Dr. Kevin Grazier,
Resident Brainiac

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BattlestarGalactica.com spoke with Dr. Kevin Grazier (who was the Science Advisor for the Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming trailer, and participated as a Cylon, too!) back in January 2000. 

ABSOFRAKKINLUTELY!

As a senior in high school, I lived for Sunday nights. I guess I'm dating myself here, aren't I? The following year I was given a writing assignment in freshman English to describe what television character I admire. I picked Lieutenant Starbuck (sorry Richard).

You have some very impressive credentials. Tell us about yourself.

I grew up in the north Detroit suburb of Sterling Heights, Michigan. While I played sports and did that "manly" stuff, I also helped found the Henry Ford II High computer club. You could say that I got in touch with my nerdy side at an early age.

I did my undergraduate study at Purdue University in--what else--computer science. I unofficially minored in radio. I spent most of what passed for my spare time in WILY--our residence hall's campus radio station. There my buddies and I produced a nine-part science fiction/comedy radio series which parodied (read: "ripped off") every major science fiction movie/series of the time. Before you ask, the Battlestar Galactica did make an appearance, and rapidly came to a very untimely demise. The experience gave me a small taste of what production is all about, and is proving to be valuable even now.

I entered the working world as a software engineer, spending the next year and a half writing video games at a company called K-Byte. On one occasion I was standing in line at WaldenBooks, and the little boy in front of me actually had one of my games. That was the FIRST time I was ever asked for an autograph.

I spent the next three years in the auto industry writing engine control software. How's THAT for a job? Each time you modify your program, you burn it on a PROM, stick in in a vehicle, then "test" your changes on the track. It never ceases to amaze me the things a company car will do that your car won't. Did I mention that the first project I worked on at K-Byte was called "Keys to Responsible Driving?"

While working, I earned a second BS degree--this one in physics--at Oakland University in Rochester, MI. Eventually I left the world of the gainfully employed, and went back to Purdue for my MS in physics, then straight into a Ph.D. program in geophysics. Although I love Purdue and I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Boilermaker, I felt I was spinning my wheels because they just didn't offer a program in what I wanted to do doctoral work. I wanted to study planetary science.

For the last year and a half of my doctoral work, I was an academic part-time employee at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. I was brought on to do (what else?) software. The software that I worked on has won both JPL- and NASA-wide awards. After five greuling years at UCLA came graduation, and I was offered a full-time job at JPL on the Cassini/Huygens Mission to Saturn and Titan.

Last fall I also became an adjunct professor of astronomy at Santa Monica College, where I teach a class in planetary astronomy.

Could you explain more about your role on the Cassini Mission?

I was initially hired by Cassini as a Science System Engineer. There are 12 instruments on the Cassini spacecraft--associated with each is a team of scientists, mostly from academia. Scientists from all 12 teams tell me what types of observations they'd like to make, and I write/run software which shows the exact times in its four-year mission that the Cassini orbiter can make these observations. I guess I've essentially become Cassini's "Geometry Guy." About a year ago, I took on the added responsibility of Investigation Scientist for the Cassini Imaging Science Subsystem (or ISS IS for short) instrument. The ISS is Cassini's principle visible light camera and, I would argue, the most important instrument on the spacecraft (not that I'm biased or anything). I am the liaison between the imaging team and the engineers who actually operate the spacecraft.

You said that your radio experience proved valuable later in life. In what respect(s)?

Not that I'm shy, but working at Griffith gave me increased confidence speaking in front of crowds, so I became active in JPL's Speaker's Bureau. I often visit elementary schools, civic groups, conferences, etc. to talk about space in general, and the Cassini Mission in specific. Last September I was invited back to Oakland University to give a graduation speech in front of approximately 4000 graduates and family members. I admit it--speaking in front of THAT many people gave me a touch of the willies.

My most exciting engagement, though, came last November. I was invited to co-host the premiere episode of Discovery Channel's "Science Live! Kid's Edition". In the early days of television, producers quickly realized that it's...challenging...to do live work with kids or animals. My first live TV show was from an elementary school gymnasium filled with over 300 kids! It was nerve-wracking, but an amazing amount of fun and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

The little radio show we produced in college also gave me the writing bug. While I was still struggling through UCLA, my friend and writing partner Ges Seger suggested we write a script for Star Trek: Voyager. Several rapid emails followed, and within an hour we had a basic plot. A few months later we submitted a script to Paramount called "Survival of the Fittest." They receive thousands of scripts a year, so we knew the odds were long that something would result from this. Nevertheless, seven months later I got a call from Jeri Taylor's assistant telling me that our story went in a direction they weren't prepared to go, but that our writing held promise. We were invited to come in and pitch story lines--which we've now done on several occasions.

