BSG UN Panel Media Coverage
Intergalactic Representatives at the U.N.
By SAM GROBART
Published: March 15, 2009
A gathering at the United Nations headquarters on Tuesday will address topics familiar to the international body: child soldiers, terrorism, human rights and religious extremism. Attendees will represent several nations, and one abandoned planet: Caprica.
The Sci Fi Channel series “Battlestar Galactica” will be the subject of a panel discussion involving the creators of the show, two of its stars, Mary McDonnell and Edward James Olmos, and representatives from the United Nations’ offices of the secretary general and high commissioner for human rights.
How a television series about interstellar travel, ancient prophecies and genocidal robots came to join forces with a terrestrial intergovernmental body relates to the Sci Fi Channel’s philanthropic activities and the United Nations’ efforts to become more media savvy.
The channel, a division of NBC Universal, has worked with the educational nonprofit group ThinkQuestNYC to bring 100 New York City high school students to the event and have them participate in the discussion.
For the United Nations, the event represents the second effort of its Creative Community Outreach Initiative. Announced by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at last June’s Jackson Hole Film Festival, the initiative is the organization’s attempt to “establish partnerships with the entertainment industry to tell the U.N.’s story,” said Juan Carlos Brandt, a spokesman.
Its first undertaking was to allow a television crew to shoot at United Nations facilities this month for an episode of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” about child soldiers.
Representatives from the Sci Fi Channel approached the United Nations early this year. “They came to us and explained that there were themes common to both the show and the U.N.,” Mr. Brandt said, “and that those themes could be discussed here in a serious manner.”
Whoopi Goldberg will moderate the discussions.
Since it began in 2003, “Battlestar Galactica,” based on a TV series from the 1970s, has gained attention for its frank treatment of issues that seem to mirror ones on Earth: resistance fighters who use terrorism to battle an occupying army; interrogation techniques and the rights of prisoners of war; genocide; and weapons of mass destruction. Its final episode will be shown on Friday.
“The show has been a sort of laboratory for the choices and issues real people in governments are making every day,” said Ms. McDonnell, who plays President Laura Roslin on the program. “I’ve had the chance to meet some of those people,” she added. “Many of them are big fans of the show.”