Galactica Museum

The decommissioning ceremony held in the Galactica Museum ^{(TRS: "Miniseries, Night 1")}.

The Battlestar Galactica Museum is a military history exhibition of the First Cylon War, constructed in the starboard flight pod of the to-be retired battlestar Galactica. The museum serves as an educational center and as a memorial to those who served during the War circa 52 BCH (48YR) to 40 BCH (60YR).

The main part of the museum is featured on the converted starboard landing bay, which has been pressurized with massive air-tight canopies installed over the pod's entryways. The hangar deck and launch tubes below have been converted into a gift shop and recreational area. A ceremonial flyby of Galactica's last remaining active Viper squadron and the decommissioning ceremony are held here just prior to the Cylon attack on the Twelve Colonies ^{(TRS: "Miniseries")}.

Exhibits

Panoramic shot of the Museum, showcasing many of the exhibits.

The main exhibits of the museum featured many significant wartime scale models, replicas, and artifacts. Those include:

• A Mark I Viper.
• An older class battlestar.
• A landram.
• A transport shuttle.
• A squadron of 40 Mark II Vipers.
• A Cylon Raider.
• An older class Cylon basestar.
• A replica Cylon Centurion.

After the Fall

During the Cylon attack on the Colonies, Galactica deck crew hurriedly restores some of the exhibits to working condition upon receiving the news. The first priority is the Viper Mark II squadron, which becomes the battlestar's only defense after dumping the last of its munitions upon decommissioning and losing its last active Viper squadron in battle ^{(TRS: "Miniseries")}.

After fleeing the Colonies, many of the museum pieces find full-time use throughout the fleet of surviving ships. The Vipers continue to defend the fleet, the landram is used for mining operations aboard Majahual, and flight deck operations aboard Galactica ^{(TRS: "Scar", "Escape Velocity")}. However, the museum itself is never converted back to use as an operational flight pod, despite Galactica's increased load of Vipers inherited from the battlestar Pegasus ^{(TRS: "Collaborators")}. On one occasion it temporarily serves as a quarantine zone when a number of Galactica's marines and pilots come into contact with Cylons carrying lymphocytic encephalitis ^{(TRS: "A Measure of Salvation")}.

A crash-landed Heavy Raider visits the Galactica Museum ^{(TRS: "Scattered")}.

The museum is heavily damaged and repaired over the course of four years. The first hit comes less than two months after the fall of the Colonies, when an out of control Heavy Raider crashes into the pod, depressurizing it. A handful of Centurions survive the crash and board Galactica, marching over museum pieces as they force their way into the ship and attack the crew ^{(TRS: "Scattered")}.

Model of a Cylon War-era basestar and the shell of a Centurion on display in the defunct museum.

Four years after fleeing the Colonies, the final blow to the museum and the flight pod containing it comes after a handful of Raptors utilize their FTL drives inside the pod as they jump to the Cylon Colony. The distortions caused by the jumping ships blow a hole in the forward section of the pod, obliterating it. The surviving museum artifacts, if any, are flown into a nearby star with the rest of the Fleet following the battle ^{(TRS: "Daybreak, Part II")}.

Notes

• The images used in the displays behind the Vipers originate from the Original Series, and include depictions of Carillon (as the haze of the Nova of Madagon subsides) and interior shots of a Centurion trio inside of a Raider.
• The majority of the Museum was generated via CGI in its multiple appearances, although some practical elements exist.

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    Galactica Museum Viper Mark II placard on stanchion, knocked to the ground ^{(TRS: "Miniseries, Night 1")}.

    For the Miniseries:
    • The speaking area with the podium and audience seating during the formal decommissioning ceremony, where Commander William Adama makes his speech.
    • The Viper Mark II scenes were shot in the hangar bay set, using the only two practical set pieces available. Footage was shot with minimal lighting to obfuscate this fact, with spot-lights shining the Colonial Phoenix on the floor, and stanchions with Viper Mark 2 placards.
  • For the Razor Flashbacks, the Cylon War-era Centurion Commander William Adama looks at, with placard, is a mannequin with Kropserkel's unauthorized reproduction of Original Series' Cylon Centurion costume armor rented out by a third-party to the production. This costume was later auctioned during the NBC Universal's 2009 authorized Battlestar Galactica auctions. All other appearances of the Centurion armor were computer-rendered.
  • Unseen on screen but liquidated via the aforementioned studio-sanctioned auctions were shopping bags from the Galactica Museum gift shop.