Why were fans disappointed with Battlestar Galactica's finally?

[MarkB]

For one thing, imagine you did not get to watch the next episode right away. Imagine waiting 4 years to get all that stuff.

It's not even being able to watch the show on demand that makes the difference - it's watching it now, after the fact, compared to at the time.

When the series was being broadcast, the level of discussion and speculation it sparked was massive. I remember people at work who weren't even SF fans discussing the new episodes and their implications, and online it was simply massive. For anyone who engaged with that to any significant degree, the level of investment in the show and the unfolding plot was far higher than it could be for anyone watching it today and speculating on their own. The potential for disappointment was therefore similarly high.

 

[delericho]

I never had a huge problem with the finale. As far as I was concerned it was about as good as we could have got, given where the show had gone to that point.

However, the new BSG jumped the shark about three-quarters through the second series (actually, the precise moment is

Spoiler

when Adama is all set to abort Athena's baby, Helo tries to stop them, and Adama talks him down

). After that it does have some really good stuff, especially the first six episodes of season three, but it never quite reaches the same heights again.

By the end, the show is very clearly struggling, with too many of the compelling characters dead, too many of the others caricatures of their former selves (Adama, Roslin, and Starbuck in particular), and too many things being pulled out of the writers' collective butts. So I felt the finale was about as good as we could hope for - at least they finished off most characters' story arcs and had one last, big battle against the Cyclon.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I finished it and I'm not sure I understand why fans hate the finally.

From what I gather it is because it took a mystical/religious angle it took, but that was always in the series. I do not see a break, but a continuity.

It was a very ambitious space opera, with hits and misses, but it was fun to see the how the writers didn't just let them drift in space for four seasons with just "monster of the week" style episodes. Fun to see a series end before cancellation too.

I tend to agree with people that it seems questionable they would abandon all tech and start anew*. Still, the finale worked for me.

And I could almost cry every time I see Adama and Roslin's final moments.


(I can totally get however that they would all leave their ships, afte so many years stuck on them, especially that since that flight through the nebula/solar storm thingy, all ships are vastly overcrowded).

 

[Ahnehnois]

This is the heart of a lot of the discontent. A lot of fans saw the series as essentially a large mystery: What/where is Earth and what is the Cylons plan? If you don't have really good answers to those questions that fit the clues that came before, fans feel cheated.

And yet, it's pretty clear that the showrunner himself wasn't that interested in that aspect of the show, that he saw it as more character-driven and less plot-driven. Perhaps that's why I look at it differently, because I'd followed his various commentaries and his work before BSG. Given the way DS9 went, it's no surprise that BSG took the tone it did. Someone coming into it with a different perspective might have different expectations. And seeing all his comments about writing the finale definitely helped it go over better.

 

[billd91]

I tend to agree with people that it seems questionable they would abandon all tech and start anew*. Still, the finale worked for me.

And I could almost cry every time I see Adama and Roslin's final moments.


(I can totally get however that they would all leave their ships, afte so many years stuck on them, especially that since that flight through the nebula/solar storm thingy, all ships are vastly overcrowded).

I can see them abandoning much of the tech for a number of reasons. Growing paranoia about technology after being so burned by their own technological creation could play into it. Keep in mind that this is also a society that could be pretty severely affected by some form of PTSD and other psychological traumas - fully ditching past lives may help the healing process or at least not leave them with lots of exacerbating triggers.
And it's also possible that the tech they have is becoming increasingly unsustainable. Their refugee town on New Caprica wasn't exactly an exemplar of technology either.

In any event, I thought the ending fit the series reasonably well.

 

[Zombie_Babies]

For me, it wasn't an objection to a mystical ending. It's just that the ending was... anticlimactic. It was boring. I wanted something cleverer than that. A show that kept me engrossed for years just kinda went out with a whimper and a "meh".

Not that I have any idea how it should have been done better.

This. And I think the ending should have been darker as well. The whole point was that the journey could end nowhere. It was all built on hope and I would have enjoyed it more had that hope been in vain.

 

[WayneLigon]

From what I gather it is because it took a mystical/religious angle it took, but that was always in the series.

That was it, and no, it wasn't.

 

[wingsandsword]

And yet, it's pretty clear that the showrunner himself wasn't that interested in that aspect of the show, that he saw it as more character-driven and less plot-driven. Perhaps that's why I look at it differently, because I'd followed his various commentaries and his work before BSG. Given the way DS9 went, it's no surprise that BSG took the tone it did. Someone coming into it with a different perspective might have different expectations. And seeing all his comments about writing the finale definitely helped it go over better.

The show had wonderfully written characters and great drama. . .but they completely dropped the ball on the plot towards the end. The plot was pretty solid up until the exodus from New Caprica, when they started to get kinda shaky with it, but by season 4 they were completely off the rails.

Good characters and good plot are not exclusive. He set up a show, teasing from the original miniseries, on a massive overarching plot. . .then doesn't follow through when the show actually becomes a hit and people start asking questions about that plot.

 

[Ahnehnois]

The show had wonderfully written characters and great drama. . .but they completely dropped the ball on the plot towards the end. The plot was pretty solid up until the exodus from New Caprica, when they started to get kinda shaky with it, but by season 4 they were completely off the rails.

Good characters and good plot are not exclusive. He set up a show, teasing from the original miniseries, on a massive overarching plot. . .then doesn't follow through when the show actually becomes a hit and people start asking questions about that plot.

I don't really strongly disagree with that. To me, the New Caprica storyline was the high point. I do think there were plenty enough positives to keep watching, but it did seem like the show lost some of what it started with.

 

[trappedslider]

Fun Olmos fact: he was in the running for the role of Klingon Commander Kruge in Star Trek 3, but lost out to Christopher Lloyd because Lloyd was taller. He was also offered the lead role in Star Trek: The Next Generation, but he turned it down.

and today is his birthday too