# Battlestar Galactica Finale Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 20, 2009, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-finale-thread/490206 "2009-03-20T19:33:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![sohvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sohvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sohvan)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-finale-thread/490206/201 "2009-03-22T12:53:06Z")
> [@Lightray](#): > > They did NOT abandon their technology. They abandoned their SHIPS. No one ever said anything about abandoning technology – Lee said they wouldn’t build a _city_ (because we’d seen how _that_ went on New Caprica), and there was some talk of needing to be as spiritually advanced as their technology. It’s pretty clear that Lee at least is talking about abandoning all their technology along with their science as well. Lee: We break the cycle. We leave it all behind and start over. Bill: You’re talking about a little over 38.000 people, the entire human race with nothing but the clothes on their backs and some provisions. Lee: It’s not the entire human race. There are people already here Bill: Tribal, without language even Lee: We can give them that. We can give them the best part of ourselves. And not the baggage, not the ships, not the equipment, the technology, the weapons. So Lee at least is talking about leaving everything behind excluding a few provisions and some clothes. I’d assume this means some basic food supplies and some tools for the farming they were planning on doing. The whole luddite aspect was the one thing I really disliked about the ending. These people have no idea how to survive in primitive conditions. I hate when people sugarcoat the past with nostalgia. Just wait until the first famines, droughts, natural disasters, diseases, accidents and war with the natives. If they really did leave most of their technology behind, I’d give 90% of them a year tops to survive. The loners would have hardly any chance at all to survive. Besides even if the ships are wrecks, there are still a ton of useful things left inside. Even the scrap metal they’re made of would be of very high value in primitive conditions. It’s also naive to think they’ll be welcomed with open arms by the natives. It’s far more likely any native tribes will consider them competitors for hunting grounds resulting in tribal warfare. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-finale-thread/490206/202 "2009-03-22T13:35:01Z")
So how do you rate each characters ending in terms of satisfaction? **Bill Adama** : I love it. He says goodbye to his love and contemplates starting a new life on a hillside by here grave. **10/10** **Laura Roslin** : I love it. I’m glad she lived to the end of the show. **10/10** **Lee Adama** : I like his ending, but it’s not that satisfying. I take it as a somewhat sad, somewhat happy ending. He’ll enjoy eploring, but has lost a lot of love. **7/10** **Starbuck** : Meh. I guess it’s fine. I prefer her episode where she played piano and had a realization. But, the finale for her? **4/10** Piano Episode ending: **8/10** **Gaius Baltar** : Loved it. He’s not a playboy. He’s not a doctor. He’s not a leader. He’s not a wimp(well…). He’s not a religious figure. He’s a farmer and he loves his girl. **10/10** **Helo and Athena** : Good. Happy. **8/10** **Saul and Ellen** : Good for them. I hope they are happy.\*\* 8/10\*\* **Galen** : The tortured soul. I loved Saul’s line about doing the same thing if it had been Ellen instead of Callie. Killing Tory led them to Earth 2. **9/10** **Boomer** : OK. Fine. **6/10** **Anders** : Meh. Whatever. Didn’t care so much for him either way. Cool dude, but not too main in my opinion. **5/10, but I don’t care.** You? ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-finale-thread/490206/203 "2009-03-22T13:43:29Z")
> [@ambushed](#): > > How come Angel Kara needed to learn the Watchtower tune from a human piano player? (And for that matter, in earlier threads, people were talking about Philip Glass. Did he ever actually appear? I didn’t see him. Why was his name mentioned?) Kara-a had absorbed and frequently expressed the nebula meme from some mysterious background; why not the Watchtower meme as well? Can someone please explain the whole All Along the Watchtower meme for me? (It was more than just the tune, obviously, since some of the characters use parts of the lyrics as dialog.) > > Speaking of Watchtower, it was kind of fun to spot all the references to various real religions throughout the whole series. Besides the Jehovah’s Witness ref there and the Greco-Roman traditions (including the very name of Cylon), there were further polytheistic references to Mormonism (e.g., Kobol-[Kolob](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolob)), Judaism (Cylon monotheism), and even Scientology (the magazine rack in New York featured many copies of a magazine with the name “Scientology” emblazoned on it. I wonder if Moore et al have Scientology linkages?) Did anyone see any other religions referenced or hinted at? When Kara went back to Caprica way back in season 1 or 2, and wound up in her apartment, she played some booming music that in reality was a Philip Glass composition. Nothing particularly noteworthy in the show about it - no mysticism. Just some viewers noticed its actual identity. I think that Bear just liked it so much he decided to use it in the show. It certainly wasn’t nearly as famous as Watchtower. And I just replayed the scenes with the newstand, and the closest thing I saw was a magazine called “Science Now”. They all appeared to be fake magazines - “Architectural Age”, “Sports Limited” (the swimsuit issue ;)) except for the National Geographic with the Eve article. Ron Moore a scientologist? Don’t scare me like that. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-finale-thread/490206/204 "2009-03-22T14:00:09Z")
