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Battlestar Galactica Miniseries #1
Battlestar Galactica
For forty years, the Twelve Colonies of Man experienced peace, united since the war against the man-made Cylons. The Cylons, mechanical beings created to perform the manual labor civilization required, were gone forever…or so humanity thought.
But in those years, the Cylons developed new Cylons that looked and acted like humans--with one goal in mind: to destroy all humanity! When they suddenly attacked the Twelve Worlds, humanity's extinction seemed inevitable.
Only a single warship survived the massive attack: Battlestar Galactica, the oldest ship in the fleet, ready to be decommissioned and turned into a museum. Commander William Adama, himself set to retire, had but one course: to marshal the meager forces available, a ragtag crew of misfits and green recruits, to prevent their enemy from wiping out the last vestiges of the human race. But the Cylons, stronger, smarter, and driven to destroy their creators, may just be too powerful for them and all of humanity to survive.
But in those years, the Cylons developed new Cylons that looked and acted like humans--with one goal in mind: to destroy all humanity! When they suddenly attacked the Twelve Worlds, humanity's extinction seemed inevitable.
Only a single warship survived the massive attack: Battlestar Galactica, the oldest ship in the fleet, ready to be decommissioned and turned into a museum. Commander William Adama, himself set to retire, had but one course: to marshal the meager forces available, a ragtag crew of misfits and green recruits, to prevent their enemy from wiping out the last vestiges of the human race. But the Cylons, stronger, smarter, and driven to destroy their creators, may just be too powerful for them and all of humanity to survive.
322 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews
April 17, 2017
One of the most fabulous efforts at Science Fiction ever to hit the airwaves, this show helped breathe life back into the genre after a much too long absence. Everyone has seen the show or at least knows the basic premise, so I won’t rehash it here. Even the opening of the show, with a theme sung in a dead language, suggested how great this one was going to be. And it was.
To me, the book is well written and exciting, Carver doing an excellent job of giving fans of the show a chance to revisit it in a different medium. One of the complaints, of course, is that it is exactly that — a retelling of the show’s fabulous beginning. While it is true that nothing new is proffered here by Carver — no new insights or background to beloved characters is even remotely given — that’s why I liked it. When you look at some of the complaints, you realize they perhaps read the book too close to the ending of the series — or even while it was on the air in some places.
I think enough time has now passed that I really appreciated that aspect of the book when I read this. It was everything I remembered. It was nostalgic in a way, allowing me to once again get lost in Battlestar with all its many and varied story-lines and mythos only just beginning to emerge. I do understand that people were disappointed at what this book wasn’t, but I think at this juncture, it’s much more fun to read than it might have been during the show.
Now War and Peace this ain’t, but it’s not supposed to be. For those who loved the show, however, and just want to spend a little more time with friends, because it hurt to let them go, this is great fun. I thought Carver did a great job on this one. Considering how lackluster the books that followed it were, it makes it all the more special if you can track down a copy. So say we all...
To me, the book is well written and exciting, Carver doing an excellent job of giving fans of the show a chance to revisit it in a different medium. One of the complaints, of course, is that it is exactly that — a retelling of the show’s fabulous beginning. While it is true that nothing new is proffered here by Carver — no new insights or background to beloved characters is even remotely given — that’s why I liked it. When you look at some of the complaints, you realize they perhaps read the book too close to the ending of the series — or even while it was on the air in some places.
I think enough time has now passed that I really appreciated that aspect of the book when I read this. It was everything I remembered. It was nostalgic in a way, allowing me to once again get lost in Battlestar with all its many and varied story-lines and mythos only just beginning to emerge. I do understand that people were disappointed at what this book wasn’t, but I think at this juncture, it’s much more fun to read than it might have been during the show.
Now War and Peace this ain’t, but it’s not supposed to be. For those who loved the show, however, and just want to spend a little more time with friends, because it hurt to let them go, this is great fun. I thought Carver did a great job on this one. Considering how lackluster the books that followed it were, it makes it all the more special if you can track down a copy. So say we all...
February 7, 2012
The two stars are for the plot and characters, which are amazing and stunning - but the writing really lets it down.
There are far too many cases of showing not telling here, and not just that, telling over and over. The prose is extremely flat. What happens as a result is that scenes that were thrilling, or charming, or heartwrenching, just go over with no impact at all. One example - a CAG, watching his shipmates die around him as their ships go dead, waiting for his own death seconds away? "His heart sank." Yeah. It would. And the sex scenes are just... embarrassingly bad.
Every character is introduced with a description-dump. I also wasn't impressed that the non-white characters were all racially marked and the white characters weren't, which doesn't remotely make sense in-universe with the race-blind casting. How can Boomer have "Oriental features"? Which Colony is Oriental? It was just sloppy. Laura spends her entire time saying "Why me? Why my body?" in her head. The Sixes do *everything* in a sexy or sensual way, regardless of whether they were actually turning on the heat at the time. And so on. And then every emotion and motive was over-explained, in the same flat style.
I ended up just skimming this. Really disappointed, because I am so attached to the characters, the story, and the universe. This novelisation, for all it is a word-for-word transcript, didn't do it justice.
There are far too many cases of showing not telling here, and not just that, telling over and over. The prose is extremely flat. What happens as a result is that scenes that were thrilling, or charming, or heartwrenching, just go over with no impact at all. One example - a CAG, watching his shipmates die around him as their ships go dead, waiting for his own death seconds away? "His heart sank." Yeah. It would. And the sex scenes are just... embarrassingly bad.
Every character is introduced with a description-dump. I also wasn't impressed that the non-white characters were all racially marked and the white characters weren't, which doesn't remotely make sense in-universe with the race-blind casting. How can Boomer have "Oriental features"? Which Colony is Oriental? It was just sloppy. Laura spends her entire time saying "Why me? Why my body?" in her head. The Sixes do *everything* in a sexy or sensual way, regardless of whether they were actually turning on the heat at the time. And so on. And then every emotion and motive was over-explained, in the same flat style.
