Executive Producers Ronald Moore and David Eick announced that the SCI FI Channel's award-winning Battlestar Galactica series will end upon the completion of the 22-episode fourth season, which will commence in early 2008.  Eick and Moore said that ending the series was a 'creative' decision and they told the SCI FI Net: 'This show was always meant to have a beginning, a middle, and, finally, an end.  Over the course of the last year, the story and the characters have been moving strongly toward that end, and we've decided to listen to those internal voices and conclude the show on our own terms. And while we know our fans will be saddened to know the end is coming, they should brace themselves for a wild ride getting there: We're going out with a bang.'  

Fans won't be the only ones who are saddened by the end of BSG.  By the end of next year retailers too could be mourning the end of one of the most creative science fiction series of the modern era, and more importantly, a series that had developed a strong and devoted fan following and inspired a wide range of tie-in products including comic books from Dynamite, action figures from Diamond Select Toys, an RPG from Margaret Weis Productions, and prop replicas from Master Replicas.  The SCI FI Channel will also have to replace its most popular series (see 'SCI FI Channel Ratings Soar').  Fortunately we will all have the new Battlestar Galactica around through the end of 2008.