Imperial Officer Star Wars. Formations of small warships
The Sith are acknowledged mega-villains in the Star Wars universe, but by the time of A New Hope, they had a horde of uniformed minions pulling chestnuts out of the fire for them. In the service of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader, Imperial Military and Navy officers commanded the formidable AT-ATs and mighty Star Destroyers; to these professionals with impeccable military training, the dark magic of their overlords sometimes seemed something eccentric.
Magazine " Star Wars Insider brings you biographies of ten of the best Imperial officers to see onscreen in the classic Star Wars trilogy. These are combat officers in the service of the Empire, not politicians. So sorry, Tarkin fans, but the Grand Moff is a politician, not a warrior. The same can be said about Moff Jerjerrod from Return of the Jedi - especially since there is not much to say about him.
LIEUTENANT CAPTAIN BAST*
Moradmin Bast, accustomed to hunting big game on Dura-Kahn since childhood, considered the Rebel Alliance a dangerous beast not to be underestimated. During the attack on the Death Star, military analysts reported to Bast that there was a small but nonetheless real danger that Rebel pilots could drop a couple of proton torpedoes into the Death Star's exhaust valve, which was only two meters across. Bast, fearing that the enemy would exploit this breach, immediately relayed this information to Grand Moff Tarkin.
An interesting detail: In the official script for A New Hope, Bast is simply referred to as an "officer". He got his name later, with the release of the board card game from Decipher.
Some time ago, there were conflicting rumors that Lieutenant Commander Bast could have survived the destruction of the first Death Star because he appeared on Vader's team in the Star Wars Holiday Special. However, the truth is that cuts from the final version of A New Hope (including scenes with Bast) were reused to create the Holiday Special. After a recent analysis of A New Hope, it was established that Bast was on the bridge of the Death Star throughout the scene, allowing Leland Chee, Lucasfilm's continuity expert, to list Bast as one of those killed during the Battle of Yavin.
ADMIRAL MOTTI
Smug and condescending - until the stranglehold of the Force tamed his temper - Admiral C. Antonio Motti was the living embodiment of imperial arrogance. A member of the Death Star command triumvirate (along with General Tagge and Grand Moff Tarkin), Motti could have become one of the Empire's first rebel warlords if he and Tarkin had had enough time to carry out their plan to capture the Death Star and overthrow the Emperor. Unfortunately, Motti realized the fallacy of his belief in the invulnerability of the battle station only at the moment when explosions began to rumble around.
An interesting detail: In the radio show A New Hope, Motti is presented as an aspiring officer who joined the Tarkin conspiracy. Motti makes offhand hints that Tarkin could have overthrown the Emperor if he used the battle station to cause a coup d'état. The New Essential Guide to Characters goes even further and reveals to the reader that Tarkin's wife (who can be seen in Russ Maning's Classic Star Wars: The Early Adventures) comes from the Motti family, and that Tarkin's marriage was a union of convenience between these two powerful families.
Motti's name was never mentioned on screen or in the Expanded Universe. It was invented by George Lucas himself during his appearance on Conan O'Brien's Late Night With Conan O'Brien in May 2007. When co-producer Jordan Shlansky, Last Night's in-house Star Wars expert, tried to confuse the guest by asking a bunch of questions about all sorts of nonsense, George Lucas jokingly replied, when asked about Motti's full name, "Conan Antonio Motti."
COMMANDER** JIR
When Lieutenant Daine Jir once spoke out against one of Vader's proposals, they immediately began to whisper behind his back: "Well, now he will not live." However, instead of taking the Imperial officer's life, Vader promoted him to commander.
Jere, along with Admiral Piett and Captain Janus Bonn, was one of the few officers who managed to earn Vader's respect. The Dark Lord valued Jir's tough straightforwardness more than the obsequious speeches of Imperial lackeys. Jere, a hard-working, ruthless warrior who was part of the 501st Stormtrooper Legion, immediately knew for sure that Princess Leia Organa, who chose the rebel Senate, would not betray her friends - even if her life was in danger.
Interesting detail: This short-tempered officer from A New Hope, who dared to raise his voice at Darth Vader himself (“She will die before she can tell you anything!”), Did not find his name until the release of the board card game from Decipher.
