Battlestar Galactica Season 4 - Page 50

Originally Posted by Will_B

Yup, it was a full 11 minutes extra. It's available on Amazon.com for a couple bucks. The eventual DVD will be about 20 minutes extra.

Originally Posted by seanOhara

The two-parter consisting of Homefront and Paradise Lost, in which Sisko and Odo go to Earth to help ferret out Changeling infiltrators. An Insane Starfleet Admiral (TM) declares martial law and deposes the Federation President.

Originally Posted by Qui-Gon John

Did the finale run over the 2 hours? It seems it must have as I recorded it Friday night and watched it last night. I always add a couple minutes to my recording time too, but it cut off and time ran out when Hera was walking up the small hill in the meadow, after we see Adama saying he laid out the cabin.

And to make matters worse, for some reason, Sci-Fi does not have this episode where you can view it online.

Originally Posted by Ken Chan

Because the rag-tag-fleet had to see their goal burnt to a cinder and "hit bottom". Otherwise, when they finally got to their real destination, they would have immediately repeated their mistakes (built a city, try to maintain their technology) and not break the cycle.

Originally Posted by Qui-Gon John

Well I also see they are replaying the finale this coming Friday night over the air. So I will record starting around the last 30 mins and just set it for an hour.

Of course, even then on their own website, they only show it as 2 hours.

Originally Posted by Jim_C

Agreed. I loved that scene with Baltar.


The thing I love about this finale is that it seemed so epic to me. At no time did I think I was watching the end of a TV show. I felt like I was watching the end of a fantastic story. For me it transcended TV. As much as I loved the finales of DS9 and ST:TNG, they never made me feel that way.

Originally Posted by Yee-Ming

Great stuff. Agree with many points already made so won't repeat them.

It was kinda funny to see Romo Lampkin become president. And Hoshi (Gaeta's boyfriend -- oh the irony!) become admiral, and then Lee properly addressing them but Hoshi still thinking he was a junior to Lee when they were leaving on the last flight out. But then again, which other reasonably known supporting characters are there left which could have taken on those two positions, since all our 'heroes' were on the suicide mission? Maybe Doc Cottle, but he'd go "I'm a doctor, not a politician!"


Not exactly. If you read the Wiki explanation on Mitochondrial Eve, it explains that although all living-day humanity is descended from Eve matrilineally, it doesn't mean Eve was the only woman living at the time -- it just means that none of the other women living at the time can do what Eve can do, which is trace their descendants all the way down to present-day exclusively through the female line. Some may have no living descendants remaining, others might have some but cannot trace lineage solely through the female line, i.e. in some generations lineage must be traced through sons.

So actually I suppose it's possible that some modern day humans (as we call ourselves) have a bit of Six, or Baltar, or Apollo, or whoever else landed on our Earth, in them. Just traced differently, but Hera is our one certain common ancestor. "Great (X?) grandmother of us all", basically.

In that respect her creation and existence itself was necessary for human life on our Earth?

I too wonder why Bill Adama was said to not be coming back. Unless the loss of his two ladies, Galactica and Laura, one after the other, but safe delivery of the fleet's population to new Earth and in effect the conclusion of his last mission, left him with no will to live? Which also makes no sense, since he's hardly the suicidal type. But whilst I fully understand Tyrol's need to become a hermit (I too interpreted that as Scotland), there is no reason for Adama to do the same, unless he's just tired of playing father-figure, as he no doubt would have been in any new settlements even without commanding a battlestar, and wanted to live out his days in peace and quiet. Sadly this would be alone, and not with Laura.

Some other small points: whilst a bit deus ex machina, a dead Racetrack firing off the missiles wasn't quite as far-fetched as a complete fluke shot -- her dead hand hit the single fire button to launch all missiles, presumably already targeted and locked in, so the fact they hit wasn't a lucky shot.

I also liked that they used the Hendrix version of All Along The Watchtower. Yes, Dylan's a genius for writing it in the first place, but I just prefer Jimi's version.

I'm sad it's over. But it was great while it lasted.

Oh, and one final thought: this means the entire series can also be prefaced by (more or less), "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..."

(A million light-years is half-way to Andromeda, the next nearest large galaxy. So not as big an astronomical mistake as the old series which got solar system and galaxy mixed up...)

Originally Posted by Qui-Gon John

Good point Pat. There are many more like that. Overall I enjoyed Galactica, but I would not consider myself a raving fan. And this has nothing to do with "because it's not the original series". I just think they got way too wrapped up in this whole thing of Cylons who look human, not just their outward appearance, so much so that even doctors could not readily tell the difference. This aspect permeated into so many other facets of the show and brought it down. Before we knew who all the Cylons were we had countless instances of "maybe he's/she's a frakkin' Cylon". It got old.

Also, the whole mysticism of their past, their future, their destiny, got very muddled and convuluted. I still think they never squared the whole mono-theistic vs. multi-theistic thing. That kinda seemed left hanging, along with many other things. Like after losing Laura, why wouldn't Adama live at least near, Lee, Saul and Ellen? Or back a while, they flirted with the whole Baltar as a Christ-like figure, that really went nowhere, relatively speaking.

I feel the focus should have stayed more on finding Earth, the exodus from the Cylons. It could have included some of what it did, like the temple and clues from the gods, etc. But it just got bogged down in so much superflous stuff.

