Culture on My Mind – There’s a Reason…

June 11, 2025June 10, 2025 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

Culture on My Mind
There’s a Reason…
June 11, 2025

The reimagined Battlestar Galactica was written as a post-9/11 allegory. Over four seasons, it told the story of a group of refugees seeking asylum from violence, oppression, and genocide. Their beacon of freedom, democracy, and opportunity – the shining city on the hill – was Earth.

These words are still relevant twenty years after they were spoken on our television screens.

Culture on My Mind is inspired by the weekly Can’t Let It Go segment on the NPR Politics Podcast where each host brings one thing to the table that they just can’t stop thinking about.

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.

Dragon Con 2024

August 20, 2024August 19, 2024 Michael FalknerLeave a comment

Dragon Con 2024
Atlanta, GA – August 29 through September 2, 2024

Dragon Con!

It’s an annual tradition for me. It’s also a family reunion of sorts as I catch up with dear friends from around the world. This year will be my fifteenth(!) time attending and my ninth year as an attending professional.

If you plan to be there, you can find me at various places over Labor Day weekend according to the schedule below. The convention app is available now – look for Dragon Con by Core-apps in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store – and contains the schedule of events. The list of confirmed guests, performers, artists, and attending professionals is available on the official Dragon Con site.

The schedule spans various fan tracks, each of which specializes in topics like Star Wars, Star Trek, military science fiction, horror, literature, and so on. From those hundreds of hours of programming, each attendee can play Choose Your Own Adventure and build their ultimate geeky experience.

Dragon Con itself takes place in downtown Atlanta spanning five hotels (Courtland Grand Hotel, Hilton Atlanta, Atlanta Marriott Marquis, Hyatt Regency Atlanta, and Westin Peachtree Plaza) and the AmericasMart Atlanta exhibition center. The convention draws approximately 70,000 to 80,000 attendees (or more) annually and showcases one of the city’s most popular parades on Saturday morning at 10am.

Dragon Con prides itself on contributions to charity and the community. You can find more information about those efforts on their webpage. Each year, the convention partners with a local charity organization and this year’s partner is the Arthritis Foundation. For over seven decades, the Arthritis Foundation has led the fight to conquer arthritis for nearly 60 million adults and hundreds of thousands of children in the United States living with the disease. The Arthritis Foundation provides ways for people to take control of arthritis by connecting them with others who understand the challenges. Dragon Con will match every donation up to $125,000.

This year’s charity selection is important to me because members of my family have been helped by them. I’m eager to see how Dragon Con’s community can help the local branch further their goals.

The convention hosts the Dragon Con Hustle, a virtual 5K conducted on the honor system. The registration fee is donated to the annual charity and each participant gets a physical medal two weeks after the convention ends. This is probably one of my favorite ways to donate since I routinely log 30 to 35 miles during the convention as I walk to and fro. You can run, walk, roll, or even skip your way to the goal, and all Dragon Con asks is for a progress update on social media with the #DragonConHustle hashtag.

Dragon Con also hosts one of the most successful blood drives with the donations going to the non-profit Lifesouth Community Blood Centers. Lifesouth serves 125 hospitals in Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, and the Dragon Con blood drives routinely outperform those held at that big west coast corporate convention.

If you’re new to the convention, consider stopping by the Dragon Con Newbies group on Facebook. It is run by Kevin Bachelder, Sue Kisenwether, Kim McGibony, and me, and is an in-depth community resource for information about this massive (and sometimes overwhelming) event. Memberships (tickets) for this year’s convention are available, however memberships are limited.

Remember, if you buy a copy of the Dragon Tales book and come find me during the weekend, I will sign it for you. Though not an official part of Dragon Con, the book is themed around our experiences with the convention and the proceeds go to charities in honor of Thom Trainor and Darren Nowell.

Speaking of which, here’s where to find me during Dragon Con 2024.

Note: All Dragon Con schedules are tentative until the convention ends on Monday. Even then, things are a bit suspect. As things change before the convention, I’ll update this post.

Revision History:

- Rev 0 – 20 Aug 2022: Initial post.

The Schedule

Attendees start rolling in up to a week before the convention and start partying. I don’t have any big plans for Wednesday yet, but I will definitely be in the area on Thursday to check in to the hotel, pick up my badge and Hard Rock Dragon Con gear, and get started with programming.

