Battlestar Mormonica: the church of latter-day space cadets American Atheist Newsletter, Jan, 2004 by Timothy Mitchell

Have you ever watched a movie, read a book, looked at a painting or listened to a song, only to find out years later that what you thought you saw/read/heard was completely different than what was intended by the creator of the work in question? If you haven't, here's an example you can use as a reference to start your own list:

In addition to being a full-time heathen, I'm also an avid science fiction fan, particularly of science fiction movies and television shows. Hence, when I heard that the Sci-Fi Channel was broadcasting a "re-imagined" miniseries version of Battlestar Galactica last week, I decided to tune in. Galactica was a short-lived science fiction TV series on the ABC network from the late 70's that developed enough of a fan following over the years to warrant a new television production. For those of you who aren't familiar with Galactica's premise, here is a brief summary. Created by Glen A. Larson, whose credits include Magnum, P.I., Manimal, Knight Rider and Quincy, M.E., Galactica was a series about the survivors of an interplanetary human civilization consisting of twelve colonies that was massacred by a race of warrior robots, the Cylons. Traveling in a fugitive fleet of ships led by a flagship bearing the show's title and commanded by Lorne Greene (Bonanza), the survivors continued to fight off the Cylons while searching for the fabled thirteenth colony: Earth.

Even though I watched the series when it first aired, I personally don't remember much about it. It had gigantic spaceships, an orchestral soundtrack, shiny human-killing robots, and battles in zero gravity deep space that resembled WWII era aerial dogfights; in other words, I used it to pass the time until the next Star Wars movie came out. In fact, critics often dismissed Galactica as a Star Wars rip-off, heavily borrowing many of the visual designs from the 1977 blockbuster with bits of Erich von Daniken's Chariots of the Gods and Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments (with Greene's lead character as a sort of space-faring Moses) thrown in for good measure.

However, comparing Greene's role in Galactica to a religious figure such as Moses is only partially correct. While looking around the Internet for information on the new Galactica project, I was surprised to find several essays and articles that examine the relationship between Galactica and Mormonism. Not that this isn't the first time that a particular religion's central beliefs and/or mythology were portrayed in a science fiction or fantasy narrative--examples of this can be found in The Chronicles of Narnia (Christianity), Dune (Islam) and Battlefield Earth (Scientology). I just couldn't fathom how such a hokey and inconsequential TV show as Galactica could have such strong links to something like Mormonism. Of the essays that I found, the most informative were "Battlestar Galactica and Mormonism" by Michael Lorenzen (http://www.michaellorenzen.com/galactica.html), "The Mormon-Battlestar Galactica Connection" by Joe Sherlock (http://www.proaxis.com/sherlockfam/art5.html), and a "Battlestar Galactica Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)" web page maintained by John Larocque that features a question about Mormonism in Galactica (http://www.kobol.com/archives/BG-FAQ.html#E21). (There's even an essay from Baptist Dr. P. Bradley Carey, who talked about Galactica's Mormon roots in his essay "Mormons in Space (a.k.a. Battlestar Galactica)," which can be found at http://institutecw.tripod.com/mormonsinspace.htm. Apparently, Dr. Carey is not happy about Galactica. "The next time you watch this program, pay close attention to it and you will see for yourself just how much Mormon beliefs and doctrine are involved with this show," he preaches. "But be careful, so that you don't plant a seed that may be harvested by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." This essay was from Carey's book, The Darkness in The Light, which describes itself as an examination of "the teachings and beliefs of several of the larger and more common cults in the world today.")

According to these articles, Glen A. Larson is member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and evidently chose Galactica (which was originally envisioned as Adam's Ark in the late 60's, around the time of Star Trek) to serve as a vehicle for expressing some Mormon beliefs. For example, Galactica posits that mankind originated on Kobol, the mother world of all human beings. Kobol is a rear-ranging of the world Kolob, which is the star "nearest unto the throne of God" (see The Book of Abraham, Ch. 3, found in The Pearl of Great Price). The search for the lost thirteenth colony is a reference to The Book of Mormon, when the prophet Lehi took a remnant of the tribe of Joseph from Jerusalem to ancient America around 600 BC, during the time of the Babylonian captivity and the scattering of the twelve tribes of Israel. While you won't see Lorne Greene tending to multiple wives in Galactica, there were enough similarities to the more idiosyncratic, polytheistic aspects of Mormonism to indicate that this is not just a coincidence. Galactica had its own Satan (portrayed as a character named Count Iblis) and space angels in a "Ship of Lights" to further accentuate the religious themes - it even featured an evil robot named Lucifer. As Sherlock mentions in his essay, "It may be worth noting here that the majority of Mormon beliefs, church practices and ceremonies are not described in The Book of Mormon. If you happen to be given The Book of Mormon by an LDS member friend or by one of their door-to-door missionaries, you won't find much about some of this stuff and certainly nothing about their various temple ceremonies and beliefs."

