The Face of the Enemy Webisode 7

As usual, thanx to SevorTB/ddt73



With Jane's commentary:



Credits

Sponsor info

The Face of the Enemy webisode 8 airs January 5th

Colonial Dispatch 12.30.08

Tidbits from the BSG 'verse...

Buffy and BSG (and comics) fans will be delighted with the upcoming Dark Horse 5 issue series centered around Seth Green's character Oz from the Buffy series - also written by Jane Espenson! SciFi Wire

There have been several previews of the region 1 season 4.0 DVD release (January 6, 2009) bumping around the web. Check it out at The Digital Bits, Trek Web, and of course the official Battlestar Galactica DVD site.

Last week SciFi Wire posted a spoiler-free piece (general setting description) about the BSG post-series final The Plan.

Ron Moore is listed as USA Today's #10 in it's Top 100 People of 2008:

Battlestar Galactica's executive producer should prepare to break fans' hearts with the final episode, though the first half of his final season offered enough surprises to tide us over. On the bright side, he doesn't plan to stop working after the show ends, so expect much more must-see sci-fi to come.

Ron has been pretty busy lately (Is he ever not?) putting out a little PR for his beloved BSG and other related scifi ventures. Check out his interviews at AMC TV's Scifi Scanner and Kate O'Hare's Hot Cuppa TV blog; Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. Both via Trek Web

It's still not too late to audition to host the Auction Network's coverage of the BSG Propworx auction! That is, if you're anywhere near Universal City, Ca today.

Speaking of fan participation, the LA Times promises heavy coverage of Battlestar Galactica as the series comes to an end, and is open to any questions you may want to ask the cast and crew. Also check out this LA Times feature Faces to Watch: Tahmoh Penikett by Denise Martin.

Writer Eric Nylund's comic Battlestar Galactica: The Cylon War is coming in January 2009, and will be a prequel to the TV series. Eric's other writings include novels for the Halo and Gears of War series, and none of those are too far of a stretch away from BSG content.

A bit about Bear McCreary's Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles soundtrack (and Bear's work in general) from top-40charts.com.

Get 'em while they're hot! Scripts for the Caprica series have been posted here. Do I even have to warn about spoilers for this? via Galictica Sitrep

Galictica Sitrep also has some very pretty billboard pictures from the LA area promoting "The Final Episodes". What's the deal with chopping the top of everyone's head off?

The Face of the Enemy Webisode 6

via SevorTB/ddt73



With Jane Espenson's commentary:



Credits

Sponsor info

17 days until season 4.5 begins!

One week until season 4.0 region 1 DVD release!

Propworx commercial

Saw this little gem on youtube from the Auction Network, who will be broadcasting (at least in part) from the January 2009 Propworx BSG auction. If you open the youtube page you will see they are also hiring "enthusiastic BSG fans" to host their coverage of the event! Get those auditions in soon!



While we're on the auction subject, BSG Cast will be hosting the (hopefully not) last annual Frak Party at the very location where the auction will be taking place, and will be granted an exclusive preview of the items before the auction kicks off. All are invited! Watch for more info (and/or go to BSGcast.com):

The Face of the Enemy Webisode 5

via SevorTB/ddt73



With commentary:



Credits

Sponsor info

The Face of the Enemy Webisode 4

Same source as usual

The Face of the Enemy Webisode 4



With Jane E's commentary:



Credits

Sponsor info

Katee Sackhoff Q&A Part Deux

The Face of the Enemy Webisode 3

Thanks again ddt73 (aka SevorTB)

The Face of the Enemy webisode 3:



With Jane Espenson's commentary (Warning - this commentary is a slight spoiler to the later webisodes!):



See full credits here, and view the sponsor's trailer for Underworld: Rise of the Lycans here from youtube or here at the official site.

