All of this has happened before, and will happen again: A literary comparison of Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained with Battlestar Galactica

The Biblical account of Adam and Eve's fall from grace and exile from Paradise, as well as humanity's salvation through Jesus' sacrifice, are familiar stories which are explored in great detail in John Milton's Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. Milton's interpretation of humankind's loss of Paradise and eventual redemption is modernized in the 2003 television series Battlestar Galactica. The central storyline of Battlestar Galactica is of humanity's survival against the Cylons, an implacable mechanized race intent on the destruction of humanity, and the human refugees' search for a mythical planet called Earth following the holocaust of their homeworlds. Against this science fiction backdrop a story is told that bears striking resemblance to Milton's Paradise Lost. The unifying similarity between this unconventional pair of narratives is the notion that Paradise is lost through rebellion against God's will, but that it is then regained through submission to His will. Eve in Paradise Lost and D'Anna in Battlestar Galactica both give in to the craving for forbidden knowledge, and thus lose their respective versions of Paradise. However, through Jesus obeying God's will and resisting Satan's temptations in Paradise Regained and Kara Thrace realizing her destiny in Battlestar Galactica, Paradise is regained for all humanity.