Battlestar Galactica

Regardless of your particular theory about what is going on with this season’s version of Starbuck, you can’t ignore her significance to Battlestar Galactica and the fate of its crew.

Grant Gould is a bit of a cult figure among BSG fans, as his past works of art based on the show have done a remarkable job of capturing the spirit and feel of the characters.

This past week Grant posted a new four-color work that focuses on this season’s Starbuck, which does a fabulous job of capturing her confused determination as well as the symbolism that surrounds her and her “special destiny.” To see a much larger, original, version of the drawing please click here.

Grant also has his 2008 sketchbook for sale to all folks, even those that do not make it to conventions he will be attending. The cost is $10 for the sketchbook, plus shipping ($5 for fans living in Canada or the United States, $10 for fans living outside of North America). The color cover features a Cylon and a great hybrid of Princess Leia from Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica’s Number Six, and each sketchbook comes with a custom sketch of your favorite character from BSG or another well-known scifi or fantasy production.

One of the great things about Battlestar Galactica being back on the air is that we may get to see more BSG-inspired art in the next few weeks. The show has so many talented fans, it is always a thrill to see what they come up with next.

If South Park did a Battlestar Galactica episode then the result might resemble these intriguing bits of fan art.  The two shows have more in common than most people imagine, as they are both the recipient of the prestigious Peabody award and the South Park creators have confessed to being fans of BSG.

My favorite is the Saul Tigh version, which looks just as down as the Saul Tigh of seasons two and three and is holding a beer and some playing cards.  While Saul probably thinks beer is for sissies, and the cards on the Galactica are octagons instead of rectangles, it is still pretty cute.

The images were posted by Aphrodite on the Battlestar Zone forums, but some of the drawings feature the tag “BSG-Online, copyright Snake56.  Leaving aside the legal issues of whether you can claim a copyright using your fictitious forum name, does anybody know the forums that are referenced here?  I have tried several versions of the name, but bsg-online is a business strategy site and those folks don’t seem too interested in Battlestar Galactica. 

It should be no surprise Battlestar Galactica has inspired countless portraits, watercolors, electronic art renderings and various other types of fan art. Given the beautiful sets, complicated storylines, and visually attractive cast … not to mention the various religious, political, and spiritual themes of Battlestar Galactica it is natural that the show should inspire fan art as well as fan fiction and academic essays.

Artistic renderings of the show range from the cute, such as these Simpson-ized versions of various Battlestar Galactica characters, to the technological, such as this loving portrait of the Pegasus created by Randy Asplund, to the sensual, such as this come hither portrait of a cigar-smoking Starbuck which actually makes her look sexier than she ever did on the show.

It’s also no surprise that the ladies of Galactica inspire many artists as well. From this sultry Caprica Six portrait to this lovely watercolor of Grace Park’s Boomer, there are countless portraits around the net of the female BSG cast members. There are even fantasy pictures, like this one of a topless Starbuck being groped by a lusty Lee Adama.

While I greatly enjoy the contrasting emotions evoked by this startlingly cheerful travel poster for New Caprica, my personal taste veers towards the darker portraits of the BSG characters. One of my favorite Battlestar Galactica art pieces is the dark and brooding portrait of Colonial Tigh by Grant Gould, which can be found here. The moodiness and shadows of the portrait evoke the fierce anger and hatred of the dark side of Tigh, adrift without Adama and the structure of the fleet while trying desperately to keep his mission going in spite of limited hope and even more limited resources. For a more noble version of Tigh, see Jason Palmer’s uniformed version of the Colonial … which is a contrast to his more shadowed portrait of a worried William Adama.

What is your favorite bit of Battlestar Galactica art? Please post below and share it with us!

Check out this great Battlestar Galactica Etch-a-Sketch portrait, created by The Etch-a-Sketchist, a blogger who creates a new scene every day using the famous toy. This one shows Admiral Adama, Lee “Apollo” Adama, Starbuck & Boomer, but other scifi tributes have included Chewy & Han Solo and (of course) Mr. Spock.

Battlestar Galactica, Etch-A-Sketch, picture, toy, Adama, Boomer, Apollo, Starbuck

In honor of Saturday’s premiere of The Simpsons Movie, here are some of the classic Battlestar Galactica-Meets-The Simpsons drawings by cartoonist and graphic artist Dylan Meconis.

Folks in the scifi marketing biz could get some pointers from the amazing marketing campaign behind this movie, which has gotten a gargantuan amount of press. Among the crazy ideas was Mr. Burns’ hostile takeover of the CEO blog on the Jet Blue website. Genius!

Most of the press, though, has come from taking product tie-ins to a whole new level. Do you think Starbuck might be hiding some Duff’n D’Oh Nuts Ice Cream from Ben & Jerry’s in her stein?

More “Battlesimpsons” after the jump, including the picture of the Tighs which may be my favorite. Perhaps their picture is one of the best because they could probably transfer seamlessly into the Simpsons universe. Since their codependent and destructive relationship seems like the type of thing one might find in a dark Simpsons episode.

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Someone took the time to recreate the entire Battlestar Galactica series in clay, and it is definitely worth a look. The last few scenes in particular are really well done, and I loved the little eye patch on the little clay Col. Tigh. Another thing that struck me as I watched the clip was how many little clay corpses were lying there with pools of clay blood coming out of their little clay heads. The clip is on the SciFi Channel website if you want to check it out.

SciFi, Battlestar Galactica, Tigh, clay, eye patch