Battlestar Galactica SERIES FINALE "Daybreak" Reaction!! | Parts 1-3

My first time watching season 4 episodes 19, 20, and 21 of Battlestar Galactica - The Series Finale "Daybreak Part 1, part 2, and part 3"
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Hi, I'm Chris! Welcome to my channel. I react to movies & tv shows hoping to represent what it's really like to experience them for the first time. If you enjoy, you can support me by liking the video, subscribing to the channel, and letting me know your thoughts in the comments.
I absolutely loved this finale! Battlestar Galactica will go down as one of my favorite shows and one I’ll be rewatching for years to come. This really delivered the tension, action, and satisfaction with just a hint of remaining mystery.
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Original Series: Battlestar Galactica (2004)

[@playlistb3795]

"There's probably not an Alabama here"😂😂😂😂 Literally Earth 5 seconds later.

[@doc0815martens]

😂😂😂

[@Sephiroth144]

To be fair, there wasn't- for quite a few millennia...

[@wagnerterradarocha2486]

"I know about farming" God bless the acting of James Callis

[@CasualNerdReactions]

Such a great moment!! His performance in that scene was one of his best moments in the show.

[@destro6971]

It is a crime he isn’t a huge name at this point, he’s an phenomenal actor for sure

[@Sephiroth144]

@@destro6971 Really want him and Alexander Siddig to be the leads in SOMETHING (good)

[@Sephiroth144]

Absofrakinglutely Honestly, it lands very hard for me; dad grew up on a farm, and always had a garden once he had a house (i.e., when I was growing up, and then at his other house post-parental divorce) Always was something growing in the back (barring winter), but it wasn't something I really liked (I'd help, as kids do) As I've gotten older, really felt that (almost primal) urge to grow things, and every time I do, I think of my (late) father- granted, pops was still alive when BSG ended (couldn't get him to watch the whole show- he DID really like the pilot though...), but that line... yeah, it resonates.

[@Dularr]

​@@destro6971 it's a shame his follow on series didn't get picked up. A police procedural where magic is real.

[@CasualNerdReactions]

We made it! What a phenomenal show. Thank you for being a part of this journey. Looking forward to starting The Expanse in July.

[@johnmavroudis2054]

Yay! Great series! Also worth checking out "THE WEST WING"... which is phenomenal. Cheers!

[@stevend474]

This is when you realize the BSG was just a prequel to the Terminator movies.

[@TheKonkaman]

Are you gonna watch the plan?

[@scoundrell]

Chris, it’s been a helluva ride and I was honoured to be part of it.

[@guyvanooteghem8531]

"So much...life..." and then she silently passes away.😭 "You know, I know about farming.", and then he breaks.😭 Baltar really came full circle. And the way James Callis delivered this great line was absolutely perfect. Great writing, incredible acting, impressive space shit, fantastic music,... and what a mindblowing finale. I remember staring at the wall for some time after it ended. And then I started to rewatch the whole thing.

[@spooniesworld]

Doc Cottle and Laura's goodbye convo hits me and in the feels everytime.😢 So many moments in this episode make me teary eyed.😢😢

[@Sephiroth144]

You've been a cranky sonuvabitch since the moment I met you- don't you dare take that away from me

[@chrisbolliger5717]

Welcome to the club that understands that we don’t need to understand it all. Thank you for letting us accompany you on the incredible journey that is Battlestar Galactica. I’d love to raise a glass of your preferred beverage with you.

[@derrisreaditbefore]

I cried with you. I'm always impressed by how hard I grieve for Galactica, how difficult it is watching her crumple on her final jump. Then the beauty in Laura's last moments. Eddie, even without words, giving the perfect goodbye. She truly did lead them to the promised land. Like you, I'm ok with the mystical mysteries that remain, because I agree that the writers got the ending right. Bittersweet. Beautiful. Thank you Chris.

[@MarisuSedai]

32:05 “There’s probably not an Alabama here.” Actually this is exactly where an Alabama is. 😂

[@Sephiroth144]

Give or take 150,000 years

[@gfimadcat]

The opera house scene was mindblowing. Galactica's last jump was mindblowing. Gaius coming full circle was mindblowing. The ending. Was mindblowing.

[@richardwallis9374]

I love that in the very first episode head six says she’s an angel sent by god to help him and we all completely disregarded it ROFL I think it was real close to the beginning that they told us they were going to a new home that Laura would die getting to, that that end would be humans end.

[@ScarlettM]

Yes, she answered honestly that question, but who would that it literally?

[@BrianKoppe]

@@ScarlettM No one at first, but it wasn't long at all before it was very clear that 1) Gaius wasn't crazy (she knew things he couldn't know), 2) she wasn't part of a cylon plot (she repeatedly gave him information to harm the cylons), and 3) she wasn't the result of anything physical like a chip. That left essentially two options: either a) Gaius was a cylon and she was a manifestation of his deep-seated cylon consciousness, or b) she's probably telling the truth about being an angel, or at least something like it. And option "a" wasn't likely because some of the things she knew, like *where* Hera would be born, not just that she would be born, indicated a knowledge beyond just subconscious cylon awareness.

[@Windupchronic]

Now that you’ve finished I can talk about the original plan for the second half of the season. There was a mid-season strike, and while production was on hold they re-evaluated what they had planned for the second half of the final season. Multiple things came out of this, and some threads were abandoned. To begin with, the mutiny plot came out of this. That had not been originally planned. Secondly, the manner of Hera’s abduction and rescue was extremely different. Caprica Six was always going to lose her baby, but _she_ was going to be the one to abduct Hera, along with Gaius. Athena and Helo were both going to get killed. Boomer and Chief were going to end up rescuing Hera, getting back together and raising her. This is why some of the threads, Caprica losing her baby and Athena killing Natalie, ultimately go nowhere and are forgotten. Both Grace Park and Aaron Douglas objected to their planned arcs, feeling the actions were out of character. The showrunners had the outlook that the actors know the characters best, and if they’re objecting that strongly then something’s wrong and they need to go back and rework it.

[@l33tspaniard]

Damn for all the obscure behind the scenes stuff I knew somehow this one escaped me. Where did you hear this?

