'Battlestar Galactica' begins its final season

Auchtung, Trekkies, "Star Wars"-heads, nebbishes, geeks and all other forms of obsessive-compulsive sci-fi nerds, human and otherwise: "Battlestar Galactica" is coming home.

The outer-space allegory begins its fourth and final season at 9 p.m. today on the Sci Fi Channel with the copycat Cylons multiplying, Adm. Adama grimacing, President Roslin pontificating, Dr. Baltar fornicating and a reborn Starbuck, eager as ever, claiming she can lead them all home to Earth -- although perhaps she's really the last of a dozen humanoid Cylons and preparing to betray them to her/its masters.

Now, aren't you sorry you missed last weekend's study-session overview specials?

"BG" is a show deserving of Cliff's Notes, and, yes, you can take that either as a compliment or an insult or both, which is probably the most accurate reading. Your Friendly Neighborhood TV Critic is not claiming to be the be-all, end-all expert on "BG." As I've admitted before, sci fi generally leaves me cold -- it's my problem, I know, I'm working on it, but really at my own pace, all right? -- and although I admire "BG's" achievement, I can't say I've ever warmed to it.

My jazz pal Neil Tesser has converted me to the wonders of Ornette Coleman, David Murray and even improvisational vocalists, but when he gets started on "BG" or "Star Trek: The Next Generation," I'm sorry, the old punk-rock cynicism kicks in and all I can hear is guitarist Bob Mould sawing away on Husker Du's "Makes No Sense at All."

So I guess what I'm trying to suggest is that "BG" is a good show, a decent show, a generally reliable show and even a thought-provoking show on a regular basis, but it ain't great, not to the general audience -- not like the original "The Matrix" or "The Terminator" (as indebted as it is to "BG") or "Blade Runner" or even the first (read fourth or is that the seventh?) "Star Wars" as pure entertainment, not to mention so many episodes of "The Twilight Zone" as mind-blowing ironic allegory.

So, for the curious and the compulsive, here's what I know about this second incarnation of "BG" (vastly superior to the '70s original, I'll give it that much). Cylons are robots created by humans who outpaced them, turned on them and attacked. The 50,000 or so human survivors skedaddled on the title ship, commanded by Edward James Olmos' Adm. Adama and led by Mary McDonnell's President Roslin, although James Callis' randy Dr. Gaius Baltar has had a turn in the hot seat as well.

There are a bunch of courageous people and fighters, of course, but the only one who really matters is Katee Sackhoff's Starbuck, a butt-kicking blonde who blew herself up in an apparent crash last season only to return in the last episode saying, "I've been to Earth. I know where it is. And I'm going to lead us there."

Now, the Cylons have not only adapted to become superior to humans, they've also developed a dozen humanoid prototypes, starting with Tricia Helfer's va-va-va-voom Number Six and culminating at the end of last season with the discovery that four loyal humans are really Cylon undercover agents, although Michael Hogan's Col. Tigh, for one, is determined to fight "The Manchurian Candidate" impulses, saying, "Those (robots) can't program me to help them. No way."

The humans are trying to get "home" to Earth without really knowing where it is, with the Cylons in hot pursuit. Adama isn't sure he can trust Starbuck -- is she the 12th Cylon plant? -- and with each time they "jump" through hyperspace or whatever they call light-speed travel on the Galactica, Starbuck gets a migraine and her memory of where Earth is gets a little more distant.

Oh, yeah, it wouldn't be sci fi without religious allegory, and Baltar is acquitted of crimes against humanity (and robot-anity, but not inanity or bug-eyed overacting, not as far as I'm concerned) and is sent to a heaven-hell paradise of eager-to-please vestal virgins where he develops something of a Christ complex while considering the Cylons' "one god" religion. Or at least I think that's what's going on. I'm not much better at theosophy than I am at sci fi.

The final season -- which figures to be split up in the manner of "The Sopranos" to extend the run -- should end with the arrival home, although the possibility of apocalyptic extermination is ever-present.

What I know is that "BG" is a good show, a sturdy show, and a viewer doesn't have to be a sci-fi dweeb to enjoy it (although it certainly helps). As it is, it's a decent Friday-night entertainment. Try it, and you might find yourself riding home along with it.

http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/

http://www.battlestargalactica.com/

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