Battlestar Galactica Comes To an End

On Friday evening, Battlestar Galactica ended its four-season run as one of the most popular science fiction shows in recent history. 2.4 million people tuned in for the finale, and reactions to the ending — positive, negative, and often a mix of both — are springing up all over the internet, as are tributes and retrospectives. Producers Ron Moore and David Eick held a Q&A session after the finale to discuss certain aspects of the story and spell out the final status of several plot lines. Fans of the show will have a chance to see the Cylon side of the story this fall in a two-hour TV movie titled "The Plan," and we've previously discussed the spin-off prequel series, Caprica, the pilot for which will come out on April 21st. Be warned: these links and the following discussion will contain spoilers.

Comments

it rocked

[Maserati]

excellent ending

Re:it rocked

[coaxial]

Don't insult someone by saying they're "trying to dislike" something, as if somehow they're opinion and feelings are somehow fraudulent. If they say they dislike it, they dislike it. How do you like it if I say that you're trying to find a reason to like that crappy ending?

No one complains about Tyrol killing Tori. No one dislikes the "people are people" theme as you put it. That's what made the show great. What you're trying defend the overt onscreen presence of the cylon god. That's what is upset people, including myself. It's one thing to communicate through cryptic dreams, and drug induced hallucinations. It's something else entirely to create physical objects out of nothing and then take them back. If you can do that, you can do anything.

Serious life question

[Anonymous Coward]

Ask yourself: Do you want to be just a spectator of other people's imaginings?

SPOILER!

[Samschnooks]

This is what happens. It is discovered that all of the survivors are Cylons (How else are they to reproduce with one another?!). Then then give up the war, sing Kumbaya, and live happily ever after. Execpt for Cmdr Adama; he commits suicide after discovering that he is what he most hates in the Universe.

Re:Five minutes too long

[Fantastic Lad]

I'm talking "Galactica 1980" cheesy. I also didn't find the universal acceptance of the "hey, let's discard every scrap of technology and be cavemen!" idea to be realistic or practical in the least.

This was my general reaction to the whole series.

The difference here was that I didn't have to put up with a solid hour of bad lighting and claustrophobic camera work. I tuned in just to watch the thing die, and much to my surprise, I actually quite enjoyed the show for the first time, thanks to a liberal dose of Green and Blue. Other than that, the show was still "Stupid and Uninsightful" masquerading as "Intelligent". (Just pretend we're shooting "West Wing" and people will think it's clever, and they'll even swallow the whole, "Bad things happen to Good people more Often than they Don't" line of B.S..)

Still, congrats where congrats are due: It's VERY impressive when a series of such high production values sees itself through and ends on a strong note. Based on that, I can almost forgive the fact I hated practically every inch of it from the get-go, but somehow I suspect the two things are related. Formula applied after watching the first half dozen episodes of a series: "If I REALLY like it, it will have to struggle to survive or be Doctor Who, (which like the Muppet Show, exists in its own category where silly walks are cool). If I REALLY hate it, it will get lots of seasons, win too many awards and within four years it will be honored by the freekin' U.N. of all places while I quietly simmer in disgust."

Angels? You should all be embarrassed.

-FL

Insult to atheists everywhere

[macraig]

How any self-respecting atheist can tolerate the blatant propaganda and/or pandering to the majority ("we don't dare piss off the Christians and lose viewer share") that was evident in this series from the outset, and watch it for years in spite of it, is a mystery bigger than any in the plot of this show. I stopped watching it after the first few episodes, when it became OBVIOUS where it was ultimately headed; I didn't need to wait years to know that it would end with precisely the justifications that it did in the finale. I had issues with the original series for the same reason, even though I was still just a kid.

I can't say with any certainty whether there was any real propagandistic intent, but it was obviously pandering to a certain religious majority. People have been praising it for the "risks" the show took with the plot, but that's basically bullshit: the biggest risk the show could have possibly taken would have been to ignore the reactions of that religious majority and present some true science fiction. The show's writers and producers took the cowardly route, though, and all viewers got was fantasy or mere fiction instead. The fact that this has been true of so much other so-called "science fiction" is not a defense of the "science" in this series. The show achieved ratings, but not because it was science fiction.

Re:Insult to atheists everywhere

[gatkinso]

Who really cares about what the atheists think?

Since life is finite, short, and insignificant (after all what is 70 or so years in the face of eons?), they themselves should accept the fact that nothing anyone does or says matters at all.

So shut up and die already.

Re:All those alcoholics gave up liquor?

[Scrameustache]

All those alcoholics gave up liquor? I DON'T THINK SO!!!

And the smokers! It was a mystery how they managed to keep cigarettes for so long in the fleet, but once they find a place to grow tobacco... what, all the non-smoking colonials declared america the only smoking continent?

None of it made any damn sense ;(