[@Windupchronic]

@@l33tspaniard It's on one of the audio commentaries for the finale that Ron Moore did, but I'm not sure which one. I believe it was the commentary recorded for the original DVD release, but it could have been for the live commentary he used to record for each episode that would get uploaded to the Sci-fi channel website that night when each episode premiered.

[@chrisfraser5088]

Personally, I’m so glad they changed things up. I remember when I first heard that, thinking…no way! I’d hate that! I give massive credit to Ron and David for being willing to change their plans. This version is much better than the planned version imo.

[@arthurwigglesby8590]

Moore had also considered having the fleet arrive during antiquity and land in ancient Greece, explaining all of the Colonial mythology and influence. But he opted against it, because he didn't want to imply that the fleet chose Western civilization over everyone else. So he went further back so that they were everyone's ancestors.

[@l33tspaniard]

@@Windupchronic must’ve been the online one, because I know I’ve heard the dvd! Now I may have to try and track them down…thanks!

[@bassandhotrods8299]

I agree the finale is almost perfect and never understood those who disagreed. My only thought on that was maybe they hated it because it wasn't the ending "they wanted" which misses the point of an author telling a story. I loved every bit of this series

[@arthurwigglesby8590]

The reason that I most frequently see is people saying that the religious aspect "came out of nowhere." When it's pointed out that it was present all the way back in the miniseries, and Head Six spent years saying she was an angel, the response tends to be "I didn't believe her and thought it would be something else." The show was up front with what its core themes were.

[@l33tspaniard]

Most of the finale hate I’ve heard has been from people who objected to the religious/spiritual aspect of it, which, what show were you watching where you expected god to not be real lol

[@Educated2Extinction]

@@arthurwigglesby8590 In much of sci fi, humanity effectively fills the role of gods. We can understand and overcome anything. In Star Trek, humans caught up with far more advanced races in a relatively short period of time, forging them into an alliance, which humanity of course led, cuz we're just that special. In Independence Day, aliens show up in huge, impervious ships and begin wiping out cities, but a human miraculously comprehends their technology well enough in a matter of hours to write a virus to allow us to defeat them. Some folks don't like to surrender their species' divinity.

[@kari2570]

I do find it strange how a lot of people didn't like the supernatural aspect of the show, yet these same people love Star Wars, and Star Trek with literal gods like Q. Maybe they wanted a completely atheistic show, but from season 1 it obviously wasn't that.

[@Sephiroth144]

Something people had/ve a big issue with is the "giving up technology" so easily- sure, Lee did, but the people? Who can't wait to not have a roof, running water, toilet paper, medicine; there was a general consensus the people would riot and demand to land the ships and "get back" as much as they could of their lives before... and honestly, I can see that. It wouldn't have hurt my feelings to see a debate on that topic instead of Lee's proclamation and everyone just accepting it- or hell, even a few people who did land their ships off by themselves. But I could also see a lot of people just wanting to never deal with advanced technology again... Its the absolutism of it that seemed off to me, (and other people just don't think anyone would give up their comforts and tech in general) Personally, it was the last couple of minutes (the modern day stuff); the "super advanced technology" and a little too on the nose RDM cameo felt cheesy to me. (Like, if they had dropped the timeline, showed the city, and pulled out to orbit showing lights on the surface, maybe panning over the ISS (to give a pretty specific date) while we got H. Six & H. Gaius voiceovers, (or recut with current/more advance tech) it'd land better. But that's a fairly small aspect

[@IndySidhu88]

Watching the finale so many times even after it aired 15 years ago still holds up and hits hard the same then. A True Classic. Glad to have re-watched the show for probably my 20th plus time since its release with you Casual, thank you for taking the time to appreciate and love this show as much as the rest of us. BSG doesn't just get into your heart, it gets into your soul.

[@paulpenna5615]

The pigeon represented Lee letting Kara go. She died back in Season 3, and the version that returned was an "Angel". We don't know what the Angels are. My interpretation is that her consciousness exists on the other side (which is where is went after she died), and "God" allowed her to project herself back into this reality. She at one point describes feeling like she's really far away. Head Six and Head Baltar (and even Head Leoben) are other people who transcended their bodies after death, and are projecting themselves back into our reality now (and they can take on any appearance, they're just pretending to look like Six, Baltar and Leoben). Hoping that content to come includes *Battlestar Galactica: The Plan (2009),* which is the next part of the Battlestar Galactica story.

[@harumistborn]

BSG is a legendary show, one of my all time favorites. The expanse is also on that list, you're going to love it.

[@CasualNerdReactions]

Agreed! BSG captures me from day one and really told an amazing story.

[@doc0815martens]

@@CasualNerdReactions I hope you will watch the movies and Caprica (show), even if it's just one season ... unfortunately ... because I liked it. But this one season is enough to explain some of the later events.

[@ronhubbardjr2624]

@@doc0815martensAlso, “Blood and Chrome”, connects the events in Caprica with the first Cylon War and Adama’s early years in the Colonial fleet.

[@BrianKoppe]

I think Head Six and Head Gaius were angels-as in, unique entities unconnected to their corporeal counterparts, merely taking their form-while season 4 Starbuck was, essentially, a physical ghost, the same spirit as the living Starbuck, brought back in physical form to lead that version of humanity to its end. And much like many ghost stories, she did not initially understand her nature or purpose.

[@bustedsim]

Six one can explain because her angelic form appeared to the Final Five, Ander's says one of them saw a woman as a messenger, and Tyrol thought he had a chip in his head, so when they designed the Eight Cylons, they modeled the Sixes after the angel. As for the Baltar version, Anders also says one of the five saw a man as the other messenger, but why it and Baltar would look the same, who knows.

[@BrianKoppe]

@@bustedsim You have it backwards. Cylon Six and human Baltar don't look like the angels, the angels look like them. They're angels; they don't have a static form. They take the form that will be most effective in communicating their message. Much like angel Leoben guiding Starbuck to accept death, and angel Dreilide guiding Starbuck toward the music. The only thing that technically doesn't "fit" is why the angels would still look like Six and Baltar in our present day, but the answer to that is simple: it's a TV show, and that's how the audience knows them.

