If you want electricity, are you going to force people at gunpoint to keep working in the refinery so that the ones who are planetside can have it? I don't see that working out well.

I always assumed they needed the refinery to make fuel for thrust, but power came from fusion reactors. Land a ship and instant power station. No real basis for that though.

I just don't buy that you'd get that many people to all agree to give up their technology. Some sure. But things like algae growing thingy would be awfully useful until you managed get a reliable source of food, guns are good for hunting and dealing with large predators, ships are good shelter until you can make something. That Lampkin was getting ready to make plans for a city would seem to indicate they had the ability to build some infrastructure.

It just seemed too unrealistic and preachy for me to buy. In a series where their has always been dissension and conflict it just didn't work for me that everyone would buy into what is a huge decision. For me, it could have just dropped that part and it would have worked better. They could still send the fleet into the sun (that's it they aren't traveling through the stars anymore) and I'd just mentally fill in they took everything they could use first.

I wasn't really bothered by these questions while I was watching. Most of the stuff felt right or hilarious by turns and I just enjoyed the ride.

Even now, after reading the negative comments and seeing the points everyone has made, I still feel good about how it ended. I can't wait to get it all on DVD, see the deleted scenes and watch the finale as one 3-hour block.

I'm looking forward to The Plan and Caprica. No show is perfect, but this one was damn good!

I really didn't take Galactica as "technology is evil." They stopped carrying the last few pieces of a dead civilization. They'd given up most of it a while ago.

I posted a bit more at length about this on TWOP, but I think, in a lot of ways, the finale works better metaphorically than (perhaps) it does literally. The civilization was gone, and what needed to happen was for them to accept that it was gone, to disappear, Roanoke/Croatan style, into their new land. Their blood survives, their races, but that's all.

In a series where their has always been dissension and conflict it just didn't work for me that everyone would buy into what is a huge decision.

No, I can see that. I was talking to a friend earlier today and we did talk about how it would have played a little better if they'd been like, "We're going to pioneer instead of colonize. Nobody's organizing this. If you want to try to put together a little fishing village with your culty pals, or you want to go build a cabin on a hilltop, whatever, go for it. We got you here, the rest is on you." Which isn't something Apollo could say.

Although Tigh or Lampkin totally could.

I guess for me the key point was that the leaders basically abdicated. So even if some people didn't like the decision... what're they going to do about it? "Give us guns & ammo, or we'll, um, poke you with these not-entirely-dull sticks!"

But going way back I thought that Galactica was sort of the opposite of Babylon 5. B5 was all about how people form groups, and this show was all about how groups develop schisms and fall apart. So I guess just at that level having everyone drift off alone or in pairs kind of worked for me.

"We're going to pioneer instead of colonize. Nobody's organizing this. If you want to try to put together a little fishing village with your culty pals, or you want to go build a cabin on a hilltop, whatever, go for it. We got you here, the rest is on you." Which isn't something Apollo could say.

I think this was probably the intention, but the writers got lost in the grandeur of all the clean slate speechifying and forgot that people watch this show with our brains too.

guns are good for hunting and dealing with large predators

Yeah, I was wondering how, exactly, with no guns, Helo and Athena were planning on teaching Hera to hunt. Does either of them know how to throw a spear?

Quester - you didn't watch the repeat of hour 1? (I watched the second showing so I caught part 1 and then watched the last two hours.)

Or make flint heads? Or a bow and arrow?

Looks like BSG 4.5 won't be coming out 'til July - when the Blu-Ray of the complete series comes out.

Yeah, I was wondering how, exactly, with no guns, Helo and Athena were planning on teaching Hera to hunt. Does either of them know how to throw a spear?

Since Athena is a cylon she'll probably just run and break the animal's neck.

"We're going to pioneer instead of colonize. Nobody's organizing this. If you want to try to put together a little fishing village with your culty pals, or you want to go build a cabin on a hilltop, whatever, go for it. We got you here, the rest is on you."

That would have worked better for me. I don't think the finale was bad, just the second half was drawn out too long with unnecessary speechifying.

Maybe there was a scene cut where a bunch of people in one of the ships decided, "Fuck this back to nature crap. We're gonna find a nice big island, land a couple of ships to use their reactors for our power grid, build a city with lots of beachfront resorts, and we'll call this place Atlantis.

Personally, I think Sam-the-hybrid decided they were nuts, only SAID he was going to take the fleet to the sun, parked it all on the far side of the Moon, called back some of the free-will Centurions and is readying the renaissance technology so that when each group of GolgafrinchamsGalacticans gets eaten by sabertooth cats or stomped by mammoths they wake up in a nice tech paradise and asked if they really wouldn't prefer to live.

I finally got around to watching Kings last night. It's still holding my interest (more so than Dollhouse was two episodes in), especially since it's getting really good character actors for various roles. The guy who's the leader of Gath--I can't remember the actor's name, but he really is excellent. I've seen him in other roles and loved that they got him for this show. And Miguel Ferrer! I hope he gets more lines in future episodes, because he's always fun to watch.

But my favorite was seeing Brian Cox as the crazy former co-ruler. He's probably my favorite character actor of the past 25 years since he originated the role of Hannibal Lector, and he just nailed his performance here. He and McShane were brilliant together--I hope this isn't going to be his only appearance!