User:Galactica1981/Galactica 1981 Reviews

This is a list of reviews by User:Galactica1981 for various Original Series content. Given to the Battlestar Wiki's policy of Neutral Point of View, they are found here rather than their respective articles.

TOS Episode Reviews

Saga of a Star World

RATING: 4 1/2 stars out of 5

There's no question on the night of September 17, 1978 that Battlestar Galactica hit television screens with a bang. Saga Of A Star World is unquestionably the most elaborate televison movie ever made (and least up to that point!) When trying to rate something like this, it's important to examine it in the context of television during that time period. For sure, no sci-fi show of this magnitude had ever been done before in the history of television, and thus it deserves extra points for that alone. There are many great things that can be said about this episode (acting, special effects, music score), but I won't bother repeating what most people are already aware of. In the end, I had to decide against a full five-star rating, mostly because of the unforgivable "Star Wars" ending it was saddled with. The big explosion of the planet Carillon is a blatant ripoff of Star Wars, not to mention ridiculous as well. Setting fire to some tylium mines causes the entire planet to explode? This is ludicrous (although one could argue that destroying the massive Death Star by shooting a tiny exhaust port was equally ludicrous). Surely Glen Larson could have written a better ending than this. Ultimately, this had to reinforce many people's beliefs that Galactica was a second-rate Star Wars. Having a casino with all sorts of alien creatures also seems a little too close to Star Wars for comfort. Of course, there are also some HUMONGOUS plot holes in this story, enough for any critic to tear it to shreds. I'm not going bother writing 5 pages about the plot problems of Saga Of A Star World. Instead, I'll just mention a few points:

The premise of the Colonial fleet seeking Earth, while interesting, is unfortunately flawed because no one (not even Adama) has any idea where it is! Apparently, Adama was the only one who even knew about Earth's existence, although he doesn't seem to have any proof. Thus the Colonial fleet is left to wander aimlessly throughout the universe looking for it. Fortunately, this problem would be addressed in War of the Gods when the Colonials finally learn the coordinates to Earth.

The Colonials seemed unbelievably gullible and naive regarding the Cylons' offer of peace. You would think they would have been more careful, but they are foolish enough to leave their home planets undefended. President Adar is incredibly stupid when he sees a thousand Cylon raiders coming towards the fleet and assumes it is a peace envoy.

Apollo gets back to the fleet in time to warn them of the coming Cylon attack, yet he fails to do so. Why? Why does he take an hour to find the bridge?

Lost Planet of the Gods

Rating: Four out of five stars

The second half of this two-part episode has the theatrical feel of a movie, while the first half has been blasted as being very sexist. Of course, it is a bit strange that all the female cadets look like lingerie models. Still, I think the notion of sexism is a bit overstated. If you look at women in the U.S. military, they tend to act in supporting roles rather than be on the front lines. I don't know how many female jet pilots are in the U.S. military, but I suspect there aren't many. And I suspect this is less due to discrimination than to the fact that women tend to make different career choices than men. The reasons for there being no female viper pilots on the Galactica is probably along the same lines.

Regardless, the first half mostly serves as a set-up for the second half. Nothing wrong with that, but it makes the first half far less interesting.

Anyway, the two-part episodes fare better than most of the one-part episodes because Glen Larson would often blow the budget and vastly overspend. There are many fantastic scenes in the second half: Serina proposing to Apollo that they marry immediately; the Star of Kobol appearing in the port window during the wedding ceremony; the light shining off of Adama's medallion inside the tombs of Kobol; the Cylon raiders attacking the surface of Kobol; and, of course, Serina's death scene.

Serina's death is one of the most poignant moments of the entire series. But it came with a price, as the show arguably suffered without her. And the writing would start to take a turn for the worse with the very next episode.

