One of the big differences between science fiction and fantasy is that authors of the latter have a greater tendency towards being religious. While both J.R.R Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were Christian, many of the most prominent names in science fiction – Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Gene Roddenberry, Robert A. Heinlein, J. M. Straczynski – are or were atheists.
Granted, Battlestar Galactica is based heavily upon creator Ronald Moore’s own Mormon faith… and Orson Scott Card is a right-wing conservative Mormon, but other than that, science fiction appears to be within the realm of secularism and really bad SciFi Channel Original Movies. And even if there are a few religious themes in some books or TV shows, until I found this episode of Space: Above and Beyond*. Let’s go through the checklist -
Grumpy, Stereotypical Atheist – CHECK
Conversion Through a Miracle (or Series of) – CHECK
What? Christmas Isn’t About Secular Rampant Consumerism!? – CHECK
Some Stupid Discussion About “Faith” – CHECK
Anyways, enjoy -
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v505582YYEAqz8k
*It’s actually a pretty good show in general in my opinion that deals with serious issues that could arise in the future, but this episode was definitely a miss.
WTF @ Battlestar Galactica Finale!?
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009I’m not opposed to using Biblical or otherwise religious themes to set the basis for a story; I admit that I have grown quite attached to the new NBC series ‘Kings’ even though it’s basically a modern retelling of the story of David (except that Goliath is a tank…) and was quite disappointed after learning that it would be canceled after the current season.
However, it appears that the BSG finale – with Baltar proclaiming that some things are meant never to be explained and that the Colonials and non-Cavil Cylons were basically following the word of God – seemed highly contrived and basically thrust upon the audience as more or less of a cop out. That and they gave up the frakking spaceships and reverted back to being cavemen…
Then again, English class in high school was never my forte and I pretty much sucked at identifying metaphors and that kind of stuff. Your thoughts?
Tags: battlestar galactica, religion, Science Fiction
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