Battlestar Galactica comes to a conclusion. Did it give us a landmark series finale or an FTL shark-jump?
Warning: this review uses no Spoiler tags.
Title: “Daybreak”
Cast and Crew
Written by Ronald D. Moore
Directed by Michael D. Rymer
Edward James Olmos as Admiral Adama
Jamie Bamber as Lee “Apollo” Adama
Katee Sackhoff as Kara “Starbuck” Thrace
Grace Park as Athena/Boomer/Number 8
Michael Hogan as Colonel Saul Tigh
Kate Vernon as Ellen Tigh
Tricia Helfer as Number 6
Mary McDonnell as Laura Roslin
James Callis as Dr. Gaius Baltar
Dean Stockwell as Cavil
Aaron Douglas as Chief Petty Officer Galen Tyrol
Tahmoh Penikett as Karl ‘Helo’ Agathon
Rekha Sharma as Tory Foster
Alexandra Thomas as Hera
Tobias Mehler as Zak Adama
Donnelly Rhodes as Dr. Cottle
Michael Trucco as Samuel Anders
Brad Dryborough as Hoshi
Leah Cairns as Margaret “Racetrack” Edmonson
Bodie Olmos as Brendan “Hot Dog” Costanza
Mark Sheppard as Romo Lampkin
Lara Gilchrist as Paulla Schaffer
Ronald D. Moore as Cameo Appearance
Premise
The Galactica raids the Cylon colony, somehow avoids getting blasted to smithereens, people die, guns fire, and then….
High Points
I loved the way that, for all of the technology and complex SF situations, so much comes down to basic, flawed human nature. Consider the Chief’s actions during the communication with Anders, or the entire Lee/Kara relationship. This is much weightier stuff, really, than the speculation on where cybernetics might take us—- and I say that without diminishing the significance of that. This episode’s better moments gave us the best of Galactica: action-packed sequences, plausible characters, and thoughtful ideas.
Another excellent human moment: the death of Laura Roslin.
I have some negative things to say in this review, but these notwithstanding, Battlestar Galactica has set a bar for SF programming to which I hope others will aspire.
All without being canceled.
Low Points
I liked the premise for the ending. Yes, it’s predictable, but it suits both the original series premise and the direction of this one. However, I did not like the execution of the ending.
Yes, humanity needs renewed intercourse with the natural world that bred us. And yes, I called that Apollo’s plan would not in any way lessen the likelihood that the Galacticans would recreate the same problems. How could it? If anything, they’re more likely to recreate the same problems, since they’re going to have to focus on survival, which inevitably leads humans to some kind of science– but they’re not going to have the wisdom gained by the Galactican society to guide them (if such wisdom could survive resettlement).
The problem is, the characters would know that, too. They’re not stupid people, nor are they Luddites. We’re supposed to believe that these characters would unanimously decide to set aside all of their technological advantages while trying to adjust to a way of life for which they’ve had little preparation? I call felgercarb.
Another Low Point for me involved Kara “Starbuck” Trace. Ambiguities and mysteries can work quite well in art and literature, but the ones surrounding Kara don’t play for me as artistic flourishes. Yeah, there’s a higher power at work, and maybe the Ship of Lights brought her back. Whatever. The ambiguity and mystery here feel like a big frakkin’ plot problem the writers created and then did not know how to resolve.
There must have been some other way out of this.
The Scores:
Originality: 2/6. “There are those who believe that life here began out there….” However, judging from some of our suggested endings, we expected some version of this conclusion, and conceptually, there’s nothing wrong with the discovery of ancient earth, our ancient earth (even if Intelligent Design apparently operates in this universe).
Effects: 6/6. I give them full credit for the extraordinary space battles and shots. The Cylon CGI seemed uneven at times, but generally more impressive than anything else in genre television, and I enjoyed the Easter Eggs of previous Cylon models.
Story: 4/6. I liked the first half, and can even accept Cavil’s easy exit. I’ll swallow the about-face that returns Hera to them, and destroys the original purpose of the mission (she waited that long to change her mind? Well, see my “High Points.”) I also liked the contribution that most past scenes give to character. Criticize young Apollo and Starbuck all you want, but I believed that scene, in context.
