Demetrius Foam Core Model

In the construction of the various large-scale or complicated sets for the series, the art department for the production created various foam core models as a visual aid for how a set would appear visually.

One such model is that of the Demetrius, the sewage recycling ship Admiral William Adama gives to Kara Thrace (who believes to be able to feel the way to Earth) in order to search for the fabled thirteenth colony.

This foam core model, which will be auctioned off in our first auction, measures 24″ x 16″ x 5.5″.

And here are some pictures of the final product.

War Room lightbox map from “The Hand of God”

In the war room during the Battle for the Tylium Asteroid in Season 1’s “The Hand of God“, the large light box contains a star map for System J23R7. Not only does it sport a mandala-like item—which, coincidentally has no bearing on Starbuck’s whole “destiny” thing, since that was essentially concocted for “The Eye of Jupiter“, “Rapture” and “Maelstrom“—but it’s also big: 54″ by 48″.

Here’s the actual artwork for this item in crisp, clear detail.

Raptor concept designs

Since you’ve seen the Raptor in yesterday’s post on the Cylon basestar interior, we may as well continue on that tangent.

With the Raptor being the mainstay military transport and support vehicle available to Galactica and, later, Pegasus, the ship is modeled after real world military helicopters, namely the Apache.

These designs show a more complicated model of Raptor, however it is very close to the final product that we get to see on screen both in CGI and the physical, full-scale models used on the show.

These are pencil drawn and shaded designs by Ken Rahebl (familiar with that name yet, folks?) on vellum, and said originals will be available in the auction.

And the final product, that you get to see in every episode…

Cylon Baseship interior concept art

In Season 3, we finally saw most of the Cylon baseship’s (sometimes it’s called a basestar) interior: corridors, rooms, command center, and the Hybrid’s chamber. Yet, before Season 3, we received a brief glimpse into the Cylon baseship’s interior during “Kobol’s Last Gleaming, Part II“.

Still, there were some concepts for interiors drawn by Ken Rabehl that were done for that episode. These are obsolete concept sketches, but still provide insight into possible Cylon architecture. Enjoy!

Concept of large Cylon Baseship room.

Concept of Cylon baseship corridor interior and large room at end.

Concept of Cylon baseship landing area with Boomer and Racetrack’s Raptor.

Astral Queen prison cell concept drawings

In the final part of our Astral Queen series, we have two concept drawings for both the cell block and corridor of the ship, first seen in Season 1’s “Bastille Day“. Both by Ken Rabehl, these are scans from the original hand-drawn artwork on vellum paper.

As I may have said before, the physically hand-drawn (as in pencil to paper) production artwork is rare in the Battlestar Galactica universe, simply because the artists on the show went digital near the beginning of Season 2.

So while there are cool concept drawings available for the remainder of the series, they are all digital, making these original hand-drawn physical ones extremely rare for this series—and extremely valuable for collectors who like production art.

Without further ado, here are scans of those concept drawings, and beneath them you will see how things ended looking up on screen.

Ken Rabehl’s concept drawing of a cell block on the Astral Queen.

Two views of the cell block seen in “Bastille Day”. (Note that brightness has been tweaked in order to enhance visibility of details. “Natural” environment is darker.)

Ken Rabehl’s concept for a corridor of the Astral Queen.

Marines sweeping a corridor of the Astral Queen during their insertion.

Hope you guys have enjoyed these so far. Come back tomorrow for a peek at some original concept drawings of the interior of the Cylon basestar meant for “Kobol’s Last Gleaming, Part II“.

Astral Queen control room concept drawings

These are scans of the concepts for the control room of the Astral Queen (referred to as “Prison Ship” on the these sketches) by artist Ken Rabehl, directly from the originals that were pencil drawn and shaded on vellum.

The pencil drawn and shaded concept of the Queen’s control room by Ken Rabehl. Note the lack of a sunken pit, in comparison to what’s below.

A pencil drawn variant of the previous concept, this time with a sunken pit for the center console.

A pencil drawn and shaded version of the one-level control room, with center console and different girder and support beam structure.

As for the final product that you’ve all seen on screen, here are a few screencaps of the widest shots that are available of the Queen’s control room.

Cubits

As Alec is away at the Las Vegas Star Trek con, I’ve been working on inventorying and scanning the production artwork we sorted through yesterday.

While sorting through two binders of CDs we were given as well—which consist of reference materials for the art department, such as the light panels, monitor screens, and “gack” (or “gak”)—I came across two variant designs of the Colonial cubit. Taking a cue from the old show, Battlestar Galactica calls its money the “cubit“, which appears as both paper and coin, as shown in the screen shot below.

Now, since there’s never really been a clear shot of the cubit—except for a scene where Kara Thrace is tearing one apart in front of Valance in Season 1’s “Colonial Day” Here is the actual art from the various designs of the cubit. The last batch at the end are the revised versions. (Presently, I don’t know whether these are the “actual” prints that are on the props, since I haven’t yet seen the prop versions.)

As you can see, the reference to the “Seventh Millennium” of time is a nod to the old series, which opened at the dawn of the seventh millennium of time. Also, the variant of the Colonial “phoenix”/”bird” in the background of the cubit is from concept art, possibly done by Ken Rabehl.

Oh, and I’d like to release the PSDs for these cubits, but… need to check on that first. (Not gonna happen. Yet.) Talk about swapping out all that boring Monopoly money with cubits! Not even your boring Monopoly game comes with a 1000 dollar bill.

More cool stuff coming… Tell your friends.

We’re frakkin’ serious.

Day 1

Well, Day 1 of our cataloging process has come and gone, and while we only worked a half day (I had to get to Seattle as I am going to the Vegas Star Trek Con tomorrow), we did get the ball rolling with some wonderful stuff. It was the first day on the Studio lot for my assistant Joe Beaudoin. So we got Joe going on his Studio ID and introduced him around to the staff that was there. The full crew is not back yet as the BSG movie is in the earliest stages of pre-production.

We met with Doug McLean and his assistant Lynn who walked us through all the art they have produced and saved from the mini-series on. Of course these days, most of the work is digital, so there is only actual original art from the first two seasons. But we did get a bunch of envelopes full to start our process and there were some gems, including the first concept paintings of the CIC and hangar deck.

 

CIC Concept Art by Ken Rabehl

Hangar bay concept art by Ken Rabehl.

Galactica Corridor Concept Art by Ken Rabehl

There were also a bunch of great pencil sketches of everything from Vipers to Raptors to side arms and sets, which we will soon have in digital form on the website. And to make the budget challenged among you all happy, we found lots of items that we can sell around $1-200 that will be great additions to your collection.

Joe at his desk with original concept paintings of the CIC and hanger deck.