I hope everyone is doing well. This is my after action report from attending Comicpoolza on Friday the 22nd. I was there only one day due to other commitments. I still had a great time and while there I got to meet members of the Battlestar Raven. Whom I have chatted with via the internet as well spoken over the phone with. A great bunch of folks what can I tell you everyone was having a blast. At the Convention there was lots to see and do as you walked around. I look forward to doing it again whenever the opportunity presents itself and my schedule is a bit more free.
After action report time. I was there to enjoy the convention and look forward to making new friends as well recruit for Colonial Defense Forces, Battlestar Fan Club and let’s not forget the Colonial Cylon Alliance. After all when I am at any function I do my best to represent every community I can. The Battlestar Raven table looked great the setup was a team effort no doubt. First on the scene was Paul Oakley who did the initial set up with Tim Riley aka “Cylon Tim” catchy name I love it! As well as Steve Tweed. I had the opportunity to meet and speak with Paul, Tim and Rob aka “Spectre” a great guy I met at Galacticon III. It was a great time being able to talk about Battlestar Galactica as well as other Sci FI genre. There was a gentleman named Doug I didn’t catch his last name. He was writer and he also joined us for some Sci Fi talk a nice humble guy I wish him all the best. He Doug that is loved the character Harley Quinn. As I had walked around the convention I purchased two beautiful art rendering and came back and presented it to Doug as a gift. The man was blown away and shook my hand. He offered me a free book and I decline it’s what I do love surprising people.
Speaking of surprise I was on a secret mission there. A few people knew of my pending arrival. I was there to surprise my friend Cherry Oclima. I had texted her to have a great time at the convention and she had replied. Little did she know I was just a few feet away from and I said HI!!. She turned and looked. It finally hit her I was there in the flesh and she jumped for joy gave me hug. She then preceded to hit me with a ball cap!! I guess she was truly happy HAHAHA!! I don’t like to commit to an event and then have to disappoint people so I always just make contact with one person only. This time it was my point man Colonial Marine Paul Oakley.
Prior to dinner I switched hats and stood up as Fleet Admiral Rivera of the BFC. I got everyone's attention b/c I like going big or just go home and everything I do has purpose or else I wouldn’t bother. Everyone's attention was on me and I appreciated their time. Especially those who came from a great distant to be part of the event. I called up Paul Oakley, Tim Reilly, Steve Tweed and George Mellis. Each of them I presented with an Award to show my appreciation for them supporting the Raven as well as representatives of the BFC Fleet! I shook hands and got a photo op going b/c I documenting things.
Finally, we were also there to celebrate Cherry Oclima time in military active duty service. She is very humble person. I asked Steve to remain standing since he is Raven XO. I asked Commander Cherry Oclima to stand. I then pulled out a framed certificate. I begun to read and let just say her expression was awe striking as well as her crew. I HEREBY PROMOTE YOU TO THE RANK OF REAR ADMIRAL!! I presented her with the certificate Steve and i stood there so we can be photographed together as part of the promotion ceremony. CONGRATULATION!! Hell I even presented her with collar rank insignia as well a Colonial cubit.
She has been trying for the lone time to get a duty blue uniform, but they cost so bloody much. I called in a few favors and got one which I wear. She can wear it until something which is more screen accurate comes along and is also truly affordable. Just hard to spend a great deal of money on cosplay you only wear 4 times a year so it’s understandable. She was floored when I presented her with the uniform. Thank you all for reading. I apologize for the long report, but I am sure you would agree it was worth reading. Please enjoy the photos and please post here.
PHOTOS::
Fleet Admiral Rivera Reading Awards Order of the Colonies and Good Conduct. Not pictured George Mellis. Last two photos of Rear Admiral Cherry Oclima receiving promotion ~Salutes!~
Hello fellow colonials. Galacticon is taking applications for volunteers for this years con in Seattle. Volunteers are needed in most areas of the show. Anyone interested should go to the link below and sign up.
Volunteering is a great way to be part of the convention and see it from a new perspective. Volunteers get to be part of the behind the scenes craziness that is Sci-Fi conventions and get some cool perks for helping.
**BBOOMM!! A bright flash of light and seen emerging is the Battlestar Aries in rotation as she executes a combat jump. As the ship continues it’s a rotation a lone Viper is seen launching moving away at high speed. Again a flash of light as the mighty warship vanishes. The Viper is heading towards the former Atlantia. Permission has been granted Viper touches down and lowered into the hangar. Deck crews rush to the Viper and secure it as the canopy opens and the helmet is removed. To reveal none other than Admiral of the BFC Fleet. He climbs down shakes hands with several of the deck gang and in his flight suit proceeds to the CIC! As the door opens he enters and attention on deck is yelled out! ATTENTION ON DECK! The Admiral walks in and looks around the entire CIC carefully.
He looks at the Communications Officer and says, “Effective immediately I assume command of this Battlestar please note the time and date in the ships log.” He then stands center room and hand salutes everyone. As he says, “I am here with you all to get us back on the map and fully operational it will take time. With your help and commitment we will make it happen, SO SAY WE ALL!!”**
Attention, Attention… If you are an “Honorary Member” here and NOT actually part of the ship crew all messages and orders to be assigned and carried out DO NOT apply to you. I am here to get this ship and it personnel fully operational. In order for that to be successful I have to be dealing with the assigned crew directly. I thank you all for understanding and full cooperation. Remember as a, “Honorary Member” you do not have actual shipboard duties or assignment unless specifically ask or assigned by the ship Commanding Officer. May the Lords of Kobol bless you all.
Attention! Crew of the Battlestar Solaria formerly Battlestar Atlantia. I want to take a few minutes of your time to put out some information. I am Miguel Rivera the Fleet Admiral of the Battlestar Fan Club it is a great honor to be among you. I look forward to working with you all as we bring the Solaria into a fully operational state. My email is CAG_VF84@yahoo.com. I will be contacting you all shortly via email communications. Next I will be developing a Command Staff and also the different areas needed in order to ensure the ships success. However, all of this will not succeed unless you are willing to step up and be involved in the process. Remember this ship is not mine it is OURS! One person can never hope to just make all things happen it a takes a group of people with heart, determination and commitment in order to over adversity.
Once I have sent the emails out to everyone. I would like everyone to individually contact me. I can see who actively onboard ship is and who may need to be recalled back from shore leave. Anyone requesting extra time on leave due to a personal nature please let me know. Everyone in certain positions will have duties to perform as well as be responsible for the day to day ship operations and crew participation. I know we all have real life things to deal with, so do your very best to partake in ships activity.
Finally once I hear from you all and establish the crew we will move forward from there. I look forward to hearing from you all ~SALUTES~ Carry on please. If you are actual crew please post to here i and on the Battlestar Solaria forum page.
As the infected pilots recover in the Galactica's infirmary, the maverick shuttle pilots brag up their victory in the Officer's Club. Starbuck and Apollo are relieved to hear that the bridge crew has detected an unknown blip trailing the Galactica fleet, just beyond tracking range. At first, Tigh approaches Apollo about leading a recon patrol to see what's out there. Then Serina appears and insists she is assigned as Apollo's wingman. In the confusion, Starbuck launches in Apollo's fighter. Apollo takes after Starbuck, followed by Serina.
The Cylon lure works. A slew of their raiders descend on Starbuck's ship before he knows what hit him. Without a shot fired, Starbuck is lost at the void's fringe. Aboard the Cylon Basestar, Lucifer and the Centurions escort their catch to Baltar. It is here that we learn of Baltar's plan to approach Adama with this new hostage as a peace offering. The encounter is as much a surprise to Lucifer as it is to Starbuck.
On the Galactica's bridge, Apollo cannot resist staring into the scanner, hoping to see Starbuck's Viper reappear. Serina consoles Apollo, but he still cannot accept that their comrade could disappear so suddenly. Serina presses on for marriage, saying that the predicament they are in may never end, and Starbuck would've wanted them to move on. As Adama performs the "sealing" ceremony on the Galactica's amphitheater deck, Tigh notices a star appearing. If Adama is right, the planet orbiting that star is Kobol: the birthplace of the human race.
Lucifer reports that the Galactica has been sighted approaching a dead planet orbiting a lone star. Baltar figures out what is happening and orders his personal craft readied. Lucifer cannot accept Baltar's confidence in approaching the humans with a peace plan.
On the planet's surface, Adama wants camp set up on a site of pyramids, a sphinx and other great ruins he suspects were once the thriving city of Eden, "the first to fall" on ancient Kobol. Apollo and Serina are grateful to have a dead planet to themselves for a honeymoon. As the warriors ready to bivouac among the ruins, Adama orders a guard to be posted.
As Adama, Apollo and Serina probe the pyramid "temple", which turns out to be the tomb of "the ninth Lord of Kobol," they discover an elaborate protective access system, which can only be opened by a Medallion from the Council of Twelve. Apparently, the ninth and final lord returned to Kobol to die after the thirteen tribes left to form new colonies beyond the void. The writings in the temple reveal the "last days" of this civilization. As Adama pays his respects to the dead, Baltar appears, wearing his own Medallion. When the traitor greets Adama as "old friend", the beleaguered Battlestar commander lunges for his enemy's throat.
Baltar insists he has been defamed by these treason charges. He tells of how he has seen the Cylon seat of power in chaos; how the Galactica could strike their capital and devastate the Cylons. Adama hisses to Baltar: "you have the tongue of an angel, and the soul of a serpent." Apollo takes Baltar into custody.
Back on the Basestar, a Centurion is paged to Baltar's throne room... to find Lucifer perched on the pedestal and ready to declare Baltar's peace envoy a failure. Though the Centurion is certain Baltar will deliver the Galactica fleet to Cylon, Lucifer is "thinking out loud" about why he was not chosen to be the new Imperious Leader over his "IL-group" competition; perhaps a military victory under his command might change his stature. "What is your command?" the Centurion asks.
On the planet's surface, the rookie warriors are enjoying their open-air evening on Kobol, when Starbuck appears. Apollo orders the warriors to ready themselves and demands that Baltar explain what is going on. When Apollo takes the traitor back into the tomb to talk to Adama, Serina notices that the sunlight is intensifying. As the light beams into the tomb, it is caught by Adama's Medallion. the focused rays activate the temple chamber's secret mechanism, and a deeper chamber is revealed. Once inside, Adama discovers more writings of what happened here. But then the tomb begins to shudder: the Cylons have begun a bombardment of the ruins.
