By Joe Sherlock, aka Dr. Squid
In the late
60’s, Glen Larson pitched a TV show called Adam’s Ark around the same
time that Star Trek was ending. In it, Larson wanted to take biblical themes and
set them out in space. While no one was interested in that particular project, Larson was
a successful creator, writer or producer on such TV shows as It Takes a Thief, McCloud,
The Six Million Dollar Man, Quincy, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries,
B.J. and the Bear, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Magnum PI, The
Fall Guy, Knight Rider and Manimal.
Star Wars exploded into the
world in 1977 and as everyone and his brother tried to capitalize on its success,
something like Larson’s old pitch suddenly seemed like a great idea. ABC originally
planned to have Battlestar Galactica as a series of two-hour movies, following a
big, three-hour premiere, but they were impressed enough to order it up as a weekly
hour-long series. It premiered on ABC in September of 1978, after being seen as a
theatrical release in Canada and Europe in July of that year. The show was canceled after
just 24 episodes in April of ‘79. Due to fan pressure, it was revived as Galactica
1980 (in 1980...duh), but this only lasted for 10 episodes.
The opening prologue reads, “There
are those who believe that life here began out there, far across the universe, with tribes
of human who may have been the forefathers of the Egyptians, or the Toltecs, or the
Mayans. They may have been the architects of the great pyramids, or the lost civilizations
of Lemuria or Atlantis. Some believe that there may yet be brothers of man who even now
fight to survive far, far away, amongst the stars.”
Glen Larson (creator and producer of Galactica)
is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and many parallels between
his church’s and the show’s mythologies can be found.
The main characters in Galactica
are the last remnants of the Twelve Colonies, which were founded by twelve tribes of
humans who left their home planet of Kobol, which had become inhabitable because of either
natural or man-made contamination. There was a “lost thirteenth tribe” who went
a different direction than the rest and, as the story goes, ended up colonizing Earth.
Commander Adama once delivered the following speech about their origins: “Our
recorded history tells us we descended from a mother colony, a race that went out into
space to establish colonies. Those of us assembled here now represent the only known
surviving Colonies, save one. A sister world, far out in the universe, remembered to us
only through ancient writings...” He goes on to assert that the “lost thirteenth
tribe” colonized Earth. Something called “The Book of The Word” described
the journey of the tribes of man away from Kobol.
In the Mormon Church, The Book of
Mormon describes the journey of a “thirteenth tribe.” There were twelve
tribes of Israel and the prophet Lehi took a remnant of the tribe of Joseph (creating a
“lost thirteenth tribe”) and somehow traveled from the middle east to North
America around 600 BC. They ended up splitting into two tribes, one of whom flourished and
according to the book are the ancestors of the American Indians. Additionally, the name
Kobol is made up of the rearranged letters making up the word Kolob, which is the star
“nearest unto the throne of God,” or the name of the planet where the
Mormons’ god, Elohim, is from.
In the TV show, the planet Kobol itself
was considered destroyed or just a legend until it was found in the episode, “Lost
Planet of the Gods.” Adama thought there was a secret passage to Earth in the tomb of
the Ninth Lord in the lost city of Eden on Kobol. He identified the tomb by the Ninth
Lord’s seal.
In the episode “War of the
Gods,” there is a “Ship of Lights” commanded by mysterious beings. In one
scene, Starbuck asks them if they are angels. The “entity” responds with,
“Oddly enough, there is some truth to your speculation.” When he inquires,
“But why are you bothering with us? We are from a simple handful of human
survivors,” Starbuck is told: “Because, as you are now, we once were. As we are
now, you may become.”
This is interesting because the fifth
LDS President, Lorenzo Snow, coined the expression, “As man is God once was, as God
is, man may be” as stated in the Articles of Faith (pg. 430). The LDS
believes that God was once a man on another planet (sometimes referred to as Kolob) who
followed the Mormon teachings, died, rose to the third level of heaven and eventually
became a God, just as they teach that if you follow the Mormon teachings here on Earth you
may eventually become the God of your own world after death.
