I have this thing called the Ronald D. Moore effect that goes like this: in any show the man is a part of, there’s always good buildup of a plot point or element that gets you, the viewer, very much excited about what happens next, only when you get to the moment of truth, it’s an utter, utter, dud. It’s like premature ejaculation, but not quite as messy (or embarrassing). It’s happened in almost every facet of Star Trek he’s worked on, especially Star Trek: Generations (it wasn’t a terrible plot overall, but the whole Kirk death thing could have been so much more exciting and impactful), and it’s happened more than once on Battlestar Galatica. Case in point: the second season finale. They spent a long time over several episodes building up all of this intrigue that Roslin knew Batlar was in cahoots with Number Six as the presidential elections approached. On top of this, we have Starbuck and company pinned down something fierce on Caprica on their rescue mission. Finally, we get to the big moment, and instead of giving us a backroom political potboiler that would have turned heads, we get this weak “fast forward a year to drugged up President Baltar” crap that led into the whole occupation thing that made the first half of Season 3 practically unwatchable. There was such an opportunity there to do so much more (e.g., does Roslin put aside her scruples and swiftboat Baltar to win the election? NO! She tries to steal it, and does it in such a sloppy manner, she’s caught red handed), but it was all wasted potential.
Such is how I feel after the recent episode Maelstrom, a.k.a, the Death of Starbuck. First off, I’m mad at my Tivo for having a moment and recording the entire second half of the episode without any goddamn sound. There’s been innuendo all season about Starbuck having this special destiny and all that, and they just up and presumably kill her like that. Now, while I’ve read things to suggest that she might not be dead, I have also heard that Katie Sakhoff, the actress that plays Starbuck is looking for new work and wanting to get away from sci-fi, so this may have actually been the noble end of Lt. Thrace. Except, it wasn’t noble, because she wasn’t really defending anyone and she died after having some kind of “episode”.
Time will tell how the shows pulls through thanks to events like this (I hear the season finale two-parter is vintage BSG), but once you’ve experienced the RDM effect, things are never quite as good after.
