Comments on: Top 10 Battlestar Galactica WTFs

By: himal

himal — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 19:11:03 +0000

150,000 is long enough for stellar drift to have rendered the shapes of almost all of the constellations unrecognisable. Bear in mind that the majority of the visible stars that make up the constellations are relatively close to us, thus their motion is pronounced even over several millennia.

Free piece of astronomy software called Celestia lets you fast-foward or rewind time. 150,000 years ago, it all looks way off.

By: nick

nick — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:03:12 +0000

150,000 years is nothing in the cosmic scale, the night sky was probably not much different than it is today.

By: Shan

Shan — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 01:28:41 +0000

Small problem with the constellations.

The hologram left behind showing the Earth’s constellations *as they are now* was already thousands of years old when the Colonials found it.

We eventually find out the Colonials existed about 150,000 years in our past.

I don’t anything even remotely resembling our present day constellations were around then.

I’m not expecting the show to be 100% accurate in terms of science but I found this far too lazy. Especially since I thought this and other numerous small clues were setting us up to have the show end in our far future (and which still directly contradict the ending we got).

By: Xavier

Xavier — Fri, 08 May 2009 16:33:10 +0000

Since it’s a fictional piece, we can only go with what the writers have stated or implied along the way as to whether they conveyed the story and meanings they wanted to. There has been acknowledgment that some elements were not clearly received or communicated to viewers, such as the corrupted cylon model Daniel not being Starbuck’s father yet was perceived by many as a possibility after exploring that plot near the end of the series. Interpretations vary on not clearly defined points. And satisfaction or dissatisfaction is an individual response that I can only claim my own. I was neutral on the ending (liked the 1st half but became detached on the 2nd), yet I rate the entire series as great despite not caring about or for the end and agreeing on a number of the WTF points. To each their own.

By: Avy

Avy — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 02:07:04 +0000

I couldn’t agree more with:

“If the episode ended with Adama sitting on the hill where he buried Laura Roslyn, that would have been fine – all the other things could have been overlooked.”

By: rich

rich — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 18:31:55 +0000

I don’t mind negative opinions about the final, but I am a little sick of people stating negative opinions as facts or implying the writers “were lazy” or didn’t know what they were doing. There are many interviews over the internet by the writers stating they had the resolution they wanted and they thought long and hard about the final. It was not slap dash and thrown together. The fact that some people didn’t like the ending is your opinion, it is not a fact.

So to rebut the review above:

1. Starbuck- probably the most legitimate critisism and is why it is first in this review. Ron Moore stated he left the ending to her ambiguous on purpose. Some liked it, some didn’t. Their was no rational explanation for her other than being a cylon that would be consistent. Once we learned she wasn’t a cylon, a devine explanation was the only other one left.

2. Cavil- he was going to die anyway, so its a tomato/ta-mat-o criticism. He would have been killed by the colonials anyway.

3. Going native- the ending tied into the story that they were our ancestors. We don’t have the technology, so where did it go? They were sick of what their technology brought them and wanted a fresh start. It does require some suspension of disbelief that hey would all choose this, but it is consistent with the story.

4.Deues ex machina- I’m sorry to say this to the critics, but what show were you watching the last six years? “god has a plan” laura’s visions, her visions while jumping, Baltar healing a child, were any of you paying attetion to you know, the show? The entire show has been about god and religion. I’m sorry to those that thought it was star trek part 6.

5. we can breed with them – yes, so? That was the point. Adama asked what were the odds that two human species would evolve on separate planets.

6.All you need is love- maybe they all fell in love. Your assuming something not shown.

7. 150000 years later- yeah, I kinda agree it was a little cute. The point that we have to be careful with technology was made, and this was again underlining it, but it was an add on at the end of the story, like an epilogue. If you don’t like it, it didn’t affect the story, so ignore it.

8. Late character developement- again a matter of style. I liked it, some didn’t. It showed the beginnings of these characters to contrast with the end.

9.Nt with a bang- Big disagreement. Her death scene was the best part of the final. If you don’t like it, what can I say?