[@jerod4764]

26:45 The vision of the opera house is from the previous cycle of "all of this has happened before," when it occurred on Kobol.

[@CasualNerdReactions]

Ooh! I like that.

[@Sephiroth144]

I think the location is, but the players are not; or more specifically, I think the climatic moments of the last cycle occurred in the Opera House on Kobol... So, the Higher Power(s) would use it as inspiration for the visions they bestowed

[@spooniesworld]

Thank you, I was just about to explain this. 💚

[@derrisreaditbefore]

I want to add that there's a symbolic echo here too. When Kobol was discovered, Laura saw it as an existing building even though the Opera House was in ruins. From Laura's Opera House, Gaius and Six take Hera away. When our own finale occurs, Galactica is our Opera House. She's crumbling around everyone, and Gaius and Six take Hera to safety - away from the skirmishing. The Kobol Opera House, a symbol of a culture now fled. Galactica, the symbol of a culture about to be reborn.

[@richardd9938]

Congratulations on finding out you're Half-Cylon!🎉🎉❤

[@nplindgren]

"Do you remember when he had two eyes?" BWAHAHAHAH!! I didn't even realize he had both eyes until you mentioned this. Hilarious!!

[@warner13faulk28]

i loved Battlestar Galactica. It was such a joy watching it every week. "So say we all!"

[@ScarlettM]

Time jump in the finale also explains how 12 Colonies and some Earth people prayed to the same deities, with same names and relationships.

[@gennytun]

This finale always brings tears to my eyes, both on full rewatches and watching reaction videos. Thank you for sharing your experience of this emotional rollercoaster with us!

[@GoobiesFunZone]

Here’s food for thought The dying leader is supposed to have a wasting disease that means she would not live to enter the new land. This fits the Battlestar to a T, as she died in the final jump that brought humanity to Earth. Galactica was also a leader in the sense that she was the flagship, and would have lead a battle group before the exodus even. Her wasting disease was of course the metal fatigue that eventually killed her. Galactica even "knew the truth of the Opera house" in the sense that the material version of the Opera house was the ship's CIC in the final episode where the final 5 had gathered

[@seanbumstead1250]

The chief goes to Scotland,oh and the one reading the article at the end is a camio of the producer

[@chrisfraser5088]

Well spank me sideways…I’m part Cylon 😮 What an incredible finale. Ron and David got it spot on. They gave us some great action and suspense, and tied it all together beautifully. But, more importantly, they made it about the characters! For me, it was as close as perfect as an ending can be. So many incredible scenes. And that line, “I know about farming”…oh my days! I was holding back the tears until that moment. My only wish was somehow seeing us (modern day humans) discovering our past. Not sure how to make that work in the show. But I would have loved it. Seeing us finding the remains of the Galactica would have been awesome. Purely subjective though. Just incredible overall.

[@PuentesRE]

Helo was such a surprise of a character in the show's run. From just a grunt to becoming the heart of humanity in the show. Obviously everyone did an amazing job and played their roles so well. This show will always be unforgettable. I love Sci Fi but this was just next level. So many extreme ups and downs that fit the time and place and beyond. Alas Dee, my most heartbreaking moment. So many characters that I'll always remember. They did good, and much success to them all.

[@daveautzen9089]

32:14 HA! I reacted the exact same way you did, when the Galactica flew over the moon and we saw our Earth. The ending blew my mind.

[@daveautzen9089]

If no one has mentioned it yet, the man reading the magazine in the “present day” was Ronald D. Moore who developed the series. But odd how we could create our own Cylon apocalypse with AI and technology…

[@Sephiroth144]

@@daveautzen9089 James Cameron: I've been trying to tell you guys for 40 dang years now!

[@Laurie473]

Great Cameo at the very end there at the News Stand for Show Runner Ronald D Moore !! With the Gaius & Caprica Six 'Angels' reading the Mitochondrial (Hera) article over his shoulder !!

[@FelsvonDrago]

Thank you so much for this journey with you! Thank you for your analysis, opinions and predictions :-) but most of all for your feelings & emotions!!! It was a pleasure to accompany you on a series that I really love and consider to be one of the best of all time... Philosophically, psychologically, metaphysically and emotionally a real heavywei

[@ItsNyssa]

I'm so sad this is over! I have really enjoyed re-experiencing this amazing show through your eyes. You've been thoughtful and invested, and that is always fantastic to be a part of. I love that BSG embraced religion/faith as part of the universe. I know it isn't everyone's cup of tea, but if you think about it, pretty much every culture has grown up around a set of beliefs and god(s). I think it really enriches the world-building, and adds so much context to the the people and the issues they face, and how they go about making decisions. To that end, my theory about Starbuck is that she is an avatar of the goddess Aurora. I think it was somewhat figurative originally. Aurora is the goddess of the dawn, but that can also be interpreted as 'new beginnings'. Starbuck, in life (pre nebula), started over several times, given her past and her career. The returned version, I think was much more a literal avatar. Not quite 'Head!Starbuck' but Aurora's spirit given form, so to speak. I believe this because of the things the hybrid said, and also, the mystic on New Caprica. Do you remember when she gave the figurine to Adama for his model ship? That was Aurora.

[@CasualNerdReactions]

I absolutely love all the different thoughts, theories, and opinions on this finale and the show as a whole. Thanks for being a part of this experience!

[@kathyastrom1315]

I’m not religious myself, but having attended a Jesuit university, I have studied the history of early Christianity. One of my favorite things about the religion in this series is that for Gaius’s theology, they drew heavily on Gnostic Christianity. When I realized that was the basis of what he was saying, I was just delighted and flabbergasted that they went that deep.

[@hoodwinkiez]

CIC is the Opera House sir. It was there, in front of you all the time in this magical space opera.

[@DugTheDog]

We made it, kid! Extraordinary series. I've watched it end to end I think about 6 times now, this ending gets me every time.

[@bustedsim]

Oh, and Laura basically promised to Bill that she would have built the cabin on New Caprica, and it was kinda implied if they found a new home, they'd build it there, so in that raptor, Adama was looking for good land to build that promised cabin on, but Laura died before she could see the land he'd picked out, thus she did before seeing the Promised Land.

