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Battlestar Wiki. It seems like there is a Wiki for everything now. This is nice as wikis are good collaborative publishing tools. However, I ignore most of them due to a lack of interest. However, I have found one I am very attracted to. It is a wiki based on the TV show Battlestar Galactica.
The Wiki is currently available in four languages (English, German, Chinese, and Spanish). The English wiki alone has over 1500 articles. What a great project! Yes, I am biased towards this show. It dominated my fantasy life in the late 70s...
Showing posts with label Battlestar Galactica. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Battlestar Galactica. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Monday, October 24, 2005
Born-Again 'Battlestar'
Born-Again 'Battlestar'. Ever since I was a little boy in the 70s, I have been a big fan of Battlestar Galatica. I used to fantasize about the show all the time. I was very delighted when the series was relaunched in 2003 and I have been watching it "religiously" ever since.
I use the term religiously with some irony. Galactica has always been a religiously themed show. I noted this about the 1970s version of the show in my article Battlestar Galactica and Mormonism which I wrote before the new series was put on the air.
The new series is not necessarily Mormon. In fact, much else can be found in it. Over at Keith Tipton's Blog, I made this note on the topic, "I am also a big BG fan. I have been interested in the use of religion in the series in particular. I am intrigued by the Cylon embrace of religion, the eternal return philosophy of the humans ("this has happened before, it will happen again"), and the introduction of the Greek gods as a center of Colonial worship. (They were not in the 70s series.) "
The blogged article of the day goes into more speculation about the theology of the current BG series.
From the site:
In the coming months, television executives will be touting not one, not two, but four religiously themed shows to audiences. With the death of “Touched by an Angel” and the decline of “Joan of Arcadia,” networks are scrambling to find the next spiritual sensation/Nielsen knockout. But viewers don’t have to wait for September to enjoy the most religiously relevant show on television. It’s already here in the guise of “Battlestar Galactica.”
Once lambasted as a prime-time "Star Wars" knock-off, “Battlestar Galactica” has been reincarnated as an edgy, moody human drama. A “reimagining” of the original 1978 series, the current incarnation follows the survivors of the “twelve colonies of man” as they search for the mythical planet Earth following an apocalyptic sneak attack by the Cylons, a mechanical race created by human beings.
I use the term religiously with some irony. Galactica has always been a religiously themed show. I noted this about the 1970s version of the show in my article Battlestar Galactica and Mormonism which I wrote before the new series was put on the air.
The new series is not necessarily Mormon. In fact, much else can be found in it. Over at Keith Tipton's Blog, I made this note on the topic, "I am also a big BG fan. I have been interested in the use of religion in the series in particular. I am intrigued by the Cylon embrace of religion, the eternal return philosophy of the humans ("this has happened before, it will happen again"), and the introduction of the Greek gods as a center of Colonial worship. (They were not in the 70s series.) "
The blogged article of the day goes into more speculation about the theology of the current BG series.
From the site:
In the coming months, television executives will be touting not one, not two, but four religiously themed shows to audiences. With the death of “Touched by an Angel” and the decline of “Joan of Arcadia,” networks are scrambling to find the next spiritual sensation/Nielsen knockout. But viewers don’t have to wait for September to enjoy the most religiously relevant show on television. It’s already here in the guise of “Battlestar Galactica.”
Once lambasted as a prime-time "Star Wars" knock-off, “Battlestar Galactica” has been reincarnated as an edgy, moody human drama. A “reimagining” of the original 1978 series, the current incarnation follows the survivors of the “twelve colonies of man” as they search for the mythical planet Earth following an apocalyptic sneak attack by the Cylons, a mechanical race created by human beings.
Monday, December 08, 2003
SCIFI.COM | Battlestar Galactica
SCIFI.COM Battlestar Galactica I am too excited to write about information literacy. A new version of Battlestar Galactica is premiering tonight on TV as a mini-series. I loved Galactica when I was growing up. It dominated my fantasy life in the late 70s. I imagined I was an 8 year old viper pilot fighting the Cylons...
If you have read my blog for awhile, you know I have a site that talks about Battlestar Galactica and Mormonism. I will of course be looking for this. However, I know that a 25 year updating of this show will mean major changes. I don't care. I love the concept behind this show so much that I will watch it regardless of how much is different. And if it is any good, I will hope that it becomes a new regular series.