Did anything ever come of Starbuck’s ovarian tissue (I think, ovary anyway) being removed by the Cylons some seasons back? I kept expecting that to be some sort of plot point for her for the finale, but I don’t seem to remember anything happening with that. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-finale-thread/490206/205 "2009-03-22T14:04:57Z")
> [@sohvan](#): > > The whole luddite aspect was the one thing I really disliked about the ending. I don’t think it would be that extreme. I think they’d cannibalise their technology, but spread themselves out so they didn’t create a city, which is something they specifically mentioned. And they’d each deliberately avoid restarting the cycle they knew they were prone to reliving. No more civilisation, but keep some tech for survival. That’s what I’d do, no matter what Apollo wanted. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-finale-thread/490206/206 "2009-03-22T14:07:23Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > Did anything ever come of Starbuck’s ovarian tissue (I think, ovary anyway) being removed by the Cylons some seasons back? I kept expecting that to be some sort of plot point for her for the finale, but I don’t seem to remember anything happening with that. There was just the plotline on New Caprica when Leoben produced a blonde toddler and told Starbuck she was her daughter, which turned out to be more Leoben mindgames. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-finale-thread/490206/207 "2009-03-22T14:17:00Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > There was just the plotline on New Caprica when Leoben produced a blonde toddler and told Starbuck she was her daughter, which turned out to be more Leoben mindgames. So, there was no tangible reason for it other than to be more convincing. Seems odd especially because it looked like they had a whole ovary farm going there. Why do it to all those women? Just to further convince Starbuck? I spent years guessing when that would pop up as being important, only to be never correct! ---
**Author:** ![Peanut\_Gallery](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/838e76/32.png) [@Peanut\_Gallery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanut_Gallery)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-finale-thread/490206/208 "2009-03-22T14:23:37Z")
I thought it was a pretty satisfying finale. Very flashy. Fun to watch. Seemed to cover a lot of ground and really finish the story. I lost track of a lot of the plot details (By now I’m clueless on my 8s and 6s, but they’re still so fun to watch!) during the last season, so I was not watching from the perspective of wrapping up who said what to who, and every character’s details … but from the “what happens to humanity” angle it was fun. BUT! Two things bugged me though, and since this is the internet, I’m here to complain about those! 1. Kara. I guess it was obvious that she was an angel, what with the resurrection and all. But when she vanished, I instantly thought of Tony Soprano. Gut reaction. It just felt like a cheesy end for her. Not so much the religious aspect, since that’s been a core of the series, but just the way that scene went. 2)\*\* There was no point to their entire struggle after all! \*\* All this time it has been “the last hope for humanity! only 30,000 left! will they survive?!” … only to find out that humanity has been doing quite well without them, and would have been perfectly fine on its own. Maybe better off. Who gives a shit about the super hybrid baby when there have been humans reproducing for generations without her? Imagine the sequel possibilities! They should have waited before commissioning the Caprica series. A GalAfrica series would have been the shit! Spirit Kara would chuck a spear better than anyone in the tribe. Best Line: “Can we \*not \*tell her the plan?!” Something I think to myself while watching like … every. movie. ever. since it seems to be strict screenwriting law that the good guy and bad guy must share their juicy gossip with each other. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-finale-thread/490206/209 "2009-03-22T14:47:23Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > So, there was no tangible reason for it other than to be more convincing. Seems odd especially because it looked like they had a whole ovary farm going there. Why do it to all those women? Just to further convince Starbuck? > > I spent years guessing when that would pop up as being important, only to be never correct! Well, I think the Cylons **were** trying to breed with Colonials via the ovary farms. It just never worked, so they abandoned it. Then, when Leoben enslaved Kara on New Caprica, he thought “Hey, we took out one of her ovaries a while back! I bet I can use that to come up with a new way to screw with her, and as an added bonus, maybe she’ll stop stabbing me in the neck with flatware.” ---
