2008 Woodie Awards
'Battlestar' reflects the world today
Science-fiction show examines human element of war and religion
Fernando Madrigal
Get Turned On | 4/3/08
What is science fiction? If you think it's all lasers, far-off worlds, cool space battles, aliens, and special effects, you're only getting half the picture.
Sci-fi does do a greater job of filling the imagination with visions of worlds and creatures beyond our own, and even some creatures and lands that might be possible here on Earth.
But sci-fi also has a rich tradition of holding a mirror up to our world, showing us the possibilities of humanity, both positive and negative.
It's the latter that makes "Battlestar Galactica" so special. The original "Battlestar Galactica" was a lot of the former: lots of space battles, bulky robots and silly entertainment for a late 70's/early 80's audience.
Yet the premise was classic sci-fi with tremendous amounts of potential: a race of intelligent robots (Cylons) rebel against human kind, kill all but a handful of human beings who must now outrun the Cylons to a mythical planet: Earth.
The "re-imagined" series takes that concept and asks real world questions about how the fleet would survive and how they would adapt.
How would the military (the Battlestar Galactica crew) and the civilian government (President Laura Roslin) handle different situations? Should we stand and fight against the superior Cylons or run to safety and start to repopulate the human race?
A key change from the original series is that some of the Cylons have evolved to look, feel, think, just like humans, making it impossible to distinguish the difference.
And that could be the major question it asks: what is it to be human?
Within Battlestar Glactica's universe, many of these questions are tied to a topic that many shows won't go near: religion. The Cylons believe in only one true God that they believe has chosen them to annihilate humankind.
The humans are polytheistic, using the ancient text to find their way to the lost 13th colony, Earth.
President Roslin herself believes she is a prophet that is mentioned in the ancient scrolls, and that she has been chosen to lead her people to Earth, and has openly used this as a platform for her presidency. Does any of this ring any bells?
Sci-fi does do a greater job of filling the imagination with visions of worlds and creatures beyond our own, and even some creatures and lands that might be possible here on Earth.
But sci-fi also has a rich tradition of holding a mirror up to our world, showing us the possibilities of humanity, both positive and negative.
It's the latter that makes "Battlestar Galactica" so special. The original "Battlestar Galactica" was a lot of the former: lots of space battles, bulky robots and silly entertainment for a late 70's/early 80's audience.
Yet the premise was classic sci-fi with tremendous amounts of potential: a race of intelligent robots (Cylons) rebel against human kind, kill all but a handful of human beings who must now outrun the Cylons to a mythical planet: Earth.
The "re-imagined" series takes that concept and asks real world questions about how the fleet would survive and how they would adapt.
How would the military (the Battlestar Galactica crew) and the civilian government (President Laura Roslin) handle different situations? Should we stand and fight against the superior Cylons or run to safety and start to repopulate the human race?
A key change from the original series is that some of the Cylons have evolved to look, feel, think, just like humans, making it impossible to distinguish the difference.
And that could be the major question it asks: what is it to be human?
Within Battlestar Glactica's universe, many of these questions are tied to a topic that many shows won't go near: religion. The Cylons believe in only one true God that they believe has chosen them to annihilate humankind.
The humans are polytheistic, using the ancient text to find their way to the lost 13th colony, Earth.
President Roslin herself believes she is a prophet that is mentioned in the ancient scrolls, and that she has been chosen to lead her people to Earth, and has openly used this as a platform for her presidency. Does any of this ring any bells?
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