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Saturday
14Mar2009

'Battlestar Galactica' Heads to the United Nations

DateSaturday, March 14, 2009 at 10:24AM
Can all the world's problems be solved by watching Sci Fi Channel? The United Nations apparently thinks that's a good place to start, and will host a Battlestar Galactica retrospective and panel discussion on Tuesday to shed light on how the Emmy-winning show has handled such issues as human rights and reconciliation, terrorism, faith, children and warfare, and dialogue among civilizations.

The show will be represented at the UN by stars Mary McDonnell and Edward James Olmos, and producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick. The panel will also consist of Radhika Coomaraswamy, special representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Robert Orr, assistant secretary-general for policy planning, executive office of the Secretary-General, and Craig Mokhiber, deputy director of the New York office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

This is tied into the show's series finale, which airs three days after the UN event, and because it's not at Comic Con but rather at the United Nations, the panel will not be open to the general publich. However, Sci Fi Network says that it will be recorded and a complete transcript will be available online "when the content becomes available."

And as if this weren't already plenty out of the ordinary, the panel will be moderated by Whoopi Goldberg, who, of course, engages in UN-level discussions of world events everyday with Joy Behar and Elizabeth Hasselbeck.

The first inclination might be to laugh this off as a slow day at the United Nations, but since most countries in the world can't figure out how to handle these topics individually or collectively, why not open it up? Isn't any alternate idea worth hearing?

AuthorColin Boyd | | in , | Print ArticlePrint Article | | Comment3 Comments |

Reader Comments (3)

Publich

Saturday, March 14, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterAnon

I am pleasantly shocked to the point of near catatonia. The very thought of my world doing something this intelligent speaks of the coming apocalypse.

It is nice to see what is effectively the governing body of the planet realize that the fundamental link between policy discussion and science fiction is that both are thought experiments. As such the intellectual equipment of one can carry over to the other.

As an example consider the idea of invading aliens vs invading foreigners, preparation for on is preparation for the other, and all thinking of them as aliens would do from a policy planning perspective is grant extra preparedness as one for instance it is not likely to mistakenly assume that aliens do not have air craft, as one could do with a terrestrial enemy.

The sophistication of thought behind this extremely unusual move is simply staggering.

The next fiction real life policy cross over I want to see is West Wing meets the White House.

Saturday, March 14, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterBrandon M. Sergent

No. Not all problems can be solved by watching Sci Fi Channel, but it's a good idea to have Edward James Olmos, portraying Admiral Adama in BSG, invited at UN, to inspire the young people. It's such a powerful character in the show and OImos i a strong activist in real life anyway.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterGallactica Fan

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