Final Cut (Battlestar Galactica)
Encyclopedia
"Final Cut" is the eighth episode of the second season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica
television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel
on September 9, 2005.
In the episode, journalist D'Anna Biers tapes a report on life aboard Galactica
and uncovers a plot against Colonel Saul Tigh
. She discovers the pregnant Number Eight copy (Sharon) being held secretly aboard the ship, but Commander William Adama
forbids her to include it in her final report. However, Biers is a Cylon
, and she shares the footage of Sharon with her Cylon brethren.
"Final Cut" received mixed critical reception.
", Tigh ordered supplies taken by force from civilian ships. On the civilian ship Gideon, Marines commanded by Lieutenant Joe Palladino opened fire on a hostile but unarmed crowd of civilians, killing four.
Biers is preparing a report on what she calls the "Gideon massacre." Hoping to influence Biers to produce a more "balanced" report, Adama grants her unrestricted access to document life aboard Galactica
.
Biers conducts frank interviews with crew members and captures some pilots' hijinks on camera. After Kat
overdoses on stimulants and botches a landing, Biers follows her to Galacticas sickbay. There, she discovers Doctor Cottle treating Sharon for a complication with her pregnancy. Adama confiscates the footage, but Biers secretly keeps a copy. She then records the crew during a successful defense against incoming Cylon Raiders and uncovers a disgruntled Palladino as the perpetrator of death threats and an assassination attempt on Tigh.
In her final report, Biers describes arriving on Galactica with a bias against the crew but changing her mind. Pleased with the report, Adama recommends it be shown throughout the fleet. On Caprica, several Cylons also watch the report, as well as the secret footage of Sharon. A copy of Biers, who is apparently a Cylon, sits with them, reveals that the Raiders were called to Galactica to relay this footage, and calls the unborn child "a miracle from God."
from the final episode, President Laura Roslin
is shown coming up with the idea of inviting Biers to Galactica. She is motivated by the upcoming presidential election and demands from the Quorum of Twelve
for an investigation of the Gideon incident.
of the military... with the naturally liberal
notions of the media." He also singles out Helo
's observation during his interview with Biers that combat training seeks to make soldiers less human. Davis views this as part of an argument by the series's writers that humans and Cylons are similar. Lynnette R. Porter, David Lavery, and Hillary Robson agree that this "goes to the core of the series' major themes".
Susan A. George views Adama's request for a report that shows the positive and negative sides of his crew as parallel to the series's nuanced depiction of humanity.
", was brought back to direct "Final Cut" because of his experience as a documentarian. Executive producer David Eick
had worked with actress Lucy Lawless
(Biers) on the series Xena: Warrior Princess
and tried to find a role for her in the first season. Lawless declined due to other commitments but agreed when offered the role in "Final Cut". Executive producer Ronald D. Moore
cites journalist Christiane Amanpour
as a model for Biers's character.
Biers's monologue at the end of her report, in which she acknowledges the crew's imperfections but lauds their heroism and resilience, reflects Moore's own "thesis of the show."
In the episode, Biers interviews a number of secondary characters, including Anastasia "Dee" Dualla
, Racetrack
, and Lieutenant Felix Gaeta
. Moore encouraged the actors playing these characters (in these cases, Kandyse McClure
, Leah Cairns
, and Alessandro Juliani
, respectively) to improvise their interviews extensively and teach him "things I didn't know about these people that I created." This is also the first time Dualla and Gaeta's first names are presented to the audience.
Moore considers the episode to be mainly a character piece about Galacticas crew. He said that the subplot focusing on Palladino's threats against Tigh serves only to inject what he considered was a baseline level of tension required in a television episode and admitted that he was never satisfied with it. The first draft had Palladino shooting himself at the end of his confrontation with Tigh, but the writers considered this "gratuitous" as rewrote it to have Marines arrest him instead.
and hangar deck to the pilots' audio transmissions was, in his view, truer to the episode's documentary style.
Flick Harrison, the actor who plays Biers's cameraman, is a cameraman in real life. His camera is also real, and he shot some of the footage in "Final Cut" with it.
collaborated with Stu Phillips, who wrote "Colonial Anthem", to produce the track. McCreary called the collaboration "one of the highlights of the second season."
", "The Farm
", and "Scar
"; he gave the last of these an A-.
Porter, Lavery, and Robson called "Final Cut" "one of [the series's] best episodes" but called the Palladino subplot "mostly routine". John Kubicek of BuddyTV
ranked "Final Cut" as the 20th best episode of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica and called the episode "fascinating".
Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)
Battlestar Galactica is an American military science fiction television series, and part of the Battlestar Galactica franchise. The show was developed by Ronald D. Moore as a re-imagining of the 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series created by Glen A. Larson...
television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel
Syfy
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
on September 9, 2005.
In the episode, journalist D'Anna Biers tapes a report on life aboard Galactica
Battlestar Galactica (ship)
The Battlestar Galactica is a space battleship in the original and re-imagined science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica.The Twelve Colonies of Man in the original television series built a number of Battlestars during their thousand-year war with the Cylons, whose battleships are...
and uncovers a plot against Colonel Saul Tigh
Saul Tigh
Saul Tigh is a fictional character on Battlestar Galactica played by Michael Hogan. The character was named Paul Tigh in early scripts, and was renamed due to legal issues, according to producer Ronald D. Moore. He is one of the main characters of the show.-Overview and personality:Saul Tigh is a...
. She discovers the pregnant Number Eight copy (Sharon) being held secretly aboard the ship, but Commander William Adama
William Adama
William "Bill" Adama is a fictional character portrayed by Edward James Olmos in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica television series...
forbids her to include it in her final report. However, Biers is a Cylon
Cylon (reimagining)
Cylons are a race which appear in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series and its prequel Caprica. They have several forms, some of which resemble and even mimic the behavior of humans, while others are mechanical in appearance and function.In the first DVD, one of the show's creators...
, and she shares the footage of Sharon with her Cylon brethren.
"Final Cut" received mixed critical reception.
Plot
In "ResistanceResistance (Battlestar Galactica)
"Resistance" is the fourth episode of the second season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on August 5, 2005....
", Tigh ordered supplies taken by force from civilian ships. On the civilian ship Gideon, Marines commanded by Lieutenant Joe Palladino opened fire on a hostile but unarmed crowd of civilians, killing four.
Biers is preparing a report on what she calls the "Gideon massacre." Hoping to influence Biers to produce a more "balanced" report, Adama grants her unrestricted access to document life aboard Galactica
Battlestar Galactica (ship)
The Battlestar Galactica is a space battleship in the original and re-imagined science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica.The Twelve Colonies of Man in the original television series built a number of Battlestars during their thousand-year war with the Cylons, whose battleships are...
.
Biers conducts frank interviews with crew members and captures some pilots' hijinks on camera. After Kat
Louanne Katraine
Louanne Katraine is a fictional character from the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series, portrayed by Luciana Carro.- Character biography :...
overdoses on stimulants and botches a landing, Biers follows her to Galacticas sickbay. There, she discovers Doctor Cottle treating Sharon for a complication with her pregnancy. Adama confiscates the footage, but Biers secretly keeps a copy. She then records the crew during a successful defense against incoming Cylon Raiders and uncovers a disgruntled Palladino as the perpetrator of death threats and an assassination attempt on Tigh.
In her final report, Biers describes arriving on Galactica with a bias against the crew but changing her mind. Pleased with the report, Adama recommends it be shown throughout the fleet. On Caprica, several Cylons also watch the report, as well as the secret footage of Sharon. A copy of Biers, who is apparently a Cylon, sits with them, reveals that the Raiders were called to Galactica to relay this footage, and calls the unborn child "a miracle from God."
Deleted scene
In a scene deletedDeleted scene
In Entertainment, especially the film and television industry, Deleted scenes are parts of a film removed or censored from or replaced by another scene in the final "cut", or version, of a film...
from the final episode, President Laura Roslin
Laura Roslin
Her first actions include organizing all FTL-capable ships together and convincing Commander William Adama to abandon a retaliatory attack on the Cylons. President Roslin and Billy Keikeya, her aide/press secretary/chief of staff, establish a working office space aboard her transport, renamed...
is shown coming up with the idea of inviting Biers to Galactica. She is motivated by the upcoming presidential election and demands from the Quorum of Twelve
Quorum of Twelve
The Quorum of Twelve is a fictional governing body of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol on the two Battlestar Galactica television series. In both series, it was composed of one representative from each colony.Series creator Glen A...
for an investigation of the Gideon incident.
Analysis
Jason Davis of Mania said the episode contrasts "the essential conservatismConservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
of the military... with the naturally liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
notions of the media." He also singles out Helo
Karl Agathon
Karl C. Agathon is a fictional character on the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica TV series, portrayed by Tahmoh Penikett.-Background:...
's observation during his interview with Biers that combat training seeks to make soldiers less human. Davis views this as part of an argument by the series's writers that humans and Cylons are similar. Lynnette R. Porter, David Lavery, and Hillary Robson agree that this "goes to the core of the series' major themes".
Susan A. George views Adama's request for a report that shows the positive and negative sides of his crew as parallel to the series's nuanced depiction of humanity.
Writing
The writers had been considering writing an episode focusing on a journalist aboard Galactica since the first season. Director Robert M. Young, who directed the first-season episode "Six Degrees of SeparationSix Degrees of Separation (Battlestar Galactica)
"Six Degrees of Separation" is the seventh episode of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series.-Plot:Dr. Baltar and his vision of Number Six have a heated argument about religion. After he mocks Number Six's concept of a single God, she promptly vanishes from his head...
", was brought back to direct "Final Cut" because of his experience as a documentarian. Executive producer David Eick
David Eick
David Eick is an American producer and writer, best known as the Executive Producer of Battlestar Galactica, of which he also wrote several episodes with Ronald D. Moore, as well as the re-imagined version of Bionic Woman...
had worked with actress Lucy Lawless
Lucy Lawless
Lucy Lawless, MNZM is a New Zealander actress and singer best known for playing the title character of the internationally successful television series Xena: Warrior Princess....
(Biers) on the series Xena: Warrior Princess
Xena: Warrior Princess
Xena: Warrior Princess is an American–New Zealand supernatural fantasy adventure series that aired in syndication from September 4, 1995 until June 18, 2001....
and tried to find a role for her in the first season. Lawless declined due to other commitments but agreed when offered the role in "Final Cut". Executive producer Ronald D. Moore
Ronald D. Moore
Ronald Dowl Moore is an American screenwriter and television producer best known for his work on Star Trek and the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries and television series, for which he won a Peabody Award for creative excellence in 2005 and an Emmy Award in 2008.-Early life and...
cites journalist Christiane Amanpour
Christiane Amanpour
Christiane Amanpour, CBE is anchor of ABC News's This Week and formerly chief international correspondent at CNN, where she worked for 27 years. She is a Board Member at the IWMF .-Early years:...
as a model for Biers's character.
Biers's monologue at the end of her report, in which she acknowledges the crew's imperfections but lauds their heroism and resilience, reflects Moore's own "thesis of the show."
In the episode, Biers interviews a number of secondary characters, including Anastasia "Dee" Dualla
Anastasia Dualla
Anastasia "Dee" Dualla, portrayed by Kandyse McClure, is a fictional character in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica.-Character history:...
, Racetrack
Margaret Edmondson
Margaret Edmondson is a fictional character in the television series Battlestar Galactica, portrayed by actress Leah Cairns.- Character biography :...
, and Lieutenant Felix Gaeta
Felix Gaeta
Lieutenant Junior Grade Felix Gaeta is a fictional character on Battlestar Galactica played by Alessandro Juliani.- Character overview in his early career :...