The Lost Warrior

Rating: Two stars out of five

After only two episodes, Battlestar Galactica's creative energy has fizzled out. This is the first of the so-called "bottled episodes." These episodes had few if any new special effects, enabling the producers to save money which would later be spent on the bigger, more extravagant "monster episodes." It's understandable that these "bottled" stories were necessary, but this is where the rushing the show into production really hurt the series. The writers simply did not have time to create quality scripts. Of course, this would ultimately lead to the decline in ratings.

This kind of episode is tough to review because it's good but wrong. Based on the classic 1953 western film Shane, this actually makes a pretty decent western, but Battlestar Galactica is supposed to be a science fiction series. Sci-fi fans want science fiction, not half-hybrids of other shows (A mistake that Galactica 1980 would repeat). If I want to see a Western, I'd rather watch Bonanza. The only reason I gave this two stars is because we get such a strong characterization of Apollo.

Unfortunately, this is not the only Space Western we would see on Galactica. Cowboys and saloons would return in The Magnificent Warriors. In fact, the very idea that an "old west" town would exist in Battlestar Galactica completely contradicts the premise of the show, that the Colonies and the ancient cultures of Earth (such as Atlantis and Egypt) have the same roots, the same beginnings. It is ludicrous that an Old West society could have any common connection with this. It raises all kinds of questions. The people of Equellis obviously had to arrive on that world by means of spacecraft, so why is the society so primitive? How could they not know of the Cylons since the war has raged for 1,000 years and the average human life-span is 200 years?

Why would Apollo be dumb enough to fly so far away from the fleet that he wouldn't have enough fuel to make it back? This really makes no sense.

Despite the lackluster plot, there are some good moments. Boxey beating Starbuck at Pyramid is funny, and the western style "shoot-out" between Red-Eye and Apollo is very well done. The only weak point is when Red Eye spots Apollo's laser and says, "Uh-oh." This trivalizes a very serious moment for the sake of silly humor. It is difficult to believe that a Cylon would use such a phrase. Also, Puppis gets pretty annoying pretty fast.

The Magnificent Warriors

Many fans consider this to be the worst episode of Battlestar Galactica. While I don't agree, I think it comes pretty close. The story is, quite frankly, terrible. We are again subjected to yet another old-western style shanty town? Once was enough! The Borays are disgusting and sound awful. The only redeeming moment is when Adama and company discover Starbuck at the gambling table. It's rather funny.

Siress Bellaby is hands down the most annoying character to ever appear on Battlestar Galactica. Most viewers probably couldn't understand why the Colonial Warriors didn't simply let the Borays kill her.

On a positive note, we are shown Lorne Greene's impressive range as an actor. It's interesting to see a comical Adama, a nice contrast to the serious commander that we usually see. Unfortunately, Greene is forced to play against Brett Somers (Siress Bellaby). Somers isn't funny; she's annoying, and it kills most of the comedy that is presented.

The premise of The Magnificent Warriors actually had a lot of potential. We are given a situation where the fleet has no food and everyone is aware of it (unlike in Saga Of A Star World when the Colonials were able to cover up the problem). This raises all kinds of fascinating issues. Would the fleet start a mutiny against Adama during such a crisis? How would Adama react to such a mutiny? How would he choose who to save? Would he allow each ship to make its own decision to leave? Or would he try to force them to stick together? And what decisions would Starbuck and Apollo be forced to make if such a mutiny occurred? So many interesting questions for the episode to pursue.

Sadly, standard television plotting is what we get. The Colonials are traveling through the vast uncharted regions of space, and they run out of food at just the precise moment they happen to be near a farming colony. Okay. Whatever. The Colonials land on the planet and meet the Borays. From then on, it's just another battle of good vs. evil. Putting the Colonials in a moral dilemna would have been much more interesting that what we were given here.

