Battlestar Galactica… the Final Frontier

Battlestar Galactica… the Final Frontier

If you are as big of a sci-fi nerd as I am, the title of this blog post probably made you slightly uneasy. Blatantly co-mingling two different cultural phenomenons’ in a single headline is blasphemy to many. To this nerd, it’s all the same. Yes, I like sci-fi. I’ve loved anything to do with space and the alternate realities that are so imaginatively portrayed in movies as palatable as Star Wars to shows as courageous as Babylon 5 or Firefly. One of my favorite television series of all time recently came to its pre-destined 4-year finale. No, this is not the campy one season 70’s television show starring Dirk Benedict (aka Face Man from the A-Team). I’m talking about the Sci-Fi channels original re-invention that began in 2004 and ended in 2009. I must admit, I was skeptical to say the least. If you watch the mini-series, which kicks the whole show to life, there is a lot going on, it’s a bit confusing, and it leaves you somewhat desperately hanging. As the show proceeds, the character development, plot twists and the exploration of deep philosophical morays about fighting for the survival of a race, being homeless (planet-less no less), establishment of government, factions of religion and cultural struggles - all take what many see at first glance as a campy sci-fi show, and creates a brilliant story.

While this show really deserves about 12 individual blog-posts by itself, for now, I wanted to explore one of the show’s largest criticisms. I have recently read several blog-posts from the science fiction, television and journalistic elite taking issue with some of the subtle (or not so subtle) use of biblical allegory that the show uses. It is certainly clear that the show borrows elements of biblical truth in its exploration of religion and culture of the Capricans (native human beings on the show). For instance, like the 12 disciples, there are 12 Cylons who each have a special trait or gift, they all have a common purpose and when they are together they have a greater intensity for that purpose. There are also the Greek vs. Roman exploration of a one God, vs. multiple gods. My personal favorite though was a dialogue between two of the Cylons (a creation speaking to its creator about the woes of being designed or given the ability to feel and to hurt and to suffer and to feel limitation). It was a powerful dialogue in one of the last 5 episodes of the show that did a great job of asking many of the questions that we all ask. Many of the critical community think any kind of biblical overtones are cheap or just a crutch for not being inventive at story-telling, yet the mass critical acclaim and highest ratings for a Sci-Fi show ever would suggest that even today, biblical truth in any medium is not a detractor. If anything, it helps serve a larger purpose of engaging a watcher into a story that asks the same questions that the bible addressed thousands and thousands of years ago.

I think the plain and simple fact here is that the Bible transcends culture, time, place, ethnicity and medium. So often we (as the Christian Community) have tried to create our own avenues for sharing God’s truth thru false or underwhelming stories. Why not (like Paul in Athens) use the ones that are so prevalent in our culture already? The more we separate the sacred from the secular, the more we miss an opportunity to have a shared experience with someone who might never set foot in a church. Lets continue to look for examples around us in our culture to help us actively engage with those who might not share the same worldview as us.

So go on out and buy that “What would Gaius Baltar do?” T-shirt and hang out at the next Star Trek convention. Besides picking up chicks, you might just bring home a convert in the process.

“So Say We All”

- Josh Hogan