Galactica Season 4 (Spoilers Within)

[GKarsEye]

Well Recoil certainly you're right about all of that. It's why I've said before that this show really lost me when Bob Dylan turned regular characters into Cylons- the final five again.

Taking THAT into account....yea....what really ARE the odds that all five of them would end up surviving and in one place? Pretty damn weak. ESPECIALLY when you look at Anders, who was left stranded on Earth and got freakin lucky that Starbuck came back for him and his band of survivors (or lucky she even went there in the first place at all and found them).

Right... well, you know, "god" did it. I know, I know, we've beat this topic to death, but from a story-telling perspective, they used it as an excuse to avoid finishing the plot.

 

[vacantlook]

Right... well, you know, "god" did it. I know, I know, we've beat this topic to death, but from a story-telling perspective, they used it as an excuse to avoid finishing the plot.

I was getting ready to reply with the same thing. The odds of the five ending up together with the Galactica completely doesn't matter given how everything happened according to God's plan. The five of them together is no less unlikely than God giving Starbuck some magic music and Baltar and Caprica seeing angels all so that Hera can become some gimmicky, but ultimately unimportant ancestor of the viewing audience.

 

[GKarsEye]

One good thing about the final five thing is that we got to enjoy some good actors show some range, especially the ones who did Galen and Helen, and Anders' final scene was pretty great.

 

[darth_librarian]

The chief was awesome throughout, even back in season 1 when he did not have a clue if he was a cylon or not. Aaron Douglas is great, I hope we see more of him. He has enough range to do lead series roles.

I figured maybe the Final Five stuff was partly RDM's way of rewarding those actors, by giving them all new dimensions of their characters to chew on. Great idea for experimental drama school, not so hot for episodic TV ?

 

[GaribaldisHair]

Having now had the opportunity to see the finale in Britain, I have to feel slightly underwhelmed by the way the show ended ... although I have only dipped into and out of the show and really need to get seasons 3, 4 and 5 (as they are noted in the UK) on DVD and see it properly. That might put the ending into better context for me.

I think RDM put his finger on it when he stated that he developed the story instinctively, without any clear idea of where it was going. He tried to spin that positively, but I can't agree. I think Neil Gaiman alluded to this in his intro to JMS' Rising Stars comic series ... (perhaps not quite verbatim - working from memory):

If he's anything like me, he knows how it starts, how it ends and some, but not all, of how it middles.

From what I have read here and elsewhere there seems to be a consensus that BSG started well, ended well and middled not so well, whereas the consensus with B5 is that it started slowly, ended well (some of S5 notwithstanding) and middled brilliantly.

All of which points to the meat of your story (the middle) requiring an idea of where it is ultimately supposed to end up in order to really make it shine.

As far as the God aspect is concerned ... even as a Christian, I would find a blanket "God did it" ending to be completely and utterly unsatisfactory, and I don't think BSG did that, although there was more to this angle than I expected.

I also somehow manage to get through movies and TV shows that effectively discount the existence of God as a simple cultural relic without feeling somehow offended or insulted by that ... it is just a shame that some non-believers can't manage the same when a show chooses to include the existence of "God", in some form, as part of its universe.

After all, science and Christianity (for one) are not mutually exclusive.

 

[Galahad]

I also somehow manage to get through movies and TV shows that effectively discount the existence of God as a simple cultural relic without feeling somehow offended or insulted by that ... it is just a shame that some non-believers can't manage the same when a show chooses to include the existence of "God", in some form, as part of its universe.

After all, science and Christianity (for one) are not mutually exclusive.

That's pretty much my standpoint verbatim.

 

[GKarsEye]

Oh
My
God.


People- listen carefully- it's not THAT they involved god in the show, it's about HOW they did it. Please, think carefully on that distinction.

 

[Chilli]

That's pretty much my standpoint verbatim.

Show me one piece of fiction in which the non-existence of god was used as a lame-ass plot device.

 

[GKarsEye]

From what I have read here and elsewhere there seems to be a consensus that BSG started well, ended well and middled not so well, whereas the consensus with B5 is that it started slowly, ended well (some of S5 notwithstanding) and middled brilliantly.

Is it actually the consensus that BSG ended well though?

 

[Galahad]

People- listen carefully- it's not THAT they involved god in the show, it's about HOW they did it. Please, think carefully on that distinction.

I'm talking genre wide now.

Admittedly it's kind of hard not to single out BSG on this issue, simply because the vast majority of science fiction franchises do not involve God.

 

[Chilli]

I'm talking genre wide now.

Admittedly it's kind of hard not to single out BSG on this issue, simply because the vast majority of science fiction franchises do not involve God.

Which fiction franchises DO involve god regularly?

 

[Galahad]

Show me one piece of fiction in which the non-existence of god was used as a lame-ass plot device.

Star Trek V (although Kirk did concede that God existed in the human heart... although many suspect that Shatner was actually referring to himself with that statement.)

Looking on the funny side, at least BSG didn't end like this.

 

[Chilli]

That might be a better example if it wasn't a movie universially accepted to be utter shite from everyone everywhere, plot-wise

God turning out to be a con-man isn't a plot device anyway. It's a plot.

A really, really, REALLY bad plot.

 

[Galahad]

Which fiction franchises DO involve god regularly?

I've quoted a few already... way down when this all kicked off, but as is customary... it was overlooked.

Highway to Heaven:devil::guffaw:

Quantum Leap often hinted at God's involvement (although left it open to the viewer).

Signs was essentially a film entirely debating the existence of God using the plot of impending alien invasion as a vehicle to explore it's themes (I think it got a lot of flak for that very reason).

 

[Sindatur]

Is it actually the consensus that BSG ended well though?

I'm not sure most of us are completely happy, but, due to lowered expectations of possibly no resolution, and the fact that the Canon telegraphs this ending from S1, I am satisfied that we got an ending that was predictable, but, I definitely would've preferred a different ending more.

 

[Galahad]

That might be a better example if it wasn't a movie universially accepted to be utter shite from everyone everywhere, plot-wise

Er it wasn't the actual ending of the film, it was tweaked by someone in a manner that I thought humorous... but curiously it is atheists who are taking the tweak as an extremely serious attempt at Christian propaganda.

God turning out to be a con-man isn't a plot device anyway. It's a plot.

A really, really, REALLY bad plot.

Well that's written off several of Roddenberry's ideas then hasn't it?

 

[Chilli]

Er it wasn't the actual ending of the film, it was tweaked by someone in a manner that I thought humorous... but curiously it is atheists who are taking the tweak as an extremely serious attempt at Christian propaganda.

I have NO idea what you're talking about.

You win.

Maybe I should have clicked that youTube link ..

 

[Markas]

Er it wasn't the actual ending of the film, it was tweaked by someone in a manner that I thought humorous... but curiously it is atheists who are taking the tweak as an extremely serious attempt at Christian propaganda.

I am an atheist and I never thought that any bit of that film was Christian propaganda.

 

[Chilli]

Shh! He means this!

I don't think it's Christian propaganda. I just think it's a joke that'll be easier to appreciate for Christains.

 

[GaribaldisHair]

OK ... maybe I overstated the "consensus" bit, perhaps there is a consensus that the final season(s) was/were better than 2 and 3 so the lead up to the end was pretty good if not the actual finale. As I say I dipped in and out of the show, with S3 being almost completely unwatched. More people appear at least satisfied, if not excited, about the ending than not though.