Commander Adama notes, “The
ancient ones, the Lords who first settled our Kobol, spoke of visitations from what they
in their primitive way referred to as angels. Think of them as custodians of the universe,
advanced beings, very highly advanced, whose mandate it is to make certain that their
powers are never abused by any one of their own.”
While the Book of Mormon may
teach that there is only one true God (Alma 11:26-29), other Mormon documents say that
there are many Gods (Mormon Doctrine, page 163), in fact the Journal of Discourses
(vol 6, pg. 5) states that “In the beginning, the head of the Gods called a council
of the Gods; and they came together and concocted a plan to create the world and the
people.” Battlestar Galactica’s “custodians of the universe”
may allude to this council of Gods. 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.
In the “War of the Gods”
episode, there is a character named Count Iblis, who is basically Satan for the
show’s purposes, whom the “entities” seem to be after. They note that,
“He now uses his powers to corrupt and lead others away from the truth.” Apollo
figures out the Count’s true identity, by thinking “back to the original
records. The names Mephistopheles, Diabolis, the Prince of Darkness.” According to
the original script of the episode, “War of the Gods,” Apollo and Starbuck enter
wreckage thought to have been Count Iblis’ comrades’ ship. There they discover a
glove that seems to have been made for a cloven hoof. They lift up a metal panel and
discover a devil or demon-like figure. The networks dropped the scene for fear it would be
too scary for kids and for the “satanic” overtones.
In the LDS, God has a wife with whom he
has children. These “spirit” children are eventually reborn on earth, where
their “pre-existence” is “veiled” from them until they die and return
to Heaven, at which time they remember their previous life in heaven. Satan is one of
God’s spirit children, birthed by God’s wife in the Celestial Kingdom of Heaven.
He is a spirit brother to Jesus. According to Mormon Doctrine, both Jesus and Satan
offered plans for mankind’s salvation to God, with Jesus’ plan being accepted.
Satan’s plan sought to “deny men their agency,” that is, their freedom of
choice, something very important in Mormon theology.
In Battlestar Galactica, when
the Entities are asked why they cannot stop Count Iblis, they reply, “Because we
cannot interfere with freedom of choice. His, yours, anyone’s.”
Commander Adama performs a
“sealing ceremony” between Apollo and Serina, saying, “A union between this
man and this woman not only for now but for all the eternities.” In the LDS, when
couples have a temple wedding, they are sealed for “time and all eternity.”
A Galactica 1980 episode
contains the phrase “The glory of the universe is intelligence,” very similar to
a passage in the LDS Doctrines and Covenants #93: “The glory of God is
intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth.”
In both Battlestar Galactica and
the LDS, the political structure consists of a Council (or Quorum) of the Twelve, and a
President.
What’s the point of all this? I
guess this just seems interesting to me because the majority of the horror and
science-fiction projects that mix in any sort of religion usually use Christian, or often
Roman Catholic theology (The Day The Earth Stood Still, Star Trek V, The
Exorcist, the Omen series, The Seventh Sign, etc.). Other than a recent
film called Plan 10 From Outer Space (which I’ve only read about), I
don’t know of any other genre feature using Mormon doctrine as a major component to
its mythology.
Sources for
information for this article include the
Battlestar Galactica Frequently Asked Questions list maintained by John P.
Larocque;
quotations and passages from the Journal of Discourses; quotations from the
Teachings of Joseph Smith; quotations from Mormon Doctrine; quotations from
the Articles of Faith; The Book of Mormon.
(Originally
published at CAN YOU STAND THE
SHOCKING HORROR!?!? IT'S DR. SQUID!!!, the home of Dr. Squid’s e-zine. Check it
out; it’s an exceptionally cool site devoted to the wackiness of the B-movie
phenomenon and other assorted oddities)
© Joe Sherlock