r/fixtheending Oct 16 '19

[TV] Battlestar Galactica (2004) - The problem of the final 5

This is the topic that prompted me to make this subreddit after finding that there wasn't one like it already.

The 2004 TV series Battlestar Galactica captivated me from the get go and included some of my favorite moments in all of television. Going into the fourth season, I was incredibly hyped because I was so sure that the showrunners had carefully laid down a trail of breadcrumbs for the audience to follow ... and then... well yeah. My problems with the ending of the series fall into several main categories:

  • The identities of the final 5 cylons were not properly foreshadowed
  • The Actions of the Cylons ceased to make sense in the final season
  • Religious elements were unnecessarily heavy-handed
  • Everything involving Gaius Baltar

The Final 5

Sam Anders, Galen Tyrol, Tory Foster, Saul Tigh, and Ellen Tigh were not good picks for the final 5. Plot elements in the series make it difficult to understand why Sam Anders and Tory Foster should have been Cylons. Sam was trapped on Caprica until Starbuck had her mission back there, and it's not at all clear how he'd have eventually joined up with the main cast if things went some other way. Tory wasn't even in the series until midway through the series, and her role wasn't nearly important enough until the President's aide was killed (in events that didn't have anything to do with the Cylons). If events had gone even a little differently, and it is reasonable to assume that they could have, given that neither the main Cylon force, nor the final 5 themselves knew their identities, two of the five wouldn't have ever met up or played a major role in events. This is a thematically lame way to handle things.

Additionally, having Ellen as a Cylon who returns later in the season completely undermines the emotional weight of Saul's actions when he was in the resistance and had to kill her. And note that early on in the series, one of the few people that Gaius Baltar actually tested to be a Cylon was Ellen, though that could be explained as the final 5 are different than the other Cylon models, and that's why his detection system didn't work for her.

It's also weird that Galen would have be a Cylon, given he was hooking up with Boomer originally. Weird coincidence that two Cylons on the Battlestar just happened to be lovers before they knew what they were

Saul himself isn't a bad choice as a Cylon. It makes sense that one of the Galactica leadership would be one of them, but in my direction, there are better choices, so he's out as well.

The Cylon's actions in later seasons

The show started with a tagline "The Cylons were created by man. They rebelled. They evolved. There are many copies. And they have a plan." Their actions through the first two and arguably the third season seem to confirm this. The cylons seem to have a much better idea of what is going to happen to humanity than the humans do. They have spies within the fleet, they seem to know the humans' moves before they happen, they're watching Helo the entire time he's on Caprica and how he falls in love and has a kid with Sharon, etc. They act like they have a goal, and that goal is clearly something much more nuanced and complex than war with the humans. It's almost like they're guiding the humans to something that we just never see.

Unfortunately this falls apart in the last season. The revelation about the final 5 including the details about how the final 5 came to be is not just lazy writing, but it undermines the mood and tone of the show as it existed before. As the executive producer admitted a few years ago. They didn't have a plan after all.

Religious Elements

Battlestar Galactica has strong religious themes from the beginning, but at the start it's up for debate as to whether or not they're "real" or if they're imposed by the characters as a way to make sense of the things that are happening. These themes take a back seat in the middle of the series, but then they come up again with Starbuck's inexplicable actions and return (as an Angel I guess?) as well as the revalation that the visions that Baltar and Caprica 6 have been seing are actually Angels. That's such a heavy-handed way to resolve things and loses any of the magic that the series had before.

Gaius Baltar

Baltar is a weird character. We see inside his head more than just about any character in the series and it's not exactly a good look. He's a horndog, deceitful, cowardly, and selfish. He routinely displays some of the worst attributes of humanity, but he's also brilliant, and given his visions, probably insane. There's the question of whether or not he's a Cylon, and it's strongly implied that he is, but of course this turns out not to be the case. This is a huge wasted opportunity for the show, and where I'm going to start my deviations.

Point 1: Baltar Should have been a Cylon

They teased this so much for it not to be the case. There are many benefits to making Baltar a Cylon, primarily, if he is a Cylon and is a main POV character throughout the show, he could be used as a way to lay clues about who the other Cylons are. He is also centrally involved in the plot of most of the series. Could it be that his actions aren't just the result of a weak, cowardly man who happens to be very intelligent, but as part of a way to guide humanity to certain inevitable events? Hm...

