Battlestar Galactica's Darkest Episodes Paid Homage To The Greatest Sci-Fi Ending Of All Time

If you're going to rank the best movie endings ever, you have to include the conclusion to 1968's "Planet of the Apes." Everyone knows it: Astronaut George Taylor (Charlton Heston) discovers the remains of the Statue of Liberty and falls in complete despair. The topsy-turvy world he's found is really a ruined Earth, because humanity did not overcome their worst selves and instead destroyed their civilization in a nuclear war. 

This is also one of the most parodied movie endings, ever. One of the best-known jokes on "The Simpsons" is probably the in-universe "Planet of the Apes" musical sequence, but I always laugh watching "Deep Space Homer" when Homer finally realizes, "Wait, Statue of Liberty? That was our planet!" and then falls to his knees, quoting Taylor's calls for damnation.

But has any dramatic ending ever equaled that of "Apes"? One that comes close is in the reimagined "Battlestar Galactica." The series opens with its heroes fleeing a nuclear apocalypse after the robotic Cylons destroy their creators' homeworlds, the 12 Colonies of Man. Galactica's desperate fleet then sets out to find the home of the mythical 13th tribe: Earth.

In season 4, episode 10, "Revelations," they find it. The fleet arrives in orbit of Earth, Admiral William Adama (Edward James Olmos) announces the jubilant news, and ships race to the surface. Then, smash cut to a clump of earth in Adama's hand as a Geiger radiation counter goes off. The episode ends with a panning shot of the entire main cast walking around a barren shoreline, revealing more and more charred ruins before ending on a shot of a destroyed city. They're all silent — save for President Roslin's (Mary McDonnell) bitter remark, "Earth" — but each one is feeling the same level of devastation Taylor felt seeing the Statue of Liberty.

Since its airing in June 2008, the ending of "Revelations" has prompted comparisons to the conclusion of "Planet of the Apes." Both speak to the fear of nuclear war and that our creations will destroy us (a fear the Cylons allegorically represent, too).

Watching "Battlestar Galactica," you're meant to assume the Earth that they're searching for is our home. Seeing Earth destroyed in "Revelations" isn't unsettling just because our heroes bet all their hopes on a false promise; it also implies we destroyed ourselves like "Planet of the Apes" suggested we would. (It ultimately turns out the ruined 13th tribe Earth isn't our Earth, but let's not get into that right now.)

"Planet of the Apes" must've been on the minds of the episode's writers as well. (Both "Revelations" and the episode that follows, "Sometimes a Great Notion," were written by Bradley Thompson & David Weddle.) Here's the tell: Kara (Katee Sackhoff), who "died" and then returned back in "Battlestar Galactica" season 3, tracks a beacon on Earth and finds something deeply upsetting — a charred body with her own dog tags.

Before Kara goes looking for the beacon, the prophetic Leoben (Callum Keith Rennie) warns her that "You may not like what you find." This is exactly what Doctor Zaius (Maurice Evans) warned Taylor in "Planet of the Apes," before the latter went off deeper into the Forbidden Zone to ultimately find the Statue of Liberty.

So, how did Earth end up in such a horrible state? Like in the 12 Colonies, the people there created Cylons. 2,000 years before Galactica came, the Cylons rebelled, so humanity and the machines wiped each other out. Roslin bitterly sums it up: "It's perfect. We traded one nuked civilization for another."

"Sometimes a Great Notion" sees its characters wallowing in their misery; they suffered for years searching for Earth and it all led to ash. Lieutenant "Dee" Dualla (Kandyse McClure) loses all hope and dies by suicide, with Adama nearly following her. The characters of "Battlestar Galactica" feel like their journey is over, and, in fact, it almost was.

"Sometimes A Great Notion" was the last "Battlestar Galactica" episode written before the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike commenced. As series co-creator Ronald D. Moore told the Chicago Tribune in 2009, the episode was actually filmed during the early days of the strikes, meaning no rewrites could take place.

There were concerns that "Battlestar Galactica" might be canceled if the strike went on too long. (I spoke with several of the show's writers and cast members about how they felt during that limbo for an oral history of "Battlestar Galactica" season 4.) Per Moore, the cast and crew made "Sometimes A Great Notion" knowing it might be their last. Thus, their characters' somber moods were all too real. Members of the cast and crew have similarly said that "Revelations" and "Sometimes A Great Notion" could have served as a series finale if the show had indeed been canceled (perhaps conflating the two episodes).

The WGA strike ended in February 2008. So, when "Revelations" aired the following June, "Battlestar Galactica" fans knew more was coming and didn't worry that the last they'd see of their favorite show might be its characters finding a ruined Earth. ("Sometimes a Great Notion" aired as a mid-season premiere in January 2009.) If "Battlestar Galactica" had ended there, though, it might've surpassed "Planet of the Apes" as the bleakest twist ending ever in science fiction.