Am I way off the mark in seeing the whole show as a metaphor for Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt?
Was Count Iblis (Patrick Macnee) supposed to be Satan?
Well, there were definitely twelve groups or tribes of some kind, and Iblis was most definitely demonic–we saw what he really looked like after he had killed Apollo–so I’d say you’re on the right track.
Count Iblis would be more like Rameses.
With so many Jews in Hollywood, maybe you have a point. It could also be a Noah’s ark type thing. Or, non-biblically, could it be the Arryan nations of humanity? Not the Hitler-esque crap, but the ancient Indus Valley mysticism.
The entire show had a ton of Latter Day Saints (you know, the Mormans) ‘in-jokes’. The Egyptian motiffs and such and lots of other things like being ‘sealed’ instead of being married were all drawn from the LDS traditions.
I don’t know in this particular case, but biblical motifs show up in sci-fi very often.
I’ve seen other folks claim that it was inspired by the tribes of Israel, but I’ve never heard Glen A. Larson (the shows creator) say that’s where he drew his inspiration from. However, IIRC, Lucas sued Larson over that, claiming it was a rip-off of Star Wars. If that’s correct, then there would certainly be court testimony (which should be public record) that should shed light on the matter.
No…Baltar was more like Ramses. His eventual capture was the equivalent of “being drowned in the Red Sea”.
Baltar was, after all, mortal, & the leader of pursuing forces.
Iblis wasn’t even human.
Also, the bold stroke of capturing Baltar may be a reflection of recent events in Israeli history. The Entebbe Raid springs instantly to mind. I believe that re-writing the “drowning of Pharoah” as the “capture of Baltar” was a reflection of the extraordinary reputation the Israeli Special Forces & espionage agencies had during the 70’s. No miracle saved Galactica, just very good soldiering.
Yes, Baltar… That’s who I was picturing.
Zebra’s right about the Mormon in-jokes. Larson, IIRC, is LDS. In his Saintspeak Dictionary (a priceless intro to modern LDS culture), Orson Scott Card says (tongue in cheek) that Battlestar Galactica was part of a plot to prevent converts, because evertime LDS missionaries would start talking, the intended converts would start laughing and say “I’m sorry, it just reminds me of the silliest sort of science fiction”. (If you don’t know, OSC is both LDS and a science fiction writer of some renown.)
Even before I read this, though, my LDS roommate pointed out a lot of the similarities. Unfortunately, I can’t recall them right now (except for the star “Kobol”, a steal from LDS “Kolob”), but there are way too many of them for this to be anything but intentional. Looking for the parallels becomes a game – like picking out the LDS parallels in Card’s “Red Prophet” series.
Battlestar was that late seventies mixture of hokum and mumbo jumbo mysticism that was the rage then (Pyramid power) thrown together in a mishmash of bad TV Science fiction. The Tribes are named after horroscope signs (Piceons, Aquarians, Gemini, etc)
There is the Van Daken Ancient astronaut garbage (The planet they find in the middle of the void had pyramids. Hell the 2nd unit shots with a badly wiged extra standing in for Adama was filmed in Egypt) The Tribes may have been a play on Exodus but the Earth was colonized from space (the lost 13th tribe)
The Adding of Ancient greek names Apollo, Aphrodite, Cassipoia, etc.
There were other nonsense items that defied logic (The episode where the ship was on fire. A) Their Air should have been used up by the fire. B) They should have choked to death as the smoke had no where to vent to, and C) You are in space idiots vent the Air out of the burning sections, cut the fuel to the decks and the fire will go out.
There are more but I can’t recall them. And there is no doubt this was a cheap knock off to capitalize on the success of Star Wars (Look at the Cylons fer crying out loud)
And here, in my youthful innocence, I’d thought that “The Lords of Kobol” was a reference either to the Kobolds from AD&D, or to the COBOL programming language. (“The Lords of COBOL, hallowed be Grace Hopper.”)