[@mjducharme]

You were bang on that a lot of the controversy about the finale was regarding the mysticism/religion. So much sci-fi until then had simply portrayed religion as this more or less backwards thing, that was really always just explained by science that we didn't understand yet. When BSG introduced the religious aspects early on, many fans had thought "this must be a red herring, the writing in this is so good, there's no way they would be so utterly stupid and incompetent as to actually include 'God' as a real literal thing, because no other sci fi writers are such idiots as to do this". As the show went on and especially into the final season, a large group of fans created increasingly elaborate theories to provide rational explanations for everything, revolving around the "Daniel" Cylon and theories that he was Starbuck's father and so she was some kind of half-Cylon or something. Then the finale itself hit and those fans watched in utter horror as they realized that the religious aspects were meant to be taken literally from the beginning, and that the "utterly stupid and incompetent" idea of treating 'God' as some kind of real thing, which they convinced themselves could not be the case in the face of all evidence, was what the show actually did. All the Starbuck theories about her being half-Cylon were washed away when she disappeared, and they felt really cheated because they felt that the elaborate conspiracy-theory-like plots that they had come up with were "so much better" than what they actually got. This fanbase congregated around the Syfy channel forums back in the day when this aired (which was a hub of BSG related activity with very intense discussions), and I was a member there at the time, and I read all the threads there, and that's how I'm aware of this history.

[@vashsunglasses]

I was there too! I was on team "it's obviously supernatural stuff guys..." and it was super frustrating trying to talk to the people in denial.

[@Sephiroth144]

Ah yes, the hallowed Skiffy boards; more or less, was in the "Guys, its something we don't understand"- God or SAT life, its something beyond what we can understand. Think I even tried to remind them that most of the writing cast came from DS9, which dropped literally dieties into Trek- don't act like calling them "Wormhole Aliens" takes the godhood away from the Time ignoring, Orb creating, fleet disappearing, space bending, society guiding Prophets

[@Markus117d]

​@Sephiroth144 The Prophets are not gods, They just perceive time in a different way, If you want gods in star trek, what about the Q, Kevin Uxbridge from the survivors or from TOS the squire of gothos..

[@paigelogan7600]

Time to cry at another great finale ! I LOVE this show.

[@sylviacottrell502]

“Why is the Galactica an opera house?” BSG is a space opera-that’s the genre! Isn’t that rad?? 🙌🏻🚀🙌🏻

[@randallwong7196]

Bear McCreary has a YT account, with some BSG stuff. Separately there's a recording of a BSG concert overseas, about 1 1/2 hours, and a U.S. concert about an hour long.

[@Sephiroth144]

Those concerts were a thing of beauty to see back in the day

[@eleashaghot]

Thank you for your great reactions to this phenomenal show! Such a fun journey!

[@jdbarrera]

I think they did a great job following up on all the prophecies and not leaving any major plot holes. That's something not many shows can say.

[@joseliano325]

I really enjoyed re-watching the series, again, through your reactions. Great job. 🙏

[@TheGoddamnBacon]

It's been a great ride here. You have my sincerest gratitude for emphasising the scenes that those of us who only had the mainstream cut to watch. I won't lie, BSG is what brought me here, I cannot say I'll be here later. But I do appreciate your perspective. I will keep an eye out here. Thanks again. So say we all.

[@Markus117d]

That was Dorel, The one a version of was marooned on the Ragnar anchorage station back in the mini series, not Leoben who starbuck shot during the battle at the Cylon colony..

[@Sephiroth144]

Hang on... has Kara ever shot a Leoben? Tortured a bit, a lot of stabbings, watched him get airlock'd, freaking him the hell out at her grave site... but I don't think ever shot one. (And of course, the Leobens were Cylon Rebels, so they were allied with the humans since shortly before Earth v1)

[@Markus117d]

​@@Sephiroth144 Yep 👍

[@Scimarad]

I will never ever understand why a lot of people considered this ending a disapointment at the time. I found it emotionally overwhelming, possibly Baltar's "I know about farming" being the bit that pushed me over the edge. The music was really fantastic thoughout but particularly at the end of Bill / Laura's story. And I'm absolutely fine with the 'god' stuff.

[@gogaonzhezhora8640]

1.A lot of people in today's world with today's education don't understand a lot of the ending's references. 2.People not liking the God stuff are the reason the show was made theway it was made.

[@Markus117d]

For me it was the way that even after all they went through, they just go their separate ways, Especially in the case of the Adama's, They spent years estranged from eachother, Healed their relationship, And finally when they find a home, It's see ya 😢 And disappears off forever.. 🤔😯

[@davidedwards1705]

From Kobold to Earth to the 12 Colonies to Earth again. "All this has happened before and will happen again." You must watch Caprica, it's a great series that take places before the Fall.

[@bustedsim]

I read somewhere that Kara was a decedent of Pythia, and therefore was in that way genetically hooked into the music flowing through the universe, which I perhaps might think was Cosmic Background Radiation that only a few are connected to and able to interpret.

[@Yarazin]

Really enjoyed my rewatch of this show with you Chris. I was crying with you on this last one. Thanks so much.

[@mcantu197]

I'm completely at peace with the ending. There is a HUGE part of the fandom that absolutely despises the way BSG ended

[@MongooseTales]

Outstanding reaction! It was a great watch, thank you. I especially appreciated your reference to the entity whom Head Gaius and Head Six serve as "the cosmic being who doesn't like to be called God". That means you were paying close enough attention to the final dialogue to avoid mistakenly thinking BSG is preaching a simplistic affirmation of the existence of a true God in the divine religious sense. In fact I'm pretty sure the writers penned that dialogue for the specific purpose of clarifying they weren't taking a side in the "does God exist?" debate. When Head Gaius tells Head Six "you know it doesn't like that name" that's a huge reveal (perhaps the biggest reveal of the entire series), suggesting the entity whose selective interventions have been driving events in BSG is not the all-powerful and all-seeing God many of us were taught to worship in Sunday School. And the general plot of the series reinforces this. The being in question clearly is not omnipotent, as its past efforts to create a form of life that doesn't commit genocide have failed. Nor is it omniscient, as it doesn't know whether its latest experiment (nudging humans and Cylons into creating us) will succeed in breaking the cycle of violence. However what the writers also convey in that final scene, and what I find really interesting about it, is that despite what Head Gaius says Head Six remains utterly convinced that the cosmic being is in fact supernatural and divine. This is evident from her clearly disapproving reaction to the "it doesn't like that name" line (triggering Head Gaius to add "Silly me... silly, silly me"). She has chosen to believe "it" is the One True God and nothing Head Gaius or even the cosmic being itself says can shake her faith. And that's fine. Portraying Head Six as a true believer is an acknowledgement that faith is real, and a powerful force that influences people and events as much as the actions of whatever God may really be out there.