I ended up just skimming this. Really disappointed, because I am so attached to the characters, the story, and the universe. This novelisation, for all it is a word-for-word transcript, didn't do it justice.
January 6, 2017
"Starbuck, what do you hear?"
"Nothing but the rain."
"Then grab your gun and bring in the cat."
I love Battlestar Galactica. I'm a fan of Sci-fi anyways but I think this would appeal to much larger audience as it's essentially a space opera. This book is the pilot episode and it sticks to it really faithfully. I could picture all the scenes no problem.
This has rekindled my love for Battlestar and I'm gonna have to rewatch the whole thing again. Even if you don't think this is your thing, just give it a read and you might be surprised.
"Nothing but the rain."
"Then grab your gun and bring in the cat."
I love Battlestar Galactica. I'm a fan of Sci-fi anyways but I think this would appeal to much larger audience as it's essentially a space opera. This book is the pilot episode and it sticks to it really faithfully. I could picture all the scenes no problem.
This has rekindled my love for Battlestar and I'm gonna have to rewatch the whole thing again. Even if you don't think this is your thing, just give it a read and you might be surprised.
November 20, 2018
A worthy add-on to the TV Series
March 1, 2013
As an avid fan of Battlestar Galactica, I devour the series in several days, just as the same enthusiasm I had with this book actually. Usually I dislike movie-to-books adaptation and they usually a bad reincarnation of the screenplays or the author is extremely boring. The last adaptation book I read (The Dark Knight Rises) was plain awful and it doesn't add anything to the enjoyment. However, despite all the subpar unglowing reviews that this book have, I felt this book does the miniseries true justice as a re-adaptation to the renewed series.
The book compromise the event in the pilot original miniseries of Battlestar Galactica that surround the lives of soldiers and civilians of the Twelve Colonies of Man in days before Cylons came and wipe out the entire human race except for those few in space.
As a character driven series, there are several main characters in the story such as Commander William Adama; a retiring officer on his battleship which will soon turn into a museum but was embroiled into the warpath brought down by the enemy Cylons, Laura Roslin; a secretary to the minister of education who was enroute from Galactica's museum opening ceremony but on dire circumstance became the leader of mankind, Gaius Baltar; a genius scientist who have a destructive role that followed the Cylon's attack, Captain Lee 'Apollo' Adama; Commander Adama's son who came to Galactica to help with the procedures but remain cold toward his father after years following his brother's death, Lieutenant Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace; one of the best viper pilot who had some issues and hot-headedness which lands her in the brig, Lieutenant Sharon 'Boomer' Valerii; a rookie pilot who piloted a raptor with her ECO Karl 'Helo' Agathon, Senior Chief Petty Officer Galen Tyrol, Dualla, Gaeta and the rest of the wonderful team of kick ass folks.
As the beginning of the series, the pilot/book introduce us several major plot of what to come in the subsequent series. One is the plight of all the characters and the war with the Cylons. In the beginning of the book, we were introduced to the idea of the world where there was peace in the colonies and Cylons was long gone after the war. In one of the annual diplomatic mission, cylons finally emerged from their long silence, showing off their advance models including human models and began their systematic destruction throughout the colonies. In Caprica, Gaius Baltar is having the time of his life, being known and respected among the Caprican society as the president's advisor and consultant to the ministry of defense and also being in a long-term sexual relationship with a mysterious blonde woman, Natasi. A day later after catching Gaius cheating on her and booting the girl away, Natasi reveal to Gaius that she was not who he think she is. That she is a human cylon model number six and that he had let her infiltrate the military defense which allows the cylons to launch massive attacks everywhere and nuking the colonies. In space, the CIC began to report that the colonial fleet experience sudden attack by the cylons and all suffered tremendous power failure and defeat leaving Battlestar Galactica as one of the last remaining battlestar in the colonial fleet. Because Adama's resilient stance against computer networking in the system and having older models vipers, this gave an advantage to the Galactica as they were able to defend themselves against the cylons even stripped from its fire power.
The story goes on following the tv series pilot just right but somehow the book adaption enable the characterization to work as well as the screenplay. There are also details and explanation on the technical aspect of Battlestar Galactica which are missed by me while watching the pilot but thankfully was expanded wonderfully by Carver himself. There are a lot of silent moments in the miniseries which I enjoyed reading and understanding even more in this story. I realize that there are a bunch of lines and scenes that the miniseries didn't have like how Gaius Balter escape his house after Caprica Six protected him from the fallout and how Billy is actually more smarter than he looks and the significance of a lot of non-verbal scenes. Because of the series reliance on its characters and not much on the action, it made the story convincing and true to its nature as a story of humankind.
From the reviews I read, I notice a lot of readers didn't even watch the renewed series but I hope folks who didn't enjoy the book would consider watching it as they are a marvelous franchise to be seen and experience by anyone who love a good space opera. As an adaptation, I am surprised at how I come to appreciate the pilot more and began to take notice of the little details that Carver include in the book but not as much in the show. The book made me fangirling as much as the first glance I found the book in Big Bad Wolf Sale.
This is a series that span 4 seasons with a lot of stories between characters that are meshed in this book, so in a sense, I understand the gripes many readers had as the book is incomplete and you can get overwhelmed by all the stories and characters (did you see HOW I describe this book several paragraphs just now?). As a fan of the series, I do think this book is faithful as an adaptation among the many tv adaptations in the market.
January 3, 2021
Con voce bassa, sensuale, domandò: "Sei vivo?".
Quelle parole lo attraversarono come elettricità. Esitò, cercando di replicare, e infine riuscì a pronunciare un esile: "Sì".
