Battlestar Galactica: The Mini Series
Review by C. Demetrius Morgan
This review is for Battlestar Galactica, the new Sci-Fi channel mini series as originally aired on Monday and Tuesday night, the second week of December 2003. What this review sets out to do is 1) provide an overview and critique of the series, 2) provide insight into the role-playing potential of the series, and; 3) compare the mini-series to the classic series of yesteryear. Battlestar Galactica: The Mini-Series is best classified as: Space Operacalypse. It is not quite traditional Space Opera, in so far as Space Opera has come to be known for spinning mythic tales centered on fantastical galaxy spanning battles between arrayed forces of good and not-so-good ala Star Wars, Wing Commander, and to a lesser extent Starship Troopers. Rather this incarnation of Battlestar Galactica is more pseudo-modern futuristic military science fiction, yet in a way it is within the fringe edges of the genre. However it is also very much a Post-Apocalypse tale on a grand scale concerning multiple worlds. That said I have chosen to coin a term specifically for the series in the hopes it will fit better than existing genre terms.
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Summary top
The “classic” Battlestar Galactica from the seventies was straight up, undiluted, epic Space Opera about humanity struggling to survive against an unrepentant alien menace, in the form of cybernetic beings that overthrew their creators and became dead set on wiping the nearest enclave of organic life out of existence. This miniseries is essentially a completely different story using the Battlestar Galactica name, though it does manage to retain a similar undercurrent, namely humanity facing the wrath of cybernetic beings dead set on wiping them out of existence. While this “re-envisioning” is not terrible, it is also not terribly spectacular. While the series is not likely to put viewers to sleep, the pace could have been far more up-tempo and gripping than it was. Though, to be fair, this mini series is far superior to Galactica 1980. The first half of the mini series is more military drama ala Pearl Harbor crossbred with a bit of Wing Commander spiced with the odd scene lifted straight out of Starship Troopers. Alas the series is science fiction by token of being set in an unspecified future with characters aboard spacecraft, take away the props and all you have is a refried and rehashed war drama.
The Setting: Unspecified futuristic setting with action set primarily aboard the carrier vessel, Battlestar Galactica. There are a few scenes planet side on Caprica; Caprica being one of twelve colony worlds of mankind; with one decent CGI rendered cityscape. The underlying premise as the show opens is that the aforementioned vessel, in space near Caprica, is, now that the “Cylon Wars” have been over for several decades, about to be turned into a museum as its commander prepares to go into retirement. The Cylons, of course, being the shows central bugaboo. The story primarily unfolds aboard ship, located in an unspecified galaxy in a solar system of, at a minimum, twelve habitable planets, each planet being a colony world of humankind, and- one assumes- a few space stations and moons. Alas these worlds are never shown, leaving the viewer unable to properly suspend their disbelief, much less become invested in the premise that this, indeed, is some far-flung alien solar system. In fact, despite the CGI effects, the sense of this being a future world never graduates beyond window dressing. True, the old series didn’t either; then again it at least attempted to develop characters along cultural/racial lines fitting with each of the colonies. It wasn’t much but it was more than the current incarnation presented, and it worked after a fashion. top
Opening Scene: Obviously meant to appeal to old school fans, as the first thing we see is a side view of an old-show shuttlecraft. Alas the homage is halfhearted at best. Threadbare narrative scrolls by, explaining how an “Armistice” space station was established after the war as a place where Cylon and Human could come to talk about their differences. Shadows of Babylon 5 aside these simple sentence blurbs pop up as the shuttle flies through space. Blurb attempting to provide background and set up as the scene unfolds? The trope struck me as lackadaisical at best. Worse, the cut scene that follows leaves a bad taste. Either it was written by someone who feels women have treated them badly and is also of the opinion that military officers, or perhaps just military personnel in general, lack the innate intelligence of a lemming or. . Well I don’t know. The scene grates. Too, the entire premise presented in this framing introductory scene was very obviously lifted out of Babylon 5. Even when discounting that factor this entire sequence is inelegant, not very informative, and does not make sense. I wont even mention the CGI Cylons, which don’t appear again, at all, until the last five minutes of the series. top
Colonials: The ships look good. The Galactica has a nice retro feel. Alas sparse screen time is given to vessels, and then usually in all too short cut-scenes. The Vipers, as with the old show, to my eye still look too small to be feasible craft, but they appear a bit more plausible. Especially with those updated cockpits. Nicely done. top
