Battlestar Galactica - Season 4 Box Set

Cafe Society
1

After what seemed like an eternity, as I don’t have Sky 1, I have now purchased a copy of the above.

Months of waiting and re-watching season 3 and what do I get?

10 episodes (ok I knew before I bought it that this was the case)
After a promising start with the Cylon civil war and the mission to find the path to earth the whole thing quickly degenerates into politics and back biting and the usual run of assassinations

I thought the bit with Anders being identified as a Cylon by the Raider was well done, but since then the four have hardly done anything productive. Unless you count murder and backbiting as productive.

It seems to me like they have run out of ideas and ar rehashing the same old stories but in a slightly changed way. No one seems to act in character, Boomer murdering No. 6 being a case in point of this.

With the exception of Apollo and Baltar there doesn’t seem to be a character in the show with any integrity or decency.

My wife described it as “Eastenders in Space” and stopped watching. I persevered, but I’m finding that I agree with her description more and more.

It’s a shame because Seasons 1 and 2 were excellent, Season 3 dipped slightly. but I had high hopes for the final season, which now due to the writers strike is split into 2. There are only 2 episodes left for me to watch, unless things pick up I will not be investing in the final season (whenever that eventually appears).

Hope this doesn’t come across as too negative. I really loved BSG, but it seems to have lost the plot.

2

Please please please watch the final 2 episodes of season 4 before throwing in the towel. There’s some good stuff there. Then come back and share your thoughts. BTW, where are you that you are able to purchase this already?

I share some of your feelings about season 4. I like it, but it seems like there aren’t any single stand out episodes…the whole season starts to feel like one big episode…and a mediocre one at that. I’m hopeful for the second half of the season though, as the first half seems to be a gradual set-up for a crazy roller coaster ride to the end.

3

I thought the ending of the final episode came abruptly, but really set up an interesting direction for season 4-B. Do watch them.

4

wait… what?

you’ve come so far, what’s another 10 episodes? they had a plan, and they promised resolution.

5

I took your advice and watched “Hub” yesterday night, probably the best episode out of the last 5 or 6 easily. Will watch “Revelations” tonight.

I already owned Razor, which accounts for the first two episodes of Season 4, which I loved because it featured classic Cylons, one of who actually said “By your command”. So when I refer to the first two episodes of season 4 I really mean the first two in the current timeline, not flashbacks.

I’m a bit disappointed that the Cylon civil war has not really gone anywhere, although I thought that Baltar’s conversation (one sided though it was) with a Centurion was the highlight of the episode. Maybe one of the things to wait for will be a Centurion rebellion.

6

Just to answer AndyPolley’s question I am in the UK and bought Season 4 from Amazon. Isn’t it out elsewhere yet?

7

Well Baltar may not be a saintly character, but he is trying to make up for past wrongs.

As for the promised resolution, we’ll have to wait, but not with baited breath anymore.

8

i can’t get pass him handing a nuke to a cylon infiltrator in the fleet. i forget his rationale but it couldn’t have been anything decent.

9

Region 1 release date is January 6, 2009, according to Amazon.

And I’ve been skimming this thread because I’ve only watched up through Razor, but you do all know that there’s still another half of season 4 to come, right?

10

I’m surprised by that, I assumed with it being a US show it would be out there first.

Hopefully I’ve not spoiled it for you. I am aware that the rest of the season is to follow, although the way the box is set out and marketed implies that this is the entire season 4 so what would have been eps 4.11 onwards will probably be called season 5 here.

I suppose because I only got half a season I was expecting more, I forgot how much of season 3 I watched on fast forward the second time around. Maybe all the good stuff will come later. Or is this just their way of getting us to buy more DVDs?

“Don’t worry, it will get better and everything will be resolved”.

11

It’s not just a US show - it’s jointly produced by Sky (UK) and Universal (US).

12

Horse puckey.
:slight_smile:

13

[del]Huh. I’ve never once seen any credit given to Sky. The production cards at the end are R&D and Universal.

Granted, I’ve only watched Region 1 DVDs.[/del]

IMDb sez you’re right, though.

14

R&D, and Sandford (another production company listed on IMDB), were created just for BS:G. It’s quite common for new production companies to be created for movies or TV shows, although some of them persist and become mainstream production houses.

15

Point taken, maybe I just feel sympathy for the character.

Although I didn’t like his damasene conversion in reverse.

16

I’m not going to post any spoilers, but I will strongly suggest you watch the remaining two episodes of what you’ve got before deciding whether to pick up the last 10 whenever they come out.

Season 4 was…uneven. Even more so than Season 3, which had some real stinkers in it. Still, there’s some good stuff to be seen, and some potential for a satisfying conclusion to the series.

I will say this…Tigh has a scene that is just perfect for his character. Think it happens in the 2nd to last episode.

You’ve hung in this long, ya may as well see it all…

17

Yeah, I despise the stuff connected with “All Along the Watchtower”, but that is a very good scene. The cliff hanger is a bitch, too.:slight_smile:

18

Well I took the advice given in this thread and watched the final two episodes.

Not bad and certainly better than most of the rest of season 4, except the first couple of episodes. The final episode “Revelations” is probably as good as some of the best in Season two.
>

>Some slight spoilers now:

The “Hub” was a good episode overall, but spoiled by the ease with which the Cylons were destroyed. Was this the final end of the other Cylons or will they return?

Also I thought the whole Hub was a bit cheesy and came off as a retread of the much better done resurrection ship arc from season 2. It seemed a bit of a deus ex machina to make the Cylons mortal, but didn’t quite work for me.

Revelations was much better and even though I’d googled the ending when I had no intention of watching it, I really enjoyed it.

There was tension and some conflict, but the whole thing was resolved well. If the series had ended here due to the writers strike it would have worked except for not finding out who the fifth missing Cylon was.

The ruined and radioactive Earth was a disturbing ending, making me wonder where do they go from here? The last hope of humanity and the Cylons is now a ruin.

Of course we’ve no knowledge of the rest of Earth so maybe people survive somewhere. One of the things I like about BSG is that they don’t have Star Trek like scanners to detect lifeforms and “forms of energy previously unknown” every five minutes.

One question that has never been resolved is why the Cylons want to find Earth at all? They have the 12 colonies, they have Kobol and they presumably have an, as yet unseen, homeworld. Or do they just travel in a massive convoy through space? Hence the resurrection ships? I’m sure a Cylon homeworld was mentioned in a previous episode.

So I think I’m now hooked enough to look forward to the final 10 or 12 episodes, but I’ll have to wait a while, not having Sky.

Some idle speculation for the last episodes:

The rest of the Cylons turn up and a war ensues

or

Once again trouble breaks out between the humans and Cylons already on earth.

Starbuck, as the bringer of destruction, brings about the death of almost all the humans and Cylons. Leaving someone to bring up the two hybrid children as a sort of Adam and Eve to eventually spawn a new race.

On that subject, why has no-one been bothered about the fact that the Chief’s baby by Cally is a hybrid?

These are my thoughts for now, may have more later.

19

Does the phrase, “Kill All Humans” ring a bell? :slight_smile:

20

Ah, but I thought they’d got over that and just wanted a new home?