In the video game Battlefront II, the 501st Legion of Stormtroopers is named as the team responsible for the assault on Tantive IV, retroactively making Commander Jere a presumed member of that preeminent team. His name, in all likelihood, is an improvisation on the theme of the word "danger" - "danger".
COMMANDER OF PRAGIA
Nahdonnis Praji was very courteous when it came to relationships with superiors, but he always showed intolerance towards his subordinates. However, he was not short-tempered; perhaps it was the same coolness with which he drilled his subordinates that saved his life when he let down Darth Vader.
When Vader ordered Pragya's commander to take personal control of finding the Death Star blueprints on Tatooine, Pragya interpreted the word "personal" in a creative way. As in the case of other similar orders, Praji delegated this task to one of his subordinates, in this case- to the captain of the stormtroopers Kosh, hoping to attribute all the credit to himself. However, this time Pragya paid the price for such connivance: C-3PO and R2-D2, along with the blueprints, eluded him aboard the Millennium Falcon. But Praji reported the news to the Dark Lord with dignity.
An interesting detail: Maintaining the continuity of Star Wars is sometimes incredibly difficult. Commander of Prague - the best of that the confirmation. Both the Decipher card game and the children's book Heroes in Hiding came out around the same time. Both sources gave the name of the officer who led the hunt for C-3PO and R2-D2 on Tatooine in A New Hope. Decipher called him "Commander of Praji" and the children's book called him "Captain Kosh". But, since the picture of the officer in the children's book was not clear, the misunderstanding was quickly corrected.
Praji supposedly comes from an influential family; his relatives with the same surname appear in the starwars.com Databank and in the online comic "Evasive Action: Recruitment".
GENERAL TAGGE
Cassio Tagge can be seen in the Death Star's conference room, acting on Admiral Motti's enthusiasm like a cold shower, warning of strengths The Rebel Alliance and the vulnerability of the Death Star. Given that the rebels were victorious at the Battle of Yavin (where Tagge lost his life), the general's skepticism can be seen as shrewdness bordering on foresight and healthy pragmatism.
General Tagge was a member of the noble House of Tagge, whose representatives owned the Tagge&Co manufacturing conglomerate and were one of the the richest people in the Empire. House Tagge is behind many of the dastardly plots that took place between the Battle of Yavin and the Battle of Endor. General Tagge's brothers Ulric, Silas and Orman, and their sister Domina, trapped Luke Skywalker in the Omega Frost (a special weapon designed to destroy the rebel fleet; see Star Wars 31: Return to Tatooine comic - Nexu ), forced Luke to resort to lightsaber combat in "Monastery" (something from the same opera - Nexu) and almost killed Lando Calrissian in "Red Nebula" (see the comic "Star Wars 50: The Crimson Forever" - Nexu).
Interesting detail: Of all the 1970s-era sideburns flaunted by the inhabitants of the Death Star in A New Hope, General Tagge's sideburns stand out the most. While it would be reasonable to believe that Tagge died during the film's climactic denouement, a character named "General Ulric Tagge" appears in a 1970s Marvel Star Wars comic.
In the Star Words reader column, the editors explained that Ulric Tagge is the same character as General Tagge from A New Hope. He was supposed to have escaped death during the destruction of the Death Star. However, with the approach of the new century, starwars.com's Databank clarified that Ulric is the brother of Cassio Tagge, and not at all the same person. At the same time, the name of the general was announced - this was done in the publication "Geonosis and the Outer Rim Worlds" .
A young Cassio Tagge appears in the online webstrip "Evasive Action: End Game" where he discovers how foolish it is to cross Darth Vader's path.
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*CHIEF BAST - I translated it as "lieutenant commander", but I will be glad if someone will suggest a more correct translation in terms of the army (navy) hierarchy. Perhaps this is simply a senior officer.
** COMMANDER is a multi-faceted word that can be translated as "commander" (position, not rank), and as "commander", and even as "captain of III rank". There are other options? Write.