Con una mano posata sulla spalla di lui, la donna gli si avvicinò ancora di più. Ora poteva avvertire il suo respiro, caldo e dolce sul volto. È così bella, così... ma prima che potesse completare il proprio pensiero, lei mormorò, con appena un po' più di decisione: "Dimostramelo".
E poi, in una squisita tortura al rallentatore, spostò la mano dietro la nuca di lui, lo attirò a sé e lo baciò. [...] Per un attimo effimero, lei sorrise, forse in modo vagamente triste, dolce, e con uno sguardo profondo, mormorò: "È iniziato".
Lui lottò per liberarsi, ma la stretta della mano che lo spingeva ancora contro quelle labbra aveva una forza disumana. [...] Il terzo e ultimo scossone gli annebbiò i sensi, ma solo per un attimo. Prima che lui, la donna e l'intera stazione spaziale esplodessero in una palla di fuoco e frammenti di metallo. Nel silenzio dello spazio profondo, la detonazione non fu annunciata da alcun suono. Nessun essere umano ancora in vita era abbastanza vicino da poter vedere il lampo di fuoco che l'aveva accompagnata.
Non negherò che questo libro è, prima di tutto, un "feticcio". Un feticcio per tutti quelli che, come me, hanno amato smodatamente Battlestar Galactica e che quindi godono nel ritrovare i loro personaggi preferiti, nel rivivere le scene e rileggere i dialoghi che hanno amato e ancora amano.
Dal punto di vista prettamente letterario non c'è molto da dire: J. A. Carver "riporta" più che "riscrive", e forse alla fine è un bene. Il soggetto originale e la sceneggiatura della serie sono già molto belli e completi, e posseggono una solida struttura narrativa e dialoghi ben congegnati. A conti fatti, quindi, stravolgerli solo per dare vita a una serie di libri sarebbe stato insensato, e a Carver va la lode di essere stato rispettoso di una materia che non andava alterata.
Se siete fan della serie tv non cercateci niente di più del piacere di ripercorrere la storia che già amate, battute celebri comprese:
"Buongiorno, signore!", esordì una voce familiare.
"Buongiorno, Scorpion", rispose lui, senza alzare lo sguardo. "Cosa senti?".
"Solo la pioggia", rispose Kara Thrace, affiancandolo.
"Allora afferra la pistola e porta dentro il gatto", disse Adamo, completando lo scambio rituale che avevano sempre avuto lui e Kara da quando lei era un pilota sulla sua nave.
Se siete neofiti, godetevi il libro, poi andate a rivivere tutto in 3D.
Tre stelle e mezzo.
Quelle parole lo attraversarono come elettricità. Esitò, cercando di replicare, e infine riuscì a pronunciare un esile: "Sì".
Con una mano posata sulla spalla di lui, la donna gli si avvicinò ancora di più. Ora poteva avvertire il suo respiro, caldo e dolce sul volto. È così bella, così... ma prima che potesse completare il proprio pensiero, lei mormorò, con appena un po' più di decisione: "Dimostramelo".
E poi, in una squisita tortura al rallentatore, spostò la mano dietro la nuca di lui, lo attirò a sé e lo baciò. [...] Per un attimo effimero, lei sorrise, forse in modo vagamente triste, dolce, e con uno sguardo profondo, mormorò: "È iniziato".
Lui lottò per liberarsi, ma la stretta della mano che lo spingeva ancora contro quelle labbra aveva una forza disumana. [...] Il terzo e ultimo scossone gli annebbiò i sensi, ma solo per un attimo. Prima che lui, la donna e l'intera stazione spaziale esplodessero in una palla di fuoco e frammenti di metallo. Nel silenzio dello spazio profondo, la detonazione non fu annunciata da alcun suono. Nessun essere umano ancora in vita era abbastanza vicino da poter vedere il lampo di fuoco che l'aveva accompagnata.
Non negherò che questo libro è, prima di tutto, un "feticcio". Un feticcio per tutti quelli che, come me, hanno amato smodatamente Battlestar Galactica e che quindi godono nel ritrovare i loro personaggi preferiti, nel rivivere le scene e rileggere i dialoghi che hanno amato e ancora amano.
Dal punto di vista prettamente letterario non c'è molto da dire: J. A. Carver "riporta" più che "riscrive", e forse alla fine è un bene. Il soggetto originale e la sceneggiatura della serie sono già molto belli e completi, e posseggono una solida struttura narrativa e dialoghi ben congegnati. A conti fatti, quindi, stravolgerli solo per dare vita a una serie di libri sarebbe stato insensato, e a Carver va la lode di essere stato rispettoso di una materia che non andava alterata.
Se siete fan della serie tv non cercateci niente di più del piacere di ripercorrere la storia che già amate, battute celebri comprese:
"Buongiorno, signore!", esordì una voce familiare.
"Buongiorno, Scorpion", rispose lui, senza alzare lo sguardo. "Cosa senti?".
"Solo la pioggia", rispose Kara Thrace, affiancandolo.
"Allora afferra la pistola e porta dentro il gatto", disse Adamo, completando lo scambio rituale che avevano sempre avuto lui e Kara da quando lei era un pilota sulla sua nave.
Se siete neofiti, godetevi il libro, poi andate a rivivere tutto in 3D.
Tre stelle e mezzo.
December 20, 2017
I bought this book eleven years ago and have been reading it on and off for the last five or so. For a long time it was the book I took along when walking the dog on a rainy or misty day because I didn't really care if it got wet and warped. When the weather is good, I take a library book, usually a graphic novel. (Yes, I can read a graphic novel in my left hand while holding the dog's leash in my right and navigating all the obstacles found on the sidewalks and streets of my suburb. It does get a little trickier when a warm baggie of doggy doo has to be juggled also.)
This was the perfect book to read in snippets here and there because I had watched the TV show and was just using the book as an excuse to revisit the good times. I'm old enough that I grew up in an age when novelizations and comic book adaptations were a necessity because it could be a long time before you got a chance to actually watch a movie or TV show a second time. It's a habit I have strayed away from but have never given up entirely. Novelizations are rarely as good as the original work, but that's okay, because they're just supposed to invoke the memory of the original, and this one does a fine job of that.
