your fourth season?
It will be a serialized show to an extent. I think what we talked about with the network — because their concern is the drop-off in viewers and giving too many hurdles for new viewers to overcome to watch the show — we're always going to try to provide at least an episodic quality to each show. Even though there are plotlines that are ongoing over the course of the whole season, we'll try to give you something in each episode that you can hold on to that starts and stops within that episode.

Within that Sci Fi Channel order is a two-hour Battlestar Pegasus movie, about the second Battlestar ship that survived the first Cylon attack and was destroyed at the beginning of season 3. I gather the movie is going to be about what happened to the ship before it found the Galactica. How are you going to approach that?
We'll try to reassemble most of the Pegasus cast. The whole notion of doing this came from [Universal's] home video [department] wanting to have a DVD release. We were intrigued by it, and then the [Sci Fi] Network was in favor of it because then they could put something of Galatica on the air in the fall even though the fourth season won't really kick off until January.

We started talking about something that would have taken place in Galactica's past, and certainly the Pegasus episodes were the most popular and some of our favorites internally. We realized there was an opportunity to not only satisfy the desire to do more with Pegasus and her crew, but also that we could set up certain things into the fourth season. You watch this episode that took place in the past, and then when you've gotten to the fourth season, you would realize that there actually was a payoff to some of those events.

So the Pegasus movie will air in the fall then?
Yeah. I don't think they've given a date, but sometime in the fall.

What's the status of that Caprica spin-off?
It's on the shelf over at Sci Fi. I don't think they're picking it up right now. They've talked about doing a similar back-door situation like they did with Galactica, where maybe they do a two-hour [movie] that's also a direct-to-DVD thing that serves as a backdoor pilot. But, personally, the longer they don't pick it up, I think the less are the odds that they will.

Finally, how much can you tell me about Starbuck? Is she alive? Is she just in Apollo's head?
I can tell you very little about that. I mean, I have an answer, but letting the audience wonder just what the hell she is, is one of the better things to leave hanging for next year.

At least this means Katee Sackhoff, who plays Starbuck, isn't leaving the show, right?
She's going to be back.

There's an implication, certainly, that if someone we thought dead has reappeared — and if Starbuck's supposed to have this grand destiny — that she would be the final Cylon.
There is certainly that implication. [Laughs]