Battlestar Galactica

The official guide to the science behind the Battlestar Galactica universe Battlestar Galactica (BSG) has been called the best show on television, and as real as science fiction gets. It has dealt with issues of religious freedom, patriotism, terrorism, genetic engineering, and the ultimate science fiction question: what does it mean to be human? While the re-imagined BSG may not be packed with cool techie tools (the bad guys don't even have laser guns for frak's sake!), this book shows that the science in the series has a lot to say about the use of science and technology in our lives today. What are the principles behind artificial gravity and sublight propulsion? Are Cylons men or machines? How are humanoid Cylons able to interface with computers? By tackling these and other intriguing questions, The Science of Battlestar Galactica takes us billions of miles away from Earth so that we can turn around and see ourselves from a different perspective. Tackles fans' most pressing BSG questions, from how an FTL drive might work to how the 12 colonies of Kobol could co-exist to the principles behind Gaius Baltar's Cylon-detector Features behind-the-scenes anecdotes, quotes from the BSG Series Bible, and over 60 photos Includes a foreword by BSG co-executive producer, Jane Espenson, and an afterword by actor, Richard Hatch, who played Tom Zarek in the reimagined series and Captain Apollo in the classic series Co-written by BSG's scientific advisor and a Wired contributing editor Packed with must-know details and scientific background, this thought-provoking book will help you see Battlestar Galactica as never before.

PHILOSOPHY/POP CULTURE “The contributors to Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy strive to make things relevant to fans of the show, and they put their information out in a way that is accessible to folks who wouldn't know Heidegger from Heineken.” Green Man Review, Spring 2009 "The writers are well versed in their subjects...The book is most effective at making the reader rethink what they thought they knew." Neo-opsis What’s the point of living after your world has been destroyed? This is one of many questions raised by the Sci-Fi Channel’s critically acclaimed series Battlestar Galactica. More than just an action-packed “space opera,” each episode offers a dramatic character study of the human survivors and their Cylon pursuers as they confront existential, moral, metaphysical, theological, and political crises. This volume addresses some of the key questions to which the Colonials won’t find easy answers, even when they reach Earth: Are Cylons persons? Is Baltar’s scientific worldview superior to Six’s religious faith? Can Starbuck be free if she has a special destiny? Is it ethical to cut one’s losses and leave people behind? Is collaboration with the enemy ever the right move? Is humanity a “flawed creation?” Should we share the Cylon goal of “transhumanism?” Is it really a big deal that Starbuck’s a woman?

Featuring the ships from Universal Pictures' original 1978 US TV series and the reimagined series from 2003! The first and only complete encyclopedia of all the ships from both series. The perfect holiday gift for the Battlestar Galactica fan in your life! THIRTY EIGHT SHIPS FROM THE COLONIAL AND CYLON FLEETS With ships of both the Colonial Fleet and the Cylons from the original 1978 US TV series, the reimagined series from 2003, and the ten-part web series Blood & Chrome, this book provides in-universe profiles and plans of the key spacecraft of the shows with detail that has rarely - if ever - been seen before. The Science Fiction series Battlestar Galactica first screened on US TV in 1978 and ran for 34 episodes. The groundbreaking show, with its dramatic premise, all-star cast and sensational space adventure, acquired a huge popular following and quickly became a best-loved show among fans of science science fiction and beyond. The show returned to TV screens in 2003 in a critically acclaimed and award-winning reimagined series, with Time Magazine naming it one of the '100 Best TV Shows of All Time.' Each ship is illustrated in CG artwork, including original visual effects models made for the TV show, alongside detailed technical specifications, service history, and annotated views of the ships features.

From Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross, the bestselling authors of the definitive two-volume Star Trek oral history, The Fifty-Year Mission, comes the complete, uncensored, unauthorized oral history of Battlestar Galactica in So Say We All. Four decades after its groundbreaking debut, Battlestar Galactica—both the 1978 original and its 2004 reimagining have captured the hearts of two generations of fans. What began as a three-hour made for TV movie inspired by the blockbuster success of Star Wars followed by a single season of legendary episodes, was transformed into one of the most critically acclaimed and beloved series in television history. And gathered exclusively in this volume are the incredible untold stories of both shows—as well as the much-maligned Galactica 1980. For the first time ever, you will learn the unbelievable true story of forty years of Battlestar Galactica as told by the teams that created a television legend in the words of over a hundred cast, creators, crew, critics and executives who were there and brought it all to life. So Say We All! At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

This new book goes behind the scenes on the award-winning TV series Battlestar Galactica to discover the concepts behind the designs of dozens of spaceships! Battlestar Galactica debuted on TV in 1978 and acquired a phenomenal following, breaking new ground for TV drama and winning several awards. It returned to TV screens in 2003 in a critically acclaimed reimagined series, with Time Magazine naming it one of the 100 Best TV Shows of All Time. This behind-the-scenes guide looks at the creation of the ships in both the original and the reimagined series, including vessels of the ragtag fleet and those of the Cylon enemy. Featuring artwork from the groundbreaking first series and the 2004 reimagined series, this volume explores the art of ship creation from the first sketches to the finished designs of the modelmakers. Covering 18 key ships from the two shows, including the Galactica itself, the Vipers and the Cylon Raiders, the pages are packed with original concept art from designers Eric Chu, Andrew Probert and legendary artist Ralph McQuarrie.

Looking at a television franchise like Battlestar Galactica (BSG) is no longer news within the discipline of International Relations. A growing number of scholars in and out of IR are studying the importance of cultural artifacts – popular or otherwise – for the phenomena that make up the core of our discipline. The genre of science fiction offers the analyst an opportunity that cannot be matched by more mimetic genres, namely the chance to look at how sets of widely-circulating expectations of the social serve to constrain authors as they work to introduce as yet unexplored problematiques, the fantasy aspect in much of science fiction storytelling is premised simply on a material difference. As such, while the physical setting of a science fiction tale might appear novel, its imaginative life world will likely retain many elements of the world we already live in and which we can readily recognize as similar to our own. For Critical IR scholarship then, BSG presents an opportunity to examine how these purported homologies or elements of redundancy between the fantastic and the real have been drawn and perhaps to consider, too, whether the show can teach us things about world politics, its various logics and structures, which we might not otherwise be sensitive to. Tackling some of the key contemporary issues in IR, the writers of BSG have taken on a range of important political themes and issues, including the legitimacy of military government, the tactical utility of genocide, and even the philosophical implications of artificial intelligence technologies for the very category of what it means to be 'human'. The contributors in this book explore in depth the argument that one of the most important aspects of popular culture is to naturalize or normalise a certain social order by further entrenching the expectations of social behaviour upon which our mentalities of rule are founded. This work will be of interest to student and scholars of international relations, popular culture and security studies.

As Sharon Valerii leads her strange army into the heart of the Cylon empire, she'll find not only the answers to who she is, but the secrets of her very existence. Meanwhile, back on the Galactica, Adama works to put down a violent uprising aboard his ship while battling the "returner" virus that has crippled more than half his crew! Volume III collects issues #9-12 of the companion to the Award-winning SCI FI TV Series, written by Greg Pak and featuring art by Nigel Raynor, Jonathan Lau, and a host of incredible cover artists including Joe Prado, Stephen Segovia, and BSG photo covers!