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Battlestar Galactica Ends After Season Four - another well-written article.

I think the producers are doing the series justice. Too many shows are drawn out, and the story diluted, and then dumped before we get the end of the story.

With this decision, we can view the proper story arc & be privy to the ending, without a lame cancellation by TV Execs.

I actually like this concept. My DH and I were talking the other day about all the shows we get in to but never get a conclusion. I think even canceled shows should produce some kind of conclusion for the loyal fans who watched.

I hope we even get to see that. The channel that shows it here seems to think it a hoot to end the screening in the middle of a season and then pick it up again three or so months later on a different night of the week at a ridiculous time slot like 2AM! (Did I mention our video recorder is about to pack up on us and only records if it really feels like it). Most times we don't religiously scan the TV guide so it is several episodes before we realise BSG is back on. Grrrr! We have missed so much of this show, but not really enough to feel like getting the whole series out on DVD and watching some episodes over again. It's frustrating.

Elle, you might want to see if BSG is available for download from iTunes. I know a friend of mine does that with Heroes (another favorite of mine.)

Moe, yes, I still remember almost all the shows that I got into that were cancelled without "closure." It really makes me not want to get "into" new series.

I totally agree with you guys. As an example, I can't help thinking about how "The X-Files" would have left a better legacy if it had ended a few seasons sooner.

I totally agree with this. I know at the beginning of the season at least 1/2 if not more of the shows I get into will disappear.

We have the same problem up here with a show airing a few episodes and disappearing and coming back on a new day or time. I've actually give up on shows that do that. It annoys me.

Luckily Battlestar is not one of them. We watch it on the Space channel and last season they showed all 20(22) episodes right after one another. It was great. No repeats. Then they repeated the whole thing again. IN ORDER! Too bad all networks couldn't do the same thing.

The example of what not to do with a TV series was what happened with Babylon 5. A 5 year arc, which was threatened with being canceled at the last minute (literally) after season 4 -- then it was renewed. Unfortunately, it was written to satisfactorily end at S4, so S5 was a less than memorable season.

A lot of fans felt the same way about Farscape which is why they had to come back with a 2-hour movie to give some closure. I'm really looking forward to see what they do with BSG.

I'm also really looking forward to the last season of Battlestar Galactica, and glad to see that they choose to go out with a bang rather than a fizzle. And here it is... days away from March, and I still haven't heard of a premiere date?

We've seen previews for it to start in March but the Official website says April 4th.

All righty then! Something to look forward to in April And give me time to watch Razor. I still haven't watched that... I started to (we have it on our TiVo), but I couldn't get into it. Things were to busy around here. I'll give it another go.

I did see the beginning of this series (the first two parter I think it was) but then never watched the series itself. Which is odd because I *adored* the original and love scifi in general.

I'll have to Netflix it once the whole thing is done so I can watch it back to back

Elle's right. Unfortunately, the channel here in Australia that picked up BSG (and Torchwood, btw), pushed them with a lot of hype, then stuck them after Big Bogan (Big Brother) which tended to go half an hour or more overtime, and didn't have the same audience as the sci-fi shows that they were touting.

They then claimed that they didn;t get the ratings, and use that to justify hiding and moving it without any notice at all.

As for the series ending at season 4 - I think it's a good idea. It means that there is a story arc, and it has a conclusion. Have you ever noticed that a lot of series that just go on and on tend to become slighly soap-operaish after a while?

Has anyone been watching the new season? I have really been enjoying it! I can't wait to find out who the last cylon is!!!!

I cannot say enough good things about BSG. It's the best thing I have ever seen. Except for Firefly.

I have my own theories about who the last cylon is, of course.

So Jilly, who do you think is the 5th cylon? I'm thinking Baltar, the President or Starbuck.

Okay, i was waiting to respond to this until after the mid-season finale. And, arg, we did not find out squat!

My top faves for the final Cylon are Zack Adama, Admiral Cain, Doc Cottle, Elosha and maybe Dualla. I have my reasons.

DH favors Romo, Doc Cottle and possibly Lee. He also has reasons.

Ron Moore has said that no one in the Last Supper picture is the fifth, which counts out Lee, Starbuck, Roslyn or Baltar. Unless that was misdirection from Ron.

Olmos has been quoted saying it's none of the principles and that it's someone no one has guessed, which also counts out Lee and anyone else with a cast credit. Unless he's been instructed to say that for misdirection, which I doubt, but it's certainly possible.

It's possible it's been a throw away character or someone who died already. Hell, it could be Kat, whom we were reminded of last night, for some reason.

I will tell you my reasons for my picks if you tell me yours!

HA HA... since I don't know much about behind the scenes, my pics and reason are pretty simplistic.

Starbuck, because she has those visions and that connection with the one cylon.

Lee, because, well, why not HA HA.

Baltar because of his visions.

The President because of her position in the scriptures (the one to lead everyone to earth.)

Okay... now I've got a grumble about the last episode.




WARNING --- SPOILER ALERT --- WARNING ---- SPOILER ALERT




What was that???? They thought that was an okay ending???

