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That's OK - just call it the Lawn Dart and everyone will know what you're talking about. The joke comes out of the fact that the F-16 is a single engine airplane and has all fly-by-wire flight controls without manual backup. Combine that ALSO with the fact that a lot of F-16s were powered by the Pratt F-100-PW-220 engine, which has had a reputation for being not exactly the most reliable motor. This has led to a lot of people needing to bail out of the jet for engine problems -- failure, fire, bird ingestion, etc. This leaves that sleek, pointy-nosed aerospace vehicle to fall to earth ballistically, just like a lawn dart. They lost nearly a squadron a year this way.

They called it the Viper after the Colonial Viper from the Battlestar Galactica TV series. The real one - the one with the inimitable Lorne Greene as Commander Adama and the dashing Dirk Benedict as Starbuck the cigar-chomping, womanizing lovable rogue. You know, back when they used to come up with new ideas for TV shows instead of "re-imagining" old series that frankly weren't that great in the first place.

I can believe it as it was about the opposite in spirit of what the original one was. Actually I don't know what Larson tough about the new BSG but Dirk Benedict didn't like it. Personally I enjoyed both shows, I hope the movie will be as good as them.

Congratulations! You have managed to make the same joke Dirk Benedict coined two years ago in his Starbuck: Lost in Castration rant.

It wasn't funny when he said it either, but at least he is Dirk Fucking Benedict.

"Give it a chance."

That was the oft -repeated mantra of the folks on the old Sci-Fi board. Give the new show a chance, don't pre-judge it; watch it, see what you think. So we did. We watched it and in the spirit of fairness, we matched words with deeds, here at Colonial Fleets, and created a completely separate but equal sub-forum, strictly for new show conversation. It seemed to be the right choice, at the time.

Since then, we have been educated to the mindset of the author that the offerings on this show, called Battlestar Galactica (2003), were to be a reflection of society and we were challenged to "think about it"; that there would be parallels to real-life events such as the Sept 11 attacks and told, by the author, to "make your own judgments as to what they say to you"; and that this new show would completely "re-invent" the sci-fi genre.

Well, we have thought about it and have spoken those thoughts on these forum pages, for much of the past 2 years. Ever since the new series came about, this fanbase has been in a tenuous place and Colonial Fleets was often a tension spring within the fanbase for allowing and even promoting, at times, discussion of the new series. Through that time, we made a concerted effort to separate the comments from the commentator and to keep the debates focused on the issue. Primarily, though, each of us has strived to employ our own personal standards of morality and decency when presenting these thoughts.

An example of these standards of decency and morality can be witnessed by the following remarks by our good friend, Malkyte, who very eloquently expressed the thoughts of many members, here and elsewhere:

"Throughout the many years of human existence, there has always been a line. A line that represented on one side, the best of human decency and morality, and on the other, the pure animalistic and monstrous evil that humans can be. This line has moved back and forth throughout those same years, and depending on individual experiences, it has always been in different places."

"Society in general has appeared to become more tolerant of rude and disrespectful behavior, to the point where it is celebrated when someone is deviant or rebellious. It's rather disheartening and disturbing at the same time. But our society more and more rewards liars, killers and celebrity deviants, who in some cases are only in the news because of the crap they do, and not for any talent they may possess."

We share those same concerns about society and can see, for ourselves, the truth in the remarks. In addition, we agree that the "line" has been shifting back and forth with a decided tilt toward the less than desirable aspect of human society. We also realize that the entertainment industry has "pushed the envelope as far as they could", only because we have allowed them to do so.

We have allowed the entertainment industry to tell us that it was "ok" to have a baby's neck snapped (the script originally called for Number Six to drive her finger through the baby's skull); it was "ok" to draw a parallel of sympathy toward the terrorists who carried out the Sept 11 attacks - in other words, we got what we deserved; but, the straw that snapped the proverbial camel's back was the use of rape as a military torture tool in the "Pegasus" episode.

We will NOT allow the entertai

"...bringing Starbuck to life was over the dead imaginations of a lot of Network Executives. Every character trait I struggled to give him was met with vigourous resistance. A charming womaniser? The "Suits" (Network Executives) hated it. A cigar (fumerello) smoker? The Suits hated it. A reluctant hero who found humour in the bleakest of situations? The Suits hated it. All this negative feedback convinced me I was on the right track.

"...Show Business has been morphing for many decades now and has finally become Biz Business. The creative artists have lost and the Suits have won. Suits. Administrators. Technocrats. Metro-sexual money-men (and women) who create formulas to guarantee profit margins. Because movies and television shows are not made to enlighten or even entertain but simply to make money.

"...Harvard Business School Technocrats run Hollywood and what Technocrats know is what must be removed from all business is Risk. And I tell you life, real life, is all about risk. I tell you that without risk you have no creativity, no art. I tell you that without risk you have Remakes. You have Charlie's Angels, The Saint, Mission Impossible, The A-Team (coming soon) Battlestar Galactica. All risk-free brand names, franchises.

Apparently Dirk Benedict (original Starbuck) thinks the new BSG, and especially the new Starbuck, are some kind of Feminazi conspiracy.
There is quite the amusing rant about this on his website, http://dirkbenedictcentral.com/. I think the new series is great myself...

Dirk

Separated at birth?