Gallery Special

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Gallery Special An issue of the Realm Press series.
Issue No.	1
Writer(s)	Barry Lyga and Art Holcomb
Illustrator(s)	{{{illustrator}}}
Penciller(s)	Dan Parsons, Matt Busch, Chris Scalf, Gene Gonzales, Greg Laroque, and Mike Malbrough
Inker(s)
Colorist(s)
Letterer(s)	Mark Haynes
Editor(s)	J. C. Vaughn and James Kuhoric
Collection Design	{{{designer}}}
Cover Artist(s)	Matt Busch
Adaptation of
Published	April 2000
Collects
Collected in
Reprints
Reprinted as
Pages	{{{pages}}}
ISBN	[[Special:Booksources/|]]
Population	0 Survivors
Special	{{{special}}}
Chronology
Previous		Next
	Gallery Special
Purchase
Available at BOOKSAMILLION.COM - Purchase
Available at Amazon.com – [[amazon:{{{amazon}}}|Purchase]]
Available at Amazon.co.uk – Purchase
Available at Things From Another World - Purchase

The Gallery Special contains two short stories. The first, The Care and Feeding of Your Daggit, follows Muffit as he searches for an absent Boxey. The second story, Masquerade, details a new Cylon tactic that leads to the disappearance of several Colonial pilots.

Summary

The Care and Feeding of Your Daggit

The story is told from the perspective of Muffit, whose internal monologue is presented as computer readouts. After waking and finding Boxey not in his room, Muffit enters "search mode" and begins to wander Galactica. He encounters various crew members, including Lieutenant Boomer, Sergeant Giles, Commander Adama, Captain Apollo, and Lieutenant Starbuck. Apollo discusses his concern that Boxey is becoming too attached to the daggit, with Apollo noting that as a machine, Muffit cannot truly reciprocate the boy's love and feel joy. Adama feels differently. After an accidental collision with Starbuck, the pilot gives Muffit a destination: the rejuvenation center, where Boxey is with Athena. Muffit plots a path and finds Boxey, who is unhappy about having to eat his breakfast. Upon seeing Muffit, Boxey is overjoyed, and Muffit's internal status changes from "UNDEFINED" to "JOY."

Masquerade

The Galactica is beset by a new wave of Cylon ships that are more advanced and intelligent than any they have previously faced, leading to the loss of multiple pilots. Colonel Tigh reports to Commander Adama that Beta-Landing Bay is nearly destroyed and that three pilots from Blue Squadron are missing, including Janus, Sheba, and Boomer. Starbuck has been searching for his missing comrades in Recon Viper Three, and is forced down on an unnamed planetoid. He is attacked by a Centurion, but Starbuck beats the Centurion with a stick of some kind, uncovering something horrible in doing so.

As Apollo prepares to go after Starbuck, a new model Cylon fighter appears and heads straight for the Galactica's landing bay. The pilot of the Cylon ship is revealed to be Starbuck, who is accompanied by a cybernetically-altered Boomer. Starbuck informs Adama and the crew that are present that the Cylons have all the other missing pilots, and are turning them into Cylon warriors as their latest technological improvement.

Gallery

• 
  Apollo portrait.
• 
  Sheba portrait.
• 
  Starbuck portrait.

Notes

• The Care and Feeding of your Daggit was originally solicited to appear in Battlestar Galactica: The New Millennium #2, which was never published.

Analysis

"The Care and Feeding of Your Daggit" explores themes of love, companionship, and the nature of consciousness from the unique perspective of a non-human character. The story questions whether a machine can truly feel emotion, culminating in a final panel that suggests Muffit does indeed experience joy in his connection with Boxey.

"Masquerade" introduces a significant escalation in the Cylon threat. No longer just a force of brute strength, the Cylons are now shown to be capable of sophisticated infiltration and psychological warfare by turning the Colonials' own warriors against them. This development presents a new and terrifying challenge for the fleet, blurring the lines between friend and foe and ending on a dark cliffhanger that went unresolved. This is an earlier plot thread first begun with the New Life Process that the Cylons test on the Acmarans in ^{(Comics: The Law of Volahd, Part 2)}, as well as what happened to Roz in ^{(Comics: Centurion Prime)}.

Questions

• What becomes of the captured pilots, including Sheba and Boomer?
• How will the Colonial Fleet counter the new Cylon tactic of using their own pilots against them?

Noteworthy Dialogue

• "I'm just concerned, that's all. He's so attached to it, and it's not like it can reciprocate. It's a machine. It can't feel. It can't love Boxey in return. It can't feel joy." - Apollo, discussing Muffit.
• "How the frak did these cans suddenly get so smart? Mean, we could usually take them, but these new ships of theirs..." - Starbuck the new Cylon threat.
• "This is how they can think like us... fight like us..." - Starbuck reveals the cybernetically-altered Boomer to Galactica's crew.