10. They have a plan- they did, to kill the human race.

By: Bionetic

Bionetic — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 13:29:34 +0000

I have to agree, there were some major WTF’s. I also kinda felt the whole storyline revolving around angels was a big ripoff. Don’t get me wrong, I love angels. The CW show Supernatural has been doing some great work developing plots around them. The movie ‘Knowing’ had an interesting portrayal of the idea of angels as agents of the Lord. But BSG kinda screwed the pooch on there rendition. Their attempt to be subtle was TOO subtle to the point that the whole theme seemed mundane and trite too say the least. The idea that Baltar’s visions of Head-Caprica, Caprica Six’s Head Baltar, and Starbuck were all just angel was too superficial for me. I understand the common interpretation is that they were angels, but I wish they explained it alittle better or maybe they could have used better plot devices to weave this explanation in. In the beginning the show did a great job when they made their own BSG, but it seems that they strayed too far off the beaten path. I honestly think making a modern version of the original BSG’s ending, including the ship of light and a modern version of earth would have made a much better ending.

By: Ted

Ted — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 23:49:12 +0000

The nukes were not conveniently aimed at the colony. I am sure that their targets were already programmed ahead of time, as evidenced by each nuke curving along it’s own course and hitting in different places.

By: Glen Larson

Glen Larson — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:39:51 +0000

Also, don’t forget Rosalyn’s cancer being cured by the magic cylon hybrid baby juice!

By: Glen Larson

Glen Larson — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:44:53 +0000

Don’t forget Apollo, the fleets best fighter pilot, abandoning the fleet to pursue a savvy career in politics, as they’re being hunting into extinction for a race of killer robots and cyborgs. Yeah… gritty & realistic. *whatever*

By: Sci Fi TV Briefs – So How Does the BSG Finale Sit With You after a Week and a Half? « Axiom’s Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:45:18 +0000

[...] Battlestar Galactica (“Daybreak Parts 2 & 3”) – So they wrapped it up and it turns out that they made it to our Earth after all with angels guiding them the whole time. Who was happy with that ending? Apparently the reactions have been mixed so far according to feedback posted on the Sci Fi Wire site. At first, I was happy with the ending, but the more I thought about it, the more it gnawed at me. Okay, all along there’s been an underlying suggestion of divine guidance, so the angels (Starbuck, Harvey Caprica, and Harvey Baltar who apparently the real Caprica was seeing the whole time) should have come as no surprise. But I guess the thing that did not sit well with me was that too much was left with little or no explanation. For example, the Cylon Earth was dismissed after a few lines of gibberish from Anders that provided only a partial explanation. In fact, too much was left unresolved about the Cylons (maybe the prequel series Caprica will deal with those questions). And what was with “All Along the Watchtower”. Do we just assume Bob Dylan picked it up from some ancestral memory? Basically, it now seems that a lot of the series they just made up as they as they went along and they rushed to the ending without covering all their bases. Sure, I understand that Sci Fi Channel executives dictated that the show would end after Season 4, but I did feel that those final ten episodes could have been more focused and provided a better sense of closure. I’ll try watching it again in a couple of weeks to see if it sits better with me then. And we still have Battlestar Galactica: The Plan to look forward to later this year which could give us some more answers as well. In the mean time, enjoy the Top 10 BSG WTFs. [...]

By: Ian

Ian — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:58:49 +0000

A few points I could make:

2. With Tori dead he no longer had any chance of resurrection. Without that he had no purpose so better to take his own life than let the humans take it with no chance of him gaining anything from it.

3. I would agree that it’s a big suspension of disbelief but I think it’s consistent. The whole show has been about humans facing the consequences of their use of technology. Having to flee their creation to get to Earth, just to find out it had been nuked. Technology didn’t get them anywhere.

4. The whole point of the Deus Ex Machina is that it’s the unexpected appearance of a god-like solution to the problem. The whole show has been about God, so as another reviewer pointed out, you can hardly claim it’s unexpected.

6. When did they ever suggest otherwise? Hera was the only human/cylon hybrid and she was born out of love. Presumably any humans who breed with Cylons also did so out of love and once there was a generation of hybrids they would be able to breed with each other because they weren’t fully Cylon

9. Roslin didn’t really need any last words. Her story was wrapped up in terms of prophecy and emotionally. Giving her some last words would have just been trite.

I loved the episode, with the exception of the robots in the coda. Just too visually jarring and a little twee.

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 15:42:37 +0000

They’d developed Baltar’s daddy/home/identity issues during his imprisonment in season 3. He had a big monologue about how he was a from a farming family, had a yorkshire accent, yadda yadda and how he’d run as far as he could away from his original identity.