BSG:Stardoe

With the recent possible revelation about the nature of her destiny within Razor, it’s interesting to sit back and take a good look at the character Kara ‘Starbuck’ Thrace and her place on Battlestar Galactica.

Even though Starbuck is not the only male character from the original Battlestar series to find himself reinvented as a woman, it is arguably the most widely recognized and talked about of such transitions. Perhaps because the original Dirk Benedict version of the character was so much of a ladies’ man, or perhaps because the actor himself famously criticized the new series as a whole as being too “female driven”, by comparison to the weaker and more uncertain males in an article titled Lost in Castration.

The basic criticism at the heart of Benedict’s rant/article is in the decision to re-imagine the series at all. He seems to discount even the possibility of the inherent quality of the new series, judging it against his own idealized notion of the original and finding it wanting. It’s perhaps too easy to call his reaction misogynistic, even if one of his biggest gripes is in the prevalence of strong female characters. More to the point, it comes off sounding like a bitter aging quarterback, who doesn’t feel any particular need to pretend he likes his replacement and is certain that his own accomplishments will never be equaled. And certainly not by reinventing his bastion of masculine accomplishment in the form of a woman.

It’s perhaps not surprising that the actor playing a character like Starbuck would have an overly inflated ego. After all, even in her new incarnation, Kara is not one to lack in self confidence.

Starbuck is brash and bold, not only in the cockpit but also in her interactions with many of the crew. However her flaws are just as bold, with a practically pathological fear of commitment and self-destructive bravado that has at times been as likely to get her thrown in the brig as it is to save the day. Her own cocky attitude can be seen as a front for her deeper issues, dating back to a childhood spent being subjected to what could be characterized as mental abuse, as her mother sought to prepare her for what she believed to be her destiny. The result of a childhood spent being trained rather than nurtured lingers with Kara, helping to drive her reckless behavior with the sense of someone who at the same time believes she has nothing to fear in battle, because she has not yet fulfilled her destiny, and yet cannot commit herself completely to anything or anyone because in the end, it is that destiny which must come first in her life.

Adding to that dichotomy, the news that the destiny she has carried around like a badge of honor might be as the harbinger of the destruction of the human race is an the type of fatalistic irony which is perhaps too pervasive in the BSG. And among his other criticisms, Benedicts commented on this as well, talking about how it highlighted weaknesses over strengths, and essentially the worst elements of humanity at times rather than a more idealistic vision put forth by the original.

The struggle between the two warring aspects of humanity, its profound weaknesses played against staunch strength and determination is in itself one of the predominant themes explored by BSG. In the mini-series, Commander Adama talks about the human race, saying he didn’t know why we deserved the right to survive. And since, this has been one of the fundamental questions at the heart of it’s journey. The question of whether or not we deserve that right, and the importance of trying not just to survive, but to be worthy of survival.

And now we have learned that survival is somehow intertwined with the destiny of Kara Thrace. In Starbuck’s quest to be worthy of destiny which has been foretold for her, the question of the ultimate worth of humanity must somehow find an answer as well.

Not bad for a character Benedict, in his Lost in Castration essay, sarcastically dubbed “Stardoe”.