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Summary: Welcome back Battlestar Galactica
Review: I really enjoyed the book and can't understand how any true BG fan could not enjoy this book. True, there are a few inconsistencies but if anyone has ever read any of Glen A. Larson's BG novels, the incosistencies between the series and the novels, were far greater. This book is truer to the series and the characters than recent comic books(They didn't know what to do with Starbuck -so they just left him on a deserted planet - just like GB80). I am glad to see Apollo and Starbuck together again, side by side. I can't wait for the next chapter. Well done.
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Summary: The Next Best Thing to A New "Galactica" Movie or Series!
Review: Needless to say, being a fan of "Battlestar Galactica" from way back in childhood (it was the first sci-fi series I was ever exposed to), I was very excited to hear that this book had been published. And even more excited to find it on Amazon.com after fruitless searches in local book retailers. The story itself is an excellent continuations of the "Galactica" saga and it's obvious that Richard Hatch has a deep and profound love and understanding for the concept. Some might have a problem with the novel's stripped-down, bare bones narrative style which does the job of getting the reader from point "A" to point "B" but doesn't allow for a lot of in-depth characterization. However, some people (like myself) with a visual mind can picture the action as they read along, as if it were a new episode of this series. Hopefully the fact that it doesn't read like Frank Herbert's "Dune" series (with explanations of explanations and so forth) will not be a turn-off to potential new fans. Overall, I would say that this novel is a definite must for any "Battlestar Galactica" fan, and an enjoyable, easy read for anyone just interested in a good, escapist yarn.
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Summary: What's with the 4- and 5-star reviews? This book is crap!
Review: After reading all the reviews of this God-awful book, I am firmly convinced that all one has to do is pound out random gibberish while sitting blindfolded at the keyboard and simply title it Battlestar Galactica to have rabid Galactica fans ooh and aah and rave about how good it is. Actually, if Hatch and Golden had done that instead of pound out this dreck, I might have given that kind of project one star.
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Summary: So you wanted to know what happens next?
Review: I enjoyed watching BG on TV. When I first learned that this trilogy was being written by Richard Hatch, I must admit that I snickered at the thought of the man who played Apollo trying to get published! Knowing of infamous on the set battling between the two major stars, I expected Starbuck to be killed off immediately. Boy was I wrong! I couldn't resist the tempation to check back in with these characters, so I picked up the first book and was pleasantly surprised by the content!
Richard Hatch has done an excellent job in maturing the characters without losing any of their charm. Taking place seventeen years from the TV timeline, Adama dies and leaves his son and daughter to take over most of his responsibilities. This puts Athena in as a central and important character.
The author adds some interesting back story such as more information on Kobol and the council, and places most of the emphasis on Starbuck and Apollo's relationship. By the end of the trilogy, we are reunited with our favorite guest characters such as Cain, Baltar, Tigh, Count Iblis, and the Noman, and we are introduced to the mature Troy (aka Boxey) and Dalton (daughter of Cassi and Starbuck). I loved it. Okay, there were some annoying typos and unique backstories used to explain things, but at the end of the book, you will be intrigued by the plot and fascinated at the things you never got to see played out on the show. Any BG fan, closeted or otherwise, should read this.
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Summary: Armageddon delivers what fans expect, but it's not enough.