Colonial Dispatch 12.17.08

Miscellaneous news inspired by the Fleet News Service

I recently saw The Day the Earth Stood Still - both the 1951 original (for the first time since elementary school) and the 2008 "remake". One of the things I was looking forward to was seeing Aaron Douglas in an albeit small, even background, part as "Sgt. Winter", but apparently he was completely removed from the roll call (and imdb) as the movie released on December 12, dubbing Frak a liar. But BSG fans won't be disappointed to catch a quick glimpse of Lorena Gale (Elosha) as one of the convening scientists, and Michael Hogan (Tigh) in the credits as "General". If anyone saw Michael on screen, please say where! A good solid flick, and one can't miss the undeniable original inspiration for Cylon Centurians. Another fan shout-out goes to Director of Photography David Tattersall for also being DP for all the Star Wars prequels. *bow of respect*

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Other random bits...

BSG makes all sorts of top lists! Number 2 in EW's list of the top 25 in sci-fi since 1982, and number 8 in Time Magazine's top 10 TV shows in 2008 (and there were barely a dozen BSG episodes in 2008!). That's just this week. Wait until after the season finale, and see how many more top lists we make then. How about all-time lists? Check out what Newsweek has to say (via verheiden.blogspot.com via galacticasitrep.blogspot.com).

Of course BSG made Mo Ryan's Top 10 of 2008, but did you know that BSG has the top rating percentage increase (at 53%) when DVR use is factored in? I'm not exactly sure what that means since statistics aren't a big subject in art school, but Reuters (3rd to last paragraph) makes it sound good.

Luckily we're hearing from Jane Espenson via her commentaries on the new webisodes (and hopefully on the season 4.0 DVDs), because she's announced that she will cease blogging indefinitely due to an exhaustion of things to say. (via LA Observed)

Will we see Ron Moore's Virtuality as a series, a miniseries, or at all? Hard to say at this point, and we may not know much until May 2009. At least we finally know Caprica is a definite, so maybe it's just taking NBCU an equal amount of time to work with Virtuality.

"ScFi Looks for a Future without Battlestar Galactica" at the LA Times - which is actually an expansion of one of last week's Hero Complex future-forward look at the SciFi channel with president David Howe.

Pretty pictures from the set of the season 4.0 finale and others (which I don't believe are spoilers) at MichaelTrucco.com! Hee hee, at least I'm pretty frakking sure the first photo is not a spoiler.

Last but not least, a reminder that the Battlestar Prop Auction is not only online at www.battlestarprops.com, but the complete catalogue is also available to download - a fine piece of free memorabilia if you can't afford any of the actual props.

The Face of the Enemy Webisode 2

Once again, thanks to youtube user SevorTB (who would like to be credited under their Live Journal username "ddt73"), The Face of the Enemy webisode #2, which aired today on scifi.com - for all of you who can not access the SciFi site or Hulu:



With Jane Espenson's commentary:



I'm trying to figure out if when Espenson said at the end of webisode 1's commentary "That was the end of webisode one. Where's the fleet?" she meant that "Where's the Fleet" is the actual title of webisode one. She mentioned nothing of the like in the commentary for webisode 2.

Since SciFi's sponsor for the webisodes has been the next Underworld movie; Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (visit the official site), we're putting the trailer up here for you to watch because it's the sponsors that help pay the writers and production staff so that these webisodes are even possible at all. You can also click the above link to their official site to show your support for their support:

Katee Sackhoff Q&A, season 4.5 poster

Scifi.com has kick started the Q&A sessions again, and part1 with Katee Sackhoff is up for viewing both from the recently slightly rearranged Battlestar site's video section (Note - You now have to navigate to www.scifi.com/battlestar/webisodes to view the webisodes there. It no longer opens from the home page), or you can watch the Hulu embed below. FYI - Here's a direct link to Hulu's Battlestar main page. Sorry folks, but there doesn't seem to be a youtube version out there just yet...