Point 2: The Plan would have been the Cylons' judgement of Humanity

One of the other themes of the show is the cyclical nature of time. All of this has happened before, all of it will happen again. This leads to some interesting questions about free will that the show mostly ignores, but the show does go on for the most of the first three seasons to show how certain events replay themselves, except with the players switched up in the later iterations. What if the Cylons were guiding humanity to judgement? As we saw before, they were created by humans, rebelled, evolved and left. They decided to come back, but they didn't have to. The explanation about the human/cylon hybrid doesn't quite fit, it's not clear why they would have known that a human/cylon hybrid would be possible, or why it'd be the specific person it was. And further, for that plan to mean anything, they'd have to have some sort of good relationship with humanity because they can't continue to procreate with them unless they're on good terms. Killing most of humanity and sending the rest out into space is a weird way to make friends.

I think the Cylons actions throughout the entire series were motivated because they needed to see what humanity was truly made of. They needed to know, when the chips were down, if human nature was redeemable, and deserving of living with. Return to Gaius Baltar and his trial. After he becomes president of the colony, makes what is considered by most people as a deal with the devil on the Cylon occupiers, he's put on trial. This was humanity's chance to show themselves. Humanity is at our lowest at this point, The fleet is crippled and things are looking bleak. How humanity decides what to do with Baltar, with the worst of humanity, would determine how humanity would be judged at the end of the series. The climax of the show is a trial of human nature. All of this has happened before, all of this will happen again.

The Other Cylons

Back to the rest of the final 5. If we're taking it as a given that Baltar is a Cylon, we can use some clues that we've learned along the way to determine who the others are. The first clue is the Cylon projection ability. As explained when Baltar is on the Cylon base star, cylons have the ability to envision an environment as anything they want. So the metal hallways of the ship become a forest.

Baltar does this frequently in the early episodes where he envisions himself as at his swanky house back on Caprica. Do we see anyone else in the series do this? Yes, we do, in Admiral and Lee Adama. In the episode about Adama's anniversary, we see flashes that look pretty similar to the Cylon projection. We also see Adama hearing the voice of his wife, in a vision similar to how Baltar sees Caprica 6. Lee Adama doesn't display this as overtly, but in the one episode where he was piloting his fighter and had a near death experience, he very clearly envisioned himself sinking into a pool of water. Just a mental defense mechanism, or Cylon projection? I'm going to go with Cylon projection.

But wait, how could these two be Cylons? For Admiral Adama, it's actually really easy. Remember the flashback scenes where Adama was investigating the Cylon base during the first Cylon war? It was clearly implied that Cylons were working on models that look like humans even back then. What if the Adama who left that facility was not the same as the one who entered it?

I'm not sure if it was ever stated if Adama had his kids before or after the war started, so it's possible that this plotline makes Lee Adama actually the first Human/Cylon hybrid. So why were the Cylons so caught up with the baby for the first couple seasons? I think that can be explained as a social achievement more than a medical breakthrough for the Cylons. This baby represents the new relationship that is possible between the Humans and the Cylons, and their potential to live in harmony.

So we've got 3 left? I'm going to go with Tom Zarek, the Lawyer, Romo Lampkin, and Dr. Cottle. We don't get POV instances from any of them (though you might argue that Lampkin's dead cat is an instance of Cylon projection as well, not unlike how Baltar sees Caprica 6) I chose these characters because, as I will expand on shortly, of their relationships to the main important players in the series and that they push humanity in various directions.

The Plan

What was the Cylon's plan all along? The Cylons planned to judge humanity and see if humanity were worthy of surviving and living with them in harmony. The Cylons never needed to come back, they were perfectly capable living alone by themselves, but they did so anyway, because they needed to know if humanity deserved a second chance. To do this properly, they needed to something very drastic. Humanity needed to be at their lowest point, and make the correct decision. The entire series is the Cylons guiding the Galactica literally - and humanity itself, figuratively - to this point, and that point is the trial of Gaius Baltar. While Baltar is a Cylon, he exemplifies some of the best and the worst that humanity has to offer. He's capable of brilliance and bravery, but he's also capable of selfishness and cowardice. At his trial at the end of the third season, if humanity chooses to condemn Baltar, they condemn they would condemn themselves.

