The first hour blew me away. The second hour was among the biggest let downs imaginable for such an incredible series. It felt like a cop-out to me. A failure of imagination.
Andrew McDonaldsays
I will have to wait until next week to vote on this. My wife is out of town and I am not allowed to watch the finale until she gets back! I have the feeling I would be in less trouble if I had an affair than if I watched the BSG finale without her.
The only problems with it were the continued reliance on mysticism and magic, rather than a focus on technology. The first hour was incredible, and the second hour was subtle. I actually liked the second hour. Think Chad Oliver, Ursula K. LeGuin and Clifford Simak.
Mike Brazinskisays
The finale reminds me of the final episode of DS9. The first hour was enthralling but the last hour fell back to mysticism. For the most part, BSG was hardcore science fiction. To resolve most of the questions with “It was God’s will”, it makes me feel cheated. They could have done much better.
Are you kidding? Religion and the higher power guiding everyone has been… well, it’s been guiding everyone throughout the whole show, it’s been an integral part of the BSG mythos. To completely skip over it for the finale would’ve been insane.
Jariksays
I don’t understand the hostility toward the finale. It brought everything full circle.
Darfynsays
I am not a dedicated follower of BSG . I was a follower of the Original (it was an scifi adventure) , but couldn’t get into the new Series because of the mind play !
Though , I couldn’t resist the marathon of the last Season and Finale’ on Cable .
From that view , comes my review ! In regard to previous comment here on this , I say that an entirely techno finish would have been a deadend avenue ; modern scifi is generally colored in it’s views , involving mysticism and philo-questionism ! I thought the Finale had good flow as well as Wrap Up ! I checked the Net for fan reviews and there weren’t many , which surprised me ! But there were some that interested ! Someone thought the very last scene and dialogue with Gaius and Six , were they a ghostly symbolism ? (I don’t think so) . I don’t think the end could be called religious , in the sense of invoking faith (yet faith is continually mentioned throughout the whole series by those who have no faith in them left).
The whole Series is really about fatalism , and as any good scifi Series should , the end left us with many Questions ! It was feel good , and the Series finished with redemption for Gaius ?!
Stevesays
I sent the family off to bed got out my top shelf whiskey then sat backed and watch 90 minutes of pure frakking awesomeness.
It was every thing I wanted, action, drama and answers
Ralphsays
The series final was awesome. The explain some, and left some to mystery. Some things in sci fi are better left unexplained. Like what happened to starbuck? what was she? we will never know.
I think explaining that plot point would just hurt it.
AWESOME final episode.
Anachronitesays
The finale was pure awesomeness. To leave out the misticism, religeon, angels, and God, would have been a diservice, since thats been a part of the show since the beginning. What they never really said was that the prophecy was fullfilled, they made it to earth and the leader died as fortold. no need to explain starbuck, I think Baltar did that for us. She was an angel, just like 6 and balter that were seen in the minds of the real 6 and baltar and at the end of the show. I loved it. Best TV scifi series ever. (Although had it been allowed to see a 4 year run and a creators ending, Firefly might have given it a run for it’s money. Unfortunately we’ll never know as fox scrwed the pooch on that one.
Thats for an incredible 4 seasons to all the cast and crew. we will miss you all each week dearly. So say we all!
Ericsays
Perfect…. No, but still very enjoyable.
Billy Unosays
I’m still trying to figure out what happened to Starbuck… How did she come back, and where did she go?
Other than that: TOP NOTCH.
Sihnonsays
It was brilliant! I loved every minute…and I cried like a baby when Roslin passed. Of course, I’m upset that they left Starbuck’s story hanging, but I’m okay with it.
Crockett65says
Acting, great! Writing, sucked *ss! I have been disappointed with the series for quite a while. Everything you don’t have an answer for is “God’s Will”, Starbuck some kind of benevolent wraith?, half the damn crew of the Galactica is Cylon? It kind of defeats the whole purpose of the damn show. If the Cylons wanted the Colonies intact, why didn’t they just continue to insinuate themselves into Colonial society? Get themselves elected to high office and just invite the rest of the cylons in to finish the job without all the fuss. Instead, the Cylons waste a sh*tload of resources and then wind up in bed with the same “enemy” they are trying to wipe out. It was one big convoluted mess from the get go!
What a waste. The original was better. (Not counting Galactica 80, It was WAY worse)
It was a satisfying end. There were still some unanswered questions, and a couple of “they call that an answer?” moments, but the stories completed the characters’ arcs, and thus, the part we truly cared about. A- for effort, but B- for overall grade. Still a good watch.
