FRAK - Battlestar Galactica

The Year in Drama at the Emmys

2009-09-28T17:52:00.002-05:00

Finally! The "Year in Drama" video montage shown at the 2009 Primetime Emmy Awards, featuring a clip from BSG and Bear McCreary's music. Again, mixed emotions here, but welling up with pride and joy nonetheless.

BSG Emmys recap

2009-09-23T19:14:00.002-05:00

Well, one win isn't bad I guess. Yay for sound editing! But no nom for Bear McCreary? Not even for his work on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles or Eureka either? So many categories BSG *should* have been nominated for, and some of the winners that beat BSG in it's nominated categories is certainly criminal - but I don't need to tell other fans that.

If anybody watched the Emmys broadcast on TV, they may have noticed the clips from BSG that were included in a video montage of various TV shows in the drama category, as well as Bear McCreary's music in the background. Too bad that's the only peep we got of BSG during the show that was broadcast, but they were only showing the "big" awards on air. Grumble. Anyway, still looking for video online of said video montage, but have had a frak of a time finding it. I have to wonder if the award academy has some sort of hold on things like that being posted online.

The following is a listing of the categories Battlestar Galactica was nominated for at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards. Included are the winners of the category. The other nominees can be viewed by following the respective category link.

Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series:
Nominated: Battlestar Galactica - Daybreak (Part 2) - Syfy R&D TV in association with Universal Cable Productions - Michael Rymer, Director
Winner: ER - And In The End - NBC Constant c Productions, Amblin Television in association with Warner Bros. Television - Rod Holcomb, Director

Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series:
Nominated: Battlestar Galactica - Daybreak (Part 2) - Syfy R&D TV in association with Universal Cable Productions - Andrew Seklir, A.C.E., Edited By; Julius Ramsay, Edited By; Michael O'Halloran, Edited By
Winner: Breaking Bad - ABQ AMC - High Bridge, Gran Via Productions, Sony Pictures Television - Lynne Willingham, Edited By

Outstanding Special Class - Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment Programs:
Nominated: Battlestar Galactica: The Face Of The Enemy - SyFy.com
Universal Cable Productions - Ronald D. Moore, Executive Producer; David Eick, Executive Producer; Jane Espenson, Executive Producer; Harvey Frand, Produced By
Winner: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog - drhorrible.com Mutant Enemy, Inc. - Joss Whedon, Producer; Michael Boretz, Producer; David Burns, Producer

Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series:
Winner: Battlestar Galactica - Daybreak (Part 2) - Syfy R&D TV in association with Universal Cable Productions - Daniel Colman, Supervising Sound Editor / Sound Designer; Jack Levy, Supervising Sound Editor; Vince Balunas, Dialogue/ADR Editor; Sam Lewis, Sound Effects Editor; Doug Maddik, Foley Artist; Rick Partlow, Foley Artist; Doug Madick, Foley Artist; Michael Baber, Music Editor

Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour):
Nominated: Battlestar Galactica - Daybreak (Part 2) - Syfy R&D TV in association with Universal Cable Productions - Rick Bal, Production Mixer; Michael Olman, C.A.S., Supervising Re-Recording Mixer; Kenneth Kobett, C.A.S., Supervising Re-Recording Mixer
Winner: House - House Divided - FOX Universal Media Studios in association with Heel and Toe Films, Shore Z Productions and Bad Hat Harry Productions - Von Varga, Production Sound Mixer; Richard Weingart, Re-Recording Mixer; Gerry Lentz, Re-Recording Mixer

Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series:
Nominated: Battlestar Galactica - Daybreak (Part 2) - Syfy R&D TV in association with Universal Cable Productions - Gary Hutzel, Visual Effects Supervisor; Michael Gibson, Visual Effects Producer; Jesse Toves, CGI Artist; Sean Jackson, CGI Artist; Kyle Toucher, CGI Artist; Pierre Drolet, CGI Modeler; Greg Behrens, Visual Effects Coordinator; Heather McAuliff, Visual Effects Compositor; Dave Morton, CGI Artist
Winner: Heroes - The Second Coming/The Butterfly Effect - NBC Universal Media Studios in association with Tailwind Productions - Mark Scott Spatny, Visual Effects Producer; Eric Grenaudier, Visual Effects Supervisor; Gary D'Amico, Special Effects Supervisor; Michael Cook, Lead CG Artist; Daniel Kumiega, Lead CG Animator; Chris Martin, Compositing Supervisor; Meliza Fermin, Lead Visual Effects Compositor; Ryan Wieber, Lead Visual Effects Compositor; Diego Galtieri, Lead Visual Effects Compositor

No EWwy wins for BSG

2009-09-19T11:19:00.005-05:00

The competition was tough, especially when Lost is in the mix and there are so few categories to vote in. Out of the three categories BSG was nominated for in the fan-elected Entertainment Weekly awards; The EWwys, it won zero. Here are the category links with notes on how close we came (the one vote miss for Mary McDonnell for Best Lead Actress is a crying shame!):

Tricia Helfer lost to Lost's Elizabeth Mitchell for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama

Mary McDonnell lost to Emily Deschanel of Bones for Best Actress in a Drama

Battlestar Galactica lost to True Blood for Best Drama Series

At least the Tubeys were a little more in our favor! And don't forget, you can vote I believe once a day for the Spike TV 2009 Scream Awards, which will be open until October 27. Follow the easy links below to vote for BSG in the nominated categories:

Battlestar Galactica for Best TV Show

Katee Sackhoff for Best Science Fiction Actress

Battlestar Galactica for Best Ensemble

Fighting Breast Cancer with Teddy Bears!

2009-09-18T16:40:00.007-05:00

The Project Teddy Bear 2009 auctions are now live! Several BSG cast members, as well as lots of other celebs have signed bears that are up for auction, and more people are joining on all the time. I'm not sure if there is an official end date for the auction, but it seems that many of them will close by September 24. Check back to the above site to see if new bear sponsors have been signed on, or to click through to the individual auction pages. Right now the BSG tally is James Callis, Aaron Douglas, Richard Hatch, Michael Hogan, Mary McDonnell, Edward James Olmos, Mark Sheppard (a repeat offender!), Erik Stoltz, and Michael Trucco. Yay for fighting breast cancer with bears!

BSG's Tubey triumphs and otherwise

2009-09-18T16:13:00.003-05:00

Television Without Pity's 2009 Tubey Awards winners, losers, and runners-up are now in. Fans and staff voted on various categories for television shows, and BSG shows up aplenty! Here's the breakdown:

In the Actors & Actresses category, BSG was less than 10 votes shy of winning Best Cast, but the Galctica itself won for "Best Performance by an Inanimate Object" (it was also the staff pick for this category which seems to have been created specifically for the Galactica).

In the Episodes & Moments category, BSG was the staff pick for Worst Season Finale, but Dualla was the staff pick for Best On-Screen Death Scene. "Starbuck vanishes into thin air in the finale" was the staff pick for Worst "WTF" Moment, and Daybreak Part 2 was also the staff pick for Worst Single Episode - Drama (Getting the feeling that the TWoP staff wasn't keen on the BSG finale). It's pretty surprising to me that there wasn't any mention of BSG for Best or Worst Dream/Hallucination/Fantasy Sequence since there are so many of them, particularly with the head people!

In the Relationships & Storylines category, Bill Adama and Laura Roslin won for Best Romantic Relationship. Aw!! "Cally cheated on Tyrol with Hot Dog, who fathered her child" got the staff pick for Worst Retcon.

That about sums up BSG at the Tubeys. It seems the Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles fans were also very outspoken about the show with the Tubeys as well.

BSG Dragon Con panel Friday night

2009-09-14T15:15:00.003-05:00

A huge thanks to LJ's hikaruchan for putting up a 7 part video of the full Friday BSG panel at Dragon Con. Posting the first section here, and commence to this page to watch them all.

New BSG Concept Art

2009-09-10T21:27:00.001-05:00

Not sure if you have already seen this - click on the title for the images.

DAGGIT!

Forget the Emmys... bring on the EWwys!

2009-09-08T20:39:00.002-05:00

Entertainment Weekly has given a second chance for some of the most popular Emmy snubinees by having their very own awards - The EWwy Awards. Fans can vote for BSG in the following drama categories:

Mary McDonnell for Best Lead Actress in a Drama

Tricia Helfer for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama

and for Battlestar Galactica as a whole for Best Drama Series

It's hard to say what kind of prestige the EWwys may gain winners. Street-cred perhaps? Unfortunately, snub awards only lead to more snubs. Where are the nominations for Eddy for Male Lead? James Callis, Jamie Bamber, and Tahmoh Penikett for Supporting Actor?

Vote BSG for Scream 2009

2009-09-03T19:43:00.004-05:00

Get all the BSG votes in while you can! Go here to Spike TV's Scream 2009 voting site, and vote for BSG for Best TV Show, Best Ensemble, and you can vote for Katee Sackhoff for Best Science Fiction Actress. Some of the other categories are interesting too, but there's a few in which I wasn't quite sure what the vote was for specifically (Ultimate Scream? Holy S*** Scene of the Year?)

Ode to Zoic and District 9

2009-08-16T14:41:00.010-05:00

I recently got a chance to see District 9 and I think it's worthwhile for BSG fans and sci-fi peeps in general to go out and see this. Yes, I was pleasantly and very enthusiastically surprised. I'm not going to get into a review of that, and don't want to give away any spoilers because it's really best to watch with fresh eyes.

It wasn't necessarily the story of District 9 that impressed me as much as the incredible visual style and effects that were employed throughout the film. This movie was filmed entirely in digital high-def with a Red camera (interestingly also in unmatted 16:9 format for theater projection, which will transfer superbly for "home video", i.e. DVD and Blu-Ray, for HDTV viewing) and relies heavily on computer generated imagery to make the movie work. I have to say it's the most impressive CGI melded to live action I have seen yet. It's a testament to the evolution of high-def digital technology that we have today. That of course, is thanks to the outstanding special effects work done largely by three Vancouver based FX houses. Image Engine held the main contract, followed by The Embassy and then the Zoic Studios Vancouver branch which opened in 2006. Peter Jackson's New Zealand company Weta Digital, who are credited for their work on Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, handled the remaining FX (close to a third). Check out this Vancouver Sun article for more details on the VFX production, but not if you don't want spoilers! Battlestar (the recent one) fans will surely recognize the CG work in District 9 to be in the same style and spirit that we see with the all CG Cylon Centurions of the series. It's inspired me to post a little about the history of Zoic with Battlestar Galactica here.

Way back around 2001, Tom DeSanto and Bryan Singer (who coincidentally is a hot news item right now as he has been confirmed to direct the Larson BSG theatrical movie - see previous post for more) had been approached by Studio USA (under the USA Television Production Group) to develop a reboot of the 1970's Battlestar Galactica TV series. Zoic Studios was reportedly indirectly associated with this project through one of it's owners, but largely due to the events of 9/11/01 the series came to a halt before production could get a real start and it's pilot could be aired, which was to be hosted by Fox Television (Phew! Thankfully *that* never happened). The project was awash, and just as the smoke began to clear Studio USA turned to David Eick, who reuptook the project on the premise that he could redesign Battlestar apart from what DeSanto and Singer had begun. For the longer version of this story, check out this article on battlestargalactica.com.

David brought in Ron Moore who was fresh off the Star Trek franchise, which Zoic Studios had done a considerable amount of work for. With that in consideration, Zoic was brought on to do the special effects for the Battlestar Galactica miniseries Eick and Moore were developing. Zoic's Emile Smith, who is a professed fan of the original Battlestar series from the 70's, worked on the pre-visualization of the miniseries, and helped develop the look that was retained throughout the series. Smith worked closely with Zoic's Gary Hutzel, Visual Effects Supervisor for BSG, co-supervising mainly for digital effects and remained involved in the series. Kristen Brenan, Head of Production for the Zoic team that worked on District 9, held the same position for Battlestar in 2004. The Zoic team earned the Visual Effects Society's 2004 award for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Television Miniseries, Movie or a Special for their work on the miniseries, along with several other nominations.

Previous to their work on Battlestar, and in addition to Star Trek, Zoic had also gained recognition for their work on two Joss Whedon series; Firefly and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Both earned them Emmy nominations for their VFX work, and Firefly also earned them a 2003 VES award for Best VFX in a TV Series as well as a 2003 Emmy for Best VFX in a TV Series. Buffy won them the 2004 VES Best VFX in a TV Series. Battlestar earned Zoic additional nominations for a VES and an Emmy in 2005, and in 2007 they received a Constellation Award for "Best Technical Accomplishment in a 2006 Science Fiction Film or Television Production for VFX in Battlestar Galactica".

Because of Zoic's earlier work on Star Trek and Firefly, a keen eye will spot both the USS Enterprise and a Firefly class ship (or perhaps serenity herself) in the Battlestar Galactica miniseries. To find out where they are, and for more tidbits on Zoic's work on Battlestar, see their entry here at Battlestar Wiki.

Sometime after the new Battlestar Galactica sailed through it's first season, VFX Supervisor Gary Hutzel decided to make the formal departure from Zoic to create an all in-house VFX team for the show, in order to save time and money. Even though Hutzel's (and Smith) team was no longer under the Zoic name, they still retained the style and look consistently throughout the series, and Zoic did step back in to the series at later points to help supplement the in-house team for heavier loads in some of the season premieres and finales as well as doing work on models and miniatures.

Aside from their involvement with District 9, Battlestar, and the other projects mentioned above, some of Zoic's other work includes Joss Whedon's Angel, The Day After Tomorrow, Spiderman 2, Van Helsing, Serenity, Jericho, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Hello Bear McCreary!), Fringe (already nominated for an Emmy for the pilot! - and I think they already took home a VES for this), Eureka ( More Bear! Zoic also nabbed a Leo award for this), Prison Break, Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog, True Blood, Dollhouse, and Chuck... just to name a few!

Edited 8/17/09

Singer confirmed for Larson's Battlestar movie

2009-08-13T18:56:00.006-05:00

Yesterday, HitFix posted about the possibility of Bryan Singer getting signed on by Universal to direct the Battlestar Galactica feature film that producer and original series creator Gary Larson entered talks with the studio for earlier this year. Apparently today Variety confirmed from Universal that Singer is indeed going to direct the feature, and the next stage will be to find a writer.

Lots of questions are certainly going to get re-churned with this news, including what kind of effect if any a new-new take on Battlestar will mean for the recently finished RDM series and it's spawn in Caprica which airs January 2010.

The HitFix post has some great links to some of the original plans for a series reboot from Bryan Singer and Tom DesSanto, who cut the project just before starting it back in 2001. They also go back to Richard Hatch's attempt to do a reboot. All of these treasures can be found in the archives of BattlestarGalactica.com.

Personally, I have mixed feelings. There are rumors of grudges Gary Larson has toward the RDM "reimagined series", and I can't help but wonder if Larson is pushing for this in spite of Moore's version. At the same time, I think Bryan Singer is a good choice to handle the project, as long as they let a little more time go by and Singer is given some creative control. I wish Bryan Singer would rehash his Logan's Run reboot he teased about several years ago before BSG gets put in the blender again.

