Two things that contributed to the holes, the missteps, the what-the-frak moments:
1) SciFi/NBC pressuring Moore, Eick et al for more stand-alone episodes...hence, Season 3. ( Though there were some great storytelling moments; "Unfinished Business" stands out for me. )
2) Whatever disagreements the suits and the creators had, Season 4 became the final season, rather than stretching out to a fifth. Another full season would have given some storylines room to grow and make sense: the Cylon civil war, Leoben and Kara, the Colony, Kara's role in things, Adama and Roslin's relationship, Baltar's harem/the Sons of Ares and others punking Baltar over food, living space and such, the Daniels ( I wonder if...Daniel Graystone, in the Caprica series? ), more time to examine life among the fleet ( we just HEAR about things going bad to worse; I wanted to SEE it )...oh, I could go on... Everything seemed to get crammed together and lost in the Big Story. It was disheartening, really.
3) The writers' strike. Imagine if 4.10 really was the final episode. It would have been an ending, yeah, but in view of the other plotlines and developments....eh, not so much.
I think, overall, Moore got to tell his story with the desired outcome. All the fits and starts along the way certainly didn't make it easy, and at this point I'm not quite ready to rip it up and tear it down. Right now, I just feel like savoring it for what it is.
It was my understanding, such as it is, that once they found "Earth," the next season would be the last. So when Starbuck showed up the end of S3 claiming she knew the way to Earth, I always knew that season four would be the last. And from the "Last Frakking Special" they aired, I'm getting the impression it was always meant to take 4-5 years to wrap up, that the actors always knew they were working towards an endgame, even if they never knew what the endgame was.
Which is why I don't lend much credence to the writer's strike in the case of this show. SciFi had always planned on splitting up the final season (I learned this later) so that it could torment us as much as possible, and I don't believe BSG was ever in any danger of not having its final episodes aired.
I agree that Moore told his story with his desired outcome, the desired outcome being Galactica's history is our Earth. For all my criticisms, I don't mind that concept, but I wish the show had earned it (not that the characters themselves didn't earn peace, there's a distinction).
1) SciFi/NBC pressuring Moore, Eick et al for more stand-alone episodes...hence, Season 3. ( Though there were some great storytelling moments; "Unfinished Business" stands out for me. )
2) Whatever disagreements the suits and the creators had, Season 4 became the final season, rather than stretching out to a fifth. Another full season would have given some storylines room to grow and make sense: the Cylon civil war, Leoben and Kara, the Colony, Kara's role in things, Adama and Roslin's relationship, Baltar's harem/the Sons of Ares and others punking Baltar over food, living space and such, the Daniels ( I wonder if...Daniel Graystone, in the Caprica series? ), more time to examine life among the fleet ( we just HEAR about things going bad to worse; I wanted to SEE it )...oh, I could go on... Everything seemed to get crammed together and lost in the Big Story. It was disheartening, really.
3) The writers' strike. Imagine if 4.10 really was the final episode. It would have been an ending, yeah, but in view of the other plotlines and developments....eh, not so much.
I think, overall, Moore got to tell his story with the desired outcome. All the fits and starts along the way certainly didn't make it easy, and at this point I'm not quite ready to rip it up and tear it down. Right now, I just feel like savoring it for what it is.
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Which is why I don't lend much credence to the writer's strike in the case of this show. SciFi had always planned on splitting up the final season (I learned this later) so that it could torment us as much as possible, and I don't believe BSG was ever in any danger of not having its final episodes aired.
I agree that Moore told his story with his desired outcome, the desired outcome being Galactica's history is our Earth. For all my criticisms, I don't mind that concept, but I wish the show had earned it (not that the characters themselves didn't earn peace, there's a distinction).
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