Caprica (new tv series)
- Thread starter tom32071
- Start date
yeah, very interesting. It was briefly mentioned in the battle star galactica thread too. What's also interesting is that the group's symbol is the infinity sign!
Jay Weidner stealing the FOTCM symbol for his new DVD made me recall this thread and that I had made a screen shot of this new TV series using the infinity symbol for their 'terrorist' group who are creating a new religion, who are called 'The Soldiers of the One':
daveOS
Jedi
tom32071 said:
I noted their use of STO as well and found it an odd coincidence. In the Battlestar/Caprica context this is the set up for the Cylon's representing monotheism.
Zoe - a member along with her boyfriend of the fanatical religious movement of "Soldiers of the One" - becomes the first human-cylon hybrid. It sets the foundation for the Cylon's to refer to the 'one true god' in Battlestar while all the humans refer to the "gods".
I understand from a Mormon buddy that the Battlestar producers supposedly are significant Mormon members. That makes no sense to me given the even representation of pantheism and monotheism, and the special emphasis the series puts on female leadership. Rather I've read a lot of Gnostic cosmology at work in the whole series. And now "Zoe" the lead human-cylon with the apple, Zoe is the Greek word meaning "life", Sophia - Zoe Gnosticism - Female Instructing Principle. So she's the lead Cylon evangelist for "Soldiers of the One"? should be interesting.
What I find most fascinating about Caprica is their demo of the VR goggles to come, and casting human consciousness into technological processing platforms. I strongly suspect all that stuff's in the lab. But ultimately the mechanized future they depict with Battlestar doesn't add up for me, plus the homogenization of the human form supposedly from three different planetary bodies despite those planet's independant spin rates and orbits around their suns.
Gimpy
The Living Force
mkrnhr said:
That's what I thought when I watched part of an episode with Hubby. Its been beamed out to the collective unconscious, to dilute the symbolism to the population. I've seen this a lot. Whenever mentioning certain esoteric things to friends, the answer invariably was "Yeah, I saw that episode of ______<--insert sci fi show".
When the movie Matrix came out, alot of the info I read here was later colored with that "yeah I saw that movie" brush. It took a lot of hard thinking and poking in my head to disentangle real information from 'similar is same' programming.
It helped that the idea was a novel that had been stuck in my head for years, and when the movie came out it was not a new idea. :D
Wouldn't be surprised if this is another pre-emptive strike against this group too. It could be an attempt to instill an association between the words STO, the One, terrorism, and perhaps a stab at FOTCM, since STO is a religion in that show. If such a thing is true, they'd really have to be concerned about the potential of this group..
tendrini
Padawan Learner
Oh dear, maybe I'm showing my lack of taste, but I really like this show, as well as its predecessor Battlestar Gallactica. I find the plot quirky and unpredictable and the characters original and well-acted, and the whole thing is js snappy and clever and humorous. Everybody looks just like us but they have other planets instead of other countries, the books are all octagonal, the big sport is "pyramid" and the schoolteacher, Sister Clarice, lives in a commune and smokes pot, which is considered perfectly normal.
What I like the most though is the questions that come to my mind after every episode - what is really going on? Both in the show and in our reality The most recent episode seemed to imply that we are a projection into a virtual reality, which is what the C's have also said (if I remember correctly).
The oddest part is that there are three sorts of beings in these shows - regular people, Cylons (intelligent robots) and "ghosts" - people that aren't really there and can appear and disappear magically. There seems to be a force interacting with the world that can rearrange things behind the scenes., which may or may not be "God" Fourth density, anyone?
The symbolism with the infinity sign and the STO name is very peculiar, but I'm going to keep watching for a while. This is the only show I watch on tv, by the way, so I don't have a lot to compare it to.
What I like the most though is the questions that come to my mind after every episode - what is really going on? Both in the show and in our reality The most recent episode seemed to imply that we are a projection into a virtual reality, which is what the C's have also said (if I remember correctly).
The oddest part is that there are three sorts of beings in these shows - regular people, Cylons (intelligent robots) and "ghosts" - people that aren't really there and can appear and disappear magically. There seems to be a force interacting with the world that can rearrange things behind the scenes., which may or may not be "God" Fourth density, anyone?
The symbolism with the infinity sign and the STO name is very peculiar, but I'm going to keep watching for a while. This is the only show I watch on tv, by the way, so I don't have a lot to compare it to.
meta-agnostic
Jedi Master
I've been watching this show, and I have to confess I like it. As far as TV goes anyway, there is some real dreck to compare it to. I've been physically laid up recently so TV watching has crept back into focus and yeah, I know time would be better used reading plenty of the things I haven't read yet but anyway.
The STO thing really jumped out at me at first. Could it have been consciously inserted by the creators or writers? What are they trying to say? Is the Ra material the first place it was used in this context? The Mormon rumor makes it even more bizarre, but I'm not sure if I can buy it with regard to Caprica. I have not watched BSG but everything I've come across about Caprica indicates that it is supposed to be able to stand on its own as a separate series and it seems that way to me so far. The thing about interbreeding humans on different planets I take to mean that they were all originally colonized long ago and have been evolving separately for a while. I don't know much about the BSG chronology but I remember seeing something about how they were "returning" to Earth I think.