I was so disappointed to find that they got to earth and there was nothing there.

Do you think it was really earth?

I was really hoping that they'd get to earth and it'd be like the renaissance or something LOL.

Anyway... we'll just have to see.

The ending was horrible! My guess for the last Cylon is the lady who was with Roslyn in the visions she had whenever the Cylon resurrection ship jumped. Because the Cylons have developed a strong belief in God, it makes some sense that the last might come from the religious community.

The final episode made me think it was Dualla. There was a certain quiet satisfaction about her in the final shots. Like, "At last, I've led them all home".

Didn't they say only 4 were on the Battlestar. IF that's the case then the final cyclon has to be somewhere else. On earth already? Waiting. Someone had to send Kara back.

Question: The final five are not resurrected cylons are they? Aren't they the original five, unresurrected? Or do I have that wrong?

If there are more than the "orgiinal" five, like copies then my second guess is the President's previous assistant - Billy. (I loved him).

Other possible guesses based upon looking at the IMDB and finding lesser known characters with a listing for 2009:
Nowart and Captain Doyle Franks.

Otherwise, I think it's going to be unexpected. And someone who has been otherwise neutral.

So has anyone heard when the next new episode will be aired? Or how many more new episodes before the finale??

We don't get the last season until jan of 09.

I have been thinking about Dualla as well, for several reasons. And yeas, Billy, but i think they turned that into Tory.

I think i need to make a chart - lol - there are so many overlapping clues at this point.

January??? JANUARY???

Oh the humanity!!!

Yes, Ron Moore is trying to drive us insane. :p

Not long to wait now! They're running a "10 Things you need to know" special on Sunday (I think), so at least we'll be able to be reminded of where we were when last season ended! thank goodness. I hope when Lost comes back it does something similar.

SO! what do we all think?! Let's generate some theories!

Warning! spoilers ahead - do not read next post if you have not seen this week's show!

Do we think there is a time travel element? And why Ellen, of all people?! She wasn't even that important when she was on the show - she did try to influence Tigh to take over from Adama, but wasn't really successful. Then Tigh killed her - but if she's a cylon, she can regenerate, right? But where did she regenerate to? Surely she would have been noticed if she were somewhere else on the fleet, or on the cylon ships. So where is she?

and in the same line of thought - how did the cylons on earth regenerate? was there a resurrection ship nearby, or did they have some other way of doing it? Could they, on earth, maybe have found a way to reproduce without regenerating?

How could they be on earth 2000 years ago? I have a theory that I stole from a friend - he suspects that the original cylon race left behind, somehow, the technology to create the Centurions, which they knew would evolve into the human models, as a way to guarantee their survival should something go wrong with their colony (which it did). and that perhaps the original cylon race was exiled to earth by the humans, which might explain why they attacked.

Theories and thoughts?

There are a number of things in the show which - we were watching this on DVR - we literally paused the screen and said "That makes NO sense at all." I do enjoy the show a great deal, but they are doing many things for plot reasons now - to get everything to coalesce into their grand finale - which either do not make sense at all with the character's motivations or which directly contradict things which happened previously.

Starbuck in particular has been painted as a complete loony. In the past she was highly intelligent, a renegade, with great passion in her. The lost some of her complexity somewhere along the way. We can wait to see how they try to explain it.

I do appreciate some of the character arcs. Having Adama becoming "more human" was a nice movement. Having his son become his caretaker was well done. There are always some flashes of brilliance in this show that really stand out. I just think they are trying to compress too much into this last half-season and that the characters are suffering as they get funneled into their destination so quickly.

We don't know that Ellen is the "final cylon" (and I really hope she is not). All we know is she was one of the THOUSANDS of cylons on Earth 2,000 years ago and presumably all of them could regenerate. Just because Tigh was one of the "final four" it doesn't mean every single person on Earth was a member of that final four

I hoped that Ellen was not the final cylon either, but the producers, in interviews, seem to be suggesting that it's true. It makes no sense at all to me. Most of this ep didn't make sense to me, but I keep hoping it will make sense in the future. I agree that they have totally mangled Starbuck's character - it's very disappointing to me that once again a strong female character ends up having to be insane or defective in some way.

I'm not sure what to think about the cylons on earth. During the flashbacks that Tyrell and Tigh had, we only saw them, not anyone else - so we have no way of knowing if earth was populated by thousands of copies of the 12, or if there were others. And we don't really know about their regeneration abilities - maybe these cylons had learned to reproduce and continued their race that way (there was no mention of wreckage of a regeneration ship or hub or building on earth).

I do think that character is suffering quite badly in service of making the plot work out. I hated what they did to Dee, and honestly Roslin is driving me crazy as well. It just seemed SO off to have no one on the ship even question the discoveries that they had made. Not one person said "Wait, how can this planet have been inhabited by cylons 2000 years ago?" No one questioned if it was really earth. It was like Roslin and Adama just said "Oh, okay, we'll just go find another planet then, no problem!" I hope that we were supposed to think that they were just too shocked to think straight, and that they will start asking the obvious questions next episode. If they don't I'm going to be really, really disappointed that these people that have been developed as smart characters are acting like dopes.