Cylons: A bit of a cop-out. The humanoid CGI bugaboos were obviously thought to be so poorly rendered that they were relegated to cameo appearances in the first and last five minutes. As for the re-envisioned cylon raiders, let’s just hope the folks behind the Batman movies don’t sue. Too, I’ve seen the “hand turn into weapon” done to better effect elsewhere. Anyone remember Cleopatra 2525? Yeah, I only caught a few episodes, yet cheesy, as it was I seem to recall they did something very similar with their cybernetic menaces. top
Gaming Potential: Slim pickings here. There actually is a computer game available, but it’s a flight sim that, as of this review, is out only on platform systems like X-box and Playstation. Apparently fans with PCs and Macs are being totally snubbed. Otherwise not a lot to mine in the way of ideas. The mini-series can be portrayed as a pseudo-modern day society overlaid on a non-specified futuristic space faring culture that apparently hasn’t even managed to combat cancer yet. I’d suggest using something specifically designed for post-modern settings, like D20 Modern, a suitable GURPS sourcebook, or maybe something like Spacemaster. Probably better used as source for a tabletop war game. top
The Story: Actually the story isn’t too bad; for all that it drags a bit at the outset, especially where it is punctuated by the rather limp and boring attempts at inserting character ‘sexcapades’ as filler between fade scenes. About three in the first fifteen minutes, then nothing of any real substance for along while. Of course this is television so one is left to largely assume that sexual antics are what is supposed to be going on. In short these scenes are all too brief and, frankly, serve no purpose as they come too early and are gone in a flash considering that the characters have barely been established in those first fifteen minutes. Personally I think only one of these scenes is actually appropriate, and that only marginally as it occurs between Baltar and Six. However the first half of the mini series does not reach out an grab the viewer nor shake them up to the point of making them sit on the edge of their seat like, say, Tora Tora Tora or Empire Strikes Back. Then those were theatrical movies, so perhaps such comparisons aren‘t entirely fair. But they are the two movies that immediately sprung to mind, after Wing Commander. top
Sexcapades: I’m giving this a separate entry for one reason: they seem to all occur within the first 15 minutes and, all told, for no good reason. Too, one could easily get the wrong impression that there is adult fare here, there isn’t. What is shown almost totally lacks substance. The scenes do nothing to advance plot. They do not even inform the viewer of anything about characters or back-story. These premature shotgun blast sexcapades, in a word, are crap. Worse, they were obviously written by someone with an axe to grind against military types. (Actually the entire presentation of the “military” character is so bad that, on deeper reflection, one wonders if the person responsible for cluing the actors in on how their characters should act had a clue.) We are treated to fraternization between ranks, while on duty, during operations on the flight deck. It’s the sort of thing you’d expect to see in “JAG” as the set up to some dire story requiring the lawyers to step in to spend an hour trying to uncover the fact that whatever untoward event happened aboard ship was because an officer and non-com were doing the nasty in a broom closet. Further, we not only aren’t informed of anything as viewers we don’t really see anything. What scenes are shown look stale, flat, and manage to neither achieve anything approaching a level of eroticism or sexuality. Even the scene between Number Six and Baltar seemed to exist only to use a throwaway cheesy “glow up her spine” effect. In two words: not impressed. top
Characters: As everyone knows by now the entire cast of characters for the mini series has been “re-envisioned”. Oddly what that seems to mean is that formerly male characters have been turned into female characters and, shock and gasp, given love interests; or rather love scenes. (See “Sexcapages” above) I guess it’s true, sex sells, and who is more appealing that a beautiful young woman wielding a blaster? Speaking of Starbuck: The first appearance of the “re-envisioned” Starbuck character shows her jogging down a corridor. The scene didn’t work for me. Luckily her later appearances are much more relaxed and, with the exception of the brawl scene, are far more relaxed. Speaking of being relaxed the new Gaius Baltar character is certainly a different facet of the old Baltar character. Of course what some may not realize is that the old series Baltar was a bit of a re-imaging of the original character conception as well. Both have their flaws, though it is easier to sympathize with the current Baltar. What fools mortal be, especially when they are males being strung along by vivacious vixens. Speaking of Number Six, one of the new model Cylons, seeing her side by side with Baltar was kind of of funny. Not funny “ha ha” but funny in the sense of being struck by how very much the characters look like someone had a “Seven of Nine and Dr. Bashir” love story in mind when they wrote those characters. Probably not, but who knows, the scriptwriter was involved with various series in the Star Trek franchise. top
