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"Memorial"
Battlestar Galactica #1 (Dynamite, Vol. 2)
Written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
Illustrated by Cezar Razek
Cover by Alex Ross
2013
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After the fleet is ambushed in a Cylon
attack, Commander Adama is forced to authorize the use of
prohibited weapons designed by Dr. Wilker's new protégé...Dr.
Zee!
Story Summary
As the story opens, Commander Adama is
having a nightmare about the destruction of the Twelve Colonies.
As the dream nears its end, he witnesses his beloved wife shot
down by a Cylon, then the weapon is turned upon himself. Adama
awakens in a sweat in his bed and looks at a hologram of his
family as they were before the holocaust. It is implied he has this nightmare
every night.
Later, Commander Adama gives a speech on the
latest anniversary of the massacre. Immediately after the
memorial, a pair of Cylon baseships suddenly emerges from a nearby
nebula that was cloaking them and waves of Raiders are launched
in attack. Galactica goes to battle stations and Vipers
are launched while Adama orders the rest of the fleet to surge
towards the nebula to evade Cylon sensors.
A number of the Raiders begin suicide
attacks, plowing themselves into the hull of the battlestar,
causing great damage. With the Galactica losing the
battle, Adama is forced to sanction the use of young Dr. Zee's
new temporal weapons. Apollo and Starbuck are given two
Zee-modified Vipers equipped with the new weapons, which
remove their targets from the timeline as if they never existed;
but these weapons are extremely dangerous and unpredictable, in
that they disjoint time itself. The two successfully use the
weapons against a pair of Cylon Raiders, before targeting the
baseships. But a suicide attack against the Galactica
causes the temporal battery housed aboard her to overload,
causing the battlestar, the fleet, and the Cylon attack force to
vanish in front of Apollo's and Starbuck's startled eyes.
CONTINUED IN BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
#2
Didja Know?
The individual issues of this series do not have titles. I made
up the titles myself, usually based on a concept or bit of
dialog from the issue.
Initially, writers Abnett and Lanning were signed to do this
series as a follow-on of Dynamite's
Galactica 1980
mini-series from 2009, with a story set 33 years later in 2013.
But Dynamite later decided they wanted to celebrate the upcoming
35th anniversary of Battlestar Galactica by having stories set
in the time period of that series. Abnett hints that the
Galactica 1980
follow-up will come later
(possibly as another mini-series); see his interview at
Comic Vine.
Didja Notice?
The inside front cover of this issue
presents the preamble of the theatrical version of the BSG
pilot, which ends with "...far, far away amongst the stars." The
last line probably was originally written to suggest the "galaxy
far, far away" slogan associated with Star Wars. This
preamble was also used in Dynamite's Battlestar Galactica:
Cylon Apocalypse mini-series, published in 2007 (see the
study, "The Infidel Basestar").
As usual when the franchise wants to present Commander Adama as
yahrens older than he was in the
Battlestar Galactica TV series, he is given a beard.
Here, he sports a Van Dyke instead of the full beard seen in the
War of Eden
mini-series or in Galactica 1980.
On page 2, the battlestars present at the Cylon-Colonial peace
accord (in "Annihilation") are
listed as Atlantia, Acropolis, Pacifica,
Triton, and Galactica. These are, in fact, the
same ones mentioned in various pieces of dialog in that earlier
episode.
On page 5, a previously unseen
model of Cylon is seen in battle
on Caprica. It's a bit
reminiscent of a Hunter-Killer
tank from the
Terminator movies. Seeing
as how
this is part of Adama's
nightmare, it's unknown whether
this is a real Cylon model and
not just a creation of his
terrified imagination, but it's
certainly logical to assume the
Cylons built other specialized
models besides the Centurions,
Command Centurions, civilians,
IL-series, and Imperious Leader.
(We see additional specialized Cylons in the following chapter,
"Time and Punishment", as well.) |
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In Adama's nightmare on pages 1-7, he is depicted with his
beard, even though he did not have one at the time of the peace
accord in
"Annihilation". But, I
suppose we
usually see ourselves in dreams more-or-less as we currently
are, even when dreaming about the past.
