Battlestar Galactica--Lost Planet of the Gods

I have one thing to say about this 2-parter:

This

is

the

dawning

of

the

age

of

Aquarius

age

of

Aquariuuuuuuuuuuuuuus!

Many of the same themes that run through sci-fi movies from the late '60s and early '70s are clearly present here--the pagan cosmology shrouded in Eastern mysticism, the use of terms such as "life force" to refer to souls, and the reverence of kings, princes, and rulers from bygone eras as if they were gods. The spiritual content of this 2 hour opus' final half is so devastatingly demonic that not only would I not recommend it for Christian families to show their children, but I would also be loath to view it again as a believer in Christ myself. This fascination with mannish accomplishments, such as the ancient Egyptian Pyramids, the Parthenon, and the Sphinx (all of which are shown here), as well as the use of stars (i.e. astrological signs--"Caprica," get it?) as guiding symbols that allow men and women to locate themselves in the void of uncertainty (or, in this case, the void of an unexplicable deep darkness in space) is openly symbolic of both the New Age movement which became popular in the '70s, '80s, and '90s and of millennia-old occultic practices.

Usually, I like to see at least one thing--something--that a Christian viewer can take out of an episode of television without feeling like he or she has to compromise his or her values in the process. In this episode, however, there is nothing that a Christian can look at and say, "I relate to that on a spiritual level." Even the loss of Apollo's new wife to the Cylons, while tragic (and well-acted), is without virtue. Remember that only one episode previous to this one (Saga of a Star World), Serena is married to someone else (presumably her son's real dad) who dies in the Cylon holocaust that descends on the 12 colonies. What happened to her widowhood, her period of grieving? As we used to say in my hometown, you need to wait until the body's cold before you start thinking of falling in love again. The sexual inuendo, not only in Serena's actions toward Apollo but in the "replacement squadron"'s actions toward Starbuck, reeks of sleaze, not romance, and while it might be believable for the couple to come together over time (i.e. years) after grieving their own personal losses, the way this relationship blossoms on the show is, I fear, more indicative of the values of the production staff than it is of the deep feelings that a real man or woman would experience in their situation. (By the way, the human race has been reduced to a rag-tag flotilla of spaceships, right? Then why are they letting women--who constitute a clear vehicle for the human race's continued survival--risk their lives flying vipers in combat? Isn't procreation a priority for these folks, now that their population is down to only a few thousand?)

Not even Baltar can redeem this episode. Come on, Baltar ends up stuck with Lucifer after pleading his case with the other humans? What are the show's producers saying here, that once you sin, you can't ever find hope or salvation again? Clearly this is what we are to gather from the fact that we even have a character on the show named "Lucifer" at all, and from the New Age-style cosmology that seems to be developing here. It would have been better for the producers to have had Adama and his officers seize the chance to use Baltar to strike at the Cylon homeworld. Even that outcome, while utterly ridiculous (wasn't he the one that brought the Cylon onslaught in the first place?), would be more in line with what a believer in Christ could accept as truth.

Simply put, there is nothing in this episode that a Christian can look at as positive. This show--like movies such as 2001, Barbarella, and Logan's Run--contains content of such an openly demonic nature that, while indicative of the principles and priorities of the lost souls who produced it, cannot be said--at any level--to be appropriate viewing for Christian families who want to raise Christian sons and daughters. You are welcome to disagree, of course--I am as interested in being your personal censor as I am in having my face branded with a hot iron--but as a believer, I came away from this episode feeling more soiled, more dirty, and less in tune with my Creator than I ever did watching an entire season of other sci-fi fare. You can expose your children to this episode if you want, but you'd better be prepared for uncomfortable questions--questions to which I hope you will have sound Bible-based answers.