# I've just started watching Battlestar Galactica (newer version). **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 9, 2012, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-just-started-watching-battlestar-galactica-newer-version/612307 "2012-02-09T13:42:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-just-started-watching-battlestar-galactica-newer-version/612307/21 "2012-02-09T15:14:09Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > What about Star Wars? Star Wars contains no more fantasy than Star Trek, maybe less as at least in Wars you don’t see human/hutt hybrids running around and different species even speak their own languages which is why there is a market for translator droids. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-just-started-watching-battlestar-galactica-newer-version/612307/22 "2012-02-09T15:19:05Z")
I enjoyed it a lot. It doesn’t quite stand up to repeat viewings, but the first time through was great. I liked the finale too. I say just watch it and don’t let any opinions here sway you. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-just-started-watching-battlestar-galactica-newer-version/612307/23 "2012-02-09T15:22:38Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Star Wars contains no more fantasy than Star Trek, maybe less as at least in Wars you don’t see human/hutt hybrids running around and different species even speak their own languages which is why there is a market for translator droids. So, horses=fantasy, spaceships=science fiction? ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-just-started-watching-battlestar-galactica-newer-version/612307/24 "2012-02-09T15:29:27Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > So, horses=fantasy, spaceships=science fiction? No but I would say totally impossible magic does equal fantasy, for instance: 1.Both SW and ST contain psychic powers, so they are even there. 2.Humans and aliens freely breeding, pure fantasy. The clumsy attempts in Enterprise to explain it as the result of genetic engineering makes no sense as there is a strong taboo in the Trekverse against genetic engineering due to the augments. Additionally there were hybrids in Trek like the Klingon/Romulan ones born in a isolated and hidden jungle prison, so they had state of the art tech for interspecies fertility there? FTL engines are sci fi, light sabers are sci fi, warp engines are sci fi. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-just-started-watching-battlestar-galactica-newer-version/612307/25 "2012-02-09T15:48:30Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Quit now, while there is still time. > A horrible, contrived, ran-out-of-making-shit-up ending. > Man, I loved it, too. ☹ I agree the very ending was horrible, but I think the show did well _almost_ to the end. In fact, the first hour or so of the finale was pretty damned great. So, I’d recommend quitting about 70 minutes into the series finale. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-just-started-watching-battlestar-galactica-newer-version/612307/26 "2012-02-09T15:53:49Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > I agree the very ending was horrible, but I think the show did well _almost_ to the end. In fact, the first hour or so of the finale was pretty damned great. So, I’d recommend quitting about 70 minutes into the series finale. The epilogue was possibly the dumbest thing I have ever seen, it took a show that was timeless allegory and inserted footage that will be horribly dated in less than a decade. As well as Ron Moore inserting himself clumsily into the show.:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Tanbarkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@Tanbarkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanbarkie)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-just-started-watching-battlestar-galactica-newer-version/612307/27 "2012-02-09T16:18:20Z")
I loved the first two seasons of the show, and felt that seasons 3-4 had a mix of good and bad. There’s some really great stuff in the last two seasons that would be a shame to miss, but there’s definitely an increase in the amount of filler as well. And yeah, the finale is quite divisive - I may be unique in that I don’t outright love nor hate it. There are elements of the finale that I absolutely adore, and there are some that I get angry just thinking about. There’s also a lot of stuff in between. I think it ultimately depends on why you like the show. If you’re in it for the hard sci-fi trappings or the long-term plot arc, you’ll probably be disappointed. The former gradually diminishes over the course of the series (although it never goes away completely), while the latter suffers from the same problem that plagues a lot of modern serialized dramas, which is that the writers didn’t have the overarching story planned out ahead of time, and had to improvise their way out of some of the holes they dug themselves. Often in unsatisfying ways. That being said, I’ll swear 'til my dying breath that the Final Five reveal is one of the greatest “holy shit” moments in television season finale history. If, however, you’re in it because you enjoy the characters and/or the show’s unrelenting willingness to tackle Big Issues with depth and complexity, I think you’ll find the remainder of BSG quite rewarding. With a few exceptions, BSG does its characters right and evolves them (no pun intended) over the course of the series in organic and interesting ways. And IMO, it serves as a better meta-analysis of the Bush years than any of its contemporaries - in ANY medium. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-just-started-watching-battlestar-galactica-newer-version/612307/28 "2012-02-09T17:04:55Z")
Look, the series finale was not pulled out of Moore’s ass at the last minute. It’s what we were leading up to the whole time. This is a show that had gods, prophecies, visions, destinies, angels, demons, ressurection, and on and on, from the very beginning. Psychic powers are fictional, and any show that includes psychic powers is fantasy. Dressing up psychic powers in science fiction trappings doesn’t make it science. So in BSG you’ve got a prophecy. We’re so freaking used to prophecies in science fiction that we give it a pass. Except, you know, prophecies are fantasy. I don’t care if the guy making a prophecy is a Vulcan on a spaceship, it’s magic whether he mixes ingredients in a cauldron or explains that Vulcans use 90% of their brains while humans only use 10%. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-just-started-watching-battlestar-galactica-newer-version/612307/29 "2012-02-09T17:14:04Z")
