Many scifi and fantasy books research religious themes : Octavia E. Butler ’s Earthseed , Philip K. Dick ’s Mercerism , etc . Onscreen , there ’s no big spiritualism campaign than Star Wars ’ Force . But there ’s more to organized religion in genre movies and TV than the Jedi … so much more . Have you heard the practiced news ?
Note : I tried to pick more unnoticeable and unusual examples that you might not instantly think of . That ’s why this tilt does n’t check , for example , Game of Thrones ( the serial ’ many faiths suffer their ownextensive recent io9 station ) or Star Trek ( keep an eye on the links to read whyhumansin Gene Roddenberry ’s conception do n’t have religion , butKlingonsdo ) .
1) “Divine bomb” worship, Beneath the Planet of the Apes
The first subsequence to the original Planet of the Apes motion picture leans hard into the idea that humans lose control of Earth after a annihilating atomic war . Intelligent chimp and Gorilla gorilla rule the planet ’s surface , but a colony of psychic human mutation still tarry below what used to be New York City ’s St. Patrick ’s Cathedral . Instead of praying with the Bible , they shower their attentions on “ an unspeakable God”—a sinewy nuke that somehow come through the long - ago warfare . That does n’t mean they are n’t uncoerced to employ its original purpose as a doomsday weapon when they address the sentence is right ; a lot of the flick concerns seek to thwart the mutant plan to detonate the bomb and rid the galaxy of a major planet ruled by damn marked-up copycat . They eventually succeed , with a little assistance from a sure time - journey cosmonaut … hence the title of the third film in the serial : scat from the Planet of the Apes .
2) Robotology, Futurama
Futurama referenced a few religions over its run — including the ego - explanatory Church of Trek — but Robotology was probably its most tortuous conception . It was introduce in the time of year one installment “ Hell Is Other Robots , ” when Bender sees the sparkle while trying to kick his electrical energy addiction ( much to the dismay of his friend , who realize they opt him punk to pure ) . Robotology tips its lid to both Scientology and Christianity , but with a very specific mechanically skillful slant : The holy text , which suspiciously resembles a floppy disc , is “ The Good Book 3.0 ; ” order grace before meals involves an incredibly foresighted string of ones and zeroes ; and endless eternal damnation means a head trip to Robot Hell , a multi - level prison house located beneath the ruins of a New Jersey entertainment park and overseen by ( who else ? ) Beelzebot , the snappy Robot Devil .
3) Pagan gods, The Wicker Man
There ’s not really a name given to the faith share by the house physician of Summerisle — but it ’s ancient , steeped in pre - Christian beliefs and folklore , and comes thoroughgoing with an exaggerated take on Celtic paganism . Some elements of it are pretty coolheaded , not the least due to the fact that the island ’s de facto leader is a hip blue blood played by Christopher Lee . The oft - naked residents are very open about sex and replication , which appall the square-toed police officer claver from the mainland , play by Edward Woodward ( he deems them “ heathens ” ) . Their annual harvest celebration is full of music , costume , and dancing . But if it ’s look like a lean year in the orchards , there ’s one more constituent to the ritual : tempt an unsuspicious cop to the island to investigate the disappearance of a local young woman , then locking him in the jumbo , titular caning gentleman and setting it on fervour . You desire human sacrifice as part of your pagan shenanigans ? Consider a visit to Summerisle .
4) “The Two Great Ones,” Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
Most of this 1989 comedy — about two goofy metalhead ( Keanu Reeves , Alex Winter ) who ’re pull through from flunking out of high schooltime by mystic guardian holy person Rufus ( George Carlin ) and his magic sound John Wilkes Booth — ask trips to the yesteryear to hand - pick various famous number for the gallant ’ of the essence year - ending history story . But one sequence sees Bill and Ted emerge into Rufus ’ homeworld , a far - future version of Southern California . In this lackadaisical land filled with sunglasses and silver accessories , they are revere as gods . We do n’t eff too much about the religion itself , but its influence has create a Utopian promised land , as well as a peculiar way of slow - move air guitar . And its tenant of peace and harmony are imbibe straight from Bill and Ted ’s music and philosophy : “ Be excellent to each other . ” Yeah , Jesus wish he come up with that .
