if you are thinking the Office right now, you are correct. but i'm not talking about the sitcom. it is the line that got me to thinking that i should check this show out. not because i'm a follower of Dwight Schrutte, but because there have many references to it and i'm a scifi geek at heart. Firefly being one the best.
So...BATTLESTAR GALACTICA...
Wow. Incredible writing. Great acting. Big screen quality special effects. Haunting soundtrack.
But if you think this is an endorsement you better know that this show is filled with moral dilemmas, a belief in gods, and man's greatest achievement, the Cylons, turning on them. Tough choices are made, humanity is bought to the brink of extinction and people act within the confines of their nature.
A SHORT FUTURE HISTORY
Earth is a myth. The cylons, a robotic sentient race that the humans created rebelled, were beaten by their creators and have not been seen for quite some time. Now their back. They've evolved and some of them (12 models) look, feel, and feel (emotional) just like us. Some of them don't even know they are cylons. They decimate humanity, wiping out all but a mere 50,000 people.
In season one, it is all about escape. The cylons are hunting the remnant, without respite. It takes a toll, in casualities and on the psyche. In season two, we see the effects of the damage done as human morallity, belief systems, chain of command, and human relationships are stretched to the breaking point, often with some pretty devastating results.
Abortion. Once a woman's right to choose is now keeping humanity from surviving. There's only 50,000 left, how can we afford to not let life live?
Depravity. The cylons are bad. But humanity always finds a way to be worse. Their choices with relationships, their hatred of each other, greed, desire for power, and taking advantage of weakness. The commander asks a cylon why they are attacking humanity, there is a series of flashbacks that shows the corruption just since the attack, and the cylon asks, "Why should humanity be saved?"
Decisions. Are you willing to let 10,000 people die so that 40,000 may live. When humanity is at such a frail end, decisions like these make those who make them almost god-like. How do you live with it if you are wrong? Who gets the credit for it if its right?
Command. It's war. The military is reduced (for now) to one battle ship. The secretary of education is the highest living political leader left alive and therefore President-de-facto. Who is the leader? Power plays are made and you can literally feel the weight of humanity hanging of the shoulders of just a few individuals.
Indentity. Some cylons are "sleepers". Agents that look and love just like humans and don't know they are cylons until a missions perameter is switched on and they kill someone they love. There's 12 different models and the humans only know of a handful. So how do you know? How do you really know? (boy, there can be some really good discussion here on wolves in the church, huh?)
Beliefs. Very few humans believe in the gods. The cylons are very religious and believe in "god" (i do not captilize it because it is not the God). The dynamic hear is interesting and could provide hours of discussion. But humans are predictable, their "faith" increases geometrically after the cylons hit. Interestingly, the cylon "faith" begins to be questioned after victory is achieved. (On a side note, most religious beliefs center around a creator. The cylons are created by humanity (and know it) yet still believe in "god". Hmmmm....)
What makes this show such an interesting watch is they never pull punches. People die, bad decisions are made with the consequences played out for good or ill, relationships are made (some for profit and gain, others for companionship). Elections are held and rigged. You hate the cylons but you hate some humans too. Not all cylons are bad, or are they?
It is a microcosm of human society. I can't imagine it will stay on the air for too long. Not because of budget (although it is astronomical in price to produce), but because it reveals too much of the human heart in all its depravity and sin. It shows a world without the true God is a world without real hope. It tries to look to humanity for salvation and humanity is terribly, ultimately flawed. It lets us down.
But for those that are scifi geeks like me, you get the sense that this is culture, our culture wrapped up in a 1 hr program. References on issues seem innocuous at first and then you realize, "Hey, they talking about _____________, that just happened!"
It also makes you appreciate your salvation, and the bible and the real God. You realize that if humanity would come crashing down around us that we do have a real and genuine hope. And it not in humanity. It's in Jesus.
Two Worlds, One Conclusion
You have the fictional world of Battlestar Galactica where evil, bad guys look like evil, good guys and you have the real world of the church where you have evil, bad guys called goats and evil, good guys called sheep.
They look the same, feel the same and even have the same language. Sometimes they are even deceived by themselves. Goats and cylons think they are sheeps and humans. And vice-versa.
