Battlestar Galactica {Spoiler Talk} 3/11/05

[The_Universe]

One thing really bugged me about this episode: they've got FTL drive, but they're doing their battle tracking on a tabletop with models?!? C'mon -- while I've done a lot of battle tracking on map boards with little stickies, our digitized TOCs today can do digital battle tracking on a big plasma screen -- no one moving things around on a table with a stick. You'd think that for a space fight they'd have some sort of 3D holo projection or something. Must have been an FX budget constraint.

Kinda saw the hidden Viper bit coming (think they stole this from a Stackpole Rogue Squadron novel or a number of other sources), but at least my thirst for a little Cylon-zapping has been slaked for a while. Now if they're only remake the BSG Pegasus episode from the original series ...

I think they use the miniatures and sticks because so little of the Battlestar is computerized or networked - with none of the battle tracking happening online, there's no way for the Cylons to jack-in, etc.

That's what I assumed during the episode, anyway.

All of the gamers in my group watch the show, and when they saw those minis, they're first thought was to say "sweet minis!"

 

[The_Universe]

I spent the end of this episode wondering how many Vipers they actually had left now, and how many pilots. Pretty soon they're going to have to go to the prison ship again just so they get some pilots.

Pilots are less an issue than Vipers, I think. For this show to last more than a couple of seasons, I think they're going to have to find a distant/lost storage depot with some more Vipers (or something) in them. At least one Viper has been destroyed in every episode with space combat (and some without) and in an average 22 episode season, this does not bode well.

 

[Wolf72]

maybe they'll do a shout out to the original series and find BSegasus ... even if it is derelict and mostly useless they could scavenge for parts/fighters/ammo/fuel and what not ... might be kinda cheesy though, but if they don't get replacement fighters soon they'll have next to nothing.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

According to The ships part of the BSG webpage , there are 12 Vipers in service, 23 in for repair, 21 pilots on duty, and 5 scrubs (as of 1.10).

Remember those numbers as we roll into the season finale...

Ten and two Vipers, eh?

 

[Krieg]

Negotiator? When did she do that?

I believe he meant interrogator.

 

[MaxKaladin]

I've read that Moore wants to do a Pegasus episode, but hasn't decided how to do it yet. Perhaps 2nd season. If they do, I would love to see them bring back Dirk Benedict as Commander Caine. Perhaps a cigar chomping Caine. For maximum cheese factor, they need to include a scene where he leans back with a cigar, grins like a maniac and exclaims "I love it when a plan comes together!" (Yes, I know that wasn't his character but it just fits Caine's Patton-like nature in a twisted, cheesey way.)

I didn't know that stuff about Starbuck (from the spoiler tags). It answers some questions I had and also

Spoiler

I wonder if that means one possible reason she's such a good shot is because she tried out for the colonial version of the pentathalon.

Baltar is now nuts. I don't think he was when he left Caprica, but Six has driven him completely loopy.

 

[dravot]

Actually, in the miniseries it was specified that they didn't network the computers together. So they could have all the powerful computers they want/need (FTL drives, hello?), just not networked together.

The cylon tour guide said that they barely deserve the name 'computer'. I wonder if that was an intentional insult?

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Ten and two Vipers, eh?

...very interesting...

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Actually, in the miniseries it was specified that they didn't network the computers together. So they could have all the powerful computers they want/need (FTL drives, hello?), just not networked together.

Yeah, that's why it was bugging me. It's not like the computers & screens in our digital TOCs do anything -- all the input is manually entered.

Something tells me no one is calculating jumps manually.

 

[Staffan]

Something tells me no one is calculating jumps manually.

In the mini-series, when they were to make the first jump to Ragnar station, they were told to "break out the FTL tables and warm up the computers." So it's probably computer-assisted, but with significant manual input.