Popularizing The Word "Frak"
Yes, yes. It's like "fuck" but in space. We get it already. "Frak" has become nerd cliche by this point, overused to the point of becoming annoying, especially on non-nerdy TV shows when they want to drop a little geekage for one of their characters. Like all good TV show catchphrases - and that's really what this one was - it's had it's day, and it's time to slowly let it slink into the shadows at least until Caprica.

Being Treated As Art With The Self-Conscious Capital A
The one sour note in the finale? That would've been the epilogue, where AngelSix and AngelBaltar practically looked into the camera and said "It's not just science fiction, do you see? It's actually about the real world!" before we get Jimi and the robot clip show. Galactica has always had a tendency to get its pretension on, and that's one of the things that made it so wonderfully ambitious... but along the way, everyone else started getting very indulgent of that pretension. Yes, it transcended its SF roots to become a human drama that anyone could enjoy, but the self-congratulatory SciFi Channel specials? A little bit too much, even for self-promotion. And don't get me started on the UN thing.

That Music
Yes, people may have had a problem with the use of "All Along The Watchtower," but that's not the music I'm talking about here. Bear McCreary is a fine composer whose work on the first couple of seasons of the show (and, for that matter, on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Eureka) was amazing. But as his work got more ambitious on BSG, it also started to overpower some of the scenes, or just take the viewer out of them altogether with unexpected touches (All I'm saying is this: Bagpipes are never a good idea. Especially digital bagpipes). Although he managed to keep things under control in the finale, I dread to think where he would've gone if the show had continued for a fifth or sixth season.

Lee Adama In General
Where to start? With the way that his character never really gelled in any particular direction (even when that direction was "directionless")? Or how about the weird lack of purpose that he served in the show all along (Was there ever really an Apollo-centric story arc that didn't feel tacked on to some other plot?), or Jamie Bamber's performance that regularly mistook frowning for emotion? But, no; I'd rather talk about the lasting impression that I'll have of Lee Adama from the finale: His giant, giant hair. You can tell the true impact of a character when the thing that he'll really be remembered for is that he was fat for a bit during the show's third season, and it was this spirit of style-over-substance that must have led Bamber and the show's creators to send Apollo off with a hairstyle that can only have been a tribute to the late '70s era that spawned the original show in the first place. Not for nothing was he one of the few characters who didn't really have any kind of dramatic moment in the series finale; anything else might have made you suspect that he was there for some reason other than to look good. Dualla could've done so much better.

Battlestar Galactica
Okay, this is slightly unfair; I thought BSG was a wonderful show, despite all of the above, one that engaged my heart and my mind and poked and prodded in all the right ways, questioning and exciting and entertaining (if you can use that word for such a constantly depressing, pessimistic show) at all times. But if there's one thing that the finale accomplished, it was finishing the story. By the time it was done, I felt as if everything that needed to be said had been said, and said beautifully... and then there was the trailer for Battlestar Galactica: The Plan (and, for that matter, the trailer for Caprica). Maybe it's just me, but I don't think that the show needs an epilogue or a prequel spin-off, and the fact that it's getting both just feels more than a little like SciFi can't say goodbye to such a successful show, and have no problem with a little bit of graverobbing to try and keep the good thing going a little longer than it should. I'd love to miss Battlestar Galactica; I just don't feel as if I'm going to get the chance, sadly.

Frak used to be much more polite: According to the Battlestar Wiki, "Frack" - the official spelling of the word for the original 1970s version of the show, according to the Writer's Guide - didn't always mean "fuck":

"Frack" is a Colonial expletive, roughly analagous to "shit" or even the milder "rats" or "darn" of the Original Series.

The first use of the "Frak" spelling? A videogame: Frak! was a game released for the BBC Micro, Commodore 64 and Acorn Electron released in 1984, all about a caveman called Trogg jumping around platforms trying to find keys. When he died, he yelled out "Frak!" in anger. Does this mean that the final Cylon in Battlestar Galactica was actually a caveman, and we are all ancestors of toasters? Think about it.

