Battlestar Galactica

Jamie Bamber, who plays Lee “Apollo” Adama on Battlestar Galactica, recently participated in a conference call to promote the upcoming scifi movie Razor. Usually the BSG cast and crew gush about the show, and Jamie is no exception.

So it was a bit surprising when Jamie revealed that he is not a fan of the mystical and religious themes of the show, which often features dreamlike visions and conversations about the Cylon God vs. the fleet’s various Gods and Goddesses.

“I’m not - I don’t particularly like the kind of - the mystical deus ex machina process,” Jamie says. “It seems to happen with the plotlines of the show - suddenly revelations are made and people seem to be seeing visions, and dancing to some kind of distant, preordained, you know, sort of almost mythical journey.

“I think our show works best in the cut and thrust of sociopolitical drama, and the decisions that humans have to make rather than suddenly, you know, feeling like we’re all on some preordained odyssey through space and time to the founding of humanity as a dictator, some, you know, monotheistic creator that we haven’t yet met.”

The question of whether humans have free will, or are simply acting out a divinely preordained plan, is one that has befuddled philosophers for centuries and it seems fitting that there would be conflict over this idea on the set of a show as deep as Battlestar Galactica.

Jamie also prefers the dirt of the sweaty Galactica to the shiny and sparkling clean ships piloted by the Cylons and reminds fans to not read too closely into the cries that television is too “liberal.”

“Never forget that television is a big corporate world, you know,” Jamie reminded readers. “I’m employed by General Electric, fundamentally, and there are sort of, you know, responsibilities within that world, that if you start sailing too close to the wind you can be edited and censored and changed.”

The rest of the interview focused on Razor, and the interesting plots the movie will explore. Jamie also confessed he has struggled with the character development for Lee, who is not a very humorous character, and the right way to make Lee a hero and a human at the same time.

Battlestar Galactica, Jamie Bamber, Lee Adama, Apollo, Razor, Cylons, religion, mysticism, visions