# Battlestar Galactica ending Spoilers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 22, 2009, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-ending-spoilers/500642 "2009-06-22T20:40:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-ending-spoilers/500642/41 "2009-06-24T19:18:07Z")
And yes, it’s just a TV show, that’s why I don’t need to deal with rudeness. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-ending-spoilers/500642/42 "2009-06-24T19:20:36Z")
> [@kasuo](#): > > Worn-out colonials vs. primitive homo sapiens? Sounds like a similar match up like an astronaut vs. a caveman. Can we see that episode of that show? “For long range weapons, the Colonials have missiles. The cavemen have rocks. Advantage: Colonials.” ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-ending-spoilers/500642/43 "2009-06-24T19:27:10Z")
What happens when the Colonials run out of ammo? The Cro-Magnons just have to wait them out, then move in for the kill. Ref. the siege of Rorke’s Drift or something like that. Give them credit for knowing they’d have to adapt. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-ending-spoilers/500642/44 "2009-06-24T19:37:45Z")
> [@kasuo](#): > > Sounds like a similar match up like an astronaut vs. a caveman. That show had a better ending than _Galactica._ 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-ending-spoilers/500642/45 "2009-06-24T19:39:46Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > “For long range weapons, the Colonials have missiles. The cavemen have rocks. Advantage: Colonials.” I’m assuming they gave up their weapons with their technology. Didn’t Lee say “leave everything” or perhaps “take nothing” when he spoke of abandoning their technology? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-ending-spoilers/500642/46 "2009-06-24T19:44:54Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > That show had a better ending than _Galactica._ 🙂 You mean _[It’s About Time](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_About_Time_(TV_series))_? Did that have an actual ending, or just a last episode? The Neanderthals adjusted to the life the astronauts had brought them forward to, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-ending-spoilers/500642/47 "2009-06-24T19:55:41Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Which was what? > > And do what, knap flint and eat grubs? 🙂 Eh. I don’t know. Their quest was to herald a new age of humanity? See the final events of the 12 colonies through to the bitter end? Excuse the continued LoTR analogy, but what the heck did Frodo accomplish? He destroyed the ring and defeated Sauron, but evil still abounded in Middle Earth. The scouring of the Shire and all that. What can anyone truly accomplish in the long term that can do any more than stave off tragedy a while until a future generation has to deal with it again? Momentary victories are only that. What they do next doesn’t matter, because it’s no longer their story to live. (I’ll just add that I totally get the frustration folks have with the ending. It worked for me, though). ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-ending-spoilers/500642/48 "2009-06-24T20:00:00Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > You mean _[It’s About Time](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_About_Time_(TV_series))_? Did that have an actual ending, or just a last episode? Heck if I know, I was 10. It was a better ending, which ever it was. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-ending-spoilers/500642/49 "2009-06-24T20:09:17Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I’m assuming they gave up their weapons with their technology. Didn’t Lee say “leave everything” or perhaps “take nothing” when he spoke of abandoning their technology? That was what I got out of it, though it didn’t make any sense because Baltar’s “I know about farming.”, shows that they aren’t really giving up on technology. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-ending-spoilers/500642/50 "2009-06-24T20:46:32Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > That was what I got out of it, though it didn’t make any sense because Baltar’s “I know about farming.”, shows that they aren’t really giving up on technology. I think a lot of people are being exceptionally restrictive and fundamental in how they’re interpreting the events/script of the last episode. This isn’t gospel. I’m not a fan of fanwanking, but I think you folks need to give this stuff a \*wee \*bit of leeway. What does “technology” mean? Who knows - it certainly means FTL drives. But didn’t Adama keep his Raptor? And yeah - Baltar “knows something about farming.” Athena made it explicit she knew something about hunting. They had fieldglasses with them - do they have to abandon optics? What the frak does it matter? The comments made in the final episode were certainly not clear or explicit enough to jump to these ridiculous conclusions. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-ending-spoilers/500642/51 "2009-06-24T20:49:19Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > I think a lot of people are being exceptionally restrictive and fundamental in how they’re interpreting the events/script of the last episode. This isn’t gospel. I’m not a fan of fanwanking, but I think you folks need to give this stuff a \*wee \*bit of leeway. > > What does “technology” mean? Who knows - it certainly means FTL drives. But didn’t Adama keep his Raptor? And yeah - Baltar “knows something about farming.” Athena made it explicit she knew something about hunting. They had fieldglasses with them - do they have to abandon optics? What the frak does it matter? The comments made in the final episode were certainly not clear or explicit enough to jump to these ridiculous conclusions. Well the point is that they kept some tech and not other tech. So it was a sort of arbitrary and muddled neo-luddite message. Basically, you want us to give bad writing, or not even just bad writing but shit-poor writing a pass. It just wasn’t thought through very well. I guess they learned that all they have to do is play a remake of “All Along the Watchtower” and the fans will go all misty so they throw any bullshit out as long as they are playing it. ---
