You know, when I was a kid and my friends and I would debate over which side would win in a cross-universe match-up of apocalyptic proportions — the most common of which was, of course, the Starship Enterprise against an Imperial Star Destroyer — we had to imagine what it would look like. Maybe we were lucky enough to know a kid with some drawing skills who would doodle something in the margins of his Mead spiral-bound that he felt worthy of sharing with us, but mostly it all happened in our heads.

Not these days. Now the wonders of CGI and YouTube enable us to actually see all the action. Curiously, I don’t find it nearly as satisfying as seeing it all in my mind’s eye, but then I’m old fashioned that way. Your mileage may vary, of course. And on that note, here’s the latest example of the genre, in which a fleet of Colonial battlestars goes up against a fleet of Imperial Star Destroyers:

A couple of observations, which should reveal once and for all the true depths of my geekiness, just in case you had any lingering doubts:

• The battlestars and Colonial Vipers appear to be the old-school models from my beloved 1978 version of Galactica, but the overall look and feel of this piece — the herky-jerky, handheld, try-and-keep-it-in-focus camera style — is straight out of the new Galactica. (The camera work is probably the thing I hate most about Neo-G, incidentally; I hate it even more than Starbuck’s sex change or all the people wearing contemporary 20th Century Earth business suits. What, do they have Men’s Wearhouse on Caprica?)
• Similarly, the apparent capabilities of the Colonial ships is more in keeping with the new show than the original — the way the Vipers manuver, the battlestar “leap” effect at the end, and especially the missiles streaking through the shots, leaving their long vapor-trails (in space?) behind, all belong to Ron Moore’s Galactica, not Glen Larson’s. If I had been in charge of this thing, I would’ve aped the style of the ’70s-vintage effects more. I certainly wouldn’t have used missiles — if you’re pitting old-school battlestars against Destroyers, then I want to see a crossfire of old-school Colonial mega-pulsars and Imperial turbo-lasers!
• The familiar TIE fighter sound effects are there, but not Viper-laser sounds.
• In the positive column, kudos to whoever made this for including a Nebulon-B frigate among the Imperial ships. Casual Star Wars fans are no doubt confused about why the Rebel medical ship from the end of Empire is flying with the Destroyers, but true fanboys know that the Nebulons are Imperial escort ships, and that the Rebel Alliance managed to liberate a few for their own uses.

Um, okay, I’m going to stop now. That last factoid frightened even me…