One very popular long-standing fanboy debate – made all the more popular when Battlestar Galactica rebooted in 2004 – is whether the Galactica could defeat the Enterprise in battle.
While this may seem far more frivolous and of far less consequence than the nature of individuality or the possibility of life on other worlds, there’s a component here that makes it irresistible: it allows fanboys/fangirls to parade their obsessive, encyclopedic, nerdish technical knowledge of the ships themselves. Serious nerds simply cannot resist.
Here’s how such an exchange might go – say, between two fans watching an episode of Galactica where the ship is under attack:
FANBOY FANGIRL
See how Apollo’s Viper squadron knocked out all those attacking Cylon fighters? In the same situation, the Enterprise would have been hammered to pieces.
You can’t be serious.
Of course I’m serious! That’s the whole point of a ship like the Galactica – essentially an aircraft carrier in space. The idea is to send out fighters to swarm an attacking enemy, keeping it so busy defending itself that it can’t muster a meaningful assault. The strategy is to wear down the attacker’s defenses.
I know what an aircraft carrier is.
Then you see my point: the Enterprise would be so busy pushing back against the attacking Vipers that it couldn’t focus on taking down the Galactica.
No, I don’t see that at all; your argument doesn’t take into account the Enterprise’s superior mobility. The Galactica is a lumbering cow that can just barely turn; by comparison, the Enterprise is a stallion, able to turn and pivot and move nimbly in three dimensions. Mutara Nebula, Wrath of Khan, my friend.
Maybe, but it’s still not nearly as mobile as a Viper. They can reverse direction in less than a second – Starbuck said so!
Good for her. The point is that the Enterprise, as an attacking ship – comparing, let’s say, to a Cylon base ship – can dance around hither and yon on impulse power, causing the Vipers to chase it and thereby expend their fuel more quickly. It is not nearly as vulnerable as attacking Cylon fighters are, so they’d be forced to pursue and hang in battle much longer. The Enterprise could wear down the squadron as its phasers picked them off one by one.
And the shields of the Enterprise wear down pretty damn fast! “Shields at 80 percent, Captain!” BAM! “Shields at 30 percent, Captain!” BAM! “Shields at less than 10 percent, Captain! The next one will finish us!”
That was against Nomad. And the Doomsday Machine. Don’t see a Viper packing that much of a wallop.
Besides which, the Enterprise isn’t just dealing with the Vipers; there are also its Raptors, which aren’t as maneuverable as Vipers, but on the other hand can deliver a nuclear payload.
Shuttlecraft. Tit for tat.
So that one washes out, right?
Not exactly...
What’s the shuttlecraft’s advantage?
Payload.
Which is?
Anti-matter.
Well, there’s still the Galactica’s heavy guns – laser pulse cannons – and they are firing at the Enterprise while the Vipers are attacking!
Ah, no, those guns are defensive, not offensive, and it is little or no effort for the Enterprise to stay out of their range, as long as the Vipers are engaging. And their own secondary weapons, photon torpedoes, are self-guiding; they can let fly a volley of torpedoes at the Galactica’s heavy guns, knocking them out, while still paying full attention to the attacking Vipers.
You’re forgetting the impregnability of the Galactica’s hull; if you recall, it can take a full nuclear blast! Let’s see the Enterprise do that!
“The Corbomite Maneuver”.
We don’t know that was a nuclear blast!
“Balance of Terror”.
...okay, that was a nuclear blast.
...and the Galactica’s cannons are outside her hull, so they are vulnerable. Its Viper launch bays are also a vulnerability; if a torpedo gets in there, it’s all over, and there are holes in the ship through which greater damage can be done beyond the hull.
Better yet, a shuttlecraft with an anti-matter payload.
Damn! Where’s Matt Decker when you need him?
That’s assuming you can get close enough to one of the Viper bays.
Not that tough, Viper boy; let’s not forget that carriers don’t generally sail solo; they are usually surrounded by a battle group: an escort consisting of two or more destroyers, a heavy cruiser or two-
The Galactica has the biggest escort in the history of escorts!
...consisting of arboretums, garbage trucks, luxury liners...
Okay, smartass, I’m open to your honest assessment of your own guy’s weaknesses: what would you consider a vulnerability of the Enterprise?
Hm. Well, I’ll grant that the engines of the Galactica are pretty frickin’ powerful; it can probably keep up with the Enterprise on impulse. The trick would be to knock out the warp nacelles. If the Enterprise can’t go to warp, it’s conceivable that the Galactica could wear her down and eventually destroy her.
There’s also the fact that the Galactica has a far larger crew than the Enterprise – almost 5,000 to 430. It can sustain far more casualties and still continue to function!
That’s a weakness, not a strength.
How do you figure?
That much-larger crew requires far more life support infrastructure to support – an order of magnitude? If Kirk manages to blow one of the launch bays, he can proceed to begin targeting the Galactica’s power plant, water plant, ship’s stores, botanical resources – and Adama is forced on the defensive, because a victory against the Enterprise is meaningless if the Galactica is so damaged that it can no longer sustain life. The Enterprise, on the other hand, has a much smaller physical plant footprint, so Adama can’t even think about taking the same approach.
He just has to get through its shields and hit the bridge, which is the most vulnerable part of the ship, sitting on top of the primary hull like a bull’s-eye.
Fair point.
You can argue all you want, but the bottom line is that the Galactica just looks cooler than the Enterprise.
Oh, is that the bottom line? And...seriously? If the Galactica and Enterprise were in Return of the Jedi, the Enterprise would be Leia in the bikini and Galactica would be Jabba the Hut. The Enterprise is elegant; there’s no other starship like her! The Galactica is Ursula from The Little Mermaid by comparison.
How awfully feminist of you.
Now who’s being a smartass?
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