This forum is in permanent archive mode. Our new active community can be found here.

**Spoiler Alert** - A Battlestar discussion

13567

Comments

  • The primary bit of logic no longer works on Cally Tyrol given the latest episode, it seems.
    However, I wouldn't think it was Cally anyway.

    Out of the choice given to us, I agree with Dualla being the best bet.

    However, I do like some of the more crazy ideas, e.g. Baltar's Six is the final Cylon.
  • The show creators put out a "Last Supper" looking picture and said that no one in that picture was the final cylon.

    So, the final cylon is not: Laura Roslin, D'anna (#3), Col. Tigh (Cylon), Lee Adama, Gaius Baltar, Caprica 6, Starbuck, Starbuck's Love Monkey Anders (Cylon), Former Chief Tyrol (Cylon & holding the head-shaving knife), Sharon (#8, Athena version, not Boomer version), Agathon, Admiral Adama.

    Again, my money's on Gaeta. Outside chance it's the super-cool lawyer who defended Baltar and whose name I can't seem to find.
  • The lawyer's name is Romo Lampkin
  • Maybe the final Cylon is the Vice President?
  • I am officially over this show. If I wanted to see a show about religion I'd watch The 700 Club. However, I don't want to see a show about religion. I want to see a show about spaceships.

    I'm very disappointed.
  • I think it is is Duala or the Vice-President.
  • edited June 2008
    I am officially over this show. If I wanted to see a show about religion I'd watchThe 700 Club. However, I don't want to see a show about religion. I want to see a show about spaceships.
    I'm pretty much with you on that, except I wanted to see a show about robot/alien/clone/whatevers that look like people. This last episode really sucked.

    I'm still gonna watch, though.
    Post edited by Funfetus on
  • Well, all that crap with Roslin wasn't too great, but the rest of the episode wasn't bad.
    Diana is an interesting character, for one.

    I'll keep watching.
    I cling to the hope that many of them will get screwed by their religious BS, but it doesn't seem likely :S
  • I am officially over this show. If I wanted to see a show about religion I'd watchThe 700 Club. However, I don't want to see a show about religion. I want to see a show about spaceships.

    I'm very disappointed.
    You apparently have not been paying attention to this plot as it has developed over the LAST 3 seasons!!! Religion plays such a major role in the ENTIRE show. There will be more space battles, I for one thought last eps was one of the best of the show so far.
  • You apparently have not been paying attention to this plot as it has developed over the LAST 3 seasons!!! Religion plays such a major role in the ENTIRE show. There will be more space battles, I for one thought last eps was one of the best of the show so far.
    I'm with you. I'm happy the show hasn't tried to appeal to the lowest common denominator by just showing "LOLZ SPACE BATTLES".
  • Religion has been the core of BSG since it premiered in the 70's.
  • edited June 2008
    Hmm, when I said "wasn't bad" I really should've said great; but Laura's "visions" were annoying.

    It's true that religion is the core of BSG.
    Still, I'd hope against hope that the core message of this new BSG turns out to be "Religion FTL".
    Post edited by lackofcheese on
  • edited June 2008
    Religion has been the core of BSG since it premiered in the 70's.
    I'm not sure if I agree with you on that. They talked about the "Lords of Kobol" sure, but that sort of thing took a definite back seat to the action/adventure. To say that religion was the core of the show would be stretching things quite a bit.

    Unless you're talking about the abortive Galactica 1980. That show never happened.
    Post edited by HungryJoe on
  • No, the original series is based (loosely) on the Book of Mormon. Back then they did a better job of hiding the Mormonism in the show.
  • Religion has been the core of BSG since it premiered in the 70's.
    I'm not sure if I agree with you on that. They talked about the "Lords of Kobol" sure, but that sort of thing took a definite back seat to the action/adventure. To say that religion was the core of the show would be stretching things quite a bit.

    Unless you're talking about the abortiveGalactica 1980. That show never happened.
    I am rewatching the original BSG for laughs.. I mean the assistant to Baltar in the original series, was named Lucifer...........

