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BSG Digest 100

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Jeffrey A Zahnen

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Apr 18, 1995, 3:00:00 AM4/18/95
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| Battlestar Galactica Digest #100, 04/13/95 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Today's Topics:

Starbuck and Apollo...
Cylons & Encyclopedia Galactica
Zac's Last Flight
Galactica Timeline
Word of warning
Galactica Timeline
Battlestars and basestars
Colonial Marriage Customs
Story Bible
ANOMALY update
Zine Illustrators out there?
Fanfic and such
What's canon and what's not?

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 11 Apr 1995 21:46:09 -0400
From: LizBe...@aol.com
Subject: Re: Starbuck and Apollo...Par...

<sputter,choke>

Loverly revenge! Poor Adama, slain by a paper tiger....<evil grin>

Liz ;)
whose busy cleaning up the sputtered water off her computer
screen.....

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 11 Apr 1995 22:40:27 -0400
From: "John P. LaRocque" <lar...@gaul.csd.uwo.ca>
Subject: Re: Cylons & Encyclopedia Galactica

Eugenia writes:

No, I was just wondering why it had been used. I tend
to "consult" a fan written "Encyclopedia" as they went through
the series in DETAIL and clearly marked what came where
in what episode.

Heh, no problem. That's EXACTLY the approach I used when putting
together the FAQ. In fact, the only resources I used were the
episodes themselves, plus Galactica Stuff (which is also 95%
canon). It's just that every now and then you get those annoying
little non-episodal details thrown in your face. "You mean Baltar's
from Picon?" A cursory reading of the novelizations doesn't bear
this out, and neither do the episodes, but it says so in EG.
Ahhh... too bad we don't have any story bibles.

Reminds me of how Star Trek fans treated the animated series in the
70's (which to me, ST I to VI excepted) is the LAST true appearance
of Star Trek. The cartoon said that Captain Kirk's middle name is
"Tiberius", and only became "canonical" in most Trekkie's eyes when
Tiberius was used in one of the movies (they ignored the cartoon,
but I adore them myself...).

Galactica Stuff, I might add, is the ONLY fan written encyclopedia
currently available that meets the criteria you mentioned above. If
you love Galactica and don't own a copy, shame on you.

|----\___ John P. LaRocque (lar...@gaul.csd.uwo.ca)
********]|-----|___\__________
********]|_______>___________/ "There are those who believe
|_____ / that life here began out there..."

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 11 Apr 1995 22:42:12 -0400
From: Homya...@aol.com
Subject: Re: Zac's Last Flight

Michelle--you asked the wrong question.
>What _is_ GSDF, anyway?
Bwah, hah, hah. Y'might've noticed that I keep harping on those who write
BG fiction to get it out and seen in fandom (keep things lively, if nothing
else, waiting for a revival). That's cause I do it myself. GSDF (put shortly)
is an alternate-BG series of stories. Two short stories from it appeared in
GALACTICA a couple of years ago, another longer story in ANOMALY (18 or 19),
and the novelization of HOLOCAUST was accepted for print before ANOMALY kinda
went belly up (I'm still checking on that...)
GSDF originally was just a swipe from Macross (Galactica Super Dimensional
Fortress) until one of my barracksmates looked over my shoulder and remarked
casually "Oh, Galactica Spacial Defense Force! I remember that one!" Ah,
serendipity.
It's alternate because, being military in background, I couldn't STAND the
lackadaisical (sic, and better so) approach the producers took to what was
basically a VERY military show. I also tended to like the approach of
japanese cartoon makers (not the video-only movies, but the long,
well-developed tv series--L*Gaim, Xabungle, Dunbine...*sigh*). I wanted to
get some of that kind of storytelling written into the Galactica universe,
and suddenly I found I was developing a whole new universe (not to be
smart-alecky, but you could call it Battlestar Galactica On Steroids.
Everything in my universe (except IFB) is meaner than the original).
Too, like most fen writers, I had my own character to introduce (sounds
weird for a guy to say that, doesn't it?), which promptly branded it an
alternate. After that character resulted in Zac's survival (almost by
accident; no Mary Sues here!), it was DEFINITELY a sidestep from 'real'
Galactica.
I'd upload more except (a) the usual minimum on my stories is about 30,000
words (I get carried away easily), and (b) I tend to make them VERY series
oriented; people tell me they can get most of the gist from a single story,
but the whole experience (which ain't happening until I start a zine or find
a zine home for 'em) is really kind of...well, a prerequisite isn't the word
I want, but required is too strong (it's too late at night; my language
centers have gone to bed already).
Probably the only other two stories (besides the one I was doing for
Holly's BLUE until that zine died stillborn) that would really shock anyone
are NETWORK (Hey! Serina's still alive!) and OLD HABITS (real, honest-to-God
religious intolerance between colonials)(and no, the title's not a pun).
Do appreciate the comments, though. Thanks.
Davey

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 11 Apr 1995 22:24:13 -0400
From: Homya...@aol.com
Subject: Re: Cylons & Encyclopedia Gal...

Eugenia
It's entering the mythos as 'canon' because 99% of all BG fen don't have
access to anything BETTER (look at the Anomaly BG Concordance. Look at Clean
Slate Press' own BG concordance. Those are what the BG Encyclopedia should've
been). Shoot, even the few who have the writers' guide aren't much better
off.
I think we need to GET better stuff out before the EG can be disregarded
more.
Davey <HomyakChik>

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 12 Apr 95 7:29:23 EDT
From: "Kirk A. Troy" <tr...@bncc.acc.af.mil>
Subject: Galactica Timeline

Has anyone out there ever come up with a timeline before the Destruction? Maybe
going a little farther back than the beginning of the war?

Kirk
-----------------------------------------------------------------
tr...@bncc.acc.af.mil | Diplomacy is the art of |
tr...@galactica.langley.af.mil | saying, "Nice doggie!"... |
tr...@cs1.langley.af.mil | till you can find a rock. |
http://galactica.langley.af.mil/ | -Anonymous |
-----------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 12 Apr 1995 10:40:56 -0400
From: LizBe...@aol.com
Subject: Word of warning :)

Hi All,

Just to let you know that I've gotten several requests for me
to post "Of Rajacks and Rodentia" to this list. <evil grin> Thanks
to all who requested it. I plan to fufill your nightmares this
evening. For those of you who want to skip over the story,
it will be "BSG:RR, part #" so you don't have to read it on
your server.

Some background, "Of Rajacks..." is part of a series of short,
humorous stories I've dubbed "The Hidden History of the Galactica
Fleet." Basically the stories talk about the "reality" behind
the oh-so-brave surface Our Heroes put up for the masses when
every single one of them know that the best laid plans come off
by accident....

I'll send it to the list after midnight and thanks for the interest
in it....<grin> Like I needed all that much encouragement.

Liz ;)
lizbe...@aol.com

<Note - check the Tardis archive for the story>

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 12 Apr 1995 15:06:43 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Adam C Stacey" <sta...@student.msu.edu>
Subject: Galactica Timeline

I've got a rough timeline worked out. I'm trying to write a series of stories
depicting the major battle of the Thousand Yahren War but I'm getting confused
by recent discussion. I always envisioned the Hasari conflict lasting about a
hundred yahrens and then the Cylon would battle the humans directly,
confronting them on their doorstep before getting driven back. I'm still not
sure how to take the President's statement that they are "entering the seventh
millenium of mankind." That would put the year, excuse me, yahren in the 6's.
But Starbuck said his parents died in the Attack on Umbra in 7 something or
other. Maybe he was counting a different system though. Since we may be
counting our entering the third millenium as being After Christ. But, recorded
history goes back to the fourth century BC. Therefore, we would be in a sense
entering the seventh millenium of human time by some estimates. Maybe the
Colonials started to recount their yahrens after they had reached the 12
Colonies of Man, adding several millenia to their existence on Kobol. Then
again, maybe they didn't start from scrath on Kobol either since Adama
hypothesized in "Lost Planet of the Gods" that the forefathers of Kobol were
descended from a parent race that was technologically advanced at the time.
Some serious hypothesizing and list discussion is needed to try to resolve this
dilemna.

I'm all for diversity in this pc infested climate but it would be nice if
even our own meager list group came to a consensus on some major canonical
material. This would better integrate our fiction writing and close the ever
widening gap between fan fiction universes. I posted a contest to decide the
best episodes of Galactica on the list last summer. I would also be willing to
put out a questionaire in order to feel out the group opinion on some major
canonical issues. Would that be acceptable?

Adam Stacey
"Trying to restore some semblance of order and sanity in his insane world"
My professor asked me the other day what was the color of wisdom and I nearly
blew a blood vessel!

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 12 Apr 95 17:39:04 EDT
From: "Michael L. Booth" <MB0...@american.edu>
Subject: Battlestars and basestars

Just out of curiousity was it ever mentioned in the series the number of
fighters a battlestar and basestar could hold respectively?

