This Is The Thread Where Robb Gives His Opinion On The Break

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 5:52 pm

ing Bad season finale.

ICJ · Post by **ICJ** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 7:41 pm

It was good and I enjoyed it. I was not particularly blown away or anything.

Tdarcos · Post by **Tdarcos** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 7:57 pm

Except for the question of whether Walt (and possibly Jesse) go back to cooking again, this pretty much could have been used as a very satisfying last show of the series where everything got wrapped up and no loose ends were left behind.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 7:58 pm

They originally wrote it to be a satisfying ending because at the time they didn't know whether they were going to get another season.

Also Robb is wrong, it was fucking spectacular, and anyone who disagrees with that opinion is a crazy person with bad opinions.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 9:24 pm

I called is the best season of television that has ever existed. CHRIST, don't challenge me. I will fucking put a stop to you.

RetroRomper · Post by **RetroRomper** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 9:28 pm

pinback wrote:(...) Also Robb is wrong, it was fucking spectacular, and anyone who disagrees with that opinion is a crazy person with bad opinions.

I vaguely remember you also calling out ICJ on his opinion of the BSG finale. While I will admit it is passe to dislike it, enjoying it also calls into question your own taste in television. As an example....

Let me make a point by spoiling the BSG Finale for the rest of this board who has yet to watch it! Scroll down for the series revelation...

[youtube][/youtube]

Remember, treat your robotic pets just as well as you do every other faceless human being.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 10:12 pm

We can talk about the BSG finale. Have you seen it, RetroRomper? If not, do you think you will someday? I thought it was incredibly stupid, and it becomes stupider the more time has passed.

RetroRomper · Post by **RetroRomper** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 10:59 pm

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote: Have you seen it, RetroRomper? (...) I thought it was incredibly stupid, and it becomes stupider the more time has passed.

I did watch it and my major complaint isn't the vaguely Christian ideology, the major plot holes, or the terrific feat of destroying the series in twenty minutes, but the fact that they portrayed the shadow images of Seven and Balter as Angels sent from God.

It kinda blasted the last three seasons of character development and while Ronald D. Moore was more than happy to not explain the more obvious plot twists, he thought it prudent to frame the mental copy plot device in just the right light to effectively destroy the inner monologue of the characters. Hopefully no one thought too hard about it.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 11:05 pm

I'm just angry that they sent the ship into the sun. I guess everyone just decided to act like CAVE MEN. Sure, they could have all built houses or log cabins or some shit for each other, but they would have all turned into cave men. If I had gone through what they all went through, I would want to retire in peace and quiet to my bunk and been left alone.

But then, Rosalyn's end was quite beautiful and touching and it probably redeemed the other stupid shit in the finale.

RetroRomper · Post by **RetroRomper** » Tue Oct 11, 2011 12:04 am

Ronald D. Moore wrote:"There was a point in the development process where we discussed the idea of the Galactica not being destroyed, but having somehow landed on the surface more or less intact, but unable to ever get into orbit again (the particulars here were never worked out, so don't ask how she made it down without being torn apart). We talked about them basically abandoning the ship and moving out into the world. Cut to the present-day, in Central America where there are these enormous mysterious mounds that archeologists have not been able to understand (it may have been South America, I can't recall the exact location, but these mounds really do exist). Someone is doing a new kind of survey of the mounds with some kind of ground-penetrating radar or something and lo and behold, we see the outlines of the Galactica still buried under the surface.

It was an intriguing idea and we bandied it about for a while, but ultimately rejected it as a little too cute and also felt that it would violate our contemporary reality, in essence 'branching off' the BSG story in 2009 into a parallel reality, where a Battlestar was discovered in Central America. I wanted the end of the show to directly relate to us, not to a world where that event had occurred."

He also goes on to talk about the point of the conversation of the "Head Six" and "Head Balter." It answers my own question though about how and why they decided to morph that character device into some larger form than it originally served.

Ronald D. Moore wrote:The end of Galactica's story had to do with human choices, human ethics, and the human heart. The conversation between Head Six and Head Baltar was a discussion of what mankind would choose to do this time through the cycle of time that had repeated itself several times already — that is, would they follow a similar path of destruction, escape, rebirth, etc.

Most intriguing though, was that the ending originally featured a character based dynamic (which was still present in the finale except with that whole other "epic" perspective tacked)...

Ronald D. Moore wrote:There was a different ending that we had, it was all about Ellen aboard the Colony. She was sort of turned by Cavil, because she found out that Tigh had impregnated Caprica Six, and that deeply embittered her. And she sort of became dedicated to the idea of destroying Galactica and the fleet out of revenge. And [she and Cavil] got Hera, and then the final confrontation became very personalized between Tigh versus Ellen, and should they forgive.

(...) Over the course of the writer's strike, I rethought about it and thought, "That's not going to do it. It's not epic enough. It's not interesting enough." That's when we decided to start over, and reinvent the last arc of the show.

The message? Blame any chance a writer has to second guess himself and decides to cut up their original idea to fit into some mold or form they believe they should fill. But haha... It seems our preferred endings were actually in the books, oddly enough, and we have reason to lament their passing for what they actually decided to film.