But too many things were kludged together badly and awkwardly. We see the Opera House, but aren’t really certain why (okay, it’s a metaphor for… Uh, something. Discuss). As for the ending, I present my view elsewhere in this review. I suspect everyone else will present theirs very soon.
Acting: 6/6. This episode has battles, betrayals, bad decisions, and death, and the actors prove equal to the task. Galactica sets the bar here, as it does in many other areas, for what SF media can be.
Emotional Response: 4/6. This episode intersperses great scenes with less impressive ones, and drags down the whole with some uneven pacing.
Production: 6/6. Guest appearances by Old School Cylons, and breathtaking shots of “young” Earth.
Overall: 4/6. I wish I had been more impressed. Others may disagree strongly.
In total, the Series Finale of Battlestar Galactica receives 32/42
I acknowledge (1) that no ending was going to please all fans and (2) that “shark-jump” doesn’t really apply to final episodes, but I thought it a passably amusing way to pose the question we all had when we sat down to watch the finale.
I haven’t had a show do this to me since M.A.S.H.
I dreamed about the frakking thing last night.
Laura’s passing was as painful, and as beautiful as I expected. Bill sitting on a hillside next to Laura’s grave will not leave me for a long time.
Galactica’s death was also beautiful. Props for the original theme being used so well. :)
Torrey was dealt with in a very satisfying way. Die bitch die.
I found Kara’s ending(?) to be satisfying. No wonder she freaked out the hybrids so much.
The loose ends were (mostly) wrapped up.
I ended up thinking not about the mechanics of the episode, or the woulda shoulda coulda. I ended up thinking about the characters I’d grown so fond of, and the overarching theme of the series.
The bar was set so high for this episode that I don’t believe most writers could have pulled it out. I find it extraordinary that the people who worked on this series did as well as they did with only a few plot contrivances.
I’m also surprised that over the last two years they foreshadowed last night as well as they did, so deftly putting the pieces in place for last night’s climax.
In so many ways this was not Star Trek. How refreshing. :)
My low point would be the length of the resolutions. That half hour was difficult. I’m not certain though how much of the difficulty was mine, just dreading what was coming up.
-Joe
Re: I haven’t had a show do this to me since M.A.S.H.
I agree. The theme playing during the fleets end hit me hard.
That was it.
The space-battle was the most beautifully rendered piece of artwork I have ever seen. All the touchy-feely stuff for the last 3+ weeks was to save the effects budget for this night and it showed.
While it was nice to see the ‘Classic’ cylons the quality of the effects was horrible. I was reminded of the Quake-III style Scorpion King.
I wish I had never seen the last 6 minutes. That scene damn near ruined the entire episode for me.
I thought that Cavil’s ending fit perfectly with his character.ts was horrible. I was reminded of the Quake-III style Scorpian King
Tyrol vs. Torey. Tyrol gave an excellent performance, but I think there was a little too much commotion going onto give the scene it’s proper impact.
I felt that all the "history flashbacks" would have better fit in the first 2 seasons, they didn’t belong here at all.
I thought that Apollo/Starbuck scene was in there for the single purpose of showing the world that Katie actually had some mammary glands, and wasn’t boyish in appearance.
This episode should have been written by JMS.
Re: That was it.
Sorry should have previewed. somehow comments got pasted into the line about Cavil.
Re: That was it.
The first thing I thought was "So that’s where the effects budget went…"
Re: That was it.
It annoyed me so much it kept me awake half the night…
Definitely the best part of it — my high point was the Galactica coming out of the last jump with parts flying and barely avoiding coming completely apart.
Everything after the Galactica returned for me. Several of them essentially committed suicide, just in a "religiously acceptable" way. Bah. And the implication of spreading out too much and throwing away the tools and knowledge for survival was essentially racial suicide. Double bah.
I don’t see that; it made no sense to me. You only do that to avoid pain and when there’s nothing at all left. Cavil would have been pissed and shooting the Galacticans, even if he had no hope of getting out of it.
Re: That was it.
In my opinion its one of the few episodes that feels like it was written by JMS. And thats a good thing.
And the cylons.. did they have a plan?
I stopped watching BSG after the second or third episode of the final run, to me it seemed the writers were just patching things and they really had no idea what the entire story-arc would be and how it all would end. I figured better stop while I still had a positive feeling for the show.