Starbuck and Athena begin launching a counter-strike from the camp. On the Galactica, Boomer and some of his fellow warriors report for duty. "Lieutenant, obviously you can't even stand", Tigh warns Boomer. Boomer replies "The Viper is flown from the seated position, sir." Just when all seems lost for Starbuck and Athena, Boomer and company rout the Cylon attack. On Kobol, the Cylon attack nearly kills those left in the tomb. Adama is just about to learn of the thirteenth tribe when a Cylon attack shatters the tomb, leaving the writings destroyed and Baltar trapped under the rubble. While Adama's party try to free Baltar, they eventually give up and abandon him. The traitor vows to get even with Lucifer, "you have not heard the last of Baltar!"
Back on the surface, Adama, Serina and Apollo are reunited with Starbuck and Blue Squadron when Cylon infantry guns down Serina. She is mortally wounded but evac'ed to the Galactica before Apollo and Boxey say good-bye. Apollo now must rear the little boy on his own.
A Second Look This BATTLESTAR outing makes splendid use of John Colicos as Baltar, and the phenomenal robot Lucifer, animated by Felix Silla and voice by Jonathan Harris. The duel of the titan egos on the Basestar takes a strange turn, mixing doses of comedy with treachery. The sight of the IL-Cylon on Baltar's throne approaches farce. But the show belongs to Colicos' Baltar, whose con-artist tour-de-force comes into full bloom on Kobol.
The notion of a star appearing overhead at the very moment when Apollo and Serina are sealed was well played, if a bit too coincidental. When later Baltar apologizes to the air for defiling the ancient crypt, and then begs Adama to "use your power... get us out of here", the whole Kobolian mystery is a bit over the top. It is not clear if the show's makers want us to believe that Adama is tracing the footsteps of history for a well-grounded cause, or if his quest is based on some magic from the dead. One good thing is clear: Adama's Medallion beat Indiana Jones' staff-jewel laser to the Well of Souls by a few years. :-)
Missing from the Sci Fi channel "syndicated" version of this episode was a nice shot of Starbuck's Viper on approach to the Basestar. Other scenes seem chopped down to allow for commercial time. The explanation for Boomer's sudden recovery isn't adequate, either. Way too abrupt. This detracts significantly from the serialization aspect of the series. Speaking of which...
This episode underscores the serialized, soap-opera nature of the series does work well when it is allowed in the oven for long enough, and with the right ingredients. "Part 2" capitalizes on all the events that came before and does well on its own.
Jane Seymour turns in an improved portrayal of Apollo's bride, Serina. Too bad it was her swan song in the role. She was really starting to make something with it. But what was she doing out there on recon probe? That whole scene almost made a farce out of Starbuck's abduction. It's like Mom insisted on following Dad on his trip outta town. "Can I have the keys to the station wagon?" More proof positive that the show's makers did not take the war and military aspects of the series as seriously as they should have.
Spectacle Value Maren Jensen gives a nice cameo appearance as Athena, ready to fight the Cylons: fluffy hair, makeup and all. If Calvin Klein ever needed a female fighter pilot for a designer jeans ad campaign, Athena would be the lady. Speaking of ladies, at least the "girl" demeaning was toned down. Too bad they had to dub in those silly "Eeeee!" screams when the Cylons attacked the camp. Maybe showing one of the ladies hopping into the turret atop a land-ram would've been a better use of footage. They didn't even have to show the turret firing; just one lady ready to fend off the attackers while the others get clear to their fighters. But this was 1978, after all.
This two-part story cemented the status of Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict as stars of the show. Make no mistake, even though some remember it as "BATTLESTAR PONDEROSA", Apollo and Starbuck are at the top of the characters list.
While this episode recycles some space and combat footage, the real spectacle is the focus of the plot: the ancient ruins. Every Kobol scene was effective, shot and performed better than anything thus far in the series. Even the Cylon attack worked beautifully. That great success also fuels the confusion behind what the series is trying to communicate about this quest for thirteenth tribe: the physical manifestations seem to suggest the quest is based on ancient heritage, while the magical/legendary aspect suggests mysticism.
The other great thing about GALACTICA is the music. The score here was much better than in "Part 1." This series championed the power of music, even freezing an occasional touch of Colonial pseudo-disco in time. It is a treat to listen to.
IF BATTLESTAR GALACTICA WERE NEW TODAY:
This episode would be the most viable. Even though the Cylons have definitely worn out their welcome by now, the quest and the pursuit are tightly bound in a drama that works well against the backdrop of ancient ruins. Despite this, I also just watched a STARGATE SG-1 rerun of "The Fifth Race," in which Colonel O'Neil is accidentally "programmed" to make contact with the Askard race in another galaxy by reconfiguring the Stargate portal. Ironically, STARGATE seems to borrow from BATTLESTAR's theme of ancient mystery, underdog exploring the unknown, and the serialization of drama. Maybe now, if the older franchise is revived, it can learn from its younger student. STARGATE goes a step further by layering its cosmic history. It isn't just found in ancient historical texts in one place or time. The cosmos is much bigger than that. "The Fifth Race" shows us multiple legacies that are ongoing and more complex. What if this thirteenth tribe branched off, settling in more than one place? Or what if the thirteenth tribe intermarried with another race, and turns out not to be human anymore? Or what if it turns out that the Galactica unknowingly is leading the thirteenth tribe, and will ultimately settle on Earth? Or what if Earth is humanity's point of origin, which then spread to Kobol, and lost track of its roots? (Maybe the Great Colonies are thousands of years in humankind's future.)
They would have to do a better job depicting the abyss.
If they ever got their hands on another casting coup like Jane Seymour, they had better not let go of her. Mistakus collossus!
They would have to be a little more clever with their allegories. Some say the series reminded them of the Mormon legacy. Others say it was derived from THE AENID by Virgil. There is also a whiff of the original American colonists arriving from England to escape persecution under the Crown. This was impossible to define in one year's slate of episodes. If a revival were to champion an agenda, it would have to choose a direction (or directions) to go in and be more thorough in defining them.
They would also have to be more careful how they treat regular characters, like Baltar and Lucifer. Even a non-serialized drama cannot show scenes like the one with Lucifer on the throne or the one where Baltar is trapped in the tomb without showing how they are reconciled. Irresponsiblus galacticus!
They should do what is necessary to lure Patrick MacNee back to the show, if only for brief appearances and/or voice-overs. The introductory "There are those who believe..." narrative is best kept alive, and delivered by him.
TIDBITS & NITPICKS
Neat: the Cylons are supposed to still be hidden in the void, yet there are stars everywhere.
Apollo's plea to Adama to flee Kobol "while the star is still dormant" makes it clear that Kobol is in the heart of the abyss, not its far edge. So why do we see so many stars there? Does the abyss mask a wormhole or something that sends the ships across hyperspace to emerge in a new galaxy, a la "The Long Patrol" and "The Hand of God"? This is never fully established, one way or another.
Kobol must have a peculiar rotation. When they go into the tomb, it is day, when Starbuck reappears, it is night. When Adama unwittingly opens the tomb's deepest chamber, it is as if mid-day is near. When the Cylons attack, it is night again. If these sudden changes occur because of the fluctuations in the star, it's a miracle this world isn't in an ice age.
It makes no sense... ... for Apollo to allow his green pilot-trainees to make planetfall with their Vipers. They don't need fighter-craft down there, much less that many pilots. ... for the Cylons to attack the ruins, not the Galactica first. ... for so many pilots to be with their ships on the planet, and then Boomer and his squadron launch with even more ships from the Galactica. I don't think they are supposed to have that many Vipers at this stage in the series.
Again, in order for the "endless" nature of this void to make any sense, all craft in the Galactica and Cylon fleets, especially fighters, must be capable of at least the speed of light, if not several times that speed. The generic term "lightspeed" must apply to varying magnitudes of faster-than-light travel.
Nice to see that Sara Rush's "Woman on Duty" is instead listed as Rigel. She made a nice little supporting cameo in "Part 1", and again in "Part 2". She delivers a professional sounding "launch when ready." Too bad we don't get to see more.
Even though Hatch's Apollo and Benedict's Starbuck get the top billing, everyone else still gets the best lines, from Athena needling Starbuck to get into battle, to Adama's parting shot to Baltar "It seems your friends have sealed your fate as well as ours." And the best scene in this episode was when Baltar first appeared in the tomb and Adama lunged at the traitor. Lorne Greene still had some action in him! :-)
You have to love the charitable nature of Adama and his family. There's Baltar, a guy who would make Hitler look like a pussycat, trapped under that rubble, and Adama, Apollo and Serina are risking their lives and giving themselves a hernia just to save that crazy, corrupt S.O.B. That's compassion of Biblical proportions!
This interview took place about 15 years ago between myself & Grace Lee Whitney & I'm dedicating this retooled version to her memory.
I think everyone will find that we had a very interesting talk!
You'll note that this has a very conversational look about it, because this is the direct transcript of our discussion (thanks to Joe Beaudoin from Battlestar Wiki for doing it!).
I don't think there is anything that I would have changed about it, except that I made some unflattering remarks about "Galactica 1980"...at least my thinking has revised a bit about that, though I by no means think it's Shakespeare, but I do think of it a little more fondly now, so apologies to any & all Galactica 1980 fans out there (if you exist!).
Otherwise we covered a lot of topics and I hope you enjoy...it was nice to haul this one out and give it something of a reboot!
This is in dedication to Grace Lee Whitney...Grace, you are going to be missed!
Shawn: How did you get started in the acting field?
Grace: Actually, I started as a performer more than an actor. I was a singer and a dancer at school; and I was also a writer, I wrote some lyrics for songs and stuff. I performed them at school, and got on the stage and I really loved it. So I've been pursuing stage and performing all my life, and I did theater a little theater while in school, and then started signing [stage] and performed there. Then I went to Chicago and became a model. Then, upon becoming a model, I did, again, a Miss Chicago Contest and had to sing and dance for that. And then went to New York and auditioned for George Abbot and got into a show called "Top Banana" with Phil Silvers as an understudy and that's when I started acting. I got taught by Jack Albertson and, actually, he was my first teacher. He worked tirelessly and I went on a couple of times for the leading lady, and I just loved it. I migrated a little bit west and got into film. My first film was "Some Like It Hot" with Marilyn Monroe, and that one became the movie of the century--the comedy of the century. So that was my first film endeavor, and I was spoiled from then on in.
