Edited by Josef Steiff and
Tristan D. Tamplin
[Open Court Publishing, 2008. 423 pages. $18.95 paperback]
Reviewed by Geoff Hyatt
When Battlestar Galactica was revived in 2004, the campiness and derring-do of the 1978 original were replaced with depth and seriousness, transforming the show from a geek subculture indulgence into a pop culture phenomenon. Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy collects more than 30 essays exploring the issues of technology, identity, gender, and ethics central to the show. Though it was released before the 2009 series finale, the book covers a wealth of concepts and manages to do so with an accessible yet intellectual style.
Coedited by Josef Steiff, associate chair of Columbia’s Film & Video department, the book includes offerings from faculty members Dan Dinello, Sara Livingston, Bryan McHenry, and Columbia alum Bryan Barker. Dinello’s piece, “The Wretched of New Caprica,” examines how the end of season 2 reversed the post-9/11 “clash of civilizations” allegory, casting humans in the role of insurgents fighting the occupying Cylons (as opposed to humans as the stalwart survivors of a Cylon terrorist attack). Livingston compares the techniques used on the ships Galactica and Pegasus to examine differing moral ideologies during wartime. McHenry’s “Weapons of Mass Salvation” looks at how religion is used in both the series and the real word to motivate the masses—often with fearsome results. Barker takes on free will, determinism, and Schopenhauer in the context of the war between humans and Cylons. The essays in this volume challenge and expand on the full story and rich subtext of the series.
Much more than a mere series overview or a compilation of dormroom musings, Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy is a fun and challenging meditation on the classic questions of both science fiction and modern civilization.