RetroRomper · Post by **RetroRomper** » Tue Oct 11, 2011 1:20 am

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:I'm just angry that they sent the ship into the sun. I guess everyone just decided to act like CAVE MEN.

The argument I heard, was that after Caprica-2, New Caprica, or whatever they called the colony the Cylons invaded after their exodus, they had already "been there and done that" and decided to become something more akin to Quakers or the Amish. And I'm glad they didn't engulf the entire last season in being "epic" or whatever and kept in mind tying up the story arc of the characters, though a lot did use the usual convenience method of story telling (IE, wait till the end for everything to come to a stall).

But fuck, I am mean, fuck. I'm talking about a television show when I could be laying in front of my window and listening to the rain.

Good night!

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Tue Oct 11, 2011 9:07 am

Trying to defend the BSG finale against haters is futile, for the same reason defending the BB finale is futile, because in these cases, haters are concerned only with the content of the storyline.

"Well, I didn't like that this happened to that guy, and the part where the guy did that thing made no sense, and..."

Jesus. Fine. I don't care HOW FUCKING STUPID the end of BSG was, the ARTISTRY WITH WHICH IT WAS TOLD remains unmatched in my view. BSG was NEVER great because of The Things That Happened, it was great because of how well The Things That Happened were presented.

The single greatest moment in the single greatest episode in TV history was the sweeping shot of Adama sitting there at his new house. And it manages to be this great even though nothing happens.

God, it's like arguing with nine year olds about this.

Whatever, man. Enjoy not liking wonderful things. How's that workin' out for ya.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Tue Oct 11, 2011 1:49 pm

There was a guy on Joe Posanki's blog, a few weeks ago, who said that baseball's MVP should be whoever the best player has been the last few years. He said you should give the MVP award before the season begins. He said that Albert Pujols should get the award for 2011 no matter how he played in 2011, EVEN IF HE MISSED THE ENTIRE SEASON WITH INJURY.

That's stupid and it felt like a 9-year old was inputting dumb shit into a screen. I resent your accusation that we are like that dumb fuck.

BSG, being a television show, means that static imagery is nice and everything, but not the be-all, end-all. You liked All Around the Watchtower being used. Great, but it's a tv show, not a music video. You like the ending to BSG because Adama was hanging out in his home. Great, but it's a tv show, not a painting. The last thing BSG left us with is, "God will protect you and make everything ok."

That's what we were left with, and that's stupid. Even if you believe in God, he does not make everything ok.

Starbuck was killed because she was stoned when driving her ship. God "brought her back" because she was the one who was meant to find the co-ordinates of Earth. That's retarded.

Lee Adama was a major character in a five-season long TV show of 22 episodes per, and they had no idea what to do with him at the end. That's retarded.

The Chief found everything he ever cared about destroyed and they had no idea what to do with him. That's retarded. It's not redeemed by the fact that it looked pretty when Galactica went into the sun.

I love how Moore tells us that these guys went through all this stuff before, and that's why they are NOW going to live like hermits. I love how Baltar is responsible for the death of billions and gets to have a happy life with his beautiful and crazy girlfriend. Wait, no, I like how the show is okay with Baltar getting that ending.

They fucked up, Pinback. And enjoying the cinematography or the art direction doesn't change the fact that, in a character-driven show, there wasn't a single satisfying resolution except for the two leads.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Tue Oct 11, 2011 2:07 pm

YA GOT ME. I now also hate the ending.

First internet conversation to ever convince someone of something.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Tue Oct 11, 2011 2:20 pm

My favorite website on the internet, "grantland.com", has a motto across the top. It reads:

"For when the One Great Scorer comes to mark against your name, He writes—not that you won or lost—but how you played the Game."

BSG played the game very, very well, Robb.

Grant · Post by **Grant** » Thu Oct 13, 2011 11:59 am

I shit on that website.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Sat Oct 15, 2011 2:01 pm

I just re-watched the BREAKING BAD finale last night, and I am now prepared to FIGHT anyone who claims that wasn't the best sixty minutes of television ever created.

I will fight them.

If YOU are one of those people?

I will fight you.

Tdarcos · Post by **Tdarcos** » Sat Oct 15, 2011 2:36 pm

I only watched BSG when it was the original series when Ben Cartwright was leading the wagons across the tundra err I mean spaceships across parsecs.

Why/How did a thread about Breaking Bad become a discussion of Battlestar Galactica?

Full Disclosure: This post was post-edited to correct the word "thread" above which was misspelled "threat".

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Sat Oct 15, 2011 2:58 pm

Tdarcos wrote:I only watched BSG when it was the original series when Ben Cartwright was leading the wagons across the tundra err I mean spaceships across parsecs.

Why/How did a threat about Breaking Bad become a discussion of Battlestar Galactica?

Sorry, I forgot to specify I was talking about the Breaking Bad finale in my previous post. I have EDITED IT (SORRY ROBB) to be more specific.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sun Oct 16, 2011 3:31 pm

I watched it again as well. It was not the best Breaking Bad finale. It was the second best! Are you gonna say it was better than how season three ended, pinback?

ARE you?