# New Battlestar Galactica series in January **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 23, 2004, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-battlestar-galactica-series-in-january/281307 "2004-12-23T08:20:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-battlestar-galactica-series-in-january/281307/101 "2005-01-17T05:44:43Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > But isn’t it standred procedure in Navies to have at least 2 shifts to avoid that sort of burn out? I was thinking that too. But _Galactica_ was an obsolete ship, about to be decomissioned and turned into an educational museum, after that one last ceremonial fly-by from a squadron of Vipers. It might very well just have a skeleton crew aboard, enough to run all the ship’s systems, but not enough to pull shifts and run everything around the clock. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-battlestar-galactica-series-in-january/281307/102 "2005-01-17T05:54:21Z")
I believe Adama said something to that effect…that there weren’t enough people (crew) on board for shifts. Or he implied it, at least. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-battlestar-galactica-series-in-january/281307/103 "2005-01-17T06:01:53Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > In the thousand years or so in the future (time enough for Earth to be a fairy tale) I’d expect E-Books to win out over paper. Maybe they’ve cured cancer, but it seems as though laser surgery or implanted contacts or cloned eyeballs or fetal tissue would have replaced glasses. They haven’t cured cancer. The President has it. When I went in for Laser Surgery, I was told that when you get to a certain age, it doesn’t help because your eyes are starting to naturally get worse anyway. Adama is getting up in years, so perhaps he’s past the age that it can help, and since he’s near retirement age, maybe he doesn’t care about the glasses. As for the e-books, again, Adama seems to perfer everything to be lower tech(remember, they use phones with cords), so having a whole case of books makes a lot of sense. And again, sometimes you just want to hold something in your hands when you read. Be it a stack of documents rather then a game boy. I love wikipedia as a source, but I frequently print long articles off to read them at my leasure. I use flat-screen moniters all the time, but trying to read too much on the screen causes an “Eye glaze” effect. And frankly, it looks like they were going for the “Somewhat low-tech” look. Late 20th century warship in Space. A number of clocks in “33” were the old fansioned kind. The ships use missles and projectile weapons(which I rather appreciated. One gets sick of lasers after a while). No shields, big dirty nukes. It’s basically a mirror of the late 20th/early 21st century in space. Don’t try to look much farther then that. If they were trying to make it HARD SCIFI, space combat wouldn’t have a WW2ish feel to it. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-battlestar-galactica-series-in-january/281307/104 "2005-01-17T06:04:27Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > I was thinking that too. But _Galactica_ was an obsolete ship, about to be decomissioned and turned into an educational museum, after that one last ceremonial fly-by from a squadron of Vipers. It might very well just have a skeleton crew aboard, enough to run all the ship’s systems, but not enough to pull shifts and run everything around the clock. I had forgotton about that. It would also explain why the small arms lockers aren’t guarded either. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-battlestar-galactica-series-in-january/281307/105 "2005-01-17T06:10:29Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > They haven’t cured cancer. The President has it. I forgot. Good point, well taken. > [@HPL](#): > > When I went in for Laser Surgery, It’s a thousand years later, Dude. > [@HPL](#): > > As for the e-books, again, Adama seems to perfer everything to be lower tech(remember, they use phones with cords), so having a whole case of books makes a lot of sense. Low tech is from the Cylon wars of many years ago. The modern ships were defeated because they used computers Baltar’s stuff could flumux. [QUOTE=HPL] And again, sometimes you just want to hold something in your hands when you read. [quote] Yeah, you and me both, but we are talking a long time later. > [@HPL](#): > > And frankly, it looks like they were going for the “Somewhat low-tech” look. Again, that’s because the Cylons (sp) could screw with their computers and Galactica is old stuff about to be retired. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-battlestar-galactica-series-in-january/281307/106 "2005-01-17T06:21:05Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > Oh, and, I grew up on Babylon 5, **this show is absolutely hands down superior**. I love the visuals and the acting, and I am definitely considering picking the whole thing up on DVD once I’ve got some free cash. I would hope that its superior ,and from the mini series that I seen , it rocked. But its been over 5 years since midnight on the firing line came out ,and longer since the original babylon five pilot movie came out. Time marches on. Babylon Five proved you did not have to accomodate the lowest common denominator , when you make a sci/fi show. Battlestar G will get kudos from all sorts of people , but I am confident that its genesis in Babylon 5 is going to be mentioned alot. Declan ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-battlestar-galactica-series-in-january/281307/107 "2005-01-17T06:27:53Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > As for the e-books, again, Adama seems to perfer everything to be lower tech There’s no preference. It’s neccessity. The Cylons knocked out the higher technology. And what’s this ‘thousands of years in the future’ stuff? There’s no indication in the show - which still refers to the 12 Colonies of Kobol - that it’s changed that aspect of the canon - that Earth is another colony, not their place of origin. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-battlestar-galactica-series-in-january/281307/108 "2005-01-17T06:30:30Z")
