Date: 25 Jan 90 01:17:10 GMT From: wshb!clarence@uunet.uu.net ( WSHB employee) Subject: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA A first-time poster would like to hear any discussion on the pros/cons of Battlestar Galactica. Seeking correspondence with any BG buff. Thru various sources, I was able to gather the names of 9 of the original 12 battlestars; Galactica, Pacifica, Atlantia, Solaria, Columbia, Pegasus, Prometheus, Cerebrus and the Bellerephon....anyone run across the names of the other 3? Many thanks!!! C. E. Causey III P O Box 79 Furman, SC 29921 ------------------------------ Date: 25 Jan 90 16:23:51 GMT From: dragon@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (norm) Subject: Re: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA My Views on Battlestar Galactica have to do more with the T V. show it was a good show at first but it had one major drawback...how many shows can you have where this lone ship and a rag tag fleet are attacked by the revenges of an enemy and MIRACULOUSLY fight them off before it gets too old and begins to grind on the audience I would have liked to see them go BACK to a time BEFORE the defeat....and show us some of the things like the planetary defenses, maybe some esponage or some of the great battles. Now AFTER the FIrst Battlestar Galactica (when the Battle Star found Earth) we immediately went to the NON-VIOLENT blight (sorry if that offends anyone) and the stories went to nothing. Suddenly we couldn't shoot, we wound. We couldn't dogfight, we used shields to cloak us. The only part of the second series that was worth ANYTHING was the one they did about the loss of StarBuck. They got the old cast back and I enjoyed the story. Now on a final note I would ask a question. Besides the fact of the god almighty dollar, and copyright, when the Galactica found Earth, how many people would have been interested in them finding instead of present day Earth they found something like the U.S.S. Enterprise and Captian Kirk and a Federation to help them recover their planets? To tell the truth on occasion I like to see the bad guy win. It gets BORING all these GREAT plans the enemy thinks up and they never work. However I like to see that IN the LONG run. The overall forces of good find at least some way to salvage a living. It seems the authors of Battlestar Galactica never planned an ending, be it the cylon's winning or the humans, and in that one fact did the story die. Every story should have SOME kind of ending. Norm d16550@d1.dartmouth.edu ------------------------------ Date: 25 Jan 90 19:51:34 GMT From: peter@pawl.rpi.edu (Peter Katsos) Subject: Battlestar Galactica Hello, I am wondering whether anyone has short episode descriptions of Battlestar Galactica episodes. Peter Katsos peter@pawl.rpi.edu Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute ------------------------------ Date: 26 Jan 90 08:47:06 GMT From: boyajian@ruby.dec.com (The Dread Pirate Roberts) Subject: Re: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA gh1r+@andrew.cmu.edu (Gaurang Hirpara) writes: >I'm a little confused here. I know there was movie. But where does the >distinction between the 1st and second series come in, and what is this >about the loss of Starbuck, and what happened to which memebers of the >cast when? BATTLESTAR GALACTICA ran from 1978-1979 for 24 hours worth of episodes, the first 3 of which (2-1/2 sans commercials) were the premiere movie. This series ended without resolution. The Galactica and its fleet were still drifting around looking for Earth. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (the movie) was the above premiere movie trimmed down to 2 hours and released theatrically, first in Canada and Europe, then in the US. GALACTICA: 1980 ran for half-a-season in early 1980. I believe that this is being syndicated in the same package as the original series, but I neither know for sure nor care. In this series, the Galactica discovers Earth, but finds that it is backwards technologically, and can't help them against the Cylons. There are also a couple of other "movies" cobbled together from episodes of the original series (and one from the second series). The cast of the first series included Lorne Green (Adama), Richard Hatch (Apollo), Dirk Benedict (Starbuck), Herb Jefferson (Boomer), Terry Carter (Tigh), Maren Jensen (Athena), and Noah Hathaway (Boxey). In the second series, only Greene and Jefferson carried over from the original. New actors/characters were Kent McCord (Troy -- Boxey from the original now grown up), Barry Van Dyke (Dillon), Patrick Stuart (Dr. Zee), and Robyn Douglas (Jamie). As for the "loss of Starbuck", they tried to lift the abysmal ratings of G:1980 by filming an episode that flashed back to a time just after the original series, and the story (basically a rip-off of Barry Longyear's "Enemy Mine") showcased the final escapade of Starbuck and the origin of the Dr. Zee character. It was the only episode in that second series that was at all watchable. No other explanations were given for what happened