Also at The Hollywood Reporter

Discussion at io9

Bearapalooza

2009-08-10T19:34:00.005-05:00

Thanks to a Nicki Clyne update via Facebook which pointed to this awesome post at Bear McCreary's blog, we now have this spectacular in depth account of the Battlestar Galactica Orchestra concerts that took place during SDCC - a first hand account at that! Bear posts some awesome pictures and two video clips (below), one of which is an interview hijack by Eddie Olmos himself, who took over the mic from an SDNBC reporter and proceeded to interview Bear, Brendan, and Raya himself.

The blog post also touches on Bear's journey at the convention itself, including his participation in Richard Hatch’s Battlestar Retrospective event on the first Thursday of SDCC.

Don't forget to go to Raya's and Brendan's myspace pages to check out and download tracks from BSG episodes!!

Eddie's interview:

View more news videos at: http://www.nbcsandiego.com/video.

Concert excerpt - Tribute to Michael Jackson with "Earth Song":

Bear mentions that a live concert DVD might be on the way! Wee! Keep your eyes on the official Battlestar Galactica Orchestra site for upcoming news on that and exclusive clips and audio. W00t!

"In fact, one of the greatest compliments I heard from a fan all weekend was a girl who told me that she might never again be able to attend a punk concert because it would sound so weak in comparison to the BSG Orchestra."

- Bear McCreary

BSG: Program of the Year!

2009-08-10T15:32:00.002-05:00

Fans and sensible critics around the world are gasping a big "Finally!" after Battlestar Galactica brought home the Program of the Year award from the Television Critics Association. Take that Emmys and Golden Globes! LA Times

< Proof in the pudding: Jane Espenson brings home the goods.

The Plan: DVD cover and details

2009-08-06T17:55:00.005-05:00

The HD Room now has a glimpse at what the Blu-ray cover of The Plan will look like (virtually the same for standard def), and they also have some of the details for extra content, which should be the same for both formats with the exception of the Blu-ray exclusives of BD-Live content (trivia and live bookmarking). I really, really, really, really hope, however, that there might be some last minute fleeting chance that they will add The Face of the Enemy webisodes to The Plan on DVD/Blu-Ray, since it's practically a crime that TFOTE was not included on the 4.5 box set, nor The Complete Series collection. I'll save that for a later rant though ;)

Poll: How do you like your BSG?

2009-08-06T17:43:00.003-05:00

Okay, so it was a pretty slow turnout for the "How Do You Like Your BSG" Poll, especially given that the poll was up for almost a month. In any event, the statistics seem to show that we like our BSG in any which way we can get - some completionists, some opportunists, some high definition enthusiasts, and many a combination of some or all of these.

Will buy Complete Series DVD set	4 (22%)
Will buy Complete Series on Blu-ray	5 (27%)
Even though already own other seasons on DVD	5 (27%)
Waiting for a good deal on CS on DVD	0 (0%)
Waiting for a good deal on CS on Blu-ray	3 (16%)
Own some other seasons on DVD	2 (11%)
Do not own any seasons on DVD	1 (5%)
Own all seasons on DVD (so far)	6 (33%)
Will get individual seasons on Blu-ray in August	0 (0%)
Will slowly acquire individual seasons on Blu-ray	1 (5%)
Will slowly acquire individual seasons on DVD	1 (5%)
Will only be buying 4.5 DVD on July 28th	2 (11%)
Will get 4.5 Blu-ray on July 28th	1 (5%)
Will eventually get 4.5	2 (11%)
Do not plan on buying any BSG DVDs or Blu-rays	1 (5%)

Total Votes: 18

Full BSG/Caprica panel from SDCC!

2009-07-30T11:46:00.001-05:00

Thanx Sci Fi Wire!

Eddie on G4 Attack of the Show

2009-07-28T16:38:00.000-05:00

Video Game - E3 2009 - Attack of the Show

Don't give up hope for Virtuality

2009-07-27T19:39:00.002-05:00

With Comic Con madness and the DVD releases coming up, the buzz about Virtuality has died down a bit, but Ain't it Cool reports that Michael Taylor may get Virtuality to be a collaborative international production, but at this point it looks like Fox is definitely out of the picture, as most could have guessed (and thank the gods!).

New trailer for The Plan

2009-07-26T17:00:00.001-05:00

This was shown at Comic Con yesterday, and then on SyFy. Thanks greycoupon!

BSG reports from SDCC

2009-07-25T15:41:00.005-05:00

Whew! A lot of the news is starting to pour in from the first two nights of SDCC which both featured BSG panels and events. Some video is starting to roll in too, and I'm hoping in the near future we'll find more complete video from the panel and concert on Thursday, as well as the panel from Friday.

First off, Thursday: July 23rd was considered SDCC's kick-off day, and there was a Battlestar Retrospective panel in the afternoon featuring Richard Hatch (host), producer Michael Taylor, science advisor Kevin Grazier, and composer Bear McCreary. There were surprise appearances by Tom DeSanto, who along with Bryan Singer helped start the process of "reimagining" BSG, and Luciano Carro also showed up. The panel opened with a video that looked back on the series featuring lots o' cast and crew (see the not so great video below), and the panel opened up for questions and comments (which are covered here by Livejournal user Averita - lot's of info on upcoming projects), and followed with signings. Sci-Fi School has a little coverage on the panel too, and they mention Nicki Clyne was there, but I think they confused her with Luciana (judging by the way it's written). Airlock Alpha reports that Taylor also dispelled a rumor about Katee Sackhoff having participated in Caprica (which I was unaware of anyway). Thanks to pedda from Livejournal's Battlestar Blog for supplying some links to info on this panel. Here's the video:

Bear and his orchestra performed at The SD House of Blues that evening, with a "Music of Battlestar Galactica" concert, which was MCed by Eddie Olmos. Luciana and Michael Hogan also showed up for the event, and apparently Katee Sackhoff briefly. Bear talks about it a little here at his blog, but we're hoping for some videos to start rolling in!

Friday July 24th was the big day. The "BSG panel" was actually a combined panel for The Plan and Caprica, and the big news is Eddie Olmos talking about how there are more BSG "telemovies" (a la Razor and The Plan) to come. Note: Comic-Con coverage should be expected to contain at least mild spoilers concerning Caprica and The Plan.

Check out Zap2it's live blog from the Friday panel, which pretty much transcribes most of the important stuff. Also...

Buddy TV sums up the high points

From SciFi Wire: SDCC: Ron Moore on why Caprica moves beyond Battlestar, and SDCC: Espenson on creating worlds in Caprica and The Plan

And it looks like it might well be worthwhile to get The Plan on Blu-ray (E! Online), according to what Eddie says. Hmmm, is it just for the video quality or will there really be more extra features and deleted scenes??

Here's video of Eddie talking at the panel:

And Katee Sackhoff was over at the 24 panel that night! Here's a clip:

... Oh, and we have a confirmed date for the premiere of Caprica on SyFy - January 22, 2010

The Plan coming to DVD in October

2009-07-23T18:59:00.004-05:00

Various sources from around the web have been reporting that the DVD (and Blu-ray and digital download) for The Plan will be released on October 27. Surprised? I was, especially since the last thing we heard about the actual airing of The Plan on SyFy (formerly the Sci Fi Channel) was that it would be in November. We still don't know for sure when the actual air date will be, and maybe since David Howe, SyFy prez, said it would air in November "the plan" has changed (pun intended). Or maybe they really will air it after the DVD, kind of like how they put the Caprica pilot out on DVD long before we will see it air? That seems a bit unlikely, since The Plan is by no means a pilot... or is it? Ever hopeful! (The Wall Street Journal describes The Plan in a just as interesting and hopeful way)

High-Def Digest has some details on the Blu-ray version, which we can probably safely assume will have the same bonus features as standard DVD, save for the exclusive Blu-ray features of scene bookmarking and the interactive "Battlestar Trivia"*.

PR Newswire has some additional information on the bonus features, and mentions that the DVD/Blu-ray (and digital download will be a 90 minute uncensored version.

Airlock Alpha mentions that the 90 minute DVD/Blu-ray/digital download version will include material not to be aired in the televised version (which I find odd since 90 minutes perfectly fits a televised movie time slot, so I'm going to go with the hopes that the DVD version will be even longer), and * that the Blu-ray version will contain "some deleted sequences that didn't make even the extended DVD cut", but I'm not sure that this will be true except if perhaps some additional content and scenes are made available through BD-Live after-the-fact. I hope it's not the case since I don't want to have to buy the more expensive Blu-ray version simply for extra deleted scenes, but will feel compelled to if there are scenes that will not be available on standard DVD.

Poll: Caprica

2009-07-02T18:59:00.004-05:00

How did we like the Caprica pilot? In general, we liked it, but I think it will be hard pressed to live up to our beloved BSG. A good amount of people were impartial or even disappointed with it, but some or holding off on an opinion until we get a better look at the series when it airs in (January) 2010. Some haven't even seen it yet, and a couple of us were outright repelled by it. Here's the final result of the Caprica poll:

Loved it	16 (27%)
Liked it	13 (22%)
It was just okay	12 (20%)
Didn't care for it	5 (8%)
Detest it	2 (3%)
Haven't seen it yet	4 (6%)
Might get around to seeing it	3 (5%)
Don't plan on seeing it ever	4 (6%)
Awesome FX	9 (15%)
Horrible FX	2 (3%)
Not sci-fi enough	5 (8%)
Just enough sci-fi	7 (12%)
Saving opinion for 2010	7 (12%)
Waiting to watch until series airs	5 (8%)
It sucked me in	6 (10%)
Couldn't make the leap of faith	7 (12%)
Wild with anticipation for more	7 (12%)
Made me uninterested in series	5 (8%)
Generally intrigued	12 (20%)

Total Votes: 58

Look out for the new BSG on DVD poll! (It doubles as a countdown to July 28!)

Colonial Dispatch 6.30.09

2009-06-30T12:34:00.004-05:00

Rest in Peace Lorena Gale:

"Lorena Gale passed away on Sunday after a brief but courageous battle with stomach cancer. Her husband John was by her side. A wonderful actress and a lovely person, Lorena's many credits included the Ten Thirteen productions "The X-Files," "Millennium" and "The X-Files: I Want To Believe." In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made to Vancouver General Hospital's Palliative Care Unit. She will be greatly missed."

Another lovely write-up about Lorena from The Province

Virtuality roundup:

As most could have guessed from the tumultuous and confusing buildup to the premiere of Virtuality, the ratings for the night it aired seem to most likely the final catalyst to it's demise. It ranked 4th out of the 5 broadcast networks, but the debate goes on about whether it would have done better or worse had it aired the evening of July 4th, especially given the unforeseen events of Farrah and Micheal's deaths which sucked up viewers for that evening with special TV memorials on other networks. How about if Virtuality premiered in place of or before Dollhouse? Would it have had a chance? Does the fact that Ron has two projects involving a strong theme of virtual reality (Caprica and Virtuality), make one have to rule out the other? All tough and probably unanswerab;e questions.

Comic Book Resources interviewed members of the Virtuality cast shortly before it was screened at Universal, and Screen Rant reviews and discusses. The Wired blog Underwire gives has all the resources for the fan campaign to get Virtuality signed as a series. Could there be hope?

In non-Virtuality news:

Eddie had a little more to say about The Plan during the Saturn Awards, and apparently it will be a big surprise as far as what the Cylon plan really is... unless you read the spoiler within (Sci Fi Wire)! If you opt not to follow the link, it also mentions that Grace Park accepted the Saturn for Mary who couldn't make the event, and Grace and Eddie both commended each other for their work on The Plan.

A fascinating and scholarly article from IEET: Exploring transhumanist themes in Battlestar Galactica: Caprica

io9 reviews the short-run comic book series The Final Five, on the eve of it's final issue being released (Wednesday July 1). Looks like a general thumbs up.

Don't forget to put in your BSG votes for the Tubey Awards! It will be the last time to vote for BSG!

Thanks to meshel73 of the Battlestar Galactica LiveJournal community for giving an updated list of all conventions/events with BSG cast and crew.

An evening with James Callis! Be there - September 12, 2009, Ibis Hotel Bonn, Germany. Tickets and info

Virtuality now on Hulu

2009-06-28T14:23:00.004-05:00

Thankfully Virtuality is now on Hulu too. That Fox.com on Demand video player just doesn't wanna work for me. What an awesome show. I hope we get something more out of it and it doesn't just fall into the Fox dungeon of doom :\

And if you were wondering about the fate of Virtuality, co-producer and writer Michael Taylor explains to Sci Fi Wire about it's status as a "back door pilot":

"Fox is calling it a movie, but they want a lot of eyeballs on it too," Taylor added. "So we've conceived a whole season; we conceived multiple seasons. We know where this show is going, and it's going some really weird and interesting places. And that first season? Wow. It becomes an exciting thrill ride. It's a thriller, a story still about technology, it's a beautiful, crazy stew, and it's a hell of a ride."

Read more at the link. And read more from Michael Taylor on Virtuality here at Televisionary.com.

Watch Virtuality on Fox.com

2009-06-27T13:14:00.002-05:00

Even though I had been long anticipating Virtuality, turns out my work schedule conflicted with actually watching it. Now, the day after it's air date, Virtuality is up to view online at Fox on Demand. I've had problems in the past viewing stuff on Fox.com, but they keep updating the player so maybe it's better now, and depending which browser you use.

Even if you were lucky enough to watch it last night, and if you liked it, give it a watch at the Fox site. They can count the hits there, and maybe it will help supplement the fan drive to have Virtuality picked up as a series (follow link to join the drive to get Virtuality picked up as a series). Join them on Facebook too! - Official Virtuality Facebook page, unofficial Virtuality Facebook fan page. Every little bit helps!

3 Saturns for Battlestar

2009-06-26T22:18:00.002-05:00

Not only did Battlestar Galactica win the best in it's class, "Best Syndicated/Cable Television Series" at the 35th Annual Saturn Awards, but Mary McDonnell nabbed the Saturn for "Best Actress on Television", and Eddie Olmos won "Best Actor on Television", both for their work on BSG.

Collider.com was able to catch up with Eddie at the Awards:

New trailer for The Plan

2009-06-19T21:41:00.005-05:00

It's actually the extended version of the teaser seen here, and this is what those who attended the Hollywood BSG Panel were shown a couple of weeks ago: (io9, LA Times):

Virtuality webisodes/trailers/reality show/clips/?

2009-06-18T21:10:00.003-05:00

Apparently the 12 minutes of footage from Virtuality (see previous post) spread around the web more quickly than in the form it was intended as. Sci Fi Wire points out that the Edge of Never: Life on Phaeton fictional reality series (is that confusing?) has been posted as webisode-style clips on this Edge of Never Facebook page. I haven't cross-referenced all of the clips on the Facebook page with the 12 minute clip, but it looks like it's mostly the same stuff, except strung together in the 12 minute clip. I find it unfortunate for FOX to have tried to create a sort of viral sensation tied to Virtuality, but now it just looks a little silly - The 12 minutes have been circling around the web since about the same date as the earliest post on the Facebook page, which only has 108 fans. It's still fun to get a glimpse at what the show will look like.