I really should watch BSG again sometime...
This was the perfect book to read in snippets here and there because I had watched the TV show and was just using the book as an excuse to revisit the good times. I'm old enough that I grew up in an age when novelizations and comic book adaptations were a necessity because it could be a long time before you got a chance to actually watch a movie or TV show a second time. It's a habit I have strayed away from but have never given up entirely. Novelizations are rarely as good as the original work, but that's okay, because they're just supposed to invoke the memory of the original, and this one does a fine job of that.
I really should watch BSG again sometime...
April 30, 2014
People read movie-to-book novels for two reasons. One, they curious about the tv show/movie and want to read to see if they'll like it; or two, they are in love with the tv show/movie and they want to read to keep that flame burning. I fall into the latter category, and as such, I hated this book. (I've been trying to think if I'd have liked it if I was in the first, but as I've rewatched the show so many times, it's difficult to say.) This book is based on the mini series of the tv series. This particular movie length episode is not a particular favourite of mine, for starters (the show found its feet afterwards), and I'm in some ways grateful for this. To use a BSG word, I wouldn't have wanted him to frak up a good one. In my opinion, Carver was the wrong man for the job. He is obviously a sci-fi writer, and does a good job when describing spaceships, space battles, robots (Cylons) etc, but unfortunately, the heart of BSG has very little to do with sci-fi or special effects. It's a post-911 gritty character-driven drama which just happens to be set in space. The spaceships are not the stars of the show, the characters are, and I don't think Carver had any sense of this, or them. The dialogue and the scenes are 95% word for word from the show. (Perhaps he should have kept it at 100%, because the parts he changed were the major disappointment.) Nor did he really add any 'off-camera' scenes which may have been interesting. (He did add some extra scenes between Laura Roslin, the main female character, and her Aide, Billy, which made the rest of their plot incoherent.) He added no inner thoughts of any interest. (In fact, he rarely added any.) Now, is it just me or should watching the show really be a prerequisite when you're writing a novel about it? I would say Carver watched the show maybe once before writing. (Btw, I checked, this was published in 2006, meaning half way through season 2 had been aired on tv, and thus he has no excuse). For example, anyone who has watched will know that the Colonials believe in Gods, plural, not God, singular. This is a major plotline, when Cylons dare to suggest there is only one 'true' God. Yet Carver has written all of the characters thinking and/or saying the singular deity. His names for characters previously unnamed are annoying. His descriptions for characters are inane. (William Adama, the main male character played by Edward James Olmos, is 'stocky' and 'cragged-faced'. That's original. Another character, Sharon, has 'Oriental' features. They aren't from Earth; there is no Orient.) But the greatest travesty occurs when Carver gets Adama's callsign incorrect. For the record, Mr Carver and editors, it's Husker (on account of his deep husky voice) and not Husher (on account of his telling everyone to be quiet? IDEK). Now, back to those categories. If you're in the second, try fanfiction. If you're in the first, just watch the show and forget about this. Luckily I found it at the library and didn't pay money for it.
April 30, 2022
Tämä kirja tarttui mukaan jollain Lontoon reissulla parisen vuotta sitten. Battlestar Galactica on mielestäni yksi parhaimmista scifi-tv-sarjoista. Harmillista että se ei ole tarjolla suoratoistopalveluissa enkä omista sitä DVD:näkään. Tämä pokkari onneksi toi mieleen hyvät muistot ja halun nähdä sarjan uudelleen. Kirjan jatko-osatkin jo löysin, ne pitää tilata jos se vähän toisi helpotusta.
Itse kirjasta. Ajallisesti tämä sijoittuu uuden sarjan alkuun, tapahtumat käynnistyvät tarkalleen sarjassakin nähdyn Cylonien paluuseen. Henkilögalleria on uskollinen sarjan hahmoille ja mielessäni näinkin heidät kuten näyttelijät ovat heitä näytelleet.
Kirja oli nopealukuinen ja sopii myös lukijoille jotka eivät ole tv-sarjaa nähneet.
Itse kirjasta. Ajallisesti tämä sijoittuu uuden sarjan alkuun, tapahtumat käynnistyvät tarkalleen sarjassakin nähdyn Cylonien paluuseen. Henkilögalleria on uskollinen sarjan hahmoille ja mielessäni näinkin heidät kuten näyttelijät ovat heitä näytelleet.
Kirja oli nopealukuinen ja sopii myös lukijoille jotka eivät ole tv-sarjaa nähneet.
April 1, 2018
If you've never watched the rebooted BSG and prefer to read or listen to an audiobook, this novelization is a solid retelling of the miniseries that kicked things off. The author does a good job of fleshing out the bare bones of the script. It's almost a shot-for-shot, line-by-line retelling. I think I caught a couple instances where a bit of dialog is altered or omitted, but I didn't check to confirm. There's also a very brief Balthar POV scene after Six saves him from the nuclear blast, one which I don't recall being part of the miniseries. These minor variations notwithstanding, this is not the sort of novelization you read for the added material, Easter Eggs, or deeper exploration of characters. It's simply the miniseries in book form.
I listened to the audiobook version. The narrator has a good voice and does a solid job of bringing the characters to life. The one negative was the many mispronounced words. If you've never watched the show, you won't notice. If you're an avid fan, you'll probably grimace every time he butchers Picon or one of several surnames. This is a minor detail and didn't have much impact on my enjoyment of the book. If you've never experience the BSG reboot, or are feeling nostalgic and want to experience the story in a different format, give it a try!
