Battlestar Galactica – Revelations

Battlestar Galactica – Revelations

Ok, so let me break into a bit of an episode review (more like a light social commentary).

[EDIT: actually, this post is more social commentary + my thoughts on BSG, and NOT a true"episode recap".  If you're looking for an interesting episode recap, scroll down to the very bottom...]

Whenever I watch Battlestar Galactica (BSG), I wonder about two things:

1. I recall hearing about how BSG attracts a decently wide audience.  As in, it’s not just nerds & geeks & sci-fi fans who watch it (i.e. me), but “normal” people, as well.  I’m not sure how true that is, but it does make me wonder…. But I do think BSG does have a decently broad appeal (especially amongst university students?), largely due to my next point…
2. BSG tries to tackle a lot of issues centered around meaning (by “meaning”, I mean things that people think truly matter in life).  Which is strange, considering that a lot of people think that our generation/culture is a post-modern one that has largely rejected the notion of objective meaning/truth/morals.  That attitude can be summed up by the phrase, “what’s true for me might not be true for you”, but BSG’s feel seems to go against that, tackling issues more from the “is this the right thing to do?” viewpoint.  You might think that’s common sense, but I’ve had my share of experiences talking to university students who come from that relativistic morality viewpoint (i.e. the “don’t try and apply your moral standards to anyone outside of you” attitude).

So to build on point #2, I DEFINITELY notice that BSG makes an intentional effort to flesh out at least 3 or 4 of these meaningful topics:

relationships/sex, spirituality/God, ethics, and human personhood

Here are my thoughts on these themes.

Relationships/sex: people long for connection, intimacy, and relationship.  I think that’s why movies/music/literature always feature relationships.  And it’s actually related to the next item on the list.

Spirituality/God: it’s funny how, for a science-fiction story, BSG brings in polytheism and now the concept of God and a “higher power” orchestrating things for a higher purpose, as Kara/Starbuck and Lee/Apollo were discussing in this week’s episode.  My take – in general, people know that purpose and objective truth has got to exist (as opposed to “it’s all relative”/there’s no real meaning to life except for what your imagination makes up). The alternative is meaning-lessness, after all.

Ethics: it’s hard to create a story, even a science-fiction story, where you completely airlock (i.e. throw out) morals.  It would make no sense.  So it makes a LOT of sense when you make moral dilemmas central to your story, like BSG has.  And I think that resonates with viewers.

Human personhood: Ok, I have to admit that I’ve only seen like 7 cumulative hours of BSG ever in my life, and only know the episode plots of like 1-2 seasons worth, but I do know that the whole Cylon/human thing brings up the question of how “human” Cylons are when they think/feel/even-thought-they-were-human.  The interesting thing is that this relates to the question of what gives a “person” value… do you have to be an adult human?  What about a Cylon/human infant?  Does an infant (or an unborn child, for that matter) still have basic human rights just because it’s a real (albeit, underdeveloped) person?  I’ve seen over the years how TV shows have come to value the lives of the unborn or infants (especially when the fate of many depends on that person), so I think it’s an encouraging sign that our generation is starting to realize that eliminating the unborn isn’t something wonderful, to say the least.

EDIT/ADDED (June 14th):

I just realized that I didn’t give any episode specifics.  Sorry if you came here and expected an episode recap!
Here’s a great one, though:

http://www.webomatica.com/wordpress/2008/06/14/battlestar-galactica-revelations/

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Battlestar et al.

So a lot of stuff happened today that I want to blog about.  Actually, a lot of stuff has happened over the last weeks (months?) that I’ve been wanting to blog about, but I never get around to doing it.  And consequently, I end up forgetting about what I want to blog about.  But anyways, I’m starting with today, because today was filled with enough things in its own right.

Let’s start with 4AM today (Friday, June 13th).  That’s when my roommate and I approx. went to sleep (he was playing Team Fortress 2 – I ended up watching).  Fast forward 4 hours later, and I woke up around 8-8:30AM to get ready to head to the airport (YVR)… to see Gilberto (our Dalhousie friend from Halifax Project 2007).

Gilberto, me, and Johnson @ YVR (Vancouver International Airport)

Which brings me to an important point: people are back from summer Campus for Christ projects, now!  Staff/interns are still debriefing, and national projects are still going, but a lot of our students (who went international) are back!  In addition to seeing Gilberto and meeting some new students from across Canada, I also got to see Steve Chan and Amy Li at the airport.

Anyways, after hanging out with Gilberto and seeing him off (Johnson was there, too), it was off to Metrotown for me!  To play I-T-G!  So I got my groove on and played there with Alana and friends for about an hour and a half.  And then it was off to SFU to get some work done! (Note: at this point it was already around 2-3PM; also, I get work done on the bus on my laptop)

Jessica and Jacky – feet IN the Groove

After a couple of hours at school, I finished all the revisions that my prof has returned to me so far.  So the good news is that I’m caught up with my thesis-writing.  For now.  Then I headed home right away to catch the half season finale of Battlestar Galactica (episode: Revelations), of which I missed about 15 minutes because I had to leave school late.

- Read my post on Battlestar Galactica (Revelations) thoughts -

And finally, I should also say that I got to watch Ella Enchanted on TV tonight.  I must say, despite Roger Ebert’s glowing review of it from like a few years ago, it is definitely a chick flick.  With some annoying writing in parts and annoying plot elements.  And a story that’s frustrating from a logical point of view, sometimes.  But anyways, I still liked it, even if it made me feel a little sick inside when it was all said and done.  It’s so a chick flick… ewww… (although I do kind of like chick flicks).