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 12 Apr 95 19:12:59 EDT
From: "Michael L. Booth" <MB0...@american.edu>
Subject: Re: Galactica Timeline

In the battlestar galactica novel they have a section called the adama
journals and a mention is made of a sneak attack which destroyed most of the
12 worlds merchant fleets, apparently they had no real military at the time.
I would guess that the human had given material aid to the (whatever that
alien race was) a sort of lend lease system like that used between Britian
and the U.S. during WW II. The attack sounded A LOT LIKE Pearl Harbor.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 12 Apr 1995 20:26:04 -0400
From: Homya...@aol.com
Subject: Colonial Marriage Customs

Michelle (et al)
Aside from that reference (WotG), the only real reference to Colonial
Marriage Customs Requiring Monogamy came in the unshot script TWO FOR TWILLY,
in which one fellow is married to two (then it turns out three!) women at the
same time, and Adama reads him the riot act (that was about the time it
became apparent that for 'Colonial' customs we were supposed to substitute
'Caprican' customs).
Maybe that'll help some?
Davey

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 12 Apr 1995 20:40:53 -0400
From: Homya...@aol.com
Subject: Story Bible

Anyone want me to upload the Writers' Guides (yup, two of 'em) here to add
to the fun of the Canon/Noncanon discussion? They're not very intelligent,
but they're the closest thing to 'canon' we're ever gonna get...
Davey

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 12 Apr 1995 17:18:55 MDT
From: "Eugenia Horne" <HORN...@fs.isu.edu>
Subject: Re: The fate of Zac

Davey wrote:

Okay, before I start, I read "Zac's Final Flight" which
was VERY well thought out from a pilot's point of view.
(I tend to avoid technical things because it's a weak
point of mine, having very little knowledge of the
military, etc. (except for those stealth planes flying
over my house))

However, WHO is Artemis? From what little context I
garned, Apollo's "other" sister? (After all in the
mythology Apollo did have a twin sister.)

> Well, no one can force you back into fandom, but you might be
> surprised at how much life there still is in BG Fandom outside of
> this list. Lessee...at least four American fanzines are still
> being published (only one admits that he'd publish more often than
> he does if he could; the others are really scrambling for material
> *hint*), [Editing....]

Which ones? I haven't seen a fanzine in years. (I
live in a black hole...)

> (P.S. I know the feeling about original characters. I had one
> zine editrix tell me that fen didn't go for fan-created
> characters, and another three tell me that they couldn't get
> enough well-written fan characters to make a go of it [although
> they said the opposite, that fen tended to go for well-done
> ones]. What's the worst thing you can do? Have your character turn
> into a Mary Sue, of course.

The very thought of Count Carilloc as a "Mary Sue" cracks
me up...["Mary Sue" - a character concocted for the
primary purpose of projecting the author into the intended
fictional universe, right?] Carilloc tends to "write his
own stuff"; I didn't intend for him to have that much
"screen time", he just sort of "took over" for a while
there. Besides I'm not sure WHAT the fan world calls
an entirely made up separate fictional "universe". (Most
of which was toned down, because I suspect BSG fans want
to read BSG stories - naturally, that is their interest.)

> If you know that's a danger, you can
> always take precautions against it... But if you think the
> character's interesting, why not let others give it a try as well
> (outside the list, I mean?)--I mean, 90% of BG fandom doesn't have
> access to this list.

But I don't have access to 100% of fandom outside of this
list. (Which is why I'm going to a certain convention...)

- Eugenia
(P.S. I'm surprised at the number of people (even non-BSG)
who LIKE Carilloc & Co. We were actually thinking of
submitting them to a real publisher. I can see the cover
now: THE wedding, sword fight at the altar...)

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 12 Apr 1995 21:41:30 -0400
From: Mik...@aol.com
Subject: Re: Battlestars and basestars

"The Living Legend" gives you a good Idea of how many Cylon Fighters
compliment a Basestar. Baltar had three Basestars, and enough ships on the
surface of Gamoray to equal a forth. I forget exactly how many there were on
Gamoray... <<Mike>>

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 12 Apr 1995 22:22:57 -0400
From: Homya...@aol.com
Subject: ANOMALY update

Hokay; Sue Paxton's BG fanzine ANOMALY _does_ still exists. Apparently she
moved a number of months back and the Post Awful has not forwarded her mail
with any great efficiency ("people have been writing to me for information?
Really?"). The new address for ANOMALY is:
ANOMALY c/o Sue Paxton
36 West Como Ave.
Columbus, OH 43202
Currently available are #19 and 20, at $6.00 each (70-some-odd pages apiece
of tight, well-written text). #21 is in the planning stages, and she wants
YOUR stories, art and articles.
The Anomaly BG Concordance (not as slick as the CSP GALACTICA STUFF, but
much more in-depth, frankly) is currently out of print, but she's working on
the revision for the third edition; some time this summer was the hope (since
I'm likely the illustrator for the silly thing, let's make that LATE
summer...).
So far on deck for ANOMALY 21 are another in her series of articles on the
'lost' scenes from filmed shows, and the unfilmed episodes themselves (one
thing to look forward to in future issues: Story Editor Terrence McDonnel is
sending her a copy of the the filmed FIRE IN SPACE (yeah, groans, keep
reading) with the original, unshot ending.), and an interview with the other
of the BG story editing team, Jim Carleson (and Sue does one nifty interview,
lemme tell you. Past interviewees include Stu Phillips and Robert Thurston,
among others); and at least one piece of alternative BG fiction (naw, not one
of mine, although that's apparently a strong possibility, too)--what if Adama
had launched his fighters, contrary to Presidential Order, when the Columbia
did, turning the tide of the attack from the cylons to the colonials? What if
the Colonies had beaten back the Cylons?
What might it be like twenty jahren down the line?
Well, that's at least ONE story in ANOMALY 21. Aside from any GSDF stuff I
get in in time, she's also got another story of the Borellian Wars on tap
(I've seen it; it's cool).
So yeah, ANOMALY's still alive and kicking; she was as mystified by the
sudden lack of mail from everyone out here as anyone out here writing for
details was by her 'sudden silence.' Drop her a line for the back issues or
to reserve a future issue.
Davey (the alleged Assistant Editor (suddenly) of ANOMALY

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 12 Apr 1995 22:29:14 -0400
From: Homya...@aol.com
Subject: Zine Illustrators out there?

If there are any illustrators (regardless of however good or bad you
consider yourself) out there who like to draw BG stuff, would you consider
dropping some samples (or print-ready pictures) by Sue Paxton, editrix of
ANOMALY? Right now I'm the only illustrator the zine's got, and while I love
to show off as much as anyone, the thought of illoing between 70 and a
hundred pages of stuff is frankly daunting.
The Address of ANOMALY is
36 West Como Avenue
Columbus, OH 43202
She accepts hardcopy and computer disk graphics alike (she's windows based;
if you've a mac, send it to me. I do the mac-to-real-computer translation for
the zine at present).
Thanks. (Gawd I hope someone sends her some art...)
Davey <HomyakChik>

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 12 Apr 1995 22:33:19 -0400
From: Homya...@aol.com
Subject: Re: Battlestars and basestars

It was never explicitly stated just how many fighter craft a battlestar
could hold, but general opinion seems to've held that it would carry four
squadrons of fifty apiece.
Seems like Baltar mentioned how many raiders Apollo & Starbuck might
encounter if the basestar was fully loaded in HAND OF GOD, too; check there.
Davey Hamsterherr

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 12 Apr 1995 23:37:09 -0400
From: Homya...@aol.com
Subject: Galactica Timeline

Adam
People who've never studied history have generally taken the "War of a
Thousand Jahren" to be literally that--an all-out war that lasted a thousand
jahren (however long you feel _that_ is). Someone else (not in this list)
once pointed out to me, however, that technically England and Spain were at
war for something like a couple of centuries, even though their fleets and
soldiers almost never actually met and fought. To my military-history mind,
the Colonials should've been in a LOT better shape technologically if they'd
been at war for a thousand whatevers; sorry to say, technology improves
faster in wartime than in peacetime.
One possibility to consider is that the Colonial-Cylon War was a war only
technically. Consider, perhaps, the Soviet Union-American 'War' of 1945-1993.
By some views, we were engaged in all-out warfare ourselves; yet nothing but
the occasional jet getting shot down ever marred the otherwise pristine
stillness.
It's entirely possible that when the Colonials (or the protoColonials, if
they were calling themselves such a thousand jahren ago) jumped in to help
the Hassaris, the Cylon empire took offense and proceeded to begin a war of
attrition against the much-smaller Colonies (it's not such a horrid defeat if
your opponent outweighs you ten to one, after all). Perhaps Colonial space
vessels became victims of Cylon raiders or privateers sailing under their
colors (certainly in the original FIRE IN SPACE we saw that there were a lot
of subjugated races serving the Cylons; BETA PIRATES, too, showed this). This
could be compared to how Britain treated America just after the Revolutionary
War (they kept beating the pojees out of us, basically, because they were big
and we were wimpy). The Colonials started building up their forces, and the
Cylons started having to take them seriously. Then the colonials started
making forays back into Cylon (otherwise known as Free) Space (such as Cain's
expedition), and the Empire decided they had to deal with these upstarts once
and for all--"gee, we'd like to sue for peace. Just bring _every ship you
own_ to this location, and _we'll_ show up and make friendly-face with you,
gosh, vooty."