I listened to the audiobook version. The narrator has a good voice and does a solid job of bringing the characters to life. The one negative was the many mispronounced words. If you've never watched the show, you won't notice. If you're an avid fan, you'll probably grimace every time he butchers Picon or one of several surnames. This is a minor detail and didn't have much impact on my enjoyment of the book. If you've never experience the BSG reboot, or are feeling nostalgic and want to experience the story in a different format, give it a try!
December 18, 2008
Battlestar Galactica: The Miniseries is one of the free ebooks I got off the Tor.com site in its promotion for going live. It's pretty much what the title advertises: a novelization of the story depicted in the opening miniseries for BSG.
Carver does a decent enough job putting the story into prose, but it's a very straightforward translation; there's nothing added to the story here. When I read a novelization of a TV show or movie, I'm generally hoping for something new to enhance what I saw in visual form, such as deleted scenes that didn't make it into the final cut. With the exception of an alias used by the Six who leads Gaius Baltar into betraying the human race, all the details in here were very familiar. Plus, the prose itself was very sparse. This was fitting for the general fast-paced nature of the story, but it also kept the reading experience from bringing anything new to me.
If like me you're already an established fan of the show, you can skip this one unless you're bored. If you're not an established fan and you don't have access to the DVDs, though, you might consider checking this out for an introduction to the series. Overall, three stars.
Carver does a decent enough job putting the story into prose, but it's a very straightforward translation; there's nothing added to the story here. When I read a novelization of a TV show or movie, I'm generally hoping for something new to enhance what I saw in visual form, such as deleted scenes that didn't make it into the final cut. With the exception of an alias used by the Six who leads Gaius Baltar into betraying the human race, all the details in here were very familiar. Plus, the prose itself was very sparse. This was fitting for the general fast-paced nature of the story, but it also kept the reading experience from bringing anything new to me.
If like me you're already an established fan of the show, you can skip this one unless you're bored. If you're not an established fan and you don't have access to the DVDs, though, you might consider checking this out for an introduction to the series. Overall, three stars.
July 2, 2013
I usually don't like novelisations, as they tend to be one dimensional and disappointing after watching the film/TV. But this one was ok. It covers the story of the pilot mini-series, with all the characters introduced and the background filled in.
Humanity invents intelligent robots, Cylons, which are used to do all the jobs that humans don't want themselves. But when they turn on their masters, a long, bitter war is fought. No-one really wins, but both sides retreat into far space, keeping well apart. No-one has seen a Cylon for decades, but they return to the Twelve Colonies in one day of murder and mayhem. Planets are nuked and spaceships destroyed. Only one Battlestar survives, an old relic that is about to be turned into a museum. Its obsolete technology is its saviour - giving it a chance against the superior robots. A handleful of other ships also survive and they converge on the Battlestar for safety, a fleet of ships holding the remenents of the human race.
I couldn't help but relive the TV programme as I read. An enjoyable couple of days reading this and I will probably keep it - less for its literary quality but more for the brilliant cover!!!
Humanity invents intelligent robots, Cylons, which are used to do all the jobs that humans don't want themselves. But when they turn on their masters, a long, bitter war is fought. No-one really wins, but both sides retreat into far space, keeping well apart. No-one has seen a Cylon for decades, but they return to the Twelve Colonies in one day of murder and mayhem. Planets are nuked and spaceships destroyed. Only one Battlestar survives, an old relic that is about to be turned into a museum. Its obsolete technology is its saviour - giving it a chance against the superior robots. A handleful of other ships also survive and they converge on the Battlestar for safety, a fleet of ships holding the remenents of the human race.
I couldn't help but relive the TV programme as I read. An enjoyable couple of days reading this and I will probably keep it - less for its literary quality but more for the brilliant cover!!!
October 16, 2008
Yeah, it's a novelization of the SciFi Channel miniseries that ran prior to kicking off Season 1, with all of the pitfalls a book like that carries with it like the proverbial albatross. There is no new content. No special peek inside the heads of Adama or Starbuck. Pretty much just a rote recitation of the 4 hour opening of the series as put together by a writer who had the script and a very thin thesaurus. Nothing special, but it keeps my appetite whet until the series conclusion in January.
October 9, 2012
It's basically a retelling of the terrific mini-series with details fleshing things out for a narrative. It's on the dry side, not riveting like the actual broadcast. Biggest fact error: saying William Adama's call sign is "Husher" when we devotees all know it's "Husker".
But anything that brings BSG to more people is a good thing. So say we all....
But anything that brings BSG to more people is a good thing. So say we all....
August 15, 2021
Battlestar Galactica by Jeffrey A. Carver is novelization based on the Sci Fi Channel's 2005 miniseries reboot of Battlestar Galactica franchise. Usually I dislike movie-to-books adaptations because they are usually a bad retelling of the screenplays or the author is extremely boring. However, I felt this book does the BSG miniseries true justice as a re-adaptation to the reboot series.
The book retells the events of the original pilot miniseries of Battlestar Galactica that surround the lives of soldiers and civilians of the Twelve Colonies of Man in days before Cylons came and wipe out the entire human race except for those few in space.
As a character driven series, there are several main characters in the story such as Commander William Adama; a retiring officer on his aging battleship which will soon turn into a museum but was embroiled into the warpath brought down by the enemy Cylons, Laura Roslin; a secretary to the minister of education who was enroute from Galactica’s museum opening ceremony but on dire circumstance became the leader of mankind, Gaius Baltar; a genius scientist who have a destructive role that followed the Cylon’s attack, Captain Lee ‘Apollo’ Adama; Commander Adama’s son who came to Galactica to help with the procedures but remain cold toward his father after years following his brother’s death, Lieutenant Kara ‘Starbuck’ Thrace; one of the best viper pilot who had some issues and hot-headedness which lands her in the brig, Lieutenant Sharon ‘Boomer’ Valerii; a rookie pilot who piloted a raptor with her ECO Karl ‘Helo’ Agathon, Senior Chief Petty Officer Galen Tyrol, Dualla, Gaeta and the rest of the wonderful team of kick ass characters.
