Columbia College Chicago recently released “Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy: Mission Accomplished or Mission All Frakked Up?”, a collection of essays on the modern relevance of the popular sci-fi show. Columbia College’s Film and Video Department Associate Chair Josef Steiff and colleague Tristan Tamplin, formerly of the University of Illinois at Chicago, co-edited the collection of academic texts examining the issues of war, technology, gender roles, heroism and human identity throughout the many manifestations of the popular television series, which began in 1978 and was recreated in 2002. “The goal was to look at ‘Battlestar Galactica’ in its various incarnations, from comics to fan fiction, to better understand it and how it reflects cultural issues,” Steiff says. While the book approaches the series philosophically, it isn’t simply a philosophy textbook. “All the contributors love the show and they took creative approaches to addressing the show. These are people who love the show and are having fun talking about it. It’s a conversation. In that sense it’s a fun and exciting book,” says Steiff.
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