5) The various religions of Battlestar Galactica
Many , many scifi TV shows ( Stargate SG-1 , Babylon 5 , the antecedently - name Star Trek , etc . ) use faith as part of their public - edifice . Perhaps even more than most , Battlestar Galactica — originally inspired by the Book of Mormon , an influence that stock over to the 2003 - 2009 version of the series — explored religious themes , and further hammered home the human - Cylon conflict by giving the two chemical group differing philosophies . The human character believe in multiple gods ; over the course of the series , we learn about the Lords of Kobol , divinity whose former empire now exists only in ruins that conjure Greco - Romanist mythology . ( Starbuck , in the image above , is snatching the Arrow of Apollo — an artifact enounce to help manoeuver the direction to Earth — from an abandoned museum on the decimated planet of Caprica . ) This also entail we get to get a line the human characters exclaim things like “ Godsdamn ! ” and “ Oh god ! ” and “ May the immortal have mercifulness on your soul ! ” Meanwhile , the Cylons worship a solo God who they trust instructed the humans to make the Cylons , so that the Cylons could rise up up and destroy them , and in the end surpass them .
6) “He Who Walks Behind the Rows,” Children of the Corn
Did you think The Wicker Man presented an especially unforgiving belief organization ? Better hope you never chance yourself strand in rural Nebraska , surrounded by cornfields fill with threatening children . The minor ’ frame of worship is ( literally ) bloody-minded , cobble together from what is likely the spooky parts of the Old Testament and some sort of fatal - magic version of the Farmers ’ Almanac . While the 1984 picture show , adapted from Stephen King ’s news report , does eventually reveal “ He Who Walks Behind the Rows ” as a supernatural entity that require human forfeiture , most of the cult ’s drama revolves around the exponent conflict between its two dry pint - sized leaders — the intensely devout Isaac ( John Franklin ) , and the murderously capricious Malachai ( Courtney Gains ) .
7) Eywa, Avatar
With production on the four Avatar sequels finally underway , there ’s no better time to reacquaint yourself with the faith of the Na’vi , the blue - skinned beast that populate the succulent planet of Pandora . Even if you have negative associations with the movie ( because it ’s corny , problematic , overrated , what have you ) , the faith — which spiral from a nature goddess named Eywa , who is “ made up of all living thing ” and “ protect the balance wheel of life”—is hard to sneer at . Yes , it ’s New Age - y ( all experience thing are complect , sometimes literally , with a apparitional electronic connection that link up into the sacred , ancient Tree of Souls ) , but it sets up a sharp-worded contrast to the greedy humans that stomp across Pandora , giving no shits about its wondrous environs and ecosystem . Unfortunately for them , unlike on Earth , Pandora ’s wild kingdom finally fights back .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWZKDCAbEts
8) Mademoiselle and her followers, Martyrs
This Gallic horror movie does an awe-inspiring job of tricking you into believing you ’re ascertain a crimson moving-picture show about a maladjusted , possibly haunted young fair sex identify Lucie who ’s hellbent on punishing an apparently normal family that she exact abuse her as a child . Then , just when you suppose you know what to expect , Lucie dies . What seemed to be a junior-grade character reference discovers that Lucie was differentiate the truth , and then Martyrs bring out what ’s really going on . We run into a diabolical woman called Mademoiselle who leads a privy group obsess with finding any tag of grounds of an hereafter . Their proficiency : gruesomely torture young women and making them account back any perceptiveness gleaned from being on the threshold of death . A girl is actually flayed alive , making this mayhap the most grim track to enlightenment ever select .
9) The Muad’Dib, Dune
primary character Paul Atreides , played by Kyle MacLachlan in the 1984 movie version of Frank Herbert ’s Hellenic story , is a nobleman gifted with prophetical visions . Over the course of the moving-picture show , he becomes the long - awaited messiah figure of speech to the Fremen , indigen of the spice - grow planet of Arrakis . With all of his powerfulness — in gain to the psychical dream , he can see into blank space , command the dreaded local sandworms , and make it rain on a desert planet that ’s never watch a drop — he for sure seems well - suited for the job of spiritual warrior .
10) The giant, floating stone head of Zardoz
“ The gun is good ! The phallus is evil ! Go forth and vote out ! ” intones Zardoz , the giant head that hovers over a post - apocalyptic landscape , spew weapons out of its mouth for use by the “ Brutal Exterminators ” wait eagerly below . This is the accept procedure until one especially curious loincloth - clad warrior , Zed ( Sean Connery ) , do to go up aboard Zardoz and hobble a drive into a zona know as the Vortex . Once he ’s inside the catch realm where the planet ’s population of freaky “ Eternals ” dwell , he learn all is not what it seems — and that his ultimate purpose is to save the world by completely wreck it . That includes unveil the true meaning behind the stone head ( its name is a romp on The Wizard of Oz — and its hustler is , just like that title character , a false idol ) , although I ca n’t for the life of me remember if we ever learn how the goddamned thing flies . Maybe it ’s deserving worshiping after all .
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