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The /Filmcast: Bonus Episode - A Spoiler-Filled Discussion on the Battlestar Galactica Finale (GUESTS: Meredith Woerner from io9, Myles McNutt from Cultural Learnings)

Posted on Friday, March 27th, 2009 by Devindra Hardawar

/FilmCast

Battlestar Galactica PosterIn this epic bonus episode of the /Filmcast, Devindra Hardawar, Meredith Woerner (from io9), and Myles McNutt (from Cultural Learnings) discuss the Battlestar Galactica series finale. Spoilers abound, so if you haven’t yet seen the finale proceed no further. The discussion is meandering, emotional, and most importantly, geeky, so expect many more topics brought up than what’s listed below.

As always, if you have any feedback, feel free to e-mail us at slashfilmcast(AT)gmail(DOT)com, or call and leave a voicemail at 781-583-1993.

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Topics Discussed

  • Meredith at the Battlestar Galactica U.N. event
  • Our overall thoughts on the finale, season four, and some talk on the series as a whole
  • The controversial final scenes
  • The use of God/spirituality
  • The use of technology as a tool of destruction
  • How Battlestar Galactica forever changed science fiction television

Music Cues

  • Are You Alive? (00:00)
  • One Year Later (31:50)
  • Roslin and Adama (52:27)
  • Pegasus (1:19:52)
  • Lords of Kobol (1:51:01)
  • Passacaglia (2:04:17)
  • The Shape of Things to Come (2:17:04)

Credits

  • If you’d like advertise with us or sponsor us, please e-mail slashfilmcast@gmail.com.
  • Contact us at our new voicemail number: 781-583-1993
  • You can donate and support the /Filmcast by going to www.slashfilmcast.com and clicking on the right-hand side “Donate” links!

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Tags

Action/Adventure, Bonus Episodes, Sci-Fi, Television, slashfilmcast, 

  • Frakkin' Awesome!
  • Mza
    Excellent, was hoping you lot would do something like this
  • just great, nothing else to say.
  • Yoi
    Classic podcast!!
    They should put this into DVD series BSG ...
  • Jimbo
    I haven't seen any of these episodes but I may during the summer. I know there's 5 or 6 Scilons and one of them is unknown until near the end, so for someone who really doesn't know much about the show could someone tell me what's it about? And please don't say "a show for nerds," or "a science fiction show about space and war." I'm already into Lost, and if someone asked me I would say: "A show about survivors of a plane crash who land on a special island inhabited by people from all different times. Some left, some time traveled, and there's only 23 episodes left."

    Thank you.
  • TurtlePower
    BSG, well they're the world's most fearsome fighting team. They're heroes in a half-shell and they're green. When the evil Shredder attacks these Turtle boys don't cut him no slack! No wait, I think that's a different show?
  • Timothy
    I think the commenter above, "neuromit," provided a pretty good summary of the themes touched upon in the show. I'd just like to add a basic plot description.

    Humans created Artificial Intelligence at some point in the past, leading to a robotic race named the Cylons. There were tensions in the past that ultimately led to a war, which ended in a truce when the Cylons retreated to a distant colony in space.

    At the beginning of the series, this truce fails as a massive Cylon assault is led on the human colonies, which span 12 planets. In this assault, most of humanity is wiped out, with only about 50,000 to 60,000 people surviving.

    The show is about how, even when facing extinction, humans can be capable of selfish and destructive acts which weaken them as a race.
  • Its a show about the human condition. People making selfish decisions at the expense of humanity. People trying to sacrifice for the greater good but really just screwing humanity. People getting scared and making stupid political decisions.

    Do you see the trend.

    What makes this show so great is the fantastic writing, the depth to the characters and an overarching story that (for the most part) doesn't get derailed.
    I remember that iTunes had an episode a while back called "The Story So Far" pretty much a recap on the first 2 seasons. Check that out and it will tell you pretty much what the show is like, or just check out the mini-series.

    All in all its a fantastic show, probably the best show I've ever watched.

    oh and ITS NOT JUST FOR NERDS!
  • Donkey Punch
    Best show you ever watched, lol?!

