Ronald D. Moore’s reimagining of the 1978 sci-fi sequence Battlestar Galactica premiered in 2003 and have become one of many defining works to deal with the aftermath of the terrorist assaults that occurred on Sept. 11, 2001. The sequence kicked off with a miniseries the place the android Cylons launched a shock nuclear strike on Earth. Its flawless first episode, “33,” replicated the impromptu memorial and missing-person partitions that appeared close to Floor Zero. However slightly than deal with humanity purely as victims of Cylon aggression, the present’s writers explored the excesses of the Struggle on Terror. The U.S. invasion of Iraq loomed massive when the season 3 premiere, “Occupation,” first aired on Oct. 6, 2006. Twenty years later, the episode nonetheless feels depressingly topical.
Written by Moore, “Occupation” picks up 4 months after the devastating season 2 finale when the Cylons invaded New Caprica, the planet the place the final surviving people had hoped to discover a recent begin. It’s an especially darkish episode because the present’s heroes attempt to set up a resistance that appears futile provided that Cylons can resurrect themselves. Sergio Mimica-Gezzan, who had beforehand labored with Steven Spielberg on Saving Personal Ryan and Schindler’s Record, directs the Emmy-nominated episode, which was impressed by each the Iraq Struggle and World Struggle II.
The time bounce was far more practical than the infamous “12 months in Baltar’s hair” within the season 2 finale, the place the newly elected President Gaius Baltar (James Callis) leaned again for a second to mark the passage of a full 12 months on New Caprica. The season break made the transition in “Occupation” really feel extra natural, helped by the truth that the roles many of the characters are enjoying within the new world order really feel so pure.
You’re employed with the Cylons, you’re a goal
Taking inspiration from each Iraq and Vichy France allowed Moore to unleash countless horrors on the individuals of New Caprica, whereas additionally making the conflicts there really feel timeless. Chief Petty Officer Galen Tyrol (Aaron Douglas) seamlessly transitioned from rabble-rousing labor chief to resistance chief. The grizzled Colonel Saul Tigh (Michael Hogan) is imprisoned the place he’s being bodily and psychologically tortured by the Cylon Quantity One (Dean Stockwell). The brash fighter pilot Kara Thrace (Katee Sackhoff) is held hostage by the Cylon Quantity Two (Callum Keith Rennie) who’s satisfied he could make her fall in love with him.
The episode is full of completely brutal moments displaying characters who’ve been pushed past their breaking factors. Kara has taken to killing her captor again and again, though he taunts her with “I’ll see you quickly” as he dies and pronounces his resurrection with a “Honey, I’m house.” Tigh had his eye eliminated in captivity and bluntly says it wanting like a hard-boiled egg as he sips moonshine along with his resistance compatriots. It’s clear the scars his captivity induced go far deeper than his flesh as he urges an particularly ruthless plan to stage a bombing he hopes will kill Baltar.
Battlestar Galactica was typically important of the ways in which individuals use faith to justify monstrous actions or abdicate accountability, and that message is particularly heavy in “Occupation.” Two explains his perception that God despatched him to Kara as he makes an attempt to form one of many present’s fiercest characters into an obedient tradwife. One insists that the objective of the Cylons on New Caprica is bringing the phrase of God to humanity, even when meaning instilling extra concern.
“The insurgency stops now or else we begin decreasing the human inhabitants to a extra manageable measurement, I don’t know, say lower than 1,000,” he argues in a darkly humorous assembly along with his fellow Cylons.
The talk between the Cylons echoes the conflicting objectives of the leaders that introduced the U.S. into Iraq, and feels related as soon as once more because the nation is engaged in a brand new warfare within the Center East. One says it’s a holy campaign, Six (Tricia Helfer) thinks the Cylons try to atone for his or her preliminary assault on humanity, and Eight (Grace Park) believes they’re looking for a strategy to reside in peace. However most people need nothing greater than for the Cylons to go away and are prepared to have interaction in more and more radical motion to be able to ship that message.
The chief argument among the many resistance is whether or not it’s acceptable to stage a suicide bombing to kill Baltar at a commencement ceremony for the New Caprica Safety Forces, a bunch of people tasked with implementing the Cylon regime’s legal guidelines. The collaborators have been modeled on the Particular Brigades of Vichy France, however the truth that they conceal their identities and use propaganda encouraging potential members to “change into a part of the answer” additionally evokes the actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement throughout the second Trump administration. These persons are serving to the Cylons spherical up and torture their neighbors, and Tigh has no sympathy for them.
“Ship a message,” he argues. “You’re employed with the Cylons, you’re a goal.”
At a time when Iraqi suicide bombings have been a daily prevalence that had killed a whole bunch of individuals, Moore and Mimica-Gezzan handled the tactic as each courageous and brutal. The resistance recruits pilot Tucker “Duck” Clellan (Christian Tessier), whose spouse was killed by the Cylons. Thirsty for vengeance and feeling like he has nothing to lose, Duck believes he might be reunited along with his spouse after his demise. However the ultimate second of the episode reveals the carnage the explosion wrought: a pile of human our bodies that doesn’t even embody the first goal, Baltar, who opted to skip the ceremony due to safety issues.
“Occupation” requested viewers to think about themselves as each the occupier and occupied. Do they sympathize with the Cylons who’re blind to the injury they’re doing as they oppress individuals for some high-minded objective or the determined individuals who will do something to have a hope of someday being free? Would they collaborate with a brutal regime or danger all the things to maintain combating for change? The questions really feel particularly related 20 years later, with echoes of the identical conflicts occurring within the U.S., Iran, and Gaza. The chorus “All of this has occurred earlier than, and it’ll all occur once more” is repeatedly utilized in Battlestar Galactica to evoke the cyclical battle between humanity and the machines they create. But it surely simply as simply can be utilized to replicate the best way people warfare towards themselves.
Battlestar Galactica is on the market to stream on Paramount Plus.
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