A Guardian blog comparing the Aeneid and Battlestar Galactica:
Before I embark on this blog, can I point out that I am a box-set person, not a Sky person, so I am at only the halfway point of the final series of Battlestar Galactica – and really don’t want to know what happens next?
Right, that’s done.
Now, am I the only person who regards the sweep of the story of the sci-fi series Battlestar Galactica as a kind of re-reading of Virgil’s Aeneid? I am talking, of course, of the great Roman epic poem that recounts the flight of Aeneas and his followers from their conquered city of Troy to Italy, where, it is prophesied, their descendants will found Rome.
For a moment, let’s forget about the Cylons (although whenever I see one on the screen, I am reminded that the original, real-life Cylon was a wannabe tyrant of Athens, a failed coup leader in 632 BC, but surely that really is a coincidence. If you don’t know the series, these are the enigmatic attackers of the humans’ home planets, a race of cybernetic workers turned aggressive).
Let’s think about the humans for a moment. A leader leaves the destroyed wreck of his former civilisation (Troy/Caprica), which has been blasted into smithereens by an invading force (Greeks/Cylons). You might even see Gaius Baltar as a sort of Trojan horse. That leader is accompanied by his son: it’s Adama as Aeneas, and Apollo as Ascanius, if you follow me.
On they forge, guided by prophecies that the leader is initially unwilling to accept, towards their fated new home (Adama, like Aeneas in Aeneid book two, needs some persuasion that the various portents pointing the way are of any value.)
Need I remind you that we’re constantly getting heavy hints as to the classical origins of our story via the theology of the humans of Battlestar Galactica, who worship the Olympian pantheon of Zeus, Hera et al?
Tentatively, I’d suggest Starbuck’s return to Caprica to collect the arrow of Apollo as akin to the visit to the Underworld in Aeneid book six. The arrow of Apollo as the golden bough?
The unsuccessful stay in New Caprica, of course, recalls the settlement the wandering Trojans found on Crete in book three, in the mistaken assumption that this is the fated new land. (And it is also reminiscent of the section in book five where the comrades build a settlement on Sicily for those who are weary of the journey).
One might argue that Helena Cain is a kind of reversed Dido (Aeneid book four); the eventually destroyed Pegasus might be seen as her funeral pyre.
I could go on. I have my own ideas about how the second part of the final series is going to pan out (please don’t ruin it for me). As long as our friends remember “parcere subiectis et debellare superbos”.
(Via Per Omnia Saecula.)
I don’t know how many eps there are to go (three?) but I really, really hope they pull it out of the bag. I always get tense towards the end of a series that started so well, had a dip, then, for a while, improves. (Though, ugh, the episode before last made me want to put my fist through the writers’ collective face. What a load of cobblers.)
Any bets on the Starbuck thing? Or what happens to Hera (and what the point of all that is)? Anyone have any guesses?
Nicola Griffith 
SON OF A.I just posted but blogger ate it.Okay, first off, I liked the “talking heads episode,” so maybe you & me are bitter television rivals. Also, I am an episode behind. Spoilers ahead. Caveat emptor!I think Starbuck is a cylon/human hybrid. I USED to think Leoban was her father, & I like that, but now it is looking like Daniel, the artist cylon, probably is. I think the “dead Kara” on Earth was a clone made from her stolen ovary.I think Daniel, the Seven, is Doc Cottle. Think about how key he has been in the series– right in the thick of things for hybrid messiah babies, cancerous leaders, people spouting prophecy under the knife (& STOPPING spouting it…), key figures shot, medicines distributed…I think he is the Seven & he'll be one of the leads during “The Plan.”
I think Kara IS Daniel. They did say something went wrong and corrupted Daniel’s DNA in-vitro. An inter-sexed Cylon would be fascinating!All I know if that I can’t NOT watch but every time I get to end of an episode, my blood pressure is up and I feel anxious and upset. The writing is just that good.
Really interesting comparison, although I’m sure enjoying BSG a bunch more than I ever did The Aeneid.And I’m loving the Jane Espensen penned episodes. Her best work since BtVS, imo. I love her so much that I would be willing to gestate her clone.
I personally don't like the gender-swapped theory. I don't like that the semi-butch, ass-kicking girl has to SECRETLY be a boy, or something. Which was what I had to say about the whole idea of Starbuck as a lesbian, too– if it worked, fine, but I think murky waters between masculine & feminine work better without the “easy out.”'course, much as I like BSG it is pretty horrible on queer-folk, isn't it? I mean, what, we've got Cain & Gaeta both of whom go “evil” & get killed. GREAT.
I like the Oddessy best, but then I watched Bsg in the seventies.
<>mordicai, clindsay<>, well, huh, you two have obviously spent way more time thinking about this than me. But what cool notions. Thanks for giving me stuff to ponder.<>jennifer from p<>, I liked her work on <>Deadwood<>.<>mordicai<>, I know what you mean–why do competent women end up as dykes or, y’know, evil (or, y’know, both, tuh)<>barbara<>, I think you’d get a massive kick out of the new BSG. It’s quite, quite different. If you do watch it, make sure you watch the miniseries pilot first. Very cool stuff.
Mordicai =I ever thought that Starbucks asskicking had anything to do with it. It was that they were very specific about Daniel being an artist, and through all four seasons, they have alluded to Starbuck being a painter and an artist.
Re. the GLBT characters on BSG – Cain and Gaeta; I don’t think their sexualities have anything to do with their eventual demise. How many straight characters end up “evil” or unrepeatable for their actions? The GLBT community, as a collective, is likely simply more focused to single them and their personalities out on the bases that we share a fundamental trait.Personally, I do not see either of these characters as “evil gays”. I don’t think the show made them out to be that. They simply are who they are. They are characters who believed that their actions were right; had convinced themselves to believe that without fail. That doesn;t make them bad or evil, simply interesting.
I think Boomer and Hera may be on the way to reconnecting with the Cylon rebels in some way that will unite the Cylon Human in more ways than have already been shown. What I don’t get is how the Admiral can drink so much and still function as a leader? And while I’m at it, how can this be a story about discovering a new future when there are so many signals that everything is predetermined?
BSG = loose retelling of Virgil’s Aeneid. I can buy that, after all there are no new stories…I am thoroughly enjoying the 2nd half of season four. I suspect that they are not going to wrap up every thread in the last three eps. They have a comic book, movie and new series to sell. I am hoping for an ending in the spirit of Star Wars – there’s a lot more story to tell, but the audience goes home happy, or at least satisfied.
<>clindsay<>, wow, I just watch the programme, enjoy it while it’s on, and don’t spend a minute pondering the mythology or layers. Clearly I’m missing out on a whole level of engagement.<>lynne<>, I was bothered by Admiral Cain’s preference for girls, or Gaeta’s for boys, and I think the writers have done a reasonable job of making them sympathetic characters–but… I’d like to see quiltbag people also be ordinary.<>rhbee<>, Adama’s drinking is one place I think the writers have misstepped. It doesn’t fit his character at all. I think it’s a mistake.<>natasha<>, yep, I want a huge payoff. Something awesome that’s also a springboard into a whole other imaginative space.