Colonial Dispatch 6.17.2009

2009-06-17T12:04:00.003-05:00

Topping the news today is word that Rick Worthy, aka Simon or Cylon skinjob number 4, has been signed on for a recurring role in season 4 of Heroes as "an experienced and capable Los Angeles cop and someone that Matt can lean on for advice"(Hollywood Reporter via IGN). If Rick will have any "special powers" beyond being a worthy partner for Parkman on the police force, will surely remain to be seen as the season unfolds. And yeah, Ray Parks will be in season 4 too!

And speaking of geek fantasies, and tying in with the cyborg docket at the Word Science Festival, Geekanerd has some handy tips for us: When Robots Attack: Three Robot Apocolypse Scenarios, and How To Avoid Them - In other words, in the case of the inevitable Robot apocalypse, we should be well prepared in "How to avoid being killed by Terminators, Machines, and Cylons".

Sam J. Miller had the privilege of interviewing Mary McDonnell previous to The World Science Festival panel. Awesome stuff. Thanks Sam J. Miller!

Are you ready for Virtuality next week - (June 26 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on FOX)? Here's a 12 minute preview (found at Den of Geek):

Interview clips from Sci Fi Wire on the red carpet at the Hollywood venue of the BSG UN panel:

BSG Panel at World Science Festival

2009-06-17T11:49:00.002-05:00

We now have some coverage of the BSG Panel which took place at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan as part of The World Science Festival. The event was called Battlestar Galactica: Cyborgs on the Horizon (see link for list of participants, which included cast members Mike Hogan and Mary McDonnell), and the discussion revolved around just what the title suggests - What place will cybernetics have in our future? Here's a roundup:

Discover Magazine's online blog Science not Fiction summarizes some of the key points and comments by the panelists.

Sam J. Miller posted an even more in depth account at Galactica Sitrep.

... and here's io9's write up, which includes some ideo clips and a description of a clip from the upcoming movie The Plan which hasn't been aired to the public as of yet!

Image borrowed from The World Science Festival Flickr photostream

Yay for BSG toys!

2009-06-16T15:19:00.004-05:00

Action Figure Insider updates with news of some coming additions to the Toys R Us exclusive Minimates line with BSG Mini-Flyers! There will be both a Mark VII Viper and Cylon Raider, and look for the exclusive editions of Starbuck's Viper and Scar at comic book stores near you! Also coming - a Tigh and Gaeta 2 pack. I believe these are part of the 12" figure line, and aren't exclusive to TRU.

Sam Witwer interview from Star Wars Universe

2009-06-16T14:16:00.005-05:00

Good old Crashdown. Okay, so maybe he wasn't so good in the end, but I think Sam Witwer did a pretty tremendous job with a relatively smaller role in BSG, and I was really excited to see him in the game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Smallville after that.

Sam was recently interviewed by Star Wars Universe, a French fan site. The Force.net thankfully has supplied us with an English translation. Sam talks a lot about TFU, but gives a big nod to his days on the BSG set.

"Did you wanna be the Final fifth?
I actually did not. I felt that bringing Crashdown back would have cheapened his story and his mark on the series. Here was a guy who demonstrated how difficult these situations truly were. Most of the time you see Lee or Kara handle something. It looks tough, but our steely eyed regulars win the day. It was interesting to me to see the opposite. To tell the story of what happens when you have a good, competent man running the show, but unfortunately he's good and competent at being a Raptor pilot, not a man in command of infantry. I thought that was interesting and it was my intention to make that as real and reasonable as possible. Making him a cylon would have gutted or at the very least invalidated a very important part of that story."

Individual seasons of BSG available on Blu-ray in August

2009-06-16T13:50:00.004-05:00

While the big shebang is coming on July 28, where you can purchase The Complete Series collection of BSG on both Blu-ray and standard DVD and season 4.5 on it's own (on both standard DVD and Blu-ray) - if you were looking to just buy one or two individual seasons of BSG on Blu-ray, or perhaps chip away at purchasing the entire series on Blu-ray rather than all in one collection at once, you can on August 4.

Right now it looks like the individual Blu-ray seasons will simply be 1, 2, 3 and 4, which presumably means that season 2.5 will be included in 2, and 4.5 will be included in 4. That's not confirmed yet, but it seems the reasonable assumption to make given the massive amount of space available on a Blu-ray disc as compared to standard DVD. We can also probably safely assume that all available bonus content will be included as well. Also in question is whether Razor will appear on Blu-ray with any of the seasons (season 4?), or separately. Razor, along with the Miniseries both have a link on Amazon for a Blu-ray version, but with no release date (which really doesn't mean much in Amazonia-land). Also, what about The Plan? The original series?? More details on the content when it's available! via The HD Room

Edit - The Amazon preorder links at The HD Room are no longer active, at least when I checked. Hmmm.

The Plan coming in November, Caprica in January tentatively

2009-06-16T13:31:00.003-05:00

Maureen Ryan of The Chicago Tribune's "The Watcher" blog reports that SciFi prez David Howe says The Plan is slated to debut in November, and Caprica is "likely" to debut in January. Hmmm, don't love the use of the word "likely", which could easily mean "probably April".

BTW, that sneak peek for The Plan is now on Hulu:

Tricia Helfer looking forward and back

2009-06-16T13:20:00.006-05:00

Crave Online caught a few words from Tricia Helfer who was present for the Caprica screening at Paleyfest this April. Tricia was finally able to give some thoughts on the BSG finale, but what I found intriguing were her comments about the new Caprica series:

"Crave Online: How much would you like to appear on Caprica in any form?

Tricia Helfer: You know, I know nothing about the storyline of Caprica really. I’ve heard little snippets here and there from Ron and so forth but I’m super excited to see it today. This is going to be the first time I’ve seen anything from it, so I’d certainly show up if my character was called upon."

It doesn't seem likely that the character of Caprica Six would appear within the Caprica series timeline, but the notion revived one of those lingering BSG questions for me - How were the likenesses of the different models of Cylon skin-jobs created? Were they modeled after real human individuals, or were they the product of some sort of customization formula? If the former were the case, then perhaps the human predecessor of Six can exist in the timeline of the Caprica prequel. Neato!

But wait, she and Gauis are also some sort of spirit guide, so really they could be anywhere, and everywhere, at any time and in anybody's head - right?

Bonus - Here's a recent 2 part video interview with Tricia by cinetvbuzz.com (I don't recommend clicking that link since it opened up a barrage of pop-up ads for me) during the Festival TV Monte Carlo earlier this month. Mild spoilers for The Plan!:

Part 1

Part 2

Old School Toasters had a Vader/Samurai feel

2009-06-15T20:26:00.004-05:00

VFX artist Darth Mojo posted an excellent behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the ancient Cylons that were excavated on "Earth I". FX supervisor Gary Hutzel worked with chief model maker and Cylon builder Pierre Drolet looked back to Samurai battle gear to fashion the ancient Cylons, but found it slightly too similar to the iconic Darth Vader, so they trimmed it back a bit:

Click the link above to read the whole article, and if you haven't already, don't forget to check out Darth Mojo's account of designing and created the original series style Centurions seen in Razor.

Here's The Complete Series Blu-ray box, complete with punctuation error

2009-06-13T15:13:00.006-05:00

New images of the Blu-ray release of The Complete Series have made it to the web, and it appears the box set looks similar yet has additional images at the bottom of the box, and... an apostrophe where there shouldn't be one in "One of the best drama's on TV". Hee hee. I hope that's just in the promotional images and they catch it before they mass produce too many more of the whopping $300+ Blu-ray set (actual retail will be in the mid $200s, and hopefully will get price cuts later on).

via TV Shows on DVD

Of all the televisions owned by drama, it really is the best! ;)

Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on July 28, along with the stand-alone version of season 4.5. Bear McCreary's season 4 soundtrack is due to release a little before then on July 21!

More snippets on The Plan

2009-06-13T14:45:00.002-05:00

SciFi.com just put up a sneak peek for the upcoming (the rumors now say September) BSG movie The Plan. Check it out below, and below that check out the original teaser. I'm hoping those outside the US can see this!

New sneak peek:

Original teaser:

Colonial Dispatch 6.13.09

2009-06-13T11:37:00.008-05:00

Better late than never! Late spring has been a very busy time, and whenever I go to make a Dispatch update I get more and more overwhelmed. But we will put it off no longer and start to chip away at all the juicy BSG tidbits. Lots o' BSG events recently...

The LA Times Hero Complex blog brings us good chunk of video coverage from the Battlestar Panel at Hollywood & Highland that took place on June 4, which was a sort of follow-up from the BSG UN Panel earlier this spring. There is some talk of The Plan, so if you want to be completely spoiler-free watch out! Apparently attendees screened a new trailer for The Plan, but it's not out for public view just yet. We'll be keeping an eye out for other sources that attended the event.

Here's Sci Fi Wire's report on what Eddie said about The Plan.

On Friday, June 12 a Battlestar-centric Robotics panel took place at the 92nd Street Y in NYC as part of the World Science Festival. Mary and Michael were there along with a host of robotics and science experts, one of them being Dr. Hod Lipson whom Sam J. Miller interviewed for Galactica Sitrep previous to the event. Still waiting on reports from the event, so stay tuned!

Did someone mention robots? The Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh has just opened the Roboworld exhibit, which features many of our favorite famous bots in the Robot Hall of Fame. I've been looking into what Cylon presence there may be there, and ~~I'm hoping that either or both Caprica Six and Scar get inducted!!~~ I just wrote in a nomination for Caprica Six, and if it gets accepted it will be listed here, so check back at some point and see if she shows up, and vote! I may also try to nominate Scar (since he's the only real character representation of either the centurions or the raiders), but I don't know if he's quite famous enough. Hopefully Six doesn't have too much skin to be in the Robot Hall of Fame!

The picture of Six to the right is the June picture for the Battlestar Galactica 2009 calendar hanging above my desk :)

Richard Hatch has had some thoughts on the proposed Battlestar movie which Universal recently had some "quiet talks" with original creator Glen Larson.

Bear McCreary kicks off his summer season tours today with a performance in downtown Los Angeles as part of their Grand Performance Series (which is also kicking off the season with Bear!). The event is free and outdoors, so if you're in the area you MUST go, and take lots of pictures for us more distant fans! Bear will also be performing at San Diego's House of Blues and all three nights at SDCC, which will at the same time be the launch for the season 4 soundtrack! Yeay! Check out Bear's blog for all the dates.

Bear's soundtrack for Caprica comes out on Tuesday, June 16 and Film Music Magazine gives it the top grade!

Also, check out this Sci Fi video clip of Bear and the orchestra recording tracks for season 4.5! (Hulu version below) You may note that the beginning of the video mentions that more behind-the-scenes stuff will be available on the complete series DVD set, which is scheduled to be released on July 28 along with season 4.5 on it's own. I have to wonder if there will be different bonus content in the complete series DVD release than what we have been getting in each season DVD set - ?

Canada East's Times & Transcript reports on Ron Moore's appearance at the Banff World Television Festival. Moore says that webisodes are probably a passing fad and mentions the shooting schedule and progress for Caprica.

Speaking of RDM, not only is he hard at work with Caprica, but Virtuality has also been making a buzz in the news and it's looking more like it will become an actual series, as /Film reports. Wired.com's Underwire blog recently posted a feature about Virtuality also (and don't forget to check out the "see also" links at the bottom of the story!). io9 also has some more details about Virtuality.

Virtuality has also been bumped up to air on June 26th, rather than the dreaded July 4th event it was scheduled for (dreaded because most people would be out watching fireworks instead of watching it!) - via SF Universe

Getting back to Caprica, IGN had a chat with Moore and Eick and reveals some ideas on what to expect from Caprica when the series airs.

- Remember, for all the links that discuss unaired shows or movies it should be assumed that they will contain spoilers!

If you haven't heard the big news already, Katee Sackhoff has been signed on for season 8 of 24. She will be playing CTU data analyst Dana Walsh. Dang. I had given up on 24 way back in season 2 because I missed a whole bunch of episodes. By the time season 5 or 6 rolled around, it seemed hopeless to catch up. I'd like to ask any 24 fans if I really have to watch everything, or can I just jump back in to season 8 and figure it out from there? Starlog

Ooh ooh ooh! Action Figure Insider has gained confirmation that the Battlestar Minimates line will be revived as a Toys R Us exclusive!

Battlestar has been nominated for Program of the Year form the Television Critics Association. It's main contender for the award is probably going to be Lost, but lets hope they give the win to BSG since it won't be able to receive this particular award again! Airlock Alpha

I can't believe I ever missed this SciFi.com video of Aaron Douglas interviewing fans after a BSG season 3 finale screening! I know it's old stuff, but I adore Aaron.

Just for fun - Cylon Detector iPhone/Touch app video ad:

Phew! That should be enough for one Dispatch post for the day!

A little extra snippet about The Plan.

2009-06-07T19:02:00.002-05:00

I come here at my peril as I am still only at the beginning of Season 2...

Yep - shoot me now.

Hope the linky in the title works for ya.

Nob X

Colonial Dispatch 5.12.09

2009-05-12T14:49:00.002-05:00

IGN cited Hollywood Reporter as the source for news that NBC will decline Katee Sackhoff's latest project Lost and Found.

Michael Trucco chats with Sci Fi Wire about The Plan and mentions other possibilities for Sam Anders - spoilers!

I saw the new Star Trek movie and absolutely loved it. What a treat, especially for us sci-fi nerds who have a huge hole in our hearts since the end of BSG. The one part that left me a little unfulfilled was the lack of female presence. I mean, Uhura was rather awesome in this, but we needed more of her, or at least some new female presence, and there needed to be more female awesomeness. Uhura's main utility in the movie was to create sexual tension and as a love interest, and much less so about her genius equivalent to Spock. Maybe I'm spoiled by BSG, but I was releived to find at least two articles that expressed the same feeling: Melissa Silverstein of the Huffington Post - Star Trek's Gender Problem, and Tara O'Shea at Firefox News - Opinion: Women in the New Star Trek Movie.

Haven't won a BSG Zune yet? Well, Eclipse Magazine is the latest with a contest to win one!

The second (and last?) BSG auction concluded this weekend, and Monsters and Critics has some great photos featuring Grace Park posing with some props during the preview day at the Pasedena Convention Center.

Don't forget to catch James Callis guest-starring on the Numb3rs season finale this Friday at 9pm on NBC (and Leonard Nimoy on Fringe tonight!!). Television Blog

I forget if this was posted in an earlier Colonial Dispatch, but no harm in posting it again! Lucy Lawless is cast in a new Starz series due to air in January 2010 called "Spartacus: Blood and Sand". The series is styled after 300 fame, and will also be supplemented with a companion graphic novel series. Monsters and Critics, MTV

BSG's finale listed in Entertainment Weekly's Top 16 Classic Series Finales.