I was introduced to Billy Wilder; Billy Wilder was the director, he got many academy awards for "Some Like It Hot", and then got several academy awards for "Irma la Douce" also. So he helped my career. He called several directors, and told them that I was a good bet; and to hire me to do different shows so I did about a hundred shows. But ninety shows, I guess, before I got "Star Trek". And then I got "Star Trek", before I got "Star Trek" I did "Outer Limits", which was also another classic, with Carroll O'Connor and Barry Morse of "The Fugitive". And that was a wonderful experience. I got with Gene Roddenberry in "The Lieutenant", and Gene found me and put me into another pilot that he did called "Police Story".
Not the one that got filmed, actually, but the "Police Story" that he did, but never got filmed-I mean, never picked up as a series. It was filmed, but DeForest Kelley and I were in that together. It was a different Doctor and a different Yeoman in "Star Trek", and when the show got picked up by NBC, they wrote the doctor out and put DeForest Kelley in and wrote the yeoman out and put me in. And that's how we got our roles in the show... and the rest is history, and I've been doing it ever since. I did Voyager--
Shawn: Right, the "Flashback" episode.
Grace: Yes, the "Flashback" episode, and we were trying to get the Excelsior off the ground. I talked to Bob Justman about it; and I talked to a lot of people about it. It was a brainstorm of mine when we were doing Voyager, and I said to George [Takei] that we ought to do a mini-series of the Excelsior and we can do it like every three months. Do one episode every three months, for the fans and bring in a guest star from one of the other shows. We thought that was a great idea, and have been pushing for it ever since. So, I don't know if it's ever going to go, but seems very good to me.
Shawn: Actually, I was going to ask you that question: How'd you rate the chances of an Excelsior series, even like a regular weekly series?
Grace: Well, I don't think we can do it weekly, because I think it wouldn't hold up weekly. But it would hold up monthly. You know like what they do with the mini-series.
Shawn: Like a tele-movie or something like that?
Grace: Yeah. And that way it would probably pick up a lot of ratings, because I wouldn't be every week, it would be every couple of months or every three months or something. I think they did that with other shows. It would kind of be like a soap opera.
Shawn: Exactly. Like an ongoing mini-series?
Grace: Like an ongoing saga of the Excelsior. The Excelsior Saga, you know. And have that and just keep going. But I don't know, Paramount is not open to that. I think Paramount wants "Star Trek: 90210".
Shawn: I heard that bandied around a little bit.
Grace: Or I call it "Melrose Space".
Shawn: I think a lot of people feel that way.
Grace: Yeah. The really young kids, but I don't know if that will get off the ground or not. I have a feeling it will. And, if it does, I'm very happy about that. I think the new blood in Star Trek is always good.
Shawn: Maybe even a mix of both [new and old blood]?
Grace: A mix of both-absolutely!
Shawn: Which is kind of the best of both worlds.
Grace: Yeah, why couldn't they do that? They could do that, and that would be just great.
Shawn: I think that probably what bothers people quite a bit, is that this also has happened with Battlestar Galactica, they want to see the original characters, and they don't see where the problem lies because the fans want that, and the studios have an impression that all young faces are what sells. And that is not necessarily true.
Grace: No it's not true. Not true at all.
Shawn: Also, I was going to ask about your book. That's of some interest there as well.
Grace: I'm trying to get a teleplay for the book. Actually, I missed it by a few years, there was an era where they did [stories of] women who were down and out and came back; and versus where women who were down and out and never did come back. Which they also did, and then they got sick of that and stopped doing it.
And that was right when my book came out. So I almost have to wait. You know, Oprah Winfrey was very interested in my book, and I almost got on her show as "Book of the Week". Then she decided to go with the golfer; I don't know if you ever saw that series she did on women down and out, women who have and fallen and come back. She did a series called "In The Spirit" and she did a whole lot of shows about women who found God and were resurrected, so-to-speak, from the gutter. And one of mine was one of those she chose [after] one of her readers said, "Read this book, it's very powerful." So she interviewed me, but she picked a young golfer, a pro golfer as the "Book of the Week". And did her interview instead of mine, and I was just devastated-because I came very close to being the pick of the week! And if I had, my goodness! You know, I'm sure I would've had a movie done already-with Heather Locklear. I've already sent the book to Heather Locklear, and I wanted her to play me. I called Bill Shatner and asked him, and he said, "Well, she can't shine your shoes, but she'll be good." Which I thought was a very nice compliment coming from Bill. So that's kind of where we are, and it still may be picked up. I wanted Leonard [Nimoy] to direct, but Leonard is just kind of getting to the point where he doesn't want to work that hard. You know people say to me, "What do you do with your time?" And I tell them, "Well, I'm kind of semi-retired. I do Star Trek conventions, but other than that, I just built my own house. I'm living very quietly, and very relaxing[ly] with my horses and animals, and nature. I'm kind of just retired. So it's a wonderful life I have, but I would go back to work if the Excelsior had a chance. Or, I hear that there's going to be some sort of remake of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture". So I'm kind of hoping to do a cameo in that They've already interviewed a couple of stars.
Shawn: Like just a totally different cast?
Grace: No, it's just going to be re-cut and redistributed. And that would be really nice for me to do a cameo, you know because I've come so far since 1979. I got sober in 1981, so my whole sobriety, which is almost 20 years, has been eventful. I have done a lot of work, and that would be really good for me to do a cameo on this side of my life, as opposed to the other side. The other side is very traumatic. So, I don't know, there's a lot of things in the work. I'm just open to everything. I'm all over the universe; I have invitations to go to every country there is. So it's a very exciting life. And George Takei is also doing the same thing. George is running all over the universe also; we do a lot of conventions together.
Shawn: There's actually one coming up very soon, September in New York.
Grace: Yeah, in New York and I've been with Tim Russ for the last two conventions. He's doing a lot of Trek conventions too. So it's a very nice life, and hopefully Star Trek will keep going and I'll get someone to write a script for my book, and I'll be able to submit it and see what happens. The timing may not be exactly right. So you have to kind of go with the flow.
Shawn: So, you see yourself going on Oprah at some point?
Grace: Definitely. They have kept it open. The producer told my publisher that they still have me in the file. They haven't thrown me out, by any means. That could be really good. So, we'll see, I'm just kind of like living a day at a time, and doing my thing; and doing conventions and speaking. I speak a lot all over at hospitals and where people are incarcerated for alcoholism and drug addiction. So I'm very busy. I'm into the mainstream of life. I see a lot of stars whenever I go. I was just in FantastiCon in LA. William Campbell [who played Koloth and Trelane in TOS] was there. I think Richard [Hatch] was there, no, I guess Anne [Lockart] was there; Jerry Doyle was there from Babylon 5. And Bruce Boxleitner was there-we didn't have many Star Trek people there for sure.
Shawn: That's unusual. Usually there are a few it seems at each show.
Grace: The Star Trek people are getting upset with the cons; they don't pay them anything. And they just don't want to do it for nothing anymore. It's not like they don't do it for nothing, you know, they get big bucks for this sort of thing, but this guy doesn't want to pay. So this particular one isn't going to get them. The Grand Slam in April and that had everybody, because they give us the speaker fee. And so you're able to get the stars to come out.
Shawn: You obviously had to recoup losses or at least make the trip worth their while.
Grace: My gosh, yes! Nobody is going to get on a stage and speak for an hour and sign autographs for nothing. The guys promoting them are making good money, they charge money to get in.
Shawn: Of course, you have people flying in from far away.
Grace: Well nobody, not in Grand Slam, as everybody lives in LA.
Shawn: That was close. But you do have situations, of course, where you might have the DragonCon in Atlanta where people actually have to fly in.
Grace: It cost big bucks just to fly everybody in from LA. That was a big con. That cost a lot of money!
Shawn: Well, at least, too, they cover the airline fees, and hotel, and that type of thing.
Grace: That just costs a lot of money. How did the promoter [Ed Kramer] do at DragonCon?
Shawn: I really don't know. I presume pretty well, it's pretty much a success every year.
Grace: Oh, good. I'll do it again next year. I hope I can com next year, because I sure did well.
Shawn: It's a good show, it seems like it's really a hit with the fans. Definitely brings a lot of business into it.
Grace: Yeah, and I got a chance to see Adam West [original Batman/Bruce Wayne] and my other friend, Yvonne Craig.
Shawn: This year Bill Mumy was there, Angela Cartwright, Andreas Katsulas was there, so just a lot of different faces. They have some basic--I shouldn't say basic people, but people that come there every year, then like every year change out a few people just to spice it up a little bit.
Grace: Well, it's great to see everybody from all the different shows. Gosh, it's the only time I ever meet the actors! I see them on the screen, but I never actually get to smooch with them. That's what's fun. I just love it. I love going to see all the actors and going around to the tables. June Lockhart and I do a lot of shows together, and it's just fun, lots of fun and Annie too. I see Richard many times, so it's good. I just think it's a great way to live.
Shawn: This might be of interest to people as well, now your addictions in the past and the coming to terms with that definitely had an impact in your life, as far as the way you look at things now.
Grace: Yeah, in your addiction your very focused on self, on medicating and getting away from the pain, or running from problems or not taking responsibility for your life; or this man did me wrong or this woman did me wrong.
You're very focused on that and I was very focused on my career, trying to get ahead and, which of course, would've been fine if I hadn't had the compulsive behavior. I had a lot of compulsive behavior, which was, I don't know, it's just something you do against your own will--you can't really control yourself. Once you become addicted, it's like if you've ever known cigarette smokers [that's what it's like]. I am totally baffled by people who smoke themselves to death. It's just the craziest thing, if you're going to do something booze yourself to death or use drugs--but cigarettes that seems like the stupidest thing to do. It's just crazy. I just didn't realize that alcohol had such a hold on my life, I was a party girl and I loved parties. And Hollywood thrived on it of course; we all know that Hollywood is probably the biggest party town in the world. We call it Hollyweird.