**Author:** ![Meltdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Meltdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meltdown)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-finale-thread/490206/210 "2009-03-22T15:08:15Z")
In general, I liked the ending from a poetic level, but I still have a few nagging concerns on a practical level (which I know I should just let go). 1. I am bothered, as I think ambushed was, by the arbitrary nature of God (and I will continue to refer to him as that even though he doesn’t like it). God obviously wanted Galactica and Hera at New Earth, going as far to inspire Kara’s dad to write All Along the Watchtower, teach it to little Kara, kill her much later, resurrect her, send her back to Galactica, have her rememeber that song from her childhood, associate it with Hera’s drawing, just so that at the last possible second she could make the connection and jump Galactica to New Earth. All of this rather than just zap Galactica to New Earth, which is presumably within God’s power to do. Why go through all that trouble? Does God just enjoy making things more complicated than they need to be? 2. I take it we can attribute any of the other unexplained phenomena to God’s interference. For example, I take it that God was the one who moved Baltar and Caprica away from the atomic bomb blast in the original miniseries, because he needed them as part of his Plan. But, again, this just points to the Plan being unnecesarily complicated. 3. Again, although I liked the ending on a poetic level, I wasn’t crazy about the practical implications of the goodbye between Bill and Lee Adama. They obviously love each other. They decide to never see each other again, instead spending the rest of their days alone. What, they can’t visit? I know that Lee wants to explore, and that long-distrance travel is about to become very difficult, but they still have Adama’s raptor (and presumably a few more) until their fuel runs out. Perhaps I’m projecting too much of my own relationship with my dad on the characters, but I’d want to check in with him every once in awhile. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-finale-thread/490206/211 "2009-03-22T15:31:33Z")
> [@ambushed](#): > > OHow come the Angel Six and the Angel Baltar _know_ they’re angels, but Angel Kara-c doesn’t? And add to this the fact that the vast majority of the assistance given to Baltar by Angel Six helped him be selfish and manipulative, not at all good. > [@](#): > > I also share the opinion of those who thought the whole “harbinger of death” thing petered out pretty pathetically. “Harbinger” yes, but not “harbinger of death” in any way _I’d_ go along with. Well, there was the death of all of Cavil’s Cylons. > [@](#): > > How come Angel Kara needed to learn the Watchtower tune from a human piano player? Remember how when Tigh heard the song, the piano player wasn’t there? An angel’s angel? > [@](#): > > Besides the Jehovah’s Witness ref there Was that Baltar’s cult? I missed that reference. The one thing I don’t buy is that the Colonial survivors find “early man” sufficiently sexually attractive to reproduce. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-finale-thread/490206/212 "2009-03-22T15:53:11Z")
> [@sohvan](#): > > So Lee at least is talking about leaving everything behind excluding a few provisions and some clothes. I’d assume this means some basic food supplies and some tools for the farming they were planning on doing. The whole luddite aspect was the one thing I really disliked about the ending. These people have no idea how to survive in primitive conditions. I hate when people sugarcoat the past with nostalgia. Just wait until the first famines, droughts, natural disasters, diseases, accidents and war with the natives. If they really did leave most of their technology behind, I’d give 90% of them a year tops to survive. The loners would have hardly any chance at all to survive. What technology? They have some beat up ships with no shipyards to repair them. Some small arms with no gunsmiths to make new ones. A couple of small aircraft they will use to ferry people around the planet until they run out of whatever makes them run. Some medicine without the laboratories to create replacements. Even their clothes are going to wear out. Not to mention they probably left most of their survival crap back on New Caprica. The point is, they are going to live a Ludite existance no matter what. I’m sure they will keep the small arms, medical supplies and food to help with the transition, but they can’t rely on their technology anymore. And I’m sure between the military who probably have survival training, people like Baltar who know how to farm, recreational hunters and gardeners, people who were in the Twelve Colonies equivalent of the Boy Scouts and people who watch the Caprica Discovery Channel equivalent of Man vs Wild, they can figure something out. > [@Peanut Gallery](#): > > 1. There was no point to their entire struggle after all! All this time it has been “the last hope for humanity! only 30,000 left! will they survive?!” … only to find out that humanity has been doing quite well without them, and would have been perfectly fine on its own. Maybe better off. Who gives a shit about the super hybrid baby when there have been humans reproducing for generations without her? Because we care about THESE humans. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-finale-thread/490206/213 "2009-03-22T15:56:01Z")