    I also forgot all about the other alien races... The New BSG is SOOOO much better :-p
  • edited June 2008
    No, the original series is based (loosely) on theBook of Mormon.
    Two things:

    1. I don't think Glen Larson ever explicitly said that it was, and although there are similarities, they are way on the back burner compared to the action. Further, you said that "[r]eligion has been the core of BSG since it premiered in the 70's" Then, you say "[T]he original series is based (loosely) on the Book of Mormon" Which is it? "At the core" or "loosely based" or don't you see the distinction?

    2. If it is true that it's based on the Book of Mormon, then maybe that's why it sucked so much.
    Post edited by HungryJoe on
  • I'm still not convinced that it's based on the Mormon religion. Steve, could you point out the exact points which form the basis of your statement?
  • The plot is based on the Book of Mormon but each episode is not.
  • edited June 2008
    The plot is based on theBook of Mormonbut each episode is not.
    Umm, ok. That doesn't answer my question. What specific plot points are references to the Mormon religion?
    Post edited by Andrew on
  • Are you referring to the Mormon idea that when you die you go to another planet and essentially become a "God" to that planet? What specific aspects of Mormonism are present in the new and/or old series? I am genuinely curious. I have never seen more than a few minutes of the old series, but I have seen every episode currently released of the new series.
  • Don't forget the part about having as much sex as possible to make spirit babies to populate your planet. Are the Cylons the spirit babies? Maybe every time a human had sex, the spirit baby was added to the Cylon conscious/soul queue. That's pretty much all I know about Mormonism though.
  • edited June 2008
    Google results for BSG+mormonism. No time to write now.
    Post edited by HMTKSteve on
  • Google results for BSG+mormonism. No time to write now.
    Most of these articles are talking about theme, not plot, and their claimed thematic links are extremely attenuated. For instance, some of the links discuss marriage "bonding". How many times did we actually see a marriage in that show? Was marriage an integral part of that show? Did it have anything to do with the plot.

    Then one article talked about free will in deciding whether to follow "Count Iblis". Free will - yeah, that's a strictly Mormon doctrine. You certainly won't find any other world religions or philosophies talking about free will.

    Finally, one article talked about that silly "Ship of Light". That comes from Galactica 1980, and as I said in my earlier post, that didn't happen.
  • I don't care who the final Cylon is. It's going to be as pointless and random as the last four were. After that lovely fake-out this episode, the writers can go fuck themselves. At some point last season, this show changed from "OMG will humanity survive" to "OMG who is secretly Jesus". It's mystery-monging for it's own sake and has no real significance.
  • edited June 2008
    You apparently have not been paying attention to this plot as it has developed over the LAST 3 seasons!!! Religion plays such a major role in the ENTIRE show. There will be more space battles, I for one thought last eps was one of the best of the show so far.
    I'm with you. I'm happy the show hasn't tried to appeal to the lowest common denominator by just showing "LOLZ SPACE BATTLES".
    I'd rather have some space battles than an hour of dialogue that sounds like it was written at 2:00 a.m. in a freshman dorm.

    * . . . amid the stench of incense, patchouli, and other things; lit only by a lava lamp . . .*

    "Dude, what if, like, everything that's happening now already DID happen and it will all happen again?"

    "Dude, deep. Write that down."
    Post edited by HungryJoe on
  • I'll drop the "core" claim and just say that it shares themes with the Book of Mormon
    E21. Are there parallels between Battlestar Galactica and Mormonism?
    Yes there are. Glen Larson (producer and creator) is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints, hereafter referred to as the "Mormon" or Latter-day Saint (LDS) church. Some of the ideas in Galactica are unmistakably Mormon in origin.

    1. In Battlestar Galactica, twelve tribes of man founded the Twelve Colonies after departing from Kobol. A lost thirteenth colony colonized Earth. In The Book of Mormon, around 600 BC, the prophet Lehi took a remnant of the tribe of Joseph from Jerusalem to ancient America, during the time of the Babylonian captivity and the scattering of the twelve tribes of Israel.