Mechanics: Sad to say the mini-series is just not very inspiring regarding setting. For those looking for role-playing source material I would suggest the official mini-series magazine. Be warned: It is a ten dollar (American) purchase that, despite a synopsis of the mini series story, doesn’t actually provide a whole heck of a lot in the way of useful campaign detail. The articles are a bit dry, reading more like over glorified ad-copy for the people working on the series than commentary intended to inform readers about the futuristic world setting being portrayed. In other words Game Masters will have to read through a lot of chaff to sort out the wheat, which comes as no great surprise considering the near total lack of background detail presented in the first half of the show. Basically Game Masters can pretty much use any system designed to portray a modern style setting with spacecraft. Those wishing to translate BG into a campaign really will not have a lot to worry about when importing the mini series over to their systems, it is just a pseudo-modern group of people dropped into a non-specified futuristic setting with spacecraft. top
Initial Impressions top
The series ends too abruptly. There is not nearly enough actual background provided to establish a solid view of what the story is, much less fix the world of the mini-series as vital and real in the viewer’s mind, thus making the ending seem more twisted than a honest plot twist. One could just as easily take a contemporary drama and overlay science fiction tropes and a bit of bargain basement CGI to produce a show of roughly similar caliber. Before the show it felt like Battlestar Galactica had become a property, meaning that someone had acquired the rights and thought they could just do what they pleased with it. That notion has not been totally dispelled. Though my initial impressions have changed somewhat. Viz. what follows. . .
Note: This section was originally written prior to the release of the mini-series in an attempt to capture the feel generated by the hype, both on the official site and through the official magazine, and from the “Battlestar Galactica: The Low Down” docu-mercial.
I take you back now to some time in circa November/ early December: At present there is very little to go on, save for hype. For instance the Sci-Fi Channel has a number of articles up about the series. Here are some of the more interesting quotes I’ve come across:
1. “Our goal is nothing less than the reinvention of the science-fiction television series.” This conceited supercilious statement is considered to be suo jure superior that the sci-fi channel Website used it as a bold graphic blurb. Never mind that there has been no great outcry that anything was broken with Battlestar Galactica, or for science fiction in general for that matter. Those who have complained about science fiction series have largely done so in relation to the work of hacks. If the directors and producers identify too closely with those poorly done series, well, perhaps that says more about them than it does science fiction television?
2. “We believe that bringing realism to science fiction is neither contradictory nor a fool's errand.” Uhm, hello, is anyone home? The best science fiction manages to portray a setting capable of delivering on realism through a suspension of disbelief, without having to point out the fact.
3. “We believe science fiction can still be relevant.” I wasn’t aware it had become irrelevant! Not only are the quotes presented grating on the senses, they are backhanded, negative, and make me wonder what idiot thought this was something that would make anyone sit up and say to themselves: Doh! Must watch now.
As if those aren’t bad enough:
4. “If you agree with us, then this is the show for you. If not, then thanks for coming, but the popcorn is in a different aisle.” Excuse you, Mr. Arrogant Arse, dung beetle, festering ingrown pubic hair on the anus of society! If we don’t agree with you? Have a God-complex much? Initial impressions? The more I read on the Sci-Fi site, the more comments I hear from those involved with this new series, the less I care. That’s not good. It is as if everyone involved with this series are going out of his or her way to alienate the entire potential viewer base. What is up with that?
I now return you to the relative present: *whistle* Talk about taking a few lines and going ballistic! Granted that was meant more as notes-to-self, but sheesh! Looking them over now I wonder what in the world I was thinking. Hard to say since, believe it or not, that is all I wrote (in notepad, anyhow). Guess the “hype” turned me off a bit. Got to love those “first impression” notes. Granted it can be frustrating visiting the Sci-Fi site. They don‘t go out of their way to make information available, or easily accessible. So maybe that explains it, bad day. I’ll leave my initial impressions as writ with only minor editing for grammar as syntax as a historical window into the pre-show hype. I advise they be taken with a grain of salt. But only a grain, too much salt can be bad for you!
