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Post by Michelle on Mar 23, 2009 21:58:15 GMT -5
I'm mixed. I was glad they had time to end the show the way they wanted, but honestly, it felt more like two hours, not an hour and a half. I read a critic's comments today that noted that the MASH finale was able to accomplish just as much if not more in just one hour, and the audience for that was exponentially higher. I'm not a fan of battle scenes, especially when between Raptors and Raiders and ... whatever the names of the ships are. Hand to hand is usually pretty exciting, but toaster to toaster was just eh. It seemed like the Centurions were really easy to kill in this battle, didn't it? I think we are pretty much all in agreeance that Lee's idea to forgo technology was really stupid. I am also cranky because I saw Callum Keith Rennie's name in the opening credits and waited patiently for him to appear, only to have him show up for just slightly more than a nanosecond. What I did love: the flashbacks to Kara and Lee's drunken flirtations and Laura's blind date with her former student. I admit I cried when Adama put his ring on Laura's hand. Blubbered like a baby, I did. The trouble with shooting with real actors (and with not putting your supporting players under contract): CKR went directly from shooting Californication to doing his own series, Shattered. Moore &co had not contracted him to perform for any number of hours, so they took the little they could get. It's especially weird given the amount of interview footage of CKR that's been up at the SciFi site since 4.5 started; it tended to give the impression he'd be ina lot more of the season. This bugs me as much because Leoben needed to be in the series finale as an active player as because I'm a CKR fangirl, honest.
Julia, because the file footage kind of sucked. Oh, me too! Me too! |
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Post by Spaced Out Looney on Mar 23, 2009 22:30:21 GMT -5
Oh, hey, I meant to mention - something else I really loved was the Baltar backstory that we got. Finally, after years of thinking everything he did was for his own gratification alone, we got a hint that he was human, after all. He really fell in love with Six because she took care of his father. It wasn't all about sex, and his betrayal of humanity wasn't QUITE as selfish as we initially believed it to be. Yes, but do you think Six took care of his father, or "took care of" his father?? I do think it can be read either way, but I'm inclined to think, based on the complexity that she developed, that she actually did take care of him. |
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Post by Julia, wrought iron-y on Mar 23, 2009 23:42:33 GMT -5
The trouble with shooting with real actors (and with not putting your supporting players under contract): CKR went directly from shooting Californication to doing his own series, Shattered. Moore &co had not contracted him to perform for any number of hours, so they took the little they could get. It's especially weird given the amount of interview footage of CKR that's been up at the SciFi site since 4.5 started; it tended to give the impression he'd be ina lot more of the season. This bugs me as much because Leoben needed to be in the series finale as an active player as because I'm a CKR fangirl, honest. Julia, because the file footage kind of sucked. Yeah, whatever was up with Leoben was one of the things I still don't understand.  Of course, there's still The Plan and Caprica. It really doesn't make sense within the story-there were functions that Leoben served from the miniseries on, and from the point of "Sometimes a Great Notion," other characters filled in, or flashbacks, and the rhythm of the story suffered. I'm trying to remember how the casting probems went- I think Lucy Lawless was also originally planned to be in at least one more episode. Julia, who just took a long wander through imdb andwas blinded by the career of Dean Stockwell. |
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Post by Onjel on Mar 24, 2009 8:38:42 GMT -5
I am curious what the final consensus of the Scubie board is on the finale. For me the first half was great and there were moments I liked in the second half but overall I did not like most of the second half (Kara a angel? Throwing away technology - you're going to regret this the first time you burst an appendix, Adama going off by himself, the whole silly coda - though I did like Helo surviving, Baltar returning to farming with Caprica and a few other things) What is the general Scubie consensus? Thumbs up, thumbs down or a mixed half up, half down? 5/8 Yay! 3/8 mehish.  ;D Loved, loved, loved the end with 6 and Baltar walking through modern day Earth. Raised all kinds of intriguing possibilities and actually piqued my interest for "The Plan" in the fall. |
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Post by Onjel on Mar 24, 2009 8:41:20 GMT -5
Oh, hey, I meant to mention - something else I really loved was the Baltar backstory that we got. Finally, after years of thinking everything he did was for his own gratification alone, we got a hint that he was human, after all. He really fell in love with Six because she took care of his father. It wasn't all about sex, and his betrayal of humanity wasn't QUITE as selfish as we initially believed it to be. Yes, but do you think Six took care of his father, or "took care of" his father?? I think Six actually found the better digs and made his father comfortable. She was very adept at getting Baltar to fall for her and given the ending makes the earlier interactions that much more intriguing. |
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Post by rich on Mar 24, 2009 18:08:38 GMT -5
First,  to Onjel for calling it. Second, have to disagree with folks about the value of the bucolic, "let's start over" dying, disappearing, "what are your plans now?", etc. scenes. BSG may not follow the rules of Science Fiction but it does follow the rules of character-driven drama which, IMO, is what it truly is: All the major characters come to know themselves. Everyone is left in touch with who they truly are. Third we seem to be skipping past what is, IMO, the central scene. The showdown in the CIC. The higher power, through the "Opera House" vision/prophecy guides Human and Cylons to a place where they must decide whether to end the cycle of violence. In that scene Balthar, for all his many, many faults, is indeed God's spokesperson. Initially the answer is yes, but proves too difficult to carry out. Tyrol exacts vengeance on Tory for Callie's murder. The cycle begins anew. I'm not sure most people were criticizing the existence and value of the settling scenes; it's more (in my case) a matter of questioning the artistry with which they were presented. I felt the battle scenes were resolved a bit too quickly, and the settling bits went on too long and got boring. I'm not sure that the characters all did come to know themselves, either. Lee, in particular, surprised me with his sudden conversion to Luddism, and I didn't really feel it was in character for him. Lee's first impulse was to never let himself get comfortable, to never let things get too easy, to always seek new challenges. This was specifically mentioned. I think the idea to ditch technology, to start over, and then to devote himself to wandering and exploring fits in with this. |
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Post by jeff on Mar 24, 2009 23:15:11 GMT -5
This show, I have sit here for two days trying to decipher what I want to say, and well, I still can't put it into words. I Loved 95% of it. My biggest gripe was Kara, I wish that was explained better, and of course Cavil killing himself, while fitting , I hated. Overall the show was one of the better endings to a series that I have seen since Six Feet Under. So few shows get to go off the air the "right" way, BSG is one of the few that did acheive this. Buffy, even when it ended, we knew there was more to come. Angel, left us with a cliffhanger, while a good ending, I wanted more, Firefly was cut way too short, even with Sirenity, there was so much more to explore there. But BSG, they wrapped it up nicely, I do Look forward to Caprica, and to the Movie coming that takes place from the Cylon point of view, that should be a blast. Bravo!