The Empire's Finest
Star Wars Insider #96
(Continuation of the article -
On the contrary, sectors of great strategic importance could have an SF several times larger than a typical SF. These included the sectors of Kuat, Corusca, Corellia and a number of others. For example, Moff Carlinson had 15 additional squadrons in his sector, averaging 500 warships. Grand Moff Tarkin also had 15 additional squadrons. Also worth mentioning as an example is Kuat, whose Sector Group by the time of Endor had 60 Imperator-class Star Destroyers and at least three times a large number ZR type "Victory". The total fleet of the Kuat sector reached 6,000 ships and vessels of all classes, excluding ships on stocks in varying degrees combat readiness.
Typically, the Sector Fleet consisted of at least 2,400 ships and vessels. Of these, 1600 were warships; from battleship to corvette. The remaining 800 were transport workers, mobile repair shops and other support vessels.
Finally, it should be said that in the Imperial Navy there was no clear link between squadrons or fleets of systems to individual star systems. These units, as a rule, had the same home base, which could be located in another system, and guarded by them star system was only their area of responsibility, where they arrived when necessary. It is also worth mentioning that there were usually few fleet bases in the sector. Sometimes they could be grouped in one, most often metropolitan, star system.
Organization of the Imperial Navy
Before moving on to the types of Imperial ship formations, it is worth considering the basic division that appeared in the Imperial Navy immediately after the end of the Clone Wars. To begin with, we will consider the units of imperial small aircraft (MLA) and only then we will move on to the consideration of large ships and their formations
Formations of small warships
Pair or trio- the basic element of the squadron. Unlike the Rebels, who rely solely on the tactics of pairs and squads of four vehicles, the Imperials use both pairs and squad formations (also consisting of 4 sides), and a formation of three TIE Fighters.
The tactics of threes is less flexible in the conditions of a dynamically developing maneuverable battle. Since it is more difficult for the followers to keep up with the leader. Also, if it is necessary to break the troika to help a comrade (for example, “remove the enemy from the tail”), such a system is more difficult to restore and there is a real danger of losing one of your own from sight. But on the other hand, the triple allows you to concentrate more firepower on the chosen target and it is easier for her to fend off the sharp turns of the enemy fighter.
1.
Azure Hammer
2.
"Green Mantle" (Green Mantle)
3.
Steel Blade
4.
"White Shell" (White Cuirass)
5.
Shadow Hand
6.
"Black Sword" (Black Sword)
7.
"Golden Nyss" (Golden Nyss)
8.
"Dazzling Diamond" (Bright Jewel)
9.
"Copper Petard" (Brazen Petard)
10.
"Crimson Dagger" (Crimson Dagger)
11.
Blazing Claw
12.
"Azure Spear" (Cerulean Spear)
13.
Iron Lance
14.
"Red Tails" (Red Tails)
15
. "Hook Nebula" (Hook Nebula)
16.
"Tusk" (Ivory Fang)
17.
"Chrome Shield" (Chrome Shield)
18.
"Night Hammer" (Night Hammer)
19.
"Dark Sword" (Dark Saber)
20.
Emerald Banner
We now turn to a more detailed consideration of the types and composition of lines, squadrons and fleets.
A FEW WORDS ABOUT VIRTUAL INSIGNIA
D.E.Belokurov
Along with the world of reality in which we live, there are countless virtual universes created by the imagination of artists, writers, filmmakers, developers computer games and others creative people. From the moment of its appearance, each of these worlds begins to live its own life, no less interesting and rich than the one in which we live. They develop, they grow up, they show the features inherent in real world. And far from the last place among these features is occupied by people and other sentients in often unusual uniforms with no less unusual insignia, which can already be safely considered as representatives of a virtual unimorphological subculture.
At the same time, it should be noted that this subculture is developing exponentially, and to date, in terms of the variety of types of uniforms and insignia, it is far ahead of real uniformology.
For example: This article attempts to overview uniform subculture created by world cinema, and, specifically, insignia used in films. And, since "it is impossible to grasp the immensity", it is proposed to focus on the most prominent representatives of this community, who have already become "classics".
1. Star Wars - Star Wars
Perhaps it’s worth starting with well-known sagas, and, first of all, with such a landmark space opera as Star Wars by George Lucas, the first film of which was released in 1977. Total for this moment 6 feature films have been released, not counting many animated series.
Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Master Yoda, Solo Hon and Chewbacca immediately come to mind at the words "Star Wars", squadrons of A- and X-fighters attacking the Death Star flash before your eyes, and a characteristic "discharge" sound is in your ears clashing in the desperate cutting of Jedi lightblades. And all these events unfold against the backdrop of a galactic confrontation between two systems - the Galactic Empire of Palpatine (Galactic Empire), which rose on the ruins of the Galactic (Old) Republic (Galactic Old Republic), and supporters of this very Republic, called the Rebel Alliance - Rebel Alliance (full name Alliance for Restore the Republic, The Alliance to Restore the Republic). Well, of course, where there is a war, there is an army with a fleet (in this case, a stellar one), and what army can do without a uniform and appropriate insignia? This is how the unimorphological component appeared in the Star Wars universe, and, apparently, at the mercy of people who have no idea about ergonomics and functionality. And, first of all, it concerns the insignia of the Galactic Empire.
The ranks and ranks of imperial officers were marked with a set of colored squares located on the left side of the chest, in combination with a certain number of metal cylinders, which played the role of multifunctional code devices, which were placed in the "shoulder" pockets. In principle, initially there were several versions of the mentioned system, however, from a certain moment, the system shown in Fig. 1.1 was adopted as the base one. Figure 1.2 shows an example of wearing insignia by officers of the Galactic Empire Armed Forces.
Of course, from an ergonomic point of view, such a system is, to put it mildly, heavy - just try to count the squares on the insignia of senior and senior officers for a fraction of a second to determine the rank.
As for the insignia of privates and sergeants, “this is a great secret”, since none of the sources could find them, and what is found on the Internet is nothing more than fanfiction of Star Wars fans. Of course, fanfiction also has every right to exist, but cannot be considered as the original version.
Fig.1.1. Breastplate officer insignia of the Armed Forces of the Galactic Empire (naval in the numerator, army in the denominator) |
The rank insignia of the Rebel Alliance military personnel seems to be more functional and understandable than those of the imperial opponents, but, apparently, they were created by a big fan of dice or dominoes (Fig. 1.3). Well, how else to regard the gray square stripes with a set of red and blue dots, located on the right or left side of the chest, with the help of which it was possible to identify the owner's rank (Fig. 1.4)?
Nevertheless, despite the numerous shortcomings, we can safely say that Star Wars has made a worthy contribution to the development of virtual cinematic uniformology.
2. "Star Trek" - Star Trek
The next, even bigger space opera is Star Trek.
For the first time, we learned about the United Federation of Planets in 1966, when the first series of the saga appeared on the screens. To date, the Star Trek cinematic universe has 6 television series and 12 feature films.
The evolution of the uniform component of the epic turned out to be much more intense than that of Star Wars. It should be noted that in general only in the Federation Starfleet (Federation Starfleet) 9 systems of insignia were used, replacing each other in chronological sequence and covering a period of 200 years from 2180 to 2380.
One of the features of the Starfleet uniform was its color, depending on the type of service. At the same time, over the 200 years of the described history, the color scheme was constantly changing, but the main line remained practically unchanged: the red color of the uniform or uniform details indicated belonging to the tactical command service, the yellow was left at the mercy of the engineering service, and the research corps secured blue color.
Since in this article it is not possible to fully present all the illustrative material related to the insignia of each of the eras, Fig. 2.1 shows the evolution of insignia from 2180 to 2380. on the example of the captain.
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Fig.2.1. The evolution of the insignia of the Starfleet of the Federation on the example of the captain |
And Fig. 2.2 shows the insignia of the Starfleet of the Federation in the final version, which has become a kind of "textbook". The indicated insignia were worn on the collar on the right, with the exception of flag officers - the latter were worn on the collar on both sides (Fig. 2.3). It is easy to see that the American-British naval rank system is taken as the basis.
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Fig.2.2. "Textbook" Starfleet collar insignia |
In addition to the "textbook", I would also like to note two more original systems of insignia that were used in the feature film "Into Darkness", which was shown in our box office under the name "Retribution", and the series "Dark Mirror" (Dark Mirror) from the 4th season of the television series, relating to the periods 2259-2270. and 2367, respectively (Fig. 2.4 and 2.5). Figure 2.6 shows an example of wearing insignia in the film "Retribution".
