Have you ever wondered how cool it would be for some of your favorite shows to mix characters across the different networks or franchises?
Way back in the day (WAY back) I always wanted to see Airwolf, Blue Thunder and K.I.T.T. bring it to the bad guys in the same show. Yet whenever a superhero crossover ever happened in the comics, they always seemed to duke it out between themselves first. And this is what I thought of when I saw an inspired idea over on DVICE where they decided to match the technologies of the original U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 up against the Battlestar Galactica in a pitched and heated battle.
Well, a theorized battle, anyway.
However I think the folks over at DVICE might be a little biased. According to them, the Battlestar would come out on top against the Heavy Cruiser. I think they aren’t being fair. A Colonial Battlestar against a Federation Cruiser? I would pitch a Federation Dreadnought against the Battlestar, but that’s just me.
As it is, I’ll work within the framework of what DVICE started from, but still, from my side of things, I think the outcome would be a bit different. I’ll touch on the same points they did and we’ll see where it takes us!
Phasers vs. Kinetic Energy Turrets: DVICE gave the edge to the phaser (Phased Energy Rectification Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) because it could cut through unshielded ships. I agree with that so the first point goes to the Federation.
Enterprise: 1, Galactica: 0.
Photon Torpedoes vs Nukes. The argument is that the Enterprise couldn’t take a nuke hit while the Galactica could take a photon torpedo hit. This one goes to Galactica on DVICE, but then they don’t exactly go into what kind of punch a Photon torpedo can do. Let me.
According to some estimations, a Photon torpedo can pack a 64 megaton punch. According to the Galactica Wiki, Galactica Nukes yield 5 to 150 Kilotons, depending on what is dialed in.
150 kilotons = 625 Joules, and 64 Megatons = ~269 Joules. So the hitting power does go to the Galactica.
Enterprise: 1, Galactica: 1.
Sensors vs Dradis: For some reason, DVICE gave this one to the Dradis on Galactica. Are they kidding? I have to digress here and give the edge to the Enterprise. The Federation sensors can sense when a mouse farts! The Dradis seems to only see ships. Have I missed something. If not, I’m changing their score and giving this tech edge to the Enterprise.
Enterprise: 2, Galactica: 1.
Shuttlecraft vs Vipers: Is this even a comparison? This goes to the Galactica with their fully armed Vipers versus the original series shuttlecraft.
Enterprise: 2, Galactica: 2.
Impulse engines and Warp Drives vs Ion Engines and FTL drives: They argue that the Enterprise is more agile on impulse and warp drives. I tend to agree that the smaller Enterprise can dance all around the Galactica. The Enterprise has varying degrees of Warp speed, while the Galactica is a go / no-go, one speed ship when it comes to light speed travel. But the Galactica’s FTL drives are pretty cool as far as popping in and out of places, including popping out of planet atmospheres during free-fall. (Was that not cool when the Galactica did that free-fall over New Caprica?) But it takes a lot of calculations for the Galactica to pop around and time for the FTL to spin up. I think with all the flitting around the Enterprise can do compared to the Galactica, I’ll agree and give the edge to the Enterprise.
Enterprise: 3, Galactica: 2.
Transporters vs Raptors; Is this even a fair comparison? Enterprise, hands down. They can just beam boarding parties on the Galactica. Heck, they can beam the crews out of the Raptors! In Star Fleet Battles (a board game I played) boarding parties were one of my best tricks once shields were down.
Enterprise: 4, Galactica: 2.
Shields vs Point-Defense Cannons: As far as taking a beating, the Galactica took a nuke hit! The PDC’s can dish out serious suppressive fire while the ship can absorb whatever gets through. The Enterprise takes a shield hit or two and panels spark and people fly! Technically, regardless of the flying bridge crew, I’d think the Enterprise has the edge, though DVICE gave this one to the Galactica. Can PDC’s stop a Phaser? I don’t think so. The Enterprise can stand off and fire at will.
Enterprise: 5, Galactica: 2.
So somehow, in the end DVICE gave this comparison to the Galactica. I want to go into a little reasoning on some things.
They didn’t consider sizes of the two ships though engine comparisons and the weight they push around was touched on:
The Enterprise: Length: 947 feet; Overall Beam(width): 417 feet
The Galactica: Length: 4640 feet; Overall Beam(width): 1821 feet
Being big is great, but sheesh. Enterprise? What Enterprise? You mean that spot on the paint? Ramming speed Galactica! But the small ship would probably be able to dance around the big boy. This is the classic argument of light sword, many hits; heavy sword, one good hit. These size comparisons sure make it seem like the Galactica might be able to dust the little guy but technology always wins out gang.
Of course this whole comparison thing pits the Galactica up against the NCC-1701. This wouldn’t even be a question if they were looking at the 1701-D Galaxy Class from Star Trek: The Next Generation. On the D, the shuttle craft had phasers and photons, didn’t they? On Voyager, Janeway’s shuttle was armed to the teeth. Or how much more punch would a Federation Dreadnought have?
But why would DVICE weigh their scales the way they did? DVICE is part of the network with the Sci Fi Wire and the Sci-Fi Channel… so ya gotta take this comparison with a grain of salt and have fun with it. FUN, I say.
In the aspect of fun, let’s look at a few other things:
Society: If we start looking at some of the intricacies, Starfleet personnel have a rather organized society. The Galactica fleet really have their heads frakked up right now because their destined goal of humanity’s salvation, Earth, was a wasteland. Oops. They’d probably just give up!
Captain Kirk Vs Admiral Adama: Kirk would have Spock baffle Adama with calculations of probabilities of their outcome while Kirk would end up making out with No. 6, or Sharon or whatever warm blooded woman on the Galactica he could snag and go about his day. Meanwhile, Adama might get Athena to plug into the Enterprise and send it to the “edge of the galaxy”… again.
The fun of it all: In the end, these kinds of comparisons are for fun and could endlessly go on as we think of other shows we could pit against each other. Rather than pitting all of Star Trek against Battlestar Galactica, or against Babylon 5, or what ever franchise we like, I say we stack all the good guys from all the shows on one side, give The Hulk a space suit and see how that works out for everyone!
Speaking of cross-overs, I remember a comic book where the classic Enterprise encountered who I think was a member of Marvel’s Kree race. The panels were fun to go through. Sulu tells Kirk that sensors are picking up a man outside the ship. Kirk confusedly asks what he’s doing. Sulu says he looks like he’s going to punch the ship. Suddenly the bridge staff go flying when the Kree decks the ship. I loved that scene but I just don’t have the time to dig through my garage sized collection of comics to verify it was the Kree. If anyone can help me remember, that would be cool.
Basically, in the end, I say we line up all the good guys vs all the bad guys from the different sci-fi shows and have a massive crossover. That would really mess with all the legal teams!
Are there any team-ups, or face-offs you’d like to see? Let us know.
Sources: DVICE, Stardestroyer.net, Sideview images: ship schemantics.net, st-minutia.com, wolf’s shipyard; ex astris scientia; Image (almost to scale) overlays by Bruce Simmons
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