Cylons in America: Critical Studies in Battlestar Galactica (Paperback)

~ Tiffany Potter (Editor), C. W. Marshall (Editor)
Key Phrases: colonial fleet, twelve colonies, resurrection ship, Season Three, New Caprica, Battlestar Galactica (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Winner: Best Edited Collection on Popular Culture for 2008 -- Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association

Product Description

"Cylons in America" is the first collection of critical studies of Battlestar Galactica (its 2003 miniseries, and the ongoing 2004 television series), examining its place within popular culture and its engagement with contemporary American society.With its fourth season due to air in January 2008, the award-winning Battlestar Galactica continues to be exceptionally popular for non-network television, combining the familiar features of science fiction with direct commentary on life in mainstream America. "Cylons in America" is the first collection of critical studies of Battlestar Galactica (its 2003 miniseries, and the ongoing 2004 television series), examining its place within popular culture and its engagement with contemporary American society.Battlestar Galactica 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.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 278 pages
• Publisher: Continuum (December 10, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826428487
• ISBN-13: 978-0826428486
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #149,135 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Looking for parallels, January 13, 2008

By	Stephen Stoker - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you watch BSG actively, attentively, if you "work" at the show watching for where it's echoing our current political/religous/gender/? issues, concerns, then read this book of essays.

The essays are of varying density and depth, but I enjoyed them all. Something to be gained from each of them although many were definitely on the "scholarly" side of the street. Some of the essays intrigued me from the first sentence and I underlined extensively. Others, I read quickly, simply didn't resonate with the material.

The diversity of points of view, the diversity of aspects of BSG investigated and dissected by the the authors is what makes this book worth the money.

Cylons and humans...what's the difference?
Torture...is it ever justified?
Rape...can a machine be raped? (Is Boomer a machine? Does a machine have
feelings?)
Is Starbuck a serial killer? (How many times DID she kill Leoben??)
Is there racism among the the humans?
The Uncanny...the "double"
"The Farm" episode...pro life/pro choice...
Why is Hera so important? How important is a hybrid? What will synthesis mean to Human and Cylon???
...I could go on and on.

Again...if you actively watch BSG, like getting into philosophical/political/current events parallels, you will like this book. If you think about the show once you've seen an episode and then look out at the world we live in and relate the two...you'll like this book. If you're willing to put in some effort, you'll like this book. If you're already putting effort into BSG and enjoy doing that, you'll like this book.

I rated the book 4 stars...5 stars is perfect in my estimation and nothing is perfect...thank the gods for that!

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, April 2, 2008

By	Lance Ponder "FKIProfessor" (Indiana) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Overall this was an interesting piece. Because it is actually a collection of essays it is hard to be more specific about the overall content. Some of the essays were better than others. A few brought out points I was unaware of and to me these were most interesting. It isn't light reading for the casual fan, but for anyone who likes to unravel all the fine details and analyze, it is an excellent tool.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars it was ok, May 28, 2008

By	Erin Burgoon (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As a strong fan of BSG, I was very excited to read this book. Though I plowed through it over the course of a weekend, I am left only feeling so-so about it as a whole. The essays within are very hit or miss, and with only about 10 pages per essay, some of them did not go into the depth I would have liked or expected.

Perhaps I wasn't sure what I was looking for in the book. It was good, and several essays were quite interesting, but I guess I just didn't LOVE it.