For those like Crockett65 who thought the whole Cylon/Human alliance was misplaced..perhaps those answers will be answered later this year when SCI FI (or SyFy) runs a new special tele-film that looks at the whole last 4 years of the series from the Cylon perspective…..So yes, more BSG to come just about the time most of us will be ready for a fix. ๐
mattsays
I can’t help but think the Colonist are now the Golgafrincham. Now we will never know what the question too 42 is!
Trekscribblersays
I gave it a solid B, though I would’ve gone a B+. I had some minor quibbles, and I think some moments didn’t play out true to character, but overall it was pretty impressive.
Grogorsays
RE: I canโt help but think the Colonist are now the Golgafrincham. Now we will never know what the question too 42 is!
I always thought something was fundamentally wrong with the BSG universe.
There is no way they had the plot of the finale written when they wrote all their prophecies and visions in the earlier episodes. That reoccurring opera house vision was so frakking pointless! What about the president dying before they make it to Earth? Making it up as you go along is not good enough.
I’m with ya. Solid B. I wish I would have stopped watching right after the landing, then I would have been happier with it. The mystic mumbo jumbo at the end really was not true to the genre. It crossed the line from sci-fi to fantasy. It went from allegory in a realistic universe to allegory in and obviously allegorical universe. Damn right I’m hostile, they could have done so much more without resorting making it a fary tale. Starbuck was a pixie and the head characters were unicorns. And I’m a very forgiving watcher of sci-fi. The very end keeps clouding all the really cool stuff that happened before it. Gotta take a break from tv and read some hard sci-fi to heal my bruises.
With regards to the (sometimes bitter) division between the fans, I think Terry Pratchett put it best.
“Of course I listen to my readers! So the next book will be: Set in Ankh-Morpork/not set in Ankh-Morpork. With lots of the good old characters/with a whole cast of new characters. Written like the old books, which were better/written like the later books, which were better. With lots of character development/none of that dull character development stuff, which gets in the way of the jokes. Short/long. You want fries with that?”
GazerBeamsays
Well said, Arkle. Plus, the idea of Daffy Duck as Green Lantern makes me chuckle a bit ๐
John Lohmannsays
If someone told me that my wife, kids, and I would have to fend for ourselves on a strange planet, with no technology, against unknowns like wild animals and proto-human hunter-gatherers, I’d tell them to kiss my hiney, and drop me off with the Cylons. The last hour was extremely improbable.
tensaibakasays
No one liked the cameo appearance by Ronald D Moore at the end reading the newspaper?
tallgrrlsays
Loved it on many levels. The acting, writing, directing, production: all that I wanted, and moore. (Yes, pun intended. Great cameo, BTW.)
The character resolutions and background stories were very satisfying.
I know that some people have an attachment to the original series…which I couldn’t stand, but that’s just me. Even when I was a kid, it was a cheap and silly version of ST:TOS.
The original Battlestar Galactica was the kiddie version of this new re-imagined, GROWN-UP version.
Can’t wait to have my DVD set completed with this final season point 5.
One of the BEST TV Dramas….EVER.
So say we all.
The ending wasn’t necessarily mystical. If the orignal cylons built subroutines into future cylon (or even human) DNA, then they would have been able to guide things subtly in ways that appear mystical to us. Really, though, it’s all just an elaborate and subtle AI continually manipulating us to repeat the same experiment over and over.
The ending was vague enough to allow you to see it as mystical, if you wish. I just don’t see that way.
Davidsays
HUGE Disappointment. In fact the last 2 seasons were just GOD awful. I started fast forwarding through half the shows the last 6 – 7 weeks. I was so happy when the president finally died. Wished it happened months ago. This show completely got off track. Might as well of called it a different series the last two years because it wasn’t BSG. I wish Gaiter succeeded in his mutiny. So much for Starbuck being the harbinger of death. Honestly, did the producer bring in a 6th grade class to write the last two seasons. What a waste. And why the hell would they talk as this S@$T about Hera when she turned to be completely unimportant. No Admiral would risk 1000’s of lives to save one person and then only to have that person have no meaning (don’t give me that crap about her being the missing link in the magazine). I was with Dean Stockwell, just put a bullet through your mouth. The show should have done that 2 years ago. Everyone I watched this show with felt the same. In fact I was the only sucker to continue to watch it, hoping it would turn around but it only got worse.
timsays
the controlling entity that “doesn’t like to be called” God is Dr. Manhattan.
