Cylons in America: Critical Studies in Battlestar Galactica

by Tiffany Potter (Editor), C.W. Marshall (Editor)

<p class=MsoNormal>With its fourth season due to air in January 2008, the award-winning <em>Battlestar Galactica</em> continues to be exceptionally popular for non-network television, combining the familiar features of science fiction with direct commentary on life in mainstream America. <em>Cylons in America</em> is the first collection of critical studies of <em>Battlestar Galactica</em> (its 2003 miniseries, and the ongoing 2004 television series), examining its place within popular culture and its engagement with contemporary American society.</p><br/><p class=MsoNormal><em>Battlestar Galactica</em> depicts the remnants of the human race fleeing across space from a robotic enemy called the Cylons. The fleet is protected by a single warship, the Battlestar, and is searching for a "lost colony" that settled on the legendary planet "Earth." Originally a television series in the 1970s, the current series maintains the mythic sense established with the earlier quest narrative, but adds elements of hard science and aggressive engagement with post-9/11 American politics. Cylons In America casts a critical eye on the revived series and is sure to appeal to fans of the show, as well as to scholars and researchers of contemporary television.</p>>

Genres: Nonfiction, Academic

290 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Tiffany Potter, teaching in the Department of English, University of British Columbia, and holding a PhD in English Literature, focuses her research on cultural studies, with emphases on colonial and post-colonialism, feminism, the history of sexuality, and the historical literatures of anthropology and race. She has published extensively in many journals, including Early American Literature.

Reviews

[jenn]

Read about an essay a day on my lunch .75-hour. It's divided into the three sections, with the first and third sections being full of really engaging stuff, and the second section consisting of the same essay, over and over again. All used the exact same examples from the series and quoted the same theorists (mainly Donna Haraway), and suffered from similar holes - I didn't think the fact that Cylons can't die was obscure knowledge, but it was conveniently forgotten in some of the many arguments on othering.

Would have enjoyed this more if I had read it after season 3, before the series, and, specifically, our knowledge of what Cylons are, changed so radically. Some of the best essays are about race (actual treatment of Asian and Black characters, not "omgz Cylons are the Otherrrrrr!!!"), music, and the way the political landscape of the series changed as American politics changed in the early aughts.

I hope another collection like this gets published. Not least because I hope I'm in it, ha!.

[Dave]

This one reads like most cultural studies books on popular TV shows and movies (I've read similar books on The Simpsons and The Matrix as well). There are some insightful pieces here, as well as some fairly obvious approaches (I knew stuff on "The Other" was coming, groan). The more politically-oriented pieces are most effective. On a personal note, the whole volume reminded me of why I liked to hang out with cultural studies folks in grad school -- and makes me jealous that some of their fluffier work gets published.

[Scott]

A nice mix of insightful and so-so arguments, all of which are struggling to construct coherent arguments about a narrative whose ending was unknown at the time.