I have followed the recent remake of Battlestar Galactica. Reluctantly at times, I must say. But the end of season four (or 4.5?) arrived, and after a two hour finale, it is over.
Overall, I think that the finale was good, if unconventional in elements of it. It was rather edgy, and even uncomfortably so at times. It tended to push the envelope in many ways; most of these are typically like the downward spiral of culture, but not all. This is the unconventional piece. I read a few years ago that the next wave in sci-fi would be the merger of religion and tech. I have seen trend begin to emerge. For example, the Matrix trilogy rang of religion at times, as in the “temple” sequences or gatherings. Not Christianity, mind you; just religious-”ness” of some kind.
This played out in a very interesting way in BG. I actually was impressed — at the end — with the writing of the finale. On the whole, season 4 was a roller coaster: first too much shock effect, then some decent writing; then, back to shock but flowing to a decent ending. The end was somewhat foreshadowed, but the how of the trip was pretty fascinating, as well as some of the details of major characters and “behind-the-scenes” information.
In summary, I think the new BG does tend to provoke thought and reflection. It is a good extension of the past BG and was (IMO) obviously dependent on more recent sci-fi traditions (e.g., Babylon 5) for themes or story details to convey the overall story in mind. Now that is OK; but I just noticed interesting dependencies that logically appear in the story. Lastly, I do wonder if the writers had the end in mind at the beginning. If so, then they somehow deserve an A+ for bringing everything around to a fairly suitable conclusion. And if not, well … that’s OK; that’s the more plain and typical route, but still well done in my final analysis.
