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Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Lost in the Neutral Zone
Posts: 656
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Prequel Ideas
You may have already seen this at the Scifi forum, but I figure the more I spread it around, the greater chance of it being seen by someone important.
A prequel should either take place at the onset of the thousand-year war with the Cylons or thirty to forty years prior to the original series, in the young days of Commander Adama and Colonel Tigh (a younger Commander Cain and Baltar might be in there also).
Last night, I realized that I would really like to see the latter version for two reasons: The Galactica is supposedly only 500 years old and you need to see the ship, and I like the idea of seeing familiar characters in their younger days.
Here are my admittedly rushed ideas.
CHARACTER SKETCHES
ADAMA (Lt. or Captain, early to mid 30’s): He is the Apollo of this series; intelligent; thoughtful; he looks before he leaps.
CAIN (Lt., early to mid 30’s): The Starbuck, or Kara Thrace, of this series. Has problems with authority; a maverick, but you can count on him when you need him.
TIGH (Ensign, early to mid 20’s): Tigh seemed about ten years younger than Adama in the original series, so in this series, he’s just joining the Galactica. He’s wet behind the ears, and Adama takes him under his wing. Tigh is shy, the opposite end of the spectrum from Cain, who is brazen. In the middle of both of these extreme personalities is Adama, who is just sensitive enough to be Tigh’s good friend and just wild enough to be a good friend of Cain. All three of these characters are regular crew members of the Galactica.
BALTAR (Diplomat or assistant to a diplomat, early to mid 30’s): In this series we will see Baltar’s character flaws slowly manifest themselves. Even in his youth he is a conniving sort, but it’s on a much less destructive basis, obviously. He’s constantly trying to undermine other people’s efforts (perhaps his diplomatic colleagues or his superiors) in order to advance himself into a more powerful position. He finds himself temporarily stationed aboard the Galactica.
ILYA (mid 20’s to early 30’s): Ilya is Adama’s wife from the original series. She might be a crew member of the Galactica, perhaps a med tech or bridge officer. Not to sound sexist, but she shouldn’t be a pilot if this series is taking place some 30 to 40 years before the original series. She should still be strong-willed and intelligent, not a shrinking violet. She might be a point of contention between Adama and Baltar, who are both attracted to her. She can be the spark that leads to a rivalry and eventually a great animosity between Adama and Baltar. Even without the love triangle, however, Adama is perhaps the first and only person to truly suspect Baltar's dangerous nature. Baltar, knowing this, may be trying to undermine Adama, get him into dangerous situations/missions, or may even be trying to slyly get him killed or courtmarshelled.
PREMISES
1.
The Galactica is stationed on the outer rim of the colonial system of 12 planets. It is in effect a sentinel guarding against possible Cylon attack from this one direction. There are other battlestar sentinels in other strategic locations on the rim of the solar system, and still others protecting the planets themselves, but in this place, the Galactica is the only line of defense.
This premise would be sort of like when there are two countries at conflict, with border guards stationed so close that they can look at each other with binoculars. The Cylons shouldn’t be so close as to be in view, but their presence is always felt. They’re nearby at all times. They don’t attack, because if a war has lasted 1,000 years, as was established in the original series, you can’t be having battles every other week. This is more a story of skirmishes in the sort of “Neutral Zone” between the two forces. There can be planets and asteroids scattered through this neutral region, which our heroes can explore and patrol in their “not-quite-so-fancy” vipers. There might even be aliens on some of them, if the budget will allow for it. There can be plenty of opportunities to clash with the Cylons without major battles ensuing.
In this premise, the Galactica is basically standing still, performing its guard duty, so there will also be plenty of opportunity to explore the characters and life aboard a battlestar. Maybe there’s conflict between Baltar and his fellow diplomats and the military personnel. I admit, I haven’t come up with a great idea for Baltar to even be aboard ship in this scenario, but I’m sure a professional writer could come up with something interesting. There would also be commander and colonel roles to fill, and numerous others.
2.
In this premise, the Colonials are trying to establish an alliance with a neighboring alien planet. This planet has not been bothered by the Cylons before, because they were not deemed a threat. But now they’re developing better ships and weapons, and the Cylons are destroying some of their scout vessels. The Galactica, either by itself or as part of a fleet, is sent to protect the planet and perhaps even establish an alliance, with young Baltar’s help. The aliens don’t want any such thing. They think if they leave the Cylons alone, the Cylons will leave them alone. But not so.
The Cylons attack, bombing the planet, decimating it. The battlestar fleet tries to help the aliens, joining the battle. This attack may have been set up previously by the traitorous diplomat Baltar works for. Ironically, it is Baltar who learns of this deception and somehow manages to save the Galactica through some secret piece of intelligence he learns from the diplomat. Baltar may be deceitful and conniving, and a future traitor himself, but at the beginning of this prequel, he is still a patriot. But the rest of the fleet is destroyed, and the Galactica is forced to run, possibly taking some of the alien survivors aboard the Galactica, or even leading a rag-tag fleet of alien ships away from the planet.
Where they go from there is another matter. They may be forced to run into deep space, away from the colonies. Or they may encounter a blockade on their way home and have to take a long, circuitous route back home.
Those are but two possibilities for a prequel in the Adama and Tigh days. I only started thinking about it last night, so I’m sure there are many, many areas and ideas to explore. Go to it, Powers That Be.
Last edited by RGrant; January 21st, 2003 at 09:51 AM..
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