On the dating system:
Yeah; the beginning of the seventh millenium of time means they're starting
into the 6000s (my own stories start out "The Jahron is 5994, as humans
measure time"). Yet that reference to the Umbra Attack kinda plays hob with
that.
Someone else pointed out the common-sense explanation to this question
(_someone's_ been reading REAL books): there were twelve colonies (not to
mention any colony-colony and moonbases and such worlds), not any two of
which were going to have the same length day, week, month, fortnight or year
(and that was probably a major source of friction when they decided to get
together and come up with a standard system for the proposed Shared
Military). You can probably assign whichever Jahron Zero to whichever Event
That Shook The World you want (the exodus from Kobol is a nice one; some
colony that didn't plunge as deeply into darkness as the others might date it
from when _they_ first reachieved spacing; it's entirely possible that
another Christ, Mohammed or Joseph Smith came along on some (or more than
one) of the colonies, and _their_ dating system starts with that person's
birth (or fame, or death, or whatever). Taka you pick, make'a you choice.
Therefore the 'standard' Colonial time is perhaps nearing, at, or just past
the 6000 mark (add your own suffix here). Caprica has an extra amount of time
on its years, so its in the 7500s or thereabouts. All you have to do really
is either remember to have a character remark off-handedly that it's the year
such-n-so by that newfangled Colonial Standard Who-Needs-It time, and say
that he _really_ prefers his native world's own measure of such-n-such.
(Shoot; my Sagitarrans use bastardized russian units for their own
time--and their jahron is thirty times that of Caprica--my Aerians use
Ukranian (and those two tribes _don't_ get along...), my Scorps use rude
German, and my Capricans use Loglan. I figure context makes it clear, since
the native units seldom come up except in specific conversational patterns
anyhoo.)
(We have examples of this--the variant timescales--on earth, by the way.
It's 1995 by EuroAmerican standards, but in Japan they measure the year by
the year number of the reign of the current emperor (still do, even they mix
the EA year in indiscriminately). The Jewish calendar shows the year to be in
the 5000s, and I believe China has its own year scale. You might could call
the EA year the 'jahron,' and the others the Caprican, Gemonese, Aerian,
Scorpian, etc. 'years.')
This help? Probably not.
Davey

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 1995 00:00:50 -0400
From: Homya...@aol.com
Subject: Fanfic and such

Eugenia
First, thanks for the comments on the Zac exerpt. I'm proud of that whole
novel, truthfully, just because I stopped holding back and put all the detail
in I wished Thurston or ANYONE else had (David Gerrold says we're writing the
stories we wish someone else was writing for us; I guess he's right).
Sorry about that, though. See, I'm a packrat...er, packrodon. I've got my
own little sub-BG universe going, but if I see a nifty character or bit in
someone else's 'real' BG story that I like, I'll generally just lift it
(usually I'll ask permission first) and run.
Artemis came from a Sharon Monroe novel ALTERNATE CONSPIRACY. In that one,
Apollo, in an alternate universe, met his _cousin_ Artemis, who in the 'real'
universe had died as a child. In AC she'd avoided going on the family outing
in question, and survived, to be raised with Adama and Ila's kids.
I got a mecha pilot, MSG Tera, from Patty Foss; pilot/IFB personality LT2
Ariana from Heather Simmons; CPT Miriam from Sue Paxton's stories; FS3 Hera
from Sharon Monroe's PEGASUS stories; and so on down the line (but most of my
chara are still mine, heh, heh, heh).
Artemis is Apollo and Athena's cousin by Adama's younger brother Cahan, if
that helps; Cahan was lost on the last of the deep-thrust prober missions
fifteen jahren before the holocaust, and she was raised with her cousins.
*sorry*
FANZINES:
Well, Sue Paxton's ANOMALY is still alive, kicking, and readying issue #21
even as we speak...er, read. Rick Perriguey's VISIONS OF THE GALACTICA just
published its fifth issue. I'm told that Sharon Monroe's GALACTICA is still
published, although no one's gotten a response from her in several months.
Holly Oaks' STAR KOBOL JOURNALS, last I heard, was preparing to publish
issues 5 and 6 simultaneously, and Holly additionally spoke of an
adult-oriented zine (whether one-shot or steady-shot would depend on sales
and contributions) called BLUE. Again, Colonial Press out in California
doesn't respond to all would-be contributors' letters, but if you want to BUY
zines, they've got about twenty varied issues out. The Thirteenth Tribe is
apparently still publishing a newsletter/zine that has fiction and commentary
every two or three months (not sure which), and John's list has a GERMAN BG
zine (one I'd never even heard of) on it.
That help? The Tardis site has a list of currently available zines and the
publishers' addresses, but if you can't find it or can't afford the on-line
time, I'll make you a list and e-mail it to you.
(Besides: y'gotta WRITE to fanzines before they'll send you info or
copies...)
FAN-CREATED UNIVERSES
Well, is it BG-derived, or completely original and just guest-starring BG
chara? Rick, Sue and Holly's zines seem to _specialize_ in fan-created chara
and BG universes, and Sharon's the only stick-in-the-muddon about fan-chara.
So far the response seems to've been pretty positive (even if the fan world
_doesn't_ know what to call the resulting universe...)
(Besides, I know the feeling of Avoiding Mary Sue. Shoot, my character
Dannel managed to get himself a court-martial for trying to murder his
temporary wingmate on religious grounds. Can't get much more anti-MS than
that!)
And, sad to say, 99% of BG fandom is conducted either through the mails
(real-world, not electronic) or po telefonu. I don't believe ANY of the BG
clubs still around actually have meetings; they just act as Central Clearing
Houses for fen to talk to and interact with one another. Which means (again)
that you gotta write to them before they'll write to you.
Shoot; here's my address: Davey Jones, 10808 Lunswood Road, Chester, VA
23831. Drop me a real-world line. Let's see what kind of loony-tunes result.

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 1995 00:00:28 -0400
From: Homya...@aol.com
Subject: What's canon and what's not?

Adam (well, you _said_ you wanted some list discussion of this stuff!)
Here's my personal list of the time units in BG:
Michron = 'second'
Centron = 'ten-second'
Centon = 'minute' (100 michrons, 10 centrons)
Decenton = '10-minute'
Centar = 'hour' (100 centons)
Cyclon/Day = 'day' (30 Centars; 100 of 'em in a day made for a VERY long
day--kinda like having to work on a macintrash all day)
Secton = 'week' (10 days)
Sectar = 'month' (50 days)
Jahron = 'year' (10 sectars)
Does this make for a very long jahron? Yup. On the other hand, all but the
Day measure are base ten, which is a far more logical system (look at the
metric system)--and the Day's divvied into threes for the sake of a
three-shift workday, which is what (you must admit) most of humanity here on
earth uses. (And whether the colonials are descended from us or descended
from a common ancestor, the biological clock in each of us is generally set
around a 24-30 hour day, so there shouldn't be THAT much variation among
these time units and ours.)
And before anyone asks, NO, centron, decenton and cyclon appeared in NO
books (unless you count my own novels); they arose from a frantic attempt to
make sense of a senseless system.
Now: some wag is soon to point out that there's a unit called the
Millicenton (which should be about a tenth of a second...er, michron).
However, it's been used in contradictory ways the two times I recall it being
used (if anyone remembers other than the TOMBS OF KOBOL and ICE PLANET ZERO,
lemme know), and can probably be put down to the generic 'moment,' or
'innaminnit.'
Problem arises: these work quite well for me because I'm socked off in my
own comfortable little rodon-hole in this universe. Others are not so picky.
Some prefer that michron be spelled as a unit of microscopic measurement
rather than a chronological one; others prefer that centars be spelled and
pronounced SEN-TA-REEZ (I read one zine where the stories quite matter of
factly referred to "centauries." I kept seeing little tiny
half-man-half-equinii gamboling around, quite ruining the flow of the story).
Who gets to say?
Want a vote? Fine. Ask for suggestions. Tally up the list. I'd say if you
can get a thousand BG fen to agree to something it'll be like the Dream of a
Thousand Cats; we'll be able to reshape the world.
(Didn't mean to be a downer; quite the contrary. This was meant to help you
kick off your effort to narrow down and agree on some sort of 'canon,' even
though there will be those who (rightfully) decline to have anything to do
with it (hey, great thing about America; no one can be forced to believe
anything they don't wanna).
Other canonical material might include: what are the colonies' names?
(Lessee...my own entries are (in no particular order of importance) Liber,
Aer, Taura (Scorp-occupied), Gemon, Cantseras, Leus, Virg, Scorp, Sagitarra,
Caprica, Aquaria, Piscea.) What are the colonies' general attitudes? (well,
most of them are balkanized, and don't really get along with the others all
that well. Sagitarra is in the middle of a religious rebirth, Scorp has
occupied Taura and is running it into the ground, Aer is very warlike itself
and rattles its sabers a lot, Liber is essentially Giedi Prime (read DUNE),
and Caprica is so full of itself in the aftermath of the Caprican Renaissance
that no one else can stand them) Do the colonials possess only Battlestars
and Vipers, or do they perchance have an EFFECTIVE military? (My answer is
for diversity; most others seem to favor battlestars as the be-all end-all of
colonial mightiness, ignoring the fact that they burn like gas-soaked rags at
the drop of a raider)
See what we've got to contend with? Shoot, I'll be interested in seeing
what others come up with, just to see if anyone ELSE will agree that a Canon
would be nice.
Davey

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 1995 00:26:53 -0400
From: "John P. LaRocque" <lar...@gaul.csd.uwo.ca>
Subject: Re: Galactica Timeline

Well, if you have the yahren consistent across the 12 colonies, it's
not hard to imagine where you can have a yahren 6000 in there, and
also the 7500 in there as well. Let's say yahren 0 (standard) was
the same time the Colonies left Kobol, where yahren 1500 (Caprican)
was the actual year since Kobol was FOUNDED. So they theoretically
spent a millenium and a half on Kobol, and an additional 6 milllenium
in the system of the twelve Colonies. Actually, this kind of
contradicts other material (read "Encyclopedia Galactica"), but
it's reasonable I suppose. There's an added benefit to this system.
If human history on Earth started... oh, around 4000 BC or so, at
least according to Bishop Usher in those old King James, that would
be kind of fun connecting Earth genesis to Colonial history.

