Musings on BSG

For the fun of it, I thought I'd write down some thoughts about the "reimagined" Battlestar Galactica (BSG), a series I only recently got the chance to start watching (due to the fact that Singapore TV started airing these episodes for the first time only a few months ago... and despite the fact that the series has been playing for several years in the US). In that regard, what I have to say may very well be wrong; I've not quite watched all of the first season, nor have I seen the miniseries. However, I have relied a lot on the well-written Battlestar Wiki and even the Youtube video covering the first three seasons has helped to make sense out of the series. But, in this diary, I'm interested in addressing a few specific issues.



Whom do you identify with more, the Cylons or the Humans?
One of the more interesting twists in the series is that humanity is made up of polytheists, whereas the Cylons are mostly monotheists (with a sprinkling of atheists among them, such as Number One and (perhaps) pantheists, such as Number Two). One of the more "Muslim" of the Cylons is Number Three, aka D'Anna Biers, played by Lucy Lawless. In the episode Exodus, Part II, Number Three said, "[There is] no other god but God." That is certainly close enough to the first half of the shahadah, "I testify that there is no God but God..." But are the Cylons muslim (little "m," as opposed to capital "M," which they certainly are not)? I don't know.

Why aren't the Cylons "Muslim?"
While I identify more with the Cylons, perhaps, due to their monotheism, one very significant problem I have with them in the series is their attempted genocide upon humanity. In the Qur'an, Allah (swt) makes it abundantly clear that He does not love aggressors (e.g., 2:190). But, was the surprise assault on Humanity aggression? Were the Cylons being oppressed? "...for tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter..." (2:191). These are questions I don't know the answers to, nor have I seen any definitive answers.

What's the Cylons' "plan?"
In the page at Battlestar Wiki on the Cylon's religion, there's a quotation that I found of interest:

The Cylons, seeing themselves as mankind's children, believe they cannot not truly come into their own until the human race is gone. The logical conclusion they reach is that they must commit genocidal "parenticide" in order to evolve and mature ("Torn" Podcast, Act 2).

This, I think may have been the original "plan." However, between the realization among some of the Cylons that the genocide and occupation of the Colonial planets was wrong (sinful) and their continuing work to create a Cylon-Human hybrid child and (later) the Cylon-Cylon child, I think the plan metamorphizes into one of assimilation. If it's now possible for a child to be born of a Cylon and Human parent, what ultimate difference then is a Cylon from a Human? In this respect, I wonder if the story line will resemble the assimilation of the Honored Matres by the Bene Gesserit in Frank Herbert's novel, Chapterhouse: Dune.

Who do you think is the last, unrevealed Cylon model?
I've read some of the speculation as to who might be the fifth of the "Final Five." Personally, I still think that it's probably Gaius Baltar, although (apparently) he's been ruled out due to his appearance in a picture taken for Entertainment Weekly called The Last Supper.






Cross-posted on Street Prophets.