**Author:** ![in\_hiding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c5a1d2/32.png) [@in\_hiding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/in_hiding)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-ending-spoilers/500642/52 "2009-06-24T23:40:28Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > That new beginning for those people includes dying of dysentery when it’s completely avoidable. Coming into contact with parasites and pathogens that they have no immunity for because they were more or less wiped out millenia in the past. To being killed by natives who distrust and fear the new invaders. To being eaten by wild animals who haven’t yet learned the fear of man. They were running out of everything. Medicine, wasn’t there an episode that basically said “yeah, that was our last shot of peniciline.”? That techlevel wasn’t really sustainable. The decision they had to make was simple - stay on the ships / keep a colonial city (if thats even possible with the reduced resources left after new caprica) and **die out and go extinct after a few generations**. Or mix in with the natives, make a controlled but inevitable transition to a lower level of technology and have the human species survive. Nobody said they really gave everything up. They just settled down. After a few years of hanging around in submarines, eating algae and being hunted by crazy cylons I would certainly want to live under a blue sky again. Besides that - lets take a step back. This is a TV series. There are many many absolutely impossible things here - FTL. Cylons. Resurrection. Head-Six and Head-Baltar. And all the decisions, all the actions are made to look good, to be good television. How can the main characters survive so many impossible odds? Because it’s a TV series. How can Adama and Tigh speak in this complete impossible this-in-the-most-important-decision-ever voice and still be taken seriously by anyone? It’s a TV series. How did any faction ever trust each other again after all the betrayals? TV series. How can such a ridiculously evil character like admira Cain even exist? TV. How can Helo be so good, get challanged all the time and still survive all the right decisions? TV. It’s written to be exciting and dramatic. It’s **not** realistic. It’s **not** how people would act in real life. It’s a stylised, exaggerated view of the world that’s Moore’s version of the galactica story. In this world it makes sense to give it all up, because this requires a sacrifice. There has to be distinct act, a big break, that shows the audience “okay, and **here** we break the cycle”. It has to be larger than life. As impossible as the whole show. Who cares if it realistic? It’s shown to be the right thing. Head-Baltar says their life is going to be a lot less eventfull. Baltar knows something about farming. Adama builds that cabin. (Tyrel becomes king of scotts ;)). Lee explores the planet. The show does not say “they all die miserably”, so they don’t. That’s the way Television and storytelling works. In the real world Adama would probably have killed all cylons with the plague. The End. Hell, I though that would be the logical thing to do. But that wouldn’t have been a good story. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-ending-spoilers/500642/53 "2009-06-24T23:47:23Z")
> [@in\_hiding](#): > > In the real world Adama would probably have killed all cylons with the plague. The End. Hell, I though that would be the logical thing to do. But that wouldn’t have been a good story. Sure it would. Kirk or Malcolm Reynolds would’ve done it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-ending-spoilers/500642/54 "2009-06-25T00:26:26Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Sure it would. Kirk or Malcolm Reynolds would’ve done it. 🙂 Or Sisko. Probably not Picard or Janeway, though. Pre-Xindi Archer either. Post-Xindi Archer would have done the injections himself. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-ending-spoilers/500642/55 "2009-06-25T01:06:18Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Or Sisko. Probably not Picard or Janeway, though. Pre-Xindi Archer either. Post-Xindi Archer would have done the injections himself. Sisko wouldn’t get the chance, 'cause Garak would have done it for him. 🙂 Janeway would do it: “Break out the Compression Phaser rifles.” She’s mean when riled. Picard would indeed wimp out. Actually, I think Mother Theresa would have done it. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-ending-spoilers/500642/56 "2009-06-25T04:06:14Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > If true, it still leaves Cylons in posession of the Colony planets and technology while Adama & company eat grubs. Hey, don’t knock grubs! ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-ending-spoilers/500642/57 "2009-06-25T08:24:51Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > What happens when the Colonials run out of ammo? The Cro-Magnons just have to wait them out, then move in for the kill. Ref. the siege of Rorke’s Drift or something like that. If you’re a Cro-Magnon man, how the hell are you even going to recognise the problem of running out of ammo? The Colonials, if they hadn’t been carrying the idiot ball at the time, would have been the first creatures they encountered where this would be a vulnerability. “Sure, those screaming birds killed our first wave in a burning hurricane of burning death, but now they are defenseless! Charge! … Okay, _that_ was the last of their weapons! _Now_ they are defenseless!” ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-ending-spoilers/500642/58 "2009-06-25T12:26:32Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Basically, you want us to give bad writing, or not even just bad writing but shit-poor writing a pass. I do? Where did I say that? Because I don’t. I’m just asking for flexibility, instead of an absolute and rigid resolution that every moment be taken absolutely literally, and therefore monstrocized for its inconsistencies. And seriously - it was Ronald E. Moore! Of \*course \*he was going to hit the reset button! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-ending-spoilers/500642/59 "2009-06-25T16:18:57Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > If you’re a Cro-Magnon man, how the hell are you even going to recognise the problem of running out of ammo? It will become clear eventually, after the shooting has stopped for awhile. But you’re still not going to frak them. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-ending-spoilers/500642/60 "2009-06-25T16:27:10Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > It will become clear eventually, after the shooting has stopped for awhile. When the shooting stops, it will be because the Cro-Magnon have lost their nerve after the first volley, not because the Colonials have run out of ammo. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-ending-spoilers/500642.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-ending-spoilers/500642.md?page=4)