I feel honored that, on three occasions I've pitched stories to Michael Taylor, who wrote what I thought was the best episode of Trek ever, bar none (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's "The Visitor"). I wouldn't go so far as to say that I was ready to kneel and do the "We're not worthy" thing, but the first time I was just a bit intimidated. You see, during a pitch, Michael will challenge you early and often on plot points, character motivations, potential continuity flaws, you name it. A lot of writers who pitch find him intimidating. I've enjoyed it. He forces you to examine your work in greater detail and to put together a better and more coherent product. It was definitely a learning experience for me.

How did you originally meet Richard Hatch? How were you signed up for the Battlestar trailer project?

I was attending a science fiction writer's conference in San Diego, and had crossed paths with Richard several times over the span of the day. We'd never actually met, however.

I saw Richard waiting for the elevator, surrounded by what seemed to be a crowd of adoring fans. I figured that I'd just go introduce myself and head home. After we'd all been chatting for a few minutes, Richard cocked his head and gave me a look which said, "You seem like an interesting chap, we should talk more." He invited me to join them at a party.

Truth be known, I spent most of the evening chatting, while Richard, dead tired from a long day, was being molested by adoring fans. I spent a large fraction of the evening trying to convince them that they needed a science advisor for Galactica, and that I was their guy. Apparently I said SOMETHING right, because a few weeks later I was invited to my first production meeting.

A LOT, perhaps even most, of the cast/crew involved with the "BSG: TSC" trailer project tell similar tales. On the set there were often long stretches of time when several of us had nothing to do. There was more than one round-robin conversation of "How I met Richard Hatch."

Richard brought you onboard the production team as the Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming trailer's scientific advisor. Can you explain your role to our audience?

I ended up performing a lot of roles. Ironically, the one in which I spent the least time was science advising. When Galactica is a "go" for production, there will be plenty for me to do in the capacity of science advisor. To be honest, there wasn't a LOT of science advising to be done on the "Second Coming" trailer--at least in pre-production. Galactica already has an established "look and feel," which I think it was important to maintain, at least for this trailer.

Nevertheless, I really wanted to be involved in the project, so I tried to do as much as I could to be useful and to try and make myself indispensible. It was Richard's intent to show the training of Viper pilot cadets, and we did shoot a whole days worth of this (most of which wasn't used in the trailer). To show that the rag tag fleet is drawing from every quarter, he wanted the recruits to represent as wide of an age range and racial diversity as possibe. I think I'm the only red head he knows, and I'm in decent shape, so I was one of the recruits.

By far and away, though, I did mostly production assistant work. I helped build sets; I ran a LOT of errands. I was even the production's offical truck driver. Johnnie Young tells the story that the first time he laid eyes on me, he turned to Richard and said, "Who's that?" He told him, "He's our science advisor." "So, why is he pushing a broom?" In summary: During the week I had a responsible job as a scientist on a $3.3 billion mission to the planet Saturn, and on the weekend I performed janitorial services for Battlestar Galactica. This didn't bother me in the least, though. Here I had the opportunity to be on a working set and learn for free the things that people pay a lot of money to learn in film school.

Richard and I had the priviledge of joining you at the Jet Propulsion Laboraory in Pasadena, California for the Mars Polar Lander mission back in December 1999. Despite the outcome of the mission, we still had a great time. Richard has always been very interested in the space program...

...absolutely! Actually Richard is a big fan of the space program. One evening both of them came up to Griffith Observatory to see one of my planetarium presentations. After, as we were perusing the exhibits, Richard became increasingly impressed with the beauty of several of the astronomical images on display.

He finally said, "Why do we generate CGI backgrounds for space, when we could use stuff like this? This is amazing!" The next night I took several floppy disks to Richard to show him some of the more spectacular space images of which I was aware. He was blown away. I ended up sending some the images to the CGI guys, and at least one ended up in the "Second Coming" trailer. I've a feeling that, one way or another, the others will get used.

In terms of science fact versus science fiction, how do you view the Battlestar Galactica universe?

When people talk about physics as related to shows like Galactica, invariably they point to the way that dogfights are depicted in space. You have to understand that when Galactica premiered--shortly after Star Wars--not only were people used to seeing space fighters maneuvering as if in an atmosphere, I think it was expected. We all know that a fighter built for a space environment would behave dramatically differently than the Vipers and Raiders depicted in the first series, but suspending disbelief is part of the fun of science fiction. We accept faster-than-light travel and teleportation as staples of science fiction, why not dogfights in space?

