 |
"The Enemy Within" Part 1
Battlestar Galactica: The Enemy Within #1 (Maximum Press)
Story: Rob Liefeld and Robert Napton
Script: Robert Napton
Art: Hector Gomez
November 1995 |
The humans discover a drifting ship of the
lost 13th tribe.
Didja Notice?
Commander Apollo's log informs us this story begins six sectons
(weeks) since the discovery of Earth.
On page 1, some kind of pterosaur is seen flying in the
background on Earth. Also, some small, bipedal dinosaurs
(compys?) are seen behind Apollo.
On pages 4-7, Commander Cain pilots a two-seater Viper with his
namesake grandson as the passenger. It would seem that it must be a Viper borrowed
from the Galactica, since it has the same new-design look,
but the Vipers later seen in use by the Pegasus in
"Apollo's Journey" Part 3 are also the same. Of course,
as we try to fit these stories from various publishers into
PopApostle's BSG chronology, the Pegasus has already been
acknowledged as destroyed in
Resurrection, with the
battlestar Daedalus tentatively taking its place as
Cain's command, so it may have had a complement of the Scarlet
Vipers in place from Adama's fleet before the separation.
On page 7, panel 4, we see that the asteroids through which the
two Cains have been flying are actually the orbiting chunks of
rock which make up Saturn's rings.
In this issue, we learn that techs from the Galactica
have installed a
temporal overdrive engine on the Pegasus.
Rigel appears on page 9, complete with her trademark braided
ponytail.
"The Enemy Within" Part 2 reveals that she is now a Lt. Colonel.
Doctors Salik and Wilker look quite a bit different here than
the actors who portrayed them in the TV series. In fact, Dr.
Wilker looks quite a bit younger, but that could be explained by
the fact that he is later revealed to be a robotic replica
(in
"The Enemy Within" Part 2) designed by the original Wilker, so the body could have
been designed to mimic the time when he was in his prime.
On page 16, Dr. Salik orders the nurse to begin a series of
dolzon injections on the reviving Ares. This appears to be the
first mention of a such a drug in the BSG universe.
The survivor found on the derelict introduces himself by the
name of Ares. The name is better known to us as that of the
Greek god of war, hinting at the being's true purpose here. On
page 18, Sire Domra also says that Ares is the name of the god of war in
Kobolian mythology.
Page 17 reveals that the name of the Kobolian ark that held Adam
and Eve was Eden.
On pages 18 and 19, Ares is wearing a ring through his nose
which he was not wearing when he was awakened, nor in any other
scene after!
When Ares checks in with his Cylon compatriots via a small comm
device, Lucifer tells him to proceed with the Omega Protocols.
"Omega" is a Greek word meaning "last" or "ending".
On page 22, Lucifer reveals that the ship on which Ares was
found is a genuine Kobolian craft discovered by the Cylons.
Notes from the BSG lettercol
In the lettercol of this issue, the editor remarks on Adama's
death at the end of "War of
Eden" Part 4: "But in science fiction death often is only a
transitional thing!" And another editorial
response to a letter in Battlestar Galactica: Starbuck #3 tells us: "The small marker
Apollo is looking at in [Battlestar Galactica: The Enemy
Within #1] marks a buried staircase which
leads to a tomb. Though Adama would have been embarrassed by it,
he was entombed much like a Lord of Kobol. And you know, it's
said that mysterious things can happen in those tombs..."
These editorial admissions suggest they had plans to bring Adama
back in some form in a future storyline. However, it never did
happen before Maximum Press ended their license deal for BSG
with Universal.
Back to Episode Studies
