Monday, November 13, 2006
BattleStar Galactica - A Measure of Salvation
This show was just too good for me to just comment on Big T's excellent post. I echo all of his sentiments, but to me, what makes this show so topical and thought provoking is the marriage between current events and a make believe world.
The landscape of literature is littered with fantasy stories that on the surface are meant to entertain, but if you dig deeper, the symbolism slaps you upside your head. Animal Farm, Gulliver's Travels, A Christmas Carol, the list goes on and on.
In BattleStar, they have a choice to make - wipe out the entire Cylon race with a biological weapon or not. The character that surprised me the most was the President. If you rewind to the beginning of the series, she became President by default, as the entire cabinet was killed by the Cylons. What was her job? Department of Education - a very lofty liberal point of view.
Throughout the progression of the show, Rosaline has now completed transformed herself to a NeoCon and Commander Adama did not want to use biological weapons! What a crazy mixed up world!
I can see the justifications in wiping out the Cylons, the humans created them, but they evolved, now they are the pursuers. But in their evolution from machine to skin jobs, they have taken on human characteristics and even reproduced a half human half Cylon baby. Is this the future of humanity? Is this eternal life we all seek? When skin jobs 'die' they are resurrected again and again.
Why does Roseline want to kill the Cylons? What is she afraid of? Maybe her belief in God might be proven not true?
In the end - the attempt of genocide was was aborted by the captured skin jobs suffocating prior they got near the resurrection ship thanks to Helo. You'd figure it would be him that would do something as he needs to balance the love for his wife, and the reality of what is facing humanity. I think Helo gets it, he understands that both races must coexist.
The landscape of literature is littered with fantasy stories that on the surface are meant to entertain, but if you dig deeper, the symbolism slaps you upside your head. Animal Farm, Gulliver's Travels, A Christmas Carol, the list goes on and on.
In BattleStar, they have a choice to make - wipe out the entire Cylon race with a biological weapon or not. The character that surprised me the most was the President. If you rewind to the beginning of the series, she became President by default, as the entire cabinet was killed by the Cylons. What was her job? Department of Education - a very lofty liberal point of view.
Throughout the progression of the show, Rosaline has now completed transformed herself to a NeoCon and Commander Adama did not want to use biological weapons! What a crazy mixed up world!
I can see the justifications in wiping out the Cylons, the humans created them, but they evolved, now they are the pursuers. But in their evolution from machine to skin jobs, they have taken on human characteristics and even reproduced a half human half Cylon baby. Is this the future of humanity? Is this eternal life we all seek? When skin jobs 'die' they are resurrected again and again.
Why does Roseline want to kill the Cylons? What is she afraid of? Maybe her belief in God might be proven not true?
In the end - the attempt of genocide was was aborted by the captured skin jobs suffocating prior they got near the resurrection ship thanks to Helo. You'd figure it would be him that would do something as he needs to balance the love for his wife, and the reality of what is facing humanity. I think Helo gets it, he understands that both races must coexist.
Labels: Battlestar Gallactica, tv
