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Battlestar Galactica and Space Opera: Transforming a Subgenre

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 February 2021

MEGAN FRANCISCO
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Abstract

Ron Moore, creator and producer of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series, outlined his proposed show's aesthetic in a manifesto aptly titled “Naturalistic Science Fiction or Taking the Opera out of Space Opera.” The title of this essay took a stand against the science fiction subgenre of space opera, asserting that it was outdated, overdone, and unrealistic. Moore's vision for his series revolutionized iconic elements of classic television space operas. Though Moore resisted the stigma of space opera, his reimagined series holds an inherent “operaticness”—a term first coined by opera scholar Marcia Citron. Battlestar Galactica has many operatic qualities, particularly in its narrative structure, cinematography, characters, and music. After analyzing Galactica's explicit evocations of opera, this article will explore the operatic features of the soundtrack and evaluate the characters intimately tied to the opera by tracing the tropes of gendered opera as outlined by Susan McClary and Catherine Clément. Through a detailed analysis of three episodes, I will demonstrate how Moore successfully constructed a series that relied deeply upon operatic qualities and resonances.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Society for American Music , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , February 2021 , pp. 99 - 123
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Society for American Music

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References

References

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McClary, Susan. Feminine Endings: Music, Gender, and Sexuality. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1991.Google Scholar
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Moore, Robert W. “To Be a Person: Sharon Agathon and the Social Expression of Individuality.” In Cylons in America: Critical Studies in Battlestar Galactica, edited by Potter, Tiffany and Marshall, C. W., 105–17. New York: Continuum, 2008.Google Scholar
Moore, Ronald D. Battlestar Galactica: Series Bible. December 17, 2003. https://www.harvardwood.org/writers_resources.Google Scholar
Ott, Brian L. “(Re)Framing Fear: Equipment for Living in a Post-9/11 World.” In Cylons in America: Critical Studies in Battlestar Galactica, edited by Potter, Tiffany and Marshall, C. W., 13–26. New York: Continuum, 2008.Google Scholar
Papanikolaou, Eftychia. “Of Duduks and Dylan: Negotiating Music and the Aural Space.” In Cylons in America: Critical Studies in Battlestar Galactica, edited by Potter, Tiffany and Marshall, C. W., 224–36. New York: Continuum, 2008.Google Scholar
Pegues, Juliana Hu. “Miss Cylon: Empire and Adoption in ‘Battlestar Galactica.’” MELUS 33, no. 4, Alien/Asian (Winter 2008): 189–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poizat, Michel. L'Opéra ou le cri de l'ange. Paris: A. M. Métailié, 1986.Google Scholar
Roach, Joseph. “Power's Body: The Inscription of Morality as Style.” In Interpreting the Theatrical Past: Essays in the Historiography of Performance, edited by Postlewait, Thomas and McConachie, Bruce A., 99–118. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1989.Google Scholar
Rodman, Ronald W. Tuning In: American Narrative Television Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.Google Scholar
Rosand, Ellen. “The Descending Tetrachord: An Emblem of Lament.” Musical Quarterly 65, no. 3 (1979): 346–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books, 1978.Google Scholar
Schelle, Michael. The Score: Interviews with Film Composers. Beverly Hills, CA: Silman-James Press, 1999.Google Scholar
Sciannameo, Franco. Nino Rota's The Godfather Trilogy: A Film Score Guide. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2010.Google Scholar
