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Greetings from Earth (Book)

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Greetings from Earth
Greetings from Earth
A book of the Berkley Books line
Book No. 8
Author(s) Ron Goulart
Adaptation of Greetings from Earth
No. of Pages {{{pages}}}
Published June 1983
ISBN 0425060470
Chronology
Previous Next
War of the Gods Greetings from Earth Experiment in Terra
Paperback Version
Available at Amazon.comPurchase
Available at Amazon.co.ukPurchase
Available at BOOKSAMILLION.COM - Purchase
Available at Half.com by eBay - Purchase
Audiobook Version
Available at iTunes – [{{{itunes}}} Purchase]



The Berkley novels take a turn for the worse with author Ron Goulart at the helm. It doesn't help that Greetings From Earth isn't exactly the most popular episode of the series. Goulart does his best to differentiate the novelization by adding several new scenes and even a few new characters to the story, and while it may make the novel a little more interesting, the extra scenes and characters don't add much to the story as a whole.

The biggest fault of the book is Goulart's handling of Starbuck. Goulart takes all of Starbuck's least likable traits and multiplies them times ten! Sure, Starbuck was a loudmouth, a braggart, and a womanizer to some extent, but Goulart writes him so over the top that the character becomes a joke. If the Starbuck character had been like this on the TV series, he surely would have been hated and despised by every Galactica fan.

First of all, it gets annoying the way Starbuck is almost always chomping and puffing away on a cigar. Second, he is constantly saying "Hooey!" and addressing everyone as "chum". In the actual episode, Starbuck did go overboard a little when he told off Reese in the officers' club, but in the novel Starbuck blows up on Reese so badly that he comes across as an insufferable jerk. ("Reese, you have ten seconds to withdraw your snoot from our conversation," said Starbuck, grinning thinly. "After which time I will personally carry you bodily to the nearest wastechute and eject you into the vastness of space." Only moments earlier, Starbuck tells Apollo, "You're being dippy." Dippy???)

To make matters worse, Goulart feels compelled to pair Starbuck up with some country hick woman with psi-powers on Paradeen, and the whole thing never really clicks. This is one Berkley book you could skip, as well as the rest of the Goulart novels. (From Sheba's Galaxy)