to the rest of the original characters. --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian) UUCP: ...!decwrl!ruby.enet.dec.com!boyajian ARPA: boyajian%ruby.DEC@DECWRL.DEC.COM ------------------------------ Date: 26 Jan 90 07:01:46 GMT From: wshb!clarence@uunet.uu.net ( WSHB employee) Subject: Re: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA gh1r+@andrew.cmu.edu (Gaurang Hirpara) writes: > I'm a little confused here. I know there was movie. But where does the >distinction between the 1st and second series come in, and what is this >about the loss of Starbuck, and what happened to which memebers of the >cast when? If memory serves, the original BG was axed in late 1979, and Galactica: 1980 came along a year or so later. The latter was *terrible*, and with such noteworthy actors as Kent McCord and Barry Van Dyke, what would you expect? Lorne Greene is back in his original role, Starbuck is shot down and stuck on a hostile planet, Boomer is still around, but otherwise little mention is made of the other original cast members. In the BG novel #6, we learn that Apollo never returned from a patrol, and quite possibly mention is made of the others in BG novel #5 "Galactica Discovers Earth", but I haven't located that paperback yet. Galactica:1980 bore such little resemblance to the original I could barely watch it (yes I realize the original also had it's share of problems). I think BG:1980 ran for about 5 episodes. ) ------------------------------ Date: 5 Feb 90 16:20:05 GMT From: jessup@elbereth.rutgers.edu (jessup) Subject: Battlestar Galactica on Tape: Hacked to Bits This weekend I rented "To Conquer the Earth" on tape. What this was was an episode of Galactica: 1980 on tape. Or, more precisely, several episodes of the show spliced together by my cat. It was the WORST job of editing I have ever seen. I'm not too fond of the job they did with previous Galactica episodes, but this was terrible. Spoilers follow, in case you care: The first half was pretty much a terribly edited version of the premiere three part episode of Galactica:1980. Spliced throughout it were various scenes from other episodes. To explain the two actors that played Dr. Zee, badly spliced-in dialogue by Adama claimed that they were twins: Dr. Zee and Dr. Zen. Dr. Zee's voice changed three times throughout his dialogue. They would show a super closeup of his face, above the mouth, so that you couldn't see that his lips did not move to what he was saying. So, about the first 45 minutes was a chopped up version of the pilot, then all of the sudden, the story jumps into the episode where the humanoid cylons crash on Earth, and try to take over Wolfman Jack's radio station. The story LEAPed around worse tham Sam Beckett on a bad day. If you hadn't already seen these episodes, you would have no idea of what was happening. Stupid meaningless dialogue was edited in by voices that sounded nothing like the originals. For some reason, they kept on throwing in dialogue between Jaimie and Dillon. Jaimie: "I'm coming too. I love you, Dillon honey." Dillon: "Hurry up and get in. They're coming. I love you too." These are REAL quotes. For no reason!!! And to add salt to the wounds, little scenes were snipped in from the original Battlestar Galactica, so that you were supposed to believe that there was a Base Ship nearby that reported to: Commandant Baltar! ACK! Scenes were spliced in from "The Young Warriors", so that you were supposed to believe that Spectre the IL-series robot was near Earth reporting to Baltar. Excuse me while I sputter. It just seems that they could have done the show a little more justice. I'd personally rather see episodes of BG and G:1980 unedited on tape, not SPLICED FROM HELL! As it was, I was upset that the video of the original BG movie was the edited theatrical release, rather than the three-hour original tv premiere. (I still haven't seen that version yet.) MCI Video could use someone in their editing dept. that has seen some of these episodes. Oh, well. My foaming at the mouth has not done this attrocity any justice. I'd suggest that you rent it for yourself, but I'm humane. I suggest that if you have any love for Battlestar Galactica, you stay as far away from this 99 minute tape as possible! ARPA: jessup@elbereth.rutgers.edu UUCP: !rutgers!elbereth.rutgers.edu!jessup ------------------------------ Date: 9 Jun 90 03:00:25 GMT From: v133q3xc@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Jeffrey J Miller) Subject: RE:"Mike" Resnick Someone said Resnick was a favorite author of his, while another said that he read a terrible book by a man of that name. That would seem to back up what a friend of mine told me that he recently read in some sf-type magazine. According to the writer of an article, Michael Resnick is a great author, "not to be confused with Mike Resnick (sp?), who writes awful sf (fantasy?) books." Could it be that there are two Michael Resnicks writing sf? Sounds hard to believe. However, I read some Battlestar Galactica books by a Mike or Michael Resnick, and I can't believe