A lot of people out there [are into parties], and it is the place to go if you want to get into the fast lane. So, I had to come out of the fast lane, which was a big change in my life and go to a higher power and be compliant in order to get sober. The last 19 years has been going through that process a day at a time; not putting my career first, using my career as a privilege, it's a privilege to be an actor and a privilege to be part of Star Trek. But that's not who I am. Who I am is a child of God, who is seeking to do His will and help other people; and not be so centered on myself. And if I can get out of myself, off of myself, and into other people and help in the community, and help other alcoholics and other women, battered omen, women that are addicted to drugs--there's a lot of crack cocaine up here and amphetamines--[and] try to help these people find their own way. It counts. Everyday it heals me just a little more. And I've seen what it looks like and I don't want to go back there. Therefore, I stay sober one more day because it is a progressive illness. Once you cross the line, the disease progresses even though you don't drink, or you don't use prescription drugs--you know, we have a lot of women that are addicted to prescription drugs. So we have to find a way to get off of those things, and face life on life's terms. In other words, you have to deal with life in reality, and [that's] very hard to do for an actor.
Shawn: Because you, obviously, spend so much time acting.
Grace: It's all fantasy. I have such a vivid imagination that it just about kills me on a daily basis. And I have a vivid imagination because I'm an actor! So I have to try and find the difference between reality and fantasy, and turn one off and turn the other on, and vice versa. And before, I couldn't do that. I was totally into fantasy most of the time, most of my life! I was always dreaming in the other world. It was an interesting journey, very interesting. I'm glad that I had to go through it, because it's given me an outlet for my book, for being able to work well into my sixties. I don't have to sit home and retire because I have something to say based on my own experience.
And that allows me to go out and keep my speaking engagements going. I go out and speak in hospitals and schools. I bring the books in and I sign them. I go to bookstores--Barnes & Noble and Borders-- and they set up a speaking time for me; I speak from 7 to 8 at night and then I sign books, and fool around and talk o people, have coffee. It's really a lot of fun, because the Star Trek people are all over. And the fans have really supported me!
Shawn: I think they'd definitely like to see your character come back.
Grace: They would. Janice Rand has always been a favorite character, and she always will be. They [the Powers That Be] never killed her off or did anything. They may have zapped me out of the universe for a few hours or a few years, but they brought me back. I wasn't killed off, so I can surface anywhere. Especially as Commander Rand on the Excelsior, which would be a perfect place for me. We're hoping that maybe, even if we get a movie of the week, [it would be] very nice [to do] one episode. A one hour movie.
Shawn: That's like the way the Columbo thing goes. Maybe do it even quarterly.
Grace: Wouldn't that be great!?
Shawn: It would be! It would be very good. I think the fans would really enjoy that.
Grace: I think they would love it! And we can get some of the original crew in there before they all die. Before we all die, you know.
Shawn: Unfortunately, DeForest Kelley is gone.
Grace: I know.
Shawn: But James Doohan...
Grace: Well, Jimmy's getting ready. He's way up there. He's 80 years old. I just went to his birthday party.
Shawn: How's he doing?
Grace: He's doing great. He's had a baby.
Shawn: That's what I hear.
Grace: Which is kind of encouraging!
Shawn: Yeah, I guess so! If he can do that at 80 it is.
Grace: My goodness! That's pretty good for the engineer!
Shawn: Actually, most of the cast is there. It's kind of unfortunate that John Colicos, who was actually in Richard's trailer, [Battletstar Galactica: The 2nd Coming], hoping and wanting to reprise his role there [as Lord Baltar], passed away earlier this year. Which is really, really bad.
Grace: That's a shame.
Shawn: He was, I believe, 72.
Grace: That's not very old.
Shawn: He suffered I a series of heart attacks. And it is too bad, as obviously you want to see those people back in those roles again.
Grace: Sure! Of course!
Shawn: Which is kind of the point. I think people are so interested in these revivals, that they don't want to go 20-30 years and not see these people back. And when finally studios come around to it then, you know, people DO pass away. If you're talking 30 years then there's a difference, and I think that's the reason why there's such an urgency with a lot of people. At least with the fans to get these things done, whether it's for Star Trek or Battlestar Galactica or whatever.
Grace: Yeah, I hear ya! And I talk to the fans when I go to these conventions, [so] I know what you're saying. They REALLY want the original people.
Shawn: That's what I keep getting.
Grace: Because that's what they want! And I don't know why the studios are so stubborn. I think maybe because the studios are run, a lot of times, by such young people. And they just look at us as being "too old for the job". You know a lot of execs are very young.
Shawn: I guess you may know better than I do.
Grace: They're not old like they used to be pictured, with gray hair and glasses sitting there. They're young kids. It's kind of amazing!
Shawn: So you think that, maybe, their perspective on it is that "young sells"?
Grace: Yes, I do.
Shawn: Which is not really true, you know.
Grace: Well, I think that they'd like to keep it that way!
Shawn: They may think this, but that's not necessarily true. Maybe in some certain circumstances, but not with these shows. I think, again, that the original characters sell. But I don't know what it'll take to get that across to them.
Grace: There's definite interest in the original casts of these shows.
Shawn: Yes, oh yes. All over the place.
Grace: Even Batman and stuff like that?
Shawn: I think probably more in the sci-fi genre. Like there was a clamoring to see Bill Mumy in the Lost in Space movie, and that didn't happen. And a lot of people didn't like that. They saw the fact that they had a few people getting cameos and they would have rather seen more of the original cast and more substantive roles. And that just didn't happen, but I do see that a lot--and even hear it. As, obviously, the websites I participate in, I get a lot of e-mail from people saying, "You know, we want to see the original characters and we want to see it the right way." That theme is always played and, you know, time after time when we begin polling and that type of thing. When we talk about the alternative in doing, like with Battlestar, doing the show with the original cast, with maybe some new faces--as opposed to a whole new cast-- overwhelmingly the support goes to the first notion. They don't want to see other people taking those parts over. They see the characters as the person who played them.
Grace: Wasn't there a remake of Battlestar Galactica?
Shawn: Yep. The 1980 version, but, again, that went on air without the original cast. The only original cast members were Lorne Greene and Herb Jefferson. But their roles were kind of pushed to the side and they concentrated on the new characters who were, well, not the old ones, and that's what the people wanted. I think it went on for thirteen episodes and it was just awful.
Grace: Oh that's a shame!
Shawn: That's the whole thing, again that's an example.
Grace: At least when they redid us--The Next Generation--it became a hit.
Shawn: Right, and of course, you had completely separate characters, too. It wasn't--
Grace: --It wasn't the same characters, right.
Shawn: Right. And, in a way, this was almost- -
Grace: --Almost the same characters, I see with different faces.
Shawn: Yeah, it wasn't--
Grace: Oh, the same names?
Shawn: Not the same names, but they might as well have recast the characters. They reused the same character types. So they tried to get away with it a little bit differently that way. Yeah, two separate things, and that's what people want [the original characters]. The original cast and themes. They really do. It's entertainment, but I think people get well wound up about it mainly because they grew up watching this. So it's part of their childhood memories, I know it is for me. I grew up watching these shows and I'm very attached to them because of that.
I was saddened to hear of the passing of actress Grace Lee Whitney this past Friday as I'm sure all of you were.
She was unforgettable as Yeoman Janice Rand on the legendary & original Star Trek.
Of course she did more than Star Trek...matter of fact her first on screen performance was in the comedy masterpiece "Some Like it Hot" starring Marilyn Monroe.
Probably a lot out there might not know that she also appeared in the Batman television series with Adam West, but perhaps the role that we will always remember her by will be in Star Trek.
Having met & talked to her, I can see with all honesty that she was a truly nice lady...she was even my dinner partner in New York City!
Long story short on that one...we were both at the same Con back in 1999 & a group of us went out for dinner at a Japanese steak house & we were seated next to each other...totally interesting conversation.
That led to continued contact via phone and ultimately to a really great interview that I did with her about her career.
In the next couple of days I will share the transcript of that interview with everyone.
Needless to say she was a true winner, battled some demons in her life and overcame them and emerged a stronger person for it.
Grace, you will be missed!
“Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning. ”
The Galactica Fleet, having escaped the Holocaust and having unknowingly destroyed the Cylon Imperious Leader at the battle of Carillon, continues to explore deep space far away from their war-ravaged homeworlds. The new Cylon leader spares the disheveled human traitor Baltar and sends him after the rebel fleet with a Basestar, entirely under the human's command. Baltar is escorted to his new assignment by Lucifer, a Cylon android who seems to have more in common with the Imperious Leader than with the crude, robotic Centurions.
On the Galactica, Apollo announces his engagement to Serina. At this point, Serina is still in civilian dress. But later, Apollo visits Serina in her quarters to discover she is wearing a cadet's uniform; the Colonial journalist wishes to become a shuttle pilot. While Apollo first objects, his fiancee assures him she will serve her new role well.
Apollo joins Starbuck on a Viper reconnaissance mission beyond the Fleet's tracking range. The two "buddies" discover a great black void , which inhibits all forms of tracking, navigation and communication. After nearly getting lost in this void, the two turn return to the Galactica to report their discovery. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Boomer and Flight Sergeant Jolly probe another direction with their Vipers. The two discover a Cylon outpost built into a rockface on an asteroid. They leave the area, not suspecting the Cylons are tracking them.
On returning to the Galactica, Boomer and Jolly sneak past decontamination procedures to join Apollo's bachelor party. Both collapse and reveal a strange plague which incapacitates and could kill everyone in the Fleet. Doctor Salik orders a quarantine of all personnel (exclusively male personnel of the Galactica's bridge crew and pilot roster) who came in contact with Boomer and Jolly. One by one, all of those affected are stricken. Salik insists he will have to journey to the asteroid to discover what caused this disease. With so many Viper pilots incapacitated, Adama must recruit shuttle pilots, apparently all female, to train for Viper simulation. Apollo and Starbuck ultimately lead a reconstituted Blue Squadron, including Serina, to escort Doctor Salik's shuttlecraft to the asteroid.
Baltar and Lucifer spar over what to do about capturing the Galactica and her fleet. Baltar insists on no aggressive action or revelation of his Basestar. Both seem concerned about how to handle the rogue Battlestar, and content to bicker about it.
