KEVIN GREENE-ILLUSTRATOR

Well...seeing as how the show is called "Battlestar Galactica" and not "Battlestars' Galactica and Pegasus" you knew that it was only a matter of time before The Pegasus would be destroyed. You just hoped that the ship would go nobly. maybe even sacrificing herself to save humanity. Well, that's exactly what happened. In last Fridays "Galactica" entitled "Exodus, Part II" the big Battlestar got destroyed saving the Galactica, who was taking a royal pounding from four Basestars. The shot of the Galactica, her hull potmarked and cracked, her engines flickering and failing, falling into the void while being absolutely hammered was a great fx shot...which became even greater when the Pegasus comes sailing in firing all weapons. One Basestar gets it immediately and the Pegasus wades right into the middle to give the Galactica time to escape. You KNEW that Lee wouldn't leave his father to die out there like that; you knew he would come back and lend a hand. And when the Galactica escapes and the Pegasus crew abandons ship (Lee's "Thank you" to the ship is a nice touch) the big ship, getting hit from all sides rams a Basestar and gets completely torn apart by a huge explosion aft. And then one of landing bays swings by the camera (We see the name Pegasus one last time) and crashes into another Basestar, destroying it. What a scene. Goodbye Pegasus.

What I liked about what they did with the Pegasus is that Ron Moore and David Eick stood Sci-Fi convention on it's head. Most any other show(including the original Galactica) would have introduced another starship and then destroyed her in the same episode or MAYBE given it a two-parter and done it then. The Pegasus lasted 15 episodes. They built whole storylines around the Pegasus. You might've even fooled yourself and thought that she might stick around. But they took full advantage of having her around and using the ship for great effect. The VASTLY UNDERRRATED "Farscape" did this TWICE, once with a ship and another with the old double-of-one-of-the-characters bit.(I say vastly underrated because I think people saw Jim Henson Puppets and crazy looking aliens and just overlooked the show when it was actually a GREAT show, an amazing character-driven piece. Anyone who rags on "Farscape", I can guarantee, NEVER watched the show for more than a few episodes. It was that good.)

The rest of "Exodus, Part II" was as great as you would expect it to be. The Galactica jumping into the upper atmosphere, dropping off the Vipers and jumping away as she falls burning towards the surface was one of the coolest things I've ever seen on a television show. Great tactic by Adama. And now that the show has come full circle and practically started up again we get into the characters trying to find themselves all over again. Starbuck recovering from one of the most brutal mindf*@%s ever on television, Tigh getting over the loss of an eye and his wife(whom he reluctantly poisoned) and Gaeta and Jammer trying to leave what they did behind on New Caprica (if anyone will let them). And that doesn't even include the four couples on the show, Tyrol/Cally, Starbuck/Anders, Lee( who I assume will try to lose some weight)/Dualla and Boomer/Helo. They will go through some SERIOUS up and downs, I am sure. What a great show. And no other Battlestar to help the old Galactica out.