Caprica seems to have the ambition to deal with heavy philosophical issues and so far I think it's holding up OK. One more episode left before we see if they get renewed and try to take this to whatever level they want to take it to. In a recent episode the phrase "soul replication" or some variation was used. My reading of the totality of the C's material is spotty but don't they say that's what Jesus (or is it Christ) does?
The STO thing really jumped out at me at first. Could it have been consciously inserted by the creators or writers? What are they trying to say? Is the Ra material the first place it was used in this context? The Mormon rumor makes it even more bizarre, but I'm not sure if I can buy it with regard to Caprica. I have not watched BSG but everything I've come across about Caprica indicates that it is supposed to be able to stand on its own as a separate series and it seems that way to me so far. The thing about interbreeding humans on different planets I take to mean that they were all originally colonized long ago and have been evolving separately for a while. I don't know much about the BSG chronology but I remember seeing something about how they were "returning" to Earth I think.
Caprica seems to have the ambition to deal with heavy philosophical issues and so far I think it's holding up OK. One more episode left before we see if they get renewed and try to take this to whatever level they want to take it to. In a recent episode the phrase "soul replication" or some variation was used. My reading of the totality of the C's material is spotty but don't they say that's what Jesus (or is it Christ) does?
tendrini
Padawan Learner
The "soul replication" idea was explored in the Battlestar Gallactica series, in which many versions of the same "person" could be created. It appeared that each replicant received all the group memories at the time of their creation, but they also had what appeared to be free will. They could develop on their own, uniquely, even though they all looked exactly the same and had the same basic personality profile. This lead to some interesting conflicts to say the least!
Another concept from BSG is "All of this has happened before and will happen again". The process of humans becoming technologically proficient, then creating intelligent machines which then rebelled, had happened countless times already.
There is also the comparison of virtual reality to true reality, and the comparison of human awareness to computer awareness, with the implication is that there isn't much difference. So many provocative ideas are explored, many of them having to do with ethics. Lots of material for thought and conversation - we discuss this endlessly in my household.
I think that the setting of Caprica, that looks almost like modern Vancouver, is not meant to be a realistic depiction of a non-earth civilization, but to illustrate this recurrence theme. They are really us. The slight differences are mostly humorous or symbolic.
Another concept from BSG is "All of this has happened before and will happen again". The process of humans becoming technologically proficient, then creating intelligent machines which then rebelled, had happened countless times already.
There is also the comparison of virtual reality to true reality, and the comparison of human awareness to computer awareness, with the implication is that there isn't much difference. So many provocative ideas are explored, many of them having to do with ethics. Lots of material for thought and conversation - we discuss this endlessly in my household.
I think that the setting of Caprica, that looks almost like modern Vancouver, is not meant to be a realistic depiction of a non-earth civilization, but to illustrate this recurrence theme. They are really us. The slight differences are mostly humorous or symbolic.
daveOS
Jedi
I did a bit more digging on Battlestar Galactica and Caprica to get straight about some of the rumors I'd heard and suspicions I've had. It turns out Wikipedia has an entire page dedicated to "Religious and mythological references in Battlestar Galactica" (and while we know from other thread discussions Wikipedia cannot be trusted on urgent matters of reality and scientific truth, in this context it seems an adequate reference).
On the matter of the series being infused with Mormon beliefs
[quote author=_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_and_mythological_references_in_Battlestar_Galactica]
Some of the elements of the two Battlestar Galactica science-fiction television series seem obviously derived from the Mormon beliefs of their creator, Glen A. Larson. for example, in both series the planet Kobol is the ancient and distant homeworld of the human race. According to Jana Riess, author of What Would Buffy Do?, Kobol as an anagram of Kolob is only one of many plot points borrowed from Mormonism by Larson.[1] In Mormonism, Kolob is the star or planet nearest unto the throne of God.[2]
[/quote]
Even though Mormonism appears to be a fundament ideology to the series, there is a veritable fruit salad of other ideologies, mythologies, and theologies that get thrown into the series. My strong suspicion that Gnosticism has been informing the writing gets the Wikipedia confirmation (FWIW) with...
[quote author=_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_and_mythological_references_in_Battlestar_Galactica]
In the re-imagined series, the Cylons are monotheistic in believing in one god, resembling a caricature of the Neo-Platonic One. However, this god is not the creator. The Cylons look upon themselves as the children of mankind and see their human creators as intrinsically flawed and want to destroy them; thus the genocide at the beginning of the 2003 miniseries. This resembles the Gnostic or dualistic belief that material creation and its creator (the Demiurge) are evil and that true salvation comes from knowledge (Greek: gnosis) of a timeless God beyond creation. According to Gnostic Christian belief, the true God is manifest on earth through Christ. Gnostics hold that their views are consistent with their own reading of canonical scriptures; however true knowledge of God can only be perceived by a chosen few through special insight or secret instruction outside of canonical scripture.
