Battlestar Galactica’s final episode was tonight. It was superb. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I feel it is one of the finest pieces of work I’ve had the pleasure to enjoy. I really mean that. I feel that television series can be just as profound as a piece of literature, a painting, a song. It’s all art and we take what we do from it; I took a great deal away from Galactica. Television series often fail to fulfill their potential because the network cancels the show, or it’s extended past what it was capable to maintain. Galactica struck a balance that few television series are able to attain.
On my walk home from my brother’s I was thinking about how many themes the series covered throughout it’s length. It did it masterfully and concurrently, not addressing an issue and moving on, Galactica dealt with them all at once. Having come to the end I can say that I found this more fulfilling than it could have been with episodic storytelling, like you might find in a show like most Star Trek series.
I’ve decided to share my thoughts on the themes found in Galactica. This wont contain many spoilers but if you haven’t seen the finale I suggest you do so before you continue reading.
Birth, death, and rebirth
The theme of birth, death, and rebirth is one of the more overt themes of the series. Throughout the length of the show one of the most frequently uttered phrases is “All of this has happened before, all of this will happen again.” The theme extends to the cycle of civilizations characterized in the show but also to the characters themselves.
Cylon Resurrection
We learn early in the series that the Cylons have the ability to resurrect themselves after death. Death is painful, but is not absolute, it “becomes a learning experience.” The Cylons did not always have this technology and when they lose it they seek out the ability to rebuild it at all costs. The Cylons are no better because of their capability to learn from mistakes that kill them, and in some cases they are worse off. It’s only when the Cylon’s, and most specifically Cavil’s, ability to resurrect is forever lost that the cycle of destruction is broken. It’s was a cycle, birth is part of it, but so is death; Cavil represented the destructive death part of it.
Kara Thrace
The resurrection of Kara gives us another example of resurrection. In her first life Kara was a self proclaimed screw up. She never knew what she wanted for herself and it wasn’t till the very end that she finally learned what her place was in the world. We learn near the very end of the series that Kara’s greatest fear wasn’t death, but to be forgotten. Kara sought glory in the Ancient Greek sense but at the loss of personal fulfillment. Kara’s resurrection gave us the flip side to Cylon resurrection, someone able to achieve fulfillment in their goals after being given a second chance.
Laura Roslin
I firmly believe that the initial cure to Roslin’s cancer was resurrection in disguise. Like Kara, Roslin was able to fulfill her personal destiny when given a second chance.
Technology vs. Humanity
This one is a slight twist on the classic technology vs. nature. This theme is inherent in the setting of the show. Humanity was nearly destroyed by technology once and they were once again pushed to the brink. The Cylons are self-aware but they are human creations. Galactica isn’t like Frankenstein though. Humanity is able to use technology to save themselves, in the personified technology if the Cylons, make peace.
The Divine
There is a constant undercurrent of the divine in Galactica ranging from the Greek inspired gods of the Twelve Colonies to the monotheistic god of the Cylons. In the very end it’s suggested that god is a force of nature. Galatica doesn’t attempt to define the divine, we’re never told if the Cylons or the Humans had it right, it just is. Never the less the divine exists in the world of Galatica, but it’s undefinable.
Angels/Demons
Gauis describes them as angles, until he does most people simply referred to them as the Six in his head, or the Gauis in Caprica’s. They aren’t all good though, Head Six certainly does things that are bad. I think they’re both angels and demons. I think they were meant as allegory but I think the show allows you to assume they are as allegorical or literal as you would like them to be. Like the rest of the divine this is left purposely unresolved. I don’t think however that the rebirth of Kara is an angel, even if it’s tied into this idea of the divine.
Ideals and the Practical
This plays itself out a number of ways. Most prominently in the debate of security vs ideals. Constantly the democracy of the Fleet is placed at odds with the security of it. The democracy and the ideals never give way though. I almost called this paragraph “Ideals vs. the Practical” but in the end that isn’t genuine either. Much like most things I think Galatica suggests that there is a balance to be struck and to suggest that one can only exist with the exclusion of the other in a zero sum game is flawed.
Love
The theme of love is one of the more subtle in Galactica in that many may pass it over as a plot point. It isn’t, and the final episode convinced me of this. The Cylons believe that the thing they were lacking to reproduce was love but the theme extends beyond that. There is forgiveness in love and if the leadership of the Battlestar Galatica and the Fleet is anything, it’s forgiving. Adama repeatedly forgives the mistakes of others, he knows they can’t go on without each other and that forgiveness.
Adama and Roslin
The most profound exploration of love, and really any of these themes for me, is the love story of William Adama and Laura Roslin. In many ways William Adama is a character I can see a little bit of myself in, or at least my ideal self. Along those lines the relationship of Adama and Roslin is something I’ve really connected with in the show. I know, I’m a total sap, but I think, and clearly the shows writers think, that love is important.
The series is finally over. I’m not sad to see it go though. Right now I feel the same way I do when I finish a good book or reach the end of a good movie. I feel that I’m a better person than I was at the beginning of the show, that I’ve learned a little bit, explored a little bit. Fiction gives us the ability to explore things that aren’t. Science fiction pushes that a little further, but in the end, good science fiction is not unlike any other fiction.
There are likely themes I missed because I didn’t think of them while writing them but I thought I’d share what I could remember to commit to written words.
I'm Trevin Ward, I'm a Political Science Student at Iowa State University in Ames, IA.