    2. In "Lost Planet of the Gods", it is revealed that the mankind originated on Kobol, the mother world of all humans. Kobol is a rearranging of the word Kolob, which is the star "nearest unto the throne of God" (see The Book of Abraham, Ch. 3, found in The Pearl of Great Price.) The "Star Kobol" was also the ship on which armistice talks between the Colonials and the Cylons were held.

    3. The episode "War of the Gods", with starred Count Iblis and the Ship of Lights, introduces viewers to various elements of LDS teachings. The universe is under the law of Free Agency: "We cannot interfere with freedom of choice. His, yours, anyone's." Even Count Iblis (Satan) is bound by these laws, for he has only control over those who had "freely given him dominion." Those who accepted Iblis' words were willing to follow him blindly provided he guaranteed their safety. According to the Mormon account of creation (The Book of Moses, Ch. 4, found in The Pearl Of Great Price), one of the reasons God cast Satan out of heaven was because he "sought to destroy the agency of man."

    4. The beings on the Ship of Lights are highly evolved brothers of man, and may also have founded Kobol. The phrase "As you are now, we once were; as we are now, you may become" is a rewording of a quote from Lorenzo Snow: "As man is, God once was; as God is, man may become." This is an important component of the doctrine of Eternal Progression. According to LDS beliefs, all humans are children of God, who is Himself an exalted man. By following God's laws, a believer can enter the path to godhood.

    5. In their sealing ceremony, Adama sealed Apollo and Serina with these words: "A union between this man and this woman not only for now but for all the eternities." In a Latter-day Saint temple marriage, a couple is sealed for "time and all eternity."

    6. There is a similarity in the political structures of the Colonies and the Latter-day Saint church. Both bodies have a Council (or Quorum) of the Twelve, and a President.

    7. In the Galactica 1980 episode "The Super Scouts", Dillon uses the phrase "The glory of the universe is intelligence," a rewording of a passage in Doctrines and Covenants #93: "The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth." In Experiment in Terra, aboard the Ship of Lights, the "angel" John tells Apollo "I have no physical body, as you know it." Apollo, pointing to John's "body", asks him "What do you call that?" "A reflection of intelligence. My spirit, if you will." Later on in "The Super Scouts", Dillon remarked that he was admiring "this choice land." This is a variation of the Book of Mormon description of the Americas "This land is choice above all other lands" (1 Nephi, Ch. 2. et al.)
    Source
    Battlestar Galactica and Mormonism - blog of Ivan Wolfe (while at BYU, Ivan served on the committee for Life, the Universe and Everything - The Marion K. "Doc" Symposium on Science Fiction and Fantasy. In 2001, he served as the symposium chair - guests that year were Harry Turtledove, Tracy Hickman and Jeanne Cavelos. etc...)
  • I'll drop the "core" claim and just say that it shares themes with theBook of Mormon
    It seems you are just talking about BSG classic, not the reimaged series.
  • edited June 2008
    Steve, I've already said that Galactica 1980 did not happen. Now, for those other points, I've said in my earlier post that "free agency" or free will is hardly a unique Mormon concept, the marriage deal is hardly, hardly integral to any of the action in the original BSG, and this deal about the "twelve" obsession and "Kobol" being an anagram of "Kolob" is just so attenuated as to be silly.

    I think that some people must really want to force a Mormon reading onto BSG, but so far, I am of the opinion that others could come up with just as compelling evidence that BSG is influenced by the Koran, the Talmud, or the Upanishads.
    Post edited by HungryJoe on
  • I'll drop the "core" claim and just say that it shares themes with the Book of Mormon
    It seems you are just talking about BSG classic, not the reimaged series.
    Yes. I have not seen the entire new series. I'm nearly done with season 1 (via Netflix) and working through Season 2 (Sci-fi reruns).
    Steve, I've already said that Galactica 1980 did not happen.
    Unless you have something from the creators/producers saying that Galactica 1980 is not canon it is.
    I am of the opinion that others could come up with just as compelling evidence that BSG is influenced by the Koran, the Talmud, or the Upanishads.
    If the creator was a follower of one of those systems of belief or had strong feelings about those belief systems then yes. As it is, the Mormonism tie is easier to see/believe because of the creator's membership in the LDS
Sign In or Register to comment.