For one of the most popular science fiction shows of all time, ‘Battlestar Galactica‘ had an extremely controversial ending. Some people loved it, some hated it, and no one could agree on what exactly happened to Starbuck at the end of it all.

As things have quieted down and while well into development on a couple of other new shows, Ronald D. Moore (‘Helix‘) has decided to address the end of ‘Battlestar Galactica’. First off, he takes on the fact that many people think it was the worst ending for a science fiction television show. Despite the controversial finale, Moore really does “wish they loved it, but I think it comes from a place of passion for the show. Why get that upset about it if you don’t care about it? If you weren’t engaged, you could not be that angry because you thought we screwed it up.”

So while he knows they don’t agree with the ending he laid out, he’s at least glad that they loved the show until that point. As someone who’s torn on the ending myself, I can see both sides. Honestly I enjoyed it up until they flash forwarded into the future. I didn’t even mind the cheap cop out on not explaining Starbuck’s reappearance. Speaking of the questionable fate of this fan favorite character:

I liked the idea, conceptually, that her fate was ambiguous because, conceptually, we were tying her to whatever the power was that didn’t like to be called God and was involved from the inception. From the miniseries on, there’s definitely something else going on in this story, and it’s unknowable. I kind of felt like it should be unknowable. It felt wrong to give it a neat answer on something that was so profound and existential about these people and this situation. They were dealing with something that they had trouble defining, whether it was gods plural, or God singular, or something else out there. Starbuck was in some way representational of that power, or had some connection to it, having been brought back from the dead — literally. I just didn’t feel like I wanted to give it a “Oh, that’s what this means.” It just felt right that that, too, should be mysterious and unknowable. That’s the way I wanted to go. If I called her an angel, does that make everybody happy? That just seemed really unsatisfying. I don’t know what that means. That’s just putting a label on who she is and it doesn’t tell me anything more, really.

So while it was hard for many to swallow, that is actually quite how I felt about his choice for Kara Thrace. Yes, some may say it went too spiritual at the end for a science fiction show but let’s be honest – there was a spiritual undertone from the very beginning.

So there you have it. That’s why we had a vague definition of Starbuck’s closing scene. It’s because they didn’t know how to explain her because the spiritual side was supposed to be left off as vague.

With two series in the works it’ll be interesting to see if either ‘Helix’ or ‘Outlander‘ are able to raise this much passion from the potential fans of the shows that they are still being talked about so many years after the show’s respective conclusions.

What do you think about his take on Starbuck? Were you happy with his response or do you feel they weren’t sure where to go with her? Let us know how you feel below!

Source: Vulture