Interesting mentioning Jesus, Mohamed, the Japanese Emporer and
Joseph Smith Jr. all in the same article.

|----\___ John P. LaRocque (lar...@gaul.csd.uwo.ca)
********]|-----|___\__________
********]|_______>___________/ "There are those who believe
|_____ / that life here began out there..."

----------------------------------------------------------------------

End Battlestar Galactica Digest #100

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unread,
Apr 18, 1995, 3:00:00 AM4/18/95
to
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Battlestar Galactica Digest #101, 04/13/95 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Today's Topics:

What's canon and what's not?
Greetings all
Colonial Marriage Customs
Galactica Timeline
Story Bible
Fanfic and such
Bloopers
Battlestar Galactica on CD
Age Of The List
Sagittara was strongest
Battlestars and basestars
More BG Comic Info
Yet More Fanfic and such

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 1995 03:46:05 -0400


From: "John P. LaRocque" <lar...@gaul.csd.uwo.ca>

Subject: Re: What's canon and what's not?

Here's my list on the time definitions as the television show seemed
to indicate. I'm wavering on my definition of "sectar" as an eponym
for month (more likely, a week), but other than that, this sums
up my feelings on the subject

<list at the Tardis archive>

I understant that others would want to use a more foreign time unit
environment, but the tables I have constructed are both defensible and
easy to use. Take your pick. Use analogs for Earth time measurements,
or metricize the time unit system. Remember, even the French revolution
couldn't force people to abandon the familiar hour/month/year system
in favor of the metric one (10 metric months, 10 day weeks), and it
is entirely possibly that the Colonies developed the SAME way. Easy
defense, isn't it?

|----\___ John P. LaRocque (lar...@gaul.csd.uwo.ca)
********]|-----|___\__________
********]|_______>___________/ "There are those who believe
|_____ / that life here began out there..."

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 1995 08:28:08 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Gideon E. Hipps II" <cro...@infinet.com>
Subject: Greetings all

Here I diddnt even know there were that many Galatica fans left beyond
me and my friends. Here's a whole mailing list full of em ;)
Croaker

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 1995 10:16:09 -0400 (EDT)
From: mar...@abacus.mc.duke.edu (Michele Martin)
Subject: Re: Greetings all

Welcome aboard! Actually, we're kind of new ourselves. I guess it's
only been, what, a year? Anyone remember when we started this thing? :)

Michele Martin
mar...@abacus.mc.duke.edu
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Evil Guest Immortal: "I have you now, MacLeod." <clang, clang>
Duncan MacLeod: "I admit it. You're better than I am." <clang, clang>
EGI: "Then why are you smiling?" <clang, clang>
MacLeod: "Because I know something you don't know..." <clang, clang>
"..._I_ am the star of this show." <clang, slash, whap!, thud, cool fx>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 1995 10:06:14 -0400 (EDT)
From: mar...@abacus.mc.duke.edu (Michele Martin)
Subject: Re: Colonial Marriage Customs

> Michelle (et al)
It's one 'l' in my name, btw. :)

> Aside from that reference (WotG), the only real reference to Colonial
>Marriage Customs Requiring Monogamy came in the unshot script TWO FOR TWILLY,

I really wish they'd had gotten around to filming that one. I read the
script and thought it was great. Okay, a few physics problems, perhaps,
but the characterizations were fun.

>in which one fellow is married to two (then it turns out three!) women at the
>same time, and Adama reads him the riot act (that was about the time it
>became apparent that for 'Colonial' customs we were supposed to substitute
>'Caprican' customs).

I guess it depends on where Twilly is from. Even on Earth, marriage
customs vary. And this is just one planet. Another example of Sci-Fi in
general running into "small planet" syndrome. We have to keep in mind
how diverse our one planet is when we discuss things like this. One
would think that twelve planets would hold an enormous range of
diversity, even with a small amount of homogenization that comes with
advances in communications/intermingling of people, etc.

The next question would be variations in sealing ceremonies. We only ever
see one in BSG--Serina and Apollo's. Is that standard for urban
Capricans? What are the customs elsewhere. IMHO, Liz did a good job
with respect to possible Gemonese sealing customs in our Sealings
vignette that we did a while back when the list was new. I wonder if
it's time to repost that....

Speaking of stories, I gotta go read Liz's...

Michele

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 95 10:30:13 EDT

From: "Kirk A. Troy" <tr...@bncc.acc.af.mil>

Subject: Re: Galactica Timeline

Wow, thanx for the info on the timelines. The Galactica Stuff is helpful
(Thanx Mike) but there is almost nothing about what happened before the
Destruction. Now since I'm so full of questions I'm going to ask some more.
Let me first explain why I'm asking so many questions. Two of my friends
and I are working with West End Games (creators of the Star Wars Role
Playing game) to create a Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game.
It will be based on their Masterbook series, which we have found to be
quite enjoyable.

Now all this is still in the creation process, we are making the character
templates and working on background info right now. And we also need to
track down who owns the gaming rights (big pain in the ass), which this
list has been very helpful in. Hopefully though, we will have something
playtestable by the beginning of this fall. Does anyone out there play
the Star Wars game or maybe even any of the Masterbook games? We wouldn't
mind using some of our friends at WEG, but I would rather have some die-hard
fans play the game and tell us how they like it. Maybe we could even get a
couple of short stories from Michelle and Liz to put in the book. And one
last thing, we don't have a Suncoast Video in the area so if we paid for the
tapes could someone make us some copies of the shows? We have a couple that
we stumbled on, but we still need the important ones like "Living Legend",
which contain a lot of background information.

You folks are great! Thanx!
Kirk

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 1995 08:11:36 -0800 (PST)
From: XDE...@CCVAX.FULLERTON.EDU
Subject: Re: Story Bible

Yes--post the writer's guides!

Cool!!

Thanks for the fic everyone (how's my use of the jargon?). I'm
printing them out and looking forward to reading...

Doug

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 1995 09:47:53 -0500 (CDT)
From: Letitia J Yao <yaox...@maroon.tc.umn.edu>
Subject: Re: Fanfic and such

> I'm told that Sharon Monroe's GALACTICA is still
> published, although no one's gotten a response from her in several months.

Not true! I just heard from her this week! And as luck would have it, I
have her letter right here with me. Her address is:

Sharon Monroe
3369 Rolling Hills Dr.
Eagan, MN 55121

Galactica #21 is almost ready to be launched; she's just waiting for some
cover art. May 1 at the latest, she says. And a little BG novella "Fire
in his Soul" is also ready, but I don't know what it's about. Most
Galactica issues are either $5 or $6 and all are available. I've been
trying to get Sharon online, but so far no luck, although she sounds
interested in our list.

Hey--this is my first posting to the new list. Hi everyone! Good to see
familiar names again. :)

--Letitia
yaox...@maroon.tc.umn.edu

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 95 08:09:00 PDT
From: ga...@esri.com (Gabe Field [ESRI-Redlands])
Subject: Bloopers

Speaking of Battlestars and Baseships, I recall at least one reference
to "Cylon Battlestars" in one episode.

Gabe

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 95 08:19:24 PDT
From: ga...@esri.com (Gabe Field [ESRI-Redlands])
Subject: Video

It would be nice to be able to rent or buy LVD of all of the episodes.
With digitial sound of course. Is there any info on this?

Gabe

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 1995 11:29:37 -0500 (CDT)
From: sa...@knuth.mtsu.edu (Zaxxon)
Subject: Re: Story Bible

Homya...@aol.com wrote:
>
> Anyone want me to upload the Writers' Guides (yup, two of 'em) here to add
> to the fun of the Canon/Noncanon discussion? They're not very intelligent,
> but they're the closest thing to 'canon' we're ever gonna get...
> Davey
>

I would be interested in seeing the Writers' Guides. If no one else is
interested could you email them to me?


Zaxxon <sa...@knuth.mtsu.edu> http://www.mtsu.edu/~sachs/
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Its always the little | The Dragon rides the | "Understanding is a 3-edged
things that get you. | winds of Time once more | sword" -Kosh, _Babylon 5_

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 1995 10:58:42 MDT
From: "Eugenia Horne" <HORN...@fs.isu.edu>
Subject: Re: Colonial Marriage Customs

Michele wrote:

[Editing...]

> The next question would be variations in sealing ceremonies. We only ever
> see one in BSG--Serina and Apollo's. Is that standard for urban
> Capricans? What are the customs elsewhere.

Just to give an idea for the curious of the cultural differences
among the "standard monogamous marriage ritual". There is a
difference between "civil" and "religious" ceremonies. The
LDS ceremony of "sealing" in the temple is ABSOLUTELY forbidden
to be witnessed by anyone who is not "in good standing" and a
member of the church. They will not let you in, even if you
are the mother of the bride. [The ceremony is very private,
and unlike the Anglican or Catholic ceremonies, the ritual
is apparently not even published for the "layperson".]

As Adama (the "Captain of the ship") performed the ceremony,
I always tended to thing of it (Apollo and Serena's wedding)
as a "quickie" civil service type thing. Unless Adama is
also a religious leader too...[hmmm - see below.] But did
these people really have the time or resources for a full
out marriage ceremony?

Queen Victoria's marriage was a combination of religious,
civil, and state functions. Not many people get married
with the Prime Minister holding the "Sword of State" next
to the altar. She also promised to "obey", but as a woman
of course, the Queen couldn't do that because it would have
compromised her position. (She was also technically the
head of the Church of England and head of the military.)

This also related to the old fashioned aristocratic grand
notions of "joining the families" beyond just the two
individuals involved. And then there is "marriage by
proxy" where someone else stands in for the bride or groom
during the ceremony [I still don't know who stood in
for Donna Maria at Ferdinand's wedding...]

