Galaxy = Quadrants and Sectors

Hmm...I'd like to think that the sectors are in the whole galaxy, as least the galaxy Buzz and crew are in, just simply because it makes it easier to think about what goes where. xD

But I also like to think it like this: say the galaxy is a large country, or maybe a whole continent. The galaxy, or continent/country, is divided up into smaller parts to identify who's who, right?

The quadrants are then the smaller landmasses of the continent. For example, North America (I'm using this example because I can lol) is divided up into Canada (eh?), the USA, and Mexico. That's what the quadrants are; smaller lands to divide the galaxy a bit more.

The sectors are then divided up into even smaller divisions of locations. The sectors are states, provinces, boroughs, counties, whatever floats your boat, and the planets are within each of these sectors, or divisions.

But that's only what I think, and I'm using this just to clear the confusion. xD

There are two maps featured in BLoSC media that could be of help here (though they are still only guides as to how the galaxy is laid out) - the one in the queueline of the Buzz lightyear Disneyland rides, which doesn't feature canonical planet names:


And the one featured in the console video game, which shows us the immediate area around Star Command, though some of the planets shown here are meant to be much further away (e.g. Ice Planet). I'll post an annotated image when I have time, but for now,
this video at 03:42 shows the general layout (which is, as expected, reasonably messed up).

Ooh, an interestig topic~.

First of all, I agree that Capital Planet isn't Earth - not only are the planets in its solar system different, but the continents are different as well. However, since there are so many humans in the BLoSC galaxy, it's certainly possible it's our galaxy.

The quadrant thing puzzles me too. Maybe there are only four quadrants, but they aren't named in alphabetical order, which is why we have a gamma and a zeta? Then again, that doesn't make much sense, so I don't know. A minor correction though - the Outback Quadrant is mentioned in "The Main Event", not "Lone Wolf". In Lone Wolf, Buzz talks about "the galactic frontier".

Sectors are interesting, because not only have they been assigned numbers as names (for instance, Rhizome is said to be located in Sector 6 in "Stress Test"), at least some of them also have more unique names - in "The Beasts of Karn", Ozma mentions the Kevhoppi Sector. This could also be slang, though.

I'm of the same mind as Steel as for where humans came from. I posted somewhere else that in my head!canon BLoSC is divergent from Firefly starting when humanity evacuated Earth-That-Was, as sort of a renegade faction of the Alliance.

Here's another completely whacked out idea I just had, and feel free to bust me about it, but...what if the galaxy BLoSC takes place in is our own and Planet Z was Earth conquered?
Hear me out. Conventionally, if our galaxy is divided into quadrants (four by definition), we'd label them Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta; and we'd put ourselves in the Alpha quadrant, because we humans are egotistical that way. The only quadrant we've heard about in canon is Gamma, and then there's Zeta. Well, what if during Earth and Human history, our technology became advanced enough that we could go forth and explore or conquer the Alpha quadrant. Suppose we did go out and make it to the other quadrants, claiming another planet as a colony to support our growing population (Capital Planet) and setting up a trading post (Tradeworld). Earth would still be the center of humanity, but then one of our own had developed the technology to change and advance his own physiology to attain near immortality, transforming into something as mad and inhuman as possible. When the time was right, he set a plan into motion to seize Humanity's empire in the Alpha quadrant for his own using his own twisted machinations.
In the ensuing violence, what was left of humanity abandoned the Earth and Alpha quadrant for the safety of their colony in the Gamma quadrant. Earth was renamed Planet Z, and the Alpha quadrant became the Zeta quadrant, symbolizing the end for Humanity...or so he thought.

But, again, just an idea. I thought it would explain why no one talks about Earth, why there's a conflict with Zurg and why he's so despised, the origin of Zurg and his forces, and where the humans in the galaxy came from. Yeah, it's a bit silly, but considering we have no canon explanation, it's something.

After doing some BLoSC rewatches, I've noticed there are four quadrants mentioned in the show: Gamma, Zeta, Delta (mentioned in Lost in Time), and Beta (mentioned in TAB). And of course the Outback Quadrant, which might be a nickname for the Beta or Delta Quadrant. So, assuming there aren't any other quadrants, then the galaxy is indeed split into four sections. The question is, why is there a Zeta instead of an Alpha? Did Zurg rename it to make it sound more evil?

Well, here in the Pacific Northwest, the individual states (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, parts of Wyoming and Montana) were originally the Oregon Territory. Eventually they split into individual states, and Oregon is the only part to retain the name. And of course all this completely ignores the way the tribes divided the area.

Maybe something similar happened in the BLoSC universe- there were initially four quadrants, but then the Alliance got so large (or different societies clashed enough) they ended up adding a few more (either by making a cutoff point for adding to a given quadrant or by splitting existing ones) but still called them "quadrants" for whatever reason.

That could be a possibility. In fact, the word quadrant might have gained a more simplified meaning, referring to large general sections of galaxies. Sectors may refer to smaller bodies depending on who or what exists there. Language is a fluid construct, and depending on how far in the future we theorize the series taking place, a lot of terminology could have changed.

As far as time goes, I think we like to imagine this takes place maybe only about a thousand years in the future at most, but some reading into more deep time literature has made me wonder whether it could be even longer. Say the human base of power moved to what is now Capital Planet and continued to flourish for who knows how long. They left Earth due to drastic environmental changes, but after that time while they were leaving and settling a new planet, nature continued on and eventually a new sentient race appeared, and through some artifacts left behind by humans began to survive and build up much like us, despite not looking quite like us.

In short, my theory is that Earth is Roswell millions of years in the future. Did humanity change in all that time? Sure! Humans stuck it out that long to evolve a change in their bone structure so that long term activity in an anti-gravity setting did not cause their bones to rapidly decay.

It need not be millions of years (not that it's impossible, seeing how BLoSC is a science-fiction series). After all, our planet right now has everything from uncontacted tribes to astronauts and everything in between, and according to archaeologists we modern humans have been around about 200,000 years, give or take a few. And except for the most remote regions of the world, everyone's at least seen buses, trains, and other vehicles.

In-universe levels of development are all over the place:
- Planet Roswell is at 1950's level of technological/social development, and in their second episode, they have some kind of protective no-contact status (for all the good that did them, *cough* Zurg *cough*). Presumably there are more places like Roswell.
- There were intergalactic freight ships 1000 years ago ("Speed Trap") that were at least as advanced as modern Alliance vessels.
- There are at least two places where there was advanced technology that was later lost- "Ancient Evil" and "Enemy Without a Face."
-Tangean Royals live in cities in the sky; Grounders appear to live in villages on the ground. Both are capable of traveling to space.
- "Lone Wolf": Literal space cowboys.

Space travel is shown as a normal and everyday thing, like buses and cars are here, to the point kids take space shuttles to school and there are interstellar traffic jams. I tend to assume that if the characters rely on space travel that much, they've already come up with functional artificial gravity at some point.

After reading what everyone has said about the Quadrants in the BLoSC universe, I really wish there was some kind of "Guide to" BLoSC like they have for the StarWars and Startrek universe. It's a little muddled how the quadrants exactly work, but it might be as you said (something like continents>countries>states).

I also would like to know exactly where on the galaxy is the Gamma quadrant. Is it around one of the arms or near the center? Is the galaxy spiral, elliptical, or a big globular mass? Is their galaxy massive or a little dwarf? These kind of things might help explain the dynamics of their system.