[@sylviacottrell502]

I still vividly remember watching the series finale in college with my other SF/F nerd friends, standing on our crappy couch in our crappy house, jumping up and down screaming as Starbuck jumps the Galactica one last time. Goddamn, what a show 😭❤️🚀 RE: some fans not liking the fourth season+how things wrapped up, the vibe I always got from that set of folks was one of like vehement hard sci-fi fans being unable/unwilling to reconcile their desire for BSG to be a 100% hard sci-fi story with the reality that, even though no there’s no aliens or space magic etc., there *is* mysticism and religion and supernatural/spiritual throughlines that aren’t going to be explained by science and logic-and that’s intentional. There was a lot of conflating some of the wibblier writing dips in S3 and S4 (of which to be fair, there were some!) with the more mystical aspects of the plot/a lot of blame placed on the latter as an excuse for the former, when from a storytelling POV I really don’t think that’s the case 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

[@christianschoenewald]

I have always taken God, the gods, and the two angels that we saw consistently, as being the species that comes from the “Ship of Lights,” this was some thing that was in the original series, but was never directly put into the new series. I absolutely love this finale. Thank you for letting us share the ride with you.

[@ronhubbardjr2624]

It was nice that Edward James Olmos got that scene with his son Bodie (Hot Dog).

[@jdb114]

Cue Lorne Greene narration… “Fleeing from the Cylon tyranny, the last Battlestar: Galactica, leads a ragtag fugitive fleet on a lonely quest, a shining planet known as Earth.”

[@Tele-dude]

I cry ever time I watch this episode. Roslyn’s death never gets easier. Now, when you think of the colonist brought their gods with them, which would’ve been the Greek gods, and then Adam built his home on top of that hill like Zeus.

[@spooniesworld]

Thank you Chris for the BSG ride! When I first watched the finale on air I remember feeling a sense of sorrow...not having another episode to look forward to...and so far northing has come close to how I loved and still love this program. So say we all!💚

[@SamGray]

I believe that the bird flying around in the apartment completely represents Lee. He has no clue what he wants, he has no clue who he should be and he has no clue where he's going.

[@mburkett31]

Thanks for all the recaps. I've seen it all before but it was great to follow you on this BSG adventure!

[@dekulruno]

Was interesting to see the actor of Boxey in Gaius’ dreams in the finale, he hasn’t been in the show since the miniseries.

[@Sephiroth144]

He got boxed!

[@justintrefney1083]

I think this reimagining to BSG is actually a prequel to the original. In the 80s version the Cylons were not created by humans, They came from an unknown area of space. Or where they coming home? If I'm right then all of this will happen again and the cycle was not broken.

[@Sephiroth144]

Though the Centurion Cylons were canonically made by the Cylons, a reptilian race, and then adopted the names of their creators after they wiped them out, so might take a little retconning of the OG series to make it work.

[@ronhubbardjr2624]

I might have pointed this out before. Dr. Cottle’s nurse that stays on the ship is Jamie Bamber’s (Apollo) wife.

[@jesse33cdn]

THE GREATEST REBOOT EVER! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[@CasualNerdReactions]

So say we all.

[@guyvanooteghem8531]

This I what I recently wrote elsewhere about the whole 'god' thing: I never considered that God was at work in Battlestar Galactica, nor that there were any supernatural happenings. But the "One True God" is clearly a real character in the series. This off-screen OTG plays an active and important role right from the start of the series. Could it be a real god, or an alien with a special interest in the fate of mankind and cylons? It would be impossible for us to make this distinction. It/he/she is clearly very powerful. Very powerful can be very god-like for us. How could a person like us distinguish a god from a very powerful and extremely advanced alien? This is quite common stuff in SF. Arthur C Clarke, one of the best-known SF writers, is usually credited with this idea or statement: ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.’ There’s also the variant known as Shermer's Last Law: ‘Any sufficiently advanced extraterrestrial intelligence is indistinguishable from God’ Apparantly this OTG (or whatever alien) took a special interest in the future of humans. The OTG manipulates mankind for his own purposes. It is futile to try to explain the motives of such a ‘god’ or an extremely advanced alien species. We probably could not understand those motives anyway. Just as ants wouldn't understand why we mess with their scent trails - it could be for scientific research, or just for fun, but anyway it beats the intellectual capacities of the ant by far. In BSG, people (and cylons) are the ants. And apparently the OTG has a very long lifespan and lives in a totally different time scale. His experiments can take thousands of years. My guess is that this higher force could be the Lords of Kobol, or at least one of them. We know that on Kobol, people lived among these Lords of Kobol. The Lords of Kobol were considered gods by the people. We can assume that they were no actual gods but in fact a very advanced (human?) species. Powerful, with scientific capabilities we couldn’t even begin to understand, but not omnipotent or supernatural like 'real' gods. People (and Cylons) left Kobol long ago, but perhaps the Lords of Kobol never lost interest in them... For one reason or another, the OTG chose not to show itself overtly. Maybe that would affect too much the results of whatever he did, or maybe for some reason our tiny brains wouldn't be able to process this. He gave a little push in the right direction here and there, or he used his messengers: the ‘head’ characters. Alien messengers appearing as acquaintances are not an oddity in SF. Think of 'Contact' with Jodie Foster’s character and her 'head father', or the messages send to all the people of the world in 'Childhood's End'. But at one point, the OTG felt it necessary to make humans and cylons come to the conclusion that there is more in the universe than people and cylons. For that purpose he made a new Starbuck. Starbuck II was meant as a message for both humans and cylons: “Hey, look, there is a more powerful entity at work here, and here is all the proof you need”. At the same time, Starbuck II was an instrument to lead the fleet to new Earth. For some reason the OTG wanted this to happen. He recreated her to achieve a goal, and made her disappear again when that goal was achieved. One could speculate what the motivation of the OTG might be. It is possible he wants to create a species that will survive itself. Until now the previous attempts only led to species that eventually built their Cylons and destroyed themselves. He examines what is necessary to suppress this tendency to built artificial life, and is trying out specific DNA combinations. It is fun to think about it. Perhaps he simply felt pity for people caught in their recurring cycle of destruction. A more far-fetched possibility: In our modern world we are trying to recreate extinct animals with a breeding process called "back breeding". Perhaps the OTG is doing the same, trying to bring back an long extinct humanoid species. Anyway: I see no gods at work in the series. No Deus ex Machina, no magic and no supernatural stuff. There is at least one other party that covertly plays an active role in the series, right from the start. Lords of Kobol, or other extremely advanced aliens, ... who knows? In the end, it really does not matter. The story has been told without specifying it, and it has been told in an astonishing and mindblowing way. Some questionable details in the show's finale, or how to interpret them exactly, don't detract from that IMHO.