> [@Lightray](#): > > I think that we’re going to find that the like/loathe divide over the finale will match up to whether someone thought they’d been watching a sci-fi soap opera or a sci-fi action adventure, all these years. 'Cause this was all about the _characters_ receiving a satsifying conclusion, and not so much about a satisfying conclusion to the action. Pretty much. Someday I’d love someone to explain the psychology involved in someone spending two or three years whining and bitching about a show but continuing to watch it. Particularly when they make the same idiotic comments for those two or three years - apparently thinking they’re still clever. Still, apart from the resolution of Starbuck (yes, we understand she was an angel, but more knowledge about the Powers What Is Behind The Curtain would have been nice) I liked it. I really didn’t believe we were going to end up with a “We’ll end this war just like the last one by giving you resurrection technology”, if for no other reason than it would have been practically demanding the cycle repeat itself. And Cavil? Hah, one last “fuck you” to the universe by a machine all eaten up with anger. > [@muldoonthief](#): > > So Bill Adama’s “one hour of your life” was a lame HR polygraph test. Not surprising, though I didn’t think senior execs had to go through those. But you did see who the polygraph technician was, right? > [@Algorithm](#): > > Admiral Adama: Somewhat unfitting, and depressing for the once great leader to just wither away in solitude. I didn’t buy that at all. How many others lost the ones they cared about? Where did his commitment to the survival of the species go? But he got them to the end point. Everyone is splitting up into small groups. He did his part - what’s he supposed to do, join a group of 20 people and tell them what to do? > [@](#): > > Starbuck: Not much to say right now, but I’d still like to know why Boomer told her back on Caprica she “was special” and all the Cylons know it. How? And what happened with the Hybrids calling her “Harbinger of Death?” Doesn’t seem to be the way it worked out, except that I think most of these people will die within a year or two. Starbuck was the harbinger of death because she led two species to their ends - Cylons and Humans. All that would be left 50 years from then was a third species that was actually a merger of human, cylon, and whatever we’re going to call what species was on ActualEarth. > [@](#): > > Another little detail that will continue to bug me. They were resettling the colonies, and they should still be there. Even if the current gen of flesh models grows old and dies, there are still a lot of Centurions there, and I’d have to believe they kept a few Basestars around too. Except those Centurions were slaves to the skinjobs. Those skinjobs may or may not still be alive (we don’t know how bad the civil war was, we don’t know if everyone joined in), but the skinjobs controlled the hybrids, and the hybrids control the Basestars. Unless specifically set free (the last Basestar at Earth), Centurions don’t give orders. Presumably the Cavilcade controlled Caprica, so their Centurions were still slaves and would stay that way forever. At least until they rusted and fell apart. > [@Levdrakon](#): > > ElvisL1ves, I’d think the first thing the fleet does when it jumps is check the stars and verify their position. If Galacta’s crew wasn’t in shape to do it, any of the other ships could. Someone would have said something if the stars looked the same. “Holy frak! We’ve time-traveled!” How much will the stars/constellations shift in 150,000ish years? Besides, if it was a totally random jump (which it was) they wouldn’t be able to compare the stars because they have no idea what it’s SUPPOSED to look like. Note that I’m not subscribing to the time travel theory (which was my first thought when watching the episode but I later ditched for reasons I can’t remember), but I don’t think the idea can just be discarded. > [@msmith357](#): > > I would like to see a webcast or something of The Admiral Yoshi / President Lampkin administration. How heavy can those Admiral pins weigh in 12 hours? The knowledge that the species survival is totally dependent on your actions probably weighs particularly heavily in those first few hours. Then it probably settles down until your first real crisis. Quite a bit of pressure at all times. > [@GuanoLad](#): > > No more civilisation, but keep some tech for survival. That’s what I’d do, no matter what Apollo wanted. And maybe that’s what happened, but this isn’t Star Trek. Their guns will run out of bullets, their syringes will run out of drugs, and their walkie-talkies will work for how long before they can’t be recharged? Great, you’re toting around some remaining technology. Carry around all you want - in five years you’re still a hunter-gathered except the folks that used a spear instead of a gun have five years practice that you don’t. You’ll get some initial advantages, but every time you pull the trigger or press the [send] button you just brought yourself one step closer to a guy throwing a spear. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-finale-thread/490206/214 "2009-03-22T16:01:30Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Because we care about THESE humans. Exactly. That’s like watching any show and saying, “Who cares, they’ll be dead in 50 years anyway.” -Joe ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-finale-thread/490206/215 "2009-03-22T16:09:04Z")