A couple of other slightly older news items:

The Face of the Enemy BSG webisodes won the 2009 Streamy Award for it's category for Best Dramatic Web Series.

From Jamie Freedman of SF Music Examiner - An interview with Battlestar Galactica's composer Bear McCreary: looking back and life after BSG

Virtuality coming to Fox July 4th

2009-05-08T00:34:00.002-05:00

Saturdays at 8:00pm ET&PT / 7:000pm Central, starting on July 4th, is Fox's air date for Ron Moore's new series Virtuality. Sci Fi Wire and Futon Critic

"Co-created by Michael Taylor and Ronald D. Moore ("Battlestar Galactica"), the sci-fi drama revolves around the crew of the Phaeton, Earth's first starship. To endure the 10-year journey, the astronauts use virtual reality modules which allow them to assume avatars and explore self-created scenarios. But just as the mission is about to enter its critical go/no-go phase, a virus begins to infect the system and puts all of their lives on the line."

The not-so-secret life of Katee

2009-05-04T22:04:00.002-05:00

It's no secret how she feels about bees, LA traffic, alcohol and rehab :P

From Crackle: Katee Sackhoff & Dante's Inferno

Found at the Katee Sackhoff Myspace fan page

Colonial Dispatch 4.30.09

2009-04-30T20:18:00.004-05:00

A chat with Katee Sackhoff at Jonja.net (video)

Buddy TV also has a little feature up about Katee and her upcoming role in NBC's Lost and Found.

3xcusemyfrench has some great video interviews with Mary M and Jamie B. Click here for all

An interesting commentary: Is Lee Adama the New (And Not So Improved) Thomas Jefferson?

Leoben fans can catch Callum Keith Rennie in an upcoming Canadian TV show Shattered, where he plays a schizophrenic ex-cop.

This is an oldie, but BSG gets mention on yet another of EW.com's lists. This time around it's The Big Goodbyes: 16 Classic Series Finales.

Anyone living near the Los Angeles probably already knows all about this, but starting tomorrow Creation Entertainment will be hosting the 17th Annual Grand Slam: Sci-Fi Summit at the Marriot LAX, May 1-3. Nicki Clyne, Michael Trucco, and Michelle Forbes will all be there on Friday only (that's tomorrow!). Nicki Clyne will also be performing in a cabaret that night. (Thanks to pedda on LJ)

Also, Fed Con XVIII will be taking place this wekend in Bonn, Germany. Mike Hogan, Eddie JO, and mark Sheppard will be there (and Adam Baldwin and Summer Gau!). Can't wait to see video posted from all these cons in coming weeks!

Aaron Douglas had to drop out of Fed Con, but he's still scheduled for Michigan's Motor City Comic Con on May 15-17, along with Luciana Carro and Mike Hogan as well!

Speaking of Aaron, the reason he couldn't make it all the way out to Fed Con is because production has officially begun for his new show The Bridge, so hopefully Motor City, which is oodles closer to Toronto, will still be on for him.

and speaking of cons, Airlock Alpha talks about the defamed Jump Con (can we call it a con-con? Please?) and how Eddie Olmos helped bring them down.

Sneak peek at the complete series box set

2009-04-27T18:16:00.006-05:00

Movie Web (and other various sites) have some images of the box design/ cover art for the complete series set. Sweet! It has a cool looking pop-up feature giving you a cast-in-the-box. Click the above link for more.

Colonial Dispatch 4.23.09

2009-04-23T18:10:00.005-05:00

A little bit of catching up to do here...

Don't forget to sign the Battlestar Memorial Wall over at scifi.com!

"CSI: A Space Oddity", which features Ron Moore, Grace Park, and Kate Vernon in a faux sci-fi genre themed episode, is now available to view at CBS.com. Click here or watch below:

The network of Aaron Douglas fans (The Chief's Deck rules!) bring us this sweet clip of the upcoming show "The Bridge" which premieres July 9 at 10pm on CBS in the USA (I thought this was only in Canada! w00t!) and on CTV in Canada:

If you followed The Chief's Deck link above, you may have noticed the post about recent updates on Nicki Clyne's blog featuring pics of her and Aaron from the sets of BSG.

Another big video chunk below, which I failed to post here when it came out at the end of March (you can bet they'll have this on the 4.5 DVD) - The final read through with the cast and crew of BSG:

And if you're not tired of watching video clips yet (if you are, take a break!), and you haven't had the chance to see the UN Battlestar Retrospective, it's all up on SciFi.com in 6 parts. Here's the link to Part 1, and you can navigate the remainder from the menu at the right of the page.

James Callis will appear in the season finale of NBC's Numb3rs. Geeky math and science worlds unite! James seems to be a bit typecast as he's playing a sort of "charismatic sociopath" - SF Universe

Eddie Olmos has signed on to co-star in the movie "Hollywood Players" which begins filming this July - Moviehole

Here's a nice overview of the BSG panel/honors at Paley Fest which included a screener of the Caprica pilot, at TV Week.

If anyone was wondering what happened with the Caprica video blogs on Sci Fi Wire, they seem to have stopped posting them. Those who bought the Caprica DVD (in the USA at least) will find the same 2 video blogs Sci Fi Wire has posted so far, plus a third video blog in the extra features, and that's about it aside from the commentary, deleted scenes (which actually seemed pretty relevant), and a Ghost Hunters episode.

Edit - Did anyone catch 30 Rock tonight and see the cool "What the Frak?!" t-shirt Salma Hayek's character wore?

Battlestar on DVD

2009-04-23T16:28:00.003-05:00

Mark this date, and start putting aside some extra cash now - On July 28 (2009), not only will season 4.5 be released on DVD in North America, but the entire series will be available in one humongous box set on both standard DVD as well as Blu-ray. Amazon is taking pre-orders for all of them now (check here at HD Room for direct links for Blu-ray on Amazon).

The Blu-ray version of the complete series will contain 20 discs, and the standard DVD version will be 25 (you'd figure they could slim down the amount of Blue-ray discs considerably?), and the MSRP is $349.98 (244.99 on Amazon) and $279.98 (181.99 on Amazon) respectively.

There aren't a ton of details for the complete series release, nor is it set as to what extras will be in the 4.5 set, but Buddy TV has some speculative information. I'm wondering if we'll get "The Plan" in 4.5, like the way "Razor" was included in 4.0, but that doesn't seem likely since the release date for "The Plan" has been set back to well after July 2009.

Here's a place marker for battlestargalacticadvd.com, which is currently still only set up for season 4.0. They should probably be updating it at some point between now and July ;)

Also useful - Amazon.com's Battlestar site

Poll: The Finale

2009-04-23T16:06:00.002-05:00

And what a finale it was. Some loved it, some hated it, some felt both ways about it, but what's for certain is that everyone who watched it has many different feelings and opinions on how BSG was tied up. The overwhelming majority of votes were in favor of it being an epic ending to an epic series. Most of the positive choice in the poll got the most votes, but some of the most negative registered as well, and no choice was not voted for. That says something for (at least a drop in the bucket) the range of feelings and opinions about the series. Here it is for the record:

Epic	62 (42%)
Epic fail	9 (6%)
Bittersweet	39 (26%)
Deus ex machina	12 (8%)
Satisfying enough	13 (8%)
It had moments	16 (10%)
Unsatisfying	10 (6%)
Total let down	4 (2%)
Both great and awful	17 (11%)
Perfection	33 (22%)
More than expected	31 (21%)
Less than expected	12 (8%)
Completely unexpected	14 (9%)
Predictable	2 (1%)
Both predictable and unexpected	17 (11%)
Unrealistic	4 (2%)
Poetic	34 (23%)
I'm even more confused	5 (3%)
My imagination figured it out	14 (9%)
Everything was explained	8 (5%)
Made the series more memorable	35 (23%)
Contradicted the series	2 (1%)
Unsettling	9 (6%)
Still undecided	5 (3%)

Votes: 146

Look for a Caprica vote up next!

Caprica Video Blog #2

2009-04-18T13:51:00.000-05:00

Caprica Video Blogs!

2009-04-16T18:59:00.002-05:00

Sci Fi has posted the first of their Caprica video blog series, and yay! they've enabled embedding. For now, the video blogs will give exclusive previews leading up to the DVD release on April 21st, but my guess is that they will continue video blogging in the future for the series a la Eick Video Blogs.

Riverworld looks like alternate BSG 'verse

2009-04-11T19:47:00.004-05:00

Well, almost... The first degree of separation is Tahmoh Penikett being cast in a lead role for this 2 night, 4 hour movie event from SciFi, that if successful may lead to a new series. Frankly, I don't see this happening for Tahmoh simply because it would be a bit regressive compared to his accomplishments with BSG and now Dollhouse. I only say that by looking at other material SciFi (soon to be rebranded, and I refuse to use the new name until then) has presented in the same manner. Just browse at SciFi.com's main page at some of the TV movies they are airing currently, and you'll probably se what I mean.

But the second degree of separation is what is most striking. The story of Riverworld comes from a book series by author Phillip Jose Farmer, which I sadly know little about. The premise revolves around humans from Earth who have died being resurrected on a terraformed planet. With that basic synopsis, I can't help but associate all sorts of things with BSG, like the concepts of resurrection and humanity's cycle within and without of Earth. It sounds really cool, but I have my doubts as to SciFi's ability to commit to a concept like this enough to make it successful on anywhere near the scale of BSG. via zap2it and TVGuide

The third degree of separation is where it ends. Riverworld is another remake of an earlier failed attempt. In fact, it was the same attempt that SciFi took back in 2003 according to imdb - a pilot for a potential series of the same exact name, and the same concept (and based on the same book series). Do they think they have the star power this time around, the budgeting, the sci-fi fan base (which they are in fact diminishing with the rebranding), or some strange combination of all of these?

We can always hope for the best (quality that is). Riverworld is expected for sometime in 2010. Read more about it and check out some concept art here at SciFi Wire.

The Last Frakkin' Special

2009-04-11T19:00:00.002-05:00

If you didn't catch "The Last Frakkin' Special" on TV during the two weeks of the finale, you can now watch the behind the scenes special online, both at here SciFi.com as well as Hulu (below). The remainder of the Eick Video Blogs are also on Hulu now!

BSG Auction Part 2

2009-04-11T18:54:00.004-05:00

Propworx will again be hosting a Battlestar Galactica auction on May 8-10, this time at The Pasadena Convention Center. If you missed out the first time, there's still a chance to get your piece of television history.

"We were incredibly happy with the first 'Battlestar Galactica' auction in January and we know the fans will be just as thrilled with this final auction as well," Kurt Ford, senior vice president of production services at Universal Media Studios, said in a statement. "We saved key items, which were pivotal to the series, and we are pulling out all the stops to create a truly unique event that will do justice to the series."

via UPI.com

Propworx is also taking orders for the second auction catalog, which in of itself is a collector's item. Visit the site to order and keep track of upcoming auction news.

The Plan teaser

2009-04-04T17:59:00.001-05:00

Bear McCreary on composing for Dark Void

2009-04-03T22:57:00.002-05:00

Jet packs are cool.

The President takes pause...

2009-04-01T22:00:00.005-05:00

I mean the REAL President, not Roslin:

""I'm a little concerned," first lady Michelle Obama was overheard saying at a fundraising event Tuesday. "When Firefly was canceled, he walked around like a zombie for a week, and Serenity was the only thing that snapped him out of it. Last night he said he felt like he had just discovered David Axelrod was one of the Final Five, whatever that means.""

...

""When we spoke last month, he said season three was his least favorite because some of the episodes with Helo and the Sagittarons—and pretty much anything that involved Cally—were boring and didn't advance the plot," Afghan president Hamid Karzai said. "But I told him that when you watch it all on DVD, and you don't have to wait a whole week for a new show, those peripheral episodes actually add new color to the already established world.""

Read the entire article here: Obama Depressed, Distant Since 'Battlestar Galactica' Series Finale

In other news - Remember that possible Battlestar movie Glen A. Larson is in talks with at Universal? Well, some casting rumors have started to trickle out.

... and happy April 1 ;)

I Love Battlestar Galactica

2009-03-29T17:06:00.000-05:00

Tricia on Chuck Monday

2009-03-28T19:20:00.002-05:00

Access Hollywood has this little Dish of Salt preview of Tricia Helfer on Chuck this coming Monday, with a quick behind the scenes chat... and other geeky stuff.

Last set of Eick Video Blogs

2009-03-25T00:11:00.004-05:00

Apparently a final batch of 13 David Eick Video Blogs were being withheld until after the finale (although it's possible we may get more video blogs made during "The Plan" and perhaps Caprica), and if you click over to scifi.com/battlestar they will be the first thing you see before continuing to the main site. Here's a direct video blog link, and hopefully these will be in the bonus features of the DVD as well as made available to viewers outside the USA.

Colonial Dispatch 3.24.09

2009-03-24T19:33:00.015-05:00

The Colonies are now gone, but a distant signal still echoes through the stars... Hoo boy. It's been a long weekend and there's a lot to keep up with in Battlestar world.

How about starting with something that is looking future forward? io9 has posted a collection of 7 clips from Caprica giving us some insight on the series and the pilot DVD coming in a few weeks! - That's April 21 to be exact.

According to Sci Fi/NBCU (still refusing to use the new name), the Battlestar finale topped the charts when it aired, although I had heard otherwise - I guess that's why I'm not a statistician. See the numbers at Futon Critic

If you don't like imagination killers, the don't read yet another commentary/interview (from Monday's press screening) with Ron Moore about what he was thinking with the finale at Sci Fi Wire. Okay, how can you really not read that? Ron also talks about what kind of "extended cut" material we'll get on the DVD, so perhaps those who feel unfulfilled by the finale will find satisfaction when 4.5 comes out on DVD.

As much as I dislike having things explained so much, the following is what I've been waiting to hear from Ron Moore - Ronald D. Moore on the Meaning of God in Battlestar Galactica's Finale on AMC's Sci Fi Scanner blog. Ron also talks a bit about the future of the franchise.

Mary McDonnell has a job lined up with The Closer which stars Kyra Sedgwick. Mary will be playing a police captain who "butts heads with Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson" (played by Sedgwick), and is likely to debut in the upcoming 5th season of the show. via TheStar.com

Speaking of Mary McDonnell, here's some words from her about the finale during the press screening at The New York Post blog Pop Wrap.

We'll try and filter all the finale reviews and commentaries into one big post here soon.

One more link for Mary McDonnell, a little late but still relevant... The LA Times caught up with her before her appearance at the UN event last week, and talked a bit about the themes of her character.

Check out this HUGE interview with Bear McCreary from German fan site Caprica City (Yes, it's in English - phew!).

CNet Asia has a nice little walk down memory lane with The Technology of Battlestar Galactica, comparing it to real life tech we have today. I like to think of it as a "greatest hits" of sorts.