Murder on the Rising Star

Murder She Wrote in outer space??? This story had little point being part of a show like Battlestar Galactica. This is the kind of story that is done on almost every science fiction series when the writers are out of ideas. There is very little in the way of drama because the viewer knows the hero is innocent and will be cleared. This story tries to give the impression that Starbuck might be guilty (we don't get to see who shoots Ortega, Starbuck is shown running from the scene, plus Starbuck's anxiousness in the shuttle bay makes him appear guilty), but only the most gullible of viewers would fall for this. The story would be more forgivable if we learned some new insights about the characters or the fleet, but what do we learn? What is the point? Is it that the Colonial system of law is virtually identical to the U.S. system? (which is hardly believeable) Or that Adama has to spend time hearing court cases? (Not too believable either considering the incredibly burdensome task he has of commanding the fleet) Or is it that playing triad is more dangerous than anybody thought??? What is the point of this episode except to fill an hour's worth of time???

This is the fourth episode that features Starbuck. While Dirk Benedict certainly plays a wonderful character, it would have been nice to have featured some of the lesser used cast members (Tigh, Boomer, Athena, Sheba).

One thing really stands out: It is absurd how little time Apollo is given to prepare a case for Starbuck's defense. He only has 10 centares, and the script for this episode has a key that states a centar is an hour. Only 10 hours to prepare for a murder trial??? Give me a break!

This story could have been done differently to make it more poignant. What if Apollo was unable to conclusively prove who killed Ortega, and Adama intervenes, using his power as commander to have Starbuck set free. It would raise the question of whether Adama was abusing his power. Even then, considering the fleet must be depleted when it comes to seasoned viper pilots, it could be argued that the fleet needed Starbuck as a warrior. It would have been an interesting moral issue, something Battlestar Galactica rarely had. I also think the story would have been more interesting if we were left with some doubt as to whether Starbuck killed Ortega (in self-defense, of course).

Despite the story problems, there are fine all-around performances from the cast to make this watchable. In a way, it makes the episode more disappointing to have such great talent squandered on such a poor story. But everyone holds up their end well, especially Dirk Benedict and Laurette Spang in their scene inside the brig. It's nice the writers found a way to bring Baltar into the story, and John Colicos still makes a great villain. The flashback of the destruction of Caprica was also well-done. There were certainly many crimes committed during the evacuation, and it illustrates that Battlestar Galactica was brimming with potentially interesting stories to explore, which again only makes this episode more of a letdown.

Take the Celestra

This is probably the worst episode of Battlestar Galactica. A lot of people will probably disagree, but I have to go with this choice simply because I found this episode to be incredibly boring. The Magnificent Warriors and The Lost Warrior were also really bad (and they were certainly more simplistic), but they were never really boring. A story focusing on the hardships of voyaging on the rag tag fleet is a great idea, but this episode takes one self-destructive turn after another and may be the best example of a wasted opportunity for the series. Many of BG's bad episodes were somewhat saved by wonderful performances from the actors, but there is nothing here that stands out (although the Starbuck/Cassiopea reconciliation at the end is a nice moment). Starbuck and Apollo actually look stale. This is one of the few times that neither Richard Hatch nor Dirk Benedict are able to rise above the mediocre writing. Commander Kronus is incredibly boring - a static, stale character with little depth. Because it's hard to care about the character, it's hard to feel anything during the "dramatic" finish when Kronus dies. Given the moronic decisions he makes, I felt like saying "Good riddance." On the other hand, Ana Alicia suceeds in making Aurora interesting, but she is mostly wasted in this episode. Unfortunately, her boyfriend is more boring than Kronus, and I just wanted him to shut up. Despite these issues, the main problem with Take The Celestra lies in the script itself.

One of the biggest (yet least noted) flaws of Battlestar Galactica was the way it portrayed life in the rag-tag fleet. Day-to-day existence on a fleet of mostly derelict ships would no doubt be a grueling struggle for survival. Yet the series rarely ever indicated this. Most scenes with civilians consisted of parties, gambling, and triad games aboard the Rising Star! (hardly the most accurate look we could have been given) Take The Celestra was the perfect vehicle to change this, but unfortunately the writers took the easy way out. Aurora and the other mutineers were "illegally forced" to work so many double shifts. This makes the issue of right and wrong very easy to determine, but consider another direction the writers could have taken.

