Anyone ever watch Gall Force?

[thomas7g]

I think I understand what Moore was trying to do with Starbuck. There is a character named "Ruffi" (or Luffy, or Skoa, or Scar) that I think Moore may have been trying to duplicate. She has the Thrace attitude, but she isn't obnoxious. But just as wild when she's in a cockpit.

Has Moore ever expressed he watches anime?

Luffy is a loner. A short haired blonde with a lock of green dyed hair. She is the lone survivor of several squadrons. People consider her to be cursed cause whole squadrons die around her, but the point is she survives cause she's that good.

[beeker]

Originally posted by conundrum7g
I think I understand what Moore was trying to do with Starbuck. There is a character named "Ruffi" (or Luffy, or Skoa, or Scar) that I think Moore may have been trying to duplicate. She has the Thrace attitude, but she isn't obnoxious. But just as wild when she's in a cockpit.

I don't think that Moore was trying to duplicate (at least knowingly) anything. I got the impression from his interviews that he was trying to get away from the cliche aspects of the original Starbuck.

BTW of course Thrace is obnoxious. She is young and the best of the best in the fleet. Viper pilots are the elite, and she is the best of them. Humility is not part of the makeup of such people. The confidence and arrogance of such people will usually make them seem obnoxious (especially the young ones). Experience and maturity will usually soften that appearence to outsiders.

If you want insight to that kind of character read "Rogue Warrior" by Richard Marcenko (sp?). I was stationed with someone who knew him when he was the leader of Red Cell (explained in the book). I was told that if anything he was more arrogant in person than he comes across in the book (and they were friends).

Anyway I think that Moore is looking to the military for how he will continue the Starbuck character.

If you read some of Moore's interviews you will see he was inspired by the movie "In Harm's Way" A John Wayne classic about a naval campaign in World War II. In interviews Moore states that Adama and Tigh were both modeled on the characters of Admiral Rockwell Torrey (played by John wayne) and Commander Paul Eddington (played by Kirk Douglas). What Moore does not say in his interviews is that just about every other character in ther mini is also directly lifted, fleshed out, or combinations of characters in "In Harm's Way". The characters that are lifted fairly directly seem to be the ones most posters have no issues with.

The problem/inspiration of the Starbuck character can also be found in "In Harm's Way". Instead of Starbuck being directly lifted she is a composite of three characters in the original (and I don't mean TOS). In "In Harm's Way" the XO, Commander Eddington was the dark Colonel Tigh we see in the mini. However Eddington had a cavalier, heroic side that is absent in the mini Colonel Tigh. The positive heroic scenes that Eddington had in "In Harm's Way" were given to the character of Starbuck in the mini. The obvious example is the recon in the clouds and the placement in the brig scenes.

"In Harm's Way" has a relationship between a young naval officer who is truly noble and heroic and his wife, who is also a very loving and noble person. These characters are LTJG McConnell and Mrs. McConnell. In order to keep this storyline in the mini they had to shoe horn Starbuck and Apollo into these characters. Since the primary basis of the Apollo character is Ensign Jerrod Torrey, the estranged son of Admiral Rockwell Torrey keeping this storyline was bound to be rough. The way they did this was to give the attributes and scenes of Mrs. McConnell to Starbuck. Since in the mini Apollo and Starbuck are NOT married like the characters of "In Harm' Way" the MIA reunion scene in the mini is subdued compared to the same scene in "In Harm's Way". The character of LTJG McConnell is split between Starbuck and Apollo. The initial scene of Starbuck destroying the cylon raiders and shooting down all but one missile are the directly lifted actions of LTJG McConnel and his destroyer in defense of Rockwell Torrey's capital ship.

Overall the problems with Starbuck's character in the mini is that as a combination or split of three charcaters from "In Harm's Way" --- Eddington (-), McConnell (-), Mrs. McConnell her interactions with other people in the split seem unnatural at times.

Since there was no "In Harm's Way" II I think the Starbuck character will improve in a series once the constraints of copying "In Harm's Way" are removed from her character.

I think the mini would have been better if they had an Athena character and based her 100% on Mrs. McConnel and let Starbuck stay as a man and base him 100% on LTJG McConnel. Leave Apollo as Ensign Torrey and return the heroic part of Eddington to Colonel Tigh.

Since it is obvious to some already that this was a remake of "In Harm's Way" maybe fixing the "problems" with Starbuck would make this too obvious. I still think not crediting "In Harm's Way" may come back to haunt Moore or SCIFI financially down the road.