Showalter, Elaine. The Female Malady: Women, Madness, and English Culture, 1830–1980. New York: Pantheon Books, 1985.Google Scholar
Tambling, Jeremy. Opera, Ideology and Film. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1987.Google Scholar
Weintraub, Steve “Frosty.” “Interview: Battlestar Galactica Creators Ron Moore and David Eick.” Collider, January 7, 2009. http://collider.com/interview-battlestar-galactica-creators-ron-moore-and-david-eick/.Google Scholar
Westfahl, Gary. “Space Opera.” In The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction, edited by James, Edward and Mendlesohn, Farah, 197–208. Cambridge Companions to Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winter, Jerome. Science Fiction, New Space Opera, and Neoliberal Globalism: Nostalgia for Infinity. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2016.Google Scholar
Angeli, Michael, dir. “Six Degrees of Separation.” Battlestar Galactica. Aired February 18, 2005. Universal City, CA: Universal Studios Home Entertainment, 2005. DVD, disc 3.Google Scholar
Mimica-Gezzan, Sergio, dir. “Fragged.” Battlestar Galactica. Aired July 29, 2005. Universal City, CA: Universal Studios Home Entertainment, 2005. DVD, disc 1.Google Scholar
Nankin, Michael, dir. “Faith.” Battlestar Galactica. Aired May 9, 2008. Universal City, CA: Universal Studios Home Entertainment, 2005. DVD, disc 3.Google Scholar
Rymer, Michael, dir. Battlestar Galactica: Miniseries. Aired December 8–9, 2003. Universal City, CA: Universal Studios Home Entertainment, 2005. DVD, disc 1.Google Scholar
Rymer, Michael, dir. “Crossroads, Parts 1 and 2.” Battlestar Galactica. Aired March 18 and 25, 2007. Universal City, CA: Universal Studios Home Entertainment, 2008. DVD, disc 6.Google Scholar
Rymer, Michael, dir. “Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part 2.” Battlestar Galactica. Aired April 1, 2005. Universal City, CA: Universal Studios Home Entertainment, 2005. DVD, disc 5.Google Scholar
Turner, Brad, dir. “Flesh and Bone.” Battlestar Galactica. Aired February 25, 2005. Universal City, CA: Universal Studios Home Entertainment, 2005. DVD, disc 3.Google Scholar
Woolnough, Jeff, dir. “The Hand of God.” Battlestar Galactica. Aired March 11, 2005. Universal City, CA: Universal Studios Home Entertainment, 2005. DVD, disc 4.Google Scholar
Abbate, Carolyn. In Search of Opera. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001.Google Scholar
Abbate, Carolyn. Unsung Voices: Opera and Musical Narrative in the Nineteenth Century. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adorno, Theodor, and Eisler, Hans. Composing for the Films. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1947.Google Scholar
Bates, Eliot. Music in Turkey: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.Google Scholar
Blackmer, Corinne E., and Smith, Patricia Juliana. “Introduction.” In En Travesti: Women, Gender Subversion, Opera, edited by Blackmer, Corinne E. and Smith, Patricia Juliana, 1–19. New York: Columbia University Press, 1995.Google Scholar
Bribitzer-Stull, Matthew. Understanding the Leitmotif. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brooks, Peter. “Body and Voice in Melodrama and Opera.” In Siren Songs: Representations of Gender and Sexuality in Opera, edited by Smart, Mary Ann, 118–34. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Brown-Montesano, Kristi. Understanding the Women of Mozart's Operas. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007.Google Scholar
Buhler, James. “Star Wars, Music, and Myth.” In Music and Cinema, edited by Buhler, James, Flinn, Caryl, and Neumeyer, David, 33–57. Hanover; NH: Wesleyan University Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Butler, David. “The Work of Music in the Age of Steel: Themes, Leitmotifs and Stock Music in the New Doctor Who.” In Music in Science Fiction Television, edited by Donnelly, K. J. and Hayward, Philip, 163–78. New York: Routledge, 2013.Google Scholar
