Yamato 2199 fin
Dem feels. So many of them.
I can't believe this incredible journey is over. This has been, and probably will be, the most fun I've had watching science fiction since the early days of Stargate SG-1. There are just so many lessons that I have to assume the Japanese production crew must have learned from watching the shitshows that BSG and JJTrek turned into as reboots and they're all applied here to create something that - I admittedly have to assume - venerates the original series but modernizes the series in a way that makes it meaningful to a contemporary audience.
Even how they handled the ending and the retcon of a certain death shits over what JJ did in a recent movie this year.
There are the small twiddly bits that are just weird - at times, it feels like they added more female cast members not to diversify the crew but to have more figurines to sell to otaku, but unlike say JJ showing Carol Marcus half naked in his crappy movie, at least these characters are more than just pretty women to gawk at.
As for the actual denouement, it serves as a nice quiet ending to the fucking balls out cliffhanger from last week. The journey back to Earth is framed by the circle of life and death and rebirth... with the wedding, the captain's death, and of course, the "miracle" that happens with a certain character. They don't show how Earth is saved by this magical technology, because you already see it happen, so ending the show with the crew disappearing into a point of light and a blue Earth rising out of the darkness is just perfect.
There are obvious questions, which is probably why there is a 2014 project, but it is an emotional ending to the previous episode's explosive climax. There is no need for a gimmick, like the crew of the Galactica being our ancestors, or Khan with his blood of immortality, or the entire cast of characters going to a church and going to heaven or whatever bullshit SyFy has dumped on me in the last decade. It's just an ending marked by beauty and contemplation, one that is just simply happy and posits an end of a narrative rather than one that tries to make some shitty grand revelation or final plot twist for the sake of trying to be "memorable". It's the perfect desert after a hearty and filling full course meal.
I know like only 5 people here will watch this show. But those 5 people will experience one of the greatest science fiction stories of the modern era. (It might even bump
Aria off the top of whatever theoretical list I might make, which is just fucking inconceivable for me).
And a salute to you too, my dear Yamato. See you in a year.