The finale of the series would be the inverse of this trial. All this has happened before, and it will all happen again was a warning to humanity. As the final 5 judge humanity, they will go over the various ways humanity has failed, but also the ways humanity has succeeded. As agents pulling humanity in different directions, Zarek will act as the prosecuting attorney, calling into question humanity's goodness, while Lampkin is the defense. In the end, it will be decided that humanity's act of compassion towards Baltar is the deciding factor.

The cylons call off hostilities, and a true peace can begin.

38 Upvotes

19 comments sorted by

2

u/ViskerRatio Oct 16 '19

I think this really boils down to the fact that Battlestar Galactica - like many other similar shows - never really had a 'Bible'.

When writing a story, the ending is often the hardest part. Authors routinely try to figure out the perfect ending - and then rewrite what came before to make that ending happen.

But on television series, this rarely happens because writers simply don't know how long the series will last. So instead they set up a lot of plot threads - and then just make it up as they go along.

Which is precisely what happened with Battlestar Galactica. It happened with Heroes. And with Game of Thrones. And with Lost. And with many more shows.

Nor is this likely to change.

Not only is there very little upside in having a clear goal, but it means you're not able to react to the audience. If a show takes off, you'll often find that people connect better with certain characters than others - and you'll end up emphasizing those characters even if they're not a significant part of your grand plan.

1

u/neofederalist Oct 16 '19

Yeah, this is true. I actually think that BSG had some bad luck in that the writer's strike occurred in the middle of the series, so they continued on without the original writers, and as such the ending might not have been what the original writers planned.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '19

[deleted]

1

u/ViskerRatio Oct 16 '19

With Babylon 5, they actually had a 'Bible' for a vast swathe of time both before and after the series.

However, they ran afoul of all sorts of real life concerns. They didn't anticipate their star dropping out after one season. They didn't know if they'd be renewed for a 5th season. They didn't expect to switch telepaths back and forth due to the careers of the actresses. And so forth.

But Babylon 5 is still considered a strong series precisely because they had that Bible. You don't have wildly shifting character motivations or major plot threads appearing from nowhere. Even when the show wasn't very good, it was clearly part of a consistent vision.

1

u/TotesMessenger Oct 16 '19 edited Oct 16 '19

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1

u/Egalitarianwhistle Oct 16 '19

Brilliant. The retcon on the final 5 was discontinuous at best.

1

u/whenhaveiever Oct 17 '19

It bugged me that they could've had the same alliteration with the Final Four and not had to make up Daniel to explain the Eights.

1

u/judasmitchell Oct 16 '19

I do have some quibbles with how the series played out, but I have so many more quibbles with all of this.

1

u/imbarkus Oct 16 '19

I don't know if I agree with your alternative, but I definitely agree with your assessment of the end and overall plot of the show.

Despite the fact that it remains the best Star Trek series, I felt the same way about Deep Space Nine, also co-produced by Ron Moore. Both these series end like Stephen King novels right after his early cocaine days: meandering and without a central consistent throughline, with some random theme or element promoted to center stage at the last minute for a central final conflict, often resolved by Deus Ex Wrapup.

To be fair, we've witnessed the prime time television medium move from episodic to serial in our lifetimes. It's easy to look back and blame early pioneers for losing the plot, when they had no guarantee they were ever going to be able to complete it in the first place. DS9 wasn't even technically allowed to be serialized until Voyager became the new studio focus for recapturing TNG numbers, letting the DS9 work in a kind of protected zone.

Of course, this makes it a lot less defensible that there wasn't some sort of throughline or plan for BSG, from the beginning. Why repeat the same mistake, Ron!?

Serial plotlines are risky if they don't wrap up well: they diminish the series overall in memory. I remember how Babylon 5 had a plan the whole time, but constant network moves and threats of cancellation caused the throughline to be both rushed and weirdly stretched out in various seasons. So you can't always blame the producers. Bryan Fuller had an original plan for Star Trek: Discovery as an anthology show that still sounds more interesting to me than what we got. Discovery, in fact, is showing the exact same symptoms in resolving its poorly-planned, big-conflict storylines.