    You need to get HBO or Showtime. BSG was brutally bad. Heck, it is one of the worst on regular television much less cable.
  • I wouldnt say one of the worse... the series was passable til the finale... it went from a 7/10 to a 4/10.
  • Plannine42
    Wow, next time you do something like this, get someone on there with a different opinion cause this podcast was really hard for me to listen to, not just because I really hated season 3 and 4 and thought that the finale was awful, but because you often sounded like you were nerdgasming over the story rather than really saying anything. There is plenty wrong with the end of BSG but this sounds like you would have loved any ending to the show. I'm still convinced that this is like the ending to Clue and that next week there will be a totally different last episode.
  • mailmale
    You're exactly right Plannine. For people who critique film, they really just seem to eat everything up.
  • Plannine42
    I wasn't saying that to accuse them of super fanboyism really, I was just saying that I would have like to hear somebody who didnt like it discuss the problems they had so that perhaps the people who did enjoy it might address those issues and possibly make me feel a little bit less dirty for watching the show as long as I did after it jumped the Shark.
  • I'm trying to get a bunch of slashfilmers and io9ers to debate this because there seems to be a heated discussion about the series finale, and season 4 for the whole matter. I haven't heard a lot of bad things about BSG from people on top, but a lot of the viewers (at least the ones who voice their opinion freely) are in an outrage. I think we all should debate it in a live setting. Maybe a ustream chat room or some sort.
  • Didnt listen yet, but if ANYone says the finale was good, you're a retarded fanboy who can't admit that it was horrible.
  • I suppose it's too hard to fathom that the finale had both good AND bad elements. I mean, nuance on the internet?
  • I suppose it's too hard to fathom that the finale had both good AND bad elements. I mean, nuance on the internet? Who wants that? ;)
  • No, it's not hard... the first 45-60 minutes, minus the dumb flashbacks was great... the ending sucked big sweaty donkey balls and left more questions than lost usually does!
  • Excellent podcast.
  • Tuck
    Excellent podcast.
  • Fir3Wolf
    Man two hours, well I think I'll listen to this in parts lol. I have never seen the show but have been told I really should. I will still listen to this anyway since I listen to very filmcast you guys do.
  • Dude, don't listen to it if you haven't seen the show :P Seriously! You'll ruin a ton, and won't get much out of the episode since it's dependent on knowledge from the show :)
  • Erik U
    People who did not like the last episode had unrealistic expectations. There is no way to come up with a brilliant explanation for every mystery in the series, leaving some things vague allows people to fill in the gaps with their own favorite explanation. Some people need everything given to them on a plate, which has ruined many series that have come before this one because the answer invariably are a let down.

    Every other problem people had with the show boils down to people not getting the ending they wanted. The show ended on it's own terms, not yours, and its brilliant for it.
  • G Martin
    -Spoilers for Battlestar Galactica Finale Ahead-

    I'm halfway through the podcast. Meredith says, that everything from the finale, except for Starbuck and Angels was overexplained. But that's actually my problem with the Angels - I would've liked it a lot more, if there were no explanation, no word "Angels" used, no seeing them in current days, no nothing. Leaving it for more open interpretation would've been more to my liking.
    I disliked more things (stupid decisions made by the colonists mostly) from the finale, but still love the show, already started rewatching.
  • razor
    oh my god man that was ... man i'm speechless
  • A good director would have looked at that scene and nixed it pretty quickly man. It could have been done better with more subtlety, but he doesn't have that as a director. He has far more responsibility in that scene than in Tahmoh's acting :P
  • Todd
    You're missing the point of the montage. I don't think the intent of the robot montage was to show robots or technology as evil.
    It is actually showing that the obvious solution of turning away from technology to prevent the cycle might actually be the cause of the cycle itself. The evil is forgetting your past, not technology. Remember that those who forget their past are doomed to repeat it. Robots are just the symbolic representation of the cycle.
  • yeah, i think i'm with you on that, the robot montage is about the choice before humanity, not a statement that technology is inherently a bad thing
  • okay okay okay okay...good 'cast. but i have to speak up. or post up. whatever...

    yeah, that adama/paint scene was real unnecessary - but olmos' directing? you blame olmos' directing for that? that's a script problem! olmos also directed (same episode) the best acting tahmoh penikett has EVER done!!!
  • not everything has to be tied up neatly, nor should it be. they answered what they wanted to and left unanswered what they wanted unanswered, some audience members don't want to be spoonfed everything, i think it's good that they left stuff open

    that's not to say that there weren't elements i'd rather have seen another way or done differently, but i don't think that the finale as a whole can be complained about, especially not in that first half/ second half way...that's basically a way of saying you like the lights and noise but not the storytelling, and if that's the case i find it hard t believe that you didn't have similar problems all the way through the show from the mini series on...the finale lived up to what came before, simple as.
  • i know what you're saying, but he's an actor's director and an actor first and foremost, he's not gonna show restraint when there's a challenging scene on the page, regardless of how well it serves the story because of how it serves the character. imo that doesn't make him a weak director at all, hopefully the plan will lay this debate to rest B)

    p.s. tahmoh has had plenty moments to emote as much as he did in daybreak, hera's abduction is not the only emotionally demanding storyline he's had, but it took olmos to draw that performance out of him because he knew he was capable of it and olmos as a director puts performance before all else, which i don't consider to be a negative, especially in a show like bsg
  • Don W.
    I'm amazed that someone above said that the podcast felt like endless nerdgasming, because I thought the exact opposite: it seemed like 2 hours of nitpicking an amazing finale to pieces. I believe you guys are big fans of the series, but I'm not sure why after listening to you complain about every single thing that happened in the final episode/season. Devin Faraci over at CHUD wrote a wonderful ode to the finale after it aired, so I wish he or someone else with a more positive opinion had been included in the podcast.

    Also, "Unfinished Business" is one of the best episodes of the series. Myles got that one right.
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