Frak the Norm

I’ve been spending some of my free time in the last few days bumping around the net, reading various search results which come up as the result of the words “theology” and “Battlestar Galactica”. As some of you mat know, the upcoming season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica has been announced to be the final season, and that leaves us fans to wonder about what closure could possibly result from the series. Mainly, I’m interested in the closure of the religious plotlines of the show which pit monotheism against polytheism.
A primer for those of you who do not watch: The basic plot of the show is that there is a race of humans in a galaxy separate from our own. Thousands of years ago, a tribe of these humans journeyed into space and landed on earth, where they became a primary part of our ancestry. According to Battlestar many if not all of us are descended from them. The people who stayed behind built a technologically advanced civilization over time, creating fleets of battle (space) ships and building a race of robot servants called Cylons. Long story short, the Cylons become sentient and rebel against the humans, there is a huge war until finally an armistice is called. The show takes place 30 years later when the Cylons (many of whom have evolved into “human-forms”, that is, unidentifiable from humans) nuke the massive human civilization, wiping out all but a few thousand of them. A fleet of ships (led by Galactica) decides to journey to find Earth and their long-lost brethren while the Cylons pursue them.
The real intrigue of the show to me, however, is the religious continuity. The humans are polytheistic, and their Gods are one and the same as the Greek gods of earth. The two explanations for this are 1) The 13th Colony (the humans who originally went to earth) brought Greek religion to earth, or 2) The Battlestar creators are going to try to have embodiments of Greek Gods appear on the show in some scientifically sound (or a scifi show) way. I may note that this is what they did with the Cylon God, who turned out to be the missing link in the evolution between machine and human-form.
One observation I found especially interesting during my browsing was the idea that the Cylons are a metaphor for us humans IRL. The Cylons are completely aware that they are machines. They understand exactly how they are made, and yet they still feel the need to rationalize their existence with a God. Is this perhaps a statement about the foolishness of those who reject a scientific explanation for life on earth? If so, then how do the creators mean to depict the humans, who carry on their polytheistic Greek beliefs? I’m a Latin student, and have had my fair share of learning about Greek tradition. The Greeks, historically, are a proud people, almost obsessed with honor, characterized by the stoicism movement, among others. However, the soap-opera quality of Battlestar Galactica seems to contradict this idea of honor. In fact, I’d go so far as to say any principles of Greek life are not present in Battlestar, save for the religious figures. The humans are not unanimously devout in their belief system, either, which contrasts sharply with the Cylons. In this way, it seems that the writers are making a statement about how religion is not something people truly hold to.
The Christ imagery in the Cylon religion is pretty heavy as well. Twelve human-form Cylon models suggests twelve disciples. Aside from that, we discover in the TV movie “Battlestar Galactica: Razor” (Really horrid movie, by the way, felt wrong and disloyal through and through) that the Cylon God is the Cylon who is the genetic link between the pure machines and the human-forms. So supposedly he ushered in the race which are the twelve human forms? Does that perhaps suggest creating his people in his own image?
Let’s run with the Christ imagery for a bit, yes? At the beginning of Season 3, the Cylon model D’Anna (Lucy Lawless, known better to many of us as Xena) began to get “too curious” about her faith, and the other Cylons decided to discontinue her model. My theory here- she’s Judas.
Let me explain. The “Final Five” are human form Cylons whom the other human forms do not know the identities of. According to their religion, they should not seek out the Final Five, though they should hold a great dear of respect for them. D’Anna tried to find out who the Final Five were, and she got “boxed”. Okay, so she didn’t sell out her Lord, but she did go against his wishes. Actually, that Judas thing isn’t great. Maybe she’s Jesus. I mean, she was trying to lead her people to a great revelation, and in killing her they more or less crucified her.
All I can say is, Season Four should have some big surprises in store as far as didactive religion go. If anyone cares, my guesses for the fifth Cylon are either Starbuck or Geida.

-OSK

My fucking Twin isn’t working. Screw you, George Sullivan.