Having said that, there’s one question that really bugs me and maybe you guys who’ve seen the whole run can tell me:
What the heck was the cylon plan about? Was there one? Or did the writers just forget to tell them what it was?
Judging by the comments here it seems the series ended well, that’s somewhat comforting, I might pick the last season up when it comes out on DVD’s.
Re: And the cylons.. did they have a plan?
They didn’t really explain "The Plan"….
yet
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1286130/
Re: And the cylons.. did they have a plan?
I thought this came out of nowhere. It’s almost as if they realized, after wasting so much time earlier this season, that they couldn’t tie up all the strings, and decided to throw this out.
Re: And the cylons.. did they have a plan?
I *think* this is it:
We got the abbreviated version explained a few episodes back. The "plan" was the plan of the Five from Earth to break the cycle by helping the metal Cylons create skin jobs and resurrection technology in exchange for them leaving the Colonies alone. The Five also wanted to go to the Colonies, identify themselves, and tell the humans to be nice to the artificial life they were bound to create.
They didn’t count on one of the skin job models they created to be intensely jealous (Cavill.) Cavill sabotaged the creation of one entire model. He arranged for the Five to be together, and he let the air out of the chamber they were in. When they resurrected, he put altered memories in them and dropped them off in various areas around the Colonies.
Cavill went on to manipulate the Cylons back to a war footing and to proceed with the attack.
His thinking was if the Five really understood humans then they would side with him, so he dropped them off to live "normal" lives until they were killed in the attack, when they would be resurrected and would presumably be swayed to his argument that humanity was not worth saving.
Plan versus Reality = reality wins + God laughs.
-Joe
Re: And the cylons.. did they have a plan?
I don’t think the Cylon plan was really important. As more was revealed about what was going on, the real plan was the one that Head-Six and Head-Baltar were executing, and who they are is left a mystery. There are other forces at work.
I did very much like that they didn’t tell us everything.
I also cried. I don’t expect to ever see anything this good for a good few years, if that, because I’ve already seen Blake’s 7 and Babylon 5, and the latter was spoiled by all the messing about with being cancelled or not. So pleased that BSG went out at a time of its own choosing and on such a high.
However, I’m ever so slightly uncomfortable about it coming round to them being our ancestors, but although it’s been done a lot before, at least they tied it in quite neatly with Hera’s destiny to be our mitochondrial Eve.
Or maybe not-quite-us. I’m not sure even over 150,000 years they would have totally lost any hint of an origin story of us coming from another world.
Re: And the cylons.. did they have a plan?
You can’t be this ignorant. THAT would make me cry.
Re: And the cylons.. did they have a plan?
I am not religious, but I do remember this.
Genesis 6:1, The Sons of God Mated With the Daughters of Man
Cue dramatic music.
Re: And the cylons.. did they have a plan?
The original show drew heavily on the "Ancient Astronauts" concept, popularized in the 70s by Erich von Däniken’s 1968 exercise in faulty reasoning, Chariots of the Gods?. You couldn’t escape the idea in 70s popular culture. Anyway, things such as Genesis 6:1 were and are often cited by the Ancient Astronaut/UFO devotees. The new show downplayed that element, but it’s not too surprising to see it appear in the final ep.
well for me…
Personally I enjoyed it, while not the ending I wanted on some level, it was still a very well crafted one. I do concur that its not a perfect ending but it was never going to be. I think they did the best they could and gave a little something for everyone, and I like that not every question was answered, not ever plot resolved it adds something for me, but I know that’s not for everyone :). It was nice to see strands develop over the series, and also noticing others as they tied up seeing "prophecy" come true, just not in the way expected.
I found the flashbacks to be well placed in the most part to not only juxtaposition the current time but also give depth and meaning to some decisions, such as the brief scene with Baltar as he mentioned he knows about farming which is only relevant because so recently we saw the emotional impact his farmer father had on him and the choices he made in life I dont believe it would have had the same impact it was not reinforced through a recent flashback.
All in all I was really impressed and moved by it and still consider this to be one of the best sci-fi series ever made. Annoyingly though there are not many other genre TV shows around of BSGs calibre these days, we can but hope one arises soon. :)
I have to say it…
Because nobody else did.