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Post by Lola m on Mar 24, 2009 23:27:16 GMT -5
I am curious what the final consensus of the Scubie board is on the finale. For me the first half was great and there were moments I liked in the second half but overall I did not like most of the second half (Kara a angel? Throwing away technology - you're going to regret this the first time you burst an appendix, Adama going off by himself, the whole silly coda - though I did like Helo surviving, Baltar returning to farming with Caprica and a few other things) What is the general Scubie consensus? Thumbs up, thumbs down or a mixed half up, half down? I'm in a mostly thumbs up with a few eye rolls for silliness. But then, that's pretty much true for the whole series.  |
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Post by Lola m on Mar 24, 2009 23:32:33 GMT -5
This show, I have sit here for two days trying to decipher what I want to say, and well, I still can't put it into words. I Loved 95% of it. My biggest gripe was Kara, I wish that was explained better, and of course Cavil killing himself, while fitting , I hated. Overall the show was one of the better endings to a series that I have seen since Six Feet Under. So few shows get to go off the air the "right" way, BSG is one of the few that did acheive this. Buffy, even when it ended, we knew there was more to come. Angel, left us with a cliffhanger, while a good ending, I wanted more, Firefly was cut way too short, even with Sirenity, there was so much more to explore there. But BSG, they wrapped it up nicely, I do Look forward to Caprica, and to the Movie coming that takes place from the Cylon point of view, that should be a blast. Bravo! Hey, Jeff!  I too am very intrigued by the Cylon version of events movie. |
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Post by Spaced Out Looney on Mar 25, 2009 0:06:20 GMT -5
I'm not sure most people were criticizing the existence and value of the settling scenes; it's more (in my case) a matter of questioning the artistry with which they were presented. I felt the battle scenes were resolved a bit too quickly, and the settling bits went on too long and got boring. I'm not sure that the characters all did come to know themselves, either. Lee, in particular, surprised me with his sudden conversion to Luddism, and I didn't really feel it was in character for him. Lee's first impulse was to never let himself get comfortable, to never let things get too easy, to always seek new challenges. This was specifically mentioned. I think the idea to ditch technology, to start over, and then to devote himself to wandering and exploring fits in with this. To me, Lee's idea to give up all their technology and try to integrate themselves with the natives isn't terrible in and of itself, but what was jarring to me was that it seemed like it popped into his head and all of a sudden everybody else was going along with it. I think a bit of development there would have really helped. |
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Post by rich on Mar 25, 2009 7:59:58 GMT -5
Lee's first impulse was to never let himself get comfortable, to never let things get too easy, to always seek new challenges. This was specifically mentioned. I think the idea to ditch technology, to start over, and then to devote himself to wandering and exploring fits in with this. To me, Lee's idea to give up all their technology and try to integrate themselves with the natives isn't terrible in and of itself, but what was jarring to me was that it seemed like it popped into his head and all of a sudden everybody else was going along with it. I think a bit of development there would have really helped. I see your point. You'd think there would have been some debate at least. |
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Post by Sue on Mar 25, 2009 14:15:38 GMT -5
Did everyone know that tonight's episode will run 2 hours and 11 minutes? I hope that doesn't frak up DVR schedules. No. I set a tape. Caught 2 hours and 2 minutes. Now I have to wait until Friday (I believe they are re-showing it?) to see the last few minutes.  |
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Post by Onjel on Mar 25, 2009 14:33:57 GMT -5
Did everyone know that tonight's episode will run 2 hours and 11 minutes? I hope that doesn't frak up DVR schedules. No. I set a tape. Caught 2 hours and 2 minutes. Now I have to wait until Friday (I believe they are re-showing it?) to see the last few minutes. If they are, I recommend it. The last few minutes I loved. So perfect a wrap-up in my view. Delicious. |
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Post by rich on Mar 25, 2009 21:43:25 GMT -5
To me, Lee's idea to give up all their technology and try to integrate themselves with the natives isn't terrible in and of itself, but what was jarring to me was that it seemed like it popped into his head and all of a sudden everybody else was going along with it. I think a bit of development there would have really helped. I see your point. You'd think there would have been some debate at least. It just occurred to me: Didn't they try it the other way on New Caprica? It didn't seem to be going all that well, even before the Cylons got there. Of course that could have been simply because Balthar was a lousy leader. |
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Post by Sara on Mar 27, 2009 22:11:07 GMT -5
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;D Loved, loved, loved the end with 6 and Baltar walking through modern day Earth. Raised all kinds of intriguing possibilities and actually piqued my interest for "The Plan" in the fall.
