This is topic Thoughts for those watching Battlestar Galaticia in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.


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Posted by Jay (Member # 5786) on :
 
So I have an interesting thing I noticed about the new Battlestar Galaticia. I’ve noticed that the Cylons are going on about the one true God while the people seem to worship the gods of Kobol.
Almost seems like a Jewish reference with how when the Jews came out of Egypt they were ordered by God to kill all those that inhabited the Promised Land. So now the Cylons are ordered to do the same.
Also, the reference to the 12 colonies all the time.
Not sure where this is going. But I thought it was an interesting point to think about.
 
Posted by Irami Osei-Frimpong (Member # 2229) on :
 
They are doing a great job with that show. I have a different read on what's going on, but regardless, the journey is thrilling and edifying.

It's funny. Myths orignally were the telling words appropriate to talk about the heroes and the Gods. It's why I think that stories that aren't concerned with heroism or divinity, both words broadly termed, are a little bit worthless. Battlestar Galactica tackles these issues straight on and with keen sight, and I think it shows. That said, I like Starbuck as Achilles.
 
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
 
Here's a BG question....

How long till I stop hearing the old BG theme in my head whenever I think of the show and START hearing the NEW BG theme?

As to the theological question.. I don't know where they're going with it, but I understand they will explore it more deeply in season 2.

Pix
 
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
 
How is it that something can be "a little bit worthless"? Seems like a binary thing to me.
 
Posted by Irami Osei-Frimpong (Member # 2229) on :
 
The problem, Noeman, is that I'm hedging.

To even introduce the idea of worth or value with regards to art or divinity is blasphemeous. It throws us headlong into a discussion of payoff, and that's fine if you are talking about widgets or money, I'm not sure that worth and value belong in a discussion concerning anything important.

But I don't know, so I'm hedging. If I say, "stories that aren't concerned with heroism or divinity, both words broadly termed, aren't art." People look at me as if I'm down right unmusical. I'm not sure that it is true, and I didn't want that fight on this thread.

[ March 01, 2005, 07:10 PM: Message edited by: Irami Osei-Frimpong ]
 
Posted by AntiCool (Member # 7386) on :
 
Irami, do you go out of your way to create new definitions for commonly-used words?

edit: That came out harsher than was intended. How about this question: why have you decided to use non-standard personal definitions for commonly used words?

[ March 01, 2005, 07:22 PM: Message edited by: AntiCool ]
 
Posted by Telperion the Silver (Member # 6074) on :
 
I like it that the humans are poly and the cylons are mono. VERY COOL. And how people have special devotions to specific Gods, ie Starbuck worshiping Artemis and Aphrodite above the others.

I think that the cylon God will turn out to be Satan.

In TOS the human fleet runs into the mysterious Count Iblis who turns out to be the Prince of Darkness. And he is at war with the Beings of Light, who turn out to be Angels.
 
Posted by Telperion the Silver (Member # 6074) on :
 
I also think it's cool that they will bring back the Quorum of the Twelve when they have elections. I bet they elect Baltar to the Council.
 
Posted by Fishtail (Member # 3900) on :
 
I kind of like the military themes they've explored, from civilian control vs. military necessity to the pitfalls of fraternization to the dilemma of risking multiple lives in an effort to search for and rescue one downed pilot.
 
Posted by Mabus (Member # 6320) on :
 
I was actually more interested in the attitude of the Cylons (in the one episode I've seen). Obviously, both sides usually regard themselves as in the right, but the Cylon's perspective seemed unusually....agreeable. As though they might even prove right in the end, considering the way he was treated, and the existence of Cylons who don't even know they're Cylons.

I'd be more interested to find the Cylon God isn't Satan, I think...

[ March 01, 2005, 09:51 PM: Message edited by: Mabus ]
 
Posted by Telperion the Silver (Member # 6074) on :
 
I loved the last episode.

HOW did that Cylon get prescience? Was it all a matter of, as he said, looking at the patterns and following them to the eventual conclusion? Did he have some quantum extra-dimentional computer in his head? Did God speak to him?

I loved how Starbuck got to scream at him about how evil the Cylons and their actions are. Finally we have a face to be angry at about the death of our civilization.

I'm getting more afraid of Boomer as we go along. They seem to be slowly showing how contact with us is changing her loyalty to us...but I just bet she's gonna the most bloodthirsty out of all of them. Number 6 did salute the Boomer model in the pilot with "by your command".... [Dont Know]
 
Posted by Amanecer (Member # 4068) on :
 
quote:
I'm getting more afraid of Boomer as we go along. They seem to be slowly showing how contact with us is changing her loyalty to us...but I just bet she's gonna the most bloodthirsty out of all of them.
I agree, I'm very interested to see where they go with that. I'm also wondering if the two Boomers, the one on Caprica and the one on the ship, will end up making different choices. That would suggest that the Boomers do have more to them than just their programming and that the Cyclons claims of having souls would have more validity.

Another thought that I've had... The Cyclons are almost identical to humans. It's so hard to detect cyclons that their samples have to go through radiation tests. This means their DNA is virtually indistinguishable from human DNA. And in the pilot they said they had all the same ograns. I'm wondering if they can reproduce with humans. Number 6 did say that she wanted to have kids with Gaius... that would be pretty darn interesting...
 
