All Things Battlestar Galactica

[warpus]

My biggest beef with the ending was that it was so predictable. After they found out that Earth was a wasteland, I thought, "oh god they're going to do what Stargate did, and have them settle on our Earth and become one with the human population there". I didn't know the details but for a long time that's what I suspected; it was a disappointment to be proven correct, especially since it required me to completely forget and ignore the whole temple thing.

My second biggest beef was the whole "Kara is an angel" thing. That was just stupid, lazy storytelling. They didn't need to kill Kara and reincarnate her as an angel to do the story, they could have made more of her encounters with the basestar hybrids, or she could've been hit on the head, or had a religious experience or whatever. They really didn't need to kill her and turn the whole thing all supernatural like that. I mean, I liked that the story was very much about destiny and predestination, I get that, but they didn't need to make it explicitly supernatural by making the angel physical, flesh and blood. The two angels of baltar and #6 were cool, I liked that they could only be seen by their real-life counterparts, but Kara? An actual, flesh and blood angel? That was stupid.

On the whole it was an amazing series, but it could have been even amazinger, if they'd written the ending in advance.

I totally agree about the Starbuck thing. There were so many things they could have done there .. I mean, they already had a plot device to bring back people from the dead - the resurrection technology.

Her being an "angel" was a cop-out, as was the revelation that the invisi-baltar and the invisi-blonde were angels too, as was that "god did it". Lazy lazy writing..

Yeah, I watched that episode again, and all they show is zooming out to see the whole galaxy, then zooming back in on Earth -- it never says she actually goes there, never shows her flying to that planet at all. It just implies that she does, but we later find out that she actually went to the scorched Earth, not our Earth.

Thinking about this whole thing a bit more.. Why show that scene if she WASN'T going to that Earth? "Hey, Starbuck's going to Pluto, let's show Jupiter". Doesn't make sense.

 

[Mise]

To facilitate the plot twist! All the way through we're lead to believe that Earth - our Earth - was the destination, and that the story was set in the very distant future. The plot twist that, actually, it was set in the very, very, very distant past, was a pretty good plot twist by "hollywood" standards (though by sci fi standards it was kinda tame, kinda like the sci fi equivalent of M. Shyamalan).

 

[warpus]

I would have enjoyed that twist if the temple scene early in the show didn't exist. Doesn't make sense for the show to have taken place in the distant past if the flags of the 12 colonies are constellations, as seen from Earth proper, in present day. Not to mention that the constellations only look like that from Earth proper, not nuked Earth. The two biggest revalations in the show (temple, ending) don't grok well together at all. One of them has to be discarded for the whole thing to work.

 

[Mise]

That's a pretty good assessment, 100% agreed! I didn't even notice that the constellations on the flags were the same as on Earth.... That really screws the ending up!

 

[civ_king]

Definitely seems like time travel happened, "all of this has happened before all of this will happen again" living the same cycle with minor variations, can we break the cycle?

 

[Loki130]

Thinking about this whole thing a bit more.. Why show that scene if she WASN'T going to that Earth? "Hey, Starbuck's going to Pluto, let's show Jupiter". Doesn't make sense.

I think I once watched some special features thing (I've got the whole series on dvd) where someone said that the idea was to assure the audience that no, they weren't just screwing with them and they were, eventually going to get to earth.

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

Pretty much agree with Mise in all of this thread.

It was a good series, especially the first season which was pretty much the definition of Battlestar Galactica - Cylons chasing down a fleeing human fleet - but after that the story got a little confused. It was only saved by some rather brilliant characters and good writing for the smaller arcs (even the last season was great with its mutiny episodes), it's just the overall story is a bit difficult to slot together.

And I did get really frustrated at the idea of the crew splitting up and going their separate ways when they landed on Earth. When I watched Adama walk down that mountain at the very end I just wondered about the possibility about him tripping and gashing his leg, then being unable to battle the inevitable infection and cursing the fact he threw his ship and technology into the sun. The crew spent 4 seasons working together to survive, then go their separate ways for no apparent reason (other than a quick joke about the engineer going to Scotland). Just bugged me.

