So then. Last night's season finale for Battlestar Galactica warrants a sound Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. What was that? I guess it wasn't as bad as last season's "let's skip the end of this very interesting story, jump forward a year and present this stupid environment - something so dumb we'll spent most of the next season carefully undoing it all". But still, that's not a high bar to jump over to just be "better than last year's fiasco".
Somebody who is more familiar with the original show than me will have to answer one question: was that stuff at the end some sort of homage to the original? Karin seemed horrified, I was laughing by the end of it. The totally out of place electric guitars were odd. I was already giggling (and singing "Wayne's World") by the time the vocals cut in. And then the dramatic moment cut to two 70's era Viper miniatures? And the matte painting? I was waiting for the Batman "POW" graphic!
The thing is that the camera work was such that I don't think it was a miniatures shot. I think it was CG but CG done to look like a 70's FX shot. That had to be on purpose, but I can't figure out why. It was so disruptive to the mood they were building. Really. If they had cut the show at 58 minutes I would have said it was a solid closer with a lot of interesting things for next season to chew on. (Well - the trial was weak. But the other plot was handled well.) But then that last FX shot . . . seriously. That's the note you want to end the season on? Couldn't get the historians from Holy Grail to make an appearance? The plans to reveal Pee-wee Herman is one of the final five fell through?
Honestly, I'd watch a show that married the over-the-top melodrama with the deliberately-crappy-effects like that, if it was done for camp value. But I don't see how anybody can claim it's the same thing as season 1.
I'm still slighly hopeful for the next season - a lot of the dumb shit that tied up season three was junked. I hated almost every moment Starbuck on was onscreen this season, so fixing the whole "she's so self-destructive" thing had to be done. I think we're done with "Apollo plays lawyer" and that was dumb from start to finish, so good riddance. Baltar is in a more interesting position than he has been since the inception of New Caprica, and I could see that going to neat places. Season four has truly interesting plotlines to play with now, we'll have to see if they pick those up or go back to the romance triangles and all the other "Battlestar 90210" rubbish of season three. But it's reached the point where they have to rehook me, and they had better do it fast. I won't watch another season that was as bad a season 3. I won't even watch at the quality level of the finale, and I don't think this particular show can survive a switch to camp.
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