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Battlestar Galactica
Die, Chameleon!
Novel
By Glen A. Larson and Robert Thurston
(The page numbers come from the 1st printing, paperback edition,
published May 1986) |
Intent on abandoning the caravan, a mutiny
takes place on the fleet ship Eureka; meanwhile, space pirates capture
both Colonial and Cylon members to become unwilling participants
in an interstellar reality show.
Read the story summary at the Battlestar Wiki
Notes from the BSG chronology
The details in this novel tell us that the story takes place
some time after The
Nightmare Machine.
Page 47 reveals that Starbuck's relationship
with Cassie has cooled in the time since
"The Man With Nine Lives".
This may suggest to us that the story takes place some time
after the
so-called Season Two BSG comic books published by Realm Press
since they also feature a seeming cool-down of the
Starbuck-Cassiopeia romance (and a possible renewal of one
between him and Athena). Also, the Starbuck-Cassie relationship
still seems to be strong in the final episode of the TV series,
"The Hand of God",
so it must be after Season One.
In Chapter Two, Lucifer muses that
it seems an eternity since he had been off Baltar's basestar;
the last time he is depicted off the basestar is in
"Collision Course".
Didja Know?
This book reintroduces Chameleon (Starbuck's father), last
seen in
"The Leiter Side of Life".
Didja Notice?
The planet on which the reality show takes
place is said to have an unpronounceable name, but translates as
"The Joyful Land".
On pages 3-4, the humans in the fictional
drama playing itself out on Imagescan, viewed by the family in the
Joyful Land, fight against aliens with metallic bodies, using
weapons that fire blue rays. This may be a "fictional"
representation of the Cylons, gleaned from the same source from
which the Image Lords obtained the heroic character of the
Starbuck; recall that the Cylons' laser weapons in the TV
series also tend to have
a blue coloration to the beams.
On page 9, the Image Lords are
described as having gray skin that appears to be peeling in
large strips, have no noses,
are hirsute, and have four arms.
However, the cover painting of the book depicts a scene
within of an Image Lord
holding Chameleon hostage and
appears quite dissimilar
facially from the description.
Notice that that the alien
depicted on the cover has a nose
and does not appear to have
strips of skin hanging from its
face or body. |
 |
Page 11 reveals a Cylon-controlled planet
called Trillius.
Page 11 also continues the suggestion that
Lucifer has his soul housed in his left shoulder, as stated in
The Nightmare Machine,
rather than in his right as stated in the novelization of
"Lost Planet of the Gods".
Page 12 reveals that because of the fiasco
involving the Imperious Leader in
The Nightmare Machine,
the rumor in Cylon channels is that Baltar may soon be stripped
of his command and replaced by a proper Cylon.
Page 14 reveals that Spectre is still an
aide to Imperious Leader, a position to which he rose in the
course of
The Nightmare Machine.
On page 16, Spectre is described as having
skeleton-like fingers. This is different from the description of
Lucifer's fingers as tendril-like in
The Nightmare Machine,
even though both Lucifer and Spectre are IL-series Cylons,
though different models. Of course, being mechanical entities,
they may have interchangeable parts.
Page 18 reveals that Lucifer has developed a
new technique for bypassing manual entry on a keyboard when
commuting with Cylon computers; he is now able to essentially
communicate telepathically with them.
Page 18 reveals that Spectre has acquired a
new outfit, even more garish than his previous, to go with his
new, prestigious position.
Also revealed on page 18 is the phrase,
"Greetings in Cylon splendor" as part of Cylon ritual on
ceremonial occasions.
Page 24 reveals that most of the Vaileans
who joined the fleet in
The Nightmare Machine
have requested combat positions and many have proven to be among
the best cadets Apollo has ever taught.
One of the Vailean cadets, who plays a
prominent role in this and the next two Thurston novels, is
named Hera. Likely the name was borrowed by Thurston from the
Greek goddess who was the wife of Zeus. In the BSG2000 series,
Hera was the name of one of the Lords of Kobol, for whom the
child of Helo and Athena would later be named.
Page 27 reveals that Starbuck is trying to
cut down on his cigar habit.
Page 30 reveals that "rag-tag fleet" has
become common slang among the population of the ships in the
caravan.
For his reconnaissance team to the Eureka,
Apollo decides to take Croft and Sheba. He says Sheba has
experience dealing with insurrections. When was this? We have
seen no story dealing with her and any insurrection. Was there
one aboard the Pegasus in her time there?
Page 32 reintroduces Croft, not seen since
"The Gun on Ice
Planet Zero" Part 2 and reveals he has been made commander
of the prison barge since his loyal performance on that mission.
Page 35 seems to suggest that Jenny is the
general CWO
(Chief Warrant Officer) on the flight deck of the Galactica
and not just the one on Starbuck's flight crew as implied in
The Nightmare Machine.
This makes more sense than assuming that every pilot has their
own CWO (though the next novel, Apollo's War, goes back
to referring to her as Starbuck's CWO!).
Page 36 suggests that there is an
arrangement for either Apollo or Starbuck to remain on the
Galactica when the other goes on a noncombat mission, as
backup. However, this does not seem to particularly hold true in
the BSG adventures we see in various media.
Page 38 reveals that the garments worn by
the Borellian Nomen are made from the hides of animals native to
their planet. (In the later novel Armageddon, their is
discrepancy as to whether the Nomen are native aboriginals of
Scorpius or Caprica.)