If you have read my blog for awhile, you know I have a site that talks about Battlestar Galactica and Mormonism. I will of course be looking for this. However, I know that a 25 year updating of this show will mean major changes. I don't care. I love the concept behind this show so much that I will watch it regardless of how much is different. And if it is any good, I will hope that it becomes a new regular series.
Monday, October 06, 2003
Battlestar Galactica and Mormonism
Battlestar Galactica and Mormonism I have always loved the 70s TV series, Battlestar Galactica. As a boy, I really did think that this was the best show on TV. I still like it a lot and rewatch the original TV pilot on DVD. The SciFi Channel has remade Battlestar Galactica and I look forward to watching it in December.
One aspect of the show which may or may not be incorporated into the remake is the extensive references to Mormonsim in the series. The blogged site of the day reads, "Religion and television directly influence one another. This often is made obvious when television programs openly talk about or are based on religious themes. The same is true when religious figures decry the influence of television on American culture from the pulpit. However, sometimes this connection is not always so obvious. This is made clear by the influence of the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints (popularly know as the Mormon Church) on the 1970s science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica. The show was heavily based on similarities in plot with the Mormon Church and several of the church's doctrines were incorporated into the series. The topic of Mormonism and Battlestar Galactica has been previously written about (Ford 83-87). This paper will explore some of the issues raised in that article more closely and examine some other issues that were not written about. Ford's examination of the Battlestar Galactica series appears to have been based solely on the key episode "War of the Gods." His lack of knowledge of the series is evidenced by his misspellings of Galactica (as Gallactica) and the character Baltar (as Boltar). Ford also mistakenly places the events in the series in the far future when the series clearly places the story as being contemporary. (See episodes "The Hand of God" and "Galactica Discovers the Earth.") However, Ford's article is worth reading, in particular for his plot synopsis of the episode "War of the Gods." Ford's article also appears to be the only published scholarship on the Battlestar Galactica series. "
And reaches it climax with, "Ford wrote about the Mormon influences on Battlestar Galactica that, "these doctrines are generalized and 'philosophied' enough to lose any direct identification with Mormon theology" (Ford 87). However, this does not appear to be the case. No other Christian denomination teaches the doctrines of eternal progression or marriage for eternity. The Mormon belief in man having the potential to advance to godhood in the afterlife is a polytheistic belief that no other mainstream Christian denomination teaches. The elements of Mormonism in Battlestar Galactica are directly identifiable as Mormon. " Full article at: http://www.michaellorenzen.com/galactica.html.
One aspect of the show which may or may not be incorporated into the remake is the extensive references to Mormonsim in the series. The blogged site of the day reads, "Religion and television directly influence one another. This often is made obvious when television programs openly talk about or are based on religious themes. The same is true when religious figures decry the influence of television on American culture from the pulpit. However, sometimes this connection is not always so obvious. This is made clear by the influence of the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints (popularly know as the Mormon Church) on the 1970s science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica. The show was heavily based on similarities in plot with the Mormon Church and several of the church's doctrines were incorporated into the series. The topic of Mormonism and Battlestar Galactica has been previously written about (Ford 83-87). This paper will explore some of the issues raised in that article more closely and examine some other issues that were not written about. Ford's examination of the Battlestar Galactica series appears to have been based solely on the key episode "War of the Gods." His lack of knowledge of the series is evidenced by his misspellings of Galactica (as Gallactica) and the character Baltar (as Boltar). Ford also mistakenly places the events in the series in the far future when the series clearly places the story as being contemporary. (See episodes "The Hand of God" and "Galactica Discovers the Earth.") However, Ford's article is worth reading, in particular for his plot synopsis of the episode "War of the Gods." Ford's article also appears to be the only published scholarship on the Battlestar Galactica series. "
And reaches it climax with, "Ford wrote about the Mormon influences on Battlestar Galactica that, "these doctrines are generalized and 'philosophied' enough to lose any direct identification with Mormon theology" (Ford 87). However, this does not appear to be the case. No other Christian denomination teaches the doctrines of eternal progression or marriage for eternity. The Mormon belief in man having the potential to advance to godhood in the afterlife is a polytheistic belief that no other mainstream Christian denomination teaches. The elements of Mormonism in Battlestar Galactica are directly identifiable as Mormon. " Full article at: http://www.michaellorenzen.com/galactica.html.
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