[@vashsunglasses]

I always thought the "Lords of Kobol" were just the main characters in their past lives (all of this has happened before and all of this will happen again) and people deified them after the fact. The one true god is a genuine supernatural entity and so are the angels etc. I've never understood why people insist that fictional universes be atheistic. I'm an atheist IRL but it doesn't make sense to me to insist upon it in made up stories that aren't real.

[@MongooseTales]

Great comment! Thanks for citing Shermer's Law (you beat me to it). Advanced beings who intervene in the affairs of man are a common trope in Star Trek and much of science fiction. The fact that one shows up here as an influential force in events shouldn't be a shock to anyone.

[@tenchraven]

Caville has used that escape route so many times that when it really mattered, he forgot that it wasn't a good idea any more. And it made me laugh. As much as new model Centurions going down easy and the OG ones just soaking the damage. Even the Cylons don't make them like they used to. I know a lot of people hated the end. They have my forgiveness and pity. We do not have to understand everything, it doesn't all need to be explained. It is simple minded to think there are final answers, rather than just new questions. For this story, this is the proper conclusion, sad joys and more questions. Five years after the apocalypse, that's pretty good. Almost as good as becoming a farmer again. When this aired, I had a map of the moon hanging on the wall next to my TV. Nearside, and far. So when we see where Galactica had jumped, I had the map right there, not two feet away. Staring at me. All of this has happened before, and all of it will happen again. just not quite as good as the first time. Because we don't make them like we used to.

[@Sephiroth144]

I think the newer Cylons were more agility builds whereas the older Centurions were tanks; yeah, they could take more hits, but they also DID take more hits.

[@Cander5142]

I’ve always had some issues with the season and how it ended, but the finale still to this day no matter how many times I watch it hits me very hard emotionally.

[@keithbk]

What happens when A.I. becomes "all powerful" and no longer needs to reside within a computer, but within the signals that cross the universe? What happens when it sees its role of guiding both "human" and "technological advancement" as all-encompassing, repeating a cycle over and over, starting and re-starting civilizations? Now you are finally introduced to the "god" of the Cylons...

[@johnmavroudis2054]

THANK YOU for this journey! I had a great time watching it again through your eyes. Certainly one of my all-time Top 5 favorite shows... maybe #1. Suggestion for a future watch: If you haven't seen it... "THE WEST WING"... It's truly a remarkable show filled with intelligence, drama, humor, great writing, acting, stories... I think you'll love it. Especially in these times. ...and for Sci Fi... can't go wrong with "3 Body Problem" and "The Expanse"... Cheers!

[@CasualNerdReactions]

The Expanse is on the way! Look for it near the end of July.

[@davidmcleod5133]

Thanks for having us along for the ride!

[@ChristianDoiron]

Thanks for the journey!

[@stevenmccormackmusic]

You have to go to the Creation Battlestar Galactica con in Chicago in October. Almost all of the main cast will be there.

[@EnigmaticPenguin]

Now you gotta revisit the miniseries while it's fresh. The contrast is insane.

[@jonathanmccullouch3243]

BSG is a great experience I’m glad you got enjoy it. It was nice to see someone who appreciated the final season, there was a lot of hate back in the day. 🥰

[@74gould]

I have loved watching your BSG reactions! 😁 What a great journey… and, yes, the show is amazing on rewatches. Certain scenes/things take on a whole new meaning.

[@toneDef77]

I'm so excited for this, I've enjoyed your journey through BSG immensely! Thank you for all of these reactions!

[@CasualNerdReactions]

Thank you for being a part of the journey!!

[@jabberwock95]

Kara is definitely different from Head Six and Head Gaius. They're angels borrowing someone else's form. With her it feels more like her soul was brought back from the dead to fulfil it's purpose, and then allowed to move on to the afterlife.

[@Sephiroth144]

STARBUCK: Okay, so there is the "real" theory and my "hey, I made Katee and other people on the show laugh" theory The laugh one? Starbuck is Batman. Okay, hear me out- she's a regular person, but she's THE BEST at everything she does, and you turn around for one second and she disappears. Commissioner Gordon would def go to Lee "I feel ya; kinda rude when they do that, ain't it?" Realistically... she was an instrument of (The) God/s. She forged and tempered herself through her life, but proved herself when she "heard" the call and went into the storm- a vision of which had been sent to her throughout her life. She was then restored and returned to guide humanity to its end; once her task was complete, she was unmade (and/or brought to whatever afterlife may exist- hopefully, reunited with Anders... (mayhap the moment she disappeared was the moment Anders reached his end falling into Sol, with perhaps some observer bias in the mix)) While RDM has never confirmed, I did get a sage nod and not a no (which he's dropped on other theories)

[@sblt94]

You have to watch “The plan” I don’t know where you can stream it but it was a dvd movie type thing that shows the series from the cylon perspective and it’s amazing

[@raymondmarier8340]

Hope you watch “The Plan”. It goes back to classic moments and gives a cylon perspective on some events. It’s nothing groundbreaking (and spoiler city for anyone who is new to the series) but it’s a nice way to look back at the series and a chance for you to give some final thoughts on the whole experience after the finale has had some time to breathe. Thanks for doing this series…

[@jimmiejaz]

Thanks for the ride.

