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What's the big deal with the first FTL jump in the Battlestar Galactica miniseries?


In the miniseries the first time we hear about FTL jumps (Adama ordering the jump to Ragnar Anchorage), there's an exchange on how dangerous it is ("we could end up in the middle of a sun") and after the jump they actually clap. So it seems like jumping is a big deal, but not much later it turns out that random civilian ships jump all around, and giving the impression that it is very routine to jump for a lot of ships. So what's the deal with that first jump?



Answer




It appears that the major concerns are:




  • That the Battlestar Galactica hasn't used its FTL engines for over two decades;




  • That none of the current crew have been on board long enough to have used the ship's jump engines for real (although they've obviously drilled and trained for it);




  • The danger of jumping without a networked nav computer to do the calculations and transfer those results to the engines.





Interestingly, the original script made a much bigger thing out of the length of time since the Galactica used its FTL engines whereas the final show-script made more play out of the general danger of manually-computed jumping


Original Script:



Tigh looks at the display for a long beat, then notices that Adama is looking at him with an expectant expression. Takes him a moment, then he realizes what Adama is thinking.


TIGH: (are you crazy?) A sane man wouldn't. It's been what -- twenty years since this tub made a Jump?


ADAMA: Twenty-five.


TIGH: Twenty-five. Probably rats living in the FTL relays.





Show Script



Tigh: Because any sane man wouldn't. It's been, what, twenty, twenty-two years?


Adama: We trained for this.


Tigh: Training is one thing, but - if we're off in our calculations by even a few degrees, we could end up in the middle of the sun.


Adama: No choice. Colonel Tigh, please plot a hyperlight jump from our position to the orbit of Ragnar.



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