'Battlestar' Discussion Gets Heavy At United Nations
Series Creators Moore, Eick, Actors Olmos, McDonnel Address Host Of 'Human' Issues With U.N. Officials
Kent Gibbons -- Multichannel News, 3/22/2009 8:32:57 AM
It's rare for any television series to transcend the bounds of its medium. Rarer still for an entertainment show to have such an impact that it enters into the serious debate on the most pressing issues of the day.
As the conclusion of its four-year run drew near, Sci Fi Channel's reimagining of Battlestar Galactica confirmed its place on the short list of TV dramas that engender such heavy discussion when creators Ron Moore and David Eick and actors Mary McDonnell and Edward James Olmos joined United Nations officials in a March 17 panel discussion on human rights, terrorism and other issues.
The Whoopi Goldberg-led panel addressed members of the press and 100 New York City high school students in the United Nations Economic and Social Council Chamber. Placards at the seats turned everyone into delegates from the show's fictional 12 colonies. The discussion starkly demonstrated to the students and other attendees that the issues in the fictional world of Battlestar have their root in real-world problems.
The topics and experts: human rights with Craig Mokhiber, a deputy director for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights; Radhika Coomaraswamy, a special representative of the secretary-general, who spoke on children and armed conflict; Robert Orr, assistant secretary-general for policy planning, on terrorism; and deputy representative of Liberia Famatta Rose Osode, on reconciliation and dialogue among civilizations and faiths.
The BSG contingent held their own, answering questions from the students ably and intelligently. Olmos, an activist in his own right, speaking frequently on issues affecting Latinos, became passionate when speaking on the use of the word "race" to distinguish between cultures. He even chastised Mokhiber, who used the word in his comments (to his defense, he was quoting a 60-year-old document on human rights).
"There is only one race," Olmos said, "The human race."
He then led the crowd in the show's chant of: "So say we all."
Eick said that when he and Moore sat down to create the show, they asked themselves, "Why does the world need another space opera?" What they created went far beyond mere space opera.
Though in the series the fleet ended its journey last Friday at a new home, the U.N. event showed that Battlestar Galactica has broadened the discussion of topics that continue to plague the human race.
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