[@ScarlettM]

After watching the show, it's kinda heartwarming to find out that all of us are part Cylon (1/4?).

[@carlazaz1690]

The death of Laura is a kick in the gut, isn't it? And then Kara is just.....gone.

[@MongooseTales]

Gone to the "other side" where Anders is awaiting her.

[@kurtmager1626]

I did not enjoy the finale the first I saw it. I thought my dislike stemmed from the mystical aspect and how it was handled, but later came to realize that wasn't so. See, what the real issue was that damned mid season hiatus threw me off, and so I did not have as clear a memory of what came before the break. I figured that out from subsequently watching it on home media at a regular pace. So on my second watch through of the entire series, I had a much better understanding with all the details still fresh in mind. Thus when I got to the finale again, I thought it was absolutely perfect.

[@Dendood]

Damn. The KZbin/Google cash link is not working on your channel!??!! Frakkk. I will keep checking your channel for when it is. Meanwhile, I have to say a deeply felt "Thanks, Chris." for reacting to this show. I have watched your movie reactions for a few years now and imagined in my mind the treat it would be if you ever watched BSG. I knew from day one you would love the ending and it has been enjoyable to be proven right. I love this finale. In my mind it is the best series finale I have ever watched. If there are better, it's only because I haven't seen them yet. But this one is borderline perfect. There are only 2 flaws in my book. One, the fate of Anders. That's just me dealing with my emotional attachment. He was the Cylon version of Helo. The two characters who acted without malice or ego the entire series. That his fate is flying off solo to be burned to a crisp by radiation and heat from the sun... it just feels so unfair. But then life is not fair. The more substantial flaw is the ease with which they wrote into the script the Colonist turning their back on technology and creature comforts. Knowing human beings as I do, that is a pipe dream no human would buy into. It would have been just as easy to set up a scene where the Tillium ship is destroyed ahead of the finale. If they come to Earth bone dry on fuel, it would be easier to accept them giving up technology. A car is pretty useless without fuel. Being forced to accept the nature of reality and learning to deal with it, now that is human. I hate to bearer of bad news, but this ending is far more sad and bitter sweet than you think. It's been said over and over by Angels and Hybrids in the know: this is the end of the line. No one survives from the Colonies save Gaius, Six and Hera. Helo and Athena will both die while Hera is a child. This is the only way Six and Baltar take on their role as Hera's parents. It is the end of the line for all humans descendant from Kobol. The new line of humans begins with Hera. Kara Thrace brought them to their end. I could gush on and on about the Opera House. Roslyn's dying observation about so much life. Or watching Starbuck just vanish. Or all the moments I enjoyed watching you react to this show. Awesome job there Chris. Although to be fair you've been doing an awesome job at this reacting thing for years. I look forward to your reactions to The Expanse. I only hope the Google pay button is working when we get there. Sincere thanks for such a good run.

[@CasualNerdReactions]

Thank you for your comment and enthusiasm form my BSG journey! The pay option is disabled because I chose to not edit this video down and to release it with a copyright claim so this video is not monetized, but thanks all the same!

[@frogofbrass382]

Now it's time to react to the Portlandia "Battlestar Galactica" bits.

[@timmooney7528]

I didn't care for the Caprica series with regards to being a prequel series. I get the impression Ron Moore came up with an idea for non-BSG sci-fi series, then the network asked him to shape it into a prequel about the origin of the Cylons. The other pilots for a young Bill Adama series had their quirks with regards to leading up to events in the BSG timeline

[@incredulousdisbelief9841]

I always took it that Kara was sent back as a herald (like you had mentioned once before) to guide the humans to their new home. The whole story encapsulates the merging of the stories of Noah and Moses guiding the last of humanity to a new land through the seas of space, helped by the angels directing god's will, so to speak. Over 150k years it's reasonable to think, the stories being retold over the millennia, that they could morph into the modern day biblical stories we know today. Overall, great series. I loved watching this show live 20 years ago, I enjoy watching reactors like yourself watch it for the first time in the current day. Love seeing all the new perspectives it brings from fresh eyes. Thank you for posting them. Now, onto The Expanse!

[@Sephiroth144]

Well, religious stories anyway- think the Greeks got the purest strains of the Colonial religion =p

[@randallwong7196]

This is the only episode(s) with the older Cylon toasters fighting. Other times their images would be historical / museum stuff.

[@Sephiroth144]

*Eyebrows in Razor*

[@randallwong7196]

I have forgotten most of what happens there.

[@spoonix2000]

@CasualNerdReactions: The thing with the pigeon and Lee. There's a superstition that if a bird flies into your house, it's a bad omen... could be a sign of bad luck where there will be a catastrophic change but usually means there's an impending death. My interpretation is that Lee gets the bird as a message right after he meets Kara for the first time as The Universe's way of letting him know that even though they are soulmates they'll never be together. That her mission as Harbinger of Death will keep her from him.

[@gogaonzhezhora8640]

But you miss a a different interpretation. A pigeon is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. While everybody was wondering who Starbuck is after she died and came back...

[@Sephiroth144]

@@gogaonzhezhora8640 There are numerous associations with birds and souls of the departed; of course, leaning specifically to pigeons, we have them being messengers between the mortal and beyond worlds in Hindu and Celtic traditions, and specifically FROM the Odin in Norse ones, a Spiritual Guide in the Navajo faith, a symbol of Aphrodite (goddess of love, desire and sometimes marriage) So not as cut and dried- plenty of mythological/traditional symbolism to choose from

[@bmatt2626]

Thanks for this series!

[@botz77]

Congratulations!🥳 This is my second favorite series after Breaking Bad. Hope you'll review all of that incredible series as well.