Apollo and Starbuck seem to have their hands full just keeping their squadron in formation. They catch the outpost by surprise. The Cylons get several fighters launched, but Apollo starts destroying them before more can do so. Starbuck and Athena lead the rest of the squadron in picking off the Cylons. It seems everyone got the hang of flying and fighting. Blue Squadron reports their mission was a success.
Both Lucifer and Baltar are bewildered by the attack on the outpost. What could the Colonists have gained by this incursion? Even more puzzling are the reports of erratic flying of the attacking Vipers. Baltar tires of bickering with Lucifer and orders the capture of one of the Galactica patrols.
A Second Look Baltar seems to get way too familiar with Lucifer in a hurry, doesn't he? For a man who was nearly executed at the hands of the Cylons, he seems all too confident to tell Lucifer "Don't fence with me, my friend." And why does Lucifer often visit Baltar with an armed guard in tow? Fear of assassination, perhaps?
The scene where Apollo announces his engagement to Serina in Adama's dining room seems very stilted. The starched dialogue seems dated, even for the 1970's. This kind of thing makes the whole story look half-baked.
Why would Boomer and Jolly assume they had not been detected by the Cylons on a Cylon-held asteroid? Shouldn't an evasive procedure be in place in the event these probes make such a discovery?
Obviously, the sickness which incapacitates these pilots is a device which the entire story's sense of jeopardy rests on. But that still doesn't explain why they got away with skipping their decontamination process. (Looks like it wouldn't have mattered, since both men were already afflicted.)
There are presumably enough capable folks throughout the fleet who were not at that party that would make better Viper pilot candidates than a trainee who's never even flown a shuttle before! It's one thing to recruit shuttle pilots to fly Vipers, another to recruit cadets who've never flown a shuttle. One would think Serina could've said something about having flying hours back on Caprica, but this is yet another missed opportunity that makes the show look half-finished.
Spectacle Value Some fans grouse about seeing stars in the abyss. This really wasn't a problem. The blackness was sufficient to get the message across, while those few stars showed the edges of the abyss.
The Cylon outpost looked like a miniature. It would've been different if they would've superimposed the images of tiny Cylon warriors guarding the encampment's periphery on foot, a la Gamoray.
Some may not buy into Lucifer's appearance, but this is one Cylon effect that looked perfect for the show. It may scream "disco robot" and the use of Jonathan Harris' voice makes one think of Lucifer as a descendant of Robot from LOST IN SPACE. Still, Lucifer is a shining example of something this show did perfectly the first time. This is the most alien character in the entire series, outside of the being of light seen in "War of the Gods." Sadly, one is left with the impression the all there is to a Cylon Basestar is computerization, launch bays, and a big throne room. If the Cylons are supposed to be part of the story, they should be treated as characters. Does Baltar do nothing but sit on his throne and run his back massager while he passes gas all day? What a waste. If the Basestar is under his command, why not show him in a planning room with Lucifer, studying a star chart? If the show's makers can suit up a Centurion to be on hand, why not show the Centurion interacting with them?
This episode recycles internal footage of the Cylon Basestar over Carillon from "Saga of a Star World, Pt. 3". It shows Cylons standing next to a wall of electronic equipment, apparently monitoring Colonial activity and responding to it. It looks like they just took a hunk of the Galactica's bridge and posed some Cylons in front of it. Cheap, and campy looking. At least for "The Hand of God", the Cylons had their own bridge.
There was one nice computer graphics shot used: when Apollo is being dogged by a Cylon fighter, we see an attack computer display showing a nicely done graphical representation of a Viper approaching with a Cylon behind. Very nice, especially for 1978.
He said, she said Much has been made of how this episode looks dated, how it underscores a male chauvinist attitude in late 1970's television. There are some interesting passages throughout the episode.
The scene between Apollo and Serina in her quarters was nice, but not substantial enough to do either character justice. Again, like the dining room scene, the conversation seems stilted and awkward, over-simplifying the characters' dilemma. Apollo has the nerve to ask his fiancee, "Are you any good?" instead of a more caring and diplomatic "How good was your score?" This scene seems to have been shot to show off Jane Seymour in a tight uniform. (How often do we see so obvious an exhibition of "the Jordache look" in hour-long primetime dramatic fare today? With the exception of STAR TREK: VOYAGER's Seven of Nine, not very often.)
Then there's the scene with the ladies in the crew bunkroom wearing slinky "G-suits", which would make men look ridiculous as well. (Funny, but how often do we see Richard Hatch or Dirk Benedict wearing these same suits? For that matter, wouldn't it have been wiser to avoid this kind of nonsense by designing a flightsuit-and-helmet combination that doubles as a spacesuit? Hindsight being 20/20, guess nobody ever thought of that.) Just what we need to see is Apollo and Starbuck lecturing a bunch of giggling "girls". Somebody should've been soooooo fired for that scene, they should OWE their Hollywierd employers money for it!
Athena is shown piloting a Viper, both in simulation and in battle. She was previously portrayed as a bridge officer. Despite the accusation that Athena's poor piloting carried a sexist message with it, it seems more logical that the show's makers threw Maren Jensen's character into a cockpit because they didn't have a female pilot character readied from "Saga of a Star World." Athena's amateurish flying can be considered understandable if the bulk of her experience is in other areas. If the show would've been better showing her as a pilot, then that's something which should've been addressed earlier. Barring that, Apollo and Starbuck's attitudes are understandable.
Perhaps the biggest embarrassment about this episode is the unprofessional conduct of almost all the Galactica personnel. Is this a cruise ship, or a military vessel? Apollo's pilot friends may celebrate, but all at once? After what's happened to their people? Not only is this "party" an affront to military ideals and readiness, it also serves to make the Galactica look more like MCHALE'S NAVY or a cruise ship, not a carrier on the run escorting refugees. Glen Larson and company seem not to take the nature of their characters or the dangers of their war seriously enough. To the credit of the giggling female pilots, at least they seemed to take their duties more seriously once they got into their cockpits.
Isn't it neat how everyone in the restocked Blue Squadron is a lieutenant? Conveniently, none of these ladies outrank Apollo and Starbuck. Still, if some of these ladies are green, you'd expect to see an ensign. (It's never made clear if Athena's lieutenant rank is air or naval-based. As a Bridge officer, her rank would likely be naval, which would at least put her as equal to Starbuck, if not Apollo. This would also explain the way these characters address each other, personal familiarity aside.)
IF BATTLESTAR GALACTICA WERE BRAND-NEW TODAY...
They would've had to better develop this episode. It was obviously not thought through as well as it should've been. The disease still could've incapacitated several pilots, but the whole business of throwing inexperienced pilots into space would be avoided. Serina piloting a Viper did nothing for the character or the story. Baltar seemed over-eager to do the Imperious Leader's bidding to start with; his life depended on it. So why was he shown lounging in his throne room? What is he doing in there? Daydreaming? Baltar and Lucifer would have to be more than just cardboard standups, ordering Cylon maneuvers. And the discovery of the Cylon outpost should've been handled more cleverly, as with the discovery of the Basestar in "The Hand of God."
The show did not take its military/war aspect seriously enough. Had the show more clearly defined the military culture of the characters and the hardship it imposed on them, it would've been a double-edged sword. It would've made drama easier for the writers and the actors to portray, and it would've given the characters and their situations more substance.
The show's dogfights would have to be more three-dimensional. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA did a surprisingly good job of showing there's no "up" or "down" in space, but even today's sci fi can do a better job.
And maybe instead of showing a Cylon airstrip on a vulnerable asteroid's surface, we could see a new type of Cylon space station or mini-Basestar in orbit.
Isn't there enough canonical evidence that not all refugees and warriors from the Colonies are Earth-type homo sapiens? There are Nomen and many others. So why are they not seen on the Galactica's bridge or in her Vipers' cockpits? All of the characters in this episode are either human or Cylon. Break out the weird makeup! Put a squid on the bridge next to Sara Rush! Put an octopus in that Viper!
TIDBITS & NITPICKS
This episode clearly underscores that both Colonial and Cylon fightercraft are capable of at least lightspeed. (Probably shuttles, too.) There is the loose implication that the Cylons at the outpost dispatched fighters to Baltar's Basestar, rather than revealing the discovery of Boomer and Jolly's intrusion over an open comm-link. There is also the loose implication that Baltar was ordering Cylon fighter patrols to "hang back" and not reveal themselves to the hunted Fleet. Lucifer indicates that accelerating to lightspeed would allow the Basestar to intercept the Galactica in a short period of time. This means that the Cylon patrols trailing the Fleet must be capable of at least lightspeed to have caught up with the Fleet's periphery, and still be able to report back while apparently maintaining radio silence.
They had to give the most beautiful line in the whole episode to one of the bad guys: "Isn't he wonderfully devious?" -Lucifer
It would seem readily evident that a significant period of time passed between the aftermath of Carillon and the events in this episode. That is the only way to explain the new routines, Baltar's familiarity with Lucifer, and Apollo's engagement to Serina. So, why not say so?
Funny, but if this "G-suit" technology is supposed to protect the human body from tremendous G-forces a Viper will face in flight, why doesn't this suit cover a pilot's hands? Maybe human hands are immune to hypergravity?
And what is an enlisted man (Flight Sergeant Jolly) doing piloting a fighter? Shouldn't that kind of thing be left to warrant officers and commissioned officers?
HAPPY BIRTHDAY RAVEN CAG Birthday greetings tomorrow to the Leader of the finest pack of Viper Jocks and Raptor Drivers in the Fleet, Keith "Leonidas" Ranson, Raven CAG. The name synonymous with Toaster recycling. The man that invented Saturday night Fleet Missions in the chat room. The man always willing to apply a firm word or a swift kick whenever and wherever needed. Can't wait to see you at Galacticon 4. So, from the Officers and Crew of the Raven, Happy Birthday CAG! So say we all!
A while back...well, quite a while back actually...when Richard Hatch & the rest of us were busy pushing the idea of reviving Battlestar Galactica (which by the way was successful!)...there were many semi-starts, half-starts and sputters.
Everyone got bit by the idea, but there were competing visions.