12:00p-4:00p: Dragon Con Newbies Walking and Rolling Tours (4 hours)
Main Programming
Marriott Marquis, Atrium Level, A601-A602
Want to get a ‘lay of the land’ and find your way around the hotels? Did you know there’s a food court? Meet others new to Dragon Con and get a tour with some veteran con-goers. The last tours will leave at approximately 3:30pm.
Panelists include: Kevin Bachelder, Sue Kisenwether, Kim McGibony

4:00p-5:00p: Dragon Con Newbies Discussion with Q&A (1 hour)
Main Programming
Marriott Marquis, Atrium Level, A601-A602
First Dragon Con? Confused or overwhelmed? Savvy con attendees will share tips and tricks to navigate this amazing pop culture event.
Panelists include: Kevin Bachelder, Sue Kisenwether, Kim McGibony

10:00a: Dragon Con Newbies Discussion with Q&A (1 hour)
Main Programming
Marriott Marquis, Atrium Level, A601-A602
First Dragon Con? Confused or overwhelmed? Savvy con attendees will share tips and tricks to navigate this amazing pop culture event.
Panelists include: Kevin Bachelder, Sue Kisenwether, Kim McGibony

11:30a: Quantum Leap: No Leap Home (1 hour)
American Science Fiction and Fantasy Media
Marriott Marquis, M301
Ben Song’s leap had just about as much luck as Sam Beckett’s. While this Quantum Leap got mostly positive reactions, the second season shifted gears, introducing Hannah, but NBC/Peacock cancelled it, leaving Ben unable to return home, and us still lost unable to resolve Sam or Ben’s story.
Panelists include: Kevin Bachelder, Kristin Jackson, Wayland Smith, Anthony Liggins

1:00p: Farscape 25th Anniversary Fan Panel (1 hour)
Military Science Fiction
Westin, Chastain DE
Farscape was a landmark show for its weaving together of intricate stories, compelling characters, practical effects in puppetry, and strong visual storytelling. Board Moya with us as we look back on 25 years of this fan favorite.
Panelists include: James Henson, Amanda Tillman, Callie Kelley

10:00a: We’re Going to Need You to Come in Saturday: The Office Space Anniversary
American Sci-Fi Classics
Marriott Marquis, M103-M105
Why does it say paper jam when there’s no paper jam? Find out the answer (AFTER you turn in your TPS reports) and celebrate the anniversary of the most accurate workplace in all of cinema! Also, we really need to talk about your flair.
Panelists include: Michael Bailey, Van Allen Plexico, ToniAnn Marini, Gary Mitchel, Joe Crowe

11:30a: Battlestar Galactica: The Cylon Secrets Within
Military Science Fiction
Westin, Chastain DE
One of the more controversial decisions in the reimagined series (which celebrates its full-season 20th anniversary this year) was to incorporate Cylons into humanlike bodies. We’ll look at how this changed the game in terms of the plot possibilities, as well as choose our favorite Cylon models.
Panelists include: Kevin Grazier, Kevin Cafferty, Karen Henson, James Henson

No panels scheduled at this time.

10:00a: The Musicals and Plays of Fantasy Literature (1 hour)
Fantasy Literature
Hyatt, Embassy CD
A look at our favorite fantasy stories come to life on stage.
Panelists include: Nich Lyle, Mera Rose, M. C. Williams, Sara Rose

11:30a: Cruise Control: Space Travel in MSFM (1 hour)
Military Science Fiction
Westin, Chastain DE
How do YOU travel through space? We’re exploring methods like FTL travel, Stargates, jump gates, and more as we review the different means of travel and navigation in our MSFM properties and the benefits and drawbacks of each for a sci-fi show.
Panelists include: Doug Burbey, Erin Macdonald, Karen Henson, Badger (Joey Bruner), Alli Martin

Culture on My Mind – Religion in Science-Fiction

October 21, 2010June 19, 2025 Michael Falkner1 Comment

Culture on My Mind
Religion in Science-Fiction
October 21, 2010

Tiffany Vogt at Airlock Alpha recently asked, “Is Religion Killing Good Sci-Fi Shows?” In her article, she uses three recent series – Lost, Caprica, and the Battlestar Galactica reboot – to prove her point. Now, before I go too much further, I have to admit that I haven’t watched Lost beyond the first season, although I do have the complete series set waiting on me to dive in. I also haven’t had the chance to watch Caprica beyond the pilot, although I do hear mixed reviews from friends.

But, from my experiences with Battlestar Galactica, from the 1979 and recent versions, along with entertainment like Quantum Leap, the Stargate franchise, Star Wars, and Star Trek, I have to argue no. The first thing we have to do is eliminate the “us vs. them” concept of religion and science-fiction. The important part isn’t the gadgets or technology, it’s the story. That’s what religion is based on, isn’t it? Read any holy text and you’ll find it chock full of parables with a lesson attached, much like Aesop’s Fables. Even the trope of preachers delivering the typical fire and brimstone sermon focuses on telling a tale and learning a lesson from it.