. Moore encouraged the actors playing these characters (in these cases, Kandyse McClure
Kandyse McClure
Kandyse McClure is an actress, best known for playing Anastasia Dualla on the Sci Fi Channel's television program Battlestar Galactica.- Biography :...
, Leah Cairns
Leah Cairns
Leah Cairns is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her role as one of the Raptor pilots, Lieutenant Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson, on the Sci Fi Channel television program Battlestar Galactica.-Biography:...
, and Alessandro Juliani
Alessandro Juliani
Alessandro Juliani is a Canadian actor, singer, and voice actor. He is notable for playing Tactical Officer Lieutenant Felix Gaeta on the Sci Fi Channel television program Battlestar Galactica, and Emil Hamilton in Smallville...
, respectively) to improvise their interviews extensively and teach him "things I didn't know about these people that I created." This is also the first time Dualla and Gaeta's first names are presented to the audience.
Moore considers the episode to be mainly a character piece about Galacticas crew. He said that the subplot focusing on Palladino's threats against Tigh serves only to inject what he considered was a baseline level of tension required in a television episode and admitted that he was never satisfied with it. The first draft had Palladino shooting himself at the end of his confrontation with Tigh, but the writers considered this "gratuitous" as rewrote it to have Marines arrest him instead.
Filming
According to Moore, the decision not to include any exterior shots during the battle with the Raiders was a creative choice. Showing the reactions in the CICCombat Information Center
The Operations Room is the tactical center of a warship or AWAC aircraft providing processed information for command and control of the near battle space or 'area of operations'...
and hangar deck to the pilots' audio transmissions was, in his view, truer to the episode's documentary style.
Flick Harrison, the actor who plays Biers's cameraman, is a cameraman in real life. His camera is also real, and he shot some of the footage in "Final Cut" with it.
Music
At the end of Biers's report, a part of the "Colonial Anthem" from the original Battlestar Galactica plays over images of Galactica crew members. Composer Bear McCrearyBear McCreary
Bear McCreary is an American composer and musician living in Los Angeles, California. He is known for his work on the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica television series.-Biography:...
collaborated with Stu Phillips, who wrote "Colonial Anthem", to produce the track. McCreary called the collaboration "one of the highlights of the second season."
Reception
"Final Cut" received mixed critical reception. Davis gave the episode an A-, praising Lawless's performance in particular. Simon Brew appreciated the surprise reveal of Biers as a Cylon but criticized numerous other elements of the episode. Susan Tankersley of Television Without Pity gave "Final Cut" a C, saying that Moore's premise that the characters are "flawed but heroic" had been evident from the beginning of the series and did not require a dedicated episode. Jacob Clifton of Television Without Pity wrote in a review of a later episode that "'Final Cut' wasn't that bad — I liked it a lot, actually, and it's still better than most things you can see on the TV." He later compared it favorably to the episodes "LitmusLitmus (Battlestar Galactica)
"Litmus" is the sixth episode of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. In the episode, after a Cylon suicide bomber gains access to Galactica, an independent tribunal is appointed to investigate. The inquiry comes to focus on the relationship between Chief Galen Tyrol and the...
", "The Farm
The Farm (Battlestar Galactica)
"The Farm" is the fifth episode of the second season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on August 12, 2005...
", and "Scar
Scar (Battlestar Galactica)
"Scar" is the fifteenth episode of the second season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on February 3, 2006....
"; he gave the last of these an A-.
Porter, Lavery, and Robson called "Final Cut" "one of [the series's] best episodes" but called the Palladino subplot "mostly routine". John Kubicek of BuddyTV
BuddyTV
BuddyTV is an entertainment-based website based in Seattle, Washington, which generates content about television programs and sporting events. The website publishes information about celebrity and related entertainment news through a series of articles, entertainment profiles, actor biographies and...
ranked "Final Cut" as the 20th best episode of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica and called the episode "fascinating".
External links
- "Final Cut" at the Battlestar Wiki
- "Final Cut" at SyfySyfySyfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...