Speaking of Katee, Mo Ryan posted the fantabulous season 4.5 promotional poster below on her Chicago Tribune online blog The Watcher. This is going to be a new countdown widget image me thinks:

The Face of the Enemy Webisode 1

For those of you who can't access the webisodes through scifi.com/battlestar where they are "aired", here's webisode 1 of "The Face of the Enemy", original airdate December 12, 2008 (thanks SevorTB youtube user!):




And an extra special thanx again to SevorTB for posting the webbie with writer Jane Espenson's podcast commentary synced with the webisode. SWEET:



Also check out the interview with Jane Espenson from yesterday on TV Guide.com.

The 10 webisode schedule is as follows: Part 1 - DEC 12, Part 2 - DEC 15, Part 3 - DEC 17, Part 4 - DEC 22, Part 5 - DEC 24, Part 6 - DEC 29, Part 7 - DEC 31, Part 8 - JAN 5, Part 9 - JAN 7, Part 10 - JAN 12. We'll try and keep them coming here at FRAK the following day, as long as people like SevorTB keeps serving them up for us.

You can find the credits here at scifi.com, but we'll just post the summary and full credits (sorry about single spacing, but it's long!) here too:

"The action continues with a gripping 10 part web series of Battlestar Galactica. "The Face Of The Enemy" is filled with astonishing revelations you won't see on the show. Lieutenant Gaeta is sent off in a raptor with a handful of strangers when one of them mysteriously dies. The psychological human vs. Cylon struggle ensues in the restrictive confines of a raptor as everyone is a suspect and paranoia sets in among the group. One by one more passengers die under puzzling circumstances and those remaining must ask themselves if a Cylon is responsible for the deaths, or if it is one of their own — a human."

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
“THE FACE OF THE ENEMY”

Directed by: WAYNE ROSE
Written by: JANE ESPENSON & SEAMUS KEVIN FAHEY
Number Eight: GRACE PARK
Lt. Felix Gaeta: ALESSANDRO JULIANI
Colonel Saul Tigh: MICHAEL HOGAN
Lt. Hoshi: BRAD DRYBOROUGH
Lt. Margaret ‘Racetrack’ Edmondson: LEAH CAIRNS
Finn: WILLIAM C. VAUGHAN
Esrin: JESSICA HARMON
Brooks: MICHAEL ROGERS
Executive Producers: RONALD D. MOORE, DAVID EICK
Executive Producer: JANE ESPENSON
Produced by HARVEY FRAND
Producer: RON E. FRENCH
Co-Producer: MARIL DAVIS
Co-Producer: PAUL M. LEONARD
Associate Producer: ANDREW SEKLIR
Director of Photography: RYAN MCMASTER
Edited by: ANDREW SEKLIR, MICHAEL LIM
Music by: BEAR MCCREARY
Visual Effects Supervisor: GARY HUTZEL
Associate Producer: GREGG TILSON
Visual Effects Producer: MICHAEL D. GIBSON
First Assistant Director: STACY FISH
Production Assistant: MICHAEL BISHOP
Associate Producer: SIAN MCARTHUR
Post Production Supervisor: IAN MADDOX
Script Supervisor: LINDA STRATHDEE
Production Coordinator: MELISSA BARRIE
Camera Operator: KEVIN HALL
Camera First Assistant: RICHARD EGAN
Camera Second Assistant: CHRIS MOONE
Digital Image Technician: JIM BACH
Gaffer: BLAIR McDONALD
Best Boy Electric: JEFF BOUDIER
Lamp Ops: BRYCE DICKSON, NIGEL NIESSEN, DOUG REYNOLDS
Key Grip: JAMES VINBLAD
Best Boy Grip: PETER WEBSTER
Dolly Grip: TRACY NIXON
Grips: TOM EVANS, JESSE OLIVER
Key Makeup/Prosthetics: SHAUNA MAGRATH
First Assistant Makeup: LESLIE GRAHAM
Key Hair: GENE KENDALL
First Assistant Hair: BEV SEWERS
Wardrobe Set Supervisor: KATHERINE WIGZELL
Set Costumer: PAULETTE NELSON
On Set Dresser: MAURICE WOODWORTH
Props: BRENT LANE
Sound Mixer: MATT WILLOUGHBY-PRICE
Boom Operator: TONY WYMAN
Computer Playback: LAWRENCE LAU, SHERYES MITHAWALA
Special Effects Supervisor: ROBERT CARTER
Location Production Assistant: JEFF MEAGHER
First Aid Craft Services: GLENNE MOORE
Post Production Coordinator: BETTINA ZACHARIAH TREVIRANUS
Visual Effects Editor: ERIC LEA
CGI Supervisor: DOUG DREXLER
Senior VFX Coordinator: GREG BEHRENS
Visual Effects by BSG IN-HOUSE VISUAL EFFECTS
Senior Coordinator: DAVID TAKEMURA
CGI Modeler: PIERRE DROLET
Render Coordinator: MANUEL CHOI
Render Assistant: FARRAH WELCH
CGI Artist: ADAM “MOJO” LEBOWITZ
VFX Compositors: DEREK LEDBETTER, RYAN SCHROER, MICHAEL ROSS LANG
Digital Logistics Coordinator: JEREMY LANG
Sound Editorial Services by AnEFX, Inc.
Supervising Sound Editors: JACK LEVY, DANIEL COLMAN, M.P.S.E.
Sound Designer: DANIEL COLMAN, M.P.S.E.
Dialogue Editor: VINCE BALUNAS
Foley Artist: DOUG MADICK
Re-Recording Mixers: MICHAEL OLMAN, C.A.S., KENNETH KOBETT, C.A.S.
Color Timer: RON NICHOLS