All of the above applies only to the Federation Starfleet, in addition to which there were many more races that had their own armed forces and, accordingly, their own system of insignia. And, of course, first of all, it is necessary to mention the Klingon Empire.
Among the Klingons, insignia in the form of pins were worn on the collar on the right side, and although due to the lush vegetation inherent in this race on the face it is almost impossible to see them, the officer line of insignia was restored (Fig. 2.7), which cannot be said about the line of the lower ranks.
3. "Babylon 5" - Babylon 5
This 110-episode space opera revolves around the gigantic space station Babylon 5 as a stronghold for a peace settlement. conflict situations galactic scale. The first series was released in 1993, the last - in 1998.
One of the main players in the galactic political arena is the community of planets, known as the Earth Alliance, which has a fairly powerful armed forces in the army and star fleet. And, quite naturally, the mentioned armed forces had their own uniforms and original insignia, however, also based on the US-British system (Hollywood, well, what can you take from it).
Sleeve patches were used as insignia for privates and sergeants of both the army and navy, almost identically repeating the insignia of the US Army, only with a chevron down (Fig. 3.1), and officers differed in rectangular shoulder straps (Fig. 3.2 shows shoulder straps army officers, Fig. 3.3 - navy). An example of wearing shoulder straps is shown in Fig. 3.4
In general, the system is understandable and quite functional, despite not some excess. At least you don't have to count the squares to figure out the rank of the owner.
4. "Underwater Odyssey" - SeaQuest DSV
The creators of this 59-episode television series, which delighted the eyes of fans from 1993 to 1996, decided not to leave their native planet, quite sensibly judging that there were enough white spots on Earth waiting for their discoverers. And, first of all, it concerns, of course, the depths of the World Ocean.
In the center of the story - the adventures that befell the crew of the experimental combat submarine "Sequest" (SeaQuest, literally "sea search") of the United Earth Oceans Navy.
Insofar as we are talking about the fleet, there are two branches of the Armed Forces in the series - the fleet itself (Navy) and the "rapid reaction forces" in the format marines(Marines).
As insignia, triangular stripes were used - sleeve and collar. The navy insignia is shown in Fig. 4.1, and Fig. 4.2 shows the insignia of the Marine Corps of the United Oceans of the Earth. Figure 4.3 shows examples of wearing insignia on uniforms.
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Fig.4.1. United Oceans Navy insignia |
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Fig.4.2. United Oceans of the Earth Marine Corps insignia |
We must pay tribute to the filmmakers - the world of "Underwater Odyssey" turned out to be well-developed and solid, and another confirmation of this is the logical system of ranks and their corresponding insignia.
5. "Andromeda" - Andromeda Ascendant
Andromeda is an American-Canadian space opera released in 2000.
A total of 5 seasons were released between 2000 and 2005 total duration in 110 episodes, after which the series moved into the category of "completed".
The epic film follows the adventures of the crew of the starship Andromeda Ascendant, or simply Andromeda, led by Captain Dylan Hunt, in the Systems Commonwealth universe, which encompasses our Milky Way Galaxy, the Triangulum Galaxy and the Andromeda Nebula.
The interests of the Commonwealth are protected from external and internal enemies by the armed forces - the High Guard (High Guard), consisting of a star fleet, called Argosa (The Argosy), and an army, represented by the Lancer Corps (Lancer Corps).
As insignia, both of them used badges or stripes located on the collar. At the same time, each type of armed forces has its own badges and their corresponding ranks: in Fig. 5.1 the naval system is presented, in Fig. 5.2. - army. Figure 5.3 shows an example of wearing insignia.
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5.2. Lancer Corps insignia |
In my opinion, the insignia are quite functional (with the exception of the naval lower ranks, again, ergonomics let us down) - however, one gets the impression that chess played an important role in the life of their developers.
6. Battlestar Galactica - Battlestar Galactica
This film epic, perhaps, can be safely attributed to the category of "Phoenixes", now and then reborn from the ashes. The fact is that the first feature film with that name was released in 1978, followed by a 24-episode television series that ended in 1979. Then, in 2003, a decision was made to remake, and between 2004 and 2009, 73 episodes were released, divided into 4 seasons, and in 2010 a 12-episode film "Caprica" was released, which tells about the beginning of the confrontation between humans and Cylons. And this is not counting several feature films also related to the Galaxy cruiser universe.
