Post by koenigrules on Jan 19, 2005 23:32:25 GMT -5
blog.scifi.com/battlestar/
Since SciFi has been kind enough to provide this space, it seems like a good opportunity to open up a dialog with you, the fans of the show. So in addition to providing you with my thoughts and reactions to the series as it unfolds, and various behind the scenes tales of derring-do, I'd like to also use this blog to answer your questions and respond to your comments. I used to do something like this at AOL during my tenure at Star Trek, and I really enjoyed the chance to communicate with the fan community, so why not do it again?
Judging from the volume of posts on the board, I don't think I'll be able to answer every question, so I suppose the best I can do is cherry-pick out a few representative questions each week. Did I say week? I meant to say, "cherry-pick out a few represenative questions WHEN I GET A CHANCE." I'm new to this whole blog business and as yet I haven't established a rhythm of posting here at all, so we'll just have to see how it goes.
For the first batch:
"What battlestar was Apollo from? Notice he's never mentioned it or the loss of friends from whatever squad he was assigned to."
In my first draft of the mini, Lee Adama had just been accepted into test pilot school on Caprica and was not currently assigned to any battlestar. Presumably, he had been posted to at least a couple of battlestar air groups in his career, as well as several ground assignments as well. This isn't canon yet, however, and I'm currently thinking of changing some elements of his specific backstory as I work on storylines for Season Two. Overall, I'd say Lee was striving (perhaps too hard) to blaze a different path for himself in the fleet from that of his father. I don't think Lee ever saw himself as a battlestar commander and was looking for a different way to make his mark.
"Why Colonial One looks so much like Airforce One? Was that deliberate?"
The design of the ship itself was meant to evoke commercial airlines and of course, present-day Air Force One is a modified 747. One of the things we discussed was trying to make Colonial One immediately identifiable amid the sea of other ships, so we started to make the color scheme and markings more distinctive and recognizable. It does evoke Air Force One at this point, and I'd say that helps with both recognition and with reminding the audience that it's the president's ship.
"Will we ever hear anything about other battlestars? Especially Pegasus?"
We have discussed the Pegasus storyline for a couple of years now. It's still tooling around inside my brain, but I haven't settled on a take yet. Call it a strong possibility at this point. No plans to see any other battlestars at present.
"Why is everything so low tech when clearly these humans are so advanced? It seems incongruous."
The plot explanation is that following the Cylon Uprising 40 years ago, Colonial society took a giant step backwards to protect itself from the technological nightmare it had unleashed. With their enemies able to hack into virtually any network, the Colonials had to rely on stand-alone technologies that we not connected to other components. Ships like the Galactica were designed with this in mind, as well as the old military philosophy of building equipment that will function even in the most dire of circumstances. You don't want to be using cordless phones when the ship is hit by a nuke and power is disrupted to say the least. You want something reliable and solid and preferably with a cord.
The creative explanation is that high-tech ships with touch screens and computers that talk has been done to death in my opinion. Also, having magical technology that does all the work for you tends to take the human beings out of the dramatic equation. I wanted a lower-tech Galactica so that we could put people back into scifi. This show is about our characters, not about the magical technology that they use.
On a personal note, I'd like to extend my thanks to everyone reading this blog and to all the millions of others out there who showed up in record numbers to watch our premiere last Friday. As much as I believed in this show, and as much as I truly felt satisfied with what we had done, there's always a bit of holding your breath to see if the audience will actually show up. To my everlasting gratitude, you did show up and I hope you continue to watch and enjoy the show.
I'm looking foward to continuing to talk with you all in the future and seeing your reactions to the rest of the season.
Posted byRon at 04:30 PM
KR
Since SciFi has been kind enough to provide this space, it seems like a good opportunity to open up a dialog with you, the fans of the show. So in addition to providing you with my thoughts and reactions to the series as it unfolds, and various behind the scenes tales of derring-do, I'd like to also use this blog to answer your questions and respond to your comments. I used to do something like this at AOL during my tenure at Star Trek, and I really enjoyed the chance to communicate with the fan community, so why not do it again?
Judging from the volume of posts on the board, I don't think I'll be able to answer every question, so I suppose the best I can do is cherry-pick out a few representative questions each week. Did I say week? I meant to say, "cherry-pick out a few represenative questions WHEN I GET A CHANCE." I'm new to this whole blog business and as yet I haven't established a rhythm of posting here at all, so we'll just have to see how it goes.
For the first batch:
"What battlestar was Apollo from? Notice he's never mentioned it or the loss of friends from whatever squad he was assigned to."
In my first draft of the mini, Lee Adama had just been accepted into test pilot school on Caprica and was not currently assigned to any battlestar. Presumably, he had been posted to at least a couple of battlestar air groups in his career, as well as several ground assignments as well. This isn't canon yet, however, and I'm currently thinking of changing some elements of his specific backstory as I work on storylines for Season Two. Overall, I'd say Lee was striving (perhaps too hard) to blaze a different path for himself in the fleet from that of his father. I don't think Lee ever saw himself as a battlestar commander and was looking for a different way to make his mark.
"Why Colonial One looks so much like Airforce One? Was that deliberate?"
The design of the ship itself was meant to evoke commercial airlines and of course, present-day Air Force One is a modified 747. One of the things we discussed was trying to make Colonial One immediately identifiable amid the sea of other ships, so we started to make the color scheme and markings more distinctive and recognizable. It does evoke Air Force One at this point, and I'd say that helps with both recognition and with reminding the audience that it's the president's ship.
"Will we ever hear anything about other battlestars? Especially Pegasus?"
We have discussed the Pegasus storyline for a couple of years now. It's still tooling around inside my brain, but I haven't settled on a take yet. Call it a strong possibility at this point. No plans to see any other battlestars at present.
"Why is everything so low tech when clearly these humans are so advanced? It seems incongruous."
The plot explanation is that following the Cylon Uprising 40 years ago, Colonial society took a giant step backwards to protect itself from the technological nightmare it had unleashed. With their enemies able to hack into virtually any network, the Colonials had to rely on stand-alone technologies that we not connected to other components. Ships like the Galactica were designed with this in mind, as well as the old military philosophy of building equipment that will function even in the most dire of circumstances. You don't want to be using cordless phones when the ship is hit by a nuke and power is disrupted to say the least. You want something reliable and solid and preferably with a cord.
The creative explanation is that high-tech ships with touch screens and computers that talk has been done to death in my opinion. Also, having magical technology that does all the work for you tends to take the human beings out of the dramatic equation. I wanted a lower-tech Galactica so that we could put people back into scifi. This show is about our characters, not about the magical technology that they use.
On a personal note, I'd like to extend my thanks to everyone reading this blog and to all the millions of others out there who showed up in record numbers to watch our premiere last Friday. As much as I believed in this show, and as much as I truly felt satisfied with what we had done, there's always a bit of holding your breath to see if the audience will actually show up. To my everlasting gratitude, you did show up and I hope you continue to watch and enjoy the show.
I'm looking foward to continuing to talk with you all in the future and seeing your reactions to the rest of the season.
Posted byRon at 04:30 PM
KR
