Movies - Colonial Viper

Home > Listing Index > Movies > Colonial Viper

	Movies - Colonial Viper

In the various Battlestar Galactica series, the Viper is the name of the primary fighter spacecraft type used by the Colonial Fleet.

Original Series (70s)

In the original run of Battlestar Galactica, the Colonial Viper is the only known fighter flown by Colonial Pilots, referred to as "Warriors." There is only one known variant of Viper seen in the series, likely due to limitations caused by the need to reuse a great deal of stock footage of Vipers in action. The Viper was a single-seat craft, and interestingly, the flight helmet worn by the Warrior piloting it resembled an ancient Egyptian headdress. The symbolism of this helmet was never explained, presumably as a result of the premature cancellation of the series. A 2-seat version of the Viper was seen in the apocryphal Galactica 1980 series.

The Vipers were launched from a long tube, apparently assisted by some sort of catapult mechanism, possibly magnetic in nature similar to railgun technology. In flight, the Vipers typically used all three of their engines for powered flight, and could use a "Turbo" boost for greater speed, analogous to a modern fighter plane's afterburner. Vipers were capable of atmospheric as well as space flight, and could land and take off from a planetary surface.

Armament consisted of two energy beam weapons, linked together to fire simultaneously. They could also carry fire suppresion equipment, shown in one episode where they were used to battle a fire on the Galactica after action against the Cylons.

Some Vipers were known to be capable of invisibility when on the ground, as seen in the apocryphal Galactica 1980 series.

Re-Imaged Series (2003)

In the 2003 remake of Battlestar Galactica, the Viper series of starfighters are the Colonial Defense Force's primary space superiority fighter/attack craft. Capable of atmospheric flight, the Viper is a single-seat craft mounting two kinetic energy weapons, as well as having hardpoints beneath the wings for mounting missiles, munitions pods and other ordnance. There are at least seven versions of the Viper design at the point in history depicted by the reimaged miniseries.

Richard Hudolin, the Production Designer for the re-imaged miniseries, has stated that "The only things that we wanted to carry through were the Mark II ships."

History

The Viper was introduced into Colonial service shortly before the outbreak of the Cylon War. However, it was the Mark II Viper series, designed specifically for use with the new Colonial battlestars, that is best remembered.

The Mark II served with distinction throughout the Cylon War, proving a capable fighting vehicle. It is regarded as one of the reasons the Twelve Colonies did not suffer defeat at the hands of the Cylons.

The Mark II remained in service after the end of the war, with William Adama commenting that he last flew his 'own' Mark II Viper (N7242C), likely one of the last of its type, roughly twenty years after the end of the war. The Mark II's very long career is the stuff of legend, and subsequent models were often met by resistence by former pilots of Mark IIs who had risen to command rank and favored retaining the tough, agile Vipers of their youth to the newer designs. The result was that the first of these later models were not as widely used and enjoyed much shorter active careers.

The Mark II was subsequently superceded by newer models, with the Mark VII serving in front-line duties forty years after the end of the Cylon War. By this time the Viper design had been progressively evolved, retaining the basic structural configuration (essential for use with Colonial battlestars) but with variations in length, equipment, and capability. Very little is known to fans about the intervening designs, but by the time the Mark VII was introduced the Viper design incorporated software-based controls and fully networked systems; providing superior agility, battle management, and fight information for the pilot.

The Mark VII was later upgraded to include Dr. Gaius Baltar's navigational software. Along with the majority of the Colonial Fleet, this software allowed the Cylons to remotely disable the Vipers during the renewed attack on the Twelve Colonies, forty years after the original war ended. The few Mark VIIs that survived the disaster were later stripped of this software, and retrofitted for manual control.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Colonial Viper ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Colonial Viper; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Movies - Colonial Viper

Original Series (70s)

Re-Imaged Series (2003)

History

Searches on eBay

Related searches on eBay