It should be noted that from a uniformological point of view, the film epic turned out to be on top. True, in the rank system itself there is some eclecticism due to the mixing of army and navy officer ranks, but, in general, this does not spoil the overall picture.
This uniformological aspect is most clearly manifested in the series of 2004-2009. Badges (pins) placed on the collar are used here as insignia (Fig. 6.1).
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Fig.6.1. Insignia of the armed forces of mankind of the universe of the cruiser "Galaktika" (naval in the numerator, army in the denominator) |
It is clear, convenient and quite ergonomic (Fig. 6.2).
And, most importantly, it is original, functional, and from an aesthetic point of view it looks quite good. It seems to me.
7 Starship Troopers - Starship Troopers
Although Starship Troopers by Paul Verhoeven was based on the novel of the same name by the American science fiction writer Robert Heinlein, apart from the very idea of confrontation between people and beetles and the main actors The movie and the book have almost nothing in common. At the same time, I personally like the interpretation of events in the film version much more, despite the numerous technical and logical mistakes - well, here, as they say, the taste and color.
The film was released in 1997 and immediately gained enormous popularity among fans of the genre. Subsequent films in the franchise have not been as compelling, however, the Starship Troopers universe has taken a strong position alongside the cinematic worlds already mentioned in this article.
What immediately caught my eye after the first viewing was a well-developed uniform component with understandable and functional insignia (Fig. 7.1) - at least with regard to the everyday uniform of mobile infantry, the main striking force Federations (Figure 7.2).
At the same time, the insignia system of the Federation starfleet looks less coherent; in any case, with all the desire, it was not possible to build any harmonious sequence. Nevertheless, the mentioned insignia are present in the film (Fig. 7.3), and perhaps a deeper analysis will allow us to recreate the entire line as a whole.
It is clear that the aforementioned line can be found on the Internet, but - alas - all this, again, is exclusively fan fiction.
8. "Safari No. 6"
In 1990, the domestic film "Safari No. 6" by a little-known director and screenwriter Andrejs Abols was released, which tells about a civil war in a certain fictional country. The plot was not original (a detachment under the command of Captain Ander and Sergeant Gez needed to destroy a certain strategic object, and during the operation, the participants gradually realize that they are only pawns in someone's own game), and the budget was clearly not up to par, so that the film went practically unnoticed at the box office, despite the fact that Viktor Avilov played the main role in it.
At the same time, this film is of great interest precisely from a uniformological point of view, since it was the first time in Soviet cinema that a system of virtual insignia was used. The latter were discs of red and white colors, which in a certain amount (depending on the rank) were attached to the flap of the left breast pocket (Fig. 8.1). In principle, it is understandable and accessible, and, most importantly, inexpensive (Fig. 8.2).
From a uniformological point of view, this film is interesting because, in fact, after Safari No. 6, it turned out to be the second domestic film that uses fictional insignia.
Unfortunately, it was not possible to restore the entire line of insignia, we had to limit ourselves to only three ranks - really private, corporal and captain (Fig. 9.1). A candidate for a truly ordinary, of course, did not wear insignia.
The insignia was located on the left side of the chest of the uniform of the Combat Legion (Fig. 9.2).
At the same time, it is not entirely clear whether the color scheme of the stripes carries any semantic load or not.
Instead of a conclusion
As noted above, this article is an attempt to review virtual cinematic uniformology exclusively in the context of insignia. But this is just the tip of the iceberg, whose name is creative fantasy. And God forbid that this iceberg does not melt in the ocean of everyday life.
Sources
1. Films of the Star Wars series - Star Wars, 1977-2008
2. The series and films of the Star Trek franchise - Star Trek, 1966-2014
3. The series "Babylon 5" - Babylon 5, 1993-1998
4. The series "Underwater Odyssey" - SeaQuest DSV, 1993-1996
5. The series "Adromeda" - Andromeda Ascendant, 2000-2005
6. The series "Battlestar Galactica" - Battlestar Galactica, 2004-2009
7. The movie "Starship Troopers" - Starship Troopers, 1997
8. The film "Safari No. 6", 1990
9. The film "Inhabited Island", 2008-2009