Darfynsays
That’s because , Tim , you get medical care in Manhattan ! And of the record , the Doctor’s first name is Rico – Repetitive Intelligence Coordinator ! And has David watched too much BSG and is timeshifting to Bullsh*t Galaxy ?!
Chrissays
Awesome. A good Finale in my opinion.
I liked the Jump forward 150,000 years, not because of the Baltar and Six thing, but because it created a loop and effectively said “The future of BSG is in the real world in which you are living!”
It said that the show was over but not complete.
I’m still mulling over the meaning of Baltar’s last words: “You know he doesn’t like that name… Silly me… Silly Silly me!”
The best I can tell is because Baltar said “HE doesn’t like that name”
Any ideas?
Stottysays
I enjoyed it a lot, however the main thing that really bothered me was that they arrived on earth 150,000 years before the present day. It would have been better if they arrived within the last 5,000 – 20,000 years.
Anyone remember the original series intro?
“There are those who believe that life here began out there, far across the universe, with tribes of humans who may have been the forefathers of the Egyptians, or the Toltecs, or the Mayans. That they may have been the architects of the great pyramids, or the lost civilizations of Lemuria or Atlantis. Some believe that there may yet be brothers of man who even now fight to survive somewhere beyond the heavens”
It would have been perfect for all those advanced societies in our past.
Ian Nsays
I must say that their location put me in mind of Life, The Universe and Everything. “Eddies in the space time continuum” anyone?
Jonsays
Wow. What a crock of s**t.
If I had known that that was going to be the end then I’d have never bothered watching it in the first place.
A least that’s the nail in the coffin for Caprica for me – sounds like a yawn fest and will certainly get cancelled within 2 minutes of the first show being aired.
bkittysays
I was able to watch the finale with about 70 friends at the Galactica Watercooler Meetup. We had a GREAT time, and the general consensus was one of happy satisfaction.
I can’t wait for the dvds! Galactica is best viewed as one long movie.
So Say We All!
Katiesays
I agree with some criticism, but despite there is some discrepancy in the writing fable, BSG is the best SI FY show ever. It is not perfect, but we do not have better then that. I would love to see main personages in Adama’s quarters again.
bkyu says
The first hour blew me away. The second hour was among the biggest let downs imaginable for such an incredible series. It felt like a cop-out to me. A failure of imagination.
Andrew McDonald says
I will have to wait until next week to vote on this. My wife is out of town and I am not allowed to watch the finale until she gets back! I have the feeling I would be in less trouble if I had an affair than if I watched the BSG finale without her.
Insert whip-cracking sound here…
Omphalos says
The only problems with it were the continued reliance on mysticism and magic, rather than a focus on technology. The first hour was incredible, and the second hour was subtle. I actually liked the second hour. Think Chad Oliver, Ursula K. LeGuin and Clifford Simak.
Mike Brazinski says
The finale reminds me of the final episode of DS9. The first hour was enthralling but the last hour fell back to mysticism. For the most part, BSG was hardcore science fiction. To resolve most of the questions with “It was God’s will”, it makes me feel cheated. They could have done much better.
Bronzethumb says
Are you kidding? Religion and the higher power guiding everyone has been… well, it’s been guiding everyone throughout the whole show, it’s been an integral part of the BSG mythos. To completely skip over it for the finale would’ve been insane.
Jarik says
I don’t understand the hostility toward the finale. It brought everything full circle.
Darfyn says
I am not a dedicated follower of BSG . I was a follower of the Original (it was an scifi adventure) , but couldn’t get into the new Series because of the mind play !
Though , I couldn’t resist the marathon of the last Season and Finale’ on Cable .
From that view , comes my review ! In regard to previous comment here on this , I say that an entirely techno finish would have been a deadend avenue ; modern scifi is generally colored in it’s views , involving mysticism and philo-questionism ! I thought the Finale had good flow as well as Wrap Up ! I checked the Net for fan reviews and there weren’t many , which surprised me ! But there were some that interested ! Someone thought the very last scene and dialogue with Gaius and Six , were they a ghostly symbolism ? (I don’t think so) . I don’t think the end could be called religious , in the sense of invoking faith (yet faith is continually mentioned throughout the whole series by those who have no faith in them left).
The whole Series is really about fatalism , and as any good scifi Series should , the end left us with many Questions ! It was feel good , and the Series finished with redemption for Gaius ?!
Steve says
I sent the family off to bed got out my top shelf whiskey then sat backed and watch 90 minutes of pure frakking awesomeness.