How do I feel now? Leaning toward thinking those who put this mini-series together, while managing to present a decent and entertaining mini-series, lack a sense of history. This “re-imaging” could have been an epic gem to crown the start of a new era of science fiction, or cap off the gilded memories of childhood near and dear to the hearts of those of us who grew up with this series. Either way with this mini-series we are witness to the loss of an golden opportunity to create a spectacle of the sort not seen since the early days of Hollywood, a spectacle that could have brought together all the surviving actors of the original show in a story to rival the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Battlestar Galactic was an epic classic of heroic science fantasy. The new version should have also been an epic. Instead what we were treated to is a run of the mill contemporary story set in a generic futuristic setting that, some detractors may say, was probably based on a script slightly reworked and redacted to fit in the odd mention series specific terms. I doubt it. The sad truth is everyone involved in this series went into this with eyes open and never once blinked at the rendered remains they left behind. We can only hope that the current generation that sat viewing this mini-series for the first time will have fond memories to look back upon as the days march on into weeks and the columns of weeks add up to years. The mini-series was not terrible, but neither was it Battlestar Galactica. And yet it was, therein is the conundrum! On the whole I liked it, save for the bits I didn’t.
Note to Sci-Fi Site: Don’t make us jump through hoops, or have to click and click and click to get to see if you *might* have what we are looking for. Namely: Information. I have stopped visiting the site on a regular basis because I rarely find what I want, namely what is going on with a show, its future and current status. This information just isn’t always there. After being forced to jump through hoops to click through to a sub-page of the site it is very frustrating to find there isn’t any information there beyond past schedules and what is airing this week. All that we can find out with our remotes and on-screen guides. You did finally figure this out with Battlestar Galactica, but not everyone wants to have to turn JavaScript on. FYI. That said, nice job, excellent presentation, now about revamping the sub-pages for the other shows. . ? ;-)
Appraisal top
It is really hard to appraise this mini series. When weighed against the pre-show hype and the promissory statements made in various reviews and articles this reviewer has read the immediate knee-jerk summation is: It lacks heart. It lacks depth. However that is not entirely fair, so let us take a closer look at some of that pre-show hype from the Sci-Fi channel documercial Battlestar Galactica: The Low Down and Battestar Galactica: The Official Mini-Series Magazine:
Battlestar Galactica: The Low Down; was, at best, an average 1-hour docu-mercial. At worst it was a pedestrian apologia attempting to sell the new mini-series with gratuitous clips savaged from the original. Much of the information presented, by those working on the new project, about the old series is just outright wrong. At one point we are informed that the old show never really told us much about the cylons, that their back story wasn’t really developed. It was. There was even an episode in which a cylon was disassembled. And I wont mention the fact both the novelisation and various comics provided yet further detail, and not just because I want to avoid dating myself as a fossil. *wink* If you are a hardcore fan and saw the docu-mercial it likely made Mr. Eick come across like some jaded, self-centered, banal egoist who came to the mini-series with a agenda in his hip-pocket of what he wanted to do; the actual story, fan base, and standing premise be damned. Worse, the message is a pretty blunt: ignore the old show, don’t make comparisons, if you are going to make comparisons then we don’t care for you. TF? I chalk this impression up to poor editing. Still, it could make a reviewer wonder if anyone is actually manning the helm aboard the Sci-Fi channel bridge. I mean, in my humble opinion, this docu-mercial just did not present the up-coming series in a properly positive light. Then again there was a 30-minute special “in the classroom” promo I recorded and viewed prior to this that was so upbeat and came across with such a positive tone that it might have soured me to this longer docu-mercial presentation. back
Battlestar Galactica: The Official Mini-Series Magazine; The mythos of the series was not treated with “great respect” much less “used to great effect” (page 20) but rather barely mentioned, and then in throwaway lines divorced from any meaning internal to what the mini-series presented. I realize that sounds unduly harsh but the definitions of respect cite “to refrain from interfering with” (American College Dictionary) and “deferential regard” (Webster’s Third New International Dictionary) as being part of respect. You just can’t claim to be doing that while blatantly stating this is a total retooling, pardon, “re-imaging” of the basic characters, plot, background, and setting. Yes, the creators of the mini-series hold the old series in great regard, they even respect it for what it achieved in its time, but they have totally gutted the mythos and pared down the legendary aspects to the point to being so diluted that, unless you know what to listen for, you can blink and miss them. Even then they lack context. Granted there wasn’t a whole lot to work with in the original pilot either, but the series ran for a solid season, spawned novels, comic books, and an ill-fated spin-off series. For all that I did not have a sense of the mythic being portrayed. As to whether the mini-series managed to “embrace that premise” [of the original series] (page 28) I’d have to give it a shaky but definite nod. The mini-series is to classic Battlestar Galactica what Crusade was to Babylon 5. Most of the major signposts of the meta-setting are there, but all the roads leading to them follow different paths. back
There is a lot more to this magazine, and the docu-mercial mentioned above. Both provide a glimpse into the creative process, the actors, and how the series was put together. The worst I can say about this magazine is that it gave an almost too detailed blow-by-blow synopsis of the show’s story. Then again that’s perfect for would be Game Masters! In fact, if you ever plan to run a Battlestar Galactica campaign I would suggest you rush to the newsstand and grab a copy while they are still there. Yeah, ten bucks (thirteen Canadian) is a bit steep for a magazine, but you’re not likely to find the amount of character information presented here in any other place.
