ETA: @kxkvi: Canonically, if you ever do decide to watch BSG from beginning to end, you’re supposed to end off by watching The Plan.
Don’t.
Just… don’t.
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Thanks so much for your enlightening comments! I think actually we are wanting the same things from sf, but with different emphasis.
Agree completely. All good written sf does this, and the best visual media sf does too.
I must have not been clear. I don’t prefer flashy optimistic technobabble over thoughful reflective sf! I mean to say a “sense of wonder,” of the kind we get with movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Arrival . I think these movies were excellent “what if” experiments, were thoughtful and reflective, and had a fabulous sense of wonder. On the smaller screen scale, ST:TOS had that on a weekly basis, IMO. Well, most weeks. And of course in novels there’s plenty of time and space to have a sense of wonder, thoughtful musing on the future, and a good story. Many authors have managed it – Asimov, Clarke, Niven, Charles Sheffield, James SA Corey are some of my favorites who have managed it. (You can see my bias toward hard science fiction.)
I shouldn’t have said poorly done – I think what I really meant was that some of the elements of BG could have been done better to my liking, as I indicated above.
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It felt that way! They seemed to have nebulous motivations and a lack of a coherent approach to things. That’s part of what gave me a sense of lack of resolution at the end of series I.
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I’ll take that under advisement! 
I’m not sure what you mean, then, by “sense of wonder.” Are you just talking about how the characters react to the new things they come across?
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Given that the Cylons were monotheistic radical fanatics with absolute certitude of their goal, I doubt it occurred to them they needed a plan beyond acting on that certitude.
Which fits nicely into the themes and contrasts already described above.
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The Cylons were Catholic? Or Eastern Orthodox? I’ve had this thought before…
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Well, monotheists. So pick an Abrahamism, or, if you prefer, the Atun sun cult of ancient Thebes. I’m sure there’s other options too.
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It felt like they were trying to do a pre-Christ Christianity, that somehow didn’t resemble Judaism in any way, shape or form.
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So more like the Atun cult then. Abrahamism definitely doesn’t have a lock on monotheism.
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No, my sense of wonder at watching or reading sf. See for example:
You definitely have a much greater knowledge of religions than I do! I guess each of us brings different things and interpretations to stories. /profundity
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I’m not familiar with Atenism, but the trappings of the Cylon religion (sins and forgiveness, eternal life, a loving god and his flawed creations, a commandment to procreate, rejection of all other gods as not just lesser but false, angels and resurrection) seem to be modern Christianity with the serial numbers filed off.
I’m not saying that they didn’t deliberately bring aspects of Atenism into the show (because how can I know that), but given the audience, Andy such references are probably there as a genius bonus.
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I don’t disagree, but I know every time I look into something Christian, I find at least one if not multiple religions with the same concept. Weirdly, the other religion(s) is rarely Judaism. I’ve read some explorations of the influence of Buddhism on early Christianity which are fascinating.
Some of the things you mentioned are old enough they get mentioned in the Old Testament. The false god concept shows up in the story of the golden calf, among other places, and IIRC Atun used it as well.
I’d say like many fanatical religions, the Cylons have built something self-reinforcing. It’s impossible to argue with them, because they always have an absolute to answer with.
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Oh, no doubt. Christianity is to every other religion what the English language is to every other language: a merciless and unrepentant thief.
That said, again, given their audience, I have a hard time believing that it’s supposed to primarily be anything other than a deliberate invocation of the trappings of Christianity. There may be other stuff in there, but considering that they can’t even keep straight whether they’re using Greek names or Roman ones for their Greco-Roman pantheon, I don’t have a lot of faith (so to speak) in the idea that they’re digging deeply into Earth’s massively diverse range of historical religions.
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I’ve read that Aten worship wasn’t really as monotheistic as late 19th-early 20th century Egyptologists would have had us believe (presenting it as “more advanced” than polytheism because it was supposedly similar to Christianity). The Aten was a syncretic god totally in line with other Egyptian tradition until Amenhotep IV Akhenaten changed the rules as a sort of political maneuver to raise his own importance/influence relative to the priesthood. Ritual was suspended, Akhenaten was technically the only priest, and instead of processions of icons the royal family would parade in chariots to be admired. And it didn’t last much longer than his reign.
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Oh yeah, they’re definitely riffing off Christianity:
https://goo.gl/images/KyGRtH
Up to the viewer how narrowly or broadly to take that though.
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Ok let’s beat the viewers over the head with a baseball bat. No, a 2X4. No wait let’s use a steel H column.
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???
I’m not going to ding anyone for making references their audience will catch and understand. Subtle famously doesn’t go over well with TV audiences – or network executives, for that matter.
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I think there’s an optimal middle ground between being obvious and obscure. Indeed most TV leans toward the former.
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