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Battlestar Galactica Invades the United Nations

Posted on Saturday, March 14th, 2009 by Devindra Hardawar

Battlestar Galactica Cast

Battlestar Galactica is so frakking good, it’s being discussed at the U.N. Sort of. A Galactica retrospective and discussion panel will be held at the United Nations in New York on March 17. Executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick will be attending, along with stars Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell. They’ll be discussing some of the various themes of the show including “human rights, children and armed conflict, terrorism, human rights and reconciliation and dialogue among civilizations and faith”, and will be joined by U.N. representatives Radhika Coomaraswamy, Craig Mokhiber, and Robert Orr. Whoopi Goldberg, one of the shows more vocal celebrity fans, will be moderating the panel.

Obviously, the timing of this event is not just a coincidence; it’s also great publicity for the upcoming series finale next week. But as a BSG fan, I can’t help but see this event as validation for the show’s ambitious attempts to tackle weighty themes. In its four seasons (and DVD films), Battlestar Galactica has managed to squeeze in many modern-day political and sociological topics.

While it hasn’t always been totally effective, I applaud the show for at least attempting to be more than a typcial sci-fi action show. It may be too early to say this yet, but I honestly believe Battlestar Galactica will go down in history as one of the most significant works of art to come out of our post-9/11 society.

The U.N. event is invite ony, but Sci-Fi reports that they will release a transcript and recording of the invite at some point in the future. I just hope they get a chance to shout “So say we all!” in the U.N.

Source: Chicago Tribune

Comments

starvingartist

Now excuse my ignorance, but I need someone to explain to me what is so jaw dropping about this show? I hear nothing but praise for it! And before someone goes "Why don't you just watch it?" I have too many other shows that I have to catch up on :(

So I'm just wondering, why is this so 'frakking good' as Devindra said?

Jamie

the mini-series and season one were spectacular, refreshing SCI FI.. since then it has sucked huge amounts of donkey balls. Although along the way there has been some more than entertaing episodes. Thank god its ending next weekend.. it shouldve ended after the Adama Manoveur and then we'd all be happy as fuck.

andrew

i had the same problem. before part 2 of season 4 of bsg began, i was thinking to myself "how am i going to be able to keep watching all these other shows at the same time???"
once bsg started again, i quit junk like gossip girl, private practice, heroes, etc., because they were just so bad in comparison

HolyShitMatt

To be effectively helpful I should detail what's so great about the show but honestly the show gets most things right that it would be ineffective for me to list them all. Basically, the story, ideas, character drama, tension of survival, maturity, actors...and on and on. If you are eventually going to watch it I'd advise you to catch up with the other shows you mentioned because the miniseries that started BSG is excellent and you'd just be sucked in, assuming you'd like it.

september11th

SO SAY WE ALL

MickJ

My gods.

fuhjj

lol.
its a wonder the earth is still here.

MikeVick

Pretty cool.

I just wish 7 of the last 10 episodes were focused more on the characters I found most interesting. Selfish I know...

freemachine

Doesn't the UN have other more pressing matters to deal with, like saving the refugees in Darfur?

liuk

There is no reason why United Dictators would do such things properly.

krackajap

i'm sorry i must have missed the part of the article where the said they were postponing their work on all other matters for this.

Daft_Krunk

that's the same thing that came to mind for me.

are they expecting to find new solutions by examining and discussing the show?

Talking_goat

they'll finally see what theyve all done wrong and send free bsg swag to all the countries in trouble.

Jamie

Yeah, why would the panel be open to the public? It's not like they're holding it at the U.N. or anything.

Oh wait...

GORT

I'm sorry but this show has been no good since the end of the new caprica arc in season 3. I mean last night 's episode was the second last episode of the show and they wasted pretty much the whole episode on useless flashbacks which did not add anything new to the story. This season has especially pissed me off because it is the last season and yet it does not seem to have any momentum. It is just way too slow, they should be racing to the finish line right now. The only episodes this season that were any good were the whole mutiny arc and the cylon backstory episode. Other then that this season has been very uneventful which is just disappointing. They wasted an entire episode in the final season on a character trying to learn to play the piano. That episode gives Jack's tattoo's episode from LOST a run for its money in terms of self-indulgence and pointlessness.

Seth

New Caprica was the end of season 2.

Kvamme

New Caprica started at the end of season 2, they left the planet a few episodes into season 3

Moses Roberts

Season 3 Episode 5

yoi

Sometimes u dont need to end things with bangs
the flashback is not useless

GORT

So what was the point of the flashbacks? I mean they showed us that Roslin's family was killed in an accident and Baltar hated his dad, okay that might have been relevant in Season1/2/3 and it would have been considered character development but dropping something like that one episode before the of the series is pointless.

Now they may completely surprise me next week and show something which makes these flashbacks important and relevant, if that happens I'll gladly eat my words but I'm not holding my breath

Dac

Personally I thought it was a retrospective to show how far these Character's have come. Roslin went from being afraid of Death and Politics to staring them both in the face and beating them, Baltar has gone from a Selfish narcissist to a "caring" person, even if his motivations have been somewhat unorthodox.

Next week were gonna get 2 hours of action and answers, enjoy it for what it is.

yoi

http://memles.wordpress.com/2009/03/14/battlestar...