While this isn't as intriguing as, say, reading about how some think that Leonardo DaVinci's Mona Lisa is actually a self-portrait of the artist (that would at least explain the smile), it reflects how religions aren't above using the conventions of secular entertainment to promote their faith and how they can sometimes fail miserably at doing so. Galactica is hardly the Left Behind, Touched By An Angel or VeggieTales of Mormonism (although I am disappointed that it's not mandatory for door-to-door Mormon missionaries to wear bulky, chrome Cylon costumes). Even the most dedicated Galactica fans aren't usually Mormons and won't try to force the Book of Mormon on you in heated conversations about Galactica. Universal recently released the entire original series in a DVD box set and even though it includes an interview with Larson, you won't find any references to Mormonism in this set. Former Galactica cast member Richard Hatch has been the most vocal in getting the series back on the air, but his own personal web site (http://www.richardhatch.com/) doesn't feature a single plug for the Mormon faith.

So what gives here? Why are some people willing to read vast pagan conspiracies into the Harry Potter series, while a narrative with explicit Mormon ties like Galactica drifts by mostly unnoticed, without a single controversy or book burning?

I can see why Larson would choose the genre of science fiction to articulate his Mormon beliefs in a largely secular entertainment medium such as network television. Science fiction is a genre rife with visual symbolism and narrative allegory, allowing Larson to explore Mormon concepts and mythology in ways that might not be apparent (and therefore not as bothersome) to the general viewing audience. By placing von Daniken's "ancient astronauts" concept at the beginning of every episode in a voice-over read by The Avengers' Patrick Macnee (the full text can be found at http://www.tvtome.com/BattlestarGalactica/, it's likely that viewers assumed that the strange ideas explored in Galactica were little more than new age hokum. Furthermore, it's probably easier and more profitable to sell Galactica spaceship models and Cylon robot toys than, say, Brigham Young and Joseph Smith action figures.

Nevertheless, the downplaying of Mormonism in Galactica even by its own creator is largely attributable to the fact that Galactica is a flop, with its attempt at matching Star Wars' sophisticated special effects largely serving as its own undoing. Even though Galactica premiered on ABC with stellar ratings, the audience size quickly sank to the point where the network preferred to cancel the show than continue to fund its enormous production budget. Mediocre writing and poor acting further hampered the show from gaining any lasting success; even the number of current Galactica fans is nowhere near the massive fan base for franchises such as Star Trek, Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings and The Matrix. (As far as fan devotion goes, though, one young Galactica fan did kill himself when he heard the show was cancelled - read about it at http://www.kobol.com/archives/suicide.html.) It would make financial sense that Larson would keep quiet about how Mormonism influenced his space opera, lest he alienate any potential fans from buying any remaining Galactica merchandise. The new Galactica production also shows very little sign of direct involvement by Larson. When asked in a recent interview about the involvement of Larson, Ron Moore, the writer and producer of the revised Galactica, responded: "Never met or spoke with him. To my knowledge, he didn't have any direct participation in the project." (Even Galactica fans don't seem to be bothered by Larson's absence. According to a recent fan club poll, 43% preferred Richard Hatch's proposal to revive Galactica while only 4% preferred Larson's. See the poll results at http://battlestarfanclub.com/battlestar/bgvote.htm.

I did watch the revised Galactica when it aired, and it's actually pretty good. Some of the religious mythology from the original series is hinted at during the miniseries: as the brutal Cylon attack continues to leave the humans with increasingly fewer options for survival, characters begin to refer and pray to "the Lords of Kobol." A new president is sworn into office by some kind of religious figure to run the human colonies after the initial Cylon attack (I guess they don't have the First Amendment in deep space) and there were some vague references to a "god" by both Cylons and humans in spite of the recurring reverence of the Kobol Lords, reflecting the odd relationship between monotheism and polytheism within the Mormon faith. The miniseries ends with the surviving humans determined to once again find Earth, "the lost thirteenth colony." Overall, though, the new Galactica narrative is much more violent, grittier and militaristic than its predecessor, and the overall look and feel of the show has much more in common with James Cameron-type science fiction such as The Terminator and Aliens than anything by L. Ron Hubbard or Tim LaHaye (or Erich von Daniken, for that matter).

From an atheist viewpoint, the importance of Galactica is that even though religions can tell interesting stories in otherwise secular entertainment media, they can also produce low quality television shows, novels and movies that inadvertently undermine their own theological messages while trying to promote a following among non-believing audiences. In this light, the production history of Battlestar Galactica is a success story for secular science fiction, that people would sooner see flashy laser battles and high-tech robots killing millions of people than unabashed Mormonism in a spacesuit. Unfortunately, we still can't beam the state of Utah back to the Mormon mother ship.

COPYRIGHT 2004 American Atheists Inc.

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