STAR WARS QUOTE! STAR WARS QUOTE! WOOO!
Heeheeheehee.
Specifically, Simon: "I think you overestimate their chances." God, I love me some Grand Moff Tarkin.
Re: I have to say it…
yeah I caught that. One of the Rules clearly states when you hear something to that effect, they and all around them are about to die.
Re: I have to say it…
Mary Sue Baltar?
Liana K., "Red" of Ed the Sock fame (well, in Canada), suggested in the Canadian post-show discussion that Moore has been writing glorified fanfic the last few seasons and Baltar– who gets a harem, a beautiful blonde, the opportunity to save two races, redemption, and immortality as an angel– is his Mary Sue.
Interesting viewpoint.
Ron Moore and Gaius Baltar even look alike.
Well… that sucked.
Cylons never had a plan (none greater than Calvil’s sadism); Kara is just plain magic, for crying out loud; everyone just goes "hey, let’s all try to go from spaceship to dirt farmers in one go!", yeahright; the Cylons jus go live their robot lives in peace; the cylons never had backups of the regeneration tech schematics? wtf?; etc.
At least this show was good for a seson or two, a few years ago :(
Re: Well… that sucked.
The dirt farmer thing bugged me, but only in two ways. First, they knew what life in tents was like, from New Caprica. I think they would not entirely chuck technology even at the creature comfort level. Second, even a basic glance at the globe would show climate and weather extremes, unless they just happened to show up on an absolutely perfect day across the globe. I would think they would do an extensive survey of at least a few months.
If nothing else, the show direction could have tied the settlement locations to the traditional cradles of civilisation more.
Re: Well… that sucked.
Plus there’s probably Sabretooths and other nasties running around. Plus a few folks who might need some colony medical expertise.
Yeah since they apparently lost that farming too. And really, the chances of finding almost humans is about the same as finding actual humans (both about an infinity:1) so it would have made more (though still very little) sense to pop down later.
Um
Why did Cavil shoot himself?…
Re: Um
Yeah, that felt really out of character for him. Also the other Cylon yelling "it’s a trick!" was really stupid and made no sense. For extremely intelligent robots they tend to act like bit players in a Roman opera at times.
Re: Um
Cavil’s sole motivation was finding a way to continue the Cylon race. They can’t do it the biological way, so getting back Resurrection technology was their only other option. When Tory Foster bought it, Cavil realized that he was gonna die soon anyway; giving him a bit of a nihilist bent doesn’t seem out of line at all.
Fun fact: The original script had Tigh pushing Cavil over the ledge, and Dean Stockwell’s the one who suggested that Cavil would likely eat a bullet rather than keep going.
That was great
Great big space battle, daring rescue, fake truce, final battle, kill off the bad guys, then jump off into the great unknown!!
The End.
Bit weird since they said it was two hours and I only saw an hour but I was happy with that ending…
Though seriously, did they just forget about the fact that 3 episodes ago they showed a ship jumping in the vicinity of another ship and causing massive damage?
I can accept some inconsistencies in the canon but you should be able to remember something you established 3 episodes ago!!!
Re: That was great
Nope. The remembered that they showed that jumping OUT from within a few dozen feet of a ship caused massive damage. They stated in this episode they’d be jumping in about a klick away, which is a kilometer.
Why should they? You didn’t.
Re: That was great
The Galactica still had its nose buried INSIDE the colony, yet appeared to do no (further) damage when it jumped out under Kara’s control.
Re: That was great
Also, if you watch closely after the guns are disabled you see several Raptors jumping from WITHIN the ship to the outside. I suppose it was the only way they could "sneak" the raptors onto the colony to drill through the ceiling, but it should have torn Galactica apart from the inside :/
Re: That was great
If you watch closely, you’ll see it did. It completely fraked up the starboard flight pod. It depressurized the pod, blowing out in a dozen places.
Re: That was great
They jumped from inside the (museum section of?) the ship once the colony stopped firing. I’m not sure why they couldn’t use the launching tubes, possibly they were destroyed by the previous barrage, though it seemed to be part of the plan. And of course Galactica jumping from partially inside the colony.