> [@Declan](#): > > I would hope that its superior ,and from the mini series that I seen , it rocked. But its been over 5 years since midnight on the firing line came out ,and longer since the original babylon five pilot movie came out. Time marches on. Babylon Five proved you did not have to accomodate the lowest common denominator , when you make a sci/fi show. > Battlestar G will get kudos from all sorts of people , but I am confident that its genesis in Babylon 5 is going to be mentioned alot. > Declan Don’t get me wrong. Bab 5 was a good series, if cheesy sometimes (sweedish meatballs indeed). This show, from what I’ve seen, just blows it the hell away. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-battlestar-galactica-series-in-january/281307/109 "2005-01-17T06:35:07Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Low tech is from the Cylon wars of many years ago. The modern ships were defeated because they used computers Baltar’s stuff could flumux. > > Again, that’s because the Cylons (sp) could screw with their computers and Galactica is old stuff about to be retired. But it’s more or less a justification to make it WW2ish, Late 20th century military in space. They could have made it all shiney and star treky(and maybe the other battlestars are) but The colonies timeline has nothing to do with our. Earth is a legend and probably doesn’t even exist in the Current BSG universe. There is no foundation for “Thousands of years” in regards to any technology. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-battlestar-galactica-series-in-january/281307/110 "2005-01-17T06:38:37Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > There’s no preference. It’s neccessity. The Cylons knocked out the higher technology. > . But he also refused to upgrade long after the Cylon war had ended. And frankly, there’s really no particular reason to not upgrade the clocks to digital or make the phones cordless.if you’re worried about the cylons, It seems Adama more or less likes things the old way. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-battlestar-galactica-series-in-january/281307/111 "2005-01-17T06:42:12Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > Earth is another colony, not their place of origin. That’s silly. Earth was where they came from in the first series. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-battlestar-galactica-series-in-january/281307/112 "2005-01-17T06:44:33Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > But he also refused to upgrade long after the Cylon war had ended. Well, I got the impression that the Galactica wasn’t upgraded because a) there were newer Battlestars built, and b) it was peacetime, so keeping the old ships up to date wasn’t as big a deal. Eh, you might be right, though. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-battlestar-galactica-series-in-january/281307/113 "2005-01-17T06:46:17Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > That’s silly. Earth was where they came from in the first series. I don’t remember the begining of the first series, but in this one, all the colonies(including “Earth”) were colonized from the home of “Kobol” wherever that is and for whatever reason they left it. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-battlestar-galactica-series-in-january/281307/114 "2005-01-17T06:52:04Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > I don’t remember the begining of the first series, but in this one, all the colonies(including “Earth”) were colonized from the home of “Kobol” wherever that is and for whatever reason they left it. That’s how it was in the first series. The 13 Colonies were colonised from Kobol. [See here.](http://www.kobol.com/archives/BG-FAQ.html#E4) And when the Galactica finally found Earth, it was the year 1980, FTR. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-battlestar-galactica-series-in-january/281307/115 "2005-01-17T06:58:08Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > That’s how it was in the first series. The 13 Colonies were colonised from Kobol. > > [See here.](http://www.kobol.com/archives/BG-FAQ.html#E4) > > And when the Galactica finally found Earth, it was the year 1980, FTR. Actually, it was 1969, per the last episode of the original series(unless I remember wrong). There was no discovery of Earth in 1980. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-battlestar-galactica-series-in-january/281307/116 "2005-01-17T07:07:26Z")
Okay, I may have been wrong about that. I was under the impression they were in the Solar System(I remembered seeing Jupitor) when the Apollo 11 footage is seen…but apparetnly that wasn’t the case. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-battlestar-galactica-series-in-january/281307/117 "2005-01-17T07:14:31Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > Okay, I may have been wrong about that. > > I was under the impression they were in the Solar System(I remembered seeing Jupitor) when the Apollo 11 footage is seen…but apparetnly that wasn’t the case. Heh…here I thought you were just denying the existance of Galactica 1980, and was formulating my reply based on that. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-battlestar-galactica-series-in-january/281307/118 "2005-01-17T07:22:23Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > Heh…here I thought you were just denying the existance of Galactica 1980, and was formulating my reply based on that. 😉 Actually, I oriignally did, but then read the FAQ and noticed the possible 11 year transmission time for that signal. Galactica 1980? What do you mean? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-battlestar-galactica-series-in-january/281307/119 "2005-01-17T10:43:43Z")
Gods, I’m really enjoying the storytelling value and the philosophical overtones and implications. This is a scifi series for adults, and it’s damn good. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-battlestar-galactica-series-in-january/281307/120 "2005-01-17T11:14:50Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > I don’t remember the begining of the first series, but in this one, all the colonies(including “Earth”) were colonized from the home of “Kobol” wherever that is and for whatever reason they left it. Also, Earth was specifically mentioned as a thirteenth colony in the mini-series. Near the end, at the mass funeral, Adama pretends that directions to Earth have been a closely guarded secret, so that the people have something to live for. He even asks Elosha, the priest, “Don’t the Sacred Scrolls speak ofa thirteenth colony, Earth?” and she confirms it, saying how another group of colonists from Kobol went there. Most folks believe Earth to be a legend, as does Adama himself, but he thinks that believing in, and searching for it, will give purpose to the people’s lives. The President is no fool, and, in a private conversation with Adama, told him why she was sure he was lying, saying “They’ll never forgive you”, but agreed to keep the secret. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-battlestar-galactica-series-in-january/281307.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-battlestar-galactica-series-in-january/281307.md?page=7)