Pegasus CIC Console

As part of the first auction, we will be selling off one of the venerable consoles from Pegasus’s CIC. This console is one of the one-manned standing stations in front of the tactical plots, and consoles of its kind have been manned by Colonel Jack Fisk in “Razor“, Mei “Freaker” Firelli in “Pegasus” and “Resurrection Ship“, and even by Lieutenant Hoshi in Season 2’s “The Captain’s Hand“.

Later, this console makes a fleeting appearance in Valkyrie’s CIC in Season 3’s “Hero” during the flashback sequences when Commander William Adama (wearing Admiral’s pins, nonetheless!) is on his secret mission to the Armistice Line a year before the Fall of the Twelve Colonies.

In fact, since the appearance was so fleeting, you can see an exclusive never-before-seen photo of Valkyrie’s CIC.

The console consists of four pieces: a wireless multimedia keyboard, an LCD screen, a non-functioning dummy telephone, and a gimmicky speaker panel made from a severely economical phone answering machine. The console includes the VGA and power cable for the monitor, but not the wireless receiver for the keyboard.

Here’s a peek at some of the low-res digitized sketches and construction plans for this console. Note that these sketches will not be included in the first auction.

War Room chalkboard

Accompanying the map in the large lightbox written about yesterday, we focus on the pilot chalkboard adorning the wall of Galactica’s war room.

As you can see, there are five squadrons listed on the board: Primus, Vigilantes, Demons, Prowlers and Raptors. The first four are Viper squadrons on Galactica, while the last squadron—as would be expected—are Raptors. Under each squadron, you will see the tail number of the craft assigned to the squadron in question, as well as its pilot. Raptors, on the other hand, list both the Raptor’s pilot and ECO.

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.

CIC - During the Strike

As I promised, here are the photos that I’ve taken two of the days that they’ve been striking the CIC set. As you can see, most of the set pieces that are going into the auction from this set were removed, with exception of the navigation plot (at least on the first day they were dismantling the set).

CIC: Before the Strike

Yes, it’s true. CIC has been struck. Fortunately, our premier photographer, Josef Philipp, took great pictures of the CIC before it was struck. Many of the consoles featured here, such as the helms, the tables, and even Gaeta’s and Dee’s stations, will be available for the future auction (and will be featured as blog posts in the future).

Tomorrow, we will show you some behind-the-scenes photos from the strike. Stay tuned.

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…

The Blackbird

The Blackbird is a one-of-a-kind, prototype stealth ship built by Galen Tyrol and various Galactica crew members. It is introduced in Season 2, and is destroyed three episodes after its introduction.

Series appearances

The Blackbird makes its appearance in the Season 2 episode “Flight of the Phoenix“, where Galen Tyrol decides to build a ship to offset Galactica’s losses in terms of fighter craft. Initially conceived as a replacement Viper, Tyrol draws up plans for this ship and begins building it, despite the doubts of his fellow crew mates. However, the project ends up boosting morale amidst the deteriorating conditions, and the ship becomes something completely different than just another Viper replacement: a stealth ship. After a suspenseful test-fight by Kara Thrace, the ship is christened the Laura in honor of Laura Roslin.

It is pivotal to the Pegasus and resurrection ship arc in the middle of the second season.

After the introduction of a second, surviving battlestar named Pegasus, Peter Laird—the engineer who built the DDG-62 engines and survivor of the Fall of the Twelve Colonies forcibly pressed into service by Admiral Cain—inspects the Blackbird, declaring it the ugliest thing he’d ever seen.

After Admiral Cain and Commander Adama agree to attack a then-unknown ship in the Cylon fleet trailing Galactica’s Fleet, Kara Thrace uses the Blackbird and, equipped with a surveillance package, is able to take stunning recon photos of the resurrection ship. Upon returning from this mission in “Resurrection Ship, Part I“, she discovers that the Viper squadrons from both battlestars are nearly ready to wipe the other out. Discovering that things have nearly gone to hell between Cain and Adama over Galen Tyrol and Karl “Helo” Agathon, who assaulted—and killed—Alastair Thorne as he was raping Sharon Agathon neé Valerii as an “interrogation” technique. As Thorne was a Pegasus crewmember, Cain exercised her authority and sought to execute Tyrol and Helo, itself placed on hold after Thrace transmits pictures from her recon mission to Pegasus.

After both sides agree to a truce, the two battlestars lead an offensive against the pursuing Cylon fleet in “Resurrection Ship, Part II“. During this battle, Lee “Apollo” Adama pilots the Blackbird—armed with a missile—and is able to take out the resurrection ship’s FTL drive, thereby allowing the Vipers to destroy the resurrection ship with near impunity. However, Apollo himself is unable to participate further in the battle as the Blackbird collides with a Raptor. Apollo is able to eject, but his flight suit is punctured by debris, leading to his near death—he is rescued by a SAR bird after the battle and resuscitated. (The effects of Lee Adama’s close call with death during this operation manifest themselves in “Black Market“.)

Gallery

Picture of Lee Adama and Kara Thrace from “The Hand of God”

A photo of Lee Adama and Kara Thrace from “The Hand of God“ hangs up in the Recreation Room on Galactica.

Series relevance

This photo depicts Lee Adama and Kara Thrace celebrating the Battle of the Tylium Asteroid on Galactica‘s hangar deck in Season 1’s “The Hand of God“. In the photo, Lee is smoking a cigar using Joseph Adama’s lighter, given to him by his father before the mission as a good luck charm. The picture of this event hangs in the Recreation Room. William Adama looks at this photo in Season 4’s “Six of One” during Lee’s send-off party.