"Frak" didn't make it through to Galactica 1980: In deference to the more kid-friendly time slot of the third season of the original show, even "frack" was deemed to be too risque for the audience. Its replacement in the faux-curse stakes? "Felgercarb".

Japan's latest two-wheeled craze is fracking mamas: According to the Digital World Tokyo blog, a new bike brand may seem slightly familiar to Galactica fans:

Battlestar Galactica fans on a budget might get a kick out of this Japanese Mama Chari (or 'Mom's bike') named for their favorite pseudo swearword.

The ¥49,000 ($450) bicycle comes with a sturdy child seat in front of the handlebars, three gears and that all-important oedipal epithet right there on the frame for the world to see.

Image from FilmFodder.

Frak [Urban Dictionary]

• Frak, Battlestar Galactica: Whether you spell it frack or frak, it's currently the most used replacement for the f-bomb, courtesy of the original BSG show. That's right, Ronald D. Moore didn't invent this sucker, although he sure uses it a lot more than they did back in the 1980s. Plus it rolls off the tongue nicely. Here's a video education on all the uses it has.

  

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• Frell, Farscape: Frell was Farscape's own version of everyone's favorite f-word, and used extensively on the show after appearing in the first season. "Frell Me Dead" has become a favorite phrase among fans of the show, appearing on shirts and wristbands, and they even use the term "frellwit" on the show. Pretty frelling cool.
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• Gorram, Firefly: Firefly had a whole new language of swears due to the fact that Joss Whedon assumed that in the future Chinese and English would meld together, and that's led to some colorful swears for the show, like "Ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng" translated as "frog-humpin' bastard." However, gorram strands out as a simple perversion of goddamn, and probably made the most appearances on the show.
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• Shazbot, Mork & Mindy: While it never quite caught on in pop culture, Mork's substitute for shit still exists in the Tribes video games. Robin Williams probably made this word up himself, and it has the bonus of sounding like something a robot might do on your carpet.
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• Poodoo, Star Wars: George Lucas' prequels not only gave us bad acting, but it included fart jokes and this word for Bantha shit in Episode I. Which helps give you a single word to sum up the prequels with.
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• Smeg, Red Dwarf: Lister's favorite swear word from this trapped in space show obviously seems derived from smegma (wiki it if you're not informed), but series creator Grant Naylor claims he never knew that word when he wrote in smeg. He just thought it sounded like a future curse word. As Lister would say, "Whatever, you smegging smeghead."
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• Farathoom, Don't Bite The Sun: Tanith Lee's 1976 novel was full of hedonistic pleasure domes, mutable appearances and genders, and new swear words. Farathoom was probably the strongest, meaning "bloody fucking hell," although "floop" meant "cunt." We're not sure which one is cooler.
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• Shock, Spiderman 2099: Marvel Comics went on a tear in the 1990s, offering up versions of their classic characters in the year 2099. My favorite was Miguel O'Hara as the semi-mutated version of spiderman, who frequently would yell "What the shock?!" when he would be attacked by Venom 2099.
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• "I seem to be having tremendous difficulty with my lifestyle", The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Arthur Dent utters this phrase, just as a freak wormhole opens up in the space-time continuum, and it ends up triggering a massive interstellar war because in the Vl'hurg tongue this was the most dreadful insult imaginable. Just to encourage you to watch your language out there.
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• Smurf, The Smurfs: It just occurred to me that since Gargamel created Smurfette in his home laboratory, she's got herself a quasi-spot in scifi. Couple that with the fact that the Smurfs use "smurf" as a verb, noun, adjective, and everything else under the sun, and probably more than one Smurf has banged his thumb with a hammer and yelled out "SMURF!" Or if Jokey Smurf leaves an exploding box in your house, you'd probably tell him to Smurf Off.
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