After Star Wars became a phenomenon in movie theaters around the world in the 1970s it didn’t take long for television to take advantage in the resurgent interest in fantasy and science fiction. One of the television programs I remember fondly, although in my estimation it doesn’t hold up well when revisited thirty years later, is Battlestar Galactica. As audience members know, the story involved a group of human beings traveling the stars as part of a large convoy of ships searching for earth as they are pursued by a race of machines called the Cylons. Although the special effects for this series were cutting-edge for the time as they took advantage of new motion control cameras, the acting and stories were not quite at the same level, but it is the overall storyline and some of the elements that my have influenced it that proved most interesting for some viewers in the past as well as popular culture scholars today. Several researchers have noted parallels between elements of Mormonism and the series which may have come from the producer’s membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and interestingly the current version of the series that was recreated in 2005 on the Sci-Fi Channel draws upon an even more diverse spectrum of theological and religious influences as noted in this BeliefNet article, and in this interview with Ron Moore, the producer of the current series.

And as if this interesting series of influences were not enough, Battlestar Galactica also touches on a host of issues related to social and cultural circumstances in 21st century life. This is the focus of a recent book that I have just become aware of the through the Popular Culture Association’s Yahoo! group titled Cylons in America: Critical Studies in Battlestar Galactica, edited by Tiffany Potter and C. W. Marshall (Continuum International Publishing, 2007). As the back cover of the book describes:

“The award-winning and compulsively watchable Battlestar Galactica, ‘re-imagined’ by creator Ronald D. Moore for the twenty-first century, combines many familiar features of science fiction with direct commentary on life in post-9/11 America. At its best. BSG achieves a level of political and social commentary that has not been achieved anywhere else on modern television.

“Cylons in America presents an edgy, stimulating and sometimes witty collection of critical studies of BSG, examining the series’ place within popular culture and its engagement with contemporary American society. The book is divided into three sections: the first explores how BSG creates a microcosm of our current world; the second considers the Cylons as a mirror of humanity; and the third raises central questions about science fiction as a genre, about the nature of episodic television, and the role of media in popular culture. For anyone wishing to explore the many worlds of Battlestar Galactica, Cylons in America provides the perfect point of departure.”

I’ve just added this book to my Amazon.com wish list as it promises to provide a fascinating exploration into a popular television program, and the ability of science fiction as a genre for self and social exploration.