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Old March 31st, 2005, 12:23 PM   #3
Eric Paddon
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Morristown, NJ
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This was the very first episode adaptation I ever did. About eight years ago I think it was someone on a list I used to belong to thought about doing adaptations of episodes that were never novelized so that was how I first got started in this whole "New Twists" thing that has since led me to wanting to do the same with all episodes of the series. As a result, if you look at what I did at http://www.galacticafanfic.com/stories/firespac.txt you end up seeing more of my earlier fanfic writing days which I like to think I've improved on a bit since!

I felt the first thing to do with this story was make it a direct continuation from the events of "Living Legend". It should start with the Galactica just escaping from the Gomorrah quadrant, and Baltar, still licking his wounds and trying to salvage what's been a disaster, launches this suicide attack as his last best hope. And from there, I did these:

#1-Add some extra tension to the battle scene by having Sheba destroy a third suicide fighter just before it takes out the second landing bay.

#2-Increase the prominence of the Chief Fireman aboard the Galactica, whom I gave the name Jorda and gave him an extensive background so he could become a permanent fixture amongst the crew.

#3-At one point in the episode, they had to get "mega pressure pumps from the damaged energizer" to do the strafing runs on the landing bay with boraton. So I wrote a scene of Apollo going with the fire crew to get these things and the hazards along the way that entailed where several firemen are killed.

#4-Eliminate the whole Muffit the Wonder Daggit saving the trapped fireman bit. That was just too painful beyond words! In fact, the whole ending was changed to reflect a scientific point the writers neglected. Blowing the charges to smother the fire means opening the compartments adjacent to where Boomer and the others are trapped to the vacuum and that means they can't get out of where they are until those compartments are resealed and they can exit safely. So this allowed for some extra tension at the end involving the struggle to reseal the hull breeches so the trapped victims can get out before their oxygen mask supply runs out (they can't get more sent to them because that would mean opening the duct vents to areas affected by the vaccum).

Other subtle changes was trying to add a bit more subtle foundations for the Apollo-Sheba relationship (Sheba takes note of Apollo's determination to do all the tough jobs himself) and also establishing beyond doubt that by this episode, Starbuck is now focusing solely on Cassiopeia and has abandoned any further thought of continuing things with Athena. I also worked in a cameo appearance of Commander Kronus of the "Take The Celestra" episode to establish his persona ahead of time.
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