Richard of course had his...Tom DeSanto & Bryan Singer had some bright ideas (and a very near miss back in 2001)...and Glen Larson himself explored the notion.
Of course as everyone knows, everything solidified behind Ron Moore...and now you have history!
At any rate, a bunch of ideas got thrown around...some good, some not so good...one writer came up with the notion of "Walking Vipers"...really.
They thought the Walkers in "Empire Strikes Back" looked so cool...that they might work for BSG too.
Not such a good idea.
We thought it was SUCH a bad idea...circa 2000 or so...that we couldn't help but comment on it here at the Battlestar Galactica Fan Club.
Imagine if you will as you look on the image below, the immortal lines...
"You put your right hand in, You put your right hand out, You put your right hand in, And you shake it all about,
You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around That what it's all about."
Special Note: We will be featuring the original in depth reviews of the original Battlestar Galactica that were originally published on this, the Battlestar Galactica Fan Club site many yahrens ago!
Please enjoy...
STORY SYNOPSIS
There are those who believe That life here began out there... With tribes of humans Who may have been the Forefathers of The Egyptians, or the Toltecs, or the Mayans...
That they may have been the architects of the Great Pyramids Or the lost civilizations of Lemuria, Or Atlantis...
Some believe That there may yet be brothers of man Who even now fight to survive...
... somewhere beyond the Heavens ...
Far out in space, in a galaxy very much like our own, a bitter conflict raged over a thousand years' time. Two powerful enemies emerged: the Alliance, whose controlling powers kept spreading through the might of the oppressive Cylons, and the Colonies of Man, a prosperous community of worlds populated by the Human Race.
In space not far from the Colonial heartworlds, a fleet of battlestars-- huge, carrier-like starships-of-war --assembled to rendezvous with the Cylons. The president of the Colonies (portrayed by Lew Ayres) gathers the Quorum of the Twelve aboard the Battlestar Atlantia to toast the arrival of peace on the eve of the Seventh Millennium of Time. Among those in attendance are Adama (Lorne Greene) and Count Baltar (John Colicos). During the peace process, Baltar was chosen "by the Cylons as their liaison to the Quorum", which he insists was "an act of Providence, not skill". Adama, a career military officer and commander of the Battlestar Galactica, still clings to his suspicions about the Cylons. "They hate us with every fiber of their existence," Adama insists.
On board the Galactica, the rookie fighter pilot Zac (Rick Springfield) is eager to win a chance to go on reconnaissance patrol with his older brother, Apollo (Richard Hatch). Zac is worried that he'll miss his chance to fly before the Armistice. He frantically begs Starbuck (Dirk Benedict) to give up his flight assignment. Apollo excepts his rookie brother's request and the two board their Viper fighter ships in the Galactica's launch tubes. On the Galactica's bridge, Core Controller Rigel (Sarah Rush) signals the pilots: "Launch when ready". The Vipers, three-engined birds of prey as swift as they are laden with electronics, blast out of the tubes and into open space away from the Colonial Fleet. Zac is in awe, having finally made it into open space. "This is nothing," Apollo tells his younger brother, "When the war is officially over, we'll be able to get back to deep star exploration. That's where the real challenge is."
As the patrol continues, the Vipers encounter strange electronic interference in a cloud bank over the distant Old Moon Cimtar. Apollo swoops his ship in to investigate. He finds a couple of Cylon tanker-freighter vessels; odd they should be deserted so far from their home base. Why are they emitting all this electronic jamming? When Apollo approaches the clouds, he finds a harmless mist.
And what he finds in the mist sends him streaking away from the Old Moon. "Let's get out of here!" he warns Zac.
"Colonial Viper in Quadrant; intercepting" comes the oddly musical, cyber-mechanical voice of a metallic pilot in pursuing Cylon fighter. The Cylon "Raiders", bat-like fighter-bombers with three Cylon centurions apiece as their pilots, chase after the two vipers. Zac and Apollo do battle and destroy the Cylon interceptors, but Zac's high engine is hit in the laser dog-fight. Zac is still able to fly, and insists he can make it back to the Colonial Fleet. But Apollo must leave his brother behind: emerging from the mist is a huge wing of Cylon raiders. "It means there isn't going to be any peace," he laments as he sets off at full turbos to warn the battlestars of the impending attack.
As Adama's bus-like shuttle craft approaches the Battlestar Galactica's landing bays, his daughter and co-pilot, Athena, (Maren Jensen) warns "Something's wrong... they just put the ship on alert." Once aboard the Galactica, the two report to the bridge, where Colonel Tigh (Terry Carter), the Galactica's executive officer, warns that the patrol is under attack and communications are jammed. When Adama opens communications with the Battlestar Atlantia to discuss this incident with the president, he finds the chief executive flanked by Baltar, who urges restraint. Adama's request to launch intercept fighters is denied.
Zac is about to approach the Fleet as his damaged ship limps along. The Cylons are gaining on him.
On the Galactica bridge, Adama warns the president that a wall of unidentified craft are closing in. "Possibly a Cylon welcoming committee," Baltar gently urges the president. When Adama suggests "launching a welcoming committee of our own," both the president and Baltar scorn the idea. "My friend," the president admonishes Adama, "we are on a peace mission; the first peace man has known in a thousand years!" As the Cylon attack force draws nearer, Zac is having a harder time keeping ahead of them. Adama consults with Tigh, and they order a battlestations drill.
In the crew quarters of the Galactica, Starbuck is winning a card game. He lays a Perfect Pyramid on the table. Just then, the drill sounds and the pilots rush to their Vipers. As Starbuck climbs into his ship he tells the launch crew this is "probably for some aerial salute before the president signs the Armistice. Sure ruined a good card game." As Zac nears the fleet, he frantically pleads for help over the Cylon jamming. The shiny armor of the Cylon pilots gleam in their cockpits as they fly their ships in pursuit. Adama warns the president that "your welcoming committee is firing on our patrol!" All the confused president can do is look around him to discover Baltar has left. Zac is on final approach to the fleet when the Cylon ships open fire, ultimately hitting the crippled Viper and killing the young warrior. When a brief flash of static interrupts Adama's communiqué with the Atlantia, the president asks "What was that?" A fuming Adama responds "That was my son, Mister President" while Athena sobs at her nearby console.
The Cylons then open fire on the battlestar fleet, all of which are caught unaware except for the drilling Galactica. Adama orders "positive shield now," all anti-assault batteries on the Galactica's outer hull to return fire, and all drilling vipers to launch. All the fighters blast into space and deflect the Cylon ships as they should, but the other battlestars fail to respond. Apollo makes it to the bridge, having landed his ship. He is about to beg his father for the chance to go back and rescue Zac when Tigh gives Adama's eldest son the news.
When Tigh asks Apollo how many Cylon baseships they will be dealing with, the young warrior, still in shock, reports there are "only fighters, maybe a thousand" and a couple of tankers to refuel them. "But why operate this far from Cylon without baseships?" Tigh wonders. Then it is clear to Adama that the Cylons needed their baseships, the enemy's equivalent of a battlestar, "someplace else." He opens a communiqué to the president again, urging him that the Colonial home planets may face attack. But the president is loosing his composure, "How can I have been so completely wrong... I have led the entire human race to ruin..." Cylon ships swarm over the Battlestar Atlantia, strafing the ship as it is caught flat-footed. The Cylon's "Atlantia Death Squadron" makes suicide runs on the battlestar's crumbling defenses, and ultimately the Colonial flagship is destroyed in a huge explosion. The Galactica's flying viper pilots, who noted that "it's dangerous around here," watch in astonishment as the Cylon attack bears fruit.
Adama decides to act before it is too late. "We're withdrawing," he orders, "flank speed for home!" As the Galactica pulls out of the battle, her pilots are stunned again at the sight of their home-ship's retreat. Using the strategy chart wall on the bridge, Tigh reports that Cylon baseships have been detected at "Grids 0-3-5, 1-2-6, and 2-5-8. That puts them well within striking range of the planets Virgon, Sagitara..."
"And Caprica," Adama fumes, realizing his homeworld may be under attack.
Near the Colonial "inner planets", three Cylon baseships approach their targets. These huge vessels, each made of two saucer-like tiers joined in the center, are cracked open where the "raider" ships make their launches and landings. Aboard the command ship, two Cylon centurions enter a dark, circular throne room. "By your command," the centurions call up to the throne. High above them, an alien figure, somewhat reptilian in appearance, turns to face the armored Cylons. "Speak centurion," comes a booming voice from the throne that is much more lifelike. It is the voice of the Cylon Imperious Leader. (Voice-over by Patrick Macnee) The centurions report that all baseships are in position for the attack. "The final annihilation of the life form known as Man," the Imperious Leader hails, "let the attack begin." From launch bays fly swarms of fighters, headed for the planets.
As the Galactica approaches the Great Colonies, anxious officers stare at popular video scans (not unlike television) of business-as-usual on Caprica. In the Caprica Presidium arena, the famous broadcast journalist Serina (Jane Seymour) reports that in the early morning hours there, preparations are still underway for the coming day's Armistice celebration. Then the festive mood is shattered as Cylon raiders begin strafing runs on the capital city, demolishing the Presidium. Galactica's crew watches in a mixture of horror and sorrow as "scanners pick up wave after wave" of attacking enemy ships. "The planet's in flames, Commander," Bridge Officer Omega (David Greenan) reports.
Adama, still in shock, decides he is going to go down to Caprica. Apollo offers to take his father to the surface in his fighter. As the two depart, Rigel reports to Tigh that the Galactica is recovering fighters from the battle. "Sixty-nine in all, twenty five of our own," she says. When Tigh asks how many battlestars are approaching, Omega tells him "We're the only surviving battlestar." Tigh can only mutter, "My God."
The cities on the surface of Caprica are devastated. Fires and towering plumes of smoke are everywhere as the night gives way to morning. Adama finds what is left of his residence, and starts recovering some of his belongings. Apollo wondering if his mother was in the home when the Cylons attacked. "She was here," Adama mourns as he continues to retreat into his own personal loss amidst the mass destruction, admiring old images of Zac, Apollo, Athena and his wife. A mob of angry Caprican survivors is approaching Apollo's ship. When the mob grabs Apollo and threatens to beat him up, Serina emerges and tells them to spare the warrior. She demands to know why the warriors failed to defend their world. "We waited," she pleads, "we watched and prayed, and you never came." Apollo and Adama explain that "must of us are dead, the fleet is all but destroyed." Serina insists, "We must fight back!" Adama agrees, "Yes, we will fight back, but not here, no now, not in the Colonies, not even in this star system."
