So after almost 5 years of waiting, we finally got to see the crew of Galactica make it to Earth, and surprisingly, much earlier than I think most of us expected. Of course nothing this substantial is ever given to an audience this early without a price, so with half of the final BG season still yet to be seen, was it really a surprise to anyone when Earth was revealed to not be the beautiful utopia that everyone was hoping for?
I must admit, over the last few years, I had been wondering just what kind of Earth we'd see in store for our characters on BG. Initially, I wondered if it would be much like the original series, where the crew of Galactica lands on present-day Earth, though the whole concept of that seemed a bit silly with the style of today's science-fiction. The other common theory was that perhaps they'd land during the dawn of mankind, and would be the catalyst that kicked off civilization as we know it (much like the aliens in the film STARGATE). Heck, I even toyed with the idea that maybe they'd be landing on Earth in the 1960s after the end of last season (I couldn't shake the notion that there had to be SOME reason they used "All Along the Watchtower" to bring the hidden cylons together)! Though the big Earth reveal has finally come, and shown us a planet not unlike the one Charlton Heston found himself on in the 1968 classic, PLANET OF THE APES, where mankind seems to be a distant memory.
Putting together all the pieces however, this reveal of a post-apocalyptic Earth really isn't that surprising. For Earth to be a "legend" to these people, it would only make sense that they were originally from it in a time long ago. The fact that it seems we're quickly on the way to wrecking our planet enough so that it will no longer support human life would also suggest that for our species to survive, we'd likely have to set out into space and find other planets to inhabit ourselves, so the notion of completely forgetting about Earth enough over thousands of years until it simply becomes a legend is not a far fetched one.
It will be interesting to see where they go with this "ravaged Earth" concept in the few remaining episodes to come. Are the people of Galactica truly the first ones to return to Earth in eons, or is their perhaps another civilization that is still there in hiding somewhere? Will Earth remain the end destination for our heroes, or will they take to the stars once again, doomed forever to an existence on the move in space? And for frak's sake, who IS the final cylon?!? It's painful to think that we've got over half a year until these questions will be answered for us, but let us hope that BG can go out with as much of a bang as it came in with!
For those who want my more detailed thoughts on the mid-season finale, you can view my latest Overcast, the preview and link of which you'll find below.
-Tim
see more at overcastmedia.com
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