that such a highly thought-of as Resnick would lower himself to write such childish work, which is based on TV scripts. Sounds more like the author of "Redbeard." Anyone else know anything about this? Jeff v133q3xc@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu ------------------------------ Date: 12 Jun 90 01:02:17 GMT From: JWenn.ESAE@xerox.com Subject: Mike Resick vs. Michael Resnick Dan_Bloch@TRANSARC.COM writes: > There seems to be a lot of confusion about Mike/Michael Resnick, so > let me take a shot at setting things straight. > [lists varing ways of telling them apart] Actually, there is only one Mike Resick, although there might as well be two. To clarify, early in his career (1967-1974), Mike Resnick wrote lots & lots of bad, hack work, just for the money, novels. (In his own words: "I wrote no SF from 1969-1974; instead I ground out about 8 million words of drivel, mostly soft-core pornography and gothics, while securing my finances"). During that period, he wrote 3 SF novels (_The Goddess of Ganymede_ [1967], _Pursuit on Ganymede_ [1968] and _Redbeard_ [1969]). Another, just for money novel was _Galactica Discovers Earth_ [1980] (with Glen Larson). I am sure that Mr. Resnick would be much happier if all copies of these vanished from the face of the Earth. His first decent novel (where he actually tried writing for himself, instead of rent) was _The Soul Eater_ [1981]. The books have been varing degrees of good since then. My Michael Resnick checklist is attached below. In addition to the books listed, Michael Resnick has written ~250 hack novels (porn, romance, gothics, ...) under a variety of pseudonyms. The two SF works of his I've read ("Santiago" & "Stalking the Unicorn") are nicely written stories (Western in space & Hardboiled detective fantasy respectively). [C] == Story Collection. [CP] == Chapbook [a very short book or pamphlet] Resnick, Michael D[iamond] [U.S.A., 3/5/1942- ] [Hugo 1989] In Same Universe: The Tales of the Galactic Midway: Sideshow [1982] The Three Legged Hootch Dancer [1983] The Wild Alien Tamer [1983] The Best Rootin' Tootin' Shootin' Gunslinger in the Whole Damned Galaxy [1983] Walpurgis III [1982] The Tales of the Velvet Comet: Eros Ascending [1984] Eros at Zenith [1984] Eros Descending [1985] Eros at Nadir [1986] Paradise [1989] Santiago [1986] The Soul Eater [1981] The Dark Lady [1987] Ivory [1988] Birthright: The Book of Man [1982] The Adam Thane Series: The Goddess of Ganymede [1967] Pursuit on Ganymede [1968] The Forgotten Seas of Mars [1965] [CP] Redbeard [1969] Unauthorized Autobiographies [1984] [C] [CP] The Branch [1984] Adventures [1985] The Inn of the Hairy Toad [1985] [CP] Stalking the Unicorn: A Fable of Tonight [1987] Second Contact [1990] Larson, Glen & Resnick, Mike Battlestar Galactica books: Galactica Discovers Earth [1980] ------------------------------ Date: 30 Oct 90 05:58:36 GMT From: csusac!potter@csufres.csufresno.edu (Carl Kolchak) Subject: Janet Huss / Dr. Who / Star Trek / (*long*) 8000 chars Janet M. Huss asked: (as did several others, via mail...) > Could you explain to me (preferably via e-mail, so we don't waste these > good folks' time) where the 'incarnations' of the Doctor appear? > > I just finished reading this novel again (perhaps 3rd time thru) in the > last week, and I'll confess you have me confused on this point. Perhaps > it is because I've never been more than a periodic viewer of "Doctor Who" > and never a big fan. But I _thought_ I'd have been able to catch such > references... Okay, lady, you asked for it, you GOT it. I dug out a copy and thumbed through it on the way to work this morning, taking a few notes. Here they are, hope you enjoy them. It is my belief that Hambly's historical- research background predisposes her toward leaving information lying around piecemeal, for anyone to pick up, *if* they're paying attention. It's not all that obscure, you just have to pay attention, and read *actively* instead of passively; reading something the way you watch a TV show won't dig out stuff like this unless it's a bit less subtle. (Either that, or I watched *way* too much TV in the fifties and sixties.) (I doubt I caught them all, since this was a cursory fast-read; but I found a bunch, including a couple I didn't remember.) ***SPOILER WARNING*** If you wish to enjoy Barbara Hambly's "ISHMAEL," don't read the rest of this entry. Very good. It is presumed that if you are reading this, you either don't give a hoot, or you've read the book and missed the references I mentioned above, or that you've read the book, spotted *everything,* and intend to horselaugh at me for missing ones you spotted, so here goes. All references are quoted from "ISHMAEL," by Barbara Hambly, Pocket Book # 0-671-55427-1, 1985. Note: I bought it because I'd just read "THE LADIES OF MANDRIGYN," and *not* because I buy "Star Trek" novels. I *DON'T*. I am *NOT* a Trekkie, durnit! Page 13, line 12: (in the Star Trek era) "Over by the bar voices were raised as a scruffy-looking spice smuggler got involved in an argument over a girl with