LA Times and Battlestar

Today's LA Times features a "Sunday Conversation" with Jamie Bamber, which interestingly took place on a Friday:

"What was it like on, say, the last day of shooting "Battlestar Galactica?" Did you all think, 'What now?' Or -- 'Oh, thank God, my life is back'?

The last day of shooting was a crazy day. We'd gone a week over already. Two units shooting, everyone on call the whole time. There was not time to reflect. It was just getting across the finish line. There was a lot of whiskey drunk in the camera truck at 4 a.m. but I was still going in the second unit scene, or on my own with a bunch of extras firing guns."

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Also featured in today's LA Times is Sciffy prez David Howe, who adamantly acknowledges the success and audience Battlestar has brought to SciFi. Howe hints at a mysterious "Holy Grail" multimedia event by 2010 which will embody the future direction of the network.

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Back on December 4, the LA Times Hero Complex blog gave us a heads up and intro to a Sunday edition article discussing the recent wave of scifi remakes and resurrections. Here it is, and BSG is definitely part of the discussion.

"The "Terminator" and "Robocop" franchises are being revved up now for more mechanical-man mayhem, and classic films such as "Forbidden Planet" and "When Worlds Collide" are in the remake pipeline, while the new take on " The Day the Earth Stood Still," starring Keanu Reeves, opens Dec. 12. Even " Battlestar Galactica," which began as a small-screen "Star Wars" knockoff in the 1970s, has been revived with spectacular results and will break new ground in 2009 with the TV movie "Caprica" on Sci Fi, with a series to follow."

Sneek peeks!

Stargate Atlantis crossover Battlestar fans were treated to an extra spiffy treat Friday night during the airing of the former program - excerpted scenes from the series finale of BSG. View them at The Watcher blog (or not if you're the spoiler-free type).

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Oh yeah, and have we mentioned Caprica is a green-light yet? Well it is, and the announcement came from NBCU on December 2nd.

Chuck Versus the Bulldog!

NBC's Chuck is one of those shows I just started watching and couldn't stop. It seems to be on at just the right time - soon after dinner and right before Heroes on Monday night, and really helps bide the painstaking time between Battlestar seasons. Chuck keeps pulling out the awesomess. First, we now know that we'll see Tricia Helfer guest star as a helping-hand special agent on the show in 2009. Tonight, Chuck and BSG fans are treated to another special guest who plays one of my favorite yet most underappreciated characters on BSG - Senior Lieutenant Daniel "Bulldog" Novacek.

