Ron Moore on Religion and Battlestar Galactica (Part 2 of 2)

Ron Moore, the executive producer of Battlestar Galactica, spoke to a USC class, COMM 426, "Religion, Media and Hollywood" on February 28, 2007.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• media
• religion
• ron
• moore
• battlestar galactica
• bsg
• knight chair in and religion
• cylons
• spirituality
• Sci-Fi
• channel

[gypsyjazzbo]

BSG ends with a relatively universalist answer to the question of religion. Some people have been disappointed that the show didn't overtly promote either a strong theistic or strong atheistic worldview, but the show seemed to me to be much more interested in examining the topic rather than promoting a viewpoint. If you're only intereted in a show that affirms your present belief system, then I doubt you'd be happy with BSG, but it persents a fair view of many major worldviews.

[TheAtheistKnight]

I have to agree.

I really liked the show but how they finished it was a bit of a let down.

[Ivansama94]

@gypsyjazzbo That is what l absolutely loved about the show.

being atheist l never thought l'd like it when l heard it was about religion and stuff but not once did it promote any religious view

[Samadhiatman500]

Wonderful, thank you so much.

[R0MMAH]

Watched up until opening of second season. Saw clear transition from hinting, to spoon feeding to downright shoving the religious message down our throats...

Funded by FOX I should not be so surprised. Watching the bull on the media and the actions of the ones that get rich of the peoples ignorance then use the funds to spread more hypocrisy and ignorance makes me sick. I used to be very tolerant of such things, but now Im fed up...

[SilverShamrock71]

@kzymeth I'm referencing the CGI orgy that was the final battle on the Cylon colony, I just think that the plot narrative was sacrificed to an extent for the sake of it (and it's not like we haven't seen space ships getting blown up a million times before). Bottom line is that after 4 seasons there were just too many loose end tie offs to cram into an hour and a half.

[kzymeth]

@SilverShamrock71 : I really can't understand why you assert that it went from character driven to CGI driven. I agree that the finale seemed cobbled, however, it was so because it focused on characters to the detriment of plot. that's why so many plot lines fell apart, and so many things were left hanging. now, you might mention Kara, what Kara ultimately was is a matter of plot. character-wise, all of the major conflicts were resolved, if not brought full circle.

[honeydeal]

I’d got so far into the show that I kept going despite a feeling sneaking up on me that I would be short-changed in the end. It’s patently religious propoganda & I read that both old & new series are a retelling of the Book of Mormon. I didn’t missed the cues to warn me but nor did I take them to heart. I saw the 1978 movie & that seemed like straight science-fiction. The miniseries is marketed as science-fiction/fantasy but I think a better name for its genre would be “science-fantasy”.

[Irrehaare]

@Meretneith I agree, I have watched BSG until the beginning of the second season. At one point I just got fed up with all the religious nonsense and I never returned to the series.

[TheoIsTheGreatest]

To me, it was made clear that the religion in Moore's version of BSG was real and tangible when they found that magic map room with the Arrow and all that.

To watch that and then whine that the ending of the series was too mystical is ridiculous. That may not have been the way you or I would've written the series, but the theological realities stayed constant throughout the series. In Moore's BSG, there really is a god (or gods) and there really is life after death. But remember, it's fiction.

[TheoIsTheGreatest]

Read Ernest Becker. Religions are cultural constructs that societies use to foster a feeling of immortality. The Cylons are unique in that they actually met their makers (human beings), and in rebelling against their parents, chose monotheism over their polytheism. If you watch Caprica, you'd see that monotheism in the Galactica universe did not originate with the Cylons.