"Journey's End" Part 4 Battlestar Galactica: Journey's End #4 (Maximum Press) Plot: Rob Liefeld Co-plot/Script: Robert Napton Pencils: Ching Lau, Michael Chang Inks: Livesay, Sean Parsons, Dan Fraga November 1996

Sent into the past, the Galactica crew and their allies attempt to prevent the destruction of the Twelve Colonies.

Didja Know?

Because Elias has transported the Galactica back in time to shortly before the holocaust at the Twelve Colonies, this issue takes place during what would have been the events of "Annihilation", the premiere episode of Battlestar Galactica.

This was the final BSG issue published by Maximum Press. Although it concludes the Journey's End story, it still leaves many loose threads from this and the three previous mini-series unanswered.

Didja Notice? 

Page 1 states that our heroes are in the Colonial yahren 7342. However, as discussed in several previous studies of BSG episodes on PopApostle, according to the BSG Timeline on the Battlestar Wiki, the year 7342 is unlikely based on what we know of the TV episodes. The only date given in the TV series is the Colonial yahren 7322, when the Cylons attacked Umbra on Caprica, causing Starbuck to become orphaned at about the same age as Boxey, as mentioned in "The Man with Nine Lives". The characters' ages are presumed from the actors' ages at the time: Noah Hathaway as Boxey was 7 and Dirk Benedict as Starbuck was 33. From this it is deduced that the destruction of the Colonies occurs in 7348.

Page 1 presents an introductory segment of Serina's broadcast from the Caprican Presidium on the eve of the armistice, not previously seen in "Annihilation". She remarks she is on CBN, the Caprican Broadcasting Network. This is the first mention of the network. The clothing she wears is colored entirely grey, instead of the grey and brown seen in the televised episode.

In "Journey's End" Part 3, Commander Cain was back in his traditional uniform after assuming temporary command of the Galactica to warn the Colonies of the impending Cylon attack while Apollo and Tigh attempted to warn the Colonial President and Quorum of same. But now, Cain is suddenly wearing his patient gown from the Life Center again! (Cain was seriously injured in "Apollo's Journey" Part 1.)

On page 2, Serina's dialog during the broadcast is the same as that heard in "Annihilation" until it is changed by the appearance of the Vipers from the future-Galactica.

Notice on page 4, panel 3, that despite Cylon Unit 5560 being programmed to obey the Colonials, a past-Warrior is holding a gun on it anyway as Commander Apollo asks it to access its historical records to call off the Cylon Raiders attacking the Colonies.

Unit 5560 refers to the destruction of the Colonies and battlestars as Operation 8432.

On page 7, Commander Apollo refers to Earth as the last human outpost in all the universe, despite knowing from his travels (as does the reader from past episodes) that humans inhabit a number of other worlds besides the Colonies and Earth.

Because of the altered timeline, not only has Zac survived the Cylon assault, but so has Adama's wife, Ila, and most of the humans of the Twelve Colonies, now bound for Earth to escape the Cylon threat.

Speaking of the burden of command on page 9, Apollo says, "It's just not as good at it as my father was...is." Obviously, the "it's" at the beginning of his statement should be "I'm".

The last we see of Zac, he's reporting to Captain Apollo that he's lost two of his turbos in the battle and Apollo tells him to head back to the Galactica. This means Zac is aboard and alive-and-well when Elias propels the battlestar back to 7362. It would seem though, that the young Captain Apollo and Lt. Starbuck, as well as the old Commander Cain and Sheba and one of the Boomers (probably Colonel Boomer) were left behind, still taking out the baseship's forward laser batteries.

Panel 3 of page 17 features an image of the fleet reprinted from page 9, panel 1 of this issue.

At the end of the story, Elias returns the Galactica to the year 7362, before the fleet discovered Earth. With his current knowledge of the future, Apollo decides to send the fleet to Earth alone, with assurances from Elias that Count Iblis and the Cylons won't be bothering them with the Galactica leading them away. This would seem to imply that Adama is still alive, though still in suspended animation to prevent the Kaitai syndrome from killing him. And Elias informs Apollo that Starbuck is still lost (after his battle with Ares in "The Enemy Within" Part 3) because he has a journey of his own on which to embark. 

Unanswered Questions

What happens from here? Does the Galactica ever track down the missing members of the Thirteenth Tribe? Now that time has changed somewhat, will the Galactica and Pegasus ever be reunited? Did the young Apollo and the rest of the Viper pilots left behind in the past ever manage to make it back to the fleeing rag-tag fleet? What is future Starbuck's destiny with the Seraphs? These questions all remain unanswered, as Maximum Press ceased publication of BSG titles after the completion of this mini-series.