Review: Picking up nearly two decades after the television show, Armageddon continues the story of the Galactica and her quest for Earth. Having eluded the Cylon threat for six yahren, Apollo and Starbuck are on patrol - Starbuck in his old ship, Apollo in his new Scarlet Viper - when they discover a planet about to be destroyed because of its helix orbit. The planet also turns out to house a Cylon base, leading to the supposed death of Starbuck as Apollo escapes to warn the fleet. The scenario introduces the first bit of revisionist history in the book - holographic flight displays inside warrior helmets and shipboard computers that talk back a lá Star Trek (C.O.R.A. not included). But a bigger (and harder to swallow) previously unknown fact is Apollo's telepathic abilities, and those of his family, being of pure Kobollian blood. (Even his adopted son Troy, nee Boxey, is lucky enough to be of Kobollian parentage and will, presumably, be able to talk head-to-head with dad.) Apollo uses his mind powers to have visions of Starbuck still alive, of the destruction of the fleet, and, in a near-useless scene, to communicate with an injured alien that does nothing in this story, but will probably figure in stories to come. Returning to the Galactica, Apollo arrives in time for the death of Adama and to be named the new commander. Then he leaves to search for Starbuck, as the fleet goes into turmoil - different factions wanting to put someone other than Adama's children in charge, Borellian Nomen taking over the prison ship, Troy and Dalton trapped in the Pit, and Boomer under attack from pesky Quorum blackshirts. The story jumps from sub-plot to sub-plot, and the good guys manage to get out of all the jams, although not always to the degree of detail or believability I would have liked. Little golden lightbulbs that work because you just know where to put them? Cylon computers that can be made to speak Kobollian? Human DNA part of the Cylon genetic code? Phased ships that can land on Base Stars, but pass throu! gh Battlestars? As the Church Lady says, "Isn't that conveeeeniant?" Another point that sticks out in these multi-cultural times: "Most Leonids had dark skin, an evolutionary change in pigmentation due to their proximity to the sun." (pg. 43) The fact that every black person (so far there are two, Boomer and Tigh) is from Leonis seems a bit too racial to me. Also, eighteen years of searching for Earth have made tempers a bit short among the fleet's populace - broadcasts of the sedition and insurrection Apollo's family and Boomer have to deal with, and a large number of deaths during the upheaval show that humanity doesn't much care if it survives or not. Not exactly what you'd expect from a group that represents the last hope for the race. It's easy to see from the writing that both Hatch and Golden are familiar with scripting comic books - a medium that relies on visuals as well as words - and their words aren't quite powerful enough to make Armageddon the kind of story it could and should have been. Yet somehow the book is true to Battlestar Galactica - the events that take place are exactly the type of things that happened in the television show. But that was twenty years ago. Galactica's audience has grown up; they deserve to have the world of Battlestar Galactica grow up too.
Rating:
Summary: a good read
Review: I'd never watched Battlestar Galactica, but I decided "what the hell!" and gave this a shot. I liked Armageddon a great deal. There's even a glossary in the back of the book which was very helpful to a newbie like me. Armageddon is a damn enjoyable yarn, but Im looking forward to reading Armageddon again after I've seen a few episodes of the show.
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Summary: The epic saga continues 20 years on............(PART 1)
Review: NB: This review is in two parts. Armageddon is not the best battlestar galactica book I have read, I feel that accolade should go to Robert Thurston/Glen Larson's original BSG novel. The reason, beside's that it is brilliantly written, is that it is the story of BSG at it's most raw. The novel was written directly from the original script as the first episode (Saga of a Starworld!) of BSG was being filmed, hence the reason why there are pre-production paintings of the battlestar and it's vipers displayed within the novel as opposed to actual FX shots from the episode. The story reflected how Larson originally envisioned the BSG saga to be, with the Cylons being scripted as a sort of cybernetic reptillian hybrid, plus Serina (Apollo's love interest) survives at the end of the novel as it was originally scripted. Though for the TV episode, at Jane Seymour's request, the death of her character was written into the final shooting script and filmed, only to have her death then edited out again of the episode when test audiences found it too upsetting. So I would recommend the Thurston/ Larson original novel to any fan of BSG who wanted to see how the story was originally envisioned. The reason why I mentioned that novel in this review is because Hatch's Armageddon returns the BSG saga to this standard. I have read some of the unfair complaints here about how Hatch is only glorifying his character of Apollo at the expense of the others. This is untrue, actually the plot revolves around quite a lot of the original characters (some of whom merely served as window dressing in the TV series) as well as the new ones. Hatch actually creates an intriguing character out of Athena, turning