Posted by Jay (Member # 5786) on :
 
The Cylons seem to have some kind of obsession with Love too. Might be the one concept they can’t understand or experience.

I guess Baltar got his detector working. I was half thinking it was going to have to be the red stripe when they make love that would be the detector.

The prescience might be like Isaac Asimov’s Psychohistory

Gateworld has the whole season episode synopsis since they’ve already been shown in Briton. Might be some small spoilers but not really.
http://www.gateworld.net/galactica/s1/index.shtml
 
Posted by Telperion the Silver (Member # 6074) on :
 
I keep wondering why the Cylons decided to come back and attack the Twelve Colonies of Man.

Doesn't seem logical. They had a peace treaty, they had a new world (where is that new world I wonder) and the Twelve Colonies seemed to have stopped caring about the fate of the Cylons. Humanity didn't really pose a threat to them. Talk about a preemptive strike.

This, in addition to what happened in TOS, makes me think the Cylon God is actually Satan...using the Cylons to wipe out the true children of God/the Gods.

And what about that little song Boomer was humming when she was with the Cylon Raider? Hehe...a Cylon lullaby perhaps? [Wink]

[ March 02, 2005, 01:04 AM: Message edited by: Telperion the Silver ]
 
Posted by gnixing (Member # 768) on :
 
having seen all 13 episodes in season 1, i must say that it is good to know they are working on season 2. so many unanswered questions...
 
Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
 
quote:
I'm wondering if they can reproduce with humans.
I think that's exactly why the Boomer on Caprica basically seduced Helos(?).
 
Posted by Irami Osei-Frimpong (Member # 2229) on :
 
quote:
why have you decided to use non-standard personal definitions for commonly used words?
I think people use a words without thinking. Over-eager credit card users have a similar affliction, and just because it's become a common disease doesn't make it at all proper.

There is also a sense in which if one ignores what the word says and adheres to contextual definitions instead, one ignores the phenomena that word refers to.

In which case, language and communication become chatter or some game where everyone is trying to get all the same in-jokes rather than a truth-seeking exercise concerning the world. I'm not perfect, but I try to get the important things right. When one speaks to facts, religion, art, and music, it's worth figuring out what sense those words actually have rather than just chatting around them.

___________________________________

It's like knowing ones history. I mean, somehow we think that the chronicling of wars is important to who we are today. The chronicling of thought is at least as important.

[ March 02, 2005, 11:39 AM: Message edited by: Irami Osei-Frimpong ]
 
Posted by Jay (Member # 5786) on :
 
So a lack of discipline and self responsibility (aka - Over-eager credit card) is now a disease? Great… so now the government will get involved and it’s not these peoples fault that they spend to much so we should make it so it’s easier for them to get their fix and get treatment for them. It’s not their fault right?
Just like it’s not the Cylons fault that they killed most of the human race. God told them to right? So we shouldn’t hate them. They’re just doing what they were told and once that disease is fixed in their programming we can live in peace with them.
 
Posted by Irami Osei-Frimpong (Member # 2229) on :
 
quote:
So a lack of discipline and self responsibility (aka - Over-eager credit card) is now a disease?
It was an infelicitous metaphor, and I should know better. Metaphors are always inadequate, carrying( I think that pherein is the verb) beyond meta what the thing is.

It's just when I typed afflicted, I wanted to keep the imagery.

You can see the whole post as a big partisan swipe if you want, but I just wanted to talk a little history and take a cheapie at over-indulgent credit card spenders.

[ March 02, 2005, 03:37 PM: Message edited by: Irami Osei-Frimpong ]
 
Posted by Mabus (Member # 6320) on :
 
Jay....in theory, if someone programmed the Cylons to kill and they can't override it, the deaths should be the responsibility of the programmer, not the robot. Not fundamentally different from "not guilty by reason of insanity", except that in the latter there's no programmer to sentence.

[ March 02, 2005, 09:15 PM: Message edited by: Mabus ]
 
Posted by saxon75 (Member # 4589) on :
 
Irami,

Language is not a Truth. Words are not a Truth. Words are not capable of conveying real information. If I ask you what is this thing I'm typing on, what will you say? Will you say it is a keyboard? I don't want to know what it's called, I want to know what it is. Is it the thing on my desk? I don't want to know where it is, I want to know what it is. Is it plastic and metal and silicon? I don't want to know what it's made of, I want to know what it is. Words are not capable of conveying any meaning in themselves; they are only signposts to the things we already know. Pointers to our a priori knowledge. As such, the only value that words have is in their ability to guide us to the Truth that we already know. When you use a word in a way that no one else does, even if it is etymologically correct you are making it harder for people to follow you, so you are obfuscating Truth.
 
Posted by Jay (Member # 5786) on :
 
Yuck…. Definitions. We should have a you must say something about Cylons in your post rule!
Interesting. So since the Cylons have come to program themselves I wonder how they decide which program to instill. Wonder if it’s almost a free will sort of thing. If they do that you could have a Cylon traitor who doesn’t want to kill humans. Bomer could betray them and might become the key to defeating them.
 


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