Page 38 introduces two Borellian Nomen not
previously seen: Brega and Lingk. Likely, the name "Lingk" is a
reference to "missing link" since the Nomen are somewhat
Neanderthal-looking. Maga and Bora are also reintroduced in the
book, but the young Taba is strangely missing. Perhaps he has
been banished at this point for his lack of discipline in
"The Man With Nine Lives".
It is not explained here how the Nomen were recaptured after their
escape on the Eastern Alliance destroyer in
"Baltar's Escape",
but, in the later story
"Apollo's Journey" Part 1, Maga, Bora,
and Taba are all once again found incarcerated on the
prison barge, and dialog (and an
editorial footnote) in
"Apollo's Journey" Part 2 reveals that the three were recaptured near
the lunar moons of the planet Terra in an unchronicled tale.
Page 38 reveals that Maga has called off the
blood hunt for Chameleon. Page 86 reveals that Apollo negotiated
the end of the hunt in exchange for the release of Maga, Bora,
and Taba from the prison barge.
Page 44 reveals that legend states the
medallion worn by Commander Adama was originally forged on
Kobol. This implies that the medallion is thousands of yahrens
old.
On page 45, Cassie reveals to Starbuck that
Chameleon is his father.
Page 50 reveals that Viper pilots are not
allowed to keep intoxicating beverages in the cockpit, by
Apollo's order. Uh, yeah, I would think that would go without
saying! But the narrative goes on to say that at one time, a
little nip was allowed to stir the fighter pilots' spirits!
Referring back to the pyramid card system he
had worked out in
"The Man With Nine Lives",
page 50 says that Starbuck had spent many nights in his
bunk working with his calcutronic scan to work the system.
Presumably, a
calcutronic scan is something similar to what we would call a
calculator.
Page 51 states that the livestock ship is
named the Agro. The nickname of "agro
ships" has previously been applied to the three agriculture
ships of the fleet (now down to one after the destruction of two
of them in "The
Magnificent Warriors").
"The Man With Nine Lives"
implies there is a separate livestock ship from the agro ship,
so possibly that is the Agro named here. The standard
agro ship left over after the events of "The
Magnificent Warriors" is referred to simply as Agro
Ship 9 in
"War of the Gods" Part 2.
On pages 50-56, the narrative gives
us a synopsis of the events of
"The Man With Nine Lives".
Pages 56-57 give us a sort of epilog to it, as Starbuck reflects
on the meetings between him and Chameleon shortly after.
Part of the epilog described above has
Chameleon telling Starbuck about a dream he had in which he saw
Starbuck alone, abandoned, on an unpopulated planet. This may be
a reference to the events of the
Galactica 1980 episode
"The Return of Starbuck" in which his Viper is shot down over an
unpopulated desert planet and the fleet is forced to move on
without him to escape the pursuing Cylons.
Page 60 reveals that Croft and his late wife
Leda had spent their most romantic vacation on a planet called
Khelana.
Page 65 reveals that the Eureka has
an anthrobiology lab which contains living specimens of animals
from the Twelve Colonies as well as from worlds the fleet has
visited in their exodus. I'm not sure the designation is quite
apt since the prefix "anthro" means "having human qualities". "Zoobiology"
might be a better term for the lab described here.
Chameleon tells Apollo on page 66 that he
worked on one of the foundry ships before transferring to the
Eureka.
Page 79 reveals that the short and feisty
Ensign Giles is often referred to as the mini-Starbuck for his
daring in both combat and romantic matters.
On page 83, Lucifer feels a stirring in his
artificial soul when he again contemplates the idea of joining
the human side in the war.
On page 121, the Starbuck-worshipping
Chandra grabs his discarded cigar from the ground and drops it
into his Colonial gun holster which she also carries. But the
Colonial holsters can be seen to be open ended at the bottom in
several episodes of the series, so the cigar should have just
fallen right through!
On page 128, Starbuck uses the phrase "phony
as a seven-sided cubit." Colonial cubits are rectangular coins,
so they technically have 6 sides. The phrase here is inspired by
the American phrase, "phony as a 3-dollar bill".
As Commander Adama dictates into his log in
his quarters, the recording device is referred to as a
voicerecorder.
Starbuck makes a deal with the consortium of
Image Lords to play Lucifer at pyramid. If Starbuck wins, all of
the enslaved people go free. If he loses, the Image Lords can
have his life. This is similar to the deal that Captain Kirk
strikes with the Providers in the Star Trek original series
episode "The Gamesters of Triskelion".
At the end of the book, in order to randomly
decide what coordinates he should take his stolen shuttlecraft
towards, Chameleon pulls out a pair of Scorpian dice, described as
having many tiny sides to them. Some d10's?
Unanswered Questions
Is Lucifer really dead? He is reactivated,
through much work, by Spectre in
Surrender the Galactica, but
most of his memory has been wiped out by Spectre. Might
Lucifer's secret "soul", housed in his left shoulder, allow him
to return to his former personality? Or might he have made a
backup of his old memories before death via his telepathic
communications abilities with the Cylon computers? Lucifer is
seen again in the later Richard Hatch novels and the Maximum
Press comics, but is a loyal Cylon again, with no suggestion of
the hidden soul described in the Thurston novels.
At the end of the book, young Chandra
decides that if Starbuck doesn't return to the Joyful Land
someday, she will go out and find him. Did she?
At the end of the book, Chameleon escapes
from the pirate ship by stealing a shuttle. He doesn't know
which way to go in order to find the fleet, so he rolls some
dice to randomly choose what coordinate direction he should head. Did
he ever make it back to the fleet? Chameleon is not seen again
in any subsequent adventures.
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