Interest on my blog is off the charts for Battlestar Galactica lately, so I just had to put a post up as we count down the next five days until the season three finale.

First, if you are not caught up, a couple posts you should read:

1. My post on the Death of Starbuck. (this is currently the most viewed post on my blog)
2. This great summary of the Crossroads, Part 1 episode from this Sunday, March 17th.

Now, onto the spoilers. If you don’t want to know what’s going to happen, or more accurately, what I think is going to happen, then stop reading already. No one is forcing you.

Most of my good material is from BuddyTV, which has the best spoilers post on the season finale that I’ve been able to find.

First, Starbuck. She is not dead. Rumors abound that attempt to prove that she is not dead. Current spoiler sites are saying that she will be back in the season finale, claiming to have visited Earth, and ready to guide the fleet to the planet.

Second, who are the final five cylons? Here is a quick shout out to Elliot, who seems to have correctly commented that Anders, Tory, Tigh, and Tyrol are all Cylons… or are they? The spoiler just says that they are hearing the music, and they meet and decide that they think they are Cylons. But does that make sense?

To me, it would make more sense if they actually were not Cylons, but have been tampered with somehow to “hear the music”. Thus, like Baltar before them, they think they are Cylons, but actually aren’t.

It’s also possible that some are, and some aren’t. Tigh would be hard to explain, given his long history with Adama. After all, the war with the mechanical Cylons was only 40 years ago. They didn’t have humanoid models back then.

Anders, on the other hand, is easy to see as a Cylon. First, Starbuck just “found” him as a rebel on Caprica. Second, all of Starbuck’s hallucination about being married to a Cylon could reflect a subconscious realization that actually her husband was a Cylon. Tory is also easy to see.

Personally, I will be disappointed if the Final Five Cylons end up being just other individuals on the crew. I think the show has set up a very interesting question with the Final Five:

• Why don’t the other Cylons want to speak about them? Did the Final Five leave because they disagreed with the path taken by the other Cylons? Did they do something unspeakable?
• Are there many versions of the Final Five? Are they functionally like the other seven, or do they have special abilities? Are they more human? Do they resurrect?
• Why did Number 3 react the Final Five the way she did? She clearly had see the one she apologized to before.

Lastly, what is up with the virtual Baltar in Caprica Six’s head, and the virtual Six in Baltar’s head?

Very excited for the season finale, but I hope they don’t short-change these issues with a “quick fix”.

Please comment below – let’s use the next few days to assemble as many guesses as possible about the finale and Season 4. We’ll then see who’s right after March 24th.

Update (3/26/2006): See my final post on the Season Finale and the Wait for 2008, now available.

Update (1/8/2007): Possible spoilers for the fifth & last cylon, as we approach Season 4.

Update (4/22/2008): New post on Episode 3 of the 4th Season: Ties That Bind.

Yeah, I guess putting “spoilers” after that title doesn’t help much, does it?

I was moved to post on the topic based on Elliot’s comment on my original post on a possible end to the series. After all, if Elliot cares, then maybe other people do too?

So the quick recap:

On March 5th (yesterday), the Battlestar Galactica episode “Maelstrom” aired. At the very end, Starbuck dies.

There is a nice interview with Katee Sackhoff, the actress who plays (played?) Starbuck on TheSciFiWorld. Katee has been pretty pissy about Battlestar Galactica all season, and she has frequently commented about how she didn’t like the love triangle set up around her character this season.

Personally, I found the episode tiring. So many predictions and allusions to Starbuck’s life having meaning & purpose. The vague references to finding out what lies between life & death.

Right now, the only options are:

1. Starbuck is dead. Finito. No mystery, just a girl in Viper who went suicidal.
2. Starbuck escaped. Some lame last-minute rescue or eject, picked up by a Cylon before dying.
3. Starbuck is a Cylon. She wakes up in Season 4, resurrected, as one of the final Five, and becomes the fleet’s worst enemy because she knows them inside and out.

#3 is not the worst twist in the world. That would be my guess, assuming the writers don’t have the guts to just have her be dead.

There are only three more episodes in the season. BuddyTV has some additional spoilers here. It sounds like the last two episodes focus on the trial of Baltar, where we will learn the identity of one of the last five Cylons, and where Baltar will eventually go free.

Do you have a guess as to the Cylon? Based on the penchant for this writing team to go after the unexpected, my prediction would be for President Roslyn to actually turn out to be a Cylon. True, she went through that bout of cancer. But, Adama can’t be a Cylon, since his history is public and pre-dates the humanoid Cylons. I also like feeding on the suspicion that Roslyn somehow escaped the destruction of New Caprica on purpose, rather than on accident.

Unlikely, maybe. But if it’s some other character, will we really care?

We’ll find out soon enough.

Update (3/20/2007):  Check out my new post on the Final Five Spoilers for the Season 3 Finale.

Just caught this news tidbit tonight, and had to post.

One of the most anticipated upcoming comic book movies was the new adaptation of Wonder Woman, which was being written by Joss Whedon. Whedon is a cult favorite for shows like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and the more recent western/sci-fi series “Firefly” and the following movie “Serenity“.

As Joss Whedon reported on his own blog, Whedonesque:

“You (hopefully) heard it here first: I’m no longer slated to make Wonder Woman,” Whedon wrote. “What? But how? It’s pretty complicated, so bear with me. I had a take on the film that, well, nobody liked. Hey, not that complicated.”

It’s surprising news, especially given the initial optimism that Whedon would be able to take Wonder Woman to production, after a number of failed attempts.  He also made comments to the effect that he had never established an idea for a lead actress, likely the number one challenge with a character like Wonder Woman.

You can read more on the SyFy Portal.