LoeffelholzThe United States, With LovePosts: 8,998Quartermasters
Saw the finale tonight, as I was traveling yesterday and had Mrs Loeff and Loeff III record it for me...
Really great TV. Fantastic. Leaves you hanging in a couple of key questions...but perhaps not really...?
I'll not say too much until (and unless) other people pipe up, because I don't want to spoil anything.
Overall, I've gotta say...
B-) B-) B-) B-) B-) (Final Five cool guys)
-{
Check out my Amazon author page!Mark Loeffelholz
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
I have to admit I was a little worried how they would bring it all to a close, after all 'It has all happened before and it will happen again'.
I thought it was fantastic. I am sad that the series has ended but at the same time happy it ended now rather than drag it out and lessen the quality of it.
I have often heard and read critics of the series complaining that it is too unrealistic to believe that life in other reaches of space would be so similar to ours in language, customs etc. Sofor the writers to completely spin that and have it that their culture has informed ours is a nice touch. A middle finger at the naysayers. Brilliant stuff
1- On Her Majesty's Secret Service 2- Casino Royale 3- Licence To Kill 4- Goldeneye 5- From Russia With Love
Only one complaint from me and that was the hammer the point home final scene.
One aspect of the show that never seems to get a mention is the religious element. This is a show that believes in a higher power. Very unfashionable in the UK, where critics have happily focused on the allusions to the Iraq war, and politics, but have avoided discussing this.
I've been pretty neutral to the series and that's how I felt about the finale as well. It was competent and wrapped things up fairly decently - certainly better than the Sopranos non-ending I was always fearful of - but there were some things that I found unoriginal and a little odd...
- The scene where Anders disables the Cylon defenses by plugging himself into their network felt like a riff on an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation where Data puts the Borg to sleep by plugging himself into the collective. Not surprising since Ron Moore was also associated with Trek at that point.
- Another interesting Trek parallel was the way the Galactica rammed the Cylon colony; very reminiscent to the Enterprise ramming Shinzon's ship in Nemesis.
- I know the notes to "All Along the Watchtower" were the coordinates to Earth (Bob Dylan was a Cylon, go figure) but I'm still not sure how that song got implanted into the original Cylons and Starbuck.
- Given the size of the Cylon colony, I thought that the colonials found Hera a bit too easily - enter the complex, walk down a few corridors, and there she is. Obviously a compromise to budget constraints, but still a bit weak.
- The way in which the "bad" Cylons are destroyed thru a series of unlikely events strung together - agreeing to give them resurrection, Tyrol discovering what Tory did and his subsequent actions, Cavil shooting himself, and that damaged Raptor conveniently bumping into an asteroid causing the dead pilot's corpse to conveniently bump the button to launch the nukes at just the right moment - pushed the boundaries of chance. Just a few too many coincidences, unless "God" was orchestrating it all. And Baltar's impassioned speech to Cavill where he finally seemed to piece together everything that had happened to him, ended up being all for naught.
- Adama's decision at the end to leave everyone behind and essentially become a hermit seemed strange and unnecessary, especially in light of that scene early in the episode where he staggers out of a bar, looks up at the stars and smiles, understanding that is where he belongs. Why would he abandon the stars, especially as there were plenty of ships? Why would he abandon his son?
- Several episodes kept referencing a prophecy wherein Starbuck was the "harbinger of doom". Given what her character did and where she ended up, that didn't really go anywhere either.
- As to the end with Baltar and Six on modern day Earth and their little discussion, it reminded me of Arthur C. Clarke's take on alien intelligence from his Space Odyssey series; an ancient being (what we might call "God"?) trying to guide younger races indirectly and thru the use of immortal beings who can appear to specific people at specific points in time (in that context, Baltar and Six could be somewhat analogous to Dave Bowman and HAL in the later Odyssey books).
My favorite characters were always Baltar, Six (for very shallow reasons) and Tigh; and I was pretty happy with how those character ended up.
From what I've read, there is actually another Battlestar Galactica movie in the works called "The Plan" which covers events before the Cylon attacks on the 12 colonies and also dovetails with the finale. Supposedly, several key story points will be explained and or fleshed out in that movie, which is due out in the fall, so I guess all the answers have not yet been revealed.
Not to mention the prequel series Caprica which has a feature length DVD premiere soon. I wish Leobon and Kara had more scenes together. I liked where they were going with that.
Essentially BSG ended with the survivors going camping. Kara got the better deal. Death, or what lies beyond is preferable than a jaunt in the countryside.
Not to mention the prequel series Caprica which has a feature length DVD premiere soon. I wish Leobon and Kara had more scenes together. I liked where they were going with that.
I may check out The Plan, but based on clips I've seen, Caprica looks more like Melrose Place than another space opera. I'll be passin on that one.
Essentially BSG ended with the survivors going camping. Kara got the better deal. Death, or what lies beyond is preferable than a jaunt in the countryside.
That was another thing that bothered me. I could not buy into the notion that such an advanced society, even after all it had been through, would just abandon all its technology so quickly and happily decide to start from scratch. What about manufacturing medicines for sick people or in case there's a plague? What about weapons in case the Cylons return or someone else comes visiting? What about leaving a few ships behind in case there's some planetary disaster?
