Frakkin' Five on Friday! Battlestar Galactica edition

The 5 reasons to watch BSG

Next week, television's best science fiction -- or any television, for that matter -- in years returns on Sci Fi network. The fourth and final season of "Battlestar Galactica" continues the quest of the remnants of human civilization to escape their Cylon hunters and find a little ol' blue planet the legends know as 'Earth.'

But tonight, get caught up on the series and ready for the continuing adventures when the network airs a pair of specials titled "Revealed" and "Phenomenon", starting at 10:00 p.m. (Eastern).

The specials will not only serve as a refresher for the series, but will also include insights and commentary by such celebrity fans as Seth Green, country superstar Brad Paisley, host of "The Soup" Joel McHale and sci-fi writer Joss Whedon.

They'll no doubt share what they love about the series.

Here are five reasons I can't frakkin' wait.

5. Frakkin' A.

War is hell. The show is about the last handfuls of human survivors trying to survive. Cylons keep hunting them, battles keep going on, people don't always make it. It's edgy, it's ugly, it's dark. So inevitably, the people involved are going to want to drop an f-bomb or two once in a while.

So what do you do when the mother of all curse words is not allowed on tv? What do you do to help keep the show raw and edgy?

You invent your own frakkin' swear word. In the Battlestar universe, 'frak' is the f-bomb dropped when the stuff hits the fan.

4. The end is near.

When it was announced that this would be the last season, fans lamented. The show is too good, the stories too rich, the adventures too grand. We don't want to see the series end.

But at the same time, if it can go out on top, if it can thrill us one last time with the final chapter of this saga, then that's ultimately better than if it were to drag on and eventually wane creatively. I'm not saying that would happen in the near future, but we've seen it happen all too often with series that stayed past their prime.

"Battlestar" hopes to go out on top. Leave 'em wanting more, isn't that what they always say?

3. The storytelling

It's a compelling series, no doubt about it. Complex and layered, with multiple arcs and fantastic character development that has spanned the show's life, it's simply a joy to behold each and every week. Even the promo for this upcoming season, so simply designed with its main characters looking straight-on at the camera and a line of dialogue -- sometimes cryptic, often foreboding -- have been a visual treat.

But beyond the promos, the series not only gives us fantastic action in the battles between human and cylon, but deeper debates about what it exactly means to be human, the actual differences between human and cylon, mythology and religion, race and politics, good, evil and those shades of gray in between...

2. "All Along the Watchtower"

Ever get a song stuck in your head that you just can't get out? Well, if you're on the Battlestar Galactica and start hearing a certain Bob Dylan song, watch out.

You're probably a Cylon.

One of the recent story arcs involved the 'final five' Cylons -- a series of the robots unknown to the others. Sleeper agents perhaps? Ready to strike the humans from within, or simply to allow the main forces to keep tabs on the humans? Why they're there is still up for debate. But at the end of last season, four of the final five were revealed.

They came together after getting that frakkin' song stuck in their heads.

Each was a notable 'human' survivor. Each has different access and each can cause potentially huge repercussions if they decide to flip to the Cylon side. Among them is Saul Tigh, the ship's executive officer and right-hand man to Admiral Adama. No one has had a bigger vendetta against those tin men and no one has fought harder against them.
And now he's one of them. I can't wait to see how that plays out.

1. Number Six

Science fiction shows have always catered to their typically-male audiences by casting at least one hot babe in their ensembles. "Buck Rogers" had Col. Wilma Deering. "X-Files" gave us Scully. "Star Trek: Voyager" had "Seven of Nine."

But none have been easier on the eyes than Tricia Helfer's "Number Six". The blonde Cylon who's been driving Gaius Baltar -- and more than a few fanboys -- a little batty since day one will be back this season, and who knows where her allegiance will ultimately lie.

But there's a good chance she'll stand at the center of all that goes down during the final flight of the battlestar.