And then there is the good old "common law" type of marriage,
which Idaho either just did away with (or is trying to do
away with), where if a couple puts themselves forth as a
"married couple" they are considered married by the state,
without benefit of any civil or religious ceremony.

[Editing...]

> Speaking of stories, I gotta go read Liz's...

Oh, yes, do. I LOVE the scene when Starbuck is in the
"sickbay" (I drawing a total blank at what it's called
on the Galactica)...

- Eugenia

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 1995 11:21:04 -0600
From: mhe...@carleton.edu (Mark F. Heiman, Information Coordinator)
Subject: Battlestar Galactica on CD

There was talk here a few weeks ago about the BG movie soundtrack being
available on CD from a German label. Well, I found a good source and
ordered my own copy, which just arrived. The spine label reads "Kampfstern
Galactica (Battlestar Galactica)" but the cover art is lifted right from
the original album. The sound is quite good (I can't say it's excellent,
but then what can you expect from a 1978 master?) and a vast improvement
over my much-played LP.

My source was CD Connection, an on-line service with which I have been very
satisfied. Ordering is very simple, and even though they had to import the
CD from Germany I had it in my hands within two weeks.

To check out the service, telnet to cdconnection.com -- there's no username
or anything, it just connects you right up.

[Standard disclaimer applies -- I have no association with CD Connection
beyond being a satisfied customer.]


Mark F. Heiman
mhe...@carleton.edu
Battlestar Galactica Home Page: http://www.carleton.edu/BG

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 95 12:55:19 EDT


From: "Michael L. Booth" <MB0...@american.edu>

Subject: Re: What's canon and what's not?

In regards to the colonial military the only ohter ships I recall hearing about
are cruisers and troop carriers. It is alluded that at least Caprica had a very
sophisticated space defence system, the main battle computers were sabotaged
by Baltar's lieutenaut Coribtus (sp?)

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 1995 13:21:10 -0400


From: "John P. LaRocque" <lar...@gaul.csd.uwo.ca>

Subject: Re: Bloopers

This isn't a blooper. Basestar and Battlestar are one and the same.
Remember when Starbuck was bitching to Athena about Adama having
steered the Galactica away from his squadron during the big battle.
"It happens to be your own base ship". So a battlestar was called
a base ship in the pilot. And in Ice Planet Zero, several times
Cylon base ships were called Battlestars. After that point the
terms became mutually exclusive. Base ship was *always* a Cylon
battlestar, and battlestar was *always* a Colonial base ship!

|----\___ John P. LaRocque (lar...@gaul.csd.uwo.ca)
********]|-----|___\__________
********]|_______>___________/ "There are those who believe
|_____ / that life here began out there..."

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 1995 13:17:03 -0400


From: "John P. LaRocque" <lar...@gaul.csd.uwo.ca>

Subject: Re: Greetings all

Yeah, I remember when this thing got started. Actually, it has humble
beginnings.

Some time in the Spring 1994, I thought it would be cool to get a
primative mailinglist going, so I collected names of all the Usenet
people that I thought would be interested in Battlestar Galactica.
I sent some of my documents to them - including a catalogue for
Clean Slate Press, I think, and we got a lot of interesting
conversations going. Finally, one of us conned Jamie into setting
up a mail digest in Australia, which after about two weeks became
a full blown mailinglist. The list is now being run from Netcom,
and Stan Tackett is the new list administrator, having taken over
from Jamie Norton, who did an admirable job.

Back issues of the mailinglists are collected in digest form and
sitting at Tardis. Pick up the first 10 or so and check out our
humble beginnings!

|----\___ John P. LaRocque (lar...@gaul.csd.uwo.ca)
********]|-----|___\__________
********]|_______>___________/ "There are those who believe
|_____ / that life here began out there..."

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 1995 15:51:56 -0400 (EDT)
From: mar...@abacus.mc.duke.edu (Michele Martin)
Subject: Re: What's canon and what's not?

According to Michael L. Booth:
>
>y sophisticated space defence system, the main battle computers were sabotaged
>by Baltar's lieutenaut Coribtus (sp?)

Charybdis--as in "Scylla and...". In fact, I think there _was_ a
character named Scylla somewhere, wasn't there. Anyway, these are two of
the rivers of Hades according to Greco/Roman mythology if I'm not mistaken.
;)
That episode, btw (Murder on the Rising Star) is one of the ones
available on VHS via Suncoast video stores and probably via other outlets
as well, though you'd probably have to order them. The others that are
available, as far as I know, are:
The Long Patrol
The Man With Nine Lives
Baltar's Escape
Fire in Space
The Lost Warrior
The Magnificent Warriors
The Young Lords
(Shoot, I'm sure there's more, but I can't recall them)
G80:The Return of Starbuck
<you know, I sense a rather Starbuck-oriented trend in which eps are
available>

Plus the highly edited tapes:
Battlestar Galactica (the movie)
Mission Galactica: The Cylon Attack (Living Legend 1 and 2 spliced to
Fire in Space)
Conquest of the Earth (the G:80 pilot, The Night the Cylons Landed, So
This is New York and <this is the best part> bits of The Young Lords all
rolled up and spliced together to produce something arguably _worse_ than
the actual G:80 series)

Hmm, Michele seems to have gotten off on a tangent here that doesn't
really have that much to do with _canon_ per se.... :)

Michele Martin
mar...@abacus.mc.duke.edu
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lister: You said that about 'King of Kings: The Story of Jesus'.
Rimmer: A carpenter's son who learns how to do magic tricks like that and
_doesn't_ go into show business? Do any of us believe that?
Lister: He was supposed to be the son of God!
Rimmer: ...And how about that scene when he's dragging that cross up the
hill? Any normal bloke would have mule-kicked the guy on the left and
disappeared over that hill faster than you can say 'Pontius Pilate'"
Lister: Rimmer, why do I get the feeling you've somehow missed the point?"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 1995 13:28:23 -0400
From: Jeff Zahnen <num...@grove.ufl.edu>
Subject: Re: Age of the list

Michele [one L :)] wrote:

>Welcome aboard! Actually, we're kind of new ourselves. I guess it's
>only been, what, a year? Anyone remember when we started this thing? :)

Funny you should ask this. I'm going to be posting BSG Digest #100 later
today! I checked the first digest (back when Jamie did the digests for
a few issues) and its dates 5/14/94, so we'll be up a year soon!

Jeff
num...@grove.ufl.edu
http://grove.ufl.edu/~number6

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 1995 14:13:14 MDT
From: "Eugenia Horne" <HORN...@fs.isu.edu>
Subject: Re: Fanfic and such

Davey wrote:

[Editing...]

I got a mecha pilot, MSG Tera, from Patty Foss; pilot/IFB personality
> LT2 Ariana from Heather Simmons; CPT Miriam from Sue Paxton's
> stories; FS3 Hera from Sharon Monroe's PEGASUS stories; and so on
> down the line (but most of my chara are still mine, heh, heh, heh).

Hera I remember...She, Sheba, and Cassiopeia (I think) nailed
Starbuck in one story I read.

My basic rule is: don't mess with the main characters too
much (i.e. don't kill them, don't contradict anything said
within the series, etc, etc.) as they are the "foundation"
with which most people are familiar with. In general, if
I use major characters they aren't the "main" character
in that sequence of action. (Besides everyone else is
using them.) As a result, I tend to focus on "forgotten"
characters or ones that aren't used effectively (i.e.
Athena, Count Baltar, etc.) [Aside: since it came up
previously, I don't consider Baltar from Picon; it was
never mentioned in the series. I "gave him" Sagitari
simply because Caprica was taken, and it is the actor's
astrological sign which made as much sense as anything
to me.]

I'm also kind of hesitant to use anyone else's version,
or characters because I like reading alternate versions.
And if I ever get back to my version, it IS different enough
to upset a lot of fans. (What deep dark secrets are
lurking...?) I'd hate to have to pick which "universe" is
"correct". I'm whacking away on something based on real people
(but dead and gone - historical folks), and I actually had
trouble starting because I was too concerned with "Is this
right?", until I "translated" the characters into "fictional"
characters, making assumptions, etc. [Duke Ernst is still
"stranded" in Westminister Abbey...]

Regarding fanzines: Yep, getting the address is the first
step, but since I've moved, and other people have moved, I've
lost most of the addresses... By the way, there WAS an adult
oriented fanzine called "The Blue One". I've -er- got that
and some other ancient fanzines printed right after the series
aired. [And if you've read Sharon's - I'm the weird person
who concocted the Red Ferrari story.] And yes, I've been
known to do artwork, and as soon as I finish Starbuck hitting
the deck, we will be mailing that to the appropriate people.
I rather like the one with Fitzhugh aiming his gun 3
centimeters from Baltar's nose...

> FAN-CREATED UNIVERSES
> Well, is it BG-derived, or completely original and just
> guest-starring BG chara?

Well, it essentially was the thing I just finished posting
here (in various assorted parts) but I figured Starbuck
and Apollo visited OTHER non-colonial civilizations so that
was the "opening" I used. I easily could have done it the
other way... ["Your Grace, two unknown craft have entered our
airspace..."] Besides, it tends to be "Space Operetta" having
a different tone than BSG. (I was surprised it "melded" as
well as it did.)