> [@grude](#): > > The end of season 2 and start of season 3 is frakking amazing, mid way into season 3 the show feels a little like its meandering. Season four suffers the same problem of feeling aimless, and the big reveal and the pregnancy made me :rolleyes:. The resolution of Tom Zarek’s storyline was something I looked forward too, but they handled it clumsily(it should have been much murkier who was right and wrong). > > The show never goes off the rails but it did feel like they did not know what to do at some point, but its only noticeable because of how amazingly good the earlier stuff was. I just started BSG last year, watching it on BBC-A. I’ve just started season 4. This is as far into the thread as I’ve gotten. Is it safe to actually read any further or should I expect a thread where the OP specifically states he’s only through season 2, to be chock full of spoilers for later episodes? ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-just-started-watching-battlestar-galactica-newer-version/612307/30 "2012-02-09T17:17:47Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > I also think that season 3(?) gets very dull and drawn out, as they take a long break from the ‘main’ plot, and the story stagnates (IMHO). If you end up feeling as I do, bare with it, because they return to the story again afterwards. (Not to say that there isn’t some great stuff that happens in that season, but something about it was just bland to me). Season 3 suffered from SciFi executive meddling: they wanted self-contained episodes and that wrecked the series momentum. You can actually tell by watching the episodes at which point they realized their error and relented in that exective order. Incidentally, you can safely skip “The Woman King” and “Black Market” without any qualms. The former contributes nothing to the series; the latter has a minor plotpoint in the last 5 minutes that’s revisited later but which no one remembered had happened anyway. And _no one_ likes those episodes, anyway. **Enderw24** , based on how all the prior threads have gone… expect spoilers. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-just-started-watching-battlestar-galactica-newer-version/612307/31 "2012-02-09T17:27:28Z")
> [@Lightray](#): > > **Enderw24** , based on how all the prior threads have gone… expect spoilers. Fair enough. Too bad though. I guess maybe I’ll come back in a few months if the thread’s still around. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-just-started-watching-battlestar-galactica-newer-version/612307/32 "2012-02-09T17:36:17Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > I just started BSG last year, watching it on BBC-A. I’ve just started season 4. > > This is as far into the thread as I’ve gotten. Is it safe to actually read any further or should I expect a thread where the OP specifically states he’s only through season 2, to be chock full of spoilers for later episodes? I gave no specific spoilers, if you can guess what “the big reveal” “a pregnancy” and “the resolution of Tom Zarek’s storyline” refer to well you might be psychic. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-just-started-watching-battlestar-galactica-newer-version/612307/33 "2012-02-09T19:32:09Z")
> [@Lightray](#): > > Incidentally, you can safely skip “The Woman King” and “Black Market” without any qualms. The former contributes nothing to the series; the latter has a minor plotpoint in the last 5 minutes that’s revisited later but which no one remembered had happened anyway. And _no one_ likes those episodes, anyway. I liked “Black Market.” It had economics! ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-just-started-watching-battlestar-galactica-newer-version/612307/34 "2012-02-09T19:39:22Z")
Okay, no one likes those episodes… _who isn’t a Cylon_. :dubious: _peers narrowly at **Mr. Excellent** _ By the way, anyone know where the airlock switch is on this thread? Just in case? ---
**Author:** ![Monkey\_Chews](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@Monkey\_Chews](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monkey_Chews)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-just-started-watching-battlestar-galactica-newer-version/612307/35 "2012-02-09T19:54:35Z")
Count me as another one who thinks the finale was brilliant. One of the best resolutions to an ongoing storyline I’ve ever seen. Addresses all the questions of the series, resolves the character’s situations in a really satisfying way, and provides some great plot developments and a few awesome twists. Exciting, bold storytelling. As for the show, I think it dips in quality quite a bit for the last half of season 3, picks up again in the season 3 finale, and then produces one amazing episode after another all through season 4, all the way to the end. > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > It became fantasy when Ron Moore wrote himself into a corner, the ass. This I don’t get, at all. Seems to me he went exactly where he wanted and always intended to go, right from the start. I didn’t see anything in the final season that wasn’t already set up. I mean, Six told us explicitly that she was an angel at the start of season 2. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-just-started-watching-battlestar-galactica-newer-version/612307/36 "2012-02-09T20:32:27Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Look, the series finale was not pulled out of Moore’s ass at the last minute. It’s what we were leading up to the whole time. > > This is a show that had gods, prophecies, visions, destinies, angels, demons, ressurection, and on and on, from the very beginning. I jumped in to say this, more or less. I’d like to add my own insight, but I’m fresh out. ---
**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:** [February 9, 2012, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-just-started-watching-battlestar-galactica-newer-version/612307/37 "2012-02-09T21:05:38Z")
I’m taking another pill before I bust something. ---
**Author:** ![Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dread_pirate_jimbo/32/3897_2.png) [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dread_Pirate_Jimbo)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-just-started-watching-battlestar-galactica-newer-version/612307/38 "2012-02-09T21:08:47Z")
I found the series to be immensely satisfying from beginning to end and I liked the ending. One thing I really appreciated about the show, particularly as compared to the original, is that I had a genuine sense of jeopardy for the entire human race in every episode. Having that ever-present number in the opening credits and on Rosayln’s wall – the total number of humans left in the universe – and that number pretty consistently dwindling over the course of the series always left me thinking, “Holy shit, they really are on the brink of elimination!” And since the series frequently went down the unexpected route of the wrong people dying, I was not sure of the rag tag fleet’s fate until the final minutes of the series. I give it two thumbs up. 🙂 ---
**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:** [February 9, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-just-started-watching-battlestar-galactica-newer-version/612307/39 "2012-02-09T21:13:14Z")
I wonder if I can overdose on these things… ---
**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:** [February 9, 2012, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-just-started-watching-battlestar-galactica-newer-version/612307/40 "2012-02-09T21:44:10Z")
I liked the whole series too. It was certainly uneven at parts as it went on, and the finale wasn’t all it could have been, and the wrapping up of the loose ends was a little weak, but on the whole I enjoyed it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-just-started-watching-battlestar-galactica-newer-version/612307.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-just-started-watching-battlestar-galactica-newer-version/612307.md?page=3)