 

[warpus]

And I did get really frustrated at the idea of the crew splitting up and going their separate ways when they landed on Earth. When I watched Adama walk down that mountain at the very end I just wondered about the possibility about him tripping and gashing his leg, then being unable to battle the inevitable infection and cursing the fact he threw his ship and technology into the sun. The crew spent 4 seasons working together to survive, then go their separate ways for no apparent reason (other than a quick joke about the engineer going to Scotland). Just bugged me.

They kinda had to do that once they decided to go down the "this is our earth's distant past". It was kinda "gay", I agree.

 

[califf]

First season of Battlestar Glactica is good but after that it become so boring. so i just leave it to watch. I have not enjoyed it's season 2 completely. But i will go for it when i have nothing to watch in my other favorite running shows.

 

[warpus]

First season of Battlestar Glactica is good but after that it become so boring. so i just leave it to watch. I have not enjoyed it's season 2 completely. But i will go for it when i have nothing to watch in my other favorite running shows.

I thought that seasons 1 & 2 were incredibly strong and some of the best sci-fi ever to air on TV.. Season 3 was crap though, you're not missing much. It's all relationship drama and moustaches.

 

[jlvfr]

2.) Why would the fleet settle on a planet and destroy all their ships, with all those cylon baseships still flying around there somewhere? I'm not talking about that one "friendly" cylon baseship that we saw leave in the series finale, with the cylons who "deserved" to be set free.. I'm talking about all those baseships belonging to the "bad" cylons - the ones who had the colony that was destroyed, etc. As far as I saw, only their colony was destroyed - they still had a bunch of baseships somewhere.. right? Did I miss something?

I positively hated the ending. It's simplistic, stupid and blind. Technology didn't ruin anything, it was people's misuse of it that did it. By abandoning everything, they not only condemn themselfs (and their children!!) to caveman-like lives but also, by abandoning all historic records and recording equipment, they lost all ability to warn future generations on what the abuses can cause. Smart.

I got the feeling that the story for the end was a rush job, made up by some "back to the earth" ignorant hippies

 

[Newbunkle]

The miniseries and season one were awesome, but I didn't enjoy it so much from season two onwards. I especially didn't like it after the new craprica arc and the "X months later" jump. Jumps like that are horrible when you're trying to follow a storyline. They're a cheap way of taking the story somewhere without having to develop the plot or show how it got there.

I thought season 4 was better than 2 and 3, but the ending was ruined due to the mixed up constellations, the abandonment of their technology, and Ellen being the fifth cylon. They brought back one of the most annoying characters as the 5th just to make Tigh squirm for five minutes, and then her murder was forgiven and forgotten.

In the end I was only watching it to perve on Grace Park.

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

The miniseries and season one were awesome, but I didn't enjoy it so much from season two onwards. I especially didn't like it after the new craprica arc and the "X months later" jump. Jumps like that are horrible when you're trying to follow a storyline. They're a cheap way of taking the story somewhere without having to develop the plot or show how it got there.

When I watched the finale of season 2, I honestly thought the whole 'jump forward x months' thing was all in Baltar's head (it was perfectly set up, with him putting his head on the table) and it was just a ploy on the part of the number six in his head. I was rather surprised when they decided to run with it.

That said, I ultimately rather enjoyed the whole New Caprica arc, and it made me stick with the series, especially given I found season 2 a bit dull.

 

[warpus]

In the end I was only watching it to perve on Grace Park.

Speaking of Grace Park, there were several shots of her on the show that I have been unable to find online.

The reason for this is probably that it was a body double, but I want those pictures anyway!

 

[Ajidica]

Who was Grace Park again?

 

[jlvfr]

Who was Grace Park again?

Boomer, the cylon skinjob that shot Adama

 

[Ajidica]

Mmm. She was nice, I prefered the mechanics wife though, I've always had a thing for dark-haired women.