I got into it by watching the first episode, without having seen the miniseries. That makes it totally confusing, which makes it freakin AMAZING–without the background of the miniseries, the first episode is just chaotically deadly confusion and is enchanting.
The finale felt like an episode of drunk history to me. I did not approve.
But overall it’s one of the best science fiction shows ever made. And Starbuck is a fantastic character.
I split the difference because I also liked Lost’s finale but hated BSs.
I should also point out that Bear McCrerys soundtrack work is fantastic…and despite what I said earlier about Starbuck, a certain point in the finale along with her music motif had me crying like a baby
I was stunned by the ending. Really. I sat there thinking “They aren’t really going to do that, are they?” Then they did. Why did it stun me? Spoilered and tinyurl’ed for Chefguy’s protection.
I thought the character of Roslin was written and acted perfectly spot-on. She’s the secretary of Education, the lowest one on the list of ministers, and now she’s president. She always led with gravitas and determination, talked even tougher when she screwed up, and was clearly out of her depth at all times. It really sold the “…OK, just how screwed are we? Urm … very” theme well.
I didn’t like the ending, and I gave my complaint (a spoiler) in another thread. No. Just no.
I always kinda had the hots for Mary McDonnell.
Like the OP I just finished watching the episodes I had recorded last year from the SyFy channel marathon (I wish they would run it again). I only recorded through Season 3 Episode 4, at which point felt like a decent place in the story to stop, so I’m not hankering to see the rest.
But I’d really like to see the rest…
I was in college in the late 1970’s when James Doohan was invited to give a talk. This was just before Star Trek The Movie opened. He open the floor for questions, and after the expected questions about the series, I got up and asked him which current (back then) similar shows he liked. He smiled at a “different” question and thought about it for a moment. His final answer was the (original) BSG which surprised and pleased me.
When BSG Is being a fairly hard military sci-fi saga, it’s great; when it’s being a sci-fi post-apocalyptic character study, it’s better than average.
And when it’s being a deterministic metaphysical allegory, it’s…debatable. This aspect had been hinted at throughout the series, but in a low-key and ambiguous manner.
Unfortunately, it ended the series strongly on the latter, so those (like me), who were in it for military sci-fi and post-apocalyptic human drama, found the ending less-than-spectacular.
Grrr!, love triangle? By my reckoning, it’s more like an octagon with a couple of quadrilaterals and triangles tacked on, a convoluted diameter, two branched trees, and assorted loose segments. Thrace, personally, had sex with at least five, probably six, and possibly gods-only-know how many more men over the course of the series.
(possible spoilers for all seasons at that link)
I loved the series. I thought I was going to hate it, since I’m not a fan of rebooted series, and BSG the original was classic in it’s rather idiotic way. But it didn’t take me very long at all to be quite thoroughly hooked on the show. The fact that they pretty much were the complete opposite of the original helped.
Since we’re all weighing on the finale, apparently: I thought it was fine. It felt in keeping with the show at that point, had moments of fun, and got the job done of being a fairly thorough send-off. I was only disappointed with it because I thought it coulda been better, not because I thought it was terrible. My bigger complaint is that I think the fourth season was messy in general – too many loose ends and random balls in the air, and not enough of characters and grit and immediacy that made BSG special to begin with.
I think this is a problem with lots of shows people think are great. Folks tend to have such high expectations of the series finally. And when it turns out, it’s just like any other episode in the series, they get disappointed
Seinfeld is a good example of that.
I think the bigger problem is that you can’t shrug off the problems. With a regular episode, you can say “Wait, that didn’t make any sense. But maybe they’ll explain it later”. And whether they do or not, you probably eventually forget the problems. But when it’s the end, there’s no room for that.
Shows like BSG and (from what I’ve gathered) Lost have the related problem that they promise eventual explanations of some things (“and they have a plan”). But if there wasn’t ever actually a plan, then the finale is when that finally becomes unambiguously clear, as opposed to “we just don’t know what it is yet”.
“they have a plan” in BSG was such a joke because it obviously referred to the Cylon characters, not the writers. But fans kinda took it as the writers hinting that THEY had a plan, too.
But then it became clear that the writers DIDN’T have a plan, and eventually became clear that [SPOILER ALERT] the Cylons didn’t actually have a real plan IN the story.
Ronald Moore has talked about how Scifi wanted that line in there and how he was very hesitant to put it in since they were not sure what it was. He aquiesced and that is how it ended up there.
I forget Brother Cavil’s quote later, but it is spot on. Something like, “The plan? The plan was to wipe out all of humanity in one quick swipe and watch as the universe bathes in the glory of the justice of it all. That was the plan.”
Note: I found the quote and it actually goes:
“The plan is everything blows up a week ago. All the humans are dead, and we Cylons all download, and the universe basks in justice. However…It didn’t frakking happen.”
Oh, I reckoned the ending was - story wise - inevitable. I’d have been pretty stunned if that hadn’t been what happened. I think I watched the entire run of the show with the assumption that that was where it was going. And even if I hadn’t, it was very clear from the meat and bones of the final episode what they meant to say. The problem was therefore the incredibly patronising sequence, right at the very end where the point - already so very clear - was explicitly made. A cheap way to spoil an ending with which I was otherwise perfectly satisfied.
A bit like if at the end of MAS*H, Hawkeye had said “So BJ did say goodbye to me after all: look, there, he wrote it in big letters so it would be visible from the helicopter”.
Nvm…cant figure out how to make spoiler modifiers
It’s funny; that didn’t bug me at all. I mean, it’s a little cheesy but I think they earned it. I’m on board. What DID bug me was the dearth of surprises or interesting new reveals at the end. The main plot moved towards a predictable end and the remaining loose threads and mysteries were just kinda handwaved. Which was an option. It was just…dull.
I tend to find that the people that hated the finale were those that really wanted BSG to just be a military hard sci-fi and originally thought the metaphysical/religious aspects were just world building and were increasing dismayed that the metaphysical/religious aspects became more and more pronounced. At least that is what I recall from the discussions around the finale. Personally I thought it was one of the best treatments of religion in sci-fi (it’s not A Canticle for Leibowitz, but then, what is).
So for anyone newly jumping in, I’d be sure to note that the show is military sci-fi, but also about metaphysical search for meaning in such a universe (including religion).
I was reluctantly willing to go along with the ending, until that final bit. Spoilers ahoy.
First, the bit showing modern life just seemed both really unlikely (humanity evolved from the BSG crew, on a planet full of creatures with our genetic code who weren’t on the ship? nah) and pat.
Second, the robot dancing the robot was a huge tonal shift, nearly slapstick, and felt like a “fuck it, the series is over, what do we care?” moment. It really, really, REALLY didn’t work for me.
The metaphysics during the show were great, but at the end they didn’t hold up with the hard SF feel of the show.