BATTLESTAR GALACTICA & TRANSMEDIA
The reboot of the television serial Battlestar Galactica (Ronald D. Moore 2004) utilised different platforms to create a transmedia narrative. Although it has been argued that some of these platforms were unsuccessful because of their differing levels of relevancy to the launch platform, some created audience positive interest due to the high concentration on narrative design and the creation of an overall experience for the users. Through concentration on those transmedia elements, audience engagement was achieved. Wide audience use of these extensions as extra content determines the platform’s overall success. In terms of these ideas, two of its more successfully integrated multiplatform extensions are seen to be the Re-imagined Battlestar Galactica comic book series (Comic Book Resources 2006) and The Resistance webisode serial (Silentbex 2009). Both analysts and the creators affirm credibility of these extensions’ success. The Re-Imagined Battlestar Galactica comic book series is seen as successful in its placement in the transmedia narrative.
The 13 issue serial is set between episodes seven (Home Part II) and 10 (Pegasus) of season two. This sort of specificity in the placement of the timeline of the overall Battlestar Galactica canon allowed for a more detailed and extended explanation in the narrative. The issues gave greater detail into the aftermath of Zak’s death, which could not be covered in the launch platform. The tight narrative placement has been said by Potter and Marshall to be hurtful in terms of audience engagement as once more gaps in the overall narrative are filled, there is then less opportunity for audience collaboration and fan created fiction (2007, 221). Despite the fan attraction to the creation of fan fiction, this idea has been disproved as whilst the show is closing off the opportunity for user-generated content, more official content has been created for them to view, and that is most important. Askwith says that having more content for the audience to view is one of the first and foremost steps in engaging an audience in the long term (2003, 24). This allows fans to become more strongly ‘hooked’ to the narrative and thus creates a deeper level of engagement.
The serial did well with narrative design because audience engagement was kept from issue to issue. The writer Greg Pak said that each individual issue was worked on “with plenty of action, major character developments and shocking cliff hangers” (Rudolph, 2006). By doing this he is making sure that the serial will be consumed for longer considering there would be no backlash from annoyed readers. There are many different graphic novel collections in the ‘rebooted’ Battlestar Galactica universe, let alone the original series as well. The key reason why this serial was considered more successful than others was the way that the content was canon and yet not completely necessary to the overall storyline. This is just extra information that is created to build up the experience of the entire series and to make the entre world seem more complicated, similar to real life. These are what Johnson describes as ‘textures’, which are used by the creators in Battlestar Galactica to explore issues mentioned in the series but not fully analysed (2010, 15), to build up a world and experience for the viewers. This has been successfully applied to other transmedia elements within the comics.
An important aspect of a successful experience and continuity is that a similar top down approach is taken when it is being written (Gomez in Denis 2009). This is done to ensure that the same quality found in the launch platform, can be seen in the extensions and that it stays perfectly within the world of the narrative. The writers have said, “every aspect of the comic universe is run directly through Ron Moore's office" (Suzanne 2010, 33). The art style even tries to capture the same experience of the show as it uses similar character designs to what is seen in the program. The characters’ design themself have been said by Rawson to be poor and that “…drawing likenesses is a totally separate skill from drawing dynamic action, but on a project like Battlestar Galactica, the combination of these skills should be a prerequisite” (2006). This opinion is a fair call to make however there is a certain amount to be said in terms of creating a fair distinction between the platforms, as if photo realistic pictures were to be used, then another episode in the launch platform might as well have be made. The differences between the platforms are why different writers are chosen and why the audience decides to read this secondary multiplatform extension in the first place. There are four different covers for each issue (which can be bought separately or in collected in three volumes), one of which is a photograph cover. These covers were used as not only as a promotional tool, but are adaptable for differing audiences’ tastes. This has clearly been a success as the promotional Issue # 0 sold over 175000 copies (Singh 2006). Narrative design was important in The Resistance webisode serial.
The ten three minute webisodes are set between seasons two and three as both a continuation of the narrative of the Cylon occupation of New Caprica and the resistance that forms to destroy them. It was created to be a marketing tool to attract viewers to watch the third season. Transmedia analyst Jeff Gomez uses the webisodes for Battlestar Galactica as a good example to explain how secondary extensions should give ancillary narrative insight and detail about characters, that could be seen independently from the main platform. He explains that the webisodes also make the viewer want to re-watch the main episodes to see how they fit into the overall narrative (Tiley 2010, 1). Because of this stand alone nature, if viewers saw The Resistance, they would understand Duck’s back-story about the death of his wife but this merely reinforced what was mentioned in the launch platform. This extra content given to viewers allows more engagement for the program. The story is as canon with the narrative because Moore said “ultimately it wasn’t a story we were going to do on the show” (Manly 2006). This means this is extra content that could be used in a multiplatform extension. However some have said that there were issues in viewing the webisodes.
