Episode 135: Battlestar Galactica and Mormon Theology

 I had no idea that Battlestar Galactica had ties to Mormonism.  I’ve got the old and new series in my Netflix queue.  Time to watch and learn.

 Stargasm.

Hi all, it’s Alyssa from the podcast. If this blog comment had a title it would be “I watched the entire 1978 Battlestar Galactica so that you don’t have to.” This is going to be a little long, but here’ my guide to which episodes you should watch and which ones you should skip if you watch the series on Netflix Instant View:

1. Saga of a Star World (3 part episode) – Kind of important to watch to get your introduction to how they set up the rest of the series, but be prepared for lots of 70s hair, hammy acting, and campy melodrama. But do enjoy the brief cameo from teen heartthrob Rick Springfield (“I wish that I had Jessie’s girl”) as Zac Adama.

2. The Lost Planet of the Gods (2 part episode) – This is the one where they visit the planet Kobol (and the fallen city of Eden) and Apollo and Serina (played by Jane Seymour) get “sealed for time and all eternity.”

3. The Lost Warrior – SKIP. Just a cheesy, badly-written excuse to for a bad Space Western.

4. The Long Patrol – MUST WATCH. This is the one we talked about in the podcast where they see the prisoners who are in jail for the “original sin” of their ancestors. Also features CORA, the computer ancestor of KITT from Knight Rider.

5. Gun on Ice Planet Zero (2 part episode) – SKIP. It’s just a rip-off of a WWII film called The Guns of Navaronne—although it’s not a bad set of episodes per se. No notable Mormon themes other than some guy who created a colony of clones shouting “I’m not responsible for how my creations are used!” Larson didn’t write this episode.

6. The Magnificent Warriors – SKIP. A rip-off (sorta) of The Magnificent Seven, which is itself an rip-off of Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai. Go watch Seven Samurai instead (or even The Magnificent Seven, for that matter).

7. The Young Lords – SKIP. Unless you want to see a guy wearing a really bad winged helmet.

8. The Living Legend (2 part episode) – Fans of the 2003 Battlestar Galactica should watch these two episodes. They feature Lloyd Bridges as Commander Cain who commands the Battlestar Pegasus. Also the introduction of a major character: Sheba. This episode is really solid television.

9. Fire in Space – No Mormon themes, but again a very solid episode. If memory serves, they use an adaptation of this episode in the 2003 Battlestar Galactica series.

10. War of the Gods (2 part episode) – MUST WATCH. This episode was loaded with Mormonisms. It’s the one where Count Ibley (Iblis?) comes to the Battlestar and tries to convince the fleet to give up their agency and follow him. When Apollo sacrifices his life (a clear type of Christ) for Sheba, he is brought back to life by the “intelligences” (also called “angels” in the show) that say: “As you are now, we once were; as we are now, you may become.”

11. The Man With Nine Lives – SKIP. Unless you want to see a guest appearance by Fred Astaire (no, he doesn’t do any dancing, unfortunately).

12. Murder on the Rising Star – SKIP. A lackluster attempt at making Battlestar a detective story in which Apollo must clear Starbuck’s name.

13. Greetings from Earth (2 part episode) – SKIP. Unless you want to see a guest appearance by Ray Bolger (the Scarecrow from Wizard of Oz). Just be aware that this episode introduces the idea of another war going on between the East and West inhabitants of a planet named Terra. It’s very clearly meant to be analogous to the Cold War politics of 1978.

14. Baltar’s Escape – SKIP. It’s not a bad episode per se, but no notable Mormon themes and not all of the action sequences are as amazing as they might have been in 1978.

15. Experiment in Terra – This is not a very good episode, but it does have some Mormon themes again. The “intelligences” return and get Apollo to do a Quantum Leap (yes, Donald Bellisario went on to do Quantum Leap) into a man’s body on the planet Terra. Apollo is given a white uniform (garments?) that are meant to be a protective guide to him and we get a few brief explanations about the intelligences.

16. Take the Celestra – SKIP. The action sequences in this episode were decent, but the set-up for the plot was not very believable to me. (Starbuck has to chase after another long-lost love?)

17. The Hand of God – SKIP. Unless you want to see the series finale. It has some hints that they are close to the planet earth when Apollo goes to a “celestial room” and sees a garbled picture of the Apollo missions to the moon. Nothing more to note other than that.

Anyone else who has seen the whole series may feel free to chime in and disagree with my episode guide.