So what is science-fiction? It’s the same thing: A story with an embedded lesson or speculation on a topic with a setting different than ours. Star Wars has a mythic story arc based around the Hero’s Journey with a focus on the mystical Force, which may or may not be religious in nature. Did the element of the Force ruin Star Wars? No, it didn’t, and most detractors argue that the series wasn’t harmed until 1999 when George Lucas tried to put a scientific spin on it.

Here comes the counter-argument: Star Wars didn’t tell a story without the Force and then tack it on at the end as a convenient way out of the plot. Fine. What about Quantum Leap?

Quantum Leap tackled this overall concept by changing the setting every episode for five years, while skirting the core issue of whether it was God, Fate, Time, or a botched science experiment that was responsible for bouncing Sam back and forth within his lifetime. The only real matter was that Sam was putting right what once went wrong, and the concept of potential religious ties came second. It only really came to a head in the finale when Sam came face-to-face with what may or may not have been God, who told him the truth about his Leaping. What that a cop-out? I don’t think so at all. First, it was supposed to be a turning point for the series, leading to a sixth season with harder trials for Sam without a guide. Second, as a finale, it works because Sam finally confronts what’s been happening over the last five years and grows from the experience. He gained the confidence to take on the extra challenge that lay ahead of him, whether we saw it on screen or not.

Battlestar Galactica in its original form made no claims to be anything but a show based on religion. Every episode made reference to gods and faith; entire episodes were based around the Colonials battling an incarnation of the Devil and interacting with Beings of Light with god-like powers. The quest for Earth was based on divine prophecies and guided by the Lords of Kobol. The reboot may have been rooted deeper in scientific storytelling, but it did not refute the genesis of the story. Characters on both sides of the conflict prayed to deities and talked about faith. Roslin had drug-induced hallucinations that showed the Colonials and Cylons the path to Earth, and even if the quest was undertaken as a hollow pursuit, it became a voyage of exploration for the psyches of each character. Some characters gave up along the way, some tried to use failures and setbacks as tools for personal gain, and some, like Admiral Adama, discovered potentials that they did not know existed. Even the concept of “what has happened before will happen again” is based in mythological roots of destiny and fate that reach back beyond the religions of Ancient Greece.

Star Trek, which has always shunned religion, even took a stab at religion in a seven-year arc with Deep Space Nine, which I argue is the best of the franchise. I can’t forget the religious threads of Babylon 5, either, but having only seen the series once, I can’t comfortably explore that territory.

I think that most modern views on science fiction are built around the staples of Trek and Stargate, which have inflicted considerable and irrefutable damage with numerous stories of persons with godlike powers who are evil or corrupted, and I believe that to be one of the longest tentpoles in the “us vs them” philosophy.

Religion is, at its base, a mythology. Faith is man-made creation, built around believing in that mythology and adapting it to everyday life. Science-fiction, part of the larger genre of speculative fiction, is a mythology, whether it tells of trips through a portal that takes you to a different planet or a quest based on faith. I can’t speak for Lost, but Galactica has always been an exploration of the human condition through the strength of faith, and I don’t believe that following that exploration to Ronald Moore’s conclusion ruined the journey.

We’re not talking about proving the existence of God here, but rather the basis of sci-fi which was exploring new fantastic frontiers with the power of human ingenuity. I, for one, want to see more science-fiction that goes back to the human condition, which includes faith and religion. Removing faith and religion only serves to strip an aspect from humanity that feeds into everyday decisions, and an exploration of that result ignores crucial motivations. Faith and religion need to be a core element in explorations of human nature because they are a core element in each man, woman, and child, even if they don’t believe in a higher power.

We can’t ignore the science in science-fiction, that’s true, but not every human being is motivated purely by science, and I refuse to believe that the answers to the speculation will all immediately come from science. The religious belief that Earth was the center of the universe motivated scientists to prove it otherwise. The same stands true in part for scientists seeking life on other planets or exploring the mysteries of evolution. Religion and faith are powerful motivators and cannot be ignored or cast aside.

Books like Contact, a well-regarded science-fiction story written by a scientist, have made me realize that neither brute force method of science or religion have all the answers to the questions about humanity. I believe that an exploration based in logical reasoning with an open mind and a faith that not all the mysteries have readily observable answers will reveal more than either approach would by itself. After all, theological exploration by the main character in Carl Sagan’s only fictional work didn’t destroy the story. It made the story complete.

Culture on My Mind is inspired by the weekly Can’t Let It Go segment on the NPR Politics Podcast where each host brings one thing to the table that they just can’t stop thinking about.

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: