“Why Are We as a People Worth Saving?” Battlestar Galactica and the Global War on Terror

Abstract

Battlestar Galactica represents a deliberately fantasized world but this, of course, does not mean that it is divorced from reality. Science fiction, as a genre, frequently uses an imaginary world to illustrate and comment upon some aspect of our own society. American science fiction films from the 1950s, for example, often dealt with the effects of atomic power while the first Star Trek television series (and some of the films that followed) provided a commentary on the Cold War. The original Battlestar Galactica began in the late 1970s and was clearly designed to capitalize on the popularity of Star Wars. It was not an immense success and was soon cancelled. In the years that followed, a number of people toyed with the idea of reviving it since it had developed a cult following. In the end, the new version kept the basic plot but otherwise totally reimagined the story. It is the contention of this paper that many of these differences relate to changes in American society and history.The new Battlestar Galactica began as a project in 2000, was delayed because of the 11 September terrorist attacks and aired on television from 2003 until 2009. Its existence thus runs parallel to much of the global war on terror and, in particular, to the Iraq War. Furthermore, the subject matter of the series – it begins with a devastating terrorist attack and continues with a horrible war that includes suicide bombings, religious conflicts and torture – clearly resemble events of this time.The purpose of this paper is to examine the series not from the perspective of art but from that of history. How does Battlestar Galactica reflect the tensions of its time? What comment does it make on America and on America’s actions in the world? As current events changed, did the series evolve in different directions and reflect these changes? The highly fictionalized genre of science fiction can be a profound source of commentary on the real world.