Battlestar Galactica's Premise is Stupid

[stromboli]

Battlestar Galactica's creator, Glen Larson, is a Mormon. The whole original premise is closely based around the Mormon religion:
http://mormonthink.com/glossary/battlestargalactica.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_ ... _Galactica

Thought you people knew that.

[SGOS]

I remember when the series was on TV. For some reason, even though I've always loved sci-fi, I couldn't get into Battlestar.  I tried.  Everything about the idea screamed, "THIS HAS GOT TO BE GOOD!"  But I just couldn't seem to care about the show.  I had no idea the premise came from a Mormon, and I wouldn't disqualify something on that basis alone, but maybe something was coming through from his Mormon background that made the show mundane or pointless for me.

[Insult to Rocks]

Well that's.... disappointingly generic. At least Mass Effect had the main robot villains be something other than the "revolting slaves" archetype. I kinda wish I didn't ask, as it seems like Galactica has nothing really unique to offer. I mean, sure there is the religious parallels, but the audience that would appeal to doesn't seem the type to be interested in sci-fi epics. Is there anything really compelling about the show, like good characterization or something? I only ask because I've heard about Galactica for years, but never seen it, and would rather not be disappointed the way I was with Star Trek.

It had really good characters (believable people with their own strengths and flaws) thrust into a perpetually bleak, doomed setting.  You really start to grow attached to at least a couple of the characters and start tuning in just to see if they get to stay alive -or stay human- this week or not (a formula that Walking Dead and Game of Thrones also put to good use)

It covers religion, atheism, politics, war (especially wartime ethics), all the questions that the prospect of sentient machines brings to the table, and it also delves a lot into the nature of humanity.  It's a space opera that's really light on the technobabble and really heavy on drama.

It also had a number of parallels to what were current events at the time.  (The Cylons were thinly-veiled Christian fundamentalists, who were waxing in power at the time and gave us secular-minded folks quite a scare)

The writing in the first three seasons was pretty good, imo.  And the music was phenomenal.  And when it first aired, there was a real dearth of good sci-fi on the air and it filled the void nicely.

I strongly recommend both the re-imagined series (including Razor and The Plan) and Caprica.

That's....better, I guess. It's just, sooo many sci-fi stories  completely screw up plotlines involving robots. You either have the "Blade Runner" type robots, who are designed to look and act like people, and are discriminated against because "they're different", which is ironic, considering that these robots are almost always used as a paper thin allegory for people. The story would be the same if you used clones or other synthetic people, and the morals are almost always hackneyed and overused.
Then there's the other type, where the robots rebel and try to kill humanity. The problem with this is all the writers do to the robots is make them sentient. They don't give them their own unique culture or personality. All they do is make them boring one-dimensional villains who have no more complicated of motives than "kill all people". All this does is make it seem like building robots in general is a bad idea, rather than slavery. Galactica seems to combine the worst of both of them, and I simply cannot bring myself to be interested in a conflict where only one side has any good characterization. That seems to be a big problem with shows these days, having all the focus be on the protagonists and never giving the main villans any good characterization.

[SGOS]

Battlestar Galactica's creator, Glen Larson, is a Mormon. The whole original premise is closely based around the Mormon religion:
http://mormonthink.com/glossary/battlestargalactica.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_ ... _Galactica

Thought you people knew that.

I got this from your first link dealing with similarities of the show to Mormon doctrine:

9. Tribunal:  
BSG: When Starbuck was suspected of murder, he was tried by a tribunal.

 LDS: The LDS church tries its members for transgressions in a tribunal.

Not that this is a particularly important part of the comparisons, but it just struck me as oddly religious.  Why do religions like such archaic names that create such a grave images?  A Trial" would be easier to understand.  But no.  Some poor schlep that misses too many church services would apparently have to be dragged into a special room and be tried by a Tribunal.  I picture a couple of burley torturers dressed in black leather with leather hood masks standing by a door way that leads to a horrifying chamber of redemption.

I had some hippy friends years ago that organized a corporation that did contract work for the Forest Service, things like tree planting and timber cruising.  There was no crew foreman, as their individual lifestyles would not fit into such an organized system.  The profits were distributed someway to the crew, probably based on hours worked, since people were somewhat free to show up when they felt like it.