What if the harsh working conditions existed throughout the entire fleet? (and, logically, they should have) What if Aurora and the others were not working harder than anyone else and simply decided they had had enough? Would they be morally right in trying to escape the fleet (considering that the loss of manpower would likely hurt the remaining Colonials)? Apollo, Starbuck and the rest of the military are always talking about the importance of freedom. Apollo talks about it strongly in his speech to the Precedium in Experiment In Terra. When Starbuck tries to convince the prisoners to rebel in The Long Patrol, he says "You have rights. You're human beings!" When they finally escape, he says, "That's freedom." An interesting idea to explore is how free the Colonials actually were. Surely many of them wanted to settle on some of the planets the fleet passed by. If Adama refused their wishes, he would technically be restricting their freedom. Unfortunately, this kind of story is problematic because the extent of Adama's power is never clear; in fact, it varies from episode to episode (depending whatever works best for the story that week). But this kind of story would have made it a tough call as to whether Aurora and her friends were right and whether Starbuck and Apollo were totally justified in stopping them.

Anyway, that's the episode I would have liked to see, or anything other than what we did see, the most boring Galactica episode to date. The story is riddled with holes, outdone perhaps only by Experiment In Terra. Whereas that story's flaws are not immediately noticeable, most of this story's flaws are. Commander Kronus' decision to immediately shuttle the prisoners back to the fleet despite being so far away doesn't make much sense. His accompanying the shuttle makes even less sense. Colonial law states that a commander has to personally take the mutineers in for charges? Huh? Even when his ship is out in the middle of nowhere? Okay. Whatever. Kronus should have waited until the Celestra rejoined the fleet. His decision makes him look like an idiot.

How is it that Chakka is able to get almost the entire crew to mutiny with him on a whim? He couldn't have been planning mutiny beforehand because he had expected to become commander of the Celestra. And if the entire crew wasn't with him in the mutiny, then how could he have expected to get away with powering down the ship? And could Starbuck and Apollo both be so clueless that they wouldn't be able to remember which heading the fleet was on? And how does the shuttle run out of fuel so fast? And how is it that Kronus could not have known or heard about any of the harsh working conditions? The Celestra isn't that big of a ship. Are we to believe that he never left the bridge? To top it off, why is there such an urgent need in the final battle scene to "level out" the Celestra? It's not as though there were any ships or planets around that it could crash into. Almost nothing in this episode makes any sense.

The minor plot of Cassiopea agonizing over Starbuck's evasiveness in their relationship is far more compelling than the main plot of the Celestra mutiny. But even the Starbuck/Aurora plot has problems. For one thing, the writers have Starbuck act like a total jerk by skipping his date with Cassie so he can see Aurora. Why would Cassie put up with that? And how is it that Starbuck had a serious relationship with Aurora going during the time of the Destruction? Didn't he clearly have something going with Athena back then? If so, this only makes Starbuck out to be a bigger womanizer than anyone thought (not exactly the best way to endear him to viewers). Aurora makes a valid point in her anger towards him. If Starbuck really did care about her, why didn't he check to see if her name was in the fleet computer? Just because her house was destroyed doesn't mean for certain that she was killed. It's also highly questionable that Starbuck ever made it back to Caprica after the Cylons attacked. We've never been given any indication that anyone besides Adama and Apollo ever went back. Considering how dangerous it would have been (not to mention how strong a chance that someone might have led the Cylons back to the Galactica), it's absolutely ludicrous to suggest Adama would have allowed anyone to return to the planet.