As the beginning of the series, the pilot/book introduce us several major plots of what to come in the subsequent series. One is the plight of all the characters and the war with the Cylons. In the beginning of the book, we were introduced to the idea of the world where there was peace in the colonies and Cylons was long gone after the war. In one of the annual diplomatic mission, cylons finally emerged from their long silence, showing off their advance models including human models and began their systematic destruction throughout the colonies. In Caprica, Gaius Baltar is having the time of his life, being known and respected among the Caprican society as the president’s advisor and consultant to the ministry of defense and also being in a long-term sexual relationship with a mysterious blonde woman, Natasi. A day later after catching Gaius cheating on her and booting the girl away, Natasi reveal to Gaius that she was not who he think she is. That she is a human cylon model number six and that he had let her infiltrate the military defense which allows the cylons to launch massive attacks everywhere and nuking the colonies. In space, the CIC began to report that the colonial fleet experience sudden attack by the cylons and all suffered tremendous power failure and defeat leaving Battlestar Galactica as one of the last remaining battlestar in the colonial fleet. Because Adama’s resilient stance against computer networking in the system and having older models vipers, this gave an advantage to the Galactica as they were able to defend themselves against the cylons even stripped from its fire power.
The story goes on following the tv series pilot just right but somehow the book adaption enable the characterization to work as well as the screenplay. There are also details and explanation on the technical aspect of Battlestar Galactica which are missed by me while watching the pilot but thankfully was expanded wonderfully by Carver himself. There are a lot of silent moments in the miniseries which I enjoyed reading and understanding even more in this story. I realize that there are a bunch of lines and scenes that the miniseries didn’t have like how Gaius Balter escape his house after Caprica Six protected him from the fallout and how Billy is actually more smarter than he looks and the significance of a lot of non-verbal scenes. Because of the series reliance on its characters and not much on the action, it made the story convincing and true to its nature as a story of humankind.
As an adaptation, I was surprised at how I came to appreciate the miniseries more and began to take notice of the little details that Carver included in the novelization, but not as much in the show. While this is a series that spans 4 seasons, and multiple spin off shows with a lot of stories between characters that are meshed in this book, so in a sense, the biggest problem with this Novelization are some plot lines are not resolved in this book, and it makes it feel kinda incomplete and you can get overwhelmed by all the stories and characters left unresolved in this novelization.
Overall, Aside from that, yeah, this is a very close retelling of the Battlestar Galactica miniseries into paperback format. Some scenes have extra snippets of dialogue that would have likely been cut from the series for pacing that, again, show fans will appreciate for the added drops of lore they may present as well as building the world more, if only by a margin... All-in-all it's a good read for any Battlestar fan!
September 9, 2011
Best Show ever made by Man !
Read
May 12, 2021Battlestar Gallactica has a search for meaning
What is obvious is that sometimes one event influences another event. And this can lead to commentary on even more events.
And this is my cryptic way of talking about the new Battlestar Gallactica and its origins and meanings.
Or more specifically, the Battlestar Gallactica novelization of the reboot television miniseries from 2004. The show was written by Ronald D. Moore and Christopher Eric James, and this adaptation was penned by Jeffrey A. Carver.
Now waaaaay back when, the greatest space fantasy of them all was released in 1977 and it was called Star Wars and it made mega super buckets of money money money. Everyone tried to cash in with their own ripoffs, but the most successful of them all, and the best, was Battlestar Gallactica, which came out as a television movie in 1978. This leads to a show which people lost interest in during its only season, and even more so with its sequel series which came right after.
What set Battlestar apart was that creator Glen A. Larson not only drew massive inspiration from Star Wars, but from the Bible. His tale was of the survivors of humanity, way out in space, being chased by evil robots, as they searched for the fabled lost tribe of humanity on the far off lost planet Earth. To add to the mythology, characters are named Adama and Apollo and such. The major problem was the network wanted a kids show, while the concept lent itself to more serious subject matter.
Decades later that mission was achieved when writer Ronald D. Moore, who became famous for his Star Trek work and was now trying to reinvent scifi away from Star Trek, took on the task of reinventing the concept. Besides the original series, Moore plumbs history and society and religion and culture and psychology to build his vastly different Battlestar.
But it is massively obvious, from this novel and the 2004 miniseries and followup show, that Moore’s is tapping into the impact and pain and change that 9/11 had on humanity.
The book gives us a brief history of the humans in the twelve colonies and their robotic creations, the Cylons, who are now back after decades to eradicate their former masters. The humans are still scarred from that time and we see how this affects our characters, even the ones born after the war, to this day. When the new attack happens, our heroes are caught off guard and barely survive. This leads to the realization that they must search for the fabled lost tribe of humanity on the far off lost planet Earth.
Trauma from this event hits hard to all the characters and informs their decisions, both good and bad, and impacts other characters all over the place, like chaos exploding everywhere.
They are striving for realism here, and making the characters count as people caught up in horrors beyond understanding. Along the way, Moore and his writers use this as a way to explore tons of issues and concepts. Religion is a major theme, with the humans being heathens according to the Cylons, because they worship multiple Gods such as Zeus and Thor, while the Cylons have only one true God. Because of this imperfection, we are children who must be eliminated. Another idea explored is of sleeper agents who do not know they are sleeper agents, as some Cylons have evolved into human looking forms and some do not realized what they truly are.
This novel captures all this story from the miniseries, and gives you a taste of what the show promised and delivered. It is a mature read of course, as is the show, and deals with lots of issues which will make you think and possibly re-evaluate your ideas.
When this Battlestar Gallactica ended, it was swirled in controversy, not only because not all plot lines and questions were resolved, but because the plan always was to evolve the concept from humanity living a crisis to humanity surviving from a crisis to humanity thriving after a crisis to maybe humanity learning something of higher value along the way.
I think Moore was hoping that humanity would evolve into something better after 9/11, and used Battlestar as a way to express that.
