in the open space: God & culture

SyFy On the heels of its cancellation of Caprica , the SyFy Channel just announced it has canceled Stargate Universe . That’s disappointing to me. SGU , a military science fiction series in its second season, has just developed solid feet to stand on—in other words, it was becoming a good story. It is fleshing out its characters and its themes of sacrifice, duty, who we follow and why, the pull between orders and ethics, the good of the many versus the good of the few (or one), what makes us human and what we believe, what it means to live together as a community, and what it means to love—many of which are themes common to the military science fiction genre and all of which are aspects of good stories that bring God-talk into open spaces.   I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that the series lost support from its network (even one ironically touting itself as one that supports the genre) because a lot of science fiction has historically had a difficult time...

SyFy In "Aftermath," Dr. Nicholas Rush has discovered the bridge of the Destiny, an abandoned ship built by the Ancients on which a group of military and civilian humans are stranded as it hurtles out of the galaxy. Rush has been trying to figure out how Destiny operates and her purpose ever since they got stranded, and discovering the bridge is a huge step. But as he sits down the voice and image of his dead wife, Gloria, appears and they begin to talk about his discovery . Gloria : You thought this was going to be easier, didn’t you? Rush: This ship, the systems were designed to be run by an entire crew. Gloria: Well, you have a crew. Rush: Yeah, a crew that knows what it’s doing. Gloria (looking around the bridge) : This is what you wanted. Rush: You know, the Ancients never intended Destiny to operate on its own… Stargate Universe, a SyFy science fiction series in its second season, is developing solid feet to stand on. In other words, it is becom...

“…because without a story to guide the culture of the West, we are unlikely to coalesce as a people in order to save our communities and lands.” ~Jeffrey A. Lockwood, “ The Cowboy Myth ” Recently, my husband and I started watching all the original Star Trek episodes with our kids. While I started out simply wanting to share with them a series we both enjoyed in our own childhood, it took but a few episodes for me to realize I was sharing with them a foundational story or modern myth of our age. Like Star Wars , Westerns or comic books , Star Trek is the kind of story that infuses into the culture around us and becomes part of our shared experience. In some ways, these modern shared stories are like the ones our ancestors told around the campfires—and like other good stories , they reveal who we are and how the world works. And, as Jeffrey A. Lockwood says above, stories like that help to guide us. And that probably goes a long way in explaining why I have such affection for c...