Alex, this is a popular show with the Men at my home as well - but I am not going to tell them it is full of "philosophical and religious questions". Better they enjoy the sutle impact without prior knowledge.

it's an awesome show.

Too bad some Christians can't learn from the religiously tolerent Cyclons in the series. They believe in one all powerful/all knowing god who has a purpose for them, and yet, they respected the beleifs of the 12 Colonies Gods in the series.

Interesting...

It is frackin' AWESOME! Best show on, as far as I am concerned. And I love the issues they play with.

*sigh*

Once again, I wish I had cable... or could just purchase "Space".

:(

scifi_queen Too bad some Christians can't learn from the religiously tolerent Cyclons in the series.

hmmm. sarcasm right? I mean, the Cylons blew the frack (I love that word) out of 12 planets in the name of their religion.

When they have the remnants of humanity in a compound on "New Caprica" Dean Stockwell's priest character says that any means are accpetable to promote thier beliefs and champions the culling of the people down to a "manageable' number. "A thousand or so should be plenty" I think was the way he put it. His character also championed fear as a good way to get God's message across.

Tolerant indeed.

They do of course have their child messiah. Will be interesting to see what Six and Baltar do with "their" child if they ever find it.

I thought it was interesting the way Lucy Lawless' character, a fervent promoter of their monotheistic God, received a message from the priestess of one of the humans twelve gods. Forgotten which, my Greek mythology is a bit rusty.

And I agree with the consensus. Great series. Much better than the original with Lorne Green

I LOVE IT, IT'T FULL OF MESSAGES ( RELIGIOUS OR OTHERWISE ).
THE WORLD COULD LEARN FROM IT
KINDA LIKE STAR TREK.

I thought the cyclons did discover the baby, and have it tucked away somewhere.

In the original series Starback was starnded on a planet where he was to suppose to die, but instead had a baby boy.

In this version of Battlestar, Starbuck is a wome, and we know for some reason the cyclons have a thing for her for some reason. Maybe she will be the one to have The "baby"

I liked tonights episode as it explored self-sacrifice, (human) and it showed cyclons killing themselves in order to get closer to God. Talk about your extreme mystical experiences.

One think I don't getis , what is it with these cyclon "controlers" ? Are they just a a CPU for their ships/society? Tonight one of them said that the cyclon God is related to the Human Gods. Yeah, I wonder how machines will handle interfaith dialogue.

ALEX
YOU SAID-
" I wonder how machines will handle interfaith dialogue."
I BET THEY WOULD HANDLE IT BETTER THAN MOST OF THE PEOPLE
ON THIS PLANET.

We have been watching it on DVD - our local vid-rental place has all the tv series there so it is really easy...'cept they don't have 2.5 (don't even get me started on breaking up a season into 2 bits and charging a "full season" price for each - nasty). Anyway, we just got to the end of 2.0 and have no way of knowing what will happen until Christmas since I am not permitted to purchase any DVDs until then! ARGGG!

The actors mumble too much. I would prefer that they enunciate more clearly.
Gaius Baltar and Caprica Number 6 have lost their charm and it's a good time for their spaceship to get blown up. Those two make me go "yuck".
On another internet forum somebody said that BSG's creator, Glen Larson was a Mormon who partially based his stories on Mormon myths. I don't know about the subject, myself. I also read on that forum that the mournful chant with the female vocals at the beginning is a Hindu death chant called the 'Gayatira'. I don't know if this is true.
Death to Number 6 and Baltar.

Jimmy said: I BET THEY WOULD HANDLE IT BETTER THAN MOST OF THE PEOPLE ON THIS PLANET.

Since they started the discussion with the cylons nuking the colonies and sending in centurions to exterminate the rest it can only get better, eh?

Love this show!!

Someone asked about the origins of the show. Yes the first series was based on the Mormon stories of journey and the story of the "lost tribe". The new show, takes the original themes but doesn't follow the Mormon story, as the new producer/creator is not Mormon. Instead it pulls together the strands of a variety of myths and religious iconography. Together with clear commentary on war, and the invasion and occupation of Iraq. However, they don't fall into direct analogy, and so the show allows for greater range of exploring people's emotions and motivations, as well as issues of belief and of power.

It's worth reading the Epic of Gilgamesh (available on-line in shortened translations) as well as the Greek Myths and an outline of the Odyssey if you want to look at some of the mythologies being used on the show. According to the new series creator these are deliberate references.

As the role of Christianity, and other religious stories have declined in our culture, we also see an increased desire for "mythologies", that is, shared stories that contain or illustrate the truth of human relationships. Rollo May describes "The Cry for Myth", that would allow peole a language to describe their search for meaning. Mythologies usually use extreme situations to as a way to illustrate the emotions or questions or struggles that we all feel. As if you made a black backdrop, so the characters and their emotions shine in relief.

BSG offers a powerful story with compelling characters to establish a mythology that allows people to describe their own struggles, fears, feelings of alienation. And I don't think we're going to loose Baltar anytime soon. His capacity for self preservation - as another character described it - as well as his capacity for self-delusion has too much opportunity as a plot device. But Sharon is a more interesting character to me than 6.

Is Starbuck's Coffee shop in someway connected to Battlestar Galactica or is it affilated with Moby Dick?

Bought the first season on DVD, and loving it! (So, please, don't give away what happens in season 3, k? :-) )

Wondering whether we are born with a sense of religion, a need for spirituality? Would any sentient being arrive at that point? Or were the cylons created in our image? :-)

Great characters in the series. And I love the episodes that ask what kind of people we are if we choose to suspect everyone else (of being an enemy), if we fail to act on trust and solidarity.
Someone I met recently at Blenz and somehow started a discussion with told me she was from Los Angelos, and how she liked Vancouver, because here "not everyone is concerned with looking after number 1". Made me feel very humble.

It is a very intriging show.
They have been teasing us with regards to religion between Cylons and Humans with the Cylons believing what we do.
I hope it is brought to a satisfying conclusions.
I'll be watching

wschauzer

Didn't the colonies start the war?? Man made the cylons to be there slaves.
Then the cylons wised up ( maybe being self-aware ) and left the colonies..
They evolved and came back for revenge. Sound familiar. I think there is a masage there. Don't you?

WOW!!

I'm in the middle of watching the series opener for the SECOND TIME this weekend. The local DVD rental place has Seasons 1 & 2 (& 2.5, of course).

Frackin' AWESOME!

Thanks to everyone here for turning me on to this. SO much better than the original series, and so far one of the best things I have seen on TV in ages.

Jimmy wrote: Didn't the colonies start the war?? Man made the cylons to be there slaves. Then the cylons wised up ( maybe being self-aware ) and left the colonies..
They evolved and came back for revenge. Sound familiar. I think there is a masage there. Don't you?

Actually the back story runs that humanity made the cylons as slaves. They rebelled and fought a war against the colonies. A peace was finally forged and the cylons left. The mini-series starts with the cylons destroying the space station set up to try and prevent future war by being a place for the two groups to talk about their differences. They then launch a surprise attack on the colonies with nukes and go about exterminating humanity. Now they want to find earth.