Synopsis:

That Sought-After Sun seeks satisfying story and character closure for Battlestar Galactica. Crucial plot points from the originally aired finale have been altered to render the entire story more coherent and character driven. God or gods may or may not exist. Starbuck no longer vanishes. Bill Adama is no longer Leaving Forever. The visions in the opera house, and the many sacrifices on the road to Earth, will mean much more than in the only ending fans have had available until now.

Intentions:

The original finale, while containing many satisfying closures for characters, devolved into utter incoherence on some pivotal matters of plot. The writers’ strike probably played a hand in rendering the ending of the show less than it could have been. Crucial plot points relied upon either arbitrary chance or the intervention of an equally arbitrary god. Several major story points built over the course of the entire series ultimately amounted to almost no significance or were even contradicted, while several major character decisions in the last half-hour serviced a plot objective rather than deriving from sensible motivations. To add insult to injury, the story relied on intelligent design, two Earthlike worlds that just coincidentally had the same constellations, and an embarrassing array of misportrayed science--which is different from science fiction.

Change List:

I began with a tremendous respect for the creators of Battlestar Galactica, particularly Ron Moore, and for the many plot and character balls they juggled. I wanted to do justice to what they had established, and that meant respecting and maintaining their intent in many regards. I aimed to keep the look and feel of the show’s editing style, and I went to great lengths to achieve the best video quality possible, but telling a character-driven story was paramount. I thus opted to incorporate a deleted scene that uses lower resolution than the movie’s main source material, because it achieves something very specific that no other footage could. Cuts and Additions: Fanedit copyright warning added Previously on Battlestar Galactica cut Regular opening titles cut Alternate opening sequence added: Opening verse of Apocalypse used as audio (sped up slightly), while a translation of the title song appears on the screen over real deep-space images zooming in on the Helix Nebula [The translation is my own and follows the original Sanskrit more literally than most translations you will find online. "Dhiyo," a complex term for the purest essence of mind or self, is glossed as "the best part of ourselves" to match Lee's phrasing in the final act.] Main cast titles added over introductory montage Baltar's flashback to conversation with Calvin moved to his decision to stay with Galactica, where it replaces his POV shot of Lee. Color correction links the two shots of Baltar between which the scene originally appeared. Starbuck's argument with Adama over plugging Sam into Galactica removed Awkward transition between parts 1 & 2 of Daybreak smoothed We cut away from Skulls and Racetrack as they make the decision to go weapons hot. They are not killed by a random asteroid. Trimmed, reframed, and reversed version of final flashback with Baltar and Six inserted when they see their “angelic” doubles together Final shot of dead Boomer removed and used instead for dead Athena Scenes of Centurion boarders from "Valley of Darkness" replace footage of Roslin as Athena chases after Baltar and Six, so that Roslin does not appear to be reaching the door, but instead that the Centurions are chasing after Athena. Scenes from Valley of Darkness color corrected to match tones of Daybreak. The Centurions open fire on Athena, with a zoomed-in and flipped version of the excised shot of Boomer's bloody face serving to confirm Athena's death. Deleted scene inserted: Sharon hears about the death of her parents. Her first and last memories are of losing her family. Fade to white into Baltar and Six carrying Hera. Baltar's speech on god truncated, and Cavil's interest in it removed. Sharon and Helo cut from long shot of CIC "Zombie Racetrack" removed. Bits of footage of Racetrack and her ECO assembled [reversed or modified as needed] to convey that she deliberately launches the nukes at the Colony when the Cylon bargain sours During Starbuck's jump montage, after she asks, "What am I?" Leoben's telling Starbuck that she is an angel is replaced by Sam describing Number 7 as Daniel, followed by a shot of the pianoman hallucination who we have learned is Kara's father. Shots of fleet arriving at Earth removed. Galactica has traveled in a way the fleet cannot follow. As Adama said, this was a one-way trip. Title cards added: Earth, 3114 B.C.E. - 10,000 years before the fall of Caprica (Those