If you're fascinated with the subject of robotics and technology, and the way it worked out in Battlestar Galactica, Terminator, and other sci-fi, you might find the book Wired for War by P.W. Singer well worth the read:

"Wired for War takes the reader on a journey to meet all the various players in this strange new world of war: odd-ball roboticists working in latter-day “skunk works” in the midst of suburbia; military pilots flying combat mission from their office cubicles outside Las Vegas; the Iraqi insurgents who are their targets; journalists trying to figure out just how to cover robots at war; and human rights activists wrestling with what is right and wrong in a world where our wars are increasingly being handed over to machines."

The 4 part comic book series Battlestar Galactica: Cylon War continues with part 3 tomorrow, March 25. Check out a preview at comicbookresources.com. That review I promised might as well wait until after the 4th book comes out next month, since I've procrastinated this long.

Eddie just rules - Edward James Olmos, CardPartner Promote Latino Literacy at PR Inside.com

Kotaku offers some not so great BSG fixes in the gaming world. I'd personally like a Fallout 3 meets Mass Effect style series of console games that takes place on all the planets from the Battlestar universe; The 12 colonies, Kobol, algae planet, Tillium mine moon (from "Scar"), Earth 1, and prehistoric Earth 2. I'll get right on developing that.

Movie Moron looks at the movies that influenced Battlestar Galactica. Of course, you knew all of these, but it's fun discussing the details, isn't it?

PC World has learned 10 lessons about business from Battlestar Galactica, and maybe we can too!

This simply must be read - Battlestar Galactica: Watched the Finale? Exclusive Interview With Kevin Grazier, Science Advisor at Discover magazine online.

Hit refresh! More updates on the way...

Moore questions and Moore answers

2009-03-22T17:28:00.004-05:00

Do you still have questions after the finale as to what Kara is supposed to be as intended by Ron Moore? TV Guide put up a Q&A late Friday night with Moore, assumably excerpted from the conference held last Monday after the press screenings, and they pretty much posed the same questions I would have asked, which included clarification on what he meant with certain aspects with the show that weren't blazingly obvious (which as many may agree, is a large majority of the show by the end).

I haven't been a huge fan of commentaries and interviews that have to explain everything. I think the story should do it on it's own, and what it doesn't, the imagination can take over. Alas, my imagination kicked into overtime with the finale, and I really wanted to know what RDM and co. intended with some of the big pending, not-so-clearly answered issues. If you do too check out TV Guide.com's Battlestar Galactica's Ron Moore Answers Our Burning Questions.

Moore and cast members Mary McDonnell and Edward James Olmos were present for Monday's press screening, and Alan Sepinwall seems to have the majority if not all of the conference transcribed here. Again, read at your own imagination killing risk ;)

The Plan trailer

2009-03-22T16:19:00.002-05:00

First I have to apologize for the quiet blog over the weekend. The finale was just so traumatic, I think I'm still in mourning. Consider the weekend a moment of silence for the end of the series, and an era.

To try and get back in the swing of things and play catch up, here's the trailer of "The Plan" that was aired during the finale Friday night. Okay, so maybe it's not over yet, but don't expect to see this afterthought until the fall of 2009. It was previously rumored to be released in June, but now it's looking like somewhere around November perhaps (best guess):

BSG UN Summit

2009-03-18T22:55:00.003-05:00

The Battlestar Summit at the UN in NYC took place this Tuesday, and bot Sci Fi Wire and io9 have coverage from the event.

From io9 - The Night Battlestar Galactica Took Over The U.N. by Meredith Woerner

From Sci Fi Wire - Battlestar Galactica rocks the United Nations by Peter Pachal

See the Sci Fi Wire article for a link to video coverage of the event, and check out this NYT article about the summit.

Ron Moore talks about the finale

2009-03-14T19:58:00.003-05:00

I've been saving up a whole lotta interviews, commentaries and other stuff to wait to watch and read until after the end of Battlestar. Thankfully I only have a week to go before I can start catching up. It will give me something to do while waiting for The Plan and the Caprica DVD to come out.

THR.com has posted a Q&A with Ron Moore discussing the series finale on their Live Feed blog. I don't dare read this until after next Friday, since Ron is really the worst at giving major hints during interviews and commentaries. That being said, I can't speak for any spoilers in the interview, but here's a quote from the beginning of the post to summarize - "Moore talks about the last episode, networks shying away from serials, J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" remake and the one genre he'd like to tackle next."

Read Q&A: Ron Moore on 'Battlestar' series finale from James Hibberd's Live Feed at THR.com.

Video: Bear McCreary, Kate Vernon

2009-03-14T18:46:00.003-05:00

The official Battlestar site on SciFi.com has a couple of new videos up (which unfortunately aren't posted to Hulu yet). First up is the newest David Eick Video Blog (ummm, I haven't seen or heard from David Eick in this series for quite awhile now) featuring Bear McCreary working with cast and crew for recent musically oriented episodes. Click here to watch "The Bear on Set" at SciFi.com. An interesting factoid from this video is that we find out what Piano Guy's name is - "Slick" was played by (Ewan McGregor look alike from certain angles!) Rourke Quichlow. I'm pretty sure that's just a pseudonym used for a character that's not yet fully explained, since he mystically vanished from the scene. They surely had to put some kind of name down in the script.

Also, a Q&A with Kate Vernon is now up, also at SciFi.com. If you're not familiar with the Q&A features, they take questions from fans at the Sci Fi forums, and pose them to the cast. If you can't watch this or don't feel like it, you might at least want to know what Kate says at the very end about the upcoming post-series finale movie "The Plan" - (not really a spoiler at all here) she says "Make sure to stick around and watch 'The Plan' because there is SO much more to be revealed. Hmmm. I don't know whether to take that as an excuse for not fully explaining certain things from the series during the finale.

Usually this stuff gets posted to Hulu,so maybe it will be available there soon. Something that is up at Hulu currently are the winners of the "Best of Battlestar" series they've been running at SciFi.com. I kind of avoided this feature because they never seemed to have the scenes I wanted to vote for as an option. Check them out below, and go here to vote in this weeks poll "Best Cylon Kill".

Battlestar Best Surprise Moment: New Caprica Take Over

Battlestar Best Kiss: Roslin & Adama

Battlestar Best Explosion: The Pegasus

Battlestar Best Execution: Admiral Cain

Battlestar Best Quote: So Say We All!

Best Fist Fight: Six vs. Starbuck

...But they only posted the vid for Helo & Tyrol vs. The Pegasus Crew, so we'll show that since it's bad-ass even if unfortunately the thematic opposite of Six and Kara fighting.

Best Space Battle: Death of the Pegasus

Wait... didn't that also win best explosion? They don't have the vid clip for that one anyway, so let's post my personal favorite (and it's not just because Lee says "razzle dazzle"), Starbuck Saves Apollo:

Best Sexy Moment: Starbuck and Apollo

Yep. No video for this either, so I'll just do the gratuitous fangirl thing and post the clip "Apollo and his Towel".

United Nations Battlestar Retrospective

2009-03-14T18:23:00.004-05:00

According to Maureen Ryan at The Chicago Tribune, The United Nations in New York will host a retrospective of Battlestar Galactica, which will be moderated by Whoopi Goldberg.

"On March 17, there will be a "Battlestar" retrospective at the U.N. in New York and a panel discussion of how the show examined issues such as "human rights, children and armed conflict, terrorism, human rights and reconciliation and dialogue among civilizations and faith,"...

The "Battlestar" contingent on the panel will consist of executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick, as well as stars Mary McDonnell (who plays president Laura Roslin on the show) and Edward James Olmos (Admiral William Adama).

UN representatives on the panel are Radhika Coomaraswamy, special representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict; Craig Mokhiber, deputy director of the New York office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights; and Robert Orr, assistant secretary-general for policy planning, executive office of the Secretary-General."

The event will be recorded and transcribed, and fans are being promised notification of the available content's release by SciFi representatives.

Daybreak Part 2 Preview

2009-03-14T18:18:00.003-05:00

Daybreak Part 2 spoilers! Remember, it's starts at 9pm instead of 10 and runs two hours. Apologies for not being able to control the ridiculous front screen on the video below.

Battlestar featured in TV Guide

2009-03-14T18:06:00.004-05:00

This week's issue of TV Guide features Battlestar! Get a sneak peak at the contents here at TV Guide.com, including article highlights and an online photo gallery. Here's a video clip from the photo shoot:

4 Big Saturn Nominations for Battlestar

2009-03-12T14:36:00.004-05:00

The Academy of Science Fiction Fantasy & Horror Films has submitted nominations for the 35th annual Saturn Awards, and BSG is up for four big slots in it's field!

Best Syndicated/Cable Television Series:
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (Sci Fi)
THE CLOSER (TNT)
DEXTER (Showtime)
LEVERAGE (TNT)
STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (Cartoon Network)
TRUE BLOOD (HBO)

Best Actor in Televison:
BRYAN CRANSTON - BREAKING BAD (AMC)
MATTHEW FOX - LOST (ABC)
MICHAEL C. HALL - DEXTER (Showtime)
TIMOTHY HUTTON - LEVERAGE (TNT)
EDWARD JAMES OLMOS - BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (Sci Fi)
NOAH WILEY - THE LIBRARIAN: THE CURSE OF THE JUDAS CHALICE (TNT)

Best Actress in Television:
LENA HEADEY - TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES (FOX)
JENNIFER LOVE HEWITT - THE GHOST WHISPERER (CBS)
EVANGELINE LILLY - LOST (ABC)
MARY MCDONNELL - BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (Sci Fi)
ANNA PAQUIN - TRUE BLOOD (HBO)
KYRA SEDGWICK - THE CLOSER (TNT)
ANNA TORV - FRINGE (ABC)

Best Supporting Actress in Television:
JENNIFER CARPENTER - DEXTER (Showtime)
SUMMER GLAU - TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES (FOX)
YUNJIN KIM - LOST (ABC)
ELIZABETH MITCHELL - LOST (ABC)
HAYDEN PANETTIERE - HEROES (NBC)
KATEE SACKHOFF - BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (Sci Fi)

www.saturnawards.org

Poll Results: Kara and Piano Guy

2009-03-12T13:59:00.004-05:00

I thought it would be interesting to leave the polls up longer than a week to see if any progress in the show might change the answers, but it didn't seem the case for Piano Guy and Kara. We still have 3 hours of the finale to go. I wonder if we'll get any solid answers at all!

Piano Guy drew a ton of responses, and many seem to believe he is indeed both Kara's father and Daniel. A good amount believe Piano Guy is simply Kara's father (in some shape or form?), and I was happy to see that some agree that he might be one of the humans who helped create Cylons (thus adding a respect for artistic creativity in an otherwised frakked universe). Is he just like a head 6? Cylon projection? Something that manipulates all of us?

Piano Guy is Kara's father	13 (22%)
Piano Guy is Daniel	5 (8%)
Piano Guy is both Kara's father and Daniel	34 (57%)
Piano Guy is a Cylon projection	8 (13%)
Piano Guy is like Baltar's Head 6	7 (11%)
Piano Guy is a vision from the Angels	4 (6%)
Piano Guy is a ghost	1 (1%)
Piano Guy is a simple hallucination	6 (10%)
Piano Guy is proof that Kara's lost it	3 (5%)
Piano Guy is "something that manipulates all of us"	7 (11%)
Piano Guy is one of the Colonial Gods	5 (8%)
Piano Guy is/was a human who helped create Cylons	5 (8%)

Votes: 59

Kara! It's astonishing how many people are convinced that Kara was Cylon all along. I personally voted for "Still 100% human", even though it's hard to imagine that's possible. An equal amount believe she is Cylon since her return (after "Maelstrom"), and I guess I'm willing to go with that, since there aren't really any other ways to explain it. There should have been a fourth option there however, that Kara is now an "angel", or something mystical to that effect. I'm thinking of throwing up a new revised Kara poll just for that possibility.

Kara is part Cylon since she came back	5 (17%)
Kara was always part Cylon	19 (65%)
Kara is still 100% human	5 (17%)

Votes: 29

Piano Guy LOL Cat by SciFi forum member didymos1120

Episode 4.19 sneak peek

2009-03-08T16:44:00.001-05:00

Spoiler!

It'sa gonna be a doozie!

And while you're at it, check out the latest video blog at SciFi.com, Who Do You Love?. Very cute and totally spoiler-free.

Spoiler from a future episode

2009-03-05T19:14:00.002-05:00

We're all guessing the following clip is from tomorrow's episode "Islanded in a Stream of Stars", but it's possible that it could be from anytime in the next four hours of BSG. Straight-up spoilers! (Thanks to SevorTB for continually posting awesome stuff on youtube, and rancor_breath for directing me to the clip):

Poll Results: Boomer and Baltar

2009-03-05T19:00:00.003-05:00

Baltar and Boomer polls are now closed! But there are new Kara and Piano Guy polls up now.

Here are the results:

Not much happened with Baltar in STWOM (In fact nothing happened with him I believe), but here's whatcha'all thought of him since "No Exit". It seems like a pretty close vote as to Baltar's ability to change, with some thinking he has already but most thinking he will never change. A good amount of people also think he is slowly changing though. That Baltar will help bring the humans and Cylons together won the most votes of all, so here's to high hopes for Baltar!

Baltar has changed	3 (13%)
Baltar is slowly changing	7 (30%)
Baltar is exactly the same	4 (17%)
Baltar will never change	8 (34%)
Baltar is the dying leader	2 (8%)
Baltar will incite a revolution	2 (8%)
Baltar will quell a revolution	3 (13%)
Baltar will help bring Cylons and humans together	10 (43%)
Baltar will be exiled from his groupies	2 (8%)
Baltar will strengthen his groupies	2 (8%)

Votes: 23

Boomer didn't come up much in the last episode either, but since the events at the end of Deadlock, most people beleive Boomer is still sticking with the Cavil plan. However, a relatively close second is that Boomer is independent (yay!). There are also those who still beleieve in love (even if it's among Cylons), and an equal amount are saying "What the frak is going on?" over and over again. Nobody thinks Boomer is against Cavil, but I secretly do, and I'm surprised I didn't vote for that...

Boomer is still a Cavil ally	7 (38%)
Boomer is against Cavil	0 (0%)
Boomer is independent	5 (27%)
Boomer will be assasinated	2 (11%)
Boomer will rejoin the fleet	2 (11%)
Boomer will join the 6s and 8s	1 (5%)
Boomer will fall back in love with Chief	4 (22%)
Have no idea what's in store for Boomer	4 (22%)

Votes: 18

Colonial Dispatch 3.3.09

2009-03-03T14:14:00.003-05:00

A lot happens in a week!

This picture must be posted! Jamie's semi-buff anti-fur print ad for PETA via TV Guide (I think Bear McCreary needs to do one of these too).

