Thursday, February 21, 2008

The Law and Politics of Battlestar Galactica



Concurring Opinions has a great interview with Battlestar Galactica creators Ron Moore and David Eick. In it they explore the law and politics facing a small group of humans who are on the run after a genocidal destruction of their civilization by the robot Cylons.

Our interview is structured in three parts. Part I, available today in two files (see the end of this post to download), focuses on the issues of legal systems and morality. It examines the lawyers and trials in the show. It also examines how torture is depicted, as well as how the humans must balance civil liberties and security.

Part II examines politics and commerce. It explores how the cylon attack affected the humans' political system, and it examines how commerce works in the fleet.

Part III examines issues related to cylons, such as the humans' treatment of cylons, how robots should be treated by the law, how the cylons govern themselves politically. Additionally, Part III will explore the religious issues involved in the show.

Read the whole thing. Here are links to the two parts of the first interview:

PART I-A: LEGAL SYSTEMS
Topics: The legal system, lawyers, trials, and tribunals.
Length: 11 minutes, 51 seconds
File Size: Approximately 11 MB

PART I-B: TORTURE, NECESSITY, AND MORALITY
Topics: Torture, necessity vs. moral principles, deference to the military
Length: 18 minutes, 1 second
File Size: Approximately 16.5 MB

I will upload posts on Part II and III when they are posted.

Illya Somin shares his thoughts.

Battlestar Galactica is by far my favorite show on TV right now. Read my thoughts on the series here.

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