GALACTICA

I just finished watching the episode "Murder On the Rising Star" where Starbuck is wrongly accused of murder. Starbuck faces an interesting dilemma. He is urged to plead self defense. By admitting his guilt in this manner, he would receive a much lighter sentence.

This situation is very similar to the legal system we have today in the United States. Criminal defendants are routinely offered plea bargains, and if they insist on a trial and lose, they suffer a much more severe penalty.

The justice system assumes that the defendant is always guilty. Theoretically, a defendant who believes he is innocent is not allowed to accept a plea bargain. He has to testify under oath that the facts presented are correct, so he'd be commiting perjury by agreeing to a plea bargain for a crime he didn't commit.

Cassiopeia urges Starbuck to plead self defense even if he's guilty because the evidence against him is so overwhelming. But Starbuck refuses, and is almost sentenced to life in the prison barge but for good luck on the part of Boomer and Apollo.

Although there are some similarities, there are also some major differences between the criminal justice system on the Galactica and what we have here in the U.S. Starbuck is not entitled to a trial by a jury of his peers, but rather there seems to be a "tribunal" composed of Commander Adama and two other high ranking officers. Furthermore, Starbuck is not granted a reasonable amount of time for his "protector" to investigate his case. He only has 10 centars (is that days?) for his defense team to figure out their defense. Even though Apollo and Boomer have some very promising leads, they are not granted a sufficient amount of time to complete their investigation. And the implication is that once Starbuck is convicted by the tribunal, that's the end of it, even if evidence of his innocence is later discovered.

Clearly, the justice system aboard the fleet is lacking in the basic protections that we take for granted in the United States. This is unusual considering that the message of Battlestar Galactica is supposed to be about freedom. The humans are supposed to represent the United States, and the Cylons are supposed to represent the former Soviet Union. President Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union an "evil empire" a few years after Battlestar Galactica was aired on TV.

Despite the harsh justice system with lack of due process at criminal trials, there is no death penalty. Even Baltar, who deserves execution more than anyone I can think of, is given a nice private cell aboard the prison barge.

It's hard to resist commenting about the links between Mormonism and Battlestar Galactica, because it's one of the most interesting things going on in the show. Glen Larson explained on the interview included with the DVD that the Mormon religion, among other things, influenced Battlestar Galactica.

But because I comment on it, some might get the false impression that I am some kind of expert on the Mormon religion, and that would not be the case. But I had a friend who was Mormon (or LDS as they like to call themselves), and he told me about the magical underwear and how God came from another planet and all the other Mormon beliefs that aren't well known to the general public.

Most of the Mormon influences in the show aren't that subtle, so they are relatively easy to point out. Just like the Egyptian influences weren't that subtle. For example, in the "Lost Planet of the Gods", when you see the Galactica crew walking into what looks like the Great Pyramid in Egypt, you don't have to be a scholar of Egyptology to suspect that there might be some kind of Eyptian influence in that episode.

Perhaps the Mormon connection in "Lost Planet of the Gods" is more subtle. Kobol is obviously an anagram for the planet (or is it the star system?) Kolob from which the Mormon God is supposed to have come from.

Starbuck and Apollo are discussing Cassiopeia’s relationship with Cain:

STARBUCK: Look, I don’t care if Cassiopeia feels something for this Cain. I just don’t understand the, uh, combination. I mean he’s uh, he’s uh

APOLLO: Too old? Starbuck, I think you better read up on your Book of the Word, some of the Elders of Kobol were married to some very young wives

STARBUCK Wives? Aren’t we getting a little ahead of ourselves here?

The “Book of the Word” and the elders having young wives (and notice the plural) sounds like those Mormon marriage practices where the elder Mormons had many young wives.

It’s a pretty strange thing for Apollo to burst out saying in this situation, isn’t it? Boxey is the one who truly has a handle on things:

BOXEY: Poor Starbuck. Oh well. He still has Athena…

Damn right he does! Starbuck is an idiot for not pursuing a relationship Athena, who offers the following advantages over Cassiopeia:

1. Way prettier
2. Smarter (she can pilot a Viper and operate the computers on the bridge)
3. The Commander’s daughter
4. Not a prostitute

* * *

Old Testament reference #1: Cain is named after the Cain from the Book of Genesis who killed his brother.

In this version of the story, Adama, who represents the good brother, survives, and Cain, the bad brother, dies (presumably) in battle against the Cylons, thus redeeming himself at the end.

* * *

Old Testament reference #2: The Cylon “outer capital” Gamoray sounds suspiciously like the city of Gomorrah that God destroyed in the Book of Genesis.

A common feature of most other space adventures, both in movies and on TV, are the diversity of alien species in the universe. This is a common feature not found very often in Battlestar Galactica. In the very first episode, “Saga of a Starworld”, we are introduced to both the insectoid Ovions and the Tucan singers with two mouths. Other than that, alien races are seldom seen. In “The Magnicent Warriors”, “Adama and his gang have to fight off the Borays, who seem to be a sub-human race that’s not intelligent enough to ever fly around in starships. And finally, in “The Man With Nine Lives” we are introduced to the Nomen, but it’s not clear if the Nomen are actually a different race, of if they are just savage looking humans. If they aren’t human, then it doesn’t make sense for them to be aboard the fleet.

If we assume that the Nomen are human, and the Borays aren’t fully evolved, then that leaves us with only two intelligent races besides humans, the Ovions and the Tucans, and they were both seen only in the first episode. When they wrote the script for the first episode, Glen Larson and the other writers obviously didn’t see where the show would eventually be headed. At that early phase of Battlestar Galactica, they were still trying to copy Star Wars and didn’t yet find Galactica’s unique vision.

And what is the unique vision? That would be that Battlestar Galactica is strictly a story about man struggling against the Cylon machines (whose original creation may have been influenced by the Devil). Adama leads the fleet into deep space in search of the lost tribe of men. He’s not expecting to find other alien races out there who might help him. The only people who can help him are other humans.

This human-centric philosophy is an outgrowth of the show’s religious overtones. In the Bible, it says that God created man. Not that He created man and a whole bunch of other intelligent alien races living on other planets. The Mormon religion, which has heavily influenced Battlestar Galactica, acknowledges that there is life on other planets, but it is human life, not alien life. The Gods (and that’s a plural) have a special role for humans that is not shared by any other intelligent races that might exist in the universe.

The Battlestar Galactica DVD series comes in a big Cylon head box. It looks like a lot of effort went into designing and manufacturing the box, and it will probably look cool sitting on the shelf in the retail stores. But nothing screams “Nerd! Nerd! Nerd!” more than having a big Cylon head box in your living room.

At Amazon.com, one of the features listed for the DVD series is the “Collectible "Cyclon Head” Packaging Featuring a Lenticular Red Eye” Is this box really the kind of thing I want to collect? I might consider collecting a genuine Cylon head that they used to film the original series (although I’m not sure I’d even have room to display it), but I don’t see the point of collecting a cardboard box.

I’m considering throwing the thing out. I bought the DVDs so I could watch them. Not to own a Cylon head box. Does anyone out there have any suggestions for me?