I feel that this was a
very strong and satisfying way to end the series.
The way Cavil went was brilliant. It was really the only path that he could take. Even if he could fight his way off of the ship, everyone else back on the Cylon Colony would just relegate him to the dung heap, and there's no way that he could've handled that. Had he returned to the Colony, it would've even made sense to have had a Cylon kill him for his foolishness.
I'm surprised that nobody brought up one of the largest revelations in the show, that has enormous repercussions in how we see a major character, Baltar. Over the past couple of weeks I've read on several sites one very consistent "criticism" in regards to
if Baltar "grew a pair" in the series finale and did something other than serve himself, and that was it would be "totally out of character" for him to suddenly switch from being such a ruthless and selfish pig to one who would be willing to lay himself down for the benefit of others. I was pretty much speechless when they showed the moment where he discloses to Six that he'll let her take a peek at the defense grid's code. I certainly wasn't ready when he told her WHY he was doing it, because he LOVED her. Wow! That completely opened up a whole new way of seeing him.
It seems to me that Moore's message regarding the dangers of technology are
far more profound than many of us here are contemplating, in the finale he seems to be shouting it out. It's
more than just the evolution of robotics/AI, but a whole questioning of how we've structured our entire current civilization, which is barely sustainable. Just look at what Moore established:
Baltar's father was a farmer, who Baltar condemned as being "dirty minded" and a "pervert", but who, actually, was practically swinging his cane around in frustration at his son's inability to see that the world that he embraced was what was dirty minded, unnatural, and perverted because it was oblivious to the hard realities of life.
On New Earth, when the words "we can have the main lines for a city drawn within a couple of days" were spoken, Lee said, "No. No
cities..." Why choose
those specific words?
Other than bare essentials, the survivors tossed
all of their technology into the sun, and Sam certainly didn't seem to mind his sacrifice to make it happen. They didn't even keep
any vehicles to work the land! This is no minor detail.
Moore certainly
could have ended the series with some dialogue describing how they would keep their technology and take steps to see that AI wouldn't be abused, or that robotics wouldn't be developed into a Cylon form, but he chose NOT to take this path, a path that most of us would certainly find reasonable. No, instead, he aimed for the very symbolic base of empire: cities. Enormous collections of people surrounded by a technological framework that is so rigid, that if it wasn't for the massive exploitation of land through agriculture everyone within would literally starve to death. And "yes", I
am being literal here. What would happen if the cost of oil became too high? There'd be no more high tech fertilizers and pesticides that are absolutely essential to maintain our enormous food production for our modern cities, no more antibiotics needed for massive meat production, and no more chemicals to treat water with, and without clean water there can only be Death to those that require it. And I haven't even hit upon what the loss of tractor-centered farming would mean. In the 1920s, it took 1 calorie of oil to produce 1 calorie of food. Today, it takes 10 calories of petroleum to produce 1 calorie of food. How much of a drop in petroleum does one need today to create an utter catastrophe? With those ratios, not very much at all.
Notice that the word "agriculture" isn't uttered even once, but rather the word "cultivation." There
IS a BIG difference between the two words, not just in meaning put more importantly, in practice.
"Cultivation" means working WITH nature.
"Agriculture" means to disruptively EXPLOIT nature (which is what we have now).
The selection of language and tone is too consistent to be an accident. Especially when combined with the visuals. We see numerous scenes with small groups of people trekking across virgin lands, and then we sweep from Hera on the beautiful rolling plains to a modern day concrete and steel behemoth city that is unsustainable in every way, packed to the gills with people who are about as disconnected from The Land as one can get. This isn't just about a lack of technical (not technological) know-how, but it also includes how that lack of natural connection leads to profound spiritual immaturity as well.
One doesn't have to be religious to be spiritual. Listen to just about anything Carl Sagan has ever spoken, and you'll instantly know what I'm talking about here.
Our last scene with Baltar on New Earth has him mentioning that he knows how to cultivate land, and he suddenly loses control over his emotions, because he's finally learned that the greatest gift he's been given is how to grow food to nourish others, and that this gift came from his father who he abused by trapping him within an abode most of us would consider heaven, with all of the modern and most beautiful conveniences of life. But this "heaven" was really a hell, and only his father could see it. What he wanted was to be able to grow things, and stay connected to The Land, the only real and meaningful relationship a human can have, anything else is an illusion of empire. All of that which he cursed his father for was EVERYTHING he later HAD TO HAVE in order to LIVE. What a terrifically powerful path to character development. So much is said with so little.
Wow. What an epic and powerful conclusion.
I still feel that Babylon 5 is the single greatest science fiction TV series ever made, but it was
almost nudged out of its spot by BSG. And that's an enormous compliment to an enormous achievement, especially when compared to all of the other crap Hollywood routinely produces from its diarrheaic butt.
The Diaspora team has quite a challenge with Galactica's final assault, and I can't wait to see the team NAIL it perfectly!
Wow!
Just
WOW!