End of Battlestar Galactica

[wakela]

Sorry I'm so late coming to the party on this one, but I just finished the last episode of BSG.  I had some comments and did not know where else to turn.

***SPOILERS****
This is pretty much nothing but BSG spoilers.

-So Starbuck was like a ghost whose purpose was to lead them to Earth?  Sent from...God?
-They risk everything to go back and get Hera, but then she doesn't matter all that much.  I guess it was important to keep the evil Cylons from keeping her, but I thought that the fate of humanity was tied to her.
-same deal with the opera house dreams.  The meaning was revealed when Roslyn and Athena found Hera on the Galactica, tried to get her, but she was taken by Baltar and Six.  But Baltar and Six brought her to Adama.  Isn't that was Roslyn or Athena would have done?
-In the flashbacks Adama is taking a lie detector test and they ask him "are you a cylon."  But before the fall of Caprica they didn't have human-looking cylons, did they?  In the pilot episode it implies that all cylons look like original series cylons, walking toasters.
-The ending felt a little weak in that many of the resolutions -- the death of the Dean Stockwell Cylon, the fate of Boomer, Baltar returing to his family's farming roots, were set up pretty recently.  I would have preferred some rivalry from the very beginning coming to an end. 
-So Baltar interprets his visions of seeing Six as "seeing angels."  That angel told him to acquire a nuclear warhead... We never know what the deal is with that. 
-They let the centurions go.  Wasn't letting the centurions go 50 years ago the whole problem?
-Very very disappointed in Lee's comment "we leave the ships and the technology behind.  Only take the best of humanity."  Technology is the best of humanity (IMHO).  Let's see what Lee says the first time he needs a dentist on New Earth.
-So......Bob Dylan is a cylon?

Still I liked it.  So many final episodes are surprisingly bad, but this was powerful, and the space battle stuff was great.

[Devoted135]

I'm so glad you posted this because I recently finished BSG (about a month ago) and I had at least several of the same thoughts.

*SPOILERS* (obviously)


In terms of Hera, they did imply that all of modern humanity descended from her line, so I took that to be her final significance, on top of what you said about not allowing the Ones to experiment on her.
As for the opera house, it was a vision that was revealing how things would happen, not how they had to happen (to avert disaster). It all unfolded "exactly" how the vision said it would regardless of what Athena or Roslyn might have done if they did manage to catch up with Hera. Also, I'm not convinced that Athena would have brought Hera to Adama. It seems more likely to me that she would have brought her daughter back to their quarters as a relatively safe place.

As for Starbuck....yeah... that was one of the more disappointing wrap-ups for me as well.
I was also not sure about Head Six's motives all the way through. That nuke is what blew up the ship, and the signature from the explosion is what allowed the cylons to find New Caprica... so that clearly helped to not only prolong the war but also was mostly beneficial to the cylons. On the other hand, all of that did prevent the humans from settling permanently on New Caprica and eventually led to them finding our earth. So I guess that's good in the end?

And I agree, watching BSG just makes me even more upset with how LOST ended.

[stePH]

-So......Bob Dylan is a cylon?

  Duh.

[wingodzilla]

When asked about the end the executive producer Roland D. Moore said he was torn on how to end the series when in the writing room it was decided to just worry about the characters and their endings. As for the rest, well some of it was good and some not so. Still it was one hell of a ride. BTW the podcasts for each episode is worth checking out, some nice stuff in there.

[stePH]

When asked about the end the executive producer Roland D. Moore said he was torn on how to end the series when in the writing room it was decided to just worry about the characters and their endings. As for the rest, well some of it was good and some not so. Still it was one hell of a ride. BTW the podcasts for each episode is worth checking out, some nice stuff in there.

This is why it's nice to have your arc mapped out and your ending in mind before you get started.

[matweller]

When asked about the end the executive producer Roland D. Moore said he was torn on how to end the series when in the writing room it was decided to just worry about the characters and their endings. As for the rest, well some of it was good and some not so. Still it was one hell of a ride. BTW the podcasts for each episode is worth checking out, some nice stuff in there.

This is why it's nice to have your arc mapped out and your ending in mind before you get started.

That's easier to do if you don't have to worry about whether or not you'll be renewed each season. I listened to the podcasts too, and they were barely filming a half a season ahead. Moore had a general idea of the arc he wanted, but he gave his writers a lot of freedom, which had good and bad results. Overall, it was easily one of the best dramas on TV in the time between it and the original series in the 70's, and one of the best long running sci-fi series ever, IMO.

[matweller]

All of the everything else aside, there were some seriously awesome moments in BSG. The jump into the atmosphere (premier of season 3) gives me tingles every time I see it. And airlocking Cavel, after all you'd been through with him at that point...I'm not that into retribution, but that was nearly orgasmic.

[stePH]

This is why it's nice to have your arc mapped out and your ending in mind before you get started.

That's easier to do if you don't have to worry about whether or not you'll be renewed each season.

You think Straczynski didn't have that to worry about when he was making Babylon 5? Of course you have contingency plans too. At least, if you're smart about what you're doing, you have contingency plans.

[kibitzer]

BSG (MKII) is the best sci-fi series I've seen in ages. Unlike Babylon 5 the writing was generally even and engrossing all the way through. Sure there were some bits that weren't tied up nicely, but I rather like that. It gives fans the space to take whatever meaning they like out of it.

Kinda bummed the evil/inconstant guy was so very British, though. At least in B5 Marcus was an unequivocally good guy.

The other great thing about BSG (MKII) is that most of the actors are top notch. There's maybe one or two that weren't quite up to scratch but overall, great. B5 had some really wooden acting, and stolid performances are almost required for Star Trek WITH THE EXCEPTION OF PATRICK STEWART OF COURSE.

Speaking of BSG, here's a web comic I like very much indeed: http://hijinksensue.com/2009/11/25/luna-nueva/

[tinygaia]

Speaking of BSG, here's a web comic I like very much indeed: http://hijinksensue.com/2009/11/25/luna-nueva/

Thank you so much for linking this. You made my day.

I... may have to buy that shirt...

[Alasdair5000]

When asked about the end the executive producer Roland D. Moore said he was torn on how to end the series when in the writing room it was decided to just worry about the characters and their endings. As for the rest, well some of it was good and some not so. Still it was one hell of a ride. BTW the podcasts for each episode is worth checking out, some nice stuff in there.

I utterly agree the podcasts are fascinating.  THey double as a commentary on the episode and there's some really interesting stuff in there.  If I remember correctly, one of the things that comes up is the original idea that Galactica would jump INTO Earth's atmosphere and crash.  With no hope of the ship taking off again, it would act as a base camp as humanity made it's way out across the planet and, 150,000 years later, the National Geographic issue Ron Moore's reading at the end would have a cover story about some odd, regular looking tunnels and hills in Peru...Like that rather better than what they ended up doing.

[sketchylines]

BSG focussed on rounding up parts of the story that were irrelevant, i.e. the supernatural/spiritual parts.

[matweller]

BSG focussed on rounding up parts of the story that were irrelevant, i.e. the supernatural/spiritual parts.

Yeah, that irrelevant main theme of the whole show.

Sorry, I just don't buy people -- I'm not talking about you here, but rather others that have ranted about this ad nauseum -- who were all pissed about the spiritual themes in the ending. What the hell did they expect? Did they watch any of the rest of it? Finding and understanding the nature of "God" is the main theme for the humans and the Cylons from the very first episode.