The end of BSG (Warning: Spoilers!!)

[Charlotte Rowan]

So... what did everyone think of the series finale of Battlestar Galactica? Were we satisfied? Disappointed?

[captmarga]

Underwhelmed.  I never could get into the series - disjointed for one thing.  As a writer/editor I had issues with a number of things in the series itself, but hubby followed it.  He too though, was disappointed with the end. 

Capt. Marga

[SirRichardBear]

My thought after seeing it was WTF were they trying to do?  What ever it was they failed.  I got lose trying to figure out if it was science fiction, fantasy, horror, or what.   I guess it fits scifi since the channel could never figure out what they wanted to be.

[Noble Dreg]

Loved the series!  Like most shows in thier fourth seaon things tend to get a bit "mucky".  While I liked the final episode, there were a few too many loose ends to tie up neatly.  All in all, I would have to say it was one of the better new SciFi shows in some time.

What I liked most about this show was the characters were real people.  Every new show I see on the Sci-Fi channel is populated with perfect people, none older than 28, with perfect teeth, perfect hair, perfect make-up, perfect abs, just perfect!  BSG had characters with flaws, some deep.  You could almost smell the stench of someone who had been wearing the same uniform for years.  The writers were not afraid to show people have negative traits that can come out under stress.

One thing I would have liked to have seen...Baltar getting 'toasted'.  Remember in BSG TOS, Baltar was beheaded by the Cylons (but they decided to spare him in the series pilot).

[SandrineDeLaTombe]

I was okay with everything, except for Starbuck's resolution.  The show obviously had heavy religious tones, with prophecies and multiple gods, etc., but everything that happened in the show could be explained by science or reality.  Whatever Starbuck was supposed to be just seemed like a cop-out.

[Noble Dreg]

Yup, Starbuck was one of those "mucky" things.  I think in a way they were paying homage to the original series with many of the "new" plot lines.  Remember in the old series where Starbuck and Apollo were "transfigured"?  Thier uniforms became a stunning white as "supreme beings" came in to help them?  I kinda think Starbucks spanky new fighter was trying to convey a similar image.

Edit:  Ooops!  I just noted your avatar Sandrine...Me thinks you may not recall the original series!   

[Charlotte Rowan]

I kind of felt the same way. I never saw TOS but I had heard of how Starbuck ended in that one. I'm glad they didn't go that direction with our Kara Thrace, but it was just kinda weird how they left it. And why didn't Bill Adama come back to live with his son after Laura died? The only other thing I was pretty annoyed about was the whole Daniel thing. Why did they ever bring up his existence - it never turned out to be important to the story line. I really thought Starbuck was going to be his daughter or something, the *real* first human-cylon hybrid. Hmm. All in all, I thought it was a pretty good ending though.

[SandrineDeLaTombe]

There's an interview with Ron Moore up on io9.com (put up last week, you may need to search for it), where he basically said that Daniel was supposed to just be a throwaway fact, that he was not important, just an interesting piece of back story.

[SirRichardBear]

but everything that happened in the show could be explained by science or reality. 

I can't agree with that there was far to much "magic" in the show for my taste the whole gods, ghost, stuff just doesn't fit in science fiction.  The reason I hate things like ghost hunters etc being on what started out as a science fiction channel.  Do science fiction or fantasy but mixing them just leaves a bad taste.

[SandrineDeLaTombe]

And I don't necessarily disagree with you, SirRichardBear.  But this show always mixed those elements into a cohesive narrative, and the religious aspects never felt too fantastical (at least, not to me, anyway.) Having Starbuck be an angel or something was pushing the religious/fantasy aspect a little too far.

[Noble Dreg]

Sir RB, lot's of Sci-Fi mixes God and science.  Remember when Kirk went to look for God?  Oh oh, flash back to the crappiest movie ever made!   

Back to BSG!

Curious what the Centurions did when they left.  There had to be a base star or two left besides them eh?

I think Odama had enough with the weight of command and just wanted to go away.  I am more curious as to what he did with the Raptor (imagine digging that up 150,000 years later).

Also I think the whole "back to nature" thing was a bit too easy.  The "Sons of Aries" just bought into it? 

I really liked the addition of the "classic" Cylon at the end of the series.

Ah well, nothings perfect.  Definitely a keeper in my DVD collection.

[SandrineDeLaTombe]

I am more curious as to what he did with the Raptor (imagine digging that up 150,000 years later).

I thought about this as well.  The archeaologist in me says that there would have been more traces of them (technology, clothing, etc.) besides Roslin's bones. Although bringing her up as being the "mitochondrial Eve" tickled the heck out of me.

[Noble Dreg]

Wasn't the "mitochondrial Eve" the Human/Cylon child?  If they found Roslin they'd have to explain her glasses!   

[SirRichardBear]

Noble Dreg I really would like to forget that.  excuse me why does god need a space ship?  Example of why I think the two should never be mixed.  Its like mixing grape and grain gives one a massive headache afterwards.

Has anyone read Hogan's Inherit the Stars?  The ending reminded me of the set up for that series were archaeologist start to find remains of advance tech. and find out that humans originally immigrated from the seventh planet.

I'd like to know went ever in history you got that many people to agree to any major social change?   At least some should have rejected the return to nature and demanded to keep advance tech.  They could have mentioned that some thousands who wanted to keep the tech were settling an island and naming it Atlantis that would have made for a nice bit.

I just hope they don't ruin "Eureka" when ever they decide to start running it again. 

[chainshot]

  My wife and I thought they kinda jumped the shark about halfway through the 4th season when they named Ellen Tigh the Fifth Cylon. Furthermore we got the feeling as though the writers painted themselves into a corner with the overall plot of the series with some outlandish twists and turns that seemed to go nowhere except for some shock value.  Then they got stuck and tried to figure out a way to resolve them with mixed results.  And yeah I thought that the ending of the series made Starbuck's character pointless.  Her struggles with who she was mean't nothing.  For that matter Baltar as an angel/disciple/Jesus-like character???  We loved this series until this season.  It made a mockery of the years of captivating storytelling and writing, the compelling characters and excellent editing.  The wrap up was garbage.  It leaves us wishing that the writers had taken the story as seriously as their viewers- or at least us.
In the end I for one preferred the original series over the re-imagined one.