Principal Cast Edward James Olmos -- Admiral William Adama Mary McDonnell -- President Laura Roslin Katee Sackhoff -- Captain Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace Jamie Bamber -- Lee Adama James Callis -- Dr. Gaius Baltar Tricia Helfer -- Number Six / Caprica Grace Park -- Lt. Sharon 'Boomer' Valerii / Lt. Sharon 'Athena' Agathon Michael Hogan -- Colonel Saul Tigh Aaron Douglas -- Chief Galen Tyrol Tahmoh Penikett -- Captain Karl 'Helo' Agathon Michael Trucco -- Ensign Samuel Anders Kate Vernon -- Ellen Tigh Ratings Ratings are based on Rick's four star system. One star - the commercials are more entertaining than the viewing. Two stars - watch if you have nothing better to do. Three stars - good solid entertainment. Four stars - you never dreamed viewing could be this good.

Here is what I learned watching the conclusion of Battlestar Galactica:

Life in a state of nature is beautiful, bountiful, peaceful, and clean.
God's is in his heaven, and if you have faith in him, he will send angels to save you. Except when he doesn't.
All of the more intelligent creatures in the universe look, think, talk, dress, and light their cigarettes exactly like modern Americans.
When humans try to think, they make a mess of things, and so we should all act on our feelings instead of using our brains.
Civilization is bad, should be avoided at all costs, and should be destroyed if it rears its ugly head, so we can return to a state of nature (see item one, above).

Battlestar Galactica has been praised by many critics as the best show on television. It may be the best science fiction show on television. I've enjoyed watching it. But as science fiction, as fiction that takes reality seriously, it's in that never-never land of the Twilight Zone. It's emotionally gripping, but asks that you check your intelligence at the door.

The show ran for four seasons on the Sci Fi channel. It was less successful than Stargate SG-1 (a show most mainstream critics did not know existed). Only a few million people ever watched it -- say roughly one American in fifty. All five Star Trek shows had episodes that were better. To be fair, all five had many episodes that were much worse. In summary, it will be remembered, but it was not as good as Babylon 5 or Firefly.

Oh, and by the way, life in a state of nature is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. (The people who deny that global warming is man-made, and who think that governments should do nothing to solve our problems, will, if they get their way, discover this, to their sorrow.)

Caprica, a prequel, will be out on DVD in April and will air as a series in 2010.

Rick Norwood is a mathematician and writer whose small press publishing house, Manuscript Press, has published books by Hal Clement, R.A. Lafferty, and Hal Foster. He is also the editor of Comics Revue Monthly, which publishes such classic comic strips as Flash Gordon, Sky Masters, Modesty Blaise, Tarzan, Odd Bodkins, Casey Ruggles, The Phantom, Gasoline Alley, Krazy Kat, Alley Oop, Little Orphan Annie, Barnaby, Buz Sawyer, and Steve Canyon.