Speaking of Bear, don't forget to catch up on his blog! "Someone to Watch Over Me" was obviously a very music intensive episode, and McCreary is already up to 3 extensive blog entries on the subject. Also, congrats to bear on his engagement to the beautiful Raya Yarbrough. AND, the following video of Bear giving a sneak peek of the Caprica series theme has been bumping around the web recently:

The above video was spotted by Grant Gould over at the Battlestar Blog, from youtuber lexspartan, and now has made another video available of Bear and finacee Raya performing "lords of Kobol":

Episode 1 of the web series Angel of Death, which co-stars Lucy Lawless, ran it's first episode as of yesterday. Check it out here at Cackle - *anti-spoiler* Lucy hasn't shown up as of yet *end anti-spoiler*

Very interesting discussion at Discover Magazine online concerning real life self-repairing materials, directly inspired by the Cylon substance being used to repair Galactica in the series.

This year's Paley Fest is coming up on April 10 at LA's ArcLight Cinerama Dome, and according to laist.com: "Battlestar Galactica executive producers David Eick and Ronald D. Moore are already scheduled to appear on the BSG panel, titled "Battlestar Galactica/Caprica: A Look Back and a Look Ahead," and fans of the show will undoubtedly be treated to scoop about the upcoming prequel. Although no other names appear on the list of panelists, a note on the event page says, "We're expecting stars from both BSG and Caprica, and will post their names as soon as they become available." "

Donnelly Rhodes (Doc Cottle) receives a Sam Payne Lifetime Achievement Award. Canada.com

And interesting genre mash-up will be in a future CSI episode, where Ron Moore and Kate Vernon will appear as themselves at a sci-fi convention, where some sort of crime scene that needs investigation will take place. Production of the episode also includes some Battlestar vets; director Michael Nankin, and writers David Weddle and Bradley Thompson. via The Watcher

I don't dare read this for fear of spoilers, but Katee Sackhoff was interviewed at the LA Times and talks about the final days on the set, and apparently some of the rumors flying around more recently. Spoiler level unknown!

The Guardian.co.uk has selected Katee as a candidate for the next Dr. Who sidekick. Personally, I'm not feeling it. Katee isn't much of a sidekick.

Look for Don Thompson (Specialist 3rd Class Anthony Figurski) in The Watchmen, along with a flock of other Vancouverites.

Tricia Helfer talks to Eclipse Magazine about the Burn Notice finale and a little about her career in BSG.

Tricia will also be voicing the character Boodikka in the upcoming Green Lantern DVD series. animationmagazine.net

Still waiting for some coverage to roll in on MegaCon 09, which was attended by original BSG series stars Herbert Jefferson Jr., Anne Lockhart and Dirk Benedict, as well as James Callis, Jennifer Halley and Luciana Carro. The oldies and noobs got together for a BSG discussion panel (here's a small clip thanks to youtuber leatherneck4398), and I'm kind of astonished that Dirk Benedict agreed to associate himself with the new series. Hopefully there will be video of the entire panel soon! Tricia Helfer was scheduled to appear, but I don't believe she participated in the panel. BSG Cast was there, so we hope to see something from them.

My Roommate the Cylon

2009-03-02T22:07:00.002-05:00

Episode one of this fan made web series is up. Looks good! Follow it at myroommatethecylon.com. They want to spread the love, so I say "By your command" :D

My Roommate the Cylon 1.1 "The Test" from Space Shank Media on Vimeo.

Islanded in a Stream of Stars

2009-03-01T14:15:00.005-05:00

I caved. I can't not watch the next episode previews any more. Frak it. There are only 3 episodes left, the next of which, "Islanded in a Stream of Stars", is the last series proper episode. The next two after that will be the 2 part finale, the 2nd part being 2 hours long. I had to look up "islanded" by the way. Never heard it used in verb form like that. Yep, it's a word, and quite possibly the most ridiculous one to grace the dictionary pages at that. Preview video below.

But first, check out the newest entry in the Eick Video Blog, Documenting BSG, which takes you on a tour with the camera crew. Very cool, and spoiler-free (I was trying to make some space between the top and the preview below with this) :0)

Who watches over who?

2009-02-28T16:01:00.023-05:00

Stream of thought since watching "Someone to Watch Over Me"...

Actually, the meaning of the title is just now clicking. Someone or something is watching over Kara. Or/and is someone watching over Tyrol and Boomer? The Five? Everyone?

Since pretty early in the series, I've made some logical deductions that there are human creators of the Cylons out there that have more to do with this than just making the clankers. I kind of shoved it to the wayside for the most part though, since "They evolved" was nailed into our heads at pretty much the beginning of every episode. I figured they, the Cylons, evolved into skin-jobs on their own, but we've recently discovered that the Final Five, also skin-jobs of some sort, gave the clanker Cylons the know-how to make their own skin-jobs and keep them resurrecting. At this point, I'm trying to imagine who or what exactly the Five were in talks with before they made Cavil and the other models. How did Cavil come to enslave those Centurions which assumably brought him to existence with the help from the Five, and why did those Centurions want to be skin-jobs anyway? Didn't they rebel against the humans?

Anyway, those thoughts of human creators from the 12 Colonies, still out there somewhere, are starting to creep back in, especially since Piano Guy came around.

In the med clinic with Sam, and as the Cylons leave the room, an 8 mentions that she wonders if they might be able to hook him up to the ship's system like a hybrid.

Piano Guy - "The point is to bring a little grace and beauty to an otherwise brutal existence". Kara asks him if his music stopped any missiles when the Cylons attacked the 12 colonies. He calls her POV cynical. "Something happened to you".

Jumping to above theory of human Cylon creators... If Piano Guy perhaps had anything to do with Cylon creation, he would have been the one to add the art element, appreciation for "grace and beauty", and perhaps some of the tactility to be creative. Oh hey, wasn't Daniel an artist too? Hmmmm.

So, Piano Guy ends up being all in Kara's head, since when Tigh disrupts her Dylan (read totally awesome McCreary) jam session, Piano Guy is no longer there. Presumably a younger version of her dad? Here are larger versions of the images of Piano Guy and Dreilide Thrace seen below. Same guy?

Edit - Boing! That says "Opera House" doesn't it? Coincidence?

I still won't presume as to what Kara is since her return. Not yet. That she is just a regular old Cylon seems too easy, and so does the idea that she may have simply been resurrected Cylon-style. I'm definitely not willing to accept that Kara was anything but human before "Maelstrom". It does seem feasible that her father was either guilty enough, or perhaps somehow torn away from his family (maybe to join a covert team of Cylon builders?) but still had the ability to "watch over her", that he would be compelled to recreate her with some form of Cylon technology, again - if he had it and if he's out there somewhere. Just a thought.

I am however, beginning to smell some of the themes promised to us in the Caprica series, mixed with some of the stuff we've learned recently. Organic Memory Transfer was around for a long time on Kobol. It took a group, being the Final Five, to take this technology and re-adapt it on Earth. They also knew how to build skin-jobs apparently. This leads my imagination to think this: On the 12 Colonies, Cylons were developed with some amount of intelligence, reasoning skills, and other human traits ala carte. If this has all happened before, it's not hard to imagine that these creators of the Cylons could have been a relatively small and elite group of scientists, who also figured out how to make skin-jobs. Perhaps they even created skin-jobs first (and covertly) before realizing how to trim them back to something more manageable within human society - that being Centurions, or some form of. Since these human creators were human, they surely had loved ones, perhaps ones that they were desperate to recreate for themselves, or perhaps those loved ones accessed the creators information or were just smart enough to mimic it.

And just what were those old school Cylons and hybrid from Razor?

Speaking of elite scientists with top secret information, what was Baltar back on Caprica really? Way back (season 3?) when Baltar flew away with the Cylons, we already touched upon the theme of Baltar possibly being a Cylon, and whether his head 6 "hallucinations" were proof of that. So maybe Baltar isn't a Cylon (?), but could he have partook in the development of Cylon tech back on Caprica? Does he know how to make a skin-job, and/or could his memory of such somehow been tampered with? Could he have tampered with Cylon tech, even on himself, and had a resulting permanent virtual sex partner in head 6? Does he have a primitive and maybe human version of Cylon Projection? Now Kara has a head Piano Guy/dad. Could this be some kind of Cylon Projection? Is she a sleeper agent since she came back?

Anders in "No Exit" says "Chief... you thought you had a chip in your head" while trying to explain how the Five knew to build resurrection for themselves and leave Earth in the nick of time.

Hera's picture - They're stars *and* the same musical composition that brought (four of) the Five out. Star chart to a new home? Star chart to pending doom? After all, Kara is the harbinger of death and doom and stuff. Speaking of Razor, I ask again - Just what the frak was that rogue old school hybrid and Cylon anyway? Ya think they could've had a copy of Daniel with them, as well as resurrection abilities? Did they get Kara in Maelstrom? Leoben certainly doesn't seem to know what the frak she is, so it's doubtful it had anything to do with the everyday Cylons, except of course if Cavil did something secretly. I have doubts that Cavil is *that* perfect of a machine, and he didn't seem to be in much control over what happened with Kara and the nebula. I'm remembering what Cavil said in "No Exit" to Ellen about it being a "nice trick" with the exploding star/nebula, and Ellen denied having a hand in that or the Temple of Five by saying it must have been "the one true god". We also have yet to discover who exactly named Cavil "John" after Ellen's father.

Anyhew, if this has all happened before and it will again, is it possible that another set of planetary systems exist that are similar to Kobol, the 12 Colonies and Earth? Could this be the star chart Hera drew? Could it be the formula for resurrection? A cure for infertility among Cylons?

Laura Roslin mutters "Hera" as she falls to the floor just at the same time Boomer jumps away from the fleet. It doesn't appear that Roslin had any way of knowing that Boomer had actually jumped away. Is Roslin somehow connected to Hera and this whole cycle? Is it because Hera's blood helped revive her before? Is Roslin part Cylon now?

Sooo disappointed that Helo couldn't differentiate Athena from Boomer. Wonder if he could have gotten Boomer preggers. WHAT is the deal with the Opera House?

Ellen and Tigh in the school room:

E: "It had to be orchestrated from the beginning. The escape, all of it. It was just a means to get Boomer here. Cavil wanted Hera, Boomer got her for him."

T: "How can a 3 year old girl spontaneously write down that song?"

E: "She's plugged into something that's manipulating all of us... Maybe Anders could help us."

T: "If he ever wakes up."

So who is controlling Hera then? Is she connected to some unknown mystical force? A group of humans who originally created Cylons? The old school Cylons and hybrid from Razor? Is it also what gave the Five the message to leave Earth and warn the 12 Colonies? Is it what gives Baltar a head 6, Kara a head Piano Guy, and Chief a chip? Rethinking the meaning of the title "Someone to Watch Over Me".

I really don't think, or at least I don't want to believe that Cavil planned this all out with Boomer beforehand. I really want Boomer to be taking Hera as a hostage for herself, to leverage with Cavil and the Fleet for her own independence, and to give her Tyrol. I hope she's on her way to Kobol and not back to Cavil. I dunno what good that will do, but that's what I hope. Kobol is where it all started after all, at least as far as we've been told and as far back as the history we know tells. Plus, The Opera House is on Kobol, at least the ruins of it are. Sharon is part of the vision, and both Boomer and Athena are derived from the same Sharon memories. Maybe Boomer will go back to Cavil first, but the eventual path to Kobol seems inevitable to me. Everyone knows how to get to Kobol too, which reminds me... How did Ellen and Boomer get from Cavil to the fleet so quickly?

I just want there to be happiness for Chief. Please let him and Boomer live happily ever after! Yeah, like that's gonna happen.

The Questions

2009-02-26T14:16:00.004-05:00

Still pondering some of the information we were flooded with in "No Exit", I am compelled to write down the lingering questions (and new questions) having to do with the series that may or may not get an answer or further explaination:

1. Kara. Her destiny. What she is since she returned. The harbinger of death? I think these answers are coming very soon.
2. How/why did Tigh have hair and was presumably younger in the flashbacks to his first meeting with Adama soon after the first Cylon War? From what's been gathered about the Final Five, they download in a similar fashion as the other skin-jobs, "as is". Tigh's physical differences would contradict this.
3. This may not be important to the plot anymore and is tied into the above question, but if Tigh was "sent first", presumably around the time he met Adama back before WW1, when exactly did Tory, Galen and Anders show up on the scene? They all look to be 30 something at best, so perhaps Cavil sent them in closer to the time before WW2 - ? I'm thinking about the movie "The Plan" we have coming up after the series concludes, which will supposedly take a closer look at Galen and Anders, and Cavil!
4. The Opera House. It was almost starting to come together until Caprica Six's miscarriage. But it wasn't really. An aside from this - What is the deal with the "Temple of the Five", the glowy five that D'anna saw, which also appeared in the Opera House? Who did D'anna see if the five were living among the fleet (and how did she see them), and what's the deal with the nebula (which is also somehow connected to Starbuck)?
5. Baltar and head Six's "child of humanity". Which leads to...
6. Hera. Is she relevant other than being the first child born of a human plus Cylon? Seems to me like proof that the Cylons can't live/evolve without the humans if they don't have resurrection.
7."The dying leader" leading them to Earth. Could it simply be a false prophecy? Is it Roslin? Will she die? Will her death prove the prophecy to be true? They did already get to Earth though, and Roslin ain't dead yet. Here's a thought - Was it just her leadership that was dying?
8. Daniel. I "suspect" we aren't going to get much of an answer to this, but I've been trying to stay away from spoiler interviews and commentaries. Could the fact that there are 13 total Cylon skin-jobs be relevant to the 13 Colonies? That thought leads me to wonder whether the 12 Colonies only divided into 12 because they had 12 available planets to disperse themselves amongst, or if they were already 12 distinct groups of humans upon leaving Kobol.
9. This is a question of confusion... Even though Ellen resurrected before the resurrection hub was destroyed, she still seemed to be resurrected in a special separate resurrection pod. It looked to me that she was actually on Cavil's baseship. It wouldn't make much sense for Cavil to allow the big secret he was keeping about the final five to be given up by any of them resurrecting openly in the res hub anyway. If that special res-pod was in Cavil's base ship, then they wouldn't have lost resurrection completely. If Ellen was resurrected in the hub, did Cavil have some way to keep her hidden from the other skin-jobs? Why did Cavil allow her to be resurrected at all? Why does he need to cut her head open to get memories? Haven't we seen other skin-jobs access the memories of the others through other means? Can of worms!
10. I still want to know if or how the final five are different physically from the skin-jobs. Maybe they are just the same. I'm still not clear on that. I have to watch "Sometimes a Great Notion" again, because I'm pretty sure they verified that the skeletal remains found on Earth were the same Cylon skin-jobs as the One through Eight's (skipping the Seven) that currently exist. But still, are the final five only unique because they were the sole survivors of the Earth holocaust? Or are they different, maybe not physically, because the "angels" told them to get the heck out and find help the 12 Colonies. Also, do the five age at all? Time did slow down for them for the thousand some odd trek to the colonies. This leads to another question...
11. Cylon resurrection vs. Cylon procreation. Apparently the Cylons resurrected (on Kobol?), then by the time they got to Earth, they had somehow come to procreate naturally and didn't need resurrection anymore so it became a lost art. Train of thought here: A baby born of Cylon descent must grow old and die. Are they then completely natural and no longer a machine? If a natural-born Cylon dies and is resurrected via "organic memory transfer", then is it only a machine as far as the process of recreating it goes? Do those resurrected Cylons age at all? Eventaully? Slowly? Or is it simply frozen at the point in time/age that it died? Could it be another evolutionary process? This might help explain Tigh's loss of hair ;)
12. Were there simply just humans on Kobol in the beginning, and furthermore are we to believe that the Earth we live on now is hundreds of thousands or billions of years after (or before) the Earth seen at the end of season 4.0? I don't think we'll get anymore clarification on either of these issues, but since "this has all happened before" I'm guessing it has and will happen for infinity, so the inhabitants of Kobol were most likely the result of a previous human split with the Cylons. If that's the case, then we should be able to consider the humans of the 12 Colonies to be distant relatives of Cylons, and the 13th Colony of Earth, who are Cylons, to actually have evolved into full humans. As for the question of when on Earth this takes place, I like to imagine that it was long before and things like Atlantis are remnants that have survived the ice ages as well as volcanic or meteoric catastrophes.