Page 10 reveals that the fleet has a memorial day on every
anniversary of the Cylon massacre at the Colonies.
On page 10, panel 3, we see that a young Dr. Zee (from
Galactica 1980) is a member of the fleet at this
time.
In panel 5, of page 10, two figures that look like the Paradeen robots
Hector and Vector (from
"Greetings from Earth" Part 2) are seen. But there was certainly no
indication in that episode that the robots would not stay with
their owners, Michael and Sarah, on Paradeen. Did the fleet pick up two
other
robots while still in Terran space?
Also on page 10, Adama's speech is seen on screens throughout
the fleet. Some of the screens appear to be holoscreens. Though
holoscreens were never seen in the TV episodes, it makes sense
that an advanced technology such as that wielded by the
Colonials would include holographic communications. Some
holographic display elements are also seen in the Vipers (and in
use by the Cylons as well) in
"Time and Punishment".
Page 12 reveals that the fleet has been using a nearby nebula to
cloak its position from the Cylon chase ships. In
a similar situation in
"The Infidel Basestar",
the fleet was hidden inside the Korax nebula for three weeks to
evade the Cylons.
As Galactica scrambles Vipers, Starbuck remarks, "Let's
wrap this fast! I've got a game of pyramid to finish!" But we
saw that he was just at the memorial ceremony, not at a card table!
During the space battle against the Cylons, some of the Raiders
perform suicide runs against the Galactica, similar to
their actions in "Fire in Space".
It's unrevealed here whether the Raiders are loaded with
explosive solenite as they were in that earlier episode.
Page 14 reveals that Zee is a protégé of Dr. Wilker at this
time. The Zee that appears here seems to be the same one, though
younger, who is seen in Dynamite's
Galactica 1980 mini-series, which takes place at
a later date.
On page 15, Starbuck refers to Cylons as "toasters". This slang
term was originally introduced in the BSG2000 TV series and this
is its first use in the BSG70 canon of which I am aware (though
Starbuck does refer to them as another kitchen appliance,
"blenders", in "Bio-Weapon").
Also on page 15, Dr. Wilker refers to Zee as an old mind in a
young body. This is mentioned again in the first issue of
Dynamite's
Galactica 1980 mini-series.
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Zee has modified two Vipers to
use temporal weapons. The rest
of the Colonials keep talking
about how temporal weapons have
been outlawed, implying that
such weapons existed and were
used at some
point during the history of
the Twelve Colonies. Zee states
that the weapons remove their
targets from the timeline as if
they never existed, but they are
extremely dangerous in that they
disjoint time itself. This seems
to be evidenced by the
disappearance of the entire
fleet (except for Apollo and
Starbuck in their temporal
Vipers) and their Cylon
attackers after the temporal
battery is damaged by an impacting
Raider at the end of the issue.
(At left: the two Zee-modified Vipers.) |
It's subtle, but notice on page 16 that the two temporal Vipers
have tandem cockpits, seating two. This was a feature of the
Vipers seen in episodes of
Galactica 1980, at least two of which also had the ability to
travel through time.
On page 21, one of the two Viper pilots (it's not clear whether
it's Apollo or Starbuck) says "feldercarb" instead of the proper
curse word "felgercarb". This has occurred in other BSG70
stories (TV episodes and licensed tie-ins), so it may be time to
consider it a "legitimate" variation of slang, perhaps similar
to such English curse words as "damn" and "darn", with one form
more publicly acceptable than the other. (In later chapters of
this story, the correct word, "felgercarb", is used.)
Unanswered Questions
This 5-part story deals with the ramifications of
time-alteration after the use of temporal weapons. Since the
weapons are said to have been historically prohibited because of
the unpredictable results of disjointing time, it is implied
that the Colonials once had and used them in the past,
presumably during the existence of the Twelve Colonies. Was time
already altered in some way by the use of such weapons by the
Colonies? Or could the disaster that struck Kobol thousands of
yahrens ago be related to the use of temporal weaponry? If so,
the prohibition against such weapons may have been handed down
from the ancient Kobolians, perhaps even in the Book of the
Word.
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