From cultural learning

MrCavanagh

The trouble with your argument is that BSG has never been a show like the one you describe. Not since season one, at least. the series has basically been a single, continuous story that just so happens to be broken up over the course of multiple seasons. It's just like The Wire, a larger story that gets built upon every passing season. Just because it didn't go down the direction you wanted it to, doesn't mean BSG isn't one of the most inspired shows to come around in ages.

Mecline

Right, learning that Kara was the daughter of one of the 8 models and that the song he wrote is somehow imbedded into Hera's subconscious had no point..

Moses Roberts

Frak Yeah!

freemachine

Since when does the UN function at a level that should be expected from an institution whose purposes include addressing human rights issues. Hosting a panel of actors in the attempt to extrapolate a line between a fictional SciFi conflict and the real troubles of the world just underscores the worthlessness of this organization. And yes, they are, and have postponed their work on important matters to address all sorts of useless shit.

If you actually cared about primary issues that we, as the human race, should place at the utmost importance, then you should be insulted by this meaningless press op. It's just sickening. You're lucky your don't live in the Sudan refugee camps, where they don't get to watch BG. You tool.

790

When does the cast of Sarah Connor Chronicles get there 15 min of UN face time.

Seriously if this isn't a clear indication of how useless the UN is I don't know what is.

Fracken Cylons.

speedracer

this is... creepy.

interesting about the 9/11 comment. makes me want to get into it even more... just haven't had the time.

cheve

this is...awesome!

Donkey Punch

It is a low budget show with extremely bad writing. It constantly falls back on tired cliches from movies. The shacky-cam visual effects in space are awesome but the acting and the writing is horrible. The sets are so cheap looking.

Nathan B.

Really? Are you serious? What do you consider a good show?

Donkey Punch

Good TV Series:
Deadwood, The Wire, Sopranos (except for final scene), Dexter, Rome, Carnival.

Good Sci-fi/Fantasy Series:
Not many but if I had to name something it would be Firefly, Quantum Leap.

I enjoyed the mini-series of BSG but as soon as the regular series started the quality dropped immensely. Riddled with cliches, bad acting, and even worse writing.

I have worked on a lot of low budget movies/tv shows over the years and BSG looks and feels like it. It has standard dark sets combined with lights to flare the camera (to hide the crappy sets) and shitload of pegboard all over the place.

It is really bad when the horrible writing and bad acting doesn't distract you from the cheap sets.

Moses Roberts

I really don't know where you are coming from. Sets looking cheap!? I really don't see that in the show, nor do I see the bad writing. The writing itself is actually quite top notch, characters are fully fleshed out and the themes of the show are embedded into today's day and age.

You keep saying cheap sets. Is that really what's ticking you off about the show?

Donkey Punch

Really? You consider Michael Hogan a good actor?

At best most of the actors are day players that get a line or two when they appear on other TV shows. Almost all of them will be forgotten and unemployed once BSG is done (other than appearances on Law and Order and other actor-hungry shows).

Lets face it the show is very low budget. It is shot in Vancouver to save money. Many of the actors are Canadian because the production gets a massive tax break from the federal and provincial governments if they hire Canadian actors. I am not saying that Canada doesn't have good talent. We are 1/10 the size of the USA in terms of population so there isn't as large of a pool to choose from. Did the right actor get the job or the actor with the right passport?

Not sure what nationality the writers are but they need to stop watching movies and stealing from them (or at least put some effort into filing the serial numbers from the IPs they steal).

It became totally laughable once everyone became a Cylon on the show. Apparently there are only 2 real humans left in the universe.

thebertosaurus

I feel your giddy-ness Devindra.
Sounds dope.

Talking_goat

whats BG????

freemachine

BG = Battlestar Galactica.

Talking_goat

always heard and seen it bsg srry thought you were saying a shortened something or other like big garbage or bum gut i unno what ev

krackajap

It's too bad that after this show is over the only thing sci-fi has left is whatever god awful series they decide to remake. (i.e. Flash Gordon) On the bright side, it's a good thing for Dollhouse and Sarah Connor Chronicles to not have any other sci-fi competition on Friday nights.

Also Devindra, thank you for persuading me to give Dollhouse a second chance. The show is actually shaping up quite well.

Randy

SO SAY WE ALL!

pmharrell

I love BSG, but this says more about the shittiness of the UN than it does about the quality of the show.

Weyland_Yutani

Remember how teachers would try to break up their boredom by showing a film, giving themselves an easy day to snooze through a hangover? Well, this is obviously the United Nation's version of that. AV day at the UN.

Next week, they will extrapolate the greater meaning inherent in the musical stylings of Beyonce.

HolyShitMatt

I would like your definition of finesse as well.

rghew

just what the un needs.
a black hole to resolve all its problems.

Logan

It's in the frakking ship!

blackbriar36

Well, I guess we'll have to just agree to disagree. I don't know you can think BSG has bad acting and horrible writing, especially compared to most other shows out there. And just because a show uses cheap sets shouldn't really determine the overall quality of a show.

Erik U

The miniseries through the first 5 episodes of season 3 is flawless television. Everything past that is about as good as the best of the rest of television.

Andy

BSG has sucked lately. I'd probably be happier if I skipped the last several episodes.

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