Cylon Basestar
The Basestar is the primary capital ship of the Cylons in the 1978 science fiction television series and movie Battlestar Galactica, and its subsequent re-imagining in the 2003 miniseries and 2004 television series. Template:Spoiler
Battlestar Galactica (2003, 2004–)
| Basestar | |
|---|---|
| File:Battlestar Galactica 2003 - Basestar.jpg Cylon Basestars, one firing nuclear missiles | |
| First appearance | Mini Series, Part 1 |
| Information | |
| Affiliation | Cylons |
| Combat vehicles | Cylon Raiders |
| General characteristics | |
| Armaments | Nuclear missiles |
The Basestar is the primary Cylon capital ship identified in the series, comparable to a colonial Battlestar. Basestars are about 5,100 feet long and designed to make FTL jumps and equipped to deploy large-scale strikes with high yield nuclear and conventional ordnance. Basestars carry at least 250 Raiders on exterior service pods, with an unknown number of additional fighters inside[1]. Basestars are biomechanical entities, with fleshy "hangars" to house Raiders. Basestars are, however, capable of carrying other Cylon models within them.
The presence of a Basestar is generally enough to make Galactica decline battle, however, in the Season 2 episode "Resurrection Ship, Part 2", with both sides' fighter fleets engaged elsewhere, the Battlestars Galactica and Pegasus are able to engage and destroy at least one Basestar in ship to ship combat. Robbed of their Raider fleet (which is much larger than a Battlestar's viper complement), they appeared to be no match for the Battlestars. The Battlestars used the tactic of circling one Basestar while firing upon it, until destroyed. A similar tactic was used in "Exodus, Part 2" in which the Galactica used diversions to occupy the Cylon Raiders elsewhere and fought four Basestars simultaneously. With the arrival of the Pegasus, three Basestars were lost - one to direct fire from the Pegasus to the central hub, one by ramming, and one by collateral damage from the resulting explosion and debree.
The Basestars internal functions are controlled by a part biological part machine central computer system known as the Hybrid. The biological part of the Hybrid is a female humanoid Cylon-like being located in a pool of liquid, and attached to the mechanical part of the Basestars computers by umbilicals. The Hybrid speaks strange seemingly random phrases, most Cylons believe that the speech of the Hybrid is just random and is the result of the Hybrids personal conscousness going mad. However, the Leoben Conoy model of Cylons believe that every word the Hybrid speaks means something, and that the Cylon God speaks through the Hybrids. The Hybrid is revealed to be capable of having its own opinions and thoughts, but does not have a say in decisions made by the humanoid Cylon models. The humanoid Cylon models control the Basestar via "control panels" in the Basestar's Control Room that are made up of a red flowing substance that seems to take the commands to the Hybrid itself.
Visually, Basestars lack the armor of Colonial Battlestars and have no visible means of propulsion. In contrast, Mercury class battlestars, such as the Pegasus, have been shown to sustain at least three hits from nuclear weapons and still maintain the ability to devastate Basestars with its offensive batteries at close range.
The considerably different Basestar form seen below (from the Original Series) is featured briefly in the first portion of the Miniseries, as the camera pans past a series of museum displays aboard the Galactica. A pair of miniature original series Basestars are shown in one of the displays.[2]
Battlestar Galactica (1978, 1980)
| Basestar | |
|---|---|
| File:Basestar.jpg Several Basestars | |
| First appearance | Saga of a Star World |
| Information | |
| Affiliation | Cylons |
| Combat vehicles | Cylon Raiders |
| General characteristics | |
| Armaments | Laser turrets Missile turrets Pulsars |
| Propulsion | Reactionless drive |
Basestars are considerably larger than Battlestars. They are about 5100 feet (0.97 miles, 1552m) in diameter. They can hold 300 Cylon raiders each and are able to enter the lower atmosphere of a planet. They are propelled by a reactionless drive that appears to make the ship spin slowly on its axis while engaged.
The Basestar has also been called a "Baseship" and a "Cylon Battlestar" in one episode, but "Basestar" conforms to the Colonial ship naming system. Unlike a combat-oriented Battlestar, a Basestar is intended to be a roving Cylon base that can perform planetary assault missions along with carrying fighters and ship-to-ship combat.
Armament
- Pulsars
- In the episode "The Hand of God", the Basestar is revealed to have two of these weapons on the upper saucer. Pulsars are a beam weapon more powerful than the average laser turret and meant purely for capital ship slugging matches. Battlestars usually attempt to approach Basestars from the lower saucer to avoid these weapons.
- Laser Turrets
- Like a Battlestar, Basestars have laser turrets that resemble the weapons of their fighters but on a larger scale. The laser turrets on Basestars are located at the tips of the "spokes" on both saucers and are considerably more powerful than the Colonial design.
- Missile Turrets
- These turrets were seen in the episode "The Living Legend Part 2" and they are located on the inner surfaces of both saucers.
References
- ^ SciFi.Com Basestar Specs
- ^ "Mini Series, Part 1". Battlestar Galactica: The Miniseries.
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