who know their history will understand that Galactica arrives just in time for the dawn of urbanism) Brief dialogue between Bill and Lee concerning humanity already existing on Earth retained, with zoomed clips of tribal society overlapping. Intelligent design and incorrect ideas about human evolution removed. Apollo's decision to abandon all technology removed. Although he makes reference to sharing "the best part of ourselves" with the native humans, there is no deliberate abandonment of all technology into the sun. Considering that all they have is a broken Battlestar and weapons with no ammunition, no such decision is necessary. All scenes showing the fleet and characters left with it removed, as the fleet did not make it to Earth. Stock footage of sweeping across terran landscapes replaces shots of fleet before Adama's plan for colonization Wide shots showing characters left behind in the fleet replaced with shots of the colonization Adama is narrating Scene giving closure to Tyrol, Ellen, and Tigh comes before Adama's final launch scene Adama's final launch scene shortened to remove shots of fleet Scene showing Helo and Athena as surviving removed. Shots of colonists from the start of this scene are inserted to complete a sense of colonization. Title cards show the number of survivors from Galactica and the unknown disposition of the fleet. Dialogue between Adama & Roslin of what to call planet removed Lines concerning Bill Adama "not coming back this time" removed Dialogue between Starbuck and Apollo rearranged. Now, when Lee stops short on, "I must be craz--" it's because Kara has given him a look that he realizes means she won't be joining him. After the flashback, he thus asks where she'll be going. After her saying she's done, we get Lee's hungover sense of a bird flying away. Starbuck no longer vanishes. Instead, the scene with her returning to Anders comes after her conversation with Apollo, not before. The scene is edited so that she says, "I love you," but not, "goodbye." Inserted S2E20 recap footage of S2E05's "I'm coming back. I said it. I meant it." We then cut to a wide shot of Galactica alone taken from Season 2, Episode 1. Opening of Laura’s scene with her student slightly trimmed; shots of Laura’s “baptism” laid over opening and closure of scene Timing of dialogue and footage of Hera, Baltar, and Six altered in order to remove Sharon and Helo. Opening scene from S2E01 inserted in lieu of final flashback with Baltar and Six. "She's our child, Gaius. Our little girl." Dialogue in scene changed slightly to move it along more quickly than in the original. Some shots are zoomed to excise that episode's opening credits. Final shot of Baltar and Six walking away replaced with Opera House footage from several points in the series, including one horizontally flipped and reversed shot to show Six and Baltar walking into the future with Hera. Closing shot of Hera looking to the sky inserted during the final moment of the series to imply that she embodies hope for the future. Epilogue with Head Six and Head Baltar in New York removed. An edited version appears in the special features. "Five Millennia Later" and different stock footage of NYC replaces "150,000 years later." "Mitochondrial Eve" is removed (as the writers misunderstood what this means). The "robot revolution" is replaced with footage of various destructive behaviors of humankind. A second special feature cuts together footage from many episodes to suggest the fate of the fleet...

Additional Notes:

The synopsis is deliberately vague to minimize spoilers. This finale has received some of its most positive commentary from viewers who have not seen the original. If you have seen the original, try to put aside preconceptions about what is happening, since the implications of the story become significantly different.

Other Sources:

ESO/VISTA telescope video of the Helix Nebula Centurion footage from Season 2, Episode 2 of Battlestar Galactica Opening scene of Gaius and Six from Season 2, Episode 1 of Battlestar Galactica Wide shot of the ship from Season 2, Episode 1 of Battlestar Galactica Recap footage from Season 2 Episode 20 of Battlestar Galactica In Special Features: Stock Footage of New York City, military equipment & warfare, and ecological destruction, short clips from several episodes during season 4 showing Cylon on Cylon combat and the Basestar as the protector of the fleet

Special Thanks:

Thanks go to BionicBob for extremely helpful advice on an early workprint, to L8WRTR for technical and editing support, and to everyone on Fanedit.org who commented. Thanks also to all my friends who gathered to screen the first completed workprint, and to my girlfriend who cried during this ending after watching the series for the first time.