He addresses the mob, "Let the word go forth to every man, woman and child that survived this holocaust. Tell them to set sail at once in every assortment of vehicle that will carry them."
And they came. The Aeries, the Virgons, the Gemins, the Skorpois, the Piscons and the Sagitarans. In all, 220 ships representing every colony, color and creed in the star system. The human race might have one more chance but it would have to survive the dark and sinister threats that lie ahead, the elements, and the Alliance...
On the surface of Caprica, overlooking the remains of a burnt-out city as the suns rise, Baltar holds court with a pair of heavily armed Cylon centurions. "Their destruction is complete," the human gloats. But the Cylon troopers report that survivors ask to be spared so they may tell the tale of ships which escaped the Colonies. Baltar scoffs at this, believing that the Colonies, in the aftermath of the attack, "would have neither food nor fuel for a prolonged voyage," and he tells his Cylon allies, "if they exist, they're doomed".
In space, moving away from the homeworlds, the Battlestar Galactica leads the refugee fleet through space. Adama calls a meeting with representatives of all the ships in his new fleet. He tells them that he has chosen a destination for the fleet. He explains how their ancient texts tell of a parent world where human life is believed to have originated. From this world sprang the tribes which settled the Twelve Colonies. But there was a thirteenth world "far out in the universe... in a galaxy very much like our own" called Earth.
As the refugee fleet continues on its way, Starbuck and Boomer are assigned by Apollo to help the Galactica's warrior contingent survey the fleet's civilian ships for damage. During their exploration of these crude ships, these warriors discover survivors living in miserable conditions aboard the Freighter Gemini. There are people here suffering from hunger, dehydration, and even injuries. It seems that the Cylon attack poisoned many foodstuffs, wiping out the fleet's supply. One blonde woman named Cassiopea (Laurette Spang), found suffering with a broken arm, seeks refuge from the freighter's hostile passengers who consider her a "dirty socialator". The survivors also direct their resentment toward the warriors themselves, not trusting anyone to care for the common good. As the Galactica shuttle departs the Gemini, Apollo tells Boomer that he can't blame the survivors for resenting the warriors. After all, "they lost everything they had."
A Second Look
The BATTLESTAR GALACTICA pilot, "Saga of a Star World," was actually made as a television movie. There are several versions of this movie, including the three-part episodic version seen in syndication on the Sci Fi Channel. This review deals with the syndicated Part One, (the first third of a three-part story) which is almost identical to all other versions up to this point.
There are some little sound bites in the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA movie-on-video which would've been nice in the three-part mini-series, and there are some parts of the miniseries which would've strengthened the movie. One example from the movie-on-video is the scene where Apollo allows Zac to go on the patrol to Cimtar. The part where Starbuck and Apollo are left talking about what it was like to be as young and excited as Zac added a little more depth to their characters which would not be seen again until later in the series. It was a shame to leave this out of the syndicated version.
This is especially true when one considers what was left in the syndicated version's first hour: a dreadful scene in which Starbuck finds Athena taking her clothes off in the warriors' locker room. This scene makes no sense. If Starbuck and Athena were lovers, why would she hide behind a locker door? Knowing Starbuck, he's already seen anything she could possibly conceal. And wouldn't warriors on-board ship have some kind of protocol or understanding of what's private and what isn't? This scene shows how bad male-dominated Hollywood really was in the 1970's. It seems the show's makers simply needed a scene to give depth to the Starbuck-Athena relationship, so they wed some '70's-style soap lover's dialogue with a little model-turned-actress exposure.
This vignette, combined with others throughout this hour, illustrate a common problem with BATTLESTAR. It's like the show's makers break down the story into a collection of scenes, and play each one up, sound-bite style, like a micro-movie or maxi-music video. It is never quite as bad as a Beatles film, still the story seems to suffer as the viewing audience rides a roller coaster of vignette after vignette. This is evident from the beginning, when we are greeted by the introductory let's-toast-to-peace scene, followed by the Zac-wants-to-fly scene, then the viper launch scene, then back to the meet Batlar scene, followed by a string of escalating Cylon ambush scenes. The dog fighting, followed by the Cylons' hounding of Zac's ship, may seem like a logical way to introduce the Cylon threat. But it also shows how the show got off on the wrong foot by relying too heavily on fighter combat action metaphors derived from 1970's movies about World War II naval air drama such as TORA! TORA! TORA! (Twentieth-Century Fox, 1970) and MIDWAY (Fox, 1976). In BATTLESTAR, laser firepower replaces bullets and Cimtar becomes like Midway Island or Pearl Harbor. While this mechanical transformation of tried-and-true air force drama seems to give the story some wheels, it also shows how the shows makers failed to innovate. But casting their lot with expensive dogfighting and strafing scenes, they locked themselves into a metaphor which cause the show to miss opportunities and stumble over its own logic.
Consider: if the Cylon baseships dumped off all of their fighters in deep space to rendezvous with the tankers at Cimtar, wouldn't that open the door to the Colonial battlestars spotting their approach? Would it not have been more imaginative to show a small contingent of Cylons manning several pulsar-type guns at Cimtar, catching the fleet in a sniper-firefight? Such an ambush would've been more interesting for the story, made the demise of the battlestars more believable, and actually increased the tension for the characters. Think about it: several well-placed concealed batteries could chip away at the Colonial fleet, and all the vipers wouldn't be able to stop it. There would be few, if any enemy fighters to shoot down. The tanker-freighter and first dogfight scenes would be left intact; the freighters would be needed to deliver the sniper-guns and to refuel a small number of fighters to protect the snipers and draw the fleet's fire.
The money spent on special effects showing clever Cylon snipers cutting the battlestar fleet to pieces could have been recovered with scenes showing Cylon basestars in orbital bombardment runs of the home planets. The whole notion of Cylon fighter bombers strafing streets and leaving small explosions of sparks that damage buildings goes back to lameness of interpreting lasers as if they are like space bullets. They aren't. The Cylons could probably do the same thing more effectively from orbit, or simply nuke the cities with missiles. Again, a little more imagination and serious understanding of the science behind science fiction would've made the story more interesting even if the results were the same.
There are some other glaring problems with the story. How could the president of a civilian governing council issue military orders from the command deck of a battlestar? The pivotal point in the story shows Batlar manipulating the president into relaxing the fleet's defenses just as the Cylons are moving in to attack. Where's the Atlantia's commander? And don't any of the other battlestar commanders have anything to say?
The whole notion that a quorum of advanced, thriving worlds could sustain war for 1,000 years is tough enough to grasp. But the notion of disarming pacifism blundering into an ambush after the war has been in progress for so long is even more fantastic. Why would anyone collect their entire navy together in one place before the end of a conflict, then insist the fleet's defenses be relaxed? There's such a thing as poor judgement, and then there's outright stupidity.
And it's worth noting that the story makes it clear that there are several homeworlds, spread out across the orbits of at least two stars. How could the defenses of all these worlds be so totally relaxed, all at once?
Despite all these leaps of logic throughout BATTLESTAR's first hour, the story does work. It illustrates many fears people expressed during the Cold War. The exodus from the Colonies appears to borrow from THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (Paramount, 1956), but this attempt is missing one crucial element: size. Most of the time, BATTLESTAR is showing small groups of people, flyby shots of small numbers of ships, and small sets. Granted, much of this adventure takes place in the confinement of ships. The show never really showed a large crowd of people on Caprica all trying to cram themselves aboard a ship at the "spacedrome."
True to the folksy self-parody of the 1970's, BATTLESTAR tries to make a joke out of the exodus, showing a transport ship with the words marked on the hull "Colonial Movers...We Move Anywhere." This scene is cute and charming. Fortunately, it is only shown once.
The Cylons are a mixed bag from the start. The Imperious Leader never does anything but rotate on his/its throne, unmoving, like some kind of puppet, bellowing out lines like a bizarre cross between the Pope and Hitler. The name of this character is not very imaginative, almost cartoonish. The motives of this races of beings never really made sense. They are programmed to kill all humans. Why? And why do they have an alliance? If all life is their enemy, wouldn't it be a little hard for any life to ally with them? The Imperious Leader does not appear to be purely robotic. In fact, the very nature of the Cylons' physical bodies makes no sense. If these beings are pure robots, why do they need lighted, pressurized ships with artificial gravitation? And why would the Cylons need to use spoken words to communicate among themselves? Why would they need to pilot their raiders by hand? Wouldn't a wired or wireless plug-in do? Are these creatures individuals, with some organic component? BATTLESTAR's makers cop-out and never really explain any of this. In fact, they make these characters so contradictory, clumsy and cold from the beginning that they seem more like a race of pointless puppets than a fierce nationalistic force of deadly zealots.
Despite this, the Cylons make entertaining chrome-plated space Nazis. Their appearance, behavior, voices and other sound effects are an icon of 1970's pop-culture, just as BATTLESTAR GALACTICA has become. The video game-style space battles and brutal apocalyptic villains remain a testimonial to what many youths and young adults were thinking about the Cold War.
It's hard to believe now that many of the show's original detractors took aim at Lorne Greene as Commander Adama, referring to it as "Battlestar Ponderosa." Prior to playing Adama, Greene played a very different kind of leader in the nineteenth-century cowboy-like BONANZA (Paramount/NBC, 1959-73). Greene was seen as typecast for his long-standing role as Nevada homesteader Ben Cartwright. But Greene transformed himself in this pilot episode. He became the regal-but-worldly-wise Adama, a mortal man who had to use his wits to stay one step ahead of his adversaries. Greene consistently proved he could make a viewer believe he was a patriarch, a scholar of ancient legends, a military man, an astronaut and a father all at once. In some ways, he overshadowed the real star of the show, who received top billing over him:
Richard Hatch portrays Captain Apollo. His true-believer character comes to life very well, even though the pilot does not thus far give him any really flattering moments. The line "right here, you creeps", is just the kind of lapse in the authenticity of Colonial culture that plagues the pilot, and it does nothing to help Hatch's portrayal of a fighter pilot. The first hour of BATLESTAR does little to make Apollo look military. Hatch look more like a fireman-paramedic troubleshooting on EMERGENCY! (NBC/Universal-Mark VII Ltd., 1972-77) than a warrior-astronaut.
