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In the reimagined Battlestar Galactica pilot, a major plot point was that the Cylons now had the ability to hack or disrupt networked computer systems, thus forcing the Colonial Fleet to rely on older, non-networked craft such as the Viper Mark II and the Galactica itself.

At numerous junctures in the show, comments were made about retro-fitting the newer Viper Mark VII craft to remove the networked AI systems and make them analog like the Mark II, but I don't recall this ever happening on-screen. In fact, it seems like ONLY the Mark II model was used throughout the run of the show.

Were the Mark VII Vipers ever retro-fitted and used in the show?

The preferred answer will include a screenshot of Mark II and VII Vipers fighting the Cylons together later in the series (i.e. - not from the pilot episode). It would also be nice to know what episode featured the retrofit.

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  • okay that should do it, there are surprisingly few good screenshots of the vipers in space, and i don't have access to the show atm to take my own screens.
    – Himarm
    Apr 29, 2015 at 15:11

1 Answer 1

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Yes they were, we know for sure they were because the Battlestar Pegasus had working vipers, which would have been mark VII, as Galatica only had II's for the museum, so they would have had to retrofit them. In the episode Flight OF the Phoenix their is a screen shot of all of Galaticas vipers in space at once Found by Null Here at 32:53, which includes the 7 mark VII vipers left on board (as i believe the rest were destroyed in the first engagement).

The Galatica also retrofitted theirs as well. It is unclear exactly when the retrofit occured, but at different points in the show we see the VII's in use by Galatica as well as it being mentioned they are harder to fly due to them being ment for AI assisted flight.

The Pegasus also builds 2 new squadrons of mark VII vipers by the episode "Scar" in the series. Mark VII Here is a screen shot of a viper mark VII and a viper mark II attacking the resurrection ship enter image description here

the ship in the forground is a mark VII as it has 2 ridges above the cockpit as seen here enter image description here

while the smaller viper to the right of it is a mark II as seen by just 1 ridge above the cockpit as seen here

enter image description here

Edit, Addition images found by Null, A Mark VII in Season 2, episode 1 enter image description here

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  • I was going to write up my own answer (I've been finding mostly the same info as you), but let's just add my findings to yours: here is a shot of a Mark VII (note the ridges) from S2E1 "Scattered", and here's a video of "Flight of the Phoenix". The shot of all the Vipers is at 32:53.
    – Null ♦
    Apr 29, 2015 at 15:14
  • @Null Thanks threw them in.
    – Himarm
    Apr 29, 2015 at 15:19
  • works for me, accepted!
    – Omegacron
    Apr 29, 2015 at 15:20

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