Daybreak: Part 2 & 3 

A stripped down Galactica attacks the Cylon's Colony ship in the hopes of rescuing Hera. The meaning of the shared dream in the Opera House on Kobol is revealed. Sam Anders is moved in his ... See full summary »

Director:

Michael Rymer

Writers:

Ronald D. Moore (developed by), Ronald D. Moore

Stars:

Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sackhoff

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Edward James Olmos	...	Admiral William Adama
Mary McDonnell	...	President Laura Roslin
Katee Sackhoff	...	Capt. Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace
Jamie Bamber	...	Lee Adama
James Callis	...	Dr. Gaius Baltar
Tricia Helfer	...	Number Six / Caprica
Grace Park	...	Lt. Sharon 'Athena' Agathon / Sharon 'Boomer' Valerii
Michael Hogan	...	Col. Saul Tigh
Aaron Douglas	...	Chief Galen Tyrol
Tahmoh Penikett	...	Capt. Karl 'Helo' Agathon
Michael Trucco	...	Ens. Samuel Anders
Callum Keith Rennie	...	Leoben Conoy
Rekha Sharma	...	Tory Foster
Kate Vernon	...	Ellen Tigh
Matthew Bennett	...	Aaron Doral

Storyline

A stripped down Galactica attacks the Cylon's Colony ship in the hopes of rescuing Hera. The meaning of the shared dream in the Opera House on Kobol is revealed. Sam Anders is moved in his Hybrid tank to the CIC in the hopes that he will be able to assist the combatants. Their mission complete, Admiral Adama orders Starbuck to pick a destination - any destination - to which the ship can jump to get out of there. With that, the meaning of the tune and the musical notes are explained. Having successfully jumped, the old Galactica has truly reached the end of it's life. A planet capable of sustaining life is found and Lee Adama makes a radical proposal for the future of humankind. In a flash forward far into the future, Hera's importance to the human race is revealed.

---

Plot Keywords:

series finale | 

---

Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

---

Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Release Date:

20 March 2009 (USA)

Box Office

Budget:

$18,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

David Eick Productions, R&D TV

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the extended DVD cut of this episode, the scene where Cally interrupts Tyrol and Boomer in the workroom, then warns Tyrol to "be careful", is a deleted scene that was filmed for the original miniseries. Because of this scene, Nicki Clyne (Cally) gets screen credit for the extended cut, even though she didn't film any new material.

---

Goofs

The events of the finale were supposed to have taken place 150,000 years ago. Therefore, when Galactica jumped to our Earth after rescuing Hera, shots of the African continent from space should have shown the Sahara to be lush and green rather than the pale desert it is today.

---

Quotes

Lee Adama: [explaining to his father his rationale for humanity forsakeing technology and adopting luddite practises] If there's one thing that we should have learned, it's that... you know, our brains have always outraced our hearts. Our science charges ahead, but our souls lag behind. Let's start anew.

---

Alternate Versions

The aired TV Version: 95:52 min NTSC (not including credits) The Extended Version: 103:16 min NTSC (not including credits) Difference: 7 minutes and 24 seconds in 8 scenes. On both DVD and Blu-ray, Parts 1 and 2 can be viewed as one seamless whole that contains 11 minutes and 30 seconds material not in the aired episodes.

---

Connections

Referenced in The Big Bang Theory: The Vengeance Formulation (2009)

---

Soundtracks

Ain't We Famous
(uncredited)
Written and Performed by Brendan McCreary

User Reviews

Skates right to edge of Excess, but does not fall in...

I have reviewed many individual episodes and I am guessing that if any reader is interested in this review of the climax, the finale, said reader has already slogged through the series.

And what a series.

As I said before, in the TV Hall of Fame (not a real place, I am using Poetic License) there is Buffy, there is Angel, there is Ed Sullivan, there an embarrassed-looking Bob Barker, and there is BSG.

There are many ways to exit a milestone series. For the record, Buffy ended with an epic battle and viewers were told she went off for a world tour. Angel ended with an epic battle too. Viewers were not told what happened, but trust me he got another series and went on with his career.

Ron Moore does not do things half-way. After closing down the main arc, he found his inner Star Trek 1 director hat and went Old School for the last 20 minutes.

Some will love the nuances. Some won't. But the sincerity is palpable.

PS -- after this, the producers did THE PLAN. Avoid it.