adricv: I was very displeased with all the references to God.
Having a Gaius Boltar who's schizophrenic is much more colourful than just having him see angels (even though someone in real life who did see angels would be considered mentally unstable).
I loved Battlestar Galactica because of the interesting moral and ethical dilemmas it took its character cast down - I normally despise sci-fi shows because they're quite plain and boring but this was different. Polytheism vs Monotheism vs cynical atheism was delightful to watch unfold but then they just wrapped everything up with "Oh, God did it".
Which apart from being an incredibly weak conclusion just begs more questions "God was responsible for the nuclear genocide of the 12 colonies?" and so on. In retrospect, the plot seems to be an allegory for the Bible or something in that vein which just comes off as weak.
Other than that, I loved the show and to be honest, I still thought the first half of the finale was quite well accomplished, up to and including the point where Cavil goes nuts. Past that, there are few redeeming features.
A Gaia-theory "let's abandon technology" and embrace lifestyles of 20 year lifespans and sizeable tooth related mortality? Please.
Yeah, I pretty much agree with everything there. As for the references to God and trying to link Gaius into the whole religiousness, it is just par for Ron Moore. Like I mentioned earlier, it is kind of his thing. I would have preferred that Gaius end up as the #7 Cylon, and have his and Caprica Six's delusions be from some sort of resurrection malfunction during the nuking of Caprica. Then make Starbuck the 5th original Cylon instead of Kate Vernon's character (forget her name in the show). Or, heck, reverse it. Make Starbuck the #7 and Gaius the 5th. That way fits in less with what Kate Vernon's character said right after the resurrection about #7 being male when talking to Cavil, however.
The moral and ethical dilemmas WERE the show; that and the occasional nifty space battle. It kind of got lost and confused with all the psuedo-religious mumbo jumbo towards the end however. I can't help thinking there were so many other avenues that the story could have progressed down that would have been more satisfying tot he majority of fans. That is probably just my bias, but I know from other forums that I am not alone in that bias.
The conclusion, as you said, was just plain weak (at least the second half of it). It was quite literally Deus Ex Machina. Ron Moore just dropped God from a crane and called everything solved. Just like a Greek play where Hera or Zeus or Athena or whoever waved their hands at the end and solved everything.
Why DID Cavil just up and shoot himself, anyway? I had to watch that part a second time to make sure I really saw it. It just made no sense in terms of the situation or his personality. It only made sense to close off a loose end. Just really bad writing there. Just as bad as when the fleet up and decides to 'go native' on Earth. After all the bickering and backstabbing and selfishness of the fleet, I find it difficult to believe that they would all of a sudden decide to do that. Now, I would have believed it more had they come to Earth 8,000 years ago (give or take) and become the Babylonians or something of that sort. They becoming the Babylonians would have actually had far greater Biblical connotations. But, Ron wanted Hera to be our common ancestor, so it had to be 150,000 years ago (probably more, to be honest)
I think it was better than most of the junk on TV now, but I just can't stop thinking that it could have been much better, much more satisfying. Oh well, at least Babylon 5 is still safe at the top of my list as my favorite sci-fi series of all time.
Edit: when I say that Starbuck or Giaus should be the #7 Cylon, I mean it in the numbering scheme that they used, not the total number of Cylons. Since there are 7 second generation Cylon known, and Grace Park is a #8, there must be a missing one out there. Not sure if this is redundant, but just wanted to add this for clarity.