Galactica 1980 Episode Reviews

Galactica Discovers Earth

Galactica Discovers Earth turns out to be a watchable pilot, but watchable is about all. From the very first episode, the series looks like a cheap attempt by ABC to cash in on the Galactica name by simply reusing the expensive special effects stock footage from the original series. The other episodes would only confirm this. Kent McCord (Troy) and Barry Van Dyke (Dillon) are likable, but they still come off as inferior clones of Starbuck and Apollo. Indeed, the script for the pilot was originally written for Starbuck and Apollo. When those plans changed, the names were simply switched to Troy and Dillon. Jamie Hamilton comes off as a carbon copy of Lois Lane. Unfortunately, we are never given any backstory to any of these characters.

The idea of the Cylons closing in on Earth and the Colonials trying to advance Earth's technology is a very compelling premise, but the problem is that Dr. Zee's plan to slowly increase Earth's technology is flawed. At the rate in which the Colonials were going, it probably would have taken at least decades to get Earth's technology increased enough to be able to fight the Cylons. Long before then, the Cylons would probably tire of waiting and decide to just destroy the Colonial fleet. Even if the Cylons didn't attack, how far could the Galactica lead the Cylons away from Earth before they (the Colonials) were too far away from the planet to ever go back there? It probably would have been smarter to temporarily abandon Earth and lead the Cylons away until Dr. Zee could invent some technology that would allow the Colonials to destroy the Cylon armada. (Actually, since Colonial Vipers can now turn invisible, it should have been fairly easy for the Colonials to launch a surprise attack on the Cylons and defeat them once and for all!)

The problem with the original premise of Galactica 1980 is that it would have eventually become tiresome: Troy and Dillon each week would find a way to introduce some new technology (clean nuclear power, etc.) which would make some small improvement, but do little to bring Earth up to the level it would need be to fight the Cylons. As a result, the series could never evolve to the next level (i.e. Earth is ready to fight the Cylons), because the series' budget was too small for any kind of "final battle". As a result, Galactica 1980 was stuck in a rut from the get-go. It tried to distract viewers from the main plot (the Cylon threat) with time travel and cub scout outings because there was little that could be done with the original premise. It might have worked well as a single movie or perhaps a series of movies, but it's unlikely that Galactica 1980 could have ever jelled as a weekly series.

The Super Scouts

The Super Scouts arrive, and Galactica 1980 plummets into an abyss it would not survive. In the beginning, we're forced to endure a series of boring classroom educational lessons. Things get even worse when the intergalactic 'Our Gang' reaches Earth. We get ultra-cute campfire songs and even more educational lessons shoved down are throats. The original series had flaws, but at least it never insulted its viewers by getting into preachy moral issues. Galactica 1980 gives us an ultra-simplistic environmental message of "Don't pollute the water," and does so with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

One could make the case that Galactica 1980 is a great tool for writers to learn how NOT to write drama. One key is to create powerful villains and put the heroes in situations that are difficult to deal with. But all of the villains in Galactica 1980 are weak. The Colonials have so many advantages over the people of Earth - spaceships, super powers, invisibility fields - that they are essentially invincible, thus robbing the series of any possible drama. In Galactica 1980, there are no worthy villains. The bumbling cops and incompetent military personnel never have a prayer of apprehending Troy and Dillon, so there's no suspense. And it's certainly not funny to watch Earthlings constantly being confounded by extra-terrestrials. Yet that is what we're forced to endure again and again throughout the entire series.

Spaceball

This is crap. Spaceball is the worst, most hated episode of Galactica 1980. It's silly, stupid, and just plain dumb. Little kids playing baseball??? This is Battlestar Galactica??? Spaceball may be the most inconsequential hour of science fiction ever made. It's certainly an insult to the original series that this bionic version of The Bad News Bears was shot under the Galactica name.