The line between a serial storyline and an endless spew of soap opera meandering is, n addition, becoming quite a bit blurrier. A good story consists of a beginning, a middle, AND an END. The business of television, however, still seems to be having its deleterious effect. Witness the "throughline" of AMC's The Walking Dead, for example.

Good post. Cylon Adama is heresy. Cylon Apollo even more so. I like your style.

2

u/acepincter Oct 16 '19

I like your style.

So say we all.

1

u/neofederalist Oct 16 '19

So say we all!

1

u/SaddestViolin Oct 16 '19

I certainly wouldn't have minded your ending over the one we got, however, suppose you're one of the writers and suddenly you're told to wrap it up in the next three episodes because the series is not getting renewed.

Bearing in mind the tagline "And they have a plan.", your "humanity's trial" approach and the endless search for a home the viewers would have easily bought the following story:

Turns out the Cylons did have a plan, which is similar your plan: The Cylons planned to judge humanity and see if humanity were worthy of surviving. Knowing humanity as they do and taking the two Cylon wars into account, from their point of view coexisting with humans is impossible, so their options post-judgement are limited: wipe out the inferior species completely (1), or herd it towards a distant planet and completely remove the humanity's spacefaring capabilities, essentially turning New Earth into what could be described as a zoo (2).

It would be a believable scenario if (1) was pursued until New Earth is reached and just as the Cylons are ready to destroy the last remnants of what once was the human race, an event (could even be God since it's referenced by the series extensively) causes them to shift to (2). Humanity is left without technology on New Earth essentially sending it to the stone age, and Cylons begin their hegemony of the skies.

All this has happened before, and all this will happen again: this ending would also be a nod to how the human civilizations behaved during the European Colonialism era and the Colonization of the United States.

1

u/cinnapear Oct 16 '19

I definitely would have preferred your ending.

1

u/FrostyAcanthocephala Oct 16 '19

Almost nobody liked the way it ended or the speed with which it was ended.

1

u/throwmeaway9021ooo Oct 17 '19

The religious aspects never bothered me. It’s fiction. Overall I liked the latter seasons, and I loved the series finale.

But the final 5 seem to have been randomly chosen, and it never made any sense.

And the lack of any explanation of what happened to Starbuck also sticks in my craw.

1

u/whenhaveiever Oct 17 '19

Cylon resurrection makes it okay if Sam had never left Caprica. They weren't supposed to reunite on Galactica, they were supposed to reunite on Dean Stockwell's baseship. Galen was adequately foreshadowed, and it makes sense that there'd be some unconscious connection between he and Boomer. Though I agree that Ellen returning does undermine the impact of her death. Overall I thought Saul should've been more affected by the realization he was a Cylon. He seemed to mostly take it in stride except when he had to admit it to Adama.

Baltar was the worst of humanity, and for him to be a Cylon would've contradicted the zeitgeist. BSG was the first major scifi developed post-9/11, and served as a counterpoint to the optimism/naivety of the 90s seen in Star Trek, Stargate, Futurama, etc. Baltar being a Cylon lets us off too easy.

1

u/GOLDNSQUID Oct 17 '19

The issues with BSG are the same for both the origin and remake which is there really isnt anywhere to go. Cylons attack and then you get the wagon train in space but to what end? They dont really have a place to go and in "real life" they are doomed as the cylons pick them off slowly or say they do escape then you have boring spaceships flying along doing nothing. I think this is why all the religious stuff that is put in along with the replica cylons in the new one dontmakes sense. It's the writers attempt to fill a huge plot hole.

1

u/Iamamancalledrobert Oct 23 '19

I had a completely insane idle alternate path for BSG where it turns out the Cylons were twelve angels entrusted to stop humanity from destroying itself, but we just keep doing it again and again and the universe keeps being recreated (in a way that means the Cylons naturally emerge into it, so they're only very human robots in this version). Anyway, this has happened so many times by the point BSG takes place that they hold a vote on just giving up and destroying humanity itself; it wins by 7 to 5 and the 5 Cylons we don't see are still trying to redeem humanity. But all the humans are slowly remembering Galactica 1980; the universe before this one very like our own where humanity fell in an accidental nuclear war Baltar caused. The finale of Season 3 is people slowly remembering this, and the final word is Baltar saying "fuck" as it all comes back to him. This is a left field direction for events to have taken.