The Mythology of Battlestar Galactica
March 23rd, 2009 | Published in General, SciFiNow, Television | 3 Comments
Okay. Friday was the very last episode of Battlestar Galactica, the “Reimagined” series.
It’s been a crazy ride. There have been great episodes and not so great ones. There have been characters I’ve come to love and ones I’ve come to… uh… not love so much.
I’m so glad it’s over now. For those of you still watching, just so you know, there are explanations for things and that’s all I’ll say before the spoiler alert and, cut…
First of all, where do we go from here?
I think I see beyond the approach they are taking with the franchise, the mythology. Since it turns out that the overarching thing that keeps the series together are two angels guiding people to try to have the will of G-d done, there must also be other forces at work. There are angels, but throughout the series there have also been other prophets and leaders of faith that had just as much validity, but were never explained in such a thorough manner as the whole angel thing.
For now, I’ll leave it at that, but I’ll have to go back and explain this a little more another day… But what I’m getting at, is that I have an idea for a new series… to complete the series once BSG: The Plan is done, and BSG: Caprica is done. Then let’s bring on BSG: The Powers that Beep.
April 23rd, 2009 at 2:34 am (#)
I haven’t watched the new series yet. I ought to, because it sounds really interesting. I used to watch the old one long ago, but I have forgotten a lot of the details. Mostly I remember shiny robot-like characters and the guy from the A-Team with the bad haircut. You may interested to note the religious background of Glen Larson, creator of the original series…
April 23rd, 2009 at 3:31 am (#)
Yeah, that is very fascinating, indeed. I remember liking the original series as a kid. Flying around in space was the substance of my REM cycles.
I don’t recall the premise of the old series, except that it was the humans against the cylons and there were definitely morals to the stories. I’m sure looking at those effects now would seem really cheesy.
The new series is based on the old, but I’m not sure the mythology coincides with the beliefs of the LDS church. Sounds more like Scientology to me.
I’d be interested to hear your comments about the show if you ever get a chance to see it. I’m sure you’ll have a unique perspective.
May 4th, 2009 at 10:56 am (#)
I’ll have check it out and let you know what I think. I’m pretty sure that Larson did not intend for it to be an allegory of LDS theology, although he seems to have had some fun working in some underlying themes and a few symbols that have significance in LDS thought. The new series are probably no longer under his creative influence, other than being informed by the original series, so they likely take it in new directions that may have no relation to LDS beliefs. Still, it will be interesting to see. I started to get into Stargate SG-1, but I think I’ll leave off that(its fairly of mediocre anyway) and check out Battlestar Gallactica, starting with a few shows from the original, for a refresher.