The most physically realistic space fighters depicted in SF, I feel, are the Starfuries from Babylon 5. To see a Viper--with is sleek design--move like a Starfury would be so counter-intuitive as to be distracting. Shortly after I came on the project, I discussed with a couple of the producion staff how we might make the Vipers behave a bit more realistically--which I would really like to see if we eventually do a movie/series/whatever. I think that with CGI effects, and particularly with the hyper-motivated effects crew we used on "The Second Coming," we could explore several new looks and new ways of doing business for both the Vipers and the Raiders before settling upon what looks really cool. Nevertheless, I feel there will always be an element of suspended disbelief. That's part of what makes it fun.

The one thing I REALLY want to see changed is the trams that carry the Colonial Warriors to their Vipers. One sudden stop, and it'd get ugly fast. It would certainly give a new and physically realistic meaning to the term "going ballistic."

As for other elements of science, I feel that Richard has shown an increasing amount of faith in me to get things right. Assuming that we do another production, and assuming I'm kept on in the role, I'd be commited to keeping the science correct when it matters, while maintaining an element of fun and preserving the original "look and feel," when it doesn't.

I've heard some humorous stories behind the making of the trailer. It does sound like you were much more than a science advisor.

I assume you mean in addition to my janitorial duties?

Yes. <grin>

Yeah, there were quite a few amusing moments. The shoots were long and exhausting, so some of us tried to have some fun when it wouldn't compromise getting work done.

Earlier that same night we filmed Viper cockpit shots against a blue screen. We'd been at it for a while and people were hungry. The military has a term for what happened when the pizza arrived: it's called a "Charlie Foxtrot." Picture two massive groups of people colliding into one big mess. There was the "I'm starving and want pizza!" gang moving in one direction, and the "This may be the ONLY chance I ever get to have my photo taken in a Viper cockpit" crowd moving in the other. I won't say which crowd I was in.

Did your Viper shot turn out well?

You betcha!

Besides your work at JPL on the Cassini Mission, at Griffith, and at Santa Monica College, are there any other projects in the works?

I've ALWAYS got projects in the works. I still continue research similar to that from my dissertation. I'm working on one paper with my former dissertation advisor for a computational math journal--a paper which should be done any day now. I'm also presently doing computer simulations looking at several aspects of Solar System dynamics, in particular chaos, with collaborators at UCLA and Los Alamos National Laboratory. Last week I was approached by a researcher at the RAND Corporation to work on a study of the Near-Earth Asteroid threat--not so much the physical aspects of the problem, but rather the human response to it. In fact just yesterday I got feelers from a researcher in Australia about a joint project. Yea! Road trip!! Uh, rather I mean I look forward to an active scientific collaboration.

Most of the cast and crew involved were also involved in the "Second Coming" trailer. We've added some top-notch actors, and we managed to get the use of some pretty amazing sets. When you add to this the fact that our FX team is doing their usual outstanding job, I fully expect that this will be more visually stimulating than was "The Second Coming."

Last questions: What was your favorite classic Battlestar episode? And what do you like best about Richard's new Battlestar production?

By far and away, my favorite episode was "The Living Legend." It had action, conflict, humor, a love story, Lloyd Bridges, what more could you want?

This episode originally aired when I was a senior in high school. I was fortunate enough to go to a public high school that, way back in the late 70's, had a computer room. To me "Living Legend" was so cool that I spent every lunch hour over the next few months writing (in BASIC of all things) my first computer game--based upon the exploits of the Battlestar Pegasus. [Editor's note: Kevin's association with the famous battlestar didn't end -- he's a contributing team member on BattlestarPegasus.com, BattlestarGalactica.com's sister site.]

I guess that this is a roundabout way of saying "Kevin didn't date much in high school."

I think what I like best about Richard's production is his "My ego is in check" approach. He's overwhelmingly more commited to creating a story that is well-done, dramatic, and fun than he is to creating a product that's MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE. That doesn't mean he doesn't have a vision for the show. I'm a firm believer that things done by committee LOOK like it, but that not the case here. What it means is that Richard listens to everyone's input--in fact he actively solicits it--and he uses what works even it if means discarding his own ideas. Everybody is encouraged to be creative and, even if your idea is not accepted, you're not left with the feeling that you weren't heard. I think that if Richard's team gets a shot at creating a new production of Battlestar Galactica, it would turn out to be quite satisfying for the fans.

Thank you for joining us.

By your command.

 

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