Also the Gnostic idea that the true God is irremediably concealed from much of humanity resembles the Cylon view of the worthlessness of humanity as well as the low worth of the metallic centurion Cylon models whom most of the android Cylons treat as second-class citizens. (Indeed, this is one of the issues that causes a rift, late in the series, among the android Cylons, some of whom believe that the centurions should be recognized as equals.) Some Cylons (Six, for example) also seem to think that some humans (Gaius Baltar, primarily) can be saved; although the analogy breaks down at this point because Six expects Gaius to accept the one true God on the basis of faith rather than through special knowledge.
In some ways the Cylons share a few similarities with pre-diaspora Judaism. (Not to mention that the Cylon Basestar resembles the Star of David, when seen from above.)
[/quote]
Personally I like Battlestar Galactica because they use the Gayatri Mantra as the song in the opening credits ;D, and they delve into all kinds of socio-political issues triggered by scientific and technological quandries. Plus they pit major Occidental belief systems against one another and they explore evolution of life on other planets. But ultimately the series enforce earth-bound clunky-tech perceptions of time and space and their use of the cyborg theme as divine agents runs completely contrary to my understanding of potential cyborg technology.
And as for the Caprica series use of STO for "Soldiers of the One" I don't doubt the writers could've gotten their hands on Laura's material and found a convenient way of taking command of the reference. Even so I think the beauty and power of the STS/STO acronyms lie with their simple comprehensibility and clear distinction. For how easily I've seen people absorb the meaning of STS/STO that I've explained the concepts to I doubt Hollywood could erode their potency.
On the matter of the series being infused with Mormon beliefs
[quote author=_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_and_mythological_references_in_Battlestar_Galactica]
Some of the elements of the two Battlestar Galactica science-fiction television series seem obviously derived from the Mormon beliefs of their creator, Glen A. Larson. for example, in both series the planet Kobol is the ancient and distant homeworld of the human race. According to Jana Riess, author of What Would Buffy Do?, Kobol as an anagram of Kolob is only one of many plot points borrowed from Mormonism by Larson.[1] In Mormonism, Kolob is the star or planet nearest unto the throne of God.[2]
[/quote]
Even though Mormonism appears to be a fundament ideology to the series, there is a veritable fruit salad of other ideologies, mythologies, and theologies that get thrown into the series. My strong suspicion that Gnosticism has been informing the writing gets the Wikipedia confirmation (FWIW) with...
[quote author=_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_and_mythological_references_in_Battlestar_Galactica]
In the re-imagined series, the Cylons are monotheistic in believing in one god, resembling a caricature of the Neo-Platonic One. However, this god is not the creator. The Cylons look upon themselves as the children of mankind and see their human creators as intrinsically flawed and want to destroy them; thus the genocide at the beginning of the 2003 miniseries. This resembles the Gnostic or dualistic belief that material creation and its creator (the Demiurge) are evil and that true salvation comes from knowledge (Greek: gnosis) of a timeless God beyond creation. According to Gnostic Christian belief, the true God is manifest on earth through Christ. Gnostics hold that their views are consistent with their own reading of canonical scriptures; however true knowledge of God can only be perceived by a chosen few through special insight or secret instruction outside of canonical scripture.
Also the Gnostic idea that the true God is irremediably concealed from much of humanity resembles the Cylon view of the worthlessness of humanity as well as the low worth of the metallic centurion Cylon models whom most of the android Cylons treat as second-class citizens. (Indeed, this is one of the issues that causes a rift, late in the series, among the android Cylons, some of whom believe that the centurions should be recognized as equals.) Some Cylons (Six, for example) also seem to think that some humans (Gaius Baltar, primarily) can be saved; although the analogy breaks down at this point because Six expects Gaius to accept the one true God on the basis of faith rather than through special knowledge.
In some ways the Cylons share a few similarities with pre-diaspora Judaism. (Not to mention that the Cylon Basestar resembles the Star of David, when seen from above.)
[/quote]
Personally I like Battlestar Galactica because they use the Gayatri Mantra as the song in the opening credits ;D, and they delve into all kinds of socio-political issues triggered by scientific and technological quandries. Plus they pit major Occidental belief systems against one another and they explore evolution of life on other planets. But ultimately the series enforce earth-bound clunky-tech perceptions of time and space and their use of the cyborg theme as divine agents runs completely contrary to my understanding of potential cyborg technology.
And as for the Caprica series use of STO for "Soldiers of the One" I don't doubt the writers could've gotten their hands on Laura's material and found a convenient way of taking command of the reference. Even so I think the beauty and power of the STS/STO acronyms lie with their simple comprehensibility and clear distinction. For how easily I've seen people absorb the meaning of STS/STO that I've explained the concepts to I doubt Hollywood could erode their potency.
