Carver’s ‘Battlestar Galactica’ makes for decent adaptation

If a book is an almost identical scene-for-scene remake of a movie or miniseries, is it even worth picking up the paperback and flipping through the pages? The answer: It depends. Most “movie tie-ins” are simply means of making a few extra clams on the back of a successful franchise. Sometimes they add a little literary flair, but most often they are simply a clever marketing tool.

Then there are novelizations such as Battlestar Galactica by Jeffrey A. Carver (2006). Yes, the 322-page book, printed by Tor, is an almost identical remake of the miniseries that launched the successful sci-fi television series. Almost every single chapter is culled from the teleplay written by Ronald D. Moore and Christopher Eric James, which itself is based on a teleplay by Glen A. Larson, but Carver’s smooth, insightful writing is worth a look.

I jumped on the Battlestar bandwagon from the beginning. I was an original watcher of the two-part miniseries when it first aired on the SciFi network (now known as Syfy). I was similarly enthralled by the television series and all of its episodes. I am a happy owner of the complete series, with additional television movies, on DVD. The show follows the trials and tribulations of humans who have survived a devastating attack by the Cylons (man-made robots that have rebelled). Will they live to see tomorrow and save humanity from being completely wiped off the intergalactic grid?

So why the love for Carver’s words, if he is just retreading what has already been done? The reason is because Battlestar Galactica lends itself nicely to a literary landscape. Most Kool-Aid-drinking enthusiasts agree it’s not a traditional sci-fi show in the same vein as Star Trek or Farscape. It’s more of a drama that happens to take place in space. At its heart, this monumental reboot of the Battlestar tale (the original incarnation was a somewhat cheesy TV series from the 1970s) is about serious issues that shape the world. From terrorism to cults, from prisoner abuse to the Cold War, from regret to redemption, from technology to politics, Battlestar cuts across many topical threads.

Carver is able to take the story and humanize it even further. The well-known characters of Starbuck, Apollo, Capt. Adama and President Laura Roslin become even more intimate in Carver’s hands. We learn a little more about their psyches and what they are feeling. The physical scenes are there, but what about the feelings that perhaps were lost among the actors and directors on the TV show? Carver has a skillful hand at filling in the blanks.

For example, when Col. Saul Tigh gives the unpopular demand of shutting off a section of the Galactica after a devastating nuclear attack, and thus killing many crew members, Carver is able to get into the head of Tigh much more than the TV series did. We work through his machinations and decisions points on a cerebral scale, rather than just a visual one.

Carver also deftly moves the proceedings along at a fast clip. The pages keep turning in quick chapters. Major issues are dealt with swiftly, but with enough dignity that they still stay with the reader.

Like the miniseries and television series, Carver’s novelization leaves fans with enough enthusiasm that purchasing the other Tor books in the Battlestar Galactica line of imprints becomes a necessity. Carver, who is a skilled author with his own source material, is quite simply a master storyteller with a knack for snappy language and humanized creations.

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

• Battlestar Galactica

• By Jeffrey A. Carver

• Based on a teleplay written by Ronald D. Moore and Christopher Eric James, which was based on a teleplay by Glen A. Larson

• Paperback edition from Tor runs 322 pages, with an additional few pages from the next Battlestar book: The Cylon’s Secret

• Retail price: $6.99

• Rating:

Revised