They obviously had to end it that way so that their past ties into our present but it's scientifically naive and doesn't bear close scrutiny, especially as most scientists will tell you that the best way to improve a species' chances of survival is to spread it out over as many different worlds as possible, and not put all your eggs in one planetary basket.
As for me, no way I'm giving up my Xbox 360 and a working electrical outlet to plug it into.
I have to say that I was very pleased with the ending of BSG. B-) I think they pretty much hit all the notes they needed to hit. There are some loose end story points, but I kinda like a tale that dosen't have everything all done up with a nice little bow on top. It definitely leaves room for conversations on the meaning of it all. Which is one of the great things that science fiction can do...make you think and challenge you. Good stuff!! {[] Sets the bar a little higher for t.v. sci-fi, that's for sure. -{
I saw the pilot for Caprica the other day and was impressed. The first half hour or so is a bit of a slog, but later once it gets onto the development of a prototype Cylon ad starts dealing with issues of identity and religion it becomes very interesting.
Comments
Really great TV. Fantastic. Leaves you hanging in a couple of key questions...but perhaps not really...?
I'll not say too much until (and unless) other people pipe up, because I don't want to spoil anything.
Overall, I've gotta say...
B-) B-) B-) B-) B-) (Final Five cool guys)
-{
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
I have to admit I was a little worried how they would bring it all to a close, after all 'It has all happened before and it will happen again'.
I thought it was fantastic. I am sad that the series has ended but at the same time happy it ended now rather than drag it out and lessen the quality of it.
One aspect of the show that never seems to get a mention is the religious element. This is a show that believes in a higher power. Very unfashionable in the UK, where critics have happily focused on the allusions to the Iraq war, and politics, but have avoided discussing this.
- The scene where Anders disables the Cylon defenses by plugging himself into their network felt like a riff on an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation where Data puts the Borg to sleep by plugging himself into the collective. Not surprising since Ron Moore was also associated with Trek at that point.
- Another interesting Trek parallel was the way the Galactica rammed the Cylon colony; very reminiscent to the Enterprise ramming Shinzon's ship in Nemesis.
- I know the notes to "All Along the Watchtower" were the coordinates to Earth (Bob Dylan was a Cylon, go figure) but I'm still not sure how that song got implanted into the original Cylons and Starbuck.
- Given the size of the Cylon colony, I thought that the colonials found Hera a bit too easily - enter the complex, walk down a few corridors, and there she is. Obviously a compromise to budget constraints, but still a bit weak.
- The way in which the "bad" Cylons are destroyed thru a series of unlikely events strung together - agreeing to give them resurrection, Tyrol discovering what Tory did and his subsequent actions, Cavil shooting himself, and that damaged Raptor conveniently bumping into an asteroid causing the dead pilot's corpse to conveniently bump the button to launch the nukes at just the right moment - pushed the boundaries of chance. Just a few too many coincidences, unless "God" was orchestrating it all. And Baltar's impassioned speech to Cavill where he finally seemed to piece together everything that had happened to him, ended up being all for naught.
- Adama's decision at the end to leave everyone behind and essentially become a hermit seemed strange and unnecessary, especially in light of that scene early in the episode where he staggers out of a bar, looks up at the stars and smiles, understanding that is where he belongs. Why would he abandon the stars, especially as there were plenty of ships? Why would he abandon his son?
- Several episodes kept referencing a prophecy wherein Starbuck was the "harbinger of doom". Given what her character did and where she ended up, that didn't really go anywhere either.
- As to the end with Baltar and Six on modern day Earth and their little discussion, it reminded me of Arthur C. Clarke's take on alien intelligence from his Space Odyssey series; an ancient being (what we might call "God"?) trying to guide younger races indirectly and thru the use of immortal beings who can appear to specific people at specific points in time (in that context, Baltar and Six could be somewhat analogous to Dave Bowman and HAL in the later Odyssey books).
My favorite characters were always Baltar, Six (for very shallow reasons) and Tigh; and I was pretty happy with how those character ended up.
From what I've read, there is actually another Battlestar Galactica movie in the works called "The Plan" which covers events before the Cylon attacks on the 12 colonies and also dovetails with the finale. Supposedly, several key story points will be explained and or fleshed out in that movie, which is due out in the fall, so I guess all the answers have not yet been revealed.
Essentially BSG ended with the survivors going camping. Kara got the better deal. Death, or what lies beyond is preferable than a jaunt in the countryside.
I may check out The Plan, but based on clips I've seen, Caprica looks more like Melrose Place than another space opera. I'll be passin on that one.
That was another thing that bothered me. I could not buy into the notion that such an advanced society, even after all it had been through, would just abandon all its technology so quickly and happily decide to start from scratch. What about manufacturing medicines for sick people or in case there's a plague? What about weapons in case the Cylons return or someone else comes visiting? What about leaving a few ships behind in case there's some planetary disaster?
They obviously had to end it that way so that their past ties into our present but it's scientifically naive and doesn't bear close scrutiny, especially as most scientists will tell you that the best way to improve a species' chances of survival is to spread it out over as many different worlds as possible, and not put all your eggs in one planetary basket.
As for me, no way I'm giving up my Xbox 360 and a working electrical outlet to plug it into.