her into a thoughtful but discplinarian individual who finds herself promoted to battlestar commander. Hatch not only ressurrects the BSG saga but also adds a touch of much-needed revisionism to it's studio-induced faults. For instance Hatch completely ignores the final TV episode "The Hand of God" in his continuation (which I welcome because I always found the idea of Adama releasing Baltar just because he aides them in destroying a Cylon base ship absolutely ridiculous - I mean the presence of the base ship threatened Baltar's life as much as the Colonials, there was no need to make any bargains with the traitor!). Hatch most probably ignored this episode because at the end of the it the Colonials receive a transmission of the Apollo moon landing from earth which led way to the whole awful Galactica 80 concept. The Cylons themselves also undergo some revisionism as Hatch reverts them back to their reptillian/cyborg origins. I think this is the most welcome change! I hated the way the studio execs interferred and had the Cylons rewritten as being robots (explained to us through an awful piece of exposition between Apollo and boxey which was added at the last minute to episode 1 befored it aired on TV. Thankfully the cinema version had no such interference!). Another character who gets a bit of a rewrite is Lucifer, the annoying "fem-bot" who was obviously modelled on C3PO and who spent most of the series involved in a "queenie" power struggle with Baltar. In Armageddon Lucifer becomes an evil and physically strong cyborg who lusts for the death of Baltar and the human race. He comes off as quite a scary character in the novel. Thanks to Hatch, he finally becomes a villain worthy of the name of "Lucifer". Hatch also tries to explain some of the plot holes in the TV series that were caused by studio-interference. Hatch, for instance, explains why Baltar was promoted to Cylon commander in the TV series whereas in the movie/ original novel he was killed by the Cylons (according to Hatch the Cylons were secretly studying the logic traits of Baltar so they could create a Human Logic Function chip for their cyborg warriors. They planned to kill Baltar once it was completed!). It turns out the Cylons were only using Baltar after all, he never really was in charge of a Cylon base ship. Anyway I never liked that absured studio-induced plot device in the TV series which saw baltar being the main villain who leads the Cylon task force against the Galactica. I much preferred the poetic justice of him being killed off by his Cylon collaborators. I do like the way that Hatch has Baltar being a scheming prisoner (like some sort of Dr Smith from Lost in Space) of the colonials. I feel that this concept suits the Baltar character much better than the "primary villain" he became in the TV series. As for villains, Hatch does reveal the origins of the Cylons : ****SPOILERS******!!! In the novel it is explained that the natives of the planet Cylon were a reptillian race who were visited by Count Iblis who gave them the technology to evolve themselves into cyborg warriors and conquer the universe. ******* END OF SPOILERS!!!! Now although the above explanation for the Cylons is not exactly one that I would have preferred, it is however far better than the awful one conjured up by the studio-execs in that exposition delivered by Apollo in episode 1 (That the Cylons are actually meglomanical robotic servants of some long-exctinct alien race, who hate humans for getting involved in their affairs). Continues in part 2....
Rating:
Summary: The epic saga continues twenty years on...... (PART 2)
Review: (Continued)
Revisionism aside, the story of Armageddon is a very good one, better than any episode of the TV series. There are many plot strands which are woven together very aptly. The novel is actually quite well written (for a TV series tie-in novel) and Hatch includes a glossary at the back of the novel for all the Colonial measurements and expressions. The plot of Armageddon revolves around a power struggle for the control of the Galactica in the wake of commander Adama's death. Both Apollo and Athena, along with various others are all fighting each other for the seat of command. This in-fighting soon leads to mutiny while Apollo finds he is developing new "extra-sensory perception" (ESP) powers which enables him to come face to face with Count Iblis, who in turn is trying to destroy the fleet. The story resolves itself quite nicely and sets itself up for the next novel. On the negative side I did find that the novel "began" rather suddenly without any kind of prologue to explain the gap of nearly 20 years between where the series left off and where this novel starts. I also felt that the Cylons were introduced rather too quickly into the plot (given that they had not encountered the colonials for over 6 years). But I suppose we can put this down to the novel being written in the style of a TV episode of the BSG series, where everything develops rather quickly so as not to bog the story down. Although I would have preferred if there was a stronger buildup to the big battle in the novel, I felt that the battle came about rather too quickly. Another fault that I did find jarring was the odd remark made by Hatch in the novel to the Cylons being awful, almost mindless warriors who are bad shots!. I felt that Hatch, who was doing good with his revisonism regarding the Cylons!, should not have made the Cylons appear so inept. I felt that Hatch had a wonderful opportunity to complete rewrite