- Eugenia

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 95 13:11:59 PDT
From: ga...@esri.com (Gabe Field [ESRI-Redlands])
Subject: Sagittara was strongest

I had wondered why in the opening episode Adama, upon seeing Caprica in
ruin, asked Tigh "What about Sagittara?" where Tigh replied dissapointedly
"The planet's in flames". After reading the novel corresponding to the
original 3 hour episode I found in the text an explaination that
Sagittara had the most advanced and aggressive military of all the 12
colonies. I surmize that Adama at that time hoped that such a force
could not be as badly beated as was Caprica's. Unfortunately, he was wrong.

As I recall from the book, Baltar had his operatives on Sagittara
sabotage the planet's early warning systems so that the military didn't
even know they were under attack until the bombs began falling. From this
I further surmize that Baltar was from Sagittara and that his complaint
to the imperious leader "What of our bargain? My colony was to be spared!"
refered to Sagittara. Apparently when the leader asked how he could
trust a man that would see his own people destroyed Baltar's response "Not
destroyed, subjugated, under me!" indicates that he only intended for the
planet to be damaged enough to destroy the existing political structure.
He hoped to gain the reigns, so to speak. But total destruction ensued.

As a point of humor. The scene where Adama and Apollo are at their
family's burned out home, when the crowd first approaches them, a man
can clearly be heard to say "I'm hungry!"

Gabe

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 1995 15:25:06 -0500 (CDT)
From: ARA...@central.edu
Subject: Re: Bloopers

Wasn't Starbuck refering to the galactica as his home base, the ship where he
was supposed to land?
The difference is that the galactica was a BattleStar and it was called so.
*just my 2 cents*

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 95 01:14:08 -0800
From: drk...@ocf.Berkeley.EDU


Subject: Re: Battlestars and basestars

I seem to recall that the basestar carried 300 fighters and that its
full complement outnumbered the Galactica's 2 to 1 (giving the Galactica 150,
though that might not be max capacity).
That's a vague memory from "The Hand of God", so I suppose someone who
actually has it on tape would be more reliable.
Not clear on how vipers were replaced. In the books, I recall some of
the older civilian ships were scrapped for raw materials, but they also had a
much bigger fleet in the books.

Derek
drk...@ocf.berkeley.edu

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 95 17:12:51 PDT
From: ga...@esri.com (Gabe Field [ESRI-Redlands])
Subject: Battlestars and basestars, figheter capacities

The Ovion reporting to the Centurian that they counted something like
200 warriors at the festivities. The Centurian's response was that
this was nearly their entire compliment of warriors. 200 is a strong
impression I've gotten over the years.

At least nobody hear thinks the Vipers launch from the front of the
landing bays!

Gabe

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 95 17:11:29 EST
From: "Jim Stevenson" <Jim_St...@mail.amsinc.com>
Subject: Re: Galactica Timeline

Actually, I myself have already begun running a Battlestar Galactica
role-playing game based on the WhiteWolf system (the same people that
brought us Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, Mummies, Wraiths, and yes,
Highlander-like Immortals from other 3rd-party people). It's a
relatively easy-to-use system based solely on ten-sided dice. The
game itself is called Battlestar: The Holocaust, since I didn't feel
it to be realistic to have the action on the Galactica once again.
The Colonies did at one time have a rather large fleet of warships,
and my game starts off at the time before the Final Destruction -
specifically at around the time of the Battle of Molekai. There have
been interactions with Galactica crews, however. If you want any more
info, let me know.

Jim

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 1995 21:00:59 -0400
From: MLSm...@aol.com
Subject: More BG Comic Info

Here are some more quotes about the new comic. These
are from Hero Illustrated #23 (this month).

>From the "In the Works" section:

"Battlestar Galactica #1 has Adama on his deathbed, Apollo
in command of the fleet, Baltar and the Cylons plotting
villany, as well as Starbuck, Boomer, and all the gang."

>From the interview with Liefeld:

"I love Star Wars, and people look at me funny, but I love
Battlestar Galactica just as much, if not more. We are not
acknowledging the Galactica 80. Those characters were
just horrible."

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 1995 21:41:16 -0400
From: Homya...@aol.com
Subject: Re: What's canon and what's not?

_Charybdis_ (I think), and yeah; problem is, that's about the time the
staff was forgetting just as hard as it could that there had been 12 colonies
(talk of "The Ambush At Caprica", for example; oh, puh-leez). I always tended
to think that each planet had pretty good spacial defenses, and each one was
sabotaged by an agent of Baltar's...
Davey

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 1995 21:31:58 -0400
From: Homya...@aol.com
Subject: Re: Galactica Timeline

Kirk
FASA is the only bunch that I'm aware of who ever released an honest-to-ghu
BG game per se. It was more of a boardgame, but according to the review I
read (I remember seeing it in the store as recently as ten years back, but it
ain't there no more...), it had the potential for at least some role-play.
Dunno if FASA's license has continued or expired, but you could start by
writing to them.
Davey

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 1995 21:49:07 -0400
From: Homya...@aol.com
Subject: Yet More Fanfic and such

(Forgot to mention: I've got the cross-universe BG story to end all
cross-universe BG stories plotted for about the beginning of season two of
GSDF. See, a baby Being of Light has taken a liking to Apollo, and ends up
taking him, Starbuck, Zac and Dannel on a cross-universe romp. I just limited
it to all the different (at least markedly different) BG universes, rather
than dragging in any extra cargo. Got a couple of dozen chapters so far (and
Zac starts to get REAL uncomfortable when he finds out he's only alive in one
other of them...)
Davey "Have Fun In Fandom" HomyakChik

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 1995 21:22:00 -0400
From: Homya...@aol.com
Subject: Re: Galactica Timeline cont'd

Sorry; I'm a packrodon when it comes to things I'll read and retain.
Besides, why worry about contradicting things in the Galactica
Encyclopedia? The silly thing was never definitive in the first place.
<g>
Davey

----------------------------------------------------------------------

End Battlestar Galactica Digest #101

Jeffrey A Zahnen

unread,
Apr 18, 1995, 3:00:00 AM4/18/95
to
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Battlestar Galactica Digest #103, 04/17/95 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Today's Topics:

Galactica Timeline


What's canon and what's not?

Should we worry?
Invaded by a certain Talking Toaster
More BG Comic Info
Canon: New Vipers for Old
Bloopers
CSP/Sharon Monroe
Netcom Invastion

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Fri, 14 Apr 1995 14:44:09 -0400 (EDT)
From: Bret Prichard <br...@allmusic.ferris.edu>
Subject: Re: Galactica Timeline

Well it depends on what area we are speaking of.. it really is several
mushse in one.. we just added aliens (only ones so far are the Orions),
and we shifted the Cylon faction from being a simple war machine/plot
enhancer to being run as a seperate civilization (which as TLL
demonstrates they had such things as Cylon civilians, politics, etc..)..
Anyways basically it is two mushes.. we have the 'Military side' and the
'Civilian side'. We have all 12 Colonies built (each organized as
seperate groups), and also some other civilian factions such as
Underworld, Police, Merchants.. a mini war between the Underworld and the
Police rages, and also the Underworld and itself (we are organizeing them
like the Godfather movies.. with families or cartels having their own
'turfs' and they try to expand their turf but in alow key way so as to
not bring the wrath of the police on them).. also there is alot of
Politics .. some of the folks reading this may not agree with this but I
set it up like a Fedaralist government.. that is all the Colonies share
one military, and one Police force, and the Council of 12 runs this
government.. a Councilor controls things as a part of the greater unit
and on a larger scale.. also I have a Colony GOVERNER.. the governer runs
things ON the colony and has more power ON the colony then the councilor
(though since Council law supercedes Colony Law the councilor potentially
has more).. A governer is similair to a governer in RL and the colonies
we decided would be like a state.. that is they cannot have their own
individual militaries (but the Governer can command the police force in a
sense) .. Colonies can make their own laws but Council law is higher.
Another reason.. Adama is the COUNCILOR from Caprica but not hte GOVERNER
of Caprica.. thus someone ran the day to day operations of Caprica while
he represented it on a higher level.. anyways.. we also have MERCHANT
factions.. merchants can be smugglers, shopkeeprs, intersteller traders,
etc.. we also have a system setup of several large Trade Houses (like
corporations) which we call Lugals.. they interract on a number of
fronts, such as with our Stock Market we have coded (it is on Taura.. we
crafted all the colonies with specific traits.. Taura is the financial
captial of the colonies with the stock market there and the central
Colonial Bank HQ).. we have an orbitting Spacedock around Libra colony
(kinda tough to make a Bstar in atmospheres) and this makes for a nice
target militarily :).. Aeriana is a desert planet (the God of war's
planet is itself at war.. i.e. the harsh climate).. however it also has
rich minerals that are mined beneath.. Canceria houses the COlonial
Prison, and also as an interesting paradox is the only COlony to allow
blatant weapon sales (due to an age old local law/loophole).. much to the
chagrin of the police.. *whew*.. sorry.. been going too much on about the
actual planets then RP

Well we have alot of military type RP.. plus civilan.. I recnetly
attended a play at the Piscon Opera House (which is sort of an art colony
in our Mush).. we had an assasination attempt on the LIbran COuncilor
(who is a borderline dictator).. and a possible subsequent Coup (of which
the PEgasus was dispatched to restore order). an upcoming TP involves a
massive rise in tylium price which will affect all areas (a raging debate
is gong on right now regarding the size of the fleet.. Adar wants to
freeze it at the current size while a couple of the COuncilors are
lobbying to incraese it).. We have several things that are starting up
(such as the large Casino on Leo).. and a system I jsut coded allows for
a character to find a person to teach them improvements to their skills
(we have over 250 skills ranging from Laser-Pistol to Baseket Weaving)..
a recent language system (of which only Orion and Gemonese is used thus
far) also is online..