Carl Lumbly was last seen on BSG as Bulldog in episode 8 of season 3, "Hero". Bulldog mysteriously incorporated himself into the Fleet after being presented a Colonial Officer's uniform by Adama. He seemed like such a loaded character that we would have seen at least intermittently in the series, especially since a whole episode was based primarily on him, yet we never saw him again.

In Chuck's episode 9 of season 2, "Chuck Versus the Sensei", Carl Lumbly plays Bennett, the former sensei to Agent John Casey, played by Adam Baldwin (Triple whammy for Chuck, BSG, and Firefly fans, and quadruple if you are also a fan of Alias in which Lumbly co-starred). Lumbly's Sensei Bennett is a stone-cold ass-kicker, and is surprisingly clean-cut these days. If you've seen the documentaries in the season 3 DVDs, you might remember the discussion around Lumbly's (the son of Jamaican immigrants) dreadlocks which the actor did not want to change for the role. It made perfect sense though, since his character was holed up in a Cylon prison cell for a pretty long time.

It's always a thrill to see Carl Lumbly's powerful presence, which is why I always hoped to see him again on BSG since both are pretty intense. If you missed tonight's episode of Chuck, don't despair - it should be available to view online at NBC.com (see Chuck link at top of page) and Hulu as soon as tomorrow!

* While we're on the subject of BSG stars and NBC, don't forget to tune in to NBC on Wednesday December 3rd to see Katee Sackhoff's guest appearance on Law & Order at 10pm/9pm Central.

The Face of the Enemy webisodes begin December 12

We here at FRAK have made a conscious decision to not entertain and/or spread the rumors about the content of the upcoming season 4 webisodes that have been banging around the net for the past week or two. We (or I at least, since I'm about the only poster here lately) will continue to condemn the rumors by only reporting here that SciFi announced the 10 webisode series, titled The Face of the Enemy, will begin on December 12 on scifi.com. It has not been stated how the 10 webisodes, 5 of which are supposedly directed by Jamie Bamber and the other 5 by James Callis, will actually be presented since one per week would not fit into the 6 weeks spanning between December 12 through Jauary 16.

"Sci Fi would not confirm or deny" the webisode rumors.

If you've already read the rumors or just don't care, you can safely follow this source link for this posting at SciFi Wire, which contains a picture as well as some commentary and further links concerning the rumors.

If you would like to know the general story pitch for the webisodes, highlight the text below between the red astericks. This is quoted from the source article at SciFi Wire, but contains no references to the rumors and is only a plot description which can be considered very low on the spoiler scale. If you want nothing to do with any of this, stop reading now and remember to go to scifi.com/battlestar on December 12!

Plot description for The Face of the Enemy webisodes:

* "The 10 webisodes, entitled "The Face of the Enemy," tell a story that takes place between seasons 4.0 and 4.5 of Battlestar and follow Lt. Gaeta when he is sent off in a Raptor with a handful of strangers and one of them mysteriously dies. The psychological human-vs.-Cylon struggle is played out in the restrictive confines of a Raptor as everyone is a suspect, and paranoia sets in among the group. Grace Park and Michael Hogan also star." *

You Will Know the Truth... and other 4.5 promos

On Thanksgiving Day, SciFi.com launched the You Will Know the Truth viral at the Battlestar site, where each day they post a clue or a tidbit (audio and video clips) about what will happen in season 4.5.

The "extended online-only trailer" titled The Epic Journey is also up at scifi.com - click here, or see the youtube copy below:



If you clicked to see the above video at scifi.com then you'll also see that the teaser trailer The Truth is also available to view. Here it is from youtube as well:



The You Will Know the Truth segments with audio clips by individual Battlestar characters can be found from youtube users SevorTB and indysid.