Rick Springfield's portrayal of Zac looked like it was doomed anyway. He looked more like something that belonged on THE DUKES OF HAZZARD (CBS/Warner Bros., 1979-85). Yeowwww!
Dirk Benedict's Starbuck could've stolen the show in the first hour if he hadn't been given some of the worst scenes. It is obvious that his character is still in development when all the writers could give him to do is play cards, pilot a damaged fighter into a crash landing, get into a squabble with his voluptuous girlfriend and then "discover" her in that appalling locker room scene. Despite this, Benedict proves himself very capable in making his character memorable.
Lew Ayres' portrayal of the president, though unflattering and short-lived, was adequate. He didn't have much to work with, and came across as a dupe. And cardboard.
Terry Carter uses very little material to introduce Tigh in the first hour, and yet we see the essence of this character formed more quickly than any other. To be fair, Tigh has little chance to step out of Adama's shadow while serving as Galactica's executive officer, but the character's personality is still firmly associated with the BATTLESTAR phenomenon.
Then there's Athena. Maren Jensen, literally a model-turned-actress, does more acting in the first several episodes than in the rest of the series. When she was permitted, she served well as BATTLESTAR's intentional entry into "jiggle TV" lore. Jensen may never have been in line for an Emmy or an Oscar, but she should've been utilized more effectively. This isn't just a matter of enhancing the show's sexual content, either. As bridge personnel, she could have been used to make the show's on-board content smarter by making her more of a professional, junior command presence. Athena is never shown supervising any other personnel in this first hour or in the rest of the series. We do, however, get to see a rare glimpse of her working with Tigh to guide in Starbuck's damaged fighter. While there is the appearance of her being a high-tech air traffic controller or tech support phone operator here, this could've served as the beginning of an effort to both refine the bridge-drama and make Athena more of a presence on the ship.
Sara Rush as Rigel is another opportunity missed. She seems to get all the technical "launch when ready" lines, which she rattles off like a machine. But she's not seen as a character. She is referred to in the credits as "Woman on Duty". Too bad a little of Athena couldn't be given to Rigel and vice-versa.
One thing BATTLESTAR seemed to do with little regard for military authenticity: the hair. All the younger adult characters were either wearing big, fluffy hair or the dreadful "helmet hair". While in a way this little snapshot of late 1970's fashion is a delight to revisit, it also showed how little regard the show's makers had for making the supposedly far-away culture these characters represented into something more interesting than an advertisement for perms and curling irons. They didn't have to show everyone having a "butch cut", but still one would think that astronauts going off to battle don't look like Barbie and Ken going off to a disco.
Notably absent from the first hour of this story are many of the terms and references that would serve to make the Colonial culture (and the Cylons) decidedly extra-terrestrial. Such "funk-o-babble" expressions as "felgercarb" and "frack" are missing, as are many conventionalizations, such as time units ("years" are used here, rather than "yahren") which underscored how this was still a work in progress. Methinks they should've left BATTLESTAR in the oven a little longer.
Note how Vipers appear to be small-cockpit, single man craft. How did Apollo accompany Adama to the surface of Caprica in a one-seat viper? Yet another example of how half-baked the show's pilot was.
Spectacle Value
The shots of the battlestar fleet should've been more impressive. The size of these ships was portrayed with only limited success.
The images of the Atlantia bridge under attack were far more impressive. This is the only time we see explosive decompression used in a battle scene in BATTLESTAR.
The whole fighter dogfight scenario revealed a serious, short-sighted flaw in the mechanics of combat in BATTLESTAR: if someone sneaks up behind your ship, you are in real trouble. No tail gunners, no reversible weapons. All firepower and personnel directed forward. And the landing bays of the big battlestars should all have a welcome mat on the outer end of them saying "ATTACK HERE." Couldn't a little imagination be applied to these obvious flaws?
The gleaming chrome-plated Cylon centurions were actually a semi-decent special effect on their own, but Cylon society was never fully formed in either the pilot or the series that followed. The Imperious Leader's throne room was thoroughly parodied by Robin Williams in MORK & MINDY (ABC/Paramount-Miller-Milkis, 1978-82). There are, as yet, no other kinds of Cylons shown: just the silvery centurions and the lighthouse-from-Hell Imperious Leader.
BATTLESTAR's makers missed another opportunity when they could've shown a baseship in the skies over Caprica instead of the low-swooping raiders. Aerial bombardment from a baseship would be more destructive, and since all of the fighters were busy attacking the battlestars there should not have been any over Caprica anyway.
The scenes on the overlook above the burning coastal city on Caprica were a nicely done effect. BATTLESTAR never did enough of this.
IF BATTLESTAR GALACTICA WERE NEW TODAY:
This three-part story could've been done as its own mini-series to give more time to introducing the characters and their plight.
"Jiggle TV" would have to give way to characters offering more substance.
Everyone could stand to get a better haircut, although Athena's exotic looks made her 'do acceptable.
It would've been interesting if the story started at a point before the "peace conference," back when the war was still on.
Caprica, the other Colonies, and the whole Colonial culture would have to offer better tie-ins to ancient Earth than just Egyptian-style flight helmets and pyramid-shaped buildings.
The characters would have to stop doing dumb things, like allowing their entire defense fleet to sleep-walk into an ambush. The Cylon attack would have to be much more clever than that.
TIDBITS & NITPICKS
While Starbuck was trying to land his battle-damaged fighter, he referred to himself by saying "Red Leader, in trouble..." Apparently, he was a squadron leader, and not of Blue Squadron.
The number of battlestars in formation at the beginning of this story is not entirely clear. We never see more than five at a time, but different scenes show the ships in different formations. Could the different shots be of different sets of ships in the fleet? So how many battlestars are there? Five? Ten? Twelve? Fifteen? More?
We never see any more than three Cylon baseships at a time. If one deduces from Tigh's charting of baseship sightings that there are actually three such formations of Cylon vessels attacking the Colonies, then as many as nine were involved. But there is no definite indication of this.
Apollo tells his brother that "...a thousand to one, that's not fair" when they are being pursued by the Cylon assault force. This seems to loosely imply that there are a thousand-to-one odds against their two vipers, or 2,000 Cylon fighters. Later, on the Galactica's bridge, Apollo reports to Tigh and Adama that there were "No baseships, just fighters; maybe a thousand." It could be accepted that the number of Cylon fighters attacking the fleet was either approximately 1,000 or 2,000. That's quite a difference.
When the Galactica starts recovering fighters while near Caprica, Rigel reports there are "sixty-nine in all, twenty-five of our own". This seems to indicate that other battlestars did ultimately launch at least some Vipers against the Cylons, as well as revealing that many of the Galactica's original squadrons were wiped out. So, were there any other surviving vipers? Was 69 the final fighter compliment aboard the Galactica just prior to the exodus? This is never made clear.
Omega tells Tigh "we're the only surviving battlestar." But how do they know that? If other battlestars managed to launch their own Vipers, and the surviving Galactica squadrons followed their home ship away from the battle, maybe other ships survived unknown to the Galactica recovery effort. The situation was certainly chaotic enough. Could it be that a war raged on in the Colonies after Adama led the refugee fleet in the exodus? BATTLESTAR missed a great story opportunity here.
During Serina's "talking heads" report on Caprican civilian video scan, she mentions that the Colonists expect that peace discussions "going on at this very moment on the Star Kobol". Would this be a slip-up, assuming that one of the neighboring planetary systems near the Colonies was Kobol? Or did Star Kobol imply the name of a colony, ship or space station? This is never made clear.
Didn't the Colonists believe in space stations? In a time of war, would there not always by squadrons at full readiness to launch in defense of any home port?
With all that fanfare before the Cylon attack, one would think BATTLESTAR's makers would've shown Adama's more immediate superior, perhaps a Colonial admiral.
For the record, a "battle star" is a recognition which a United States warship receives after it sees combat service.
A "centurion" in the ancient Roman army was the captain of a group of 100 soldiers.
A "viper" is a venomous snake.
The term "scan" seems to refer not only to data retrieved from military tracking devices, but from just about anything involving a video display. This seems to include Serina's broadcast.
By the looks of the Caprica presidium, even at night, Colonial society was every bit as advanced and prosperous as the grandiose nature of their battlestars.
Battlestar Fan Club on Zombie Watch at Comicpalooza.
Battlestar Raven Cylons and Marines will be on hand at Comicpalooza Houston, Memorial Day Weekend, May 22-25, George R. Brown Convention Center to help secure the area from evil creatures, strange people in funny costumes and the "Seinfeld Soup Nazi". No worries, it's all Family fun for every one, so bring a camera.
This was the first time we had a chance to put on a really good display of screen used costumes, props built and in progress and part of the fleet model collection.
We had screen used BDUs (3 sets including Chief Tiu from Blood and Chrome and a Kara Thrace Jacket), a New Caprica Police Uniform and some Prison coveralls. We accompanied those costumes with a replica six dress and jewelry ensemble PLUS A chrome Cylon, Cylon Six, Marines and BDUs mobile in costume on the day.
Mike brought along his part finished 'New Style' cylon along with resin blasters and rifles he has been working on and a couple of old school Cylon helmets. Phil brought along three of his ships.
Organisers kept us well watered and the venue was fantastic with excellent changing facilities! Had loads of public interest, will post some more pics later.
Viper Raffle Coming to Comicpalooza Houston – Fight Leukemia
The Team Zoe Viper, built and donated by Roger Barstow, sits in a custom display case and lights up its engines and cockpit. Battlestar Galactica stars Richard Hatch, Kate Vernon and Tricia Helfer autographed the case, and more autographs will be added. Raffle tickets will be available at the Battlestar Raven Comicpalooza Houston Fan Club booth, May 22-25. The winner will be announced at Galacticon 4 in Seattle the weekend of July 31. All proceeds go to help with medical expenses for Zoe, the young daughter of a Club member. She is fighting Leukemia. A framed art work by Zoe is included.
