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Battlestar Galactica Miniseries: Does the End Justify the Means?
By Rhett Davis
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Amidst the rash of recent re-interpretations of the science-fiction stories of my youth, Michael Rymer’s new Battlestar Galactica (2003) series stands out as one that is more fascinating, more emotional, and overall more satisfying (so far) than the original. I don’t mean to disparage the original series (I loved it when I was a teenager), but its relatively flat characters have been replaced by a host of people with an array of inner conflicts, all seeking redemption against the backdrop of a struggle for the survival of the human race. Furthermore, the previously colorless Cylons are now a race of ultra-sexy, self-confident, cunning, religious-zealot androids that carry out “the will of God” by alternately toying with and exterminating humans. We, the audience, can’t seem to decide whether we want to kill them or be them. By far the most fascinating character, however, is Baltar, who was a simple back-stabber in the original series. Now, he is every bit as sexy, self-confident, and cunning as the Cylons but is in addition a great deal more arrogant and self-serving than anyone else on the show. We can’t decide whether we want to kill him or be him, either.
There are many religious questions raised by the show, but for the sake of brevity let me discuss one that occurred to me after watching the 3-hour pilot movie. In the original series, Commander Adama gives hope to the huddled human masses, saying that they will travel across the galaxy to find Earth. This is quite an exciting plot-line, but the original series never quite delivered. How far away was Earth? How did they know which way to go? Why had they lost contact with Earth? As the show progressed, these questions were never addressed, and we never seemed to get any closer or further away from the final goal.
The new series caught me up in the excitement of my youth when the new Commander Adama announced that he alone had been entrusted with the location of Earth, that the secret was carefully guarded to preserve it as a safe haven. But then, in a private meeting, the President tells Adama that she knows he is lying, that there is no Earth. Adama admits his ruse, but then asks, is it not essentially a good thing to carry on with the lie, for the sake of giving humanity hope?
The Christian in me rebelled against this notion. No, it’s not a good thing.
Most of the people that I ask, however, would agree with Adama. Hope is a good thing, they say. After all, isn’t that what Jesus did? Didn’t he give us hope of eternal life? Does it really matter if it’s a lie? The modern world, apparently, believes that the end justifies the means.
Having felt that way for much of my life, I understand where they are coming from, but today, I must whole-heartedly disagree. If we decide that the end justifies the means, then we get caught in arguments over what is the “greater good” or “greater evil”. From what we know of Jesus, he never let himself get caught in such debates, and instead always came up with an “all good, no evil” solution. He did that by always challenging us to be better people than we can ever dream of being. To me, that’s what grace means. To be “with God” is to be trying, to be seeking Him. That means Jesus was more interested in how we live our lives than what we accomplish, and that seems to have the ring of truth for me.
So, what would be my solution to Commander Adama’s quandary? How to give hope to the huddled masses? Maybe he shouldn’t do anything differently, except perhaps that he himself should believe and have hope that Earth exists. Does all of this mean that the new Battlestar Galactica is anti-Christian? I don’t think so. It raises the question, but doesn’t presume to answer it. After all, the last time I checked, the Earth does exist.
June 8, 2005
Posted by Rhett Davis at June 16, 2005 9:11 PM
Comments
The show does paint monotheism in a negative light. It seems to seek sympathy from people who believe that Christians are forcing their God on everyone.
Posted by: Anonymous at March 14, 2007 11:21 PM
I must disagree with the anonymous comment. Battlestar Galactica doesn't paint monotheism, per se, negatively; rather, it criticizes the violent methods of the monotheists. In addition, the show actually suggests (at least currently) that Cylon theology is correct, that their understanding of a greater plan--one involving both themselves and humans--is more accurate. If Battlestar Galactica were critical of monotheism, then it would portray the humans' polytheism in a more positive light. At the moment, however, the humans' "gods" are portrayed as impotent and irrelevant.
Posted by: Kevin O'Donovan at March 17, 2007 10:56 AM
my question... does battlestar ever reach earth... if so is it populated as it is today?
Posted by: starbuck at January 22, 2008 6:07 PM
Why Adama said "Jesus!" in 1° episode? Was an error or was proposal? Watch it again!
Posted by: Baltar at March 29, 2008 10:37 PM
Every religion on Earth is a fraud. All of them give false hope to the weak minded and unfortunately is spoon fed to children so they grow up believing it to be fact.
Religion gives false hope in order to maintain control of the masses. Any free thinking individual knows this.
What you all need to do is leave your creationist crap out of any parallels drawn and get an education.
The show is amazing, leave it alone.
Posted by: err at April 1, 2008 7:34 AM