Whew – just finished listening to Ron Moore’s podcast where he discusses the conclusion of the “Exodus” episode on SciFi Network’s BSG. For those of you who don’t know – Ron Moore is the creator, part-time writer, and executive producer of one of the best frackin’ shows on TV, the “reimagined” Battlestar Galactica. Although the background noises of him guzzling expensive scotch and lighting up Lucky Strike after Lucky Strike struck me as bit piggish sounding (although pleasant at the same time!), he comes across as someone who really cares about his work and, more importantly, has the skill to bring it all off while staying away from the cheese factor that haunts sci-fi.

Normally the term “reimagined” immediately brings terms like craptastic, garbagioficious, and junkmendous to mind. In the case of BSG, Moore and his team have accomplished something. They took a mediocre late 70’s scifi show that had some cool elements (c’mon – who didn’t like that back and forth red eye on the cylons?) and turned it into a kick-ass piece of work that transcends its genre. The character developement on BSG along with the level of acting inspired by that writing makes it worthy of my (TIVO enhanced) viewing time. Long sequences featuring Tricia Helfer as a femme fatale don’t exactly drive me away either…

The “Exodus” conclusion was really the resolution of a cliff-hanger introduced at the end of Season 2 last spring, but it was done so well that it had me in tears at some points and shouting alone in my home at others. Moore kills off his characters, destroys his settings, and puts his surviving characters through hellish trials that all come across as entirely real while remaining compelling at the same time. This episode he apparently pulled out all the stops – he admitted in his podcast that he put himself in a financial hole doing the special effects for this 2-part episode – and it shows. If this episode does not win at least Hugo award I would be surprised. He was obviously proud of it – he even suggests that he’d be disappointed if he didn’t get an emmy for his work.

Me too, Mr. Moore. Me too.

PS – I heard of BSG through a fellow poker player. So there’s your connection to my blog topic. Nyaah.