Another goal is space travel.. we have all ships coded and not only
military but Civilian vessels move in our space (also done).. We plan to
promote a trade system which will interract with alla reas (Orions were a
major trade partenr of the colonials).. also the Merchants will act as
transport/traders/smugglers, the Police will see that no contraband is
transported, and the Governers will appoint Trade Ministers who help
setup/monitor prices..

I myself do not roleplay much other then the guest spot appearances as
Adar so I am not totally sure of all the roleplaying going on (I am not
an RP judge.. we ahve a seperate staff for this).. but again basically we
have Miliatry, Underworld, Police, Scienteists, teachers, merchants,
Nobles (they throw wild parties :P), etc.. One TP I did see was the
research vessel INFINITY (mentioned in the books).. This is not a
military vessel but one funded by the Council and private investors (we
may bring out more RSV vessels).. I hate to say think of them as a Star
Trek ship with no weapons but.. well.. it is full of scientists.. they
were recently sent to Virgon (an agricultural world in our Mush) to
research growing siesmic activity on the planet (and as the TP progresses
they will find out that if something is not done within two yahrens
Virgon could suffer MAJOR earthquakes that would devestate it.. and
subsequently severly cripple the colonies as again it is literally the
major 'breadbasket' for the 12...)

*whew*.. all for now I guess.. should probably get back to work :)

- Bret

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 14 Apr 1995 13:32:32 -0500 (CDT)


From: Letitia J Yao <yaox...@maroon.tc.umn.edu>

Subject: Re: What's canon and what's not?

In Saga, when they're on the freighter, Apollo asks if anyone can
translate what the Gemonese couple is saying. Which Cassiopeia does.
Later, when they encounter Ovions, Apollo has in his hand a "languatron"
that does the translating. So they do have the technology, but they
don't carry it around with them all the time.

--Letitia

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 14 Apr 1995 15:45:39 -0400
From: LizBe...@aol.com
Subject: Should we worry?

Hi All!

For the benefit of all you who _don't_ normally collect comic
books, _HERO ILLUSTRATED_, a comic fan rag published the
following information about the forthcoming BSG comic book (Yes,
it appears that it will be a reality....) and an interview with Rob
Liefeld (I will only use the pertinent parts of the interview).

Here goes. From _HI_ #23 page 24 from the column "In the Works" :

"Over at Rob Liefeld's Maximum Press, July will see the debut of
the comic book adventures of a certain rag-tag fugitive fleet.
_Battlestar Galactica_ #1 has Adama on his deathbed, Apollo in
command of the fleet, Baltar and the Cylons plotting villainy, as
well as Starbuck, Boomer and all the gang. I really hope this
doesn't mean the '80s are in style again."

>From the Liefeld interview, page 64:

Q: Speaking of other arenas: What is Maximum Press?

A: It's not Image! Maximum Press is wholly owned by myself. There
is no involvement for any of the Image partners. Maximum Press
was designed because I had some ideas that I liked, and they
didn't seem like Image projects...Image is very big. It's run like
a corporation and is very intimidating and frustrating at times,
and I wanted something...much more manageable, and that's what
Maximum Press is. A book like _Black Flag_ is kind of quirky and
strange. Dan Fraga sat down and told me the first 100 issues, and
I said, "This is definately not an Image book." It's very different.
I felt it deserved to be somewhere else. Stuff like _Battlestar
Galactica_ and _Avengelyne_. I wanted to give them different
homes.

[Editors note from Liz. -- In otherwords, the good news is, BSG
will NOT be a typical Image-style book. The bad news is, the
company, Maximum Press, is wholly owned by Rob Liefeld. Liefeld,
BTW, is best known for his "cookie cutter" heroes (i.e., they all
look alike, claws and weird-color hair notwithstanding), though
his artwork can be interesting. His writing abilities, however, are
atrocious. Still, it's doubtful ol' Rob will be responsible for
all the writing and artwork on the book, since the lead character
in _Avengelyne_ is based on his fiance, so I bet he'll be tied
up in that book....]

Q: I can see why yoy want _Battlestar Galactica_. If I had the
cash, I'd buy that one.

A: It was dirt cheap! You don't need a whole lot!

[Editor's note from Liz -- the man conducting this interview is Greg Hyland
of Lethargic Comics, one of those little indie numbers.
Nice to know Hyland's a fan. Interesting to note that it appears
BSG licensing is pretty much languishing at bargain basement
prices. I'll be most interested to see what the comic book and
the rumored animated series will do to change that.]

Q: I should have beat you to it, man!

A: You should have! I loved that show. Every character. I have them
all on tape. I love _Star Wars_, and people look at me funny, but I
love _Battlestar Galactica_ just as much, if not more. We are not
acknowledging the _Galactica 80_ (sic). Those characters were
just horrible.

[Editor's note from Liz -- Now this IS encouraging news. Mr.
Liefeld knows the pain of being in the "Battlestar closet" and
living off of videotape. <grin> It's also nice to know that Liefeld has a
genuine affection for Our Heroes, though to be realistic, I'm not sure how
commercially viable the BSG comic will be over the long run (though I suspect
initial sales will be good since a number of people will be buying the book
out of curiousity for the first few issues. Story and art quality will
probably dictate whether readers will stick around). It's even more
encouraging that they
plan to ignore G80.]

Hope this information is interesting,
Liz ;)
lizbe...@aol.com
---------------------------------------------------------
Rimmer (in Christine Kochanski's body): "You'll have to excuse me.
I'm not feeling good. I'm having a woman's period."
--unsuccessfully trying to pass himself off as
Lister's unrequited love in season one's "Balance of Power."

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 14 Apr 1995 15:49:39 -0400 (EDT)
From: Steve Mount <sj...@hawkeye.idx.com>
Subject: Re: What's canon and what's not?

Ah, yes, I do remember these examples. They are from the original
movie/series, and I think they may have had a) a larger budget and/or
b) more time to deal with these issues.

=============================================================================
Steve Mount sj...@hawkeye.idx.com CompuServe: 73720,3404
America OnLine: Mountain Prodigy...: UYCU93A
"...and Pooh rubbed his head until he had an idea..."

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 14 Apr 1995 15:53:31 MDT
From: "Eugenia Horne" <HORN...@fs.isu.edu>
Subject: Re: Should we worry? <grin>

I hope the '80s aren't in style. IF I remember correctly
THIS time (I goofed yesterday - I think I confused two different
Heras - Yargh!) the ORIGINAL series was a '70s thing...late '70s...
but we wouldn't want to confuse it with G:80, now would we?

Anyway as for the comic itself, I'll make a decision when I
see it. I always though Marvel's art was kind of cheesy and
then I heard they were prohibited from using the actor's likenesses
which didn't make things any better.

Should we take bets on whether on not Adama survives?
Whether or not Our Heroes have "aged" in the interrum?
Whether or not Our Heroes have - <GASP> - married, etc.?
Whether or not Count Baltar is used as a cheap "evil
threat" every other episode? (Or just ditched after the
initial issues like they did at Marvel.)

- Eugenia

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 14 Apr 1995 19:06:35 -0400 (EDT)


From: "Gideon E. Hipps II" <cro...@infinet.com>

Subject: Re: What's canon and what's not?

Actually... In one of the early episodes they did bring that up... When
Apollo and Starbuck were doing the census of survivers they ran into at
least one woman that diddnt speak "english". Apollo was looking around
the same bay for someone who spoke her language.
Croaker

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 14 Apr 1995 23:50:48 -0400
From: LizBe...@aol.com
Subject: Re: Invaded by a certain Talk...

So noted Melyssa Childs:

>Well, well, well, Liz....if you ever make it over onto
>rec.arts.disney I'm going to have to recruit you into the BGC aka
>the Bad Guys Coalition. You're a NATURAL!!!!

:-)

YES! <sob, sob> I admit that Scar was my fave character in THE
LION KING (right after Zaszu, of course....<wink>); I rooted for
the Evil Queen in _Snow White_; I cheered for the dragon in
_Sleeping Beauty_; I _wanted_ Creulla DeVille to get her
dalmation coat (she had a catchy theme song..."She's Cruella,
Cruella, DeVille....).... <sigh> Why is it the most interesting Disney
characters are the evil ones?????

ObBSG: Ummmmm, none really. Just wanted to vent

HAPPY EASTER to all the Christians, Passover to all the Jews,
and take the weekend off, your holiday is coming up to all the
Pagans out there.... Now I _know_ I missed the holidays for
the Muslims and the Hindus...

Blessed Be.
Liz ;)
lizbe...@aol.com

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 15 Apr MVM-A.D. 00:37:04 -0500
From: m...@cs.bu.edu (Mark Semich)


Subject: More BG Comic Info

Ah, but what if the comic is tying in with a possible new movie or
series??? Then Adama *couldn't* be in it, and at least we get to discover
how he died...

