Imagine you are watching BSG for the first time.

Television, Movies Games and Books BSG-2003
#1

I’m thinking mostly of those fans who were fans from the beginning, which I guess is most of us, but I think the question applies to all. I dislike threads that devolve into sux/not sux type of conversation (not that GWC really has that problem), but I was inspired to ask the question in this way…

Imagine that you had never seen BSG. You had never spent the hours upon hours pouring over every episode, dissecting the meaning of every symbol and sentence. You never attempted to take those meanings, and extrapolate and predict the outcome of the next episode.

Then imagine that someone came up to you and said, “This BSG is a really great show. It is a great drama, and it has great comedic elements, and is insightful with regards to the human condition. It has something relevant to say about the present-day world in which we live. It is worth your time, and I think you should watch it.” (all of which I still believe, regardless of how I feel about the finale.)

But then this person said, “Don’t expect any concrete answers at the end. Some of the major questions of the show will not be answered… in fact, you may be asked at the end to reflect on them, and answer them in your own way.”

Do you think, having been cautioned in this way, that it would change how you feel about the ending?

However you feel about Daybreak, whether you liked or disliked it, I think it’s fair to say that some of the major questions of the show were not answered, or maybe not answered to your liking. I was one of the ones that wanted concrete answers to the questions that the writers raised during the show, and not all of those questions were answered in a concrete way. Some here like this approach, some don’t.

What I want to know is (and I’m attempting to ask this in a completely neutral way, because being fans, we are naturally colored by our perception):

If you can imagine yourself as a complete BSG virgin, completely oblivious to the FC hype, the Trooth Clues, the Opera House, the Meaning of Starbuck, the Lords of Kobal, the Last Supper pic and all the endless waiting… and someone gave this series to you, and advised you to watch, BUT prefaced it by saying, “Don’t expect any concrete answers at the end”… Do you think you’d be satisfied with the ending, or would you have a different perception of it than you do now?

#2

TBH, I wouldn’t watch because they already essentially gave away the ending for me.

#3

Good point.

#4

For me, with shows like this, most of the fun of the show is the journey, not the destination.

#5

Even RDM elaborated on this point in the Daybreak podcast commentary! :cool:

#6

agreed–that last part kinda killed it for me. and for the persont o say that, it undermines the agrument cuz most people won’t even bother with it if you give them the end.

for example–there’s this really great story about these two kids from differnt families. They meet at a party and fall in love. Their families dont liek each other so they have ot fight to overcome that so they can be together.

Of course they kill themselves at the end…but it’s still a really great story…

#7

I would definitely be annoyed at whoever felt the need to tell the end to someone who hasn’t seen it, even if its done in a wishy-washy way. that’s just not cool.

I honestly think that if you watch it all in one fell swoop that a couple different things could happen. 1., you automatically become a gazillion times cooler. 2., if you’re not part of the hype, and you don’t have to wait weeks, months, years for episodes, some of our more convoluted received truths just don’t enter into the picture. I didn’t start watching until the break between s.3 and 4.0. I didn’t take the time to speculate from episode to episode from the miniseries through Crossroads, because I could just click play to SEE the next episode. Sure, I thought about how things were connected, but the desire or need to concoct theories before I had seen all there was to see wasn’t really there for me.

Then again, I’ve always been pretty tentative about theories (and apologies to those who loved the idea but if I never hear about Daniel again it’ll be too soon) and prefer to read things (tv, movie, books!) pretty openly. There’s never only one right way to consider or interpret something as long as there are things in art that back you up. Sure, there’s stuff that’s flat out wrong, but that’s not the point. We call bring our own taste and past with us when we watch something like this and that also influences our opinions. (e.g. I like ambiguity and open endings, for the most part).

Another problem with “giving the end away” is that, as we recall, people were pretty passionate about diametrically opposed opinions. I’d hate to impose that on someone who hasn’t seen any of it yet. Part of art (and yes BSG is art) is infusing it with your own personal experience as you enjoy it. Having someone else’s passionate love or hate for something can kind of get in the way.

I of course violate that rule when I skip “Black Market,” but no one’s perfect :wink:

thus ends the reading, lol sorry I wrote so much! I’m in a verbose mood today.

#8

You’re not the only one :rolleyes:

Interesting answers… I was still trying to think out what I thought, so I may have been a bit meandering above… I wasn’t really asking if you’d (the collective GWC-you) would be irritated if someone spoiled the actual plot; I think we’d all be irritated about that… To be more succinct: I’ve been suspecting lately that I might have enjoyed the ending more if I hadn’t spent all that time dissecting its meaning, and was wondering if anyone else who had problems with the finale felt the same way. Do you think that it was an unsatisfactory ending standing on its own, or did your exuberant analysis of the show, while fun and exciting, get in the way of your enjoyment?

#9

I wouldn’t mind either the ending or them telling me the ending. I live off of spoilers :stuck_out_tongue: And I’m a huge fan of open-ended stories. I have a feeling that my writer’s group hates me because so many of my short stories have the ending either completely open or implied.

#10

I agree, for me the pleasure comes from the “journey”, the travelling with characters that develop and deepen and change. It’s the edginess of the BSG universe that I love.

This story about a small group of “humans” on the run for their lives, on the brink of extermination, their home worlds and civilization destroyed is profoundly compelling. There’s no time to grieve or bury the dead. They hang their hopes on finding “Earth”. When they find “Erf” they lose hope. But from somewhere they find the ability to begin again.

Sure, I personally would have loved a “happy ending”, but I could accept the ending we got.

It was all worth it.

#11

Agreed, the ending of a show is simply a single episode… Really how can a single episode fulfill all of our expectations. Especially, for such an in depth series. A drama like this has to be viewed in season increments, not episode ones.

#12

That’s actually a really interesting way of looking at Galactica, in particular. Based on that, I think that S1 was excellent in its entirety, much like Firefly. Other standout segments were the middle third of S2 and the middle third of S4.

#13

I think if somone had told me that things were not answered in the end, I would have gone into the finale expecting a lot less then we got. Not everything was explained, but we did get a pretty good resolution to the story.

I would not tell that to a potential fan though. Lots of people loved the finale.

#14

Yes, I completely agree with you.