It seemed to me like that could lead to problems that could render the corporation ineffective, so I asked one of them about that.  But they already had a system in place to insure they would remain viable to the Forest Service as a corporate contractor.  Basically, if someone wasn't pulling their weight, they would be called before a "Tribunal" (although I'm not sure if anything ever happened to anyone who would be called before a tribunal), but in this case, "A Tribunal" was just something humorous they came up with meaning "a discussion with a potential slacker."  Actually, they never had to have a tribunal, but it was in place as if it were something hanging over everyone's head.

The Corporation remained viable for many years, but was eventually pushed aside by more "legitimate" companies that hired undocumented Mexicans and paid them shit wages, which made them a cheaper alternative for the government who didn't seem to mind buying services from companies that basically used slave labor and was actually operating contrary to government policy.

But a think a tribunal before a bunch of Mormon Elders would be a horrible experience.

[Insult to Rocks]

Battlestar Galactica's creator, Glen Larson, is a Mormon. The whole original premise is closely based around the Mormon religion:
http://mormonthink.com/glossary/battlestargalactica.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_ ... _Galactica

Thought you people knew that.

I got this from your first link dealing with similarities of the show to Mormon doctrine:

9. Tribunal:  
BSG: When Starbuck was suspected of murder, he was tried by a tribunal.

 LDS: The LDS church tries its members for transgressions in a tribunal.

Not that this is a particularly important part of the comparisons, but it just struck me as oddly religious.  Why do religions like such archaic names that create such a grave images?  A Trial" would be easier to understand.  But no.  Some poor schlep that misses too many church services would apparently have to be dragged into a special room and be tried by a Tribunal.  I picture a couple of burley torturers dressed in black leather with leather hood masks standing by a door way that leads to a horrifying chamber of redemption.

I had some hippy friends years ago that organized a corporation that did contract work for the Forest Service, things like tree planting and timber cruising.  There was no crew foreman, as their individual lifestyles would not fit into such an organized system.  The profits were distributed someway to the crew, probably based on hours worked, since people were somewhat free to show up when they felt like it.

It seemed to me like that could lead to problems that could render the corporation ineffective, so I asked one of them about that.  But they already had a system in place to insure they would remain viable to the Forest Service as a corporate contractor.  Basically, if someone wasn't pulling their weight, they would be called before a "Tribunal" (although I'm not sure if anything ever happened to anyone who would be called before a tribunal), but in this case, "A Tribunal" was just something humorous they came up with meaning "a discussion with a potential slacker."  Actually, they never had to have a tribunal, but it was in place as if it were something hanging over everyone's head.

The Corporation remained viable for many years, but was eventually pushed aside by more "legitimate" companies that hired undocumented Mexicans and paid them shit wages, which made them a cheaper alternative for the government who didn't seem to mind buying services from companies that basically used slave labor and was actually operating contrary to government policy.

But a think a tribunal before a bunch of Mormon Elders would be a horrible experience.

Wait, isn't Galactica technically a military ship? So, wouldn't you be tried by a military tribunal anyway?

[stromboli]

I was watching BG when I was a Mormon, and I couldn't stomach the symbology. Talk about blatantly stupid. I didn't watch the (supposedly) much better version on the sci-fi channel, and I'll miss this one.

[mykcob4]

Battlestar Galactica's creator, Glen Larson, is a Mormon. The whole original premise is closely based around the Mormon religion:
http://mormonthink.com/glossary/battlestargalactica.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_ ... _Galactica

Thought you people knew that.

YUUUUP as it relates to Moses and the twelve tribes of Isreal.
Galactica is a spaceship. Actually a mothership that escorts thousands of civilian spaceships. These people have left their planet(homeland) to escape persecution (religious persecution). They attempt to find their original homeland (Earth) or as it parrallels religion the promise land. The Cylons represent all the people in the bible that are nonbelievers. Cainaites, Egyptians,...etc!!! The fact that they are robots is more than just sci-fi it is a metaphor to state that anyone that isn't christian are blind robots that are immoral...etc!!!!
Galactica was originally a TV show that the networks bought for two reasons...for entertainment and to also instruct people how to live. That was a big part of TV and in those days and in some ways still is!
To me it is all rubish. It dumbs down people and is a religious brainwashing tool like 'Davey and Goliath'.

[Hijiri Byakuren]

Sooooo, where did the Cylons come from? Why are they so advanced? Why do they want to kill all humans? Excuse my ignorance of Battlestar lore. Also, how do you lose track of Earth? Where they from a totally independent colony, ungoverned by Earth? Did Earth get abandoned? And if they have barely heard of it, how do they know how to get there, let alone survive there? Or do they not, and this is just a long shot suicide-mission type situation?

