Why don’t I ever get invited to this stuff?
by graeme
This sounds like the coolest event ever. And I missed it.
The United Nations and the Sci-Fi Channel organized a conference to discuss parallels between Battlestar Galactica and human rights issues in the real world. Everyone was there- Mary McDonnell, Edwards James Olmos, Ronald D. Moore…and it was moderated by Whoopi Goldberg!
And if that isn’t awesome enough, check out this eyewitness account:
At one point the discussion lit a fire under the Admiral, and the talk of human rights turned personal for Edward James Olmos. The “Old Man” launched into a passionate speech about casting off the idea of race as a cultural determinant, and said we were one race, the human race. His voice echoed throughout the chamber growing louder until – I kid you not – he was yelling, “So Say We All,” and the crowd answered right back. Hell, even I yelled it, I was in the frakking United Nations with Adama, the gods themselves could not have stopped this moment. It was surreal – the entire audience turned into one massive optimistic/role-playing/saddened goosebump, because who knows when we’ll ever hear those words again? And then we were doubly geeked out when, as if on cue, Mary McDonnell turned to Olmos and put her hand on his cheek. But the real chills came from realizing that this treasured television show had actually opened up the lines of communication between the audience and the United Nations. BSG has made people think about the troubling deeds happening in darkened rooms in the present day, not just on a spaceship in the future.
Wow. I’ve always said BSG was one of the smartest shows about politics and society on TV. And I guess this proves it.
But seriously, who do I need to sleep with to get tickets for this stuff? Is there some secret “mailing list of awesome” I need to join? Any advice you could offer would be greatly appreciated.
Please tell me this is on Youtube somewhere…I have to see this.
“So say we all”?
Frakkin-A!
I really hope he was just leveraging the show to make an awesome, hard-hitting point.
The alternative is that he actually thinks he’s Admiral Adama. Not so cool.
I don’t know. Tragic self-delusion worked well for Don Quixote.
And Adam West…
What is Whoopi Goldberg’s connection to this?
Unless the USS Enterprise rescues the BSG crew and Hera. Sorry to ruin it for everyone.
Supposedly, Whoopi is a big fan of the show. But I like the ST:NG twist ending to BSG better.
I read about this the other day and was torn between “cool!” and “really?” I appreciate that BSG has brought issues of racial and ethnic tensions into pop culture in an intelligent way, but the UN? I mean Olmos and McDonnell aren’t actually real politicians with a lifetime of experience dealing with these issues, they just play them on TV.
That said, I totally would’ve yelled “So say we all!” along with the crowd.
[...] previous post pop snark So say we all Two weeks ago, I posted about a bizarrely awesome event at the UN that brought together BSG cast members and experts to discuss the show’s depiction [...]