It was every thing I wanted, action, drama and answers
Ralph says
The series final was awesome. The explain some, and left some to mystery. Some things in sci fi are better left unexplained. Like what happened to starbuck? what was she? we will never know.
I think explaining that plot point would just hurt it.
AWESOME final episode.
Anachronite says
The finale was pure awesomeness. To leave out the misticism, religeon, angels, and God, would have been a diservice, since thats been a part of the show since the beginning. What they never really said was that the prophecy was fullfilled, they made it to earth and the leader died as fortold. no need to explain starbuck, I think Baltar did that for us. She was an angel, just like 6 and balter that were seen in the minds of the real 6 and baltar and at the end of the show. I loved it. Best TV scifi series ever. (Although had it been allowed to see a 4 year run and a creators ending, Firefly might have given it a run for it’s money. Unfortunately we’ll never know as fox scrwed the pooch on that one.
Thats for an incredible 4 seasons to all the cast and crew. we will miss you all each week dearly. So say we all!
Eric says
Perfect…. No, but still very enjoyable.
Billy Uno says
I’m still trying to figure out what happened to Starbuck… How did she come back, and where did she go?
Other than that: TOP NOTCH.
Sihnon says
It was brilliant! I loved every minute…and I cried like a baby when Roslin passed. Of course, I’m upset that they left Starbuck’s story hanging, but I’m okay with it.
Crockett65 says
Acting, great! Writing, sucked *ss! I have been disappointed with the series for quite a while. Everything you don’t have an answer for is “God’s Will”, Starbuck some kind of benevolent wraith?, half the damn crew of the Galactica is Cylon? It kind of defeats the whole purpose of the damn show. If the Cylons wanted the Colonies intact, why didn’t they just continue to insinuate themselves into Colonial society? Get themselves elected to high office and just invite the rest of the cylons in to finish the job without all the fuss. Instead, the Cylons waste a sh*tload of resources and then wind up in bed with the same “enemy” they are trying to wipe out. It was one big convoluted mess from the get go!
What a waste. The original was better. (Not counting Galactica 80, It was WAY worse)
Lejon from Chandler says
It was a satisfying end. There were still some unanswered questions, and a couple of “they call that an answer?” moments, but the stories completed the characters’ arcs, and thus, the part we truly cared about. A- for effort, but B- for overall grade. Still a good watch.
Sam Sloan says
For those like Crockett65 who thought the whole Cylon/Human alliance was misplaced..perhaps those answers will be answered later this year when SCI FI (or SyFy) runs a new special tele-film that looks at the whole last 4 years of the series from the Cylon perspective…..So yes, more BSG to come just about the time most of us will be ready for a fix. ๐
matt says
I can’t help but think the Colonist are now the Golgafrincham. Now we will never know what the question too 42 is!
Trekscribbler says
I gave it a solid B, though I would’ve gone a B+. I had some minor quibbles, and I think some moments didn’t play out true to character, but overall it was pretty impressive.
Grogor says
RE: I canโt help but think the Colonist are now the Golgafrincham. Now we will never know what the question too 42 is!
I always thought something was fundamentally wrong with the BSG universe.
There is no way they had the plot of the finale written when they wrote all their prophecies and visions in the earlier episodes. That reoccurring opera house vision was so frakking pointless! What about the president dying before they make it to Earth? Making it up as you go along is not good enough.
skiznot says
I’m with ya. Solid B. I wish I would have stopped watching right after the landing, then I would have been happier with it. The mystic mumbo jumbo at the end really was not true to the genre. It crossed the line from sci-fi to fantasy. It went from allegory in a realistic universe to allegory in and obviously allegorical universe. Damn right I’m hostile, they could have done so much more without resorting making it a fary tale. Starbuck was a pixie and the head characters were unicorns. And I’m a very forgiving watcher of sci-fi. The very end keeps clouding all the really cool stuff that happened before it. Gotta take a break from tv and read some hard sci-fi to heal my bruises.
Arkle says
With regards to the (sometimes bitter) division between the fans, I think Terry Pratchett put it best.
“Of course I listen to my readers! So the next book will be: Set in Ankh-Morpork/not set in Ankh-Morpork. With lots of the good old characters/with a whole cast of new characters. Written like the old books, which were better/written like the later books, which were better. With lots of character development/none of that dull character development stuff, which gets in the way of the jokes. Short/long. You want fries with that?”