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 15 Apr 1995 11:32:06 -0400
From: Homya...@aol.com
Subject: Re: Canon: New Vipers for Old

Well, not as much as you might think.
The best hard-body ships (then and in the real world here) are built in
'drydock' type assembly plants. Sure, they could've been in orbit; the best
ones, as you say (sort of) _would_ be. But again, there are far too millions
of high-tech, low-tolerance-for-errors (the need to control dust in
microprocessor plants is likely to get greater, not less, as the
microprocessor gets more powerful in a smaller area. 'Molecular' processors'd
probably have a zero-tolerance for dust) pieces that go into even OUR
fighters; something allegedly the product of 6000 jahren (even if they've
only been star travelling again for the last 1000 jahren, that's a thousand
past us) should be even more high-tech and need-for-tight-tolerances.
If the drydocks were big enough to build ships from vipers on up, they
should've been primary targets. It's always been the assumption that the
ships that DID manage to escape with the Galactica did so either because a)
they were nowhere near any cylons at the time (something not likely if
they're Lockheedon Viper Foundries) or b) they were on the ground (why ground
an orbiting foundry assembly?) and escaped detection/destruction.
The reuse of scrapped and salvaged (surely there was something they could
go back to Cimtar and salvage, as well as possibly things at groundside
military bases that were 'in the shop' or damaged-but-salvageable) makes a
lot more sense.
(I honestly think most fen are still thinking of Vipers as nothing but the
mockups that Larson et al used for the occasional Landed Viper shot. Trust
me, guys; anything that flies [more advanced than an ultralight] is a LOT
more complex than you think.)
Davey

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 13 Apr 95 13:30:19 PDT


From: ga...@esri.com (Gabe Field [ESRI-Redlands])

Subject: Re: Bloopers

From the general context of the show from the very beginning I felt the
proper names for Cylon and Colonial ships was Basestar and Battlestar.
Perhaps "base ship" refers to just that and is a proper form for either.

However the term "battlestar", in my opinion, is solely the proper
name for the Colonial ships. The few times Cylon ships were refered to
as such in the series still catches my attention and dissapoints me.

I wonder what the Encyclopedia Galactica says a Battlestar is?

Gabe

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 16 Apr 1995 11:31:00 -0500 (CDT)


From: Letitia J Yao <yaox...@maroon.tc.umn.edu>

Subject: CSP/Sharon Monroe

> Yeah, you probably SHOULD be posting this publicly; Sharon's been getting a
> bad reputation in fandom for sheer silence in the past jahron or two...
> Davey <g>

So here I go, list-members. This post is in defense of Sharon Monroe and
Clean Slate Press, whom Davey says is getting a bad reputation. I wanted
everyone to know that I have never had any trouble getting orders
filled. Sometimes things are a bit slow (6 weeks) to arrive, but other
times I've gotten orders within the same week. If any of you have any
complaints with the service you've received, if you want to let me know
about it, I will make a summary for Sharon and let her know your
concerns.

Disclaimer: I have no connection with CSP other than being a happy
customer, and living in the same city. :)

Another note: Sharon also writes a personal note that goes out with
every order, like you're an old friend.

--Letitia
yaox...@maroon.tc.umn.edu

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 16 Apr 1995 11:55:42 MDT
From: "Eugenia Horne" <HORN...@fs.isu.edu>
Subject: Re: Canon: New Vipers for Old

Davey wrote:

> Well, not as much as you might think.
> The best hard-body ships (then and in the real world here) are built in
> 'drydock' type assembly plants. Sure, they could've been in orbit; the best
> ones, as you say (sort of) _would_ be. But again, there are far too millions
> of high-tech, low-tolerance-for-errors (the need to control dust in
> microprocessor plants is likely to get greater, not less, as the
> microprocessor gets more powerful in a smaller area. 'Molecular' processors'd
> probably have a zero-tolerance for dust) pieces that go into even OUR
> fighters; something allegedly the product of 6000 jahren (even if they've
> only been star travelling again for the last 1000 jahren, that's a thousand
> past us) should be even more high-tech and need-for-tight-tolerances.

As usual I "flipped" on thinking about this; when I wrote
"low tolerance" I meant "smaller range of acceptable error"
which is usually termed "high".

I thought there was a dark ages in there somewhere. I remember
someone mentioning one. Oh, well, time to go look it up.

> If the drydocks were big enough to build ships from vipers on up, they
> should've been primary targets. It's always been the assumption that the
> ships that DID manage to escape with the Galactica did so either because a)
> they were nowhere near any cylons at the time (something not likely if
> they're Lockheedon Viper Foundries) or b) they were on the ground (why ground
> an orbiting foundry assembly?) and escaped detection/destruction.

The Galactica is big. Huge even. If there were really 12
colonies, assorted non-human inhabital planets (gas giants),
moons, asteroids, etc. There would be lots of place to hide,
camouflage, etc. and no matter how many cylons attacked or
how good the cylon's "spy network" was, they didn't have time
to hit EVERYTHING. It was likely get the primary targets, all
those battlestars at the peace conference (who dreamed that idea
up? Baltar didn't have THAT much influence, even if he was
a traitor - which I don't believe), major populated areas
(industry...get all the industries), and major defensive
outposts.

And I don't think Vipers are that simple. I formerly lived
two miles from where all the Space Shuttles had their final
assembly and knew lots of engineers that worked there.
Then there was all those new and experimental things which
they didn't fess up to...

I just like the SF idea of postulating something that is
plausible and then going for it dramatically. (I hadn't
even thought of this earlier; now, it's something interesting
to consider as the beginning of a plot or as further
background.)

- Eugenia

P.S. Happy Easter, Happy Sunday, OR Happy "Commiseration-on-
having-to-send-money-to-the-U.S.-government" Day.

------------------------------

<BG Writer's Guide & the story "Network" were sent by Homya...@aol.com,
Check the Tardis site for the files>

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 17 Apr 1995 10:01:19 -0400 (EDT)
From: ro...@netcom.com (R. Cliff Young)
Subject: Re: What's canon and what's not?

SF author Greg Bear had his own solution to the dilemma in his Star Trek
novel, CORONA--Kirk had a universal language translator on a chip,
implanted in his head. (Yes, Kirk was a chiphead, of a sort.) Of
course, not many consider the Star Trek novels (especially the old ones,
of which Bear's is an example) to be anything close to "canon," but
perchance Riker had such an implant specifically for that delicate first
contact mission. It would have been nice had they explained it so.

Unfortunately, in the ST series especially and in this sort of SF TV in
general, language is oft a matter of convenience. When language being
a problem helps as a plot device, then language will be a problem.
(ObBSG: Indeed, language as a plot device was used to introduce
Cassiopeia in the BSG pilot movie--the only one willing to translate
for the Colonial Warriors [Apollo and Boomer?] what the Gemonese
refugee woman was saying.) When language being a problem would just
get in the way, then voila! Language? A problem? Whatever for?

When thought is given to the discrepencies raised by such examples, we
then see mention of or an appearance by "universal translators" or
"languatrons". Unfortunately, when again language must be a barrier,
these items will oft be ignored. If thought were to be given to this,
then you might see mention made of the "universal translator" having to
"analyze the truly alien tongue for a few hours before accurate
translation is feasible" or "Starbuck! Whaddya mean, you 'forgot' the
languatron!" or even "Bloody hell! I don't understand a word of what
you're saying! I think my fish just died!" But sooner or later, some
writer will just plain ignore the language issue altogether. We can
try to fill in these blanks all we want, or we can just go with the
flow and hopefully enjoy the episode/series for other things done well,
like plot and character development.

--
R. Cliff Young <ro...@netcom.com> \ Chaos Is Continual Creation
--------------------------------------------\ /\/
Rogue Bard Home Page: \ I Think I Am
http://www.webcom.com/~rogue/ \ ...Therefore I Know I Think

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 17 Apr 1995 08:00:57 MDT
From: "Eugenia Horne" <HORN...@fs.isu.edu>
Subject: Re: Canon: New Vipers for Old

> (On the other hand, as long as you're looking for dramatic springboards...
> what happened to all those undoubtedly-thousands of ships that DID
> successfully hide from the ambush?)

You really want to know what I think?

Some of those people may have not been interested in following
Adama.... (Actually, I think someone else wrote some fanfiction
based on this premise.)

- Eugenia

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 17 Apr 1995 12:58:38 -0400
From: MLSm...@aol.com
Subject: Re: More BG Comic Info

No info on the creative team yet, but keep in mind that licensed
properties usually don't get the best penciller, inker, writer, et. al.

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 17 Apr 1995 12:58:11 -0400
From: MLSm...@aol.com
Subject: Re: More BG Comic Info

>I'm not altogether optomistic about the BG comic. For one thing,
>that little sh*t is killing off Adama! That makes me mad! Adama

I totally agree with you John! Hopefully, he won't actually get
killed off (he is supposed to be sick, not dying .. as far as I've
heard).

Perhaps we'll find out in issue, say, 12 that his "death" was just
a dream had by .... Boxey ... and a whole new direction will
take place. ;-)

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 17 Apr 1995 12:06:31 MDT
From: "Eugenia Horne" <HORN...@fs.isu.edu>
Subject: Netcom invasion????

Chris, who I don't think is even on the mailing list, wrote:

> Eugenia, could you help me out? This was sent to me mailbox, with 900
> messages the past day, all related to such stuff, and all being
> serious messages, with netcom return addresses. I have no idea what's
> going on here.

Okay, will a net-guru help me here? Please, please, please...

Is this something peculiar to netcom? What happened is soon
after the netcom list went up, my mailbox crashed with 3000
messages apparently from netcom. (The other two e-mail lists
haven't done this.) Thinking it was a glitch in the system,
since the local computer staff had added windows and other
things, OR that I had just ran out of memory, I just deleted
them all and things went back to normal - or so I thought.

Last Friday I posted to Usenet following up one of Chris's
posts. And apparently he got invaded by the e-mail list.
I'm not entirely sure what happened since I use two completely
different software programs and am really puzzled how they
managed to cross, since I exit entirely from one before using
the other. So does anyone have ANY ideas, otherwise I might
be forced to just give up something. (I don't even HAVE 900
list messages in memory on my computer - I take them off every
week or so...)

- Eugenia
(Really, really confused...)

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End Battlestar Galactica Digest #103

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