Scoopriches
What is obvious is that sometimes one event influences another event. And this can lead to commentary on even more events.
And this is my cryptic way of talking about the new Battlestar Gallactica and its origins and meanings.
Or more specifically, the Battlestar Gallactica novelization of the reboot television miniseries from 2004. The show was written by Ronald D. Moore and Christopher Eric James, and this adaptation was penned by Jeffrey A. Carver.
Now waaaaay back when, the greatest space fantasy of them all was released in 1977 and it was called Star Wars and it made mega super buckets of money money money. Everyone tried to cash in with their own ripoffs, but the most successful of them all, and the best, was Battlestar Gallactica, which came out as a television movie in 1978. This leads to a show which people lost interest in during its only season, and even more so with its sequel series which came right after.
What set Battlestar apart was that creator Glen A. Larson not only drew massive inspiration from Star Wars, but from the Bible. His tale was of the survivors of humanity, way out in space, being chased by evil robots, as they searched for the fabled lost tribe of humanity on the far off lost planet Earth. To add to the mythology, characters are named Adama and Apollo and such. The major problem was the network wanted a kids show, while the concept lent itself to more serious subject matter.
Decades later that mission was achieved when writer Ronald D. Moore, who became famous for his Star Trek work and was now trying to reinvent scifi away from Star Trek, took on the task of reinventing the concept. Besides the original series, Moore plumbs history and society and religion and culture and psychology to build his vastly different Battlestar.
But it is massively obvious, from this novel and the 2004 miniseries and followup show, that Moore’s is tapping into the impact and pain and change that 9/11 had on humanity.
The book gives us a brief history of the humans in the twelve colonies and their robotic creations, the Cylons, who are now back after decades to eradicate their former masters. The humans are still scarred from that time and we see how this affects our characters, even the ones born after the war, to this day. When the new attack happens, our heroes are caught off guard and barely survive. This leads to the realization that they must search for the fabled lost tribe of humanity on the far off lost planet Earth.
Trauma from this event hits hard to all the characters and informs their decisions, both good and bad, and impacts other characters all over the place, like chaos exploding everywhere.
They are striving for realism here, and making the characters count as people caught up in horrors beyond understanding. Along the way, Moore and his writers use this as a way to explore tons of issues and concepts. Religion is a major theme, with the humans being heathens according to the Cylons, because they worship multiple Gods such as Zeus and Thor, while the Cylons have only one true God. Because of this imperfection, we are children who must be eliminated. Another idea explored is of sleeper agents who do not know they are sleeper agents, as some Cylons have evolved into human looking forms and some do not realized what they truly are.
This novel captures all this story from the miniseries, and gives you a taste of what the show promised and delivered. It is a mature read of course, as is the show, and deals with lots of issues which will make you think and possibly re-evaluate your ideas.
When this Battlestar Gallactica ended, it was swirled in controversy, not only because not all plot lines and questions were resolved, but because the plan always was to evolve the concept from humanity living a crisis to humanity surviving from a crisis to humanity thriving after a crisis to maybe humanity learning something of higher value along the way.
I think Moore was hoping that humanity would evolve into something better after 9/11, and used Battlestar as a way to express that.
Scoopriches
July 5, 2020
In 1978, Battlestar Galactica appeared, an SF television series starring Lorne Greene of Bonanza fame and a cast of young actors. Inspired by Star Trek and Star Wars, the original series, though it lasted only a single season, is fondly remembered. Now Battlestar Galactica has been resurrected in spectacular fashion by Ronald Moore, for many years a successful writer and director of Star Trek episodes. With sharply written, literate scripts and a cast of fine actors led by Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell, the reborn Battlestar Galactica has been a huge success, first as a miniseries, and now as a continuing series on the Sci Fi Channel. Tor Books is proud to publish a novel based on the exciting, suspenseful miniseries.Humanity created the robotic Cylons to help itself, but the Cylons turned on their makers and fought a terrible war until the armistice. Forty years later, the Cylons are . . . different. Now they look and act human. Some of them even think they are human. When the Cylons attack the twelve human worlds, only a single ship survives the onslaught: the oldest ship in the fleet, Battlestar Galactica. Led by Commander Adama, President Laura Roslin, and pilots like the fiercely independent Starbuck and Lee Adama, the refugees fight for the survival of humanity in a riveting epic of interstellar adventure. **
February 19, 2025
(FYI I tend to only review one book per series, unless I want to change my scoring by 0.50 or more of a star. -- I tend not to read reviews until after I read a book, so I go in with an open mind.)
I'm finally going through my tv, film etc. tie in library owned book list, to add more older basic reviews. If I liked a book enough to keep then they are at the least a 3 star.
I'm only adding one book per author and I'm not going to re-read every book to be more accurate, not when I have 1000s of new to me authors to try (I can't say no to free books....)
First time read the author's work?: Yes
Will you be reading more?: Yes
Would you recommend?: Yes
------------
How I rate Stars: 5* = I loved (must read all I can find by the author)
4* = I really enjoyed (got to read all the series and try other books by the author).
3* = I enjoyed (I will continue to read the series)
or
3* = Good book just not my thing (I realised I don't like the genre or picked up a kids book to review in error.)
All of the above scores means I would recommend them!
-
2* = it was okay (I might give the next book in the series a try, to see if that was better IMHO.)
1* = Disliked
Note: adding these basic 'reviews' after finding out that some people see the stars differently than I do - hoping this clarifies how I feel about the book. :-)
I'm finally going through my tv, film etc. tie in library owned book list, to add more older basic reviews. If I liked a book enough to keep then they are at the least a 3 star.
I'm only adding one book per author and I'm not going to re-read every book to be more accurate, not when I have 1000s of new to me authors to try (I can't say no to free books....)