The webisodes were not initially available in countries outside of America, through word of mouth advertising amongst the audience, and spread the videos through illegal torrent sites (Lever 2006). It is still seen to be successful because it had been streamed 5.5 million times in the first month and had doubled the amount of traffic to Syfy.com in its first two days online (Fong 2010, 14). Even without them being able to be seen outside of America, the fans engaged with each other to make sure they all could share in the content, and this sort of audience interactivity and agency is seen by Stackelberg to be of high importance (2012). It was the writers’ intent to keep a similar experience across platforms.
The webisodes are similar to the comics as they keep the overall experience and feel as the show. In an interview, the writers and executive producers of The Resistance, Bradley Thompson and David Weedle explained were chosen and worked closely with Moore, to ensure the content kept in line with the narrative and feel of the main platform (Faraci 2006). Another key element to experience is the overall style. The webisodes had high production values considering their length and where budget could not accommodate, clever tools were used to hide differences. With a handheld pseudo documentary style and nice cuts away from major expensive special effects the serial had a very similar feel (Fong 2010, 8). There was also consideration for the possibility of the webisodes being viewed on small mobile screens as there was a heavy reliance on character development, actors and close ups (Manly 2006). The medium being considered in the experience is vital to multiplatform storytelling. Characters are important to audience experience.
Utilising the same characters and actors in the webisode serial is seen to be a successful move in terms of engaging the audience as they are seen to be one of the major draw cards as to gaining audience respect of the platform. This is explained by Evans in her article (2008, 197-213) through an analysis of the BBC transmedia serial Spooks(Wolstencroft, David 2002). More specific to Battlestar Galactica In Manly’s review of the platform (2012), he said that the serial was effective for the medium as it focussed on supporting characters.
It can be seen that through successful focus on the narrative design and the creation of a consistent experience overall, that the transmedia narrative of Battlestar Galactica engaged its audience. This was mainly seen through the platform extensions of the Re-imagined Battlestar Galactica comic book serial and The Resistance webisode serial. Both of these platforms engaged their audience through these ideas and both creators and the commentators on the narrative have confirmed this.
REFERENCE LIST
Askwith, Ivan. 2003. “Television 2.0: Reconceptualising TV as an Engagement Medium.” Master’s Thesis, Massachusetts Institute Of Technology. http://cms.mit.edu/research/theses/IvanAskwith2007.pdf
Comic Book Resources. 2006. “Preview: New Battlestar Galactica Vol.1.” Accessed May 18, 2012 http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=2159
Dennis, Todd. 2009. “The Transmedia Equation, Part 1: Top-Down Development with Jeff Gomez. ” Accessed June 1, 2012. http://thaissramos.multiply.com/journal/item/305/The_Transmedia_Equation_Part_1_Top-Down_Development_with_Jeff_Gomez
Evans, Elizabeth Jane. 2008. “Character, Audience Agency and Transmedia Drama.” Media Culture Society 30 (2):197-213. Accessd May 31, 2012 doi: 10.1177/0163443707086861
Faraci. 2006. “Exclusive Interview: Brad Thompson and David Weedle (Battlestar Galactica).” Accessed May 15, 2012. http://www.chud.com/devel/7769/exclusive-interview-brad-thompson-david-weddle-battlestar-galactica/
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Johnson, Derek. 2010. “Learning To Share: The Relational Logics Of Media Franchising.” Presented at Convergence Culture Consortium: The Future Of Entertainment Futures, August 29, http://www.convergenceculture.org/research/c3-learningshare-full.pdf
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Rawson, Matt. 2006. “Battlestar Galactica #0 Review.” Accessed May 29, 2012. http://www.comiccritique.com/st/grevSt445.html
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Singh, Arune. 2006. “Battlestar Galactica #0 Sells Dynamite For Dynamite!” Accessed May 29, 2012. http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=7062
Stackelberg, Peter Von. 2012. “Active User Participation in Transmedia Storytelling”. Accessed June 1, 2012. http://transmediadigest.com/blog/2012/05/18/active-user-participation-in-transmedia-storytelling/
Suzanne, Scott. 2010. “The Trouble with Transmediation: Fandom's Negotiation of Transmedia Storytelling Systems.” Spectator – The University Of California Journal Of Film And Television 30.1: 30-34. Accessed May 22, 2012. http://search.proquest.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/iipa/docview/7535 06739/13700A59357500976BF/6?accountid=13380
Tiley, D. 2010. “Transmedia of Jeff Gomez: From the Bible of Middle Earth to Coca-Cola to Melbourne.” Screen Hub. Accessed May 23, 2012. http://www.screenhub.com.au/news/shownewsarticleG.php?newsID=3 3799#contributor