So where does that leave us? Considering the show is stated to have begun shooting April 2nd, 2003, and to have wrapped in about fifty days it is amazing the mini-series isn’t total drek. The pre-show hype, like most hype, promised this was going to be something new that was a departure from the usual series produced for the genre. I did not come away from the mini-series feeling this to be the case. Rather, as more and more of the mini-series went flickering across my screen it felt, at times, I was watching a thinly veiled collection of scenes based on, borrowed, and outright lifted straight out of established science fiction movies. Be it the brief glimpse of a co-ed head (bathroom) ala Starship Troopers or the increasing sense that the entire motif overlaid upon the Cylons seemed oddly familiar. Perhaps a mixture of premises lifted out of Imposter or Terminator. At first I couldn’t quite place what it was about this, until near the end, but to check my suspicions I cracked open my Star Trek Encyclopedia. Wonder of wonders but what should I find? It seems the writer of the mini series; Ronald D. Moore was the co-executive producer and a writer for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Then the ton of bricks fell. Of course, the shape shifting changeling infiltrators! I can’t even tell you what it was precisely that made me think to look such an obscure factoid up, but that it parsed out surprised me. That got me to thinking of the scene with Starbuck and gang playing cards early on in the first part, very reminiscent of the “lets get to know each other” scene out of Wing Commander. Then I remembered that this was actually the one trope used over and over and over in Star Trek. It was like the writers couldn’t think of any other way to get characters together in the same room so, the failsafe, have them play cards. At this point I closed my Star Trek encyclopedia, worried that I might find too may other seeming similarities. Certainly, if I had a reference for Babylon 5, Space: Above and Beyond, or Farscape in front of me I’d likely find a lot of similarities between this mini-series and those shows as well. Which only proves one thing: I’ve watched way too much science fiction. Besides no one would be so blatant as to rip-off of a multi-season running trope of having a “chip” inside a character’s head that projects a mental “ghost” of another character to torment the aforementioned character after proclaiming they were bringing a fresh perspective to a tired old genre, would they?
A Critical Eye top
Through a glass darkly, that is what we are about to do, gaze through a glass darkly. For gamers what is important is to know whether or not the mini-series is a potential mine of useful campaign and story information, while the average television viewer just wants to know if they will be kept entertained throughout the four hours. Between the two extremes we must balance the negative with the positive while playing a game of connect the dots that we may uncover our answers.
Connections: Like a game of connect-the-dots connections are those things we notice about television shows and movies that remind us of other television shows and movies. These perceived associations are neither positive nor negative, though whether we notice them or not is often reflective of how well the novel, film, or series we are watching manages to draw us into the world being presented. Every story has them, though seldom do they stick out like a sore thumb. For instance there is a Babylon 5 connection within the mini-series that is hard to overlook. Especially since it is in your face from the opening scene, where we are informed of the existence of the "Armistice" space station and peeks through in minor details. Details like the re-envisioned Colonel Tigh who is so close to being a dead ringer for BAB5's alcoholic Garibaldi character making it hard to believe the director did not realize the fact. Also it is quite apparent someone was very taken with the idea of "sleeper agents", nothing wrong with that, except that the movie Manchurian Candidate would have been a better choice for updating and "re-imaging" into the present as a form of contemporary political exposition than Battestar Galactica. I am actually torn on this because, technically, that was what the movie Imposter was about. And I have to ask: What is the point of re-hashing something that has already been done, and done far better? What's worse other science fiction series have also done it, and done it better! The "Founders" of Deep Space Nine, same deal; the "Terminators" of the movie franchise with the similar name, pretty same basic idea; even Cleopatra 2525 chewed up and spit out this tired old dead horse of a premise! I wont even bring up the entire “invisible alien menace” genre that thrived in the shadow of the McCarthy era, much less ask what was wrong with the original story. What’s worse, these are but a fraction of the more glaring and obvious connections. In this regard the show fails to reach full entertainment potential because, for every connection we notice, that’s one more hurdle we have to jump to attempt to suspend our disbelief. top