Citron, Marcia. Opera on Screen. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Citron, Marcia. “Operatic Style and Structure in Coppola's Godfather Trilogy.” Musical Quarterly 87, no. 3 (October 2004): 423–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Citron, Marcia. When Opera Meets Film. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clément, Catherine. “Through Voices, History.” In Siren Songs: Representations of Gender and Sexuality in Opera, edited by Smart, Mary Ann, 17–28. Princeton; NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Dahlen, Chris. “Battlestar Galactica: ‘Daybreak (pt. 2)’.” A.V. Club, March 20, 2009. https://tv.avclub.com/battlestar-galactica-daybreak-pt-2-1798205876.Google Scholar
Deis, Christopher. “Erasing Difference: The Cylons as Racial Other.” In Cylons in America: Critical Studies in Battlestar Galactica, edited by Potter, Tiffany and Marshall, C. W., 156–68. New York: Continuum, 2008.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason. Translated by Howard, Richard. New York: Vintage Books, 1988.Google Scholar
Geraghty, Lincoln. American Science Fiction Film and Television. New York: Berg, 2009.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Govan, Sandra. “The Insistent Presence of Black Folk in the Novels of Samuel R. Delany.” Black American Literature Forum 18, no. 2 (1984): 43–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grover-Friedlander, Michal. Vocal Apparitions: The Attraction of Cinema to Opera. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartwell, David G., and Cramer, Kathryn. “Space Opera Redefined.” In Speculations on Speculation: Theories of Science Fiction, edited by Gunn, James and Candelaria, Matthew, 259–66. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2005.Google Scholar
Joe, Jeongwon, and Theresa, Rose, eds. Between Opera and Cinema. New York: Routledge, 2002.Google Scholar
Kalinak, Kathryn. Settling the Score: Music and the Classical Hollywood Film. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1992.Google Scholar
Kopp, David. Chromatic Transformations in Nineteenth-century Music. Cambridge Studies in Music Theory and Analysis, 17. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kowaleski-Wallace, Beth. “Shunning the Bearded Kiss: Castrati and the Definition of Female Sexuality.” Prose Studies 15 (1992): 153–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lehman, Frank. “Transformational Analysis and the Representation of Genius in Film Music.” Music Theory Spectrum 35, no. 1 (2013): 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewin, David. Generalized Musical Intervals and Transformations. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lerner, Neil. “Hearing the Boldly Goings: Tracking the Title Themes of the Star Trek Television Franchise, 1966–2005.” In Music in Science Fiction Television, edited by Donnelly, K. J. and Hayward, Philip, 52–71. New York: Routledge, 2013.Google Scholar
Locke, Ralph P. “What Are These Women Doing in Opera?” In En Travesti: Women, Gender Subversion, Opera, edited by Blackmer, Corinne E. and Smith, Patricia Juliana, 59–98. New York: Columbia University Press, 1995.Google Scholar
McClary, Susan. Feminine Endings: Music, Gender, and Sexuality. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1991.Google Scholar
McNeilly, Kevin. “‘This Might Be Hard for You to Watch’: Salvage Humanity in ‘Final Cut.’” In Cylons in America: Critical Studies in Battlestar Galactica, edited by Potter, Tiffany and Marshall, C. W., 185–97. New York: Continuum, 2008.Google Scholar
McCreary, Bear. Battlestar Galactica. Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard, 2010.Google Scholar
Mittell, Jason. “Narrative Complexity in Contemporary American Television.” The Velvet Light Trap no. 59 (Fall 2006): 29–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, Robert W. “To Be a Person: Sharon Agathon and the Social Expression of Individuality.” In Cylons in America: Critical Studies in Battlestar Galactica, edited by Potter, Tiffany and Marshall, C. W., 105–17. New York: Continuum, 2008.Google Scholar