I watched it all, because I enjoy sci-fi and always try to keep an open mind. But at the end of the day, I found it weak and it could have been so much more. And they could have kept the story dark, without devolving into much of what I already mentioned.

So say we all!

Originally Posted by Dave Scarpa

Well maybe since B5.

Originally Posted by Qui-Gon John

Kevin, yes, just how I feel. Have never and do not plan to get the DVD's, no real interest in re-watching it. Yes, I am glad that I watched it and gave it it's run, but that was enough. The sad thing is, the darker tone and many other aspects could have been played out differently and really made this a reat series. To me, the people in charge just did not have a good clear vision of the story in their mind. Unlike B5, (sorry but the comparison begs to be heard). Which, with only a few hiccups and redirections along the way, always had a major story and character arc along the path, with many interseting side stories along the way.

I will probably watch Caprica and The Plan, whether I think they're very good or not.

Originally Posted by KevinGress

Thank you for posting this! I agree with a lot of what you've said - for a show about machines, they rarely showed them. Even in the finale.

For me the show was too dark; too 'hopeless'. Too many episodes stretched to keep characters fighting (mostly Bill and Lee). While I do think the last season did a reasonable job of redeeming most of the characters and tying up the major loose ends (the "five"), there was too much time spent making the characters unlikeable, and too many loose ends left open (head Six/Baltar, Starbuck).

For me, in the end, this was a good show - superior writing, and superior visuals (thanks to 'Firefly'), but not one I fell in love with. The last season was a treat, and I'm glad they found 'home'. But, will I buy the DVDs or rewatch - no. The story, for me, is done.

Will I watch Caprica? Probably, but I won't buy the prerelease DVD, and unless the tone is different, I assume I'll feel the same as I do about BSG - I'll watch because it's a good show, but nothing I'll get immersed in.

Originally Posted by Kevin Hewell

Because a show about the genocide of the human race should be all "Mary Sunshine."

Originally Posted by Will_B

There was nothing woo woo about that; it just made sense that when the Cylons designed their version of humanity, they'd have given it much better health-preserving, disease-eradicating qualities.



[...]

Originally Posted by Qui-Gon John

Good point Pat. There are many more like that. Overall I enjoyed Galactica, but I would not consider myself a raving fan. And this has nothing to do with "because it's not the original series". I just think they got way too wrapped up in this whole thing of Cylons who look human, not just their outward appearance, so much so that even doctors could not readily tell the difference. This aspect permeated into so many other facets of the show and brought it down. Before we knew who all the Cylons were we had countless instances of "maybe he's/she's a frakkin' Cylon". It got old.

Also, the whole mysticism of their past, their future, their destiny, got very muddled and convuluted. I still think they never squared the whole mono-theistic vs. multi-theistic thing. That kinda seemed left hanging, along with many other things. Like after losing Laura, why wouldn't Adama live at least near, Lee, Saul and Ellen? Or back a while, they flirted with the whole Baltar as a Christ-like figure, that really went nowhere, relatively speaking.

I feel the focus should have stayed more on finding Earth, the exodus from the Cylons. It could have included some of what it did, like the temple and clues from the gods, etc. But it just got bogged down in so much superflous stuff.

I watched it all, because I enjoy sci-fi and always try to keep an open mind. But at the end of the day, I found it weak and it could have been so much more. And they could have kept the story dark, without devolving into much of what I already mentioned.

So say we all!

Originally Posted by Paul_Sjordal

The original series certainly did that, which was one of the reasons I hated it so much, even as a wide-eyed kid.

Originally Posted by Dave Scarpa

1. Adama's big plan, knowing the Galactica was on it's last leg was to smash
it into the cylon colony? How was he planning to get to the rendevous point later on ? It was almost the same way I felt about picard doing the same in Nemesis. Kinda Dumb

Originally Posted by Kevin Hewell

Because a show about the genocide of the human race should be all "Mary Sunshine."

Originally Posted by Paul_Sjordal

But how can you possibly complain about the show being too dark? Given the premise of the show, I think not being dark enough would have been a far greater crime.

Originally Posted by KevinGress

I'd use Firefly as an example. While most people probably think that it was mostly fluff, there were a lot of dark undertones there. And it was just as 'anti-Trek' as BSG. You had flawed characters put in the worst of situations, and not always having the same agenda. But, ultimately, they worked together and they gave you hope - hope for a better day.

Originally Posted by Will_B

The entire human society had become a fascist state, patrolled by these ghestapo ships, and the citizens were either rich and priviledged and not daring to complain, or were poor and subjugated by the war that the fascist state had declared upon them. There was a corporation, Blue Sun, that was profiting harder than Halliburton and which apparently had its own hit squads (two by two, hands of blue) and was intertwined with the facist state.

Firefly was pitch black. The only humanity that was left, was on the pirate ship (sorta) Firefly and among others who slipped around the edges as best they could.

I don't think that Whedon was a one-trick pony, in that Buffy the Vampire Slayer didn't have any of that construct. There was evil, but it had not taken over. It wanted to, but, Buffy always stopped it. And Dollhouse doesn't follow either of those, thought it has some similarities to the Wolfram & Hart (evil) law firm on Angel.