Gary Hutzel.

Going into more specifics about the re-haul, Hutzel adds, "Two weeks ago, Ron added a complete new set piece. It's one of those situations where you can't blame him because he hadn't seen what was going to happen. In the context of the story there was a fairly minor event, nothing to indicate it should be a set piece, so we planned what I thought was an extensive set up to inter-cut with the live action but when Ron saw the previs he said he wanted something powerful and big. We had to build new models around the clock and come up with a new design for the sequence and get it into the show and finaled. I had to comp two of the shots myself because there was no one else who could do them! But we wanted the show to be as big and dramatic as possible, so it's quite a bit over in terms of the visual effects count. Everyone was doing extra time to get the show out and I feel, and I think everyone would agree, it was worth it."

Moore concurs. "I asked a lot of Gary and his team on the final shows, challenged them and pushed them pretty hard, but they were up to the challenge and delivered some extraordinary sequences for the end. I definitely wanted the final actions scenes to be the biggest and most spectacular we'd done and so I wrote on a grand scale in order to let them run wild."

The delivery schedule was so short there was no approval process; the team just got the work done.

Teasing one of his favorite elements to the finale, Hutzel says, "I think in the finale we took the Centurions full circle. In the miniseries, the request was for the Centurions to play a very small role in the show. They would be anything but humanoid. As we've played out the show, Ron gave me more latitude to show more emotion to the Centurions. In the first couple of seasons, that was verboten -- they must not act! Whereas in the finale all they do is chew up the scenery. For instance, one of the things that occurred is that in the finale we have Centurions on our side and then Centurions on the bad guy side. During pre-production I coined the phrase 'hot Cylon-on-Cylon' action, which ended up in the script, and is basically them fighting amongst themselves. That was never part of the original game plan but for people who enjoy the show they will enjoy that and it's a nice moment."

Looking back on what they've accomplished with Battlestar Galactica, Hutzel admits he's extraordinarily proud of what they were able to contribute in helping make the series something very special. "The first day of shooting we knew we were onto something," he remembers. "I mean that literally. We were on the set for the first day and starting to get the scenes underway and normally on a pilot everyone is trying to find their way. But the very first scenes shot were spectacular -- the drama, the presence of the actors, the level of professionalism -- even Rymer's jaw dropped. It really just worked. You never thought you were shooting a TV show from the beginning to the end. It always felt like the set of a major feature. Through the entire five years, the performances never stopped. It's a kind of lighting that's unlikely to strike again, but I think Caprica has a lot of promise..."

Tara Bennett is an East Coast-based writer whose articles have appeared in publications such as SCI FI Magazine, SFX and Lost Magazine. She is the author of the books 300: The Art of the Film and 24: The Official Companion Guide: Seasons 1-6.