Moore, Ronald D. Battlestar Galactica: Series Bible. December 17, 2003. https://www.harvardwood.org/writers_resources.Google Scholar
Ott, Brian L. “(Re)Framing Fear: Equipment for Living in a Post-9/11 World.” In Cylons in America: Critical Studies in Battlestar Galactica, edited by Potter, Tiffany and Marshall, C. W., 13–26. New York: Continuum, 2008.Google Scholar
Papanikolaou, Eftychia. “Of Duduks and Dylan: Negotiating Music and the Aural Space.” In Cylons in America: Critical Studies in Battlestar Galactica, edited by Potter, Tiffany and Marshall, C. W., 224–36. New York: Continuum, 2008.Google Scholar
Pegues, Juliana Hu. “Miss Cylon: Empire and Adoption in ‘Battlestar Galactica.’” MELUS 33, no. 4, Alien/Asian (Winter 2008): 189–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poizat, Michel. L'Opéra ou le cri de l'ange. Paris: A. M. Métailié, 1986.Google Scholar
Roach, Joseph. “Power's Body: The Inscription of Morality as Style.” In Interpreting the Theatrical Past: Essays in the Historiography of Performance, edited by Postlewait, Thomas and McConachie, Bruce A., 99–118. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1989.Google Scholar
Rodman, Ronald W. Tuning In: American Narrative Television Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.Google Scholar
Rosand, Ellen. “The Descending Tetrachord: An Emblem of Lament.” Musical Quarterly 65, no. 3 (1979): 346–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books, 1978.Google Scholar
Schelle, Michael. The Score: Interviews with Film Composers. Beverly Hills, CA: Silman-James Press, 1999.Google Scholar
Sciannameo, Franco. Nino Rota's The Godfather Trilogy: A Film Score Guide. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2010.Google Scholar
Showalter, Elaine. The Female Malady: Women, Madness, and English Culture, 1830–1980. New York: Pantheon Books, 1985.Google Scholar
Tambling, Jeremy. Opera, Ideology and Film. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1987.Google Scholar
Weintraub, Steve “Frosty.” “Interview: Battlestar Galactica Creators Ron Moore and David Eick.” Collider, January 7, 2009. http://collider.com/interview-battlestar-galactica-creators-ron-moore-and-david-eick/.Google Scholar
Westfahl, Gary. “Space Opera.” In The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction, edited by James, Edward and Mendlesohn, Farah, 197–208. Cambridge Companions to Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winter, Jerome. Science Fiction, New Space Opera, and Neoliberal Globalism: Nostalgia for Infinity. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2016.Google Scholar
Angeli, Michael, dir. “Six Degrees of Separation.” Battlestar Galactica. Aired February 18, 2005. Universal City, CA: Universal Studios Home Entertainment, 2005. DVD, disc 3.Google Scholar
Mimica-Gezzan, Sergio, dir. “Fragged.” Battlestar Galactica. Aired July 29, 2005. Universal City, CA: Universal Studios Home Entertainment, 2005. DVD, disc 1.Google Scholar
Nankin, Michael, dir. “Faith.” Battlestar Galactica. Aired May 9, 2008. Universal City, CA: Universal Studios Home Entertainment, 2005. DVD, disc 3.Google Scholar
Rymer, Michael, dir. Battlestar Galactica: Miniseries. Aired December 8–9, 2003. Universal City, CA: Universal Studios Home Entertainment, 2005. DVD, disc 1.Google Scholar
Rymer, Michael, dir. “Crossroads, Parts 1 and 2.” Battlestar Galactica. Aired March 18 and 25, 2007. Universal City, CA: Universal Studios Home Entertainment, 2008. DVD, disc 6.Google Scholar
Rymer, Michael, dir. “Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part 2.” Battlestar Galactica. Aired April 1, 2005. Universal City, CA: Universal Studios Home Entertainment, 2005. DVD, disc 5.Google Scholar
Turner, Brad, dir. “Flesh and Bone.” Battlestar Galactica. Aired February 25, 2005. Universal City, CA: Universal Studios Home Entertainment, 2005. DVD, disc 3.Google Scholar
Woolnough, Jeff, dir. “The Hand of God.” Battlestar Galactica. Aired March 11, 2005. Universal City, CA: Universal Studios Home Entertainment, 2005. DVD, disc 4.Google Scholar