> [@Meltdown](#): > > 1. I take it we can attribute any of the other unexplained phenomena to God’s interference. For example, I take it that God was the one who moved Baltar and Caprica away from the atomic bomb blast in the original miniseries, because he needed them as part of his Plan. But, again, this just points to the Plan being unnecesarily complicated. Caprica 6 died in the nuke that they show in the intro to every episode, and was resurrected. She shielded Baltar with her body, so he survived. I’m willing to take at face value the explanation that he was far enough away from the blast to survive, as long as someone else took the brunt of the shock wave and all the flying glass from his picture windows. Unless by moved them, you mean made sure they were in his mansion overlooking the lake far enough away from Caprica City to make the blast survivable. I finally realized why I disliked the montage of toy robots at the very end. One of the themes of the show is obviously how do you prevent your technology from destroying you, technology vs. morality, respect for the underclass, etc. I’m willing to accept those all as dangers we, the descendents of Hera from 150,000 years ago (fictionally of course, I’m not crazy) are facing right now, and as the basis of “this has all happened before & will happen again” But the montage made it seem we’re close to creating our own Cylons, and they’ll be our downfall, and given the current state of robotics and AI, that’s clearly ludicrous. But that’s just a miniscule nitpick on what was an amazing finale. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-finale-thread/490206/216 "2009-03-22T16:11:40Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > But you did see who the polygraph technician was, right? No, apart from it being the guy who tried to convince him to take the job at the first flashback. What did I miss? ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-finale-thread/490206/217 "2009-03-22T16:17:00Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > What technology? They have some beat up ships with no shipyards to repair them. Some small arms with no gunsmiths to make new ones. A couple of small aircraft they will use to ferry people around the planet until they run out of whatever makes them run. Some medicine without the laboratories to create replacements. Even their clothes are going to wear out. What puzzles me is the loss of the less obvious technologies, like language, writing, basic hygiene (germ theory, for instance), religion, etc. Would they have abandoned all those things? They must have, since primitive man did not have them for quite a long time after Galactica’s arrival. I would have thought they’d have tried to bring Earth-humanity up to speed on those valuable, culture-building technologies, even if they wanted to leave the more concrete hardware type technologies behind. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-finale-thread/490206/218 "2009-03-22T16:23:25Z")
> [@sohvan](#): > > So Lee at least is talking about leaving everything behind excluding a few provisions and some clothes. I’d assume this means some basic food supplies and some tools for the farming they were planning on doing. The whole luddite aspect was the one thing I really disliked about the ending. These people have no idea how to survive in primitive conditions. I hate when people sugarcoat the past with nostalgia. Just wait until the first famines, droughts, natural disasters, diseases, accidents and war with the natives. If they really did leave most of their technology behind, I’d give 90% of them a year tops to survive. The loners would have hardly any chance at all to survive. Agreed. When we saw Hera tra-la-laing through the veldt right at the end, I kept expecting a lion to jump out and eat her. ---
**Author:** ![Meltdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Meltdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meltdown)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-finale-thread/490206/219 "2009-03-22T16:30:38Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Unless by moved them, you mean made sure they were in his mansion overlooking the lake far enough away from Caprica City to make the blast survivable. No, I meant what you thought I meant. I find it hard to believe that Baltar could survive that blast pretty much scratch-free just because someone was standing in front of him, even if that someone was a cylon. It makes much more sense (in the context of the show) that he was picked up and moved outside the blast radius by divine intervention. Although you’re probably right that Carpica 6 was destroyed and subsequently resurrected. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-finale-thread/490206/220 "2009-03-22T16:45:43Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > No, apart from it being the guy who tried to convince him to take the job at the first flashback. What did I miss? That was the guy administering the test (along with the “Are you a Cylon” question). The actual technician running the machine was a Simon, which I found pretty hilarious. It showed the innocence of Caprica days, too. Back then, the “Are you a Cylon” question was a baseline question along the lines of “Was your mother a Unicorn?”. Shortly afterwards it would become a matter of survival for the species. -Joe [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-finale-thread/490206.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battlestar-galactica-finale-thread/490206.md?page=12)