Here's a bonus speculative thought (consider it the 13th question, representing the 13 Colonies, and/or Cylons):

- If the final five were planted amongst the humans by Cavil, with their new memories, there's an assumption that Cavil had reason to do so with the intent to sabotage the humans. At first I wondered if the faulty construction of the Galactica might have had something to do with Cavil's intervention and if Chief could have been a catalyst to that. But alas, Chief seems too young to have been planted in time to see the Galactica built and then experience WW2 so many years later. But could he have existed as a sleeper agent all that time? It would add more meaning to the sub-plot of the Galactica's reconstruction taking place currently, but then again, it might just add more complexity to an already complex mythology.

Aside from these things, I'm anxiously awaiting that big looming space battle that they seem to have been saving up for with the lack of significant FX in recent episodes. Cavil is somewhere just around the corner!

Caprica DVD - Lookie!

2009-02-25T23:27:00.004-05:00

With only a few weeks until Caprica prereleases on DVD (April 21), SciFi Wire has posted the cover and a few details (very few really) about the content. And Esai Morales is just as dreamy as ever. Oops. Fangirl slip, sorry.

Colonial Dispatch 2.24.09

2009-02-24T13:30:00.002-05:00

Less than a month of Battlestar remains...

Jane Espenson talks to The Watcher about Deadlock. I will hold off on reading this until after March 20, so spoilers are unknown and read at your own risk, but I did hear some interesting notes about this interview and a plot line that had to be abandoned involving Baltar. Guess that's not a spoiler if it didn't happen, right?

Issue #2 of the 4 part comic series Battlestar Galactica: Cylon War came out last Wednesday, I have it, read it, loved it, and expect a review of issues 1 and 2 here soon. Promise. But what I was really getting at was an excuse to segue into news about the upcoming Battlestar Manga series by Tokyo Pop due out this April. Here's a preview of the first edition of "Echoes of New Caprica":

Loving this comparison of Battlestar Galactica to Aeneid by Charlotte Higgins at The Guardian UK.

Even though The Oscars have eclipsed a lot of other awards news, Battlestar is still a winner FYI! At the Visual Effects Society Awards BSG won for best VFX in a broadcast series (Variety), and the show won a Golden Reel for best music short form and foley in a television series (THR.com). Go team!

Over at Bear's Blog

2009-02-21T20:41:00.003-05:00

Battlestar composer Bear McCreary has been posting at his blog weekly since 4.5 started, commenting about his process of putting together musical themes for the show, among other cool stuff. Check out his most recent entry for an interview he did with Michael Hogan, and other factoids about the episode "Deadlock"... and a very special cameo! I am reading through this now, so I can't say the full spoiler content, but you should at least have seen "Deadlock" first, and since both Bear and Mike are high-profile kinda guys, you can bet the spoiler level (for future episodes) will be low to nil, at least no worse than what Ron and the writers let fly in their interviews and commentaries - which I actually consider mildly spoilery. I'm just sayin' ;) - Bear's Blog

Polls

2009-02-21T17:30:00.002-05:00

Some new polls are coming right up, and this time they will be character polls and what we think some of the key players might be up to as the series finale marches to the end. Make sure to look down the left sidebar to see them all.

As for the previous polls, here are the results...

Most of you loved "No Exit", but at the same time it looks like it took some time to digest. Most are thinking Anders is coming back, while there were a few doubters, and it's also the same with using Cylon technology on the ship - most think it's a good thing while there are a few doubts. The Daniel portion of the poll was a little iffy, and some thought he might be Tigh and Caprica's baby, while a couple think it's someone else, but there weren't a lot of votes either way on that:

Loved it - 12 (54%)

Liked it - 1 (4%)

Still digesting it - 5 (22%)

Confused - 3 (13%)

TMI - 1 (4%)

Anders is a vegetable forever - 2 (9%)

Anders will come back - 7 (31%)

This is all so convoluted - 1 (4%)

This all makes perfect sense - 1 (4%)

Wait, what? - 7 (31%)

BSG fixed with Cylon tech = good - 9 (40%)

BSG fixed with Cylon tech = bad - 2 (9%)

Feeling unsure about Cylon tech - 3 (13%)

Daniel is Tigh and 6's son - 2 (9%)

Daniel is someone else - 3 (13%)

Votes: 22

Dollhouse shows mostly lukewarm feelings, with a love and a hate in there too. Most will continue watching to give it a chance though:

Loved it - 1 (14%)

Liked it - 5 (71%)

50/50 about it - 2 (28%)

Hated it - 1 (14%)

Not sure how I feel yet - 2 (28%)

Intrigued - 3 (42%)

Will continue watching - 4 (57%)

It's bound to fail - 1 (14%)

Haven't seen it yet - 1 (14%)

Votes: 7

The "Blood on the Scales" poll was just fun. It had the most votes for "Best yet" (yay!). Most agree that Gaeta and Zarek are gone for good, and the ownage winner was Chief in the duct system:

Best yet - 5 (26%)

Second best yet - 4 (21%)

Tied with Notion - 3 (15%)

Least favorite so far - 1 (5%)

Undecided - 2 (10%)

Sweetest reunion EVAR - 6 (31%)

The wrath of Roslin owns - 11 (57%)

Gaeta and Zarek = ded - 11 (57%)

Gaeta and Zarek = not ded - 1 (5%)

Quorum = definitely ded - 9 (47%)

Anders can't be ded - 5 (26%)

Anders really can't be ded - 7 (36%)

Gaeta's song sorta makes sense now - 5 (26%)

Where the frak now? - 5 (26%)

Chief in duct system owns - 8 (42%)

Chief is Jack Bauer - 5 (26%)

Adama and Romo owns - 7 (36%)

Romo is a pimp - 5 (26%)

And he owns - 4 (21%)

Votes: 19

A new, new Battlestar is possible

2009-02-20T22:57:00.004-05:00

It's hard for a lot of RDM Battlestar fans to fathom right now (at least for this one it is!), but word has it that Universal Studios has "quietly" began talks with the original Battlestar Galactica creator, Glen Larson, to produce a theatrical version of the story, purportedly including Starbuck, Adama, and Baltar. According to SciFi Wire who credits The Hollywood Reporter as the source, Universal had no comments on the matter, which I find kind of hilarious since SciFi Wire is part of the NBCU family. Did they really have to ask in the post title "As SCI FI's Battlestar ends, is Universal adapting another for the movies?"?

I do remember reading from various sources that Larson was never really happy with RDM's re-imagined version of the show, and we know how Dirk Benedict also feels. I can't help thinking that there's a vengeful tone here, and Larson will be trying to put the spotlight back to his version, so conveniently after Battlestar has been revived as a huge hit. It's just really hard to even think about right now, and since they are just "in talks", you can bet that it would be years before anything comes to fruition if at all. If there's one thing that's for sure though, if this ever happens, Starbuck will not be female anymore. What do you think? Could a new, new Battlestar be feasible? Perhaps in a few years?

What Sam and Ellen told us

2009-02-17T18:33:00.012-05:00

I just rewatched "No Exit" and took about 10 pages of notes to try and sort out everything that Ellen and Sam Anders, and Cavil, told us. The following is a chronological (as it happened in the episode) list of what we learned from them. This is practically a transcript of the episode, minus the parts with Tyrol and Adama trying to get the ship fixed and the little bit with Roslin and Lee planning to rebuild the government, so it's a little long:

First, I thought it seemed important to note what the pre-opening screen text was telling us...

"This has all happened before, and it will all happen again - The Cylons were created by man - (View of old school Cylons, one of them a goldie - Was this from Razor?) - They rebelled - Then they vanished - 40 years later they came back - They evolved - 50,298 human survivors - Hunted by the Cylons - 11 models are known - One was sacrificed"

- The last two parts are a little strange. Was Ellen sacrificed? I don't think they're talking about Daniel, since that would be a total of 13.

- We are shown Ellen downloading/resurrecting on what seems to be a special resurrection pod on a Basestar, directly after she is murdered (sacrificed?) by Tigh on New Caprica.

- In the present day, Anders is getting ready to have a bullet removed from his head, and is rambling about "all the forgotten faces, all the forgotten children. We seek the great forgotten light which...". The scene cuts to Cavil in the forest on Caprica as Anders says "He whose guile stirred with revenge". Anders continues to ramble as he flashes on memories, and mentions having been on that Earth beach before.

- Cut to 18 months ago, and we're back on the Basestar with Ellen talking to Cavil about how "he" named Cavil "John" after "my" father. Cavil is remorseful that "he made me in his image". Does this mean Cavil looks exactly like whoever made him, or exactly like Ellen's father, or just that it's in the image of a human man? The conversation moves to Ellen telling Cavil "You're the same petulant little boy boy I loved so dearly all those years ago". Does Ellen mean "little boy" metaphorically? I'm under the impression, due to later conversations, that Cavil was always in the physical state he was. Was he named John after Ellen's father, yet physically modeled after a different person? Were Ellen and John the daughter and son of the humans who created the Cylons?

- Back to Anders, and he realizes the memories are rushing in. He asks Kara to gather the others for him - The five. She reminds him that Ellen is dead, and he seems to be pretending to have forgotten that only momentarily (meaning, he seems to know that she is still alive, or alive again somewhere, yet hides it from Kara).

- Back to Ellen on the Basestar with Cavil, yet now we're 12 months ago (Slowly getting closer to present day). The conversation is about Ellen's "mortal experience" among the humans, and Cavil says how "you" wrote sleep into our software. Ellen responds with a "we", so Ellen and company (presumably the final 5 at this point) created the Cylons (presumably the skin-jobs). Boomer shows up with lunch - a plate of fruit so pristine, you have to wonder if that apple is poisoned. Ellen assumes there's "a whole ship full of my children beyond the guards". Is Ellen a prisoner, or is her identity necessarily being protected? Seems to be a combo, but only necessary to Cavil's larger plan. Cavil leaves Boomer and Ellen, and Ellen tells Boomer more of what she thinks about John. Ellen tells Boomer to watch and make up her own mind (about how to be the perfect machine, and/or what the right thing to do is).

- Back to Anders who is now speaking to Galen, Tigh, and Tory. We find out that: They all worked in the same research facility (presumably on Earth), Ellen and Tigh were married then too, Tory and Galen were engaged, they had their own resurrection ship in place in the planet's orbit, they knew the end was coming, they did download, the Earth Cylons could procreate, they reinvented resurrection, and Organic Memory Transfer originally came from Kobol along with the 13th Tribe but fell out of use after their people started to procreate. They (The five) worked night and day to rebuild it, and although Galen's work was brilliant, it was Ellen who made (the intuitive leap? - I didn't quite hear this right) that brought the system back online. Tigh asks "What was the plan?" before a ruckus about Sam's health detracts from the question.

- Tigh asks why they went to the 12 Colonies. Anders says because they needed to find the other tribes and warn them to treat the artificial life they are inevitably creating well, and keep them close, but once they got there the humans were already at war with the Centurions... "again". This "again" kind of confused me, because it seems like Anders had to be talking about the first Cylon War, unless he means again as in - the cycle continues. Tory asks how this is possible since the holocaust on Earth took place thousands of years before. Anders says they hadn't developed jump-drives - "We traveled at relativistic but sub-luminal speed. Time slowed down for us for thousands of years". So, it seems like they went into some sort of hibernation/real-time space travel to reach the 12 Colonies to warn them.

- After telling Kara that he doesn't know if he will remember anything about her place in all this, he goes on to talk about how the Centurions were already trying to make flesh bodies (presumably when they got there and the war had started in the 12 Colonies). "They had created the hybrids, but nothing that lived on it's own, so we made them a deal - Stop the war and we'll help you. We developed the 8 humanoid models and gave them resurrection." Just as everyone freaks out about the 8, Sam crashes.

- Cut to now 10 months ago, with Ellen watching some sort of "slide show" on the Basestar. She says "The Temple of Hopes. Built by the 13th Tribe 3,000 years ago when they left Kobol. They stopped and prayed for guidance during their exodus, and then god showed them the way to Earth". Cavil suggests that it was all a plot on the part of the five to reveal themselves. He goes on to tell Ellen that when the star went nova, one of the 3s saw their faces, so he boxed their entire line. Ellen says that boxing isn't permanent, "Not like number 7", and she goes on to deny that it was a plot - "We backtracked the path of our ancestors and found their temple. The one true god must have orchestrated these events." The rest of the conversation revolves around Cavil complaining about the inadequacies of the human body, Boomer asking Ellen if she has remorse, and Ellen explaining the gift of free will and love to Boomer, who in turn questions who she would want to love (and the scene cuts to Galen on Galactica).

- Back in present day, Tigh, Galen and Tory discuss who is the most guilty - The humans or the Cylons they created. Galen says it was they who ended the first Cylon War and bought time for humanity. This verifies when they came back, but what were they doing for the 40 years until the second Cylon War?

- Now 4 months ago, back on the Basestar, Cavil reports to Ellen that they've destroyed the Resurrection Hub and starts demanding that Ellen help her children rebuild it. He mentions "They've destroyed the hub, but they don't even know about the colony. All your equipment is still there." I'm guessing that this colony and equipment is on Kobol, or perhaps it's on Earth? Is it even on a planet? After Ellen insists she can't do anything with out the other 4 of the 5, Cavil threatens to physically extract the information from Ellen's brain.