The Night The Cylons Landed

The Night The Cylons Landed is the best episode since the pilot (which, let's face it, isn't saying much). The Super Scouts are finally relegated to the background. This expands on the storyline involving the evolution of the Cylons over the 30 years since the destruction of the Colonies. A new, bigger, and more powerful Cylon raider carrying a newly advanced Cylon lifeform crashlands on Earth. Two surviving Cylons attempt to communicate with the Cylon armada to tell them of Earth's location. This is a cool idea, but the execution is terrible. We are treated to so much silliness, culminating with Troy and Dillon dancing on stage with cartoon characters like Yogi Bear! There are other problems. The more powerful, heavily armored Cylon raider is crippled after the punier viper rams into it??? The viper certainly doesn't hit it very hard. If the Cylons were a joke in the original series, then in Galactica 1980 they are a laughing stock. Andromus, the evolved Cylon clone of a human, certainly doesn't look or act very advanced. Centuri, his Centurion buddy, comes across as being even sillier with his constant banter of "I will protect you. That is my mission." This is the monstrous, all-powerful race which threatens the Earth's destruction and that the Colonials are so concerned about??? The two Cylons provide some funny moments, but it can't make up for the letdown of a plot that had so much potential.

This episode provides yet another example of how NOT to write drama. Conventional storytelling says that when you have a character trying to solve a mystery, you want the audience to move along at the same pace as the character. If the audience knows more than the character does, they find themselves simply waiting for the character to catch up, which is boring. Unfortunately, Galactica 1980 violates this basic rule of storytelling as we're forced to endure Colonel Briggs's investigation of the aliens. We know everything, he knows nothing, and thus there is nothing even remotely interesting about the subplot.

Space Croppers

The Space Croppers starts out interesting, but quickly takes an abrupt nosedive into looney land. The plot parallels that of The Magnificent Warriors. Due to the destruction of the fleet's agroships by a Cylon attack, another source of food supply must be found. The Magnificent Warriors was a terrible episode, so it must be considered quite a feat that Space Croppers turns out to be even worse.

If Dr. Zee is such a genius, why doesn't it ever occur to him to use Galactican technology to create money so the Colonials can simply buy the food that they need? I guess such a simple solution would have made this story pointless.

Furthermore, the Imperious Leader's plan to force the Galactica to lead the Cylons to Earth makes no sense. How could Imperious Leader know that Earth was nearby? And if he did know, why not just destroy the Colonial fleet and conduct a search of the nearby planets? Did anything on this series make sense? Was anything supposed to?

Last, and certainly least, the Super Scouts bouncing high in the air and throwing seeds while singing their song is hands down the most ludicrous thing ever shown on Galactica 1980, and that's saying something.

The Return of Starbuck

This is undeniably the best and most popular episode of Galactica 1980. It is even better than most of the episodes of Battlestar Galactica. What is there not to love about this episode? There are so many outstanding scenes: Adama's chilling reaction to Dr. Zee's mention of Starbuck; Boomer's heartwrenching goodbye to Starbuck, Adama explaining to Boomer that they can't go back to find him; Adama saying his farewell to Starbuck; Starbuck's rationalizations about how the planet belongs to him; Angela's words, "Starbuck, would you die for me?"; Starbuck sacrificing his chance to return to the fleet to give Angela and her baby a better chance; Starbuck's goodbye to Cy. The list goes on. Best of all, we see growth in Starbuck's character! A true classic to be treasured for all time by Galactica fans.

This episode is based on an earlier script written for the second season of Battlestar Galactica that never happened. The main differences are that a regular woman appears (not Angela), and Starbuck is eventually rescued by Boomer. The only thing believed to have been taken intact from the early script is Starbuck's dialogue with Cy. While that would no doubt have been a tremendous episode, it still would not have come close to being as great as this one is. The reason why is very simple. One of the problems with creating dramatic and suspenseful stories in any weekly series is that the viewer knows the hero will ultimately prevail. For example, when Starbuck is accused of murder in Murder on the Rising Star, there is little in terms of suspense because it is a foregone conclusion that Starbuck will be vindicated, just as it is a forgone conclusion that Starbuck isn't going to die in The Young Lords when he is hunted by the Cylons on the planet Attila. In the beginning of The Return Of Starbuck, it is quickly established that Adama doesn't know what happened to Starbuck and that Starbuck never returned from the mission where he was shot down. As a result, in what is most unusual for any action/adventure television story, the viewer sits through the entire episode knowing that Starbuck isn't going to make it!