Re: That was great
I’ve wondered if it was only the FTL’s inside the raptors that cause the problem. The Galactica jumped with it’s nose in the colony as stated and we saw no issues, and back before Gaeda’s mutiny, when the fuel ship was jumping away on Zarik’s orders, a raptor was about to get a hard seal when the ship jumped out from underneath it, raptor was not harmed.
Re: That was great
Hmm, I was about to give them a possible out that the cylon upgrades maybe eliminated the problem, but what you mentioned eliminates that possibility.
Sloppy writing, it’s as simple as that.
Re: That was great
[/quote]
Hmm, I was about to give them a possible out that the cylon upgrades maybe eliminated the problem, but what you mentioned eliminates that possibility.
Sloppy writing, it’s as simple as that.
[/quote]
Galactica is also decades older than most of other ships shown in the show.
The only things older than Galactica are the final five.
Golgafrincham Ark Fleet. Ship B
Anyone else notice that BSG kinda ended like the Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy, BBC series? Ending up on primitive Earth, to evolve into us.
Re: Golgafrincham Ark Fleet. Ship B
Emerging from a huge ship with a bathtub on the bridge…
Re: Golgafrincham Ark Fleet. Ship B
Noticed it before it happened : )
Re: Golgafrincham Ark Fleet. Ship B
And from another BBC series, the various robot shots at the end is very reminiscent of the end of the (Best evar) Doctor Who episode "Blink" and its sequence of statues.
Re: Golgafrincham Ark Fleet. Ship B
That episode was the creepiest thing I’ve seen since I fell asleep during Poltergeist and woke up in the dark with the tv showing white noise…
So what now?
Well, that was a fun ride. I still have Razor to watch and those webisodes that I never hunted down, but that’s it.
I liked the Ron Moore cameo at the end (perhaps a depiction of when he got the idea to do the show?) and the Admiral’s end was touching.
I didn’t like the Kara kop-out – I didn’t hate it though, and I’ll give it to them on the grounds that if they brought her back magically they’re totally within their rights to take her out the same way.
So, BSG is over, there’s no Trek on TV, I never got into Eureka and Dr. Who is on semi-hiatus (and I’m not sure about this new Doctor). Fringe is okay (it reminds me of X-Files) and I’m planning on checking out Dollhouse soon, but I need some space in my SciFi – anybody got any suggestions, or should I just stick to reading John Scalzi novels until something new comes along?
Re: So what now?
What about Sanctuary on SfFy?
What do others think of this re-branding?
http://scifiwire.com/2009/03/sci-fi-tested-beyond-and.php
Late to the party
I regret posting so late, but I was unable to watch the show until just now.
I have to say. I’ve been waiting 30 years for Battlestar Galactica to end like this….. Truly Amazing.
The scene with the fleet flying into the sun brought a tear to my eye.
Originally I thought the show could either end Twin Peaks style (bad), St. Elsewhere style (maddenly silly), or Sleeping in the Light style (amazing).
This ending is up there with Sleeping in the Light. And for me that says everthing….
At last I got to read your input. I had been waiting! I hope you can find this on the new site.
This show, and this ending was everything I’d hoped it would be. As I rewatch the ending the ability of the writers to pull so many different threads together in a conclusion which was not only satisfying, but triumphant, and still ever so bittersweet was amazing. To consider these writers didn’t have JMS’s bible or tightly coordinated five year vision and they still managed to create something so carefully crafted is also masterful.
This conclusion transcended the genre, and by damnit, Starbuck makes sense, Hera makes sense, the Five make sense, head Six and head Baltar, even the arrival when they arrived, all made sense.
As for thirty-eight thousand people disavowing technology, I have to consider that if my “appliances” killed off the other fifty-seven billion of us, and I was one of the final 38k humans, I could forgo everything. There are days today when I would like to be a hundred miles from the nearest power line, and the only thing stopping me from making it a reality is the low number in my checking account.
I kind of wondered at the multiple, similar Earths, but the inclusion of a god who we’d been hearing from since the mini-series wasn’t deus ex machina. He was a character.
Ah Laura, Kara, Bear McCreary, Ron Moore, and David Eick, thank you, from the bottom of my sci-fi loving heart.
-Joe G.
P.S. We *are* all Cylons, or at least we all share Cylon mitochondria. Cool. :)