In the original BSG, the Cylins were created by a now-extinct alien race. In the newer one they were created by humanity. In the former case, the Cylons just see humans as an inferior life form. In the latter, it begins with the Cylons simply rebelling, and later returning as a result of internal strife between some of the humanoid models and the "Final 5" models, with the former acting out in defiance to the idea that the human form is somehow better than being machines.

The 12 colonies and Earth are actually both colonies of a world called Kobol (an anagram of Kolob from Mormonism), and they were founded on opposite sides of the universe, hence why they have no contact. In the original, they know that Earth exists, they're just not sure where it is. In the newer one, Earth is thought to be a myth, and Adama started the "search" for it as a way to boost morale. It's not until much later that they figure out that Earth exists.

[spoil:1cyvlcr5]Which, as it turns out, is not our planet at all, and is completely devoid of life thanks to a conflict with their own version of Cylons. They find our planet as a result of a vision the character Kara Thrace had been having over the course of the season, and they decide to name it Earth as well because at that point, "Earth" had come to embody the end of their journey, which they had indeed arrived at.[/spoil:1cyvlcr5]

[Hydra009]

Battlestar Galactica's creator, Glen Larson, is a Mormon. The whole original premise is closely based around the Mormon religion:
http://mormonthink.com/glossary/battlestargalactica.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_ ... _Galactica

Thought you people knew that.

I did.  I just didn't bring it up because I assumed that it was public knowledge (and didn't want to turn people off to the show from people's near-universal dislike of mormonism)

The show is chock full of religious symbolism and not terribly subtle about it either, which can be annoying at times, but not to the point that it ruins it.  This is not the Bible in space (thank the gods).  This is a story that stands on its own merits.

I did like how characters' spiritual experiences are open to interpretation.  Some people chalk it up to God, some don't.  And there's never really a canon explanation for some of the events in the show.

[GrinningYMIR]

I enjoyed the show originally, but it went downhill after season 3 and once season give brought out the cycle of synthetics I abandoned all liking of it

Haven't watched it in years

[Nonsensei]

I like sci-fi a lot and for a while I liked BSG.

But sometimes the writer makes the odds so long against the protagonists that theres no way to convincingly resolve the situation in any way other than "and they all died horribly, the end".

I felt BSG was that kind of story.

[Hydra009]

I like sci-fi a lot and for a while I liked BSG.

But sometimes the writer makes the odds so long against the protagonists that theres no way to convincingly resolve the situation in any way other than "and they all died horribly, the end".

I felt BSG was that kind of story.

I agree.

[spoil:14gt9cky]Especially New Caprica.  That was pretty much gg right there.[/spoil:14gt9cky]

[caseagainstfaith]

I didn't happen to see this thread when it first started. So, some of the things I was going to say were already said. Though I don't even understand why ZT even started this thread to complain about the premise when ZT seemed to not see enough of the show to know what the premise actually was!

As noted, many people thought Earth was a myth.  Including Adama, who was the one who made the mission to find Earth!!!  It was for morale.

Like many people, I didn't necessarily like every direction the plots went.  I for one didn't like how the Cylons stopped being the machines who "have a plan" and turned into the machines who "didn't have a clue".  We were told in the opening credits for years they "have a plan".  But as the show progressed, we find the Cylons didn't even know why they were trying to kill off the humans, or what they were going to do if and when they were successful. I didn't like that plot path at all.

Even so, it was generally extremely well acted, and many individual episodes were spectacular.  Very very dark.  I enjoyed that part.

So, yes, we can complain all day about missed opportunities and plot paths we didn't like, such as I did.  But, was it fun to watch.  At least for me, at least most of the time, yes.... albeit more so in the earlier seasons.

[mykcob4]

I started thinking about this and wondering what the premiss was of many American Sci-Fi TV shows of the 60s & 70s.
'Time Tunnel' basically had a good idea. It would tecah people about history. Unfortunately it taught revissionist history and didn't take on controversial subjects.
'Lost in Space' was basically 'Swiss family Robinson' to the point that the charters were named Robinson but it was just silly and nonsensical.
'Star Trek' was basically 'Jason and the Argonauts' or even the 'Illiad' but evolved to be more original and compelling. It also took on contemporay issues such as race and womens rights.

[Shiranu]

Wait, isn't Galactica technically a military ship? So, wouldn't you be tried by a military tribunal anyway?

This.