I loved the insight into the characters which the flashbacks to Caprica before the Fall provided. We were given the opportunity to see the origin of Lee and Kara's complicated relationship, the beginnings of Caprica Six's seduction and manipulation of Baltar, the Tighs' relationship, Adama's resistance to retirement and Roslin's life before becoming a member of Adar's cabinet. This exploration of the characters was particularly interesting in the case of Roslin as, other than the fact that she was a teacher before entering politics and her mother's death from breast cancer, the series had never really explored her past prior to this. Her two sisters, let alone their tragic deaths, were never mentioned prior to this. Up until "Daybreak", she could very well have been an only child. I don't recall her father ever being mentioned either.
These scenes were my favourite part of the finale. I wish that there had been more flashback episodes based before the attack of the Colonies as one of my major problems with the miniseries was that we didn't really get to know the characters, let alone the society, prior to their entire civilisation being wiped out. While real history has many examples of war decimating entire countries and their populations, billions of people and 12 planets being wiped out is very different to conceptualise. If it were just a one-off society in "Star Trek" or "Doctor Who", it would have been alright but, considering the Cylon holocaust is part of the series' basic premise, the miniseries failed in making me care about the practically extinct civilisation. I grew to care about the care as the series progressed but, when it came to the civilisation, the balance was never redressed satisfactorily until now.
The Battle of the Colony was probably the weakest part of the finale as the stakes didn't seem as high as they could have. Of course, Hera was more than just an ordinary child, being the Cylon's best and last hope to propagate their species following the destruction of the Resurrection Hub. However, the final human-Cylon battle didn't seem as epic as it could have been. It was entertaining but not nearly as much as it could have been.
One reason that I was really looking forward to the finale as I was hoping that it would provide answers to burning questions, most pressingly the circumstances of Starbuck's death on Earth (and possibly an earlier death when her ship was destroyed in "Maelstrom") and how she came to life. The answer can be summarised in three words: "God did it." Right...
My first reaction to this was to check that I wasn't watching "Touched by an Angel"! In all seriousness, it's just lazy writing to say that God was responsible for orchestrating events to turn out a particular way. Considering all the fascinating answers to the myriad fascinating questions raised by "Babylon 5", it was very disappointing. The way that I rationalise the whole God thing is to imagine the higher power who orchestrated events is essentially the new series' version of the Beings of Light from the original series, who were able to bring Apollo back from the dead in "War of the Gods, Part II" in much the same as "God" supposedly brought Kara back. I see them as being like the Q from Star Trek or the Ancients from "Stargate" if they didn't have a policy about non-interference in human affairs. In spite of the lack of aliens in the new BSG universe, I find the idea of advanced aliens a bit easier to swallow than God interfering and Head Six and Head Baltar being angels, frankly.
I was already aware of how the series ultimately ended. Specifically, the fact that the lush blue and green planet that the fleet jumped to after the final battle was our Earth and its most advanced "civilisation" was a primitive race of hunter-gatherers in Africa who could control fire and not much else, meaning that the series takes place a long time ago - specifically, 150,000 years prior to the 21st Century - and begins in a star system far, far away. The decision of the fleet and the rebel Cylons to dump their technology is a very understandable one. In spite of the fact that I was annoyed to be without the Internet for a few days last week, I have to admit that I can see the attraction of living the simple life without modern annoyances and stresses on one level.
At the time - when I not only didn't watched the series but could never imagine watching it - I thought that it was a stupid idea but now I love it. It was a very fresh and interesting take on the voyage to Earth sci-fi subgenre. The original series implied in a few episodes that Earth was a technologically advanced society - and the new series certainly seemed to reflect that in respect to the original Earth - while "Galactica 1980" retconned that by placing that series' events in the then present day. Instead of following the lives of our contemporaries or our distant descendants, we spent the entire series following our very, very distant ancestors, which isn't something that I've come across before in a sci-fi setting bar the occasional one-off story. I also like the fact that the majority of the Colonials seem to have settled in Africa considering that, to coin a phrase, life here began out there.
