I started watching the new re-take of BSG the day after the Series Finale aired. I never watched any of the shows until about two months ago. I still haven’t seen all of them. I’m knee deep on season 2.5, half way there to the ending and I’m trying, I’m trying so so hard, not to spoil it for myself. Who are the other Cylons? Does President Roselyn die? Will Commander Apollo be the proper leader of Battlestar Pegasus? Could Admiral Adama bend the universe with the sheer power of his mind? The show is good on many, many levels and the level is ground level. Battlestar Galactica works because it ends, and we see the ending and we know it is coming, with all its amazing glory.

We’ve seen this before, unintentionally. The genius of the original Star Trek series was the short breath of its run. It was good because it was short, with a core of shows that could inspire more interesting stories later. No one wants to know what the Original Star Trek would have looked like if it bled into the early 70s. I’ve always felt that TNG (The Next Generation for non-geeks) went about two years too far. Data saved the ship too often. Worf was angry too often. Dr. Crusher and Captain Picard didn’t kiss too often. The show would have been immensely better if the first season never happened and if the feeling we received when we saw Picard as the Borg hovered over us like the cloud of tense happiness that it was forever. Babylon 5 probably set the precedent for these long, passionate, sometimes annoying and dangling plot lines that only end when the writers and the producers say it can end. That flick had a finite feel to it the moment it popped on the screen, with set pieces that shined too much like plastic and aliens that were too quick to hate each other. And the hair looked stupid, too.

But, more than anything, my new watching of the re-vamped Battlestar Galactica has revealed sheer ineptitude of other false prophets. Heroes hasn’t had a chance to propel me to its bosom. All I have to do is push a few buttons and I can watch Heroes through my Netflix Instant viewing. But the “Heroes” look boring. What are they fighting for? Why do they look half-scared? And Lost, which almost got me hooked, failed because it makes absolutely no sense. The Island moves? Through time? And there is a smoke snake? And there are people living on the Island? And you have to fly over a certain area? And, huh? There is a big wheel UNDER the Island? Really? Putting sugar-water in the gas tank of my truck makes more sense.

BSG also makes me long for Firefly again. Imagine if Firefly had the time, support and funding that Battlestar Galactica received. Imagine the stories we could have had? That is what impresses me most about Battlestar Galactica. It had a great run, it ended when it should have ended, and it gave the fans what the fans wanted, even when the fans had no idea what they wanted. Shows need to have these short and solid runs. They are best served that way. Everything has to end, and a controlled ending is always better than shark-jumping, spinning out of control and dying in a no fan wasteland.

Read more from Jarvis at jarvisslacks.com