You do realize that the same man wrote three of those final episodes --Ronald D. Moore!
Clearly the finales Moore wrote for both TNG and DS9 contribute technique to the BSG finale. (Flashbacks/flashforwards from TNG, the mysticism and conclusion of an epice tale in DS9.)
I liked the finale a lot. Well, maybe "liked" is too mild a word. I loved it, I thought it was brilliantly done all the way around, and I can't wait to get my hands on the extended version which we'll get in the DVD set whenever NBCU decides to let us have it.
I know there's been criticism of the Coda, but not from me. One of the points of the series has been the ethical/moral questions that have already started in terms of how humanity is going to deal with both "articifical life" and "artifical intelligence." And that didn't bother me at all. Nor the dialog (Head-Six reading the lead paragraph of the magazine article about the discovery of what presumably were Hera's skeletal remains.
There's much current theory thaat supports RDMs use of the "Eve" theory with Hera, including a study publsihed after he had written the finale that at one point within that time period based on DNA analysis, the population of homo sapiens had actually gone as low as 2,000 people before things turned around and humaity began to multipy.
We got many answers, although there are some we didn't get especially with respect to Kara and some aspects of how "Watchtower" played into everything. (Bear McCreary hasn't posted his blog for "Daybreak" yet, and I'm betting he may give us some insights about "Watchtower" than Moore hasn't. And reading Bear's blog has been one of the side joys that has come with BSG. His explanations of how the music informs the scenes (and which music he chooses to use) has been a weekly treat that I'll miss as much as the show itself.