the studio-maligned concept of the Cylons so that they would reflect what they were originally scripted to be. The only reason why the Cylons were made to appear so slow and easy to kill in the TV series was due to studio pressure (the studio execs wanted human casualties to be kept to a minimum, and so Cylons became laser fodder to the colonials!). Hatch should have pushed his revisionism further to make the Cylons appear more like the "alien race who managed to wage war with humanity for 1,000 years before annihilating most of them in a cunning trap, and not to mention that they managed to create a powerful galactic alliance amongst other alien races, as well as successfully destroying any alien race who appeared to oppose them". Despite this I still award the Armageddon novel 5 stars for the tremendous effort Hatch has put into trying to revive the series (which he actually does not own any rights to) via this novel and the subsequent trailer for the BSG: THE SECOND COMING. By the way if you have not seen Hatch's trailer for his proposed revival of BSG, then you would be pleased to learn that this novel is the blueprint for that trailer !. Phew! well this review was almost as long as the wait which we fans had to endure for this great epic to be continued!! I definitely recommend Armageddon to either the casual or die-hard BSG fan. It is maturely written, has plenty of action and is quite violent as well. To put it bluntly, if this novel had been made into an episode of BSG back in 1978, it would simply be considered the best BSG episode ever aired! By the way I would recommend to every BSG fan to stay clear of the proposed re-imagining of BSG by the "sigh!"-fi channel when it crashes to our screens this december. Just read these continuation novels by Richard Hatch and let your imagination create the SFX that will easily outshine the low-budget CGI that the remake will use.
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Summary: Twenty yarens later...
Review: The Galactica and its fleet are still out there looking for earth. Adama has died and the people of the fleet are greatly divided as to who they want to take command causing the pitting of brother against sister. At first it seems there are too many things going on at once, Starbuck is missing, the nomen are plotting, Baltar is being his usual nasty self, could that sneaky thing lurking in the background have to do with Count Iblis?, the Cylons are back with a new twist, and a new lifeform is discovered. I wondered how Richard was going to tie these pieces together, but, having faith in Mr. Hatch's knowledge of the world of BSG, I was sure he'd find a way, and he did. The story flows and all pieces fall into place. I greatly enjoyed this story. I have read the three other BSG books Richard Hatch has co-authored and have tremendously enjoyed the return to the dear ole Galactica and its people--plus twenty yaren.
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Summary: Armaggedon Will Blow You away!
Review: I didn't realize how good a writter Richard Hatch truly is until I read his first of three novels called Battestar Galactica: Armegddon. It's an action- packed chapter by chapter account of the remnends of the brothers and sisters searching the galaxies for the Lost Thirteenth Tribe who left for a planet called Earth a very long time ago. It is a hard exhistance trying to live in old hulls and cast iron compartments no larger than a mop closet, but they had to survive the hollocaust that wiped out their worlds, and everything the held dear. They took to the stars... those who could walk or crawl to a ship before it departed from the bleeding planets. They followed Commander Adama, who was a great and very wise man. They believed in him, and wanted - NO - they needed a leader for them to feel safe. Commander Adama stepped forward out of the shadows of the deaths of his son, his wife, and lastly, his daughter-in-law, who wed Adams' eldest son, Captain Apollo shortly after they began their trek in space.
Now, twenty years have past. Twenty years still on a course for Earth, but never finding it. The future is precarious for these people, tragically, Commander Adama is gone. He would not live to see the planet he longed so to bring his people to. Earth was out there, but Commander Adama was not meant to walk its sacred pathways. Instead, there is the need of new and capible Supreme Commander and their are plenty of choices bitting for the vaccancy. This is a troubling time for the Colonial Fleet. Just a spark matchlight a micron heigh could lead to destruction. Apollo knows what he should do...he also knows that there is someone out there somewhere waiting for him to save him..but were does he look? "TO THE STARS!"
Like the author, R.Hatch, the character Apollo begins a journey of growing up and of being proud of what they've all accomplished. Tormented and saddened, Apollo must keep faith not with Athena, or President Tigh, but with beings of a heigher order. He must find the courage to discover the voice that wants to be free. It is something as much of Apollo as air. Without that voice, the fleet is doomed and the missing warrior will never be found alive. Will Commander Apollo abandon the Galactica and her crew to chance after someting President Tigh and Athena cannon possibly understand, or will Apollo be willing to give his life to keep the fleet save from the Cylons?
Read Battlestar Galactica: Armegeddon. You'll be glad to did.
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