First time read the author's work?: Yes
Will you be reading more?: Yes
Would you recommend?: Yes
------------
How I rate Stars: 5* = I loved (must read all I can find by the author)
4* = I really enjoyed (got to read all the series and try other books by the author).
3* = I enjoyed (I will continue to read the series)
or
3* = Good book just not my thing (I realised I don't like the genre or picked up a kids book to review in error.)
All of the above scores means I would recommend them!
-
2* = it was okay (I might give the next book in the series a try, to see if that was better IMHO.)
1* = Disliked
Note: adding these basic 'reviews' after finding out that some people see the stars differently than I do - hoping this clarifies how I feel about the book. :-)
September 5, 2025
I barely remember reading this. I just remember it not reading like a novel, but a scene by scene description of the mini-series - the writing was very robotic (no pun intended).
Weirdly, the only thing that stuck with me was the description of Sharon/Boomer as having “oriental features”, which is basically both lazy in terms of coming up with a way to describe someone’s appearance, and racist in how they’re using an already dated language while trying to appear politically correct. You know what would not be racist? If you stopped focusing on how their appearance is different from you and just described the actual features as if you were describing someone you see as being like you. Maybe you’d then tap into a similar wealth of vocabulary that seems to be available for white people’s complexion and features.
Weirdly, the only thing that stuck with me was the description of Sharon/Boomer as having “oriental features”, which is basically both lazy in terms of coming up with a way to describe someone’s appearance, and racist in how they’re using an already dated language while trying to appear politically correct. You know what would not be racist? If you stopped focusing on how their appearance is different from you and just described the actual features as if you were describing someone you see as being like you. Maybe you’d then tap into a similar wealth of vocabulary that seems to be available for white people’s complexion and features.
November 25, 2019
If I had read this without ever having seen the television show, I don't think I would have had nearly as good of a time. As it were, I was able to picture the events of the show and I was able to fill in the significant gaps left in the story line. One of things I like most about novelizations is their ability to expand the story, add scenes, add additional perspective. This one was almost the opposite and felt more abbreviated. Key pieces were left out (at least in my opinion, although I'm sure I'm biased since this is one of my favorite shows of all time and anything being left out seems like a crime). It definitely wasn't terrible, but if anyone reads this without having seen the show, I beg you to not let it influence whether or not you continue on to watch the full series.
December 2, 2020
This is a frakking faithful novelization of the miniseries. That said, you'll want to read it if you find that you lost some of the story in the inane, stupid and pointless gods damned mumbling of the actors. Yes, it's that infuriating! How that felgergarb passes for acting is frakking beyond me! Anyway, I found only one minor copy-editing error in the kindle edition. The author adds some points that either I missed or weren't made obvious in the miniseries. I really enjoyed that. I read this because I'm in love the Sharon (Eight) model. She's so hot. Also, it's beautifully written and is a gods send to those of us who hate mumbling actors. Oh, and the one true god can suck it. So say we all!
June 25, 2021
2.5. The writing is pretty terrible, the writer focuses a lot on descriptions of non-white characters and slips into Earth-descriptive adjectives (how can someone from a different planet look oriental?) and every single female character is described as "attractive" on multiple occasions, usually with a superlative attached. It's also basically a scene-by-scene replay of the miniseries which doesn't work in some instances since television and books are two different mediums. On the plus side, it did clarify a number of things I'd missed and offered passing excuses for things I'd wondered about (such as the presence of gravity in space).
October 21, 2017
Notable adaptacion de la miniserie piloto del relanzamiento de BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. Contiene todas las escenas y en algunas profundiza. Los personajes estan muy bien definidos y la narracion es super agil y colorida. Lo unico quizas "malo" es que, al igual que la miniserie, queda en un continuara que te dan ganas que hubieran mas novelas que sigan la trama. Pero no hay!. Salvo un trio de novelas originales que no tienen relacion directa con los capitulos. Pero igual, una novela que disfruraras mucho, seas o no fan de Galactica.
September 13, 2018
Novelizations can be good or bad, depending upon how much material an author is given with which to work. Thankfully, Carver had not only the ability to give us some depth of character - since this was written after the series had a chance to get off the ground, and so had an idea of what the actors brought to their roles - but he also was allowed to write in scenes which were cut from the miniseries as broadcast. This is an excellent read, and holds up just as well as the miniseries does today.
May 31, 2021
The 2004-2009 Battlestar Galactica series was and still is, in my opinion, the best TV series in the history of human civilization. While I am limited on time due to family and work commitments to rewatch the whole services, I stumbled upon the book versions of BSG, which allowed me to read at a more comfortable pace. This book covers the events of the 3-hour miniseries released in 2003. It was very well written, and I loved reconnecting with the characters of the story. There are very few stories and shows that can truly portray human nature, like BSG, both televised and written.
June 29, 2017
Basically, exactly like the 2003 mini-series, with very little extra insight. The narrator did an excellent job of mimicking the actors speech patterns, without trying to impersonate them, but some of his pronunciations were off. He continually said C A G instead of cag, which made me giggle every single time.
June 28, 2020
I was honestly disappointed in the book. Not because of the story, but because it followed the series word for word. If you have seen the series, do not waste your time with this book. If you haven't seen the series, please read on and enjoy it just like the rest of us did years ago. The story is action packed and well written.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 30, 2020
I caught the television mini-series, which is the subject of this excellent novelization, a decade after its original release & was blown away by the re-booting of what was essentially a cheap shot at cashing in the Star Wars craze in the late-70s & early 80s. In my opinion, it remains fresh & one of the more outstanding science fiction series, second only to Babylon 5, to grace the small screen. #Goodreads
February 6, 2025
I like the way Jeffrey A Carver writes. I purchased an autographed copy of this and gave it a read. It is faithful to the screenplay of the first episodes of the newer BG series, which I have seen. His writing adds little to the plot of the show, except perhaps the motives and thoughts of the characters. Too bad they didn’t fund him to write original scripts!
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