Fragglestar Galactica: WE’RE FINISHED!!

[Ben Paddon]

Has everybody seen the BSG finale yet? I just finished watching it about fifteen minutes ago. I absolutely loved it.

Topic

[TheLeen]

I’ve seen all the episodes up to Daybreak, but not thmeselves yet. I’ll watch them on Monday, probably…

[Phil]

I’ll come back when this thread actually starts discussing Fraggles.

[si]

Aren’t they making a Fraggle Rock movie?

[pfm]

I don’t want to say too much because there’s no spoiler warning on the thread. Let’s just say it’s gonna be loved by some, hated by MANY (going off the general online response, though I think this will subside as everything sinks in).

Starbuck’s ending…I think Moore did a genius thing there! It’s something that can be debated ad nauseum forever. I fucking love Katee Sackhoff, and whatever Starbuck was she definitely did her justice. Lee was great in that last scene too. For once I didn’t want to punch him in the face (well, maybe a slap…). The ‘opera house’, YES nicely done, got chills when Baltar and Six looked up and the Five were there as per the vision. It was interesting that the vision ended up being literal instead of metaphorical. I was convinced the series was going to end with Baltar and Six being left to raise Hera, maybe them being the last ones alive. Though Helo and Athena surviving was OK. Apparently Tamoah (or whatever his name is) fought for Helo to live, he was meant to die when he got shot. Far LESS characters bought it than I expected.

While overall I thought it was great it was littered with some dodgy moments and cheese, especially in the second half. Moore’s cameo at the end was totally unneeded! In-head Six even has her hands on his shoulders! That 150,000 years later ending is completely insane, and the clips of the robots a crazy decision, yet it was just about saved by Baltar’s line ‘you know it doesn’t like that name’ followed by a fairly mad choice of final lines ‘silly me…silly silly me…’!!

[Andrew]

Resurrecting a long-dead thread!

For those with the stamina, I thought this was a very well-argued piece that certainly hits some of my issues with the was BSG concluded:

http://ideas.4brad.com/battlestar/battlestars-daybreak-worst-ending-history-screen-science-fiction

[ChrisM]

Ok, spoilers ahead for the end of the final episodes:

I did have mixed feelings over the ending. Mainly what they did with Starbuck. Then again, the story has always been as much about faith and religion as it is about science fiction but I hoped there would be some kind of explanation. That the unexplained religious stuff* would be explained in part by the sci-fi… Not that everything needs be explained of course.

Similar stuff worked for me in other shows (Cordelia’s sudden reappearance then vanishing in Angel for example) but that fitted within the laws of the show. If that makes sense. I suppose it could be argued they did here too… it’s just the laws weren’t what I thought they were. That’s what I get for placing my own expectations on the story I guess.

I rather liked the Cylon stuff though (final five and colony stuff, etc.) Finding a planet with a humanoid species close enough to them to mate with, not so much. I’d prefer it if they’d found Earth further back in time and started the humans species from scratch there, if they’re taking that route. Or explain the humanoids as being descendants of another colony.

Overall, I thought it was still one of the best sci-fi series we’ve had in a while though.

*Not the beliefs themselves. I’m referring to the mystical parts where visions and ancient texts actually lead to a real goal.

[pfm]

I re-watched season 1 a couple of months ago and it made me feel sad that where things went after the season 3 New Caprica arc was nowhere near the level of awesomeness we had a RIGHT to expect after those brilliant opening 13 episodes. I think it stands as one of the greatest seasons of TV ever made. Parts of seasons 2 and 3 beat it but the final season, where the gold should have been found, did NOT deliver in the way it could.

Though I still think the finale was good and the Starbuck piano episode. Just about everything else was like a confused old man stumbling toward an end as inevitable as it was a struggle to reach. And anyway, it’s NOT the end of the show as there’s The Plan to come, and Eddie Olmos hinted at further BSG specials.

[Andrew]

> Then again, the story has always been as much about faith and religion as it is about science fiction

I agree with this – in as much as I don’t believe the show, for the majority of its run, was much about either. It was about people, war, fear, guilt, battles internal and external and the nature of life. It wasn’t ‘about’ the science, and it wasn’t about the Sky Bully running the show. Or, really, anyone’s relationships with Him/It/Them.

Sure it posited that both sides had a basic faith, but people are making war movies about the middle east without them being ‘about religion’. The show never had any interest in the specifics of the faiths being presented, nor their origins. What WAS the whole thing founded on, what were the cornerstones of the beliefs? They never said, cos they never really knew.

The function of the religion, as laid out at the start, was twofold – to provide a mirror to our current culture (god love an American TV show brave enough to ask you to side with the suicide bombers in this climate), and to provide a history. When the scrolls provide a location for ‘Earth’, it’s as part of a long-ago history, just like the Bible. At that point, issues of destiny and prediction were left to person discretion.

Then, at the end, the show says “God exists. totally. And he did all this stuff. The bits that don;t add up? he did them to. And he’s real, because this is your literal history. Sod faith, here’s proof”. It’s such a total left-turn from what BSG had been doing previously, such a shift of genre and perspective, that audiences could, right, call foul.

> it?s just the laws weren?t what I thought they were. That?s what I get for placing my own expectations on the story I guess.

Not really – I think the article I linked to is basically correct: they switched genres for the concluding chapters, and it was the wrong way to go out after such a good series.

You put your faith in the teller to know the rules he’s set in place. When he doesn’t, it’s reasonable that the outcome will ‘feel’ wrong to the viewer.

[pfm]

The Sky Bully… you’re not a fan of Joss Whedon by any chance?

[Andrew]

> The Sky Bully? you?re not a fan of Joss Whedon by any chance?

Have I been too vague about it up until now? :-)

[pfm]

Sorry, I was forgetting that you ARE Andrew.

[ChrisM]

Sigh.

Double sigh.

The programme had it’s issues, and I wasn’t keen on everything that happened in the finale, but…

Triple sigh.

[Author]

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