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Battlestar Galactica (2005)

Battlestar Galactica (2005)

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Rating
3.68 of 5 Votes: 4
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ISBN
0765315416 (ISBN13: 9780765315410)
Language
English
Publisher
tor books

About book Battlestar Galactica (2005)

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.

I just want to start off saying that I will not compare this to the original novels or original TV series because for me they are very different, too different for a proper comparison. Now, moving onward. I loved the 2004 television series. It is by far one of my favorite shows of all time. Keeping that in mind, Battlestar Galactica the novel is basically just the literary version of the show. As I read this book, I very vividly pictured the episodes unfolding beautifully before my eyes.I noticed that not many people like the writing of this novel. But I honestly have to say that I rather enjoyed it. It was not a poorly written book in any sense. The technical mumbo-jumbo was explained very nicely without making things sound overly complex. The space battle descriptions were smooth and very decently paced, and most importantly the emotions that are running on extreme highs is delivered with great execution. The tension, the fear, the grief, and the rage--you will feel all of it as you simply read one page after another. So, safe to say I didn't have an issue with the writing at all!The novel did, however, feel like it had somewhat of a sluggish start. The first 50 pages didn't really grab my attention with hooks, but afterwards I was totally itching to finish. The sluggish aspects does come up sporadically throughout the novel. I think it's less of the style and more in part due to the content. There are just some scenes where you have to take it slow to set the atmosphere and I was perfectly okay with that. The ending obviously leaves you with the hint that there is much more to come (meaning more books!). I highly recommend the novels to people who have not had the chance to watch the 2004 TV series. If you just don't have the time for it, then at the very least check out the books. They are not as well-done but definitely a great way to experience this fantastic piece of sci-fi. If you have seen the show, then I would say read the book if you want to re-experience the show without having to watch it all over again.

Do You like book Battlestar Galactica (2005)?

I know I'm not quite in the right generation, but I have read the old Battlestar Galactica book adaptations of the TV series (thank you, public library!) and have grown rather fond of them. I was a little perturbed about the new Battlestar (particularly how Starbuck is now a woman), but I am open to new ideas, so I bought this one with my birthday gift card.PLEASE NOTE: I have never seen the actual miniseries, so this is just a review on the book, not on how the novelization compares to the miniseries.Many years ago, the Twelve Colonies created the Cylons to make life easier. They even made Cylons to fight their wars for them. Eventually, the Cylons got wise enough to wonder why they were taking orders from humans and revolted. For many years, the two fought until the humans drove the Cylons away, not to be seen again.Or so the Twelve Colonies thought. Forty years have passed, and the Cylons are back, badder, slicker, and ready for human blood--and lots of it. They nearly wipe out civilization with the exception of the select few. Commander Adama of the last battlestar, Galactica, Captain Apollo Adama, Lieutenant Kara Thrace, Laura Roslin, the new President of the Twelve Colonies, and others must now battle their way across the galaxy searching for respite from the Cylons' attack.Good:Well, I must admit I was scared that they would wreck Battlestar Galactica. What with the onslaught of bad remakes, such as The Dukes of Hazzard, Bewitched, and Starsky & Hutch, I feared the worst.Fortunately, these fears were unfounded. Although several events have changed (namely, that several characters have gender changes, names such as "Starbuck" and "Boomer" are now pilot call-signs, and Zee is killed in an accident some time ago instead of during the battle), the changes for the most part are good. Obviously, the TV series of the 70's was dated. It is nice to see women in positions of power instead of the ubiquitous "companions" (Cassiopeia in old Battlestar or Inara of Firefly fame) or relations of the big boys.The events in the new Battlestar are most definitely edge-of-your-seat material. I mean, it was easy to whip through thirty or more pages of the fast paced action in one sitting. Seeing how people react to Armageddon, the tough choices they have to make, and how people band together is awesome but what is even more awesome is how the book handles these subjects. Well done, realistic, and, most importantly, interesting.Over the course of the novel, three characters have found a place in my heart: Commander Adama, President Roslin, and Colonel Tigh. Commander William Adama is a perfect leader but really not that awesome as a dad. His tough demeanor makes him appear to be unemotional, but we, as the audience, can see the inner turmoil he hides inside. President Laura Roslin in some ways is similar to Commander Adama but in other ways not much. She also is a good leader (given that she started out being the Secretary of Education) and hides her emotions deep inside. Unlike Adama, Laura is comforting, willing to divulger her condition to her aide, and more likely to kill herself saving another's life. Colonel Saul Tigh is completely different than the other two. Tigh drowns his sorrows in alcohol, starts fights so he can retaliate against another officer, and isn't afraid to make the tough choices about who lives and who dies.Bad:Besides the sexual situations (the beginning one with Gaius and Natasi was too much for me), there really isn't a whole lot to pick on with this book. There are so many characters that I wish the author had included a Dramatis Personae in the beginning. At one point, Adama refuses to leave until Starbuck and Lee return to the Galactica. Ordinarily, this would be no problem, but several times in the book, characters (including Adama) leave doomed survivors behind to favor the ones that could be saved. This seemed to me to be contradictory. Furthermore, the beginning was a little kiddy, a little slow, and a little boring.Dialogue/Sexual Situations/Violence:While the f-word is replaced with "frak" (may be too much for some people), other words such as da**, he**, and sh** do not have their "Twelve Colonies" equivalent.I was rather shocked at the copious sexual references in the book and at such an early stage. Within the first 50 pages, three separate situations are detailed. Some are merely "grope" fests, while others are definitely R-rated.Violence is typical fare. Lots of space battles, nuclear bombings, etc. Several people (most unknown or vaguely sketched) are killed.Overall:I am pleased to say that my worst fears were quickly dissipated with a reading of this book. Battlestar Galactica is not the way it was in the 70's and that's great. What "they" have done with Galactica is great: new, exciting, updated, yet still a tribute to its namesake. While I wish the sexual situations could have been toned down and a few characters nixed, I would greatly recommend this book to anyone.
—Crystal Starr Light

Why I read this book: It was the Tor free eBook on the day when we were going on a trip, so I downloaded it and put it on my Kindle.This was an enjoyable read, though it had no major surprises for me; I've watched the miniseries more than once. The author did a solid, if not spectacular, job of translating (I presume) the screenplay to SF novel form. I didn't see anything new that wasn't in the miniseries except for the name of the diplomat at the beginning (Wakefield) and the revelation that Boxey was his son--I don't remember that being in the miniseries.Now I want to watch the miniseries again ;-) .(Finished about 9am EDT 2008-06-29.)
—Raja99

This was the first novelization of a TV show I've ever read so I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I was vaguely disappointed by this book. As a blow-by-blow of the miniseries, it worked, but I wanted more background from the characters' perspectives, especially Starbuck, Adama, and President Roslin, and I didn't really get it. The writing was meh - repetitive diction made the most exciting parts of the story fairly boring, which was a letdown. It also took me forever to read because it just didn't hold my interest the way the series does. Overall, I wouldn't recommend this book, though I am excited to read the three other novels that take place in between episodes later in the series, as I hope they will provide a more unique and intriguing story with these characters I love so much.
—Ashlee Kiel

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