The United Nations already feels like its own alternate universe -- one snatched from the 1970s, with its retro-disco architectural design and Swingtown decor -- but when I walked into the assembly room where Sci Fi and the UN's Department of Public Information was holding a Battlestar Galactica retrospective, the illusion was sealed: In front of each of the 200-plus delegate seats (you know, the ones with the mics and the translator ear thingies) was a placard from each of the 12 Colonies of Kobol.
Sci Fi turned the United Nations into the Quorum of Twelve. Which may be the third coolest thing I've ever seen.
While the idea of the UN hosting a retrospective on Battlestar Galactica might sound a little odd, as the night went on it started to make perfect sense. From the very beginning, BSG has dealt with moral issues -- what it means to be human, the rule of law vs. the military might, the arguable merits of armed insurgency -- issues which find themselves on the UN's docket almost every day. As Robert Orr, the Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Planning put it, "You've got people thinking about issues that we try and get people thinking about every day."
Moderated by Whoopi Goldberg (pictured, left), who prompted the conversation like a good bartender/stand-up veteran ("The UN is more than a building with fantastic curtains..."), the panel -- featuring Edward James Olmos (pictured, right), Mary McDonnell (pictured, center), and executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick -- discussed topics ranging from torture to women's rights to the pitfalls of technology. The only questions from the crowd of 300 or so were taken from a whip-smart batch of high school students. And it was never less than interesting, very often fascinating, and once, powerfully moving.
When one of the UN's representatives talked about how part of their mandate was to safeguard the human rights of everyone, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, and station, Olmos got a little heated. "You never should've invited me here," he said, before blasting the UN for continuing to use race as a term of separation, of division among peoples. His voice rose, steadily, as if years of social activism was coming to a head on this night. Then, directing his attention to the high schoolers: "Adults will never be able to stop using the word 'race' as a cultural determinant....There is only one race: the human race. SO SAY WE ALL!"
I swear to you, everyone in that chamber shouted it right back at him. Because the Admiral asked us to.
And Mary McDonnell leaned over and gently wiped a tear from Olmos' cheek.
There are many reasons why I'll miss Battlestar Galactica when it wraps up this Friday. But not the least of which is that it's allowed me to witness moments like that.
Who else is shedding a tear at BSG's exit?
