Why were fans disappointed with Battlestar Galactica's finally?

[Kramodlog]

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

Umm... yes it was.

 

[bone_naga]

I have to say I enjoyed the finale. To a degree I thought that the "God did it" was a bit of a cop-out, but even so there wasn't a perfectly clear answer on the matter of religion. Some people felt it was kind of preachy but I kind of liked Gaius's take where he said it really doesn't matter what you call it, God or gods or whatever.

Anyway, whether you like the religion aspect or not, there was a clear ending where the storylines were all wrapped up, viewers who paid attention could read between the lines on some of the events, and there was plenty of action before it slowed down for the finish.

I was much more disappointed with the Dexter finale. That was just garbage.

 

[gamerprinter]

Eh, not that I was hoping for a non-religious finale, but the point that "All this happened before. All this will happen again." was pretty well ingrained from the beginning. When clues were revealed, that coincided with their holy texts, the religion angle was pretty well established. To assume a total logical and scientific explanation for everything as the expected conclusion would be counter to the way the entire show was presented. I never assumed the ending would have been any less 'religious' the entire rest of the show. It made sense within the context of the mythos it presented. Would I have preferred a better ending, sure, but it wasn't terrible. Of course when Apollo's decision to not build a town and go their separate ways, that was a bit... meh.

 

[wingsandsword]

While I understand that Ron Moore was going more for a character-based drama, significant breaches of continuity like the whole Tomb of Athena star map being ignored (the whole point of the huge Season 1/Season 2 cliffhanger) detracted from the show as a whole.

I understand he didn't want to emphasize plot as much, but at least being consistent with it would have gone a long way. Personally, when I realized the show was being picked up for a second season, and was becoming a smash hit I would have sat down, figured out in at least some detail what the Cylon plan was, what the real deal was with Earth, and at least a vague sketch of the overall direction of the show. As it was, it seemed like they were just pulling new stuff out every few episodes trying to top it for how awful they can make life for the Colonials.

As for how religious the finale and last episodes were. . .

Yes, religion was part of the show from the beginning, but it was very ambiguous which (if any) of the religions was right.

Roslin's visions could have been prophetic, or they could have been drug-induced. Baltar's vision of Six could have been his own mental breakdown at guilt for causing the collapse of civilization, or it could have been Cylon biotech implants, or it could have been an angel. Baltar's knowing the right place to attack on the tylium refinery could have been divine guidance, pure dumb luck, or a brilliant flash of insight. The prophecies about Kobol that came true could have been prophetic, or they could have been just vague enough that almost anything that happened there would count as filling them. When Starbuck came back, we were left wondering what happened. Was she a Cylon created clone, created from DNA taken while she was held captive, placed in a Cylon-manufactured Viper? Was she somehow sent by God/the Gods? Had some weird Star Trek-esque space anomaly thrown her through space and time to meet with the fleet later and it only looked like she'd exploded?

Up until the last minutes of the finale, every single religious thing that happened in the show could have been explained as a coincidence or with science and technology. Then "Surprise, it was God after all, and the Cylon religion was right!" didn't feel like as much of an answer as a cop out.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Up until the last minutes of the finale, every single religious thing that happened in the show could have been explained as a coincidence or with science and technology. Then "Surprise, it was God after all, and the Cylon religion was right!" didn't feel like as much of an answer as a cop out.

They could have not answered anything at all, I suppose, but any answer would feel weak, because it solves the mystery and the speculation.

 

[The_Silversword]

I never really followed the show, I watched a couple episodes, I wasnt impressed, didnt like it. I was a huge fan of the original show, and i think they just changed up too much stuff. I thought the ships looked kooler in the original, and the Cylons too. Didnt like how they looked in the new series, they look just like humans, oh no! scarey!!

 

[NewJeffCT]

The mystical/religious angle was always in the series as something some of the characters believed, but it wasn't until the last season, and Starbuck's return, that it became something that was presented as actually real - and even then they tried to keep the viewers guessing, and there were potentially other explanations.

In the end, it comes down to the same problem as the ending of Lost - you've presented the viewers with a mystery, a puzzle with a lot of possible answers and a scattering of clues, and positively encouraged them to keep guessing and speculating. If you then finish the series by presenting them with the answer "a god did it", then you're short-changing them, because an answer that comes from outside the established context of both the series and the real world is essentially unguessable and renders all the prior speculation meaningless.

That's about how I felt about it as well.

 

[Morrus]

Didnt like how they looked in the new series, they look just like humans, oh no! scarey!!

Only the sneaky spy ones. Most of them look like this:

 

[NewJeffCT]

Only the sneaky spy ones. Most of them look like this:

View attachment 60762

And, the human looking cylons that were female seemed rather attractive, though the guys that were cylons were kind of schlumpy.

 

[Sadras]

The show was rubbish, full of holes even in their own science, lame cop out in the end, and the final vision/premonition had no meaning. I ask you who has premonitions which mean absolutely nothing? Bleh. If it weren't for the hot chicks I would have stopped watching much earlier.