GazerBeam says
Well said, Arkle. Plus, the idea of Daffy Duck as Green Lantern makes me chuckle a bit ๐
John Lohmann says
If someone told me that my wife, kids, and I would have to fend for ourselves on a strange planet, with no technology, against unknowns like wild animals and proto-human hunter-gatherers, I’d tell them to kiss my hiney, and drop me off with the Cylons. The last hour was extremely improbable.
tensaibaka says
No one liked the cameo appearance by Ronald D Moore at the end reading the newspaper?
tallgrrl says
Loved it on many levels. The acting, writing, directing, production: all that I wanted, and moore. (Yes, pun intended. Great cameo, BTW.)
The character resolutions and background stories were very satisfying.
I know that some people have an attachment to the original series…which I couldn’t stand, but that’s just me. Even when I was a kid, it was a cheap and silly version of ST:TOS.
The original Battlestar Galactica was the kiddie version of this new re-imagined, GROWN-UP version.
Can’t wait to have my DVD set completed with this final season point 5.
One of the BEST TV Dramas….EVER.
So say we all.
Rico says
The ending wasn’t necessarily mystical. If the orignal cylons built subroutines into future cylon (or even human) DNA, then they would have been able to guide things subtly in ways that appear mystical to us. Really, though, it’s all just an elaborate and subtle AI continually manipulating us to repeat the same experiment over and over.
The ending was vague enough to allow you to see it as mystical, if you wish. I just don’t see that way.
David says
HUGE Disappointment. In fact the last 2 seasons were just GOD awful. I started fast forwarding through half the shows the last 6 – 7 weeks. I was so happy when the president finally died. Wished it happened months ago. This show completely got off track. Might as well of called it a different series the last two years because it wasn’t BSG. I wish Gaiter succeeded in his mutiny. So much for Starbuck being the harbinger of death. Honestly, did the producer bring in a 6th grade class to write the last two seasons. What a waste. And why the hell would they talk as this S@$T about Hera when she turned to be completely unimportant. No Admiral would risk 1000’s of lives to save one person and then only to have that person have no meaning (don’t give me that crap about her being the missing link in the magazine). I was with Dean Stockwell, just put a bullet through your mouth. The show should have done that 2 years ago. Everyone I watched this show with felt the same. In fact I was the only sucker to continue to watch it, hoping it would turn around but it only got worse.
tim says
the controlling entity that “doesn’t like to be called” God is Dr. Manhattan.
Darfyn says
That’s because , Tim , you get medical care in Manhattan ! And of the record , the Doctor’s first name is Rico – Repetitive Intelligence Coordinator ! And has David watched too much BSG and is timeshifting to Bullsh*t Galaxy ?!
Chris says
Awesome. A good Finale in my opinion.
I liked the Jump forward 150,000 years, not because of the Baltar and Six thing, but because it created a loop and effectively said “The future of BSG is in the real world in which you are living!”
It said that the show was over but not complete.
I’m still mulling over the meaning of Baltar’s last words: “You know he doesn’t like that name… Silly me… Silly Silly me!”
The best I can tell is because Baltar said “HE doesn’t like that name”
Any ideas?
Stotty says
I enjoyed it a lot, however the main thing that really bothered me was that they arrived on earth 150,000 years before the present day. It would have been better if they arrived within the last 5,000 – 20,000 years.
Anyone remember the original series intro?
“There are those who believe that life here began out there, far across the universe, with tribes of humans who may have been the forefathers of the Egyptians, or the Toltecs, or the Mayans. That they may have been the architects of the great pyramids, or the lost civilizations of Lemuria or Atlantis. Some believe that there may yet be brothers of man who even now fight to survive somewhere beyond the heavens”
It would have been perfect for all those advanced societies in our past.
Ian N says
I must say that their location put me in mind of Life, The Universe and Everything. “Eddies in the space time continuum” anyone?
Jon says
Wow. What a crock of s**t.
If I had known that that was going to be the end then I’d have never bothered watching it in the first place.
A least that’s the nail in the coffin for Caprica for me – sounds like a yawn fest and will certainly get cancelled within 2 minutes of the first show being aired.
bkitty says
I was able to watch the finale with about 70 friends at the Galactica Watercooler Meetup. We had a GREAT time, and the general consensus was one of happy satisfaction.
I can’t wait for the dvds! Galactica is best viewed as one long movie.
So Say We All!
Katie says
I agree with some criticism, but despite there is some discrepancy in the writing fable, BSG is the best SI FY show ever. It is not perfect, but we do not have better then that. I would love to see main personages in Adama’s quarters again.