Farscape and BSG patterns

[Pax]

The following is taken from a sci-fi discussion group. What do you guys think of the conclusions?


Hi, I'm Paul, and I'm Kevin's cousin.

My cousin is still rehabilitating from his latest surgery, but he has
managed to see a few of the Battlestar Galactica episodes. Another
patient's family brought in a videotape of some episodes, and a group of
patient/fans watched it. It was their reward for making their physical
therapy goals.

Kevin is an amazing pattern recognizer. Years back when we watched the
first Farscape episode, he picked out the inspiration ( model) before
the episode was half over. It was so obvious to him, that the show
annoyed him for the first couple of episodes.

Warning, spoilers about both shows follow.

At the beginning, Farscape was the Wizard of Oz, with a Sci-Fi paint job:

John Criton ( Dorothy) gets sucked through a wormhole ( tornado), and
his ship ( her house) crashes ( drops) on the sibling of an "evil
powerful person ( the witch/peacekeeper starship captain). Rigel is
Toto, and the hover chair is his "basket". Erin Sun is the tin-woman,
Count Da-ago is the cowardly lion, and the the plant lady is the
scarecrow. Sometimes these three played against type ( Erin might be
the scarecrow in an episode).

Here is what he told me about Battlestar Galactica earlier today. I'm
going by memory, so I hope I don't mess part of it up.

He said that the answer to "what BSG is modeled on" is the opening lines
of each episode, and the first complete episode he saw confirmed it.

The Cylons were created by Man. ( the often heard claim that Islamic
fundamentalist terrorists were created by the crimes of the "the
west"/infidels)

They Rebelled. ( threw the Soviets out of Afghanistan, and other
attempts to set up fundamentalist states)

You can come up with earlier "crimes" in history to use in the above two
lines.

They Evolved. ( became Bin Laden's organization)

They Look and Feel Human. ( nice bit of moral and social relativism,
beyond the fact that in real life all are humans )

Some are programmed to think they are Human. ( terrorists trained to
"pass" in the West/infidel world).

There are many copies. ( many sleeper/terror cells)

And they have a Plan. ( Bin Laden's plan to destroy the west, establish
new caliphate, and so on)

The new BSG is the War on Terror, with a Sci-Fi paintjob.

The destruction of the twelve colonies in the miniseries was a fictional
exaggeration of the attack on 9/11.

I asked him about the gods/lords versus singular god of the cylons, and
this is what he said.

The lords/gods of the 12 colonies represent the pluralistic ( tolerant)
world ( the nations around the world where Christians, Buddhists,
Moslems and all the other faiths get along).

The singular god of the cylons is fundamentalist Islam's intolerance of
other faiths ( infidels); convert or die.

Each episode explores at least one quandary the West faces in the War on
Terrorism.

The one blond cylon ghost in the doctor's mind ( letting him retreat to
the "good old days" on the main colony) is the promise of paradise ( the
you'll sit in a oasis eating dates with a whole bunch of young beautiful
virgins to take care of your physical needs).

He has not seen the latest episode yet that deals with the doctor's
initial conversion to the "one true cylon faith", but it confirms his model.

This is the start of exploring the "what does the West do about
Fundamentalist Islam converting the West's citizens/residents" quandary.

The episode when the two pilots have to decide to shoot a passenger
starship down or not, is the "incoming hijacked 747" scenario that real
life military pilots and politicians dread having to make.

The episode with the tribunal was less subtle than the others, but was
consistent with the model. The real life quandaries about witch hunts,
profiling, privacy rights, stretching/breaking laws or rights and so on.

The episode with the actor from the original series, the speech that
actor raises is some of the same points Bin-Laden and others make about
restoring Saudi Arabia to "proper government" ( throw out the "western
puppets"), and other "fixes" they think the middle east needs, as well
as the justification for terrorist actions.

The whole "I read your book even though it was illegal" is all the ways
Bin Laden gets his ideas out to the world via the web, videotapes, and
the one arab tv satellite channel, even if governments try to prevent it
through normal channels.

Also in that episode, water for the ships modeled oil needed by western
society.

With this start, I'm sure you'll spot the rest of the War on Terror in
the other episodes.

[chequita guevara]

Interesting.

[pchang]

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

[Pax]

unless it's in the hands of Bill Clinton

[pchang]

I think you mean Monica Lewinsky.

[Space05us]

Im sure if you thought long and hard about it you could draw a parrallel between any tv show and anything else that you wanted.

[chequita guevara]

Course, the BSG pattern is an after the fact patter, since BSG largely follows the original story line, which took place well before Islamic terrorism was a problem (the Arab nationalist terroism was).

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
Course, the BSG pattern is an after the fact patter, since BSG largely follows the original story line, which took place well before Islamic terrorism was a problem (the Arab nationalist terroism was).

Yeah I was going to point that out.

[Pax]

Well, it's a fact that the Producer/Writer was influenced by the events of 9/11. He has been qouted saying so. No need to debate that. The question is whether or not he's using the model/structure mentioned above.

[BeBMan]

Without knowing BSG - I think it is about WWII. Cylons are either Japanese or Germans

[Kassiopeia]

I always scoff when people try to fit these patterns onto fiction. While I don't disagree that they may be there, I doubt a screenwriter just sits down, says to himself "I'm going to remake the War on Terror - IN SPACE!" and gets started. More likely than not the stuff arises from the mind on its own - besides, themes of subversion, temptation, witchhunts etc. are old stuff, history has that habit of repeating itself, so I don't honestly believe these "patterns" are the result of any conscious decision. It's just art building upon other art and actual events.

[Q Classic]

i wish i could watch BSG. It's on sci-fi, isn't it? sucks, 'cause i don't have cable... and the torrent sites I usually go to don't have them.

[Pax]

Originally posted by Kassiopeia
I always scoff when people try to fit these patterns onto fiction. While I don't disagree that they may be there, I doubt a screenwriter just sits down, says to himself "I'm going to remake the War on Terror - IN SPACE!" and gets started. More likely than not the stuff arises from the mind on its own - besides, themes of subversion, temptation, witchhunts etc. are old stuff, history has that habit of repeating itself, so I don't honestly believe these "patterns" are the result of any conscious decision. It's just art building upon other art and actual events.

Good thought provoking stories explore actual events. Especially in Science Fiction. It allows the reader/viewer to gain insight into opposing viewpoints without forcing him to take sides.

[Lorizael]

I write. Sometimes, when I read over my writing (or just review my ideas), they sound an awful lot like things that have been done before in some form. If I remember back to when I was writing, I can usually pinpoint something in my life - a book or an event or a television show - that influenced the work and made it into what it was. I wasn't consciously trying to parallel those things, those things just spurred on my inspiration.

[Pax]

thanks Lorizael, for your insight.