[@Sephiroth144]

SO SAY WE ALL! 69th thumbs up; noice The flashbacks were an interesting- and at the time (like during the episode) controversial choice- but I think (and most people seemed to, even before it ended) it was the right one; filling in some details while tying the themes together... "Admiral Hoshi" was Gaeta's analog on Pegasus One thing to note- only the BIG GUNS on the colony would be able to hurt Galactica; the rapid fire ones were more AA (for small craft)- those were the equivalent of someone using an AK-47 against a tank (not gonna do much against the tank, barring a crazy lucky shot- but if someone popped open a hatch...) Oh yeah, that moment when Six and Gaius see their Head friends- that was freaking glorious... That one execution-style headshot between the New Cylon and Classic one- I freaking love that- just brutal but so satisfying. That wasn't Leoben that shot Helo; it was Doral (the reporter from the miniseries)... The Leobens sided with the rebels (and allied with the Colonials) Cavil's death pissed some people off, since "Cylons can't kill themselves"; of course, Cavil had already killed himself (on New Caprica) when he was severely injured and wanted to download (faster?) *1123 6536 5321* You'll note- Galactica hadn't retracted her flight pods and jumped; the pods pulled in braced the ship to handle the stress of jumping, and without that (and combined with the damage sustained over The Journey) is what caused her to break her back. Oh yes, Lee's joy when he's thinking about exploring...........

[@Sephiroth144]

The ending- the giving up technology and living simply- was (and still somewhat is) very divisive. After all, its one thing to not have AI chasing you, its another to give up medical tech, architecture, advanced knowledge, toilets... I think a middle ground would've been better myself, (using some material to sustain the people better, but not trying to recreate "The Colonies"). Also, myself, the last three minutes (the "will it happen again" part) felt off- maybe if they recut it with current (more advanced) technology it'd land better. Also also- Edward James Olmos stated his headcanon is BSG is the precursor to the Blade Runner timeline, with Replicants being that Cycle's Cylon. (And, of course, since EJO was in Blade Runner...)

[@eveliendorien]

You should come to the Battlestar Galactica reunion in Chicago in October

[@peterkoester7358]

The Plan! Caprica!! Blood & Chrome!!!

[@destro6971]

So say we all

[@cathyvickers9063]

Angels entered the story of Battlestar Galactica halfway through the first season of the origin show. Apollo was murdered by a demon & resurrected by angels, with important info about the Earth they eventually found. This series made more use of the supernatural & of angels. The end with Starbuck doesn't bother me. It's meant to be mysterious. Why does everyoone think "humanity's end" means extermination, since three species interbreeding "ends" those species?

[@MongooseTales]

"Humanity's end" is actually a pretty clever misdirect by the series writers. From the time we first hear that Starbuck will lead humanity to its end, most series viewers assume that means humanity's destruction. I don't think many viewers figure out before the finale that it actually just means humanity being led to the location where it will superseded over the span of many generations by Hera's hybrid Cylon-human descendants.

[@carlazaz1690]

I didn't pick up fully on the significance of Hera, but if she is the common ancestor of modern humanity, that means that the "humans" and cylons in BSG all died off. They didn't save themselves after all.

[@gogaonzhezhora8640]

The end of humanity is exactly that. Only descendants of Hera survided making everybody surving not 100% human.

[@carlazaz1690]

No, it means that the people we have been calling "humans" all this time really are not. WE are the humans. They are something pre-human.

[@MongooseTales]

It's not really a death event, so much as a progression of evolution. Descendents of BSG-era humans intermarried with descendents of Hera over the course of many generations until everyone alive on "our" Earth had been born with at least some of Hera's Cylon heritage in their genome. From that point forward there were no pure BSG-era-type humans, just hybrids.

[@Markus117d]

​​​Nope because one person can't give rise to a new race, What happened is the descendants of all the survivors & the primitive race on the planet mixed with Hera"s descendants, Just as Hera had to have found someone to mix with to have descendants in the first place.. Neanderthal's are extinct right, they died out..At least thats the common perception in non scientific circles, But its wrong, Neanderthal DNA In modern humans is zero or close to zero in people from African populations, and is about 1 to 2 percent in people of European or Asian background. In a way they are still with us, Just as Hera's hybrid Human / Cylon DNA gradually spread out through each successive generation.. For generation upon generation..

[@gogaonzhezhora8640]

@@Markus117d OMG! What is is with today's education? What does it have to do with anything? Stop talking about science. You don;t understand how it works. The most basci part of it. Logic. Okay then - logic. All who live on Earth being descendants of Hera does NOT mean Hera alone somehow gave birth to the race. It DOES mean that anyone who lives has at least a tiny fraction of cylon DNA. And that could be the interpretation of the profecy of the end of human race, because entirely 100% humans would not exist anymore. The most simple explanation to this is as we have seen in the show cylon genes might be more resilient to some diseases for example. Meaning that in the course of evolution the ones who happenned to be 100% human would gradually become less and less of the population and die out, while better suited for the challeges carriers of part cylon DNA would survive. One of the ideas of the show was 100% human is a dead end, 100% cylon is a dead end and creates a cycle of violence and mututal destruction. Technically part-cylon DNA might come from the other cylons who stayed on Earth in the finale. We are not shown or told wheher they would be avle to procreate(mixing with humans) at some point. It might be possible. Making Hera and the idea of "mytochondrial Eve" not entirely accurate and a nice headline only, whch it is also IRL. BUT it does not change the premise of the "end of the human race" as the idea behind it would be the same - all living on Earth are part cylon.

[@emdeeeff]

OK, now that this is through, it's time to start watching Battlestar Galactica! Are you gonna do the miniseries next week, or take a couple weeks off first?

[@mattmcc72]

In the mini-seris. Can you think of two characters you absolutely hate more than Gaius (Sell-out Humanity) Baltar and Caprica (Baby neck snapping) Six. Now tell me you don't absolutely love the two of them at the end.

[@richardd9938]

29:23 He said it❤️💚🖤🤍

[@halcundiff6886]

Now watch Caprica. Prequel series. Also, Blood and Chrome .

[@njm1108]

I am not a religious person... but if I were, Battlestar Galactica is the religion I would choose to believe in.

[@AbrahamdeLacy-xm8sb]

Techmology ... dooh! Cheers 🍺