a pair of brown-uniformed pilots from some down-at-the-heels migrant fleet." Since the lead-in to this paragraph includes references to Anderson and Dickson's Hokas, we're forewarned that we're looking at folks from other people's work. I interpret this to be Han Solo quarreling with a couple of Viper pilots from "Galactica." (Yeah, I know; far-fetched. Just hang on a minute and look at the rest of the stuff that supports this.) Page 13, line 30: "The girl by the bar, he noticed, had watched calmly as the altercation between the pilots and smuggler had degenerated almost to the point of fisticuffs, then finished her drink and departed on the arm of a tall, curly-haired man in the eccentric garb typical of space-tramps--the combatants had continued their quarrel undeterred." This appears to be the Tom Baker Dr. Who persona sliding out with a travelling companion. (Evidence is *not* conclusive, at *this* point; hang on... there's more later on.) Page 57, line 27: "I'll bet you Metebelis crystals to little green apples...." Self-explanatory, if you happen to remember the Planet of Spiders. Page 104, line 15: "'Give them a break,' said Kellogg cheerfully. 'How many people in the Federation know the truth about the Ellison trials?'" Not specifically germane to the discussion, but a nice tip of the hat to Ellison, whose "City on the Edge of Forever" is referenced in the book. Page 153, line 18: ( in the year 1867 ) "Over by the bar a good-looking boy in the dusty clothes of a trailhand just in from Virginia City and his oxlike older brother had gotten into a vociferous argument over a girl with a dark- haired gambler, their voices rising higher and higher---" I believe this is intended to be Little Joe and Hoss Cartwright arguing with one of the Maverick brothers, probably Bret. Page 154, line 15: "Across the barroom the two trailhands and the gambler had worked themselves into an argumentative pitch impossible in sober men. The girl calmly finished her drink and departed on the arm of an untidy little man with a flute sticking out of one pocket of his threadbare velvet frock-coat. The combatants continued their quarrel unabated. Ishmael [Spock] frowned, his memory teased..." This validates the earlier bar scene, by providing more clues as to the identity of the Doctor (Troughton persona) and having the amnesiac Spock spot the situation as one he'd seen before. Unfortunately, the cranial damage probably kept him from correlating this anomaly when his memory returned; if it happened to be the same Companion, his Vulcan memory would have verified the existence of the same person at times centuries apart, and presented him with a puzzle that would have inexorably led to his deduction of the existence of a time-travelling non-Federation race. Page 180, line 25: ".... a big man dressed in black clothing a bit too dandified for a rancher, a knight's head stickpin glinting in the dark silk of his cravat. The smell of whiskey hung faintly about him, but there was, too, an edge of danger, a readiness for trouble that said, Gunfighter." Paladin, from "HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL." (Numerous scripts for this series were done by Roddenberry and Gene Coons, by the way.) Page 182, line 1: (describing the spectators at Paladin's and Spock's chess game.) ".... were less than a dozen spectators---an oddly assorted lot including two of the house gamblers, a dancehall girl in red silk, a rancher from Virginia City, a scruffy little man in checked pants who looked like a drummer, and a thin cowboy in a trail-worn green shirt---" Paw Cartwright, a known chess fan, is easy to spot, as is "Sugarfoot." The dancehall girl and peddler in checked pants I'm not sure of. Page 200, line 17: (back in the Star Trek era) "'There are legends of a civilization out in the galaxy of Kasteroborous that mastered time travel and promptly stagnated because they never dared do anything again.'" I shan't bother with listing the references that deal with "Here Come The Brides," since they comprise about half the book; nor do I include the connections to Niven's "Known Space," since they date back to the animated "Star Trek." Is this enough to give you an idea of how many plot- and series-threads she hooked into one lousy book? I think she managed to build in every major historical series she enjoyed from about '59 to about '80. Wish she'd do something like that with Dixon Hill and Sam Spade! ------------------------------ Date: 7 Dec 90 18:05:00 GMT From: salaris@niblick.ecn.purdue.edu (Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrabbits) Subject: Battlestar Galactica, The Next Generation A long time ago, on a terminal far, far away, I remember someone posting about a possible return of BG for a mini-series to be called Galactica: The Next Generation or something like that. It was to deal with the Galactica gang after they had arrived on Earth or something like that. No, I don't mean Galactica: 1980. If anyone knows anything about this, please e-mail me at: salaris@niblick.ecn.purdue.edu Steven C. Salaris