Yup I agree 100% with you on everything. All they had were the constellations which they "thought" led to earth which they "think" they found. I agree that it seemed that they just landed on a planet, said "Oh well Cylons lived here and trashed it, let's leave".

I actually still do not think Ellen is the final cylon. I think she is an older Six and have thought so from the first season.

Hmmm... I hadn't thought of that, but that's definitely possible especially considering how much Tigh was drawn to the Six. He was imagining seeing Ellen at times when he was with her. I'm still in limbo about how Starbuck could be Starbuck, after finding herself dead on Earth... Eke Gads!

Ooh, I like the idea of Ellen being an older Six! We don't know, do we, if Cylons age? They all look the same, but then again they die and regenerate so much they never really have a chance to age, and if they started to they could die and come back to their younger bodies.

Or, the earth Cylons had solved that whole regeneration thing with evolving to reproduce and die like humans. I've always thought that the hybrid's comment to Starbuck about bringing death wasn't a foretelling of doom - that it may have been more about a 'death brings life' thing. The cylons can only truly be alive if they can die, etc.

Here's a question, though - did the Six get pregnant before or after the regeneration hub was destroyed? because maybe there is a connection between the Cylons losing the ability to regenerate and gaining the ability to reproduce?

As for Starbuck, I think she is a clone. The Cylons took her ovary on Caprica and I think they made a new Starbuck out of it. I have no idea why or how that would work, though.

I know someone who has the theory that when Starbuck went missing, she fell through some sort of hole in time and space, landed on cylon-inhabited earth, destroyed them all including herself, at which point the present-day cylons put the Starbuck clone into action.

I think that the 'skinjob' Cylons are not really Cylons. I think that they are some race of beings, the same race that inhabited earth, who came across the Cylons hanging around in space and took them over or entered into an alliance with them. And somehow over time their real origins became obscured until they didn't realize that they are a different manner of creature entirely. Really, other than the fact that they call themselves Cylons, what evidence do we have that they are? they have nothing in common with the toaster cylons, as far as we know.

I think that it's possible that what we are going to find out is that the skinjob Cylons are not related to the metal cylons, but that they are either the ancestors of the human race or the humans are their ancestors, somehow.

To me Ellen is definitely separate from the others - she is completely a different bone structure. She's a cylon, but a separate one from the previous ones we knew about. I would never have seen her as being "the same" as another Cylon line we've seen.

I don't like how they keep saying "you know about all the cylons. Oh wait, but there's five more! OK you know those five. Wait, there's another one! OK you know that one. Wait, there's yet another one after that!" I'm not a big fan of those type of drawn out incremental lies. It seems like cheating to me.

Bob and I have said several times while watching this final season that it feels incredibly forced. They are driving towards a set ending and they are twisting characters and plot lines towards that end in ways that often don't make sense.

I'm not sure what the solution is. They only had these X episodes to finish things. So they couldn't do anything longer to do it more elegantly. Maybe they always had an "end point in mind" and they thought they had 7 years to do it in, and now they're trying to cut corners to make it fit. So should they have come up with a new ending which fit better with the time they had left?

I still see season 2 as being their best season, with really well done, intricate episodes. Season 1 had a lot of the over-the-top "setting up of characters" that goes on in every series, so you can't blame them too much for that. After season 2 they began to get nebulous. I think if they had more tight writing in season 3, they could have set the scene for a lot of the final work here in a more well scripted manner. I suppose, again, that in season 3 that they thought they had plenty of time to take side trips before they had to end.

I agree, Lisa, that season two was their best. (I have this whole TV series theory that all shows are at their best in season three, but BSG doesn't quite fit that mold.) I think that the problem, though, is that they wrote themselves into a corner and in their efforts to extricate themselves from it, they have had to fall back on this "but wait - there's MORE!" thing. I think "Lost" does something similar, with the way they keep tossing more characters into the mix instead of fully exploring the characters and stories they already have going.

I was particularly irritated at the sudden "Oh, didn't we mention #7, Daniel, who we have never talked about before" revelation. I think it's probably Starbuck's dad, which would make Starbuck the first hybrid, not Hera, but I haven't thought that all the way through yet. But in any case, the sudden "here's the Final Five... except for this one!" just really bothered me. Not to mention the "Sam is in a coma and is now going to explain the entire story in this one episode" thing.

I've enjoyed the series, but I am ready for it to end.

Yup we are watching this because we've invested all our time in it now, but it's lost its high enthusiasm enjoyability of season 2.

Starbuck's dad makes sense, it would help to explain why she has the memories she does. That's really the only big "loose thread" right now, is how if she is not a Cylon she has had all these bizarre things happening.

Thoughts on the finale? I need to watch it again, because I missed some stuff (or maybe I didn't and it just wasn't there).

It was ok - a lot more "Planet of the Apes" than I would have anticipated, that's for sure.