When it came to the characters, I thought that Roslin's peaceful death on Earth was the best scene outside of the flashbacks. It seemed appropriate that the dying leader died so soon after reaching the fleet's new home as it reflected Moses' dying before his people reached the Promised Land.
I certainly appreciated the relatively happy ending to the series. It was a very effective series finale all told.
These scenes were my favourite part of the finale. I wish that there had been more flashback episodes based before the attack of the Colonies as one of my major problems with the miniseries was that we didn't really get to know the characters, let alone the society, prior to their entire civilisation being wiped out. While real history has many examples of war decimating entire countries and their populations, billions of people and 12 planets being wiped out is very different to conceptualise. If it were just a one-off society in "Star Trek" or "Doctor Who", it would have been alright but, considering the Cylon holocaust is part of the series' basic premise, the miniseries failed in making me care about the practically extinct civilisation. I grew to care about the care as the series progressed but, when it came to the civilisation, the balance was never redressed satisfactorily until now.
The Battle of the Colony was probably the weakest part of the finale as the stakes didn't seem as high as they could have. Of course, Hera was more than just an ordinary child, being the Cylon's best and last hope to propagate their species following the destruction of the Resurrection Hub. However, the final human-Cylon battle didn't seem as epic as it could have been. It was entertaining but not nearly as much as it could have been.
One reason that I was really looking forward to the finale as I was hoping that it would provide answers to burning questions, most pressingly the circumstances of Starbuck's death on Earth (and possibly an earlier death when her ship was destroyed in "Maelstrom") and how she came to life. The answer can be summarised in three words: "God did it." Right...
My first reaction to this was to check that I wasn't watching "Touched by an Angel"! In all seriousness, it's just lazy writing to say that God was responsible for orchestrating events to turn out a particular way. Considering all the fascinating answers to the myriad fascinating questions raised by "Babylon 5", it was very disappointing. The way that I rationalise the whole God thing is to imagine the higher power who orchestrated events is essentially the new series' version of the Beings of Light from the original series, who were able to bring Apollo back from the dead in "War of the Gods, Part II" in much the same as "God" supposedly brought Kara back. I see them as being like the Q from Star Trek or the Ancients from "Stargate" if they didn't have a policy about non-interference in human affairs. In spite of the lack of aliens in the new BSG universe, I find the idea of advanced aliens a bit easier to swallow than God interfering and Head Six and Head Baltar being angels, frankly.
I was already aware of how the series ultimately ended. Specifically, the fact that the lush blue and green planet that the fleet jumped to after the final battle was our Earth and its most advanced "civilisation" was a primitive race of hunter-gatherers in Africa who could control fire and not much else, meaning that the series takes place a long time ago - specifically, 150,000 years prior to the 21st Century - and begins in a star system far, far away. The decision of the fleet and the rebel Cylons to dump their technology is a very understandable one. In spite of the fact that I was annoyed to be without the Internet for a few days last week, I have to admit that I can see the attraction of living the simple life without modern annoyances and stresses on one level.
At the time - when I not only didn't watched the series but could never imagine watching it - I thought that it was a stupid idea but now I love it. It was a very fresh and interesting take on the voyage to Earth sci-fi subgenre. The original series implied in a few episodes that Earth was a technologically advanced society - and the new series certainly seemed to reflect that in respect to the original Earth - while "Galactica 1980" retconned that by placing that series' events in the then present day. Instead of following the lives of our contemporaries or our distant descendants, we spent the entire series following our very, very distant ancestors, which isn't something that I've come across before in a sci-fi setting bar the occasional one-off story. I also like the fact that the majority of the Colonials seem to have settled in Africa considering that, to coin a phrase, life here began out there.
When it came to the characters, I thought that Roslin's peaceful death on Earth was the best scene outside of the flashbacks. It seemed appropriate that the dying leader died so soon after reaching the fleet's new home as it reflected Moses' dying before his people reached the Promised Land.
I certainly appreciated the relatively happy ending to the series. It was a very effective series finale all told.