- On present day Galactica, Anders has come to again, and verifies that Cavil "was the first one we made". John was treasured by them, and he helped them build the others. When Galen questions whether they thought that building more Cylons was a bad idea, Anders replies that Ellen convinced them that the Centurions had a single loving god which changed everything, and the Cylons embracing love and mercy would end the cycle of violence. Anders goes on to reveal that Cavil rejected mercy, had a twisted idea of morality, turned on them, trapped them in a compartment, and suffocated them. When they downloaded into new bodies, Cavil blocked access to their memories and implanted them with new, fake ones - just like Boomer. After boxing them for awhile, Cavil introduced Tigh first, not long after the war, then Ellen. "Back on Earth, the warning signs we got looked different to each one of us. I saw a woman, Tory saw a man. Funny, no one else could see them. Galen, you thought you had a chip in your head." Anders states with certainty that "The 7 was the... Daniel. Daniel died. He was 7." He then tells Tigh to stay in the fleet, and that the miracle, a gift from the angels, is starting to happen, as he is dragged into surgery. The scene cuts to a pregnant 6 as Tigh walks into the room. The baby just started moving tonight. Seems to me they're trying to make us think the 6's baby is part of the miracle. I first thought the baby had to be Daniel, but perhaps that's too obvious. It also seems unlikely now that we know the five resurrect the same way the regular skin-jobs do. Also, looking back to Ellen's conversations with Cavil, it certainly seems like she is trying to remind Cavil about the "one true loving god" to try and convert him to goodness.

- 2 days ago now on the Basestar, and Ellen is asking Cavil why he didn't just kill them instead of sending them to live among the humans. Cavil says he wanted them to experience humanity up close at the point of the holocaust. Ellen points out that that they never died, but instead were made to suffer by Cavil due to his petty human emotions of rage and jealousy. She claims Cavil has always been looking for approval and that she knows what he did to Daniel. Cavil proclaims that the 7 didn't thrive, then Ellen begins to describe Daniel to Boomer, and how his line was destroyed by Cavil as an act of jealousy toward Ellen's close relationship with Daniel. Cavil blames Ellen for creating him in the first place, and Ellen tries to tell Cavil that he wasn't a mistake and that he could be good if he could accept himself for what he is.

- Cutting to another scene, and Boomer is retrieving Ellen to bring her to surgery. Ellen tells Boomer she should have brought something, then tells her to never mind. I totally couldn't make out what that something was. Anybody else know? It seemed relevant!

- Assuming we are now in the present with Ellen, Boomer takes Ellen into a Raptor, and flees the Basestar, rescuing Ellen. I don't think this is part of Cavil's master plan. I really think Ellen showed Boomer the light of her own free will.

The end! There are quite a few more questions in there now, and it's really hard to put all these pieces together in a timeline. Listing it all here was at least helpful for me. Hopefully it was for others out there. What new questions do you all have? What is answered for you? My biggest left over questions from this episode are about that colony where the equipment is that Cavil spoke about, what the five were doing between the first and second Cylon War (if they really did first show up during the first one), how is Daniel relevant to all this (if you have listened to RDM's commentary or read interviews, please don't spoil here!), I have no idea what to think about Ellen's comment about Cavil as a little boy, and I'm generally a little confused about whether the five went to Kobol on their way to Earth, or it was the 13th Tribe before them they are talking about. Are the five the 13th Tribe? The original 13th Tribe? And what are we supposed to think about Baltar's head Six (and the head Baltars) now that the five had similar experiences? Of course there are still other questions from the series as well. *brain explodes*

Colonial Dispatch 2.16.09

2009-02-16T22:07:00.003-05:00

We've got some details on the schedule for the grand finale, thanks to SyFy Portal: The finale will indeed be a total of 3 hours, of which the first hour will air on March 13 at 10pm on SciFi (as usual). The final 2 hours will air on March 30, but will start at 9pm to allow for the extra hour. SciFi is also expected to repeat the first hour of the finale at 8pm on March 30 which will allow viewers to watch the entire finale all together.

Battlestar was this weekend's #1 download on iTunes, according to TV by the Numbers. An interesting addendum to the stats is that the Dollhouse pilot ranked at #19 this weekend on iTunes, but has now climbed to #1 (Guess everyone needed their BSG fix first). Whether or not this will help Dollhouse after their much more dismal than expected broadcast ratings remains to be seen, but it could use any help it can get!

Issue #2 of the four part comic book series Battlestar Galactica: The Cylon War comes out this Wednesday, February 18. I still haven't posted an appropriate review of issue #1 here yet, but let me take the opportunity now to mention why I'm generally positive about it. Essentially I'm most enthusiastic about the potential the expanded backstory allows the Battlestar world. As the TV series comes to an end, and as long as they don't explain the frak out of everything else like they did in "No Exit", there's some pretty endless opportunities for creative expansion, as is the example in the Star Wars expanded universe. Secondarily, this comic series covers an interesting topic (to me at least), which is that it goes into more detail about everyday life in the colonies, shortly before the first Cylon War, and looks at the lives of other characters than the crew we know and love from the series. The art and writing is good and solid too, although some reviewers may disagree with that opinion. Comic Book Resources announces issue #2

Come to think of it, Lee Adama's hair does seem to be growing up to Conan O'Brien proportions. I didn't notice though, since I was too busy trying to absorb the deluge of information in "No Exit". One thing is for sure, Jamie certainly got a lot of flight hours in, in the "moral puzzle" category during his years on BSG, which should have prepared him well for his current work on Law and Order UK. Jamie has some comments on L&OUK for The Press Association.

In our mild spoiler corner today, we have some more awesomeness from The Watcher, with writers Jane Espenson and Ryan Mottesheard answering questions posed by fans in the comment section from Mo Ryan's "No Exit" post. I call it a mild spoiler because I didn't even finish reading it after the first few lines started to explain elements of the show which I would personally rather see play themselves out (or not) in the last handful of episodes. If you want it explained now, then read You asked, they answered: 'Battlestar Galactica' writers take on your 'No Exit' questions

This video has nothing whatsoever to do with Battlestar:

More Polls!

2009-02-14T17:07:00.004-05:00

So, I messed up the "Blood on the Scales" deadline by making it two weeks from the air date instead of one. We'll just leave it up there then, but check out two new polls for "No Exit" and Dollhouse. Just make sure to scroll down to find them all, and they will all be multiple choice as usual.

Kate Vernon Speaks

2009-02-14T16:47:00.003-05:00

The "one little thing" mentioned in yesterday's post was an interview with Kate Vernon at IGN.com. It was a spoiler for last night's episode, "No Exit", because it basically started out by saying she would be back in that episode. It goes a little more in depth to the episode itself (thanks for not waiting one day to post this IGN!), and if you're an absolute purist as far as spoilers go, you may still not want to read the interview as it verifies story points that may otherwise thus so far be left to some of the more vivid imaginations. Here it is - IGN Talks to BSG's Ellen Tigh

I also held off on linking to another article which speaks to Kate Vernon, and I am actually not going to read this one, since the source, SciFi Wire, says it is a major spoiler. It doesn't say spoiler actually, but it says "massive secrets" which is good enough warning for me. If you just don't care, check out the article Exclusive! Battlestar Galactica's Kate Vernon reveals massive secrets!

Tricia on 'Chuck' will be March 30

2009-02-13T14:07:00.003-05:00

I FINALLY found the answer I was looking for - Tricia Helfer's guest appearance on Chuck will be airing on March 30, according to EW.com and Cinema Blend. Phew. That was making me nuts, even though we still can't be sure that something might bump the schedule. Hey, that's TV for ya.

Tonight!

2009-02-13T13:39:00.004-05:00

Okay, so this post actually mostly concerns any time after tonight...

Hulu has now posted on the Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles page - "Availability Notes: TSCC returns to Hulu February 14", which means to me that they will have the season premiere available to view the day after it airs, or even at 2am (likewise with BSG). The official Fox site for TTSCC seems ready to go with their full episode page as well.

There still is no information about Dollhouse being posted to view online at either Hulu or the official site at Fox, but both sites seem well poised to do so. Hulu has gone through the trouble of making a page dedicated to Dollhouse with pretty much all available clips and previews posted there, and at the official Fox Dollhouse site they have a video/full episodes spot set up just for Dollhouse. The only thing that makes me worry is the fact that barely anything was available for the original airings of TTSCC way back over a year ago. But since then, online services have improved exponentially, even for Fox I might add, and it looks like all the shakes of the magic 8 ball are saying "more than likely" when we ask if our shows will post to the web.

BTW, it's definitely worth a gander at the Fox Dollhouse video/full episode page right now to see some great behind the scenes footage of the making of the show, with Joss, Tahmoh, and the rest of the cast.

As far as the BSG episode tonight is concerned, I have ceased to watch all previews and tried to remain spoiler free, except one little thing that I ended up seeing while browsing the news. I'll hold off on posting that one little thing until tomorrow, for the sake of the other spoiler virgins out there.

Another reminder to fans who can't catch these episodes as they air (or even if they can) - click over to the official sites and show support for the shows!

Something I just thought of that completely puts Friday nights over the edge for me is the fact that the animated Clone Wars episodes also air on Friday nights on The Cartoon Network. Not that I ever actually watch those on Friday nights, but still! Everyone seems to be gambling on the Geeks never going out on Friday nights. That would probably be the case for me if I didn't have to work. The Clone Wars can be viewed after Friday air times on both The Cartoon Network site, and the official Star Wars site.

To end this post - Friday night on Fox, Grindhouse style:

Emissary

2009-02-13T00:31:00.002-05:00

Emissary co-creators Dekker Dreyer and Phillip Morris (who also stars) talk about the new upcoming web series. Martial arts are in the mix too? I'm in.

Colonial Dispatch 2.12.09

2009-02-12T15:01:00.008-05:00

Let's start with Dollhouse news. It's Tahmoh madness! Just a reminder, a lot of this stuff is relatively Dollhouse spoilery:

The Boston Herald has a nice little feature up about Tahmoh and his work in Dollhouse (Dang! He was in Boston yesterday and I didn't know!): ’Battlestar Galactica’ hunk channels big-time

Hit Fix interviews Tahmoh: Tahmoh Penikett talks 'Dollhouse'

Tahmoh interview posted at TV Guide.com today!

Tahmoh will be appearing at Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle Washington (Ooh! As well as Jewel Staite and Ray Park!) this April. via asta77 at Battlestar Blog

io9 has previewed the first three episodes of Dollhouse, and they offer a "spoiler-free" look (no actual events are given away, but it describes the overall theme of the show): We've Seen 3 Episodes Of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse!

Here's the official site for Dollhouse on Fox, which we're hoping will air full episodes. If so, make sure to click there to support the show if you miss it on air. Fox failed to stream episodes for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles until very recently (Fox's official TTSCC site), but they did air them on Hulu (and hopefully will continue to do so). Speaking of, now is a great time to catch up on last season's finale for TTSCC, either at Fox or the Hulu TTSCC page. Hulu has a pretty hefty page built up for Dollhouse, but has not posted as to whether or not they will be featuring the full episodes. I'm guessing... yes?

Hulu will be posting Nip/Tuck episodes 8 days after they air, so if my math is right, we will be able to see Katee Sackhoff in the episode "Manny Skerritt" by this Wednesday there. Here's a place marker for Hulu's Nip/Tuck page

Hulu also has the last few episodes of Burn Notice up, two of which feature Tricia Helfer ("Do No Harm" and "Hot Spot"). They are also available to view at IMDB, which may be more accessible for international audiences. And when the frak are we going to see Tricia on Chuck? It's still not known, and the scheduling for Chuck got a little frakked up since the presidential address aired exactly during Chuck's time slot this past Monday (but thankfully the episode of Heroes aired, which was written by Mark Verheiden - awesome episode I thought!). Perhaps the following video from ET Canada will help tide us over (spotted at Galactica Sitrep and posted to youtube by dudupcc):

Tricia is also scheduled as a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live tomorrow night (as if we didn't have enough to watch tomorrow!), according to NewsOK.com and the Jimmy Kimmel site. I get a little confused however, since the show airs at 12:05am EST - ~~so does that mean the Feb. 13 episode is tonight (since it will technically be Feb. 13 at 12am), or does it mean it will be 24 hours from then?~~ Edit - it's confirmed that Tricia will be on the Kimmel show after BSG tomorrow night. Luckily, they do post the episodes to Jimmy's site.

Still on the subject of Tricia, she was elected the official Valentine of 2009 at Esquire.com's blog The Daily Endorsement.

There's a nice big interview with Nicki Clyne at newmobilecomputing.com - make sure to follow the table of contents listed at the bottom of the linked page for the full interview.

Galactica TV has a nice big interview with Grace Park

Some interesting discussions going on over at The Watcher, which came from the comment section of Maureen's most recent post for the episode "Blood on the Scales". Richard Hatch himself showed up in the comments to react to other reader's comments on his character, and writer Michael Angeli, of whom was featured and interviewed in the original post, also had a comment. Read all about it here, and note what Maureen mentions about getting extra content on the season 4.5 DVD.

Friday the 13th!

2009-02-12T00:30:00.004-05:00

No, not the movie franchise.... I mean THIS Friday, the 13th of February 2009, will be a complete overload. First, at 8pm on Fox we have our other favorite human-looking robot 'verse - Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, returning after a heckuva a cliffhanger and probably one of the best episodes I had seen yet. Then right after that, at 9pm, Joss Whedon's Dollhouse makes it's debut, also on Fox, and we get a fresh new light on Tahmoh Penikett. I was getting a little tired of seeing him with that bloody ear for the past few weeks, so hopefully he cleaned up a little. Lastly but not leastly, the 5th episode of Battlestar is on at 10pm on the SciFi channel, with what will be the half way point for the grand finale season.

Guess what else happens on Friday night? I have to work... and I don't have a DVR. I'll be pretty busy Saturday morning, which reminds me to remind fans out there who can't catch episodes when they air (and maybe also don't have DVRs) - Make sure to pop into your show's official sites and click to view the latest episode... even if you watch it by other means. Viewing online from the official sites counts toward the ratings, so it's like a virtual vote for your show!

Mary and Eddie

2009-02-09T15:00:00.005-05:00

We posted part one of this TV Guide interview last month, with a warning that it was spoilery to the extent that Eddie and Mary sort of hush each other and give lots of insinuations as to how the rest of the final season of Battlestar will pan out. Those spoiler warning still stand, and after spotting part 4 of the interview at Galactica Sitrep, it's become apparent that the interview was much longer than I thought! We'll post parts 2, 3, and 4 here thanks to youtube user SprockFan:

Part 2 (still mildly spoilery as mentioned above):

Part 3 (not spoilery at all if you're all caught up - Mary and Eddy talk about the growth of Roslin and Adama's relationship):

Part 4 (almost spoiler-free, except what Eddie says about how his character will or will not change. Not quite sure how to take how he says this, so to be safe we'll just call it a mild spoiler. If you wait until the 1:00 mark, you'll be safe to watch the rest):

Colonial Dispatch 2.8.09

2009-02-08T18:49:00.004-05:00

I was just reviewing "Blood on the Scales" over at Hulu, and it seems they may have found a genius symbiosis in advertising. Even though I'm pretty sure the Air Force ads are being shown when you watch anything on Hulu, the fact that they show it with Battlestar couldn't be more perfect. I was never really the type to join the military, at least not until now that it's kind of a little late in the game, especially to start pilot training - but oh man! How frakking cool would it be to fