Battlestar Galactica: Whys And Wherefores

Sorry for the long delay, but I had some trouble figuring out what I wanted to say in this post. Anyway, while Galactica has its share of (incredible) space battles, it is definitely not an action show. Most of the series is about the characters trying to make decisions about their future and how to survive for another day. It sounds sort of boring and frivolous, but the topics are relevant to the real world, and cause us to think about how these issues affect us.

Religion is an important example; one of the central conflicts between the humans and the cylons is their differing views of religion. The humans are (mostly) polytheists who believe in the Greek pantheon (of course, for the characters, they aren't the Greek pantheon, and this may be a clue about the Earth they will eventually find), while the cylons are (mostly) monotheists who believe in the Christian God. The cylons believe that they are justified in destroying humanity since God desires peace, and the humans are seen as war-mongering pagans. And the occupation occurred as a way to spread God's message to the humans once the cylons determined that they were wrong in their old tactic of eliminating the humans.

Free will is another important topic in the series. There have been many debates over whether the Colonial fleet should do what seems rational or if they should attempt to fulfill obscure prophecies from ancient religious texts. The president, for example, believes that they are playing a role foretold in the prophecies, and lobbies to have Commander Adama order seemingly suicidal missions in order to aid in finding Earth. Adama, a skeptic, thinks that these are nothing more than religious hokum, and is reluctant to send his soldiers to do things that may be completely irrelevant.

On the cylon side, we learn that the humanoid cylons have inhibited free will in the metal centurions so that they don't begin questioning the orders of the humanoids. This comes off as ironic since the humanoids "evolved" from metallic cylons who rebelled against their human masters. Of course, now, it seems like that decision is coming back to bite the humanoid cylons in the ass, but I won't go in to it too much.

Politics and justice are also important aspects of the show. The focus of the show is on both the military and the civilian government, and many of the problems are about how to deal with the fallout from political and military decisions. I mentioned the abortion issue in a previous post, and many other things are dealt with. The twist is that many of the issues have to be dealt with in non-conventional ways since the fleet is not a society in the strictest sense. When a strike starts developing on a fuel refinery ship, the president responds that although the conditions suck, they need people who know how to operate the machines to remain on the ship to keep the fleet moving. And since these people will be in a position to pass on their knowledge to their children (who will have front row seats to the machine operations), for the time being, jobs will be inherited like a class system.

As for justice, events in Season 3 reinforce the idea that justice is a tricky subject. What is justice to some is mob rule to others. The final episodes of the third season are the culmination of an arc that dominated the entire second half of the season. The trial of the millennium occurred, and what was supposed to be a quick and dirty case turned into a discourse on justice.

So that's it for Battlestar Galactica. I may do updates as the series goes on, but I believe that these posts should encourage anyone who hasn't watched yet to jump in.

Up next: Two "classic" plays...