This makes the story much more gripping and intense than virtually any other episode of either series. The grim reality of Starbuck's eventual fate is all reinforced by Angela's question "Starbuck, will you die for me?" and her warnings of disaster, telling him that he must prepare to make "the final judgement." Of course, we do not actually see Starbuck die at the end of the story. Larson leaves Starbuck's fate ambiguous, especially since an intact Cylon raider is left nearby. Having Starbuck die would have been a gutsy and innovative move, but the ending shown is really for the best. The beauty of the ending is that it lets the viewers make their own interpretation of Starbuck's fate. If one goes with the idea that a single person alone cannot fly a Cylon raider, then Starbuck could have easily died on the planet. Many fans don't consider Galactica 1980 to be canon for the original series, except for this episode. With the interpretation that Galactica 1980 didn't happen, Starbuck could possibly have flown the Cylon raider back to the fleet, returning to Apollo, Adama, Sheba, and the other original characters. Much Galactica fan fiction over the years has interpreted the episode in this manner.

Telemovies

Conquest of the Earth

The opening sequence is really well-done, although it mostly uses footage from the original series. Adama's opening declaration that Earth has been found is also done much better than it was in the original episode.

Mission Galactica: The Cylon Attack

This movie is less entertaining than the individual episodes it is composed of. The separate episodes don't mesh together seamlessly, resulting in several plot holes and odd hairstyle changes between scenes. The movie especially suffers because many great scenes from The Living Legend episode are missing.

Berkley Books

Saga of a Star World

Flagship of the 12 Worlds fleet, she was as large as a planet, yet as swift as the Starhound fighters she launched from her bays. For generations the vast ship led the thousand-year war against the Cylons for control of the known Galaxy. Now that war was in its final phase, and Galactica had one final mission, win or lose: blast through the deadly grid of the Cylon Starfleet and dash for deep space in a desperate attempt to find the legendary "Stonehenge" of the universe - the lost planet the ancient microfilms call "Earth."

This is the opening paragraph to the Berkley novelization of the Battlestar Galactica pilot "Saga Of A Star World". This is easily one of the most fascinating Galactica books ever written, and there are a number of things that make it so interesting. First, the book is based on an early script of the pilot and, although changes were made before it came to print to make it more like the version that aired, there are a number of alternate scenes in the book. The Galactica universe is also different in several aspects, such as the Cylons are living aliens underneath their armor instead of total machines. Also, there are missing scenes left out of the final cut of the movie that survived intact in the book (Starbuck's confrontation with Tigh on the bridge after the Colonies are destroyed; Starbuck's extended conversation with Cassie on the shuttle; Adama's resigning from the Council).

Perhaps best of all, certain events are more fleshed out in the novelization than in the movie such as the surprise Cylon attack. The novelization helps to fill a number of gaping plot holes and unanswered questions that the movie was saddled with. Many chapters begin with an entry from the Adama journals, and the reader is able to learn a lot of information and insight from the Galactica's commander.

Many fans are unhappy with the Berkley books, feeling that they don't remain true to the series. I respectfully disagree. First of all, as already mentioned, the novelizations often have extra detail and explanations that help cover up plot holes that existed in the episodes. Second, the fact that the novels portray the BG universe in a slightly different way and that they are not exact retellings of the episodes is good because the books would be pretty boring otherwise. Third, some of the characters such as Athena are fleshed out better in the novels. Make no mistake, this is the best of all the Berkley novelizations and is a must-read for any fan of the original series.

External Links

Battlestar Galactica Episode Guide at Sheba's Galaxy

Matthew Wharmby's Hilarious Galactica 1980 Episode Guide at Sheba's Galaxy