Battlestar Galactica: The Final Five

New Battlestar Galactica #4

by Seamus Kevin Fahey (Writer), David Reed (Writer), Nigel Raynor (Artist)

While the critically acclaimed series may be coming to an end, Dynamite Entertainment enters 2009 with a series of new and exciting Battlestar Galactica graphic novel events, beginning with The Final Five The term "Final Five" collectively describes five of the twelve Cylon humanoid models whose identity, knowledge, or existence has been deliberately or accidentally lost to the seven other humanoid Cylon models. Overseen by Seamus Kevin Fahey and David Reed with the complete authorization of SCI-FI and the producers, and joined by Galactica veteran artist Nigel Raynor, this volume features the back story of humanity's current struggle against the Cylons.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction

104 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 2009

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 1 out of 5]

Muddled, Confusing, Overcomplicated, and worst of all unnecessary. Constantly raising the stakes and making things bigger and more epic doesn't increase enjoyment, it diminishes the efforts of earlier chapters. Plus constantly 'resurrecting' Cylons and naming so many duplicates so similarly is a recipe for a headache. It's weird to say that the clones are both too different and at the same time undifferentiated, but that's the best way I know to put it.

[Quentin Wallace]

I didn't give this one a star rating because I haven't watched the show and I think this volume almost requires you to be a fan in order to know the backstory. I've read several of the rebooted BSG graphic novels and even with no knowledge of the series I was able to catch on pretty quickly. Not so on this one. Here I had no clue what was going on most of the time nor who many of the characters were. But I don't think the story itself is flawed, I think I'm just not familiar enough with the material. The art wasn't bad, and most fans of the show liked this series.

I'll just say if you are a fan of the show and know all the characters, the backstory, etc. you'll probably enjoy this. But if you are just a casual fan, this one isn't for you.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

The story jumps and lacks explanation all over the place. I was so confused. I read it all twice. I still couldn't follow a lot of it. It just wasn't smooth and had very little clarity.

For all that, I loved it and reveled in the Starbuck/Aurora/Pythia parts especially, so there's the human condition for you.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exquisite. Not much else to add. If you dig the show, you'll probably adore this.

[Plain Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

This does a great job at revealing some additional content within the BSG universe. It was relatively seamless between the series and this. I would recommend it to any BSG fan.

[Sam Nicholson · Rating 3 out of 5]

6/10

[Devin Copes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a little confused with "Pythia". In this version of the story, was the Pythia the 13th Tribe found on the algae planet supposed to be a time traveling Starbuck?

[Jason Seaver · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a tremendously disappointing series finale, I've had a rather take-it-or-leave it attitude toward "Battlestar Galactica", especially the tie-ins. This recent miniseries doesn't reverse any bad feelings, but it does do a nice job of filling in a bit of the story, starting with the fall of Kobol and following the characters who would become the "final five" (or, more accurately, "first five") up to the end of the first Cylon war.

It is, like a lot of tie-in works, pretty non-essential - there's not a whole lot of raw information in here that we didn't get from the series, and it's working the same themes, so even what we don't know feels familiar. The art is exaggerated in a "Six = Jessica Rabbit" way, and the metaphysics seems as shoehorned in as ever. Perhaps more so, because this otherwise adheres fairly strongly to the series's hard sci-fi side, and when it takes that route, it's pretty strong.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by this. It was a little cheesy and there were a few things that didn't make all that much sense but overall I really liked it. The book starts on kobol, with Pythia in prison getting sentenced to death for heresy and dating someone called Michael Tigh and having visions of a blonde woman in a red dress. It should have been much cheesier than it was but I thought it worked well. The plot then followed the 13th tribe in their search for earth, their trip to the algae planet, their arrival at earth and the final five's reinvention of resurrection technology. It was kinda fantastic to see Ellen as the brilliant scientist! I have to say the 13th tribe being human, the wiped out earth and the final five were my favourite idea they came up with in reimagined BSG. So I was probably going to love anything to do with them. But this was definitely worth the £10 I spent on it and now I'm actually considering buying some of the other graphic novels.

[Ernest · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting addition to the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica universe, focussing on the Final Five. Not all of the characters are drawn quite like their real-life counterpart, with some in particular being noticeable. The story would not be accessible to those who have not been invested in the world, but I recommend that people only read this after having watched the entire series.

[Don · Rating 2 out of 5]

This wasn't good. Nor was it bad. It's kind of just there. I think the idea was a Caprica-like family drama with the Cavils and the Tighs. It just never really clicks. If you're a diehard BSG fan you might like this. Then again, you might not.

[Declan Waters · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a strange comic as it is an alternative (or pre) story of the Final Five in Galactica using the principle: "All this has happened before, and all this will happen again."

As such, it wasn't really what I was expecting and certainly suffered for that. Odd decision by Dynamite on this one.

[Liriel Hamilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great look into the beginings of the Final Five and others.