from Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Battlestar Galactica is a fantasy series that helped revive science fiction. The first two seasons are filled with great character moments and tense cat-and-mouse chases between the Cylons and the Colonial Fleet. By season 3, some felt the show had started to go off the rails.
As a fan, I grew frustrated with the increasing frequency of moments that ruined years of character development, and this was before the Final Five was revealed. But as it turns out, showrunner Ronald D. Moore purposely designed the fate of one character, Starbuck, to be confusing and have fans fighting over it forever.
This is not speculation; in an interview with SyFy after the finale aired, Moore explained, “I felt going into the finale that the more I pinpointed what she was, the less interesting she became. And so I just made a choice to go out on a more ambiguous note and let people argue about it all the time.
Divine guidance
The breakthrough nature of Battlestar Galactica Revival, Ronald D. Moore, reimagined Starbuck as a female, Kara Trace, casting Kate Sackhoff as the hotshot pilot played by Dirk Benedict in the original series. Although the writers were praised for creating a strong, multidimensional character, some of that goodwill went out the window in Season 3’s “Maelstrom,” when Starbuck appeared to die in her Viper, which blew up in the atmosphere of a distant planet. She didn’t disappear for long, reappearing without explanation in the season finale “Crossroads, Part II” and offering to lead the Colonial Fleet to Earth.
If it seemed like a sudden shift from Viper pilot to Moses figure offering to lead the colonists out of exile, that’s because it was, and again Moore explains that “She is what you want to think of her. It was deliberately left vague and vague.’
After dying in front of Apollo, Starbuck looked the same and Kate Sackhoff still played her, but as Moore intended, fans still debated whether the character was even human. The show creator chimed in with his own controversial take: “And I think she was representative of a being that didn’t like being called God, but everyone else talked about it in godlike terms. If you want to call her an angel, you can say so.
There is evidence of a mystical force guiding her, even years before the beginning of Battlestar Galacticarepresented by the Eye of Jupiter symbol that appears throughout her life, from childhood drawings to strange dreams just before her death. The symbol had appeared earlier in the season on the walls of the Temple of Five and in the supernova that guided the fleet to their next destination. More directly, Starbuck’s pre-death visions of her mother, her apartment, and what appears to be Leoben (Number Two) but turns out to be a spirit guide.
The harbinger of death
Over Starbuck’s post-resurrection appearance hangs the Cylon prophecy from the First War: “Cara Trace will bring the human race to its end. She is a harbinger of the Apocalypse, a harbinger of death. They should not follow her.
How does this happen during the final season of Battlestar Galactica is a bit counterintuitive since she brought the human race to its end by taking them to Earth. To the humans she was a guide to the promised land, but to the Cylons she became Death, destroyer of worlds.
While this is all entirely speculation and there is evidence to support almost any reading of the word “harbinger”, I believe that her destruction of the Cylon ship Ressurection and ending their cycle of reincarnation led to the Apocalypse. There’s also the argument that her choices led others to their deaths, or, as explained in one of the Battlestar Galactica deleted scenes included as a DVD extra, Starbuck explains to Apollo that the discovery of the destroyed Earth made that part of the prophecy come true. come true.
As intended by Ronald D. Moore, there is evidence for every reading of Starbuck’s nature after her death, from fans who believe she was a Cylon, to others who believe she was an angel, and even a few who go further and believe that she is God. As it “goes out on an ambiguous note,” it’s just as likely to have ties to the founding of Kobol as to The Five, but despite Moore’s goal of leaving it really open, that didn’t stop Sackhoff from chipping in with her interpretation.
No wrong answers
Buried in the comments of a photo posted by Kate Sackhoff of herself relaxing in the sun was her response to a fan who took the shot and asked if Starbuck was a spiritual guide. Sackhoff actually responded by saying: “She was a spirit brought to lead mankind to earth and salvation.”
You can see why after more than a decade Battlestar Galactica went off the air, fans are still arguing about Starbuck. Moore and Sackhoff have two different answers, and based on the evidence presented in the series itself, neither is wrong.
I believe she was an angel sent to bring humanity out of exile in the mirror of Moses’ story, but that’s also because I don’t think the Cylon evidence is particularly solid. Eye of Jupiter visions combined with prophecy seem to point to a divine, spiritual force pushing humanity down a certain path. The theory that Number 7 is her father and therefore she is a Cylon depends on too many other factors, some of which are explained in the show, especially that Cylon mating cannot produce offspring.
But that’s just my opinion, and thankfully Ronald D. Moore realized that, unlike what was happening with Star Warsnot everything needs a nice and neat explanation. When you go back and watch again Battlestar Galactica on Amazon Prime, see what evidence you can find to support Team Angel, Team Cylon, or the less popular but still valid Team She Was A Ghost.