Continuity Errors: After the obvious plot/story connections to extant series come the internal inconsistencies lovingly referred to as continuity errors by nitpickers. There is one possible minor one, or a whopper, depending on how you look at it. Viz. Either the "Human" Cylons are bio-mechanicals, and thus can have glow in the dark spines; or they are biologicals, meaning clones, not likely to have any glowing bits. As a viewer one can blink and miss this since the contradictory statement about the only way of determining if a person is a cylon is to cremate them, thus meaning there should not be any glowing spines in the first place, happens in the second half of the series. Or is it the only way? For a Game Master thinking about using the world presented in the series this will have to be addressed and a rational to explain how both can be true, if they are true, written up to appease nitpickers. Otherwise the show was pretty much internally consistent, an even this seeming error really isn’t. Rather it smacks of the writer doing their best to insert “cliff hangers” and “mysteries” that can be addressed in later shows, assuming the mini-series is liked and the show picked up for a regular run. Personally I think the fact a question could be raised at all shows just how forward thinking the writer was being, and that this wasn‘t a throwaway script for them. Kudos. Nicely done. Now give us more! top
Negatives: No input from the original series/story creator. Serious changes were made to the underlying story from that of the original, many major characters were altered or not presented, and the pre-series hype tended to alienate the existing fan base more than it excited them. The CGI visuals are average, pilot costumes lack flair, Number Six comes across as nothing less than a “re-envisioned” Seven of Nine, the space sequences were too short, for characters supposedly aboard a military vessel there was a near total lack of proper military discipline, the re-envisioned CGI cylons looked clunky when shown up close, and the dress of the average Caprican citizen was “bought off the rack” modern. To read the intent of those involved with this project it is apparent that the “re-imaging” has taken a vibrant mythic story, stripped it of all sense of noble glory, gutted it of the legendary larger than life background, and overlaid a uninspired pseudo modern America-with-the-serial-numbers-filed-off to spin a pallid tale of fear mongering doom and gloom mediocrity. Also, very little for gamers to mine and build upon. top
Positives: Adama is played by esteemed veteran actor Edward James Olmos, who manages to convey great depth of spirit and heart in his portrayal of a military commander struggling with personal ghosts; Mary McDonnell, the woman who becomes president, plays her role with great emotional conviction; the CGI cylons, perhaps by design, aren’t on screen long enough to be scrutinized by nitpickers; a number of the ships in the “rag-tag fleet” are well rendered versions of ships similar to those in the original series; and there are a number of familiar faces in the background that many should recognize. No big name actors, but well-established background players to make you sit up and ask yourself which series you saw them in. The mini-series is a new production working with a stated goal of bringing a story with a different tone and vision to life for a new generation of science fiction fans. There might be a regular Battlestar Galactica series, which is always a good thing, though given the lack of any mention of this on the Sci-Fi site (as yet) a regular series doesn‘t seem very likely. Sad. Granted the Sci-Fi channel’s record with series is perhaps not the best, according to some, but then what series ever lasts forever? None. Actors are people, and people have lives to live. Still one can only hope. Perhaps a new mini-series, one of these days? The big plus, for gamers, is the setting. Because it is so generic and non-specific gamers should have little difficulty recreating it. There are a number of established generic systems out there well suited to such threadbare SF settings: BRPS, CORPS, FUDGE, FUZION, GURPS, JAGS, RISUS, and more are being released on the internet in HTML and PDF publications all the time. top
Fun Links top
Generally Battlestar Galactica shouldn’t be too difficult a setting to set-up as a FRP game. The premise is rather basic so it’s just a matter of choosing a system that fits. For a more in depth overview of systems that might work with Space Opera check out my review of Crest of the Stars.
To learn about Space Opera I suggest the following articles/links: SF Site SF genre overview, A New Breed of Space Opera, Space Opera Redefined, Wikipedia, The Spectrum of Space Opera, and of course In Genre: Space Opera.
To find out more about the post-apocalyptic genre in books, movies, and role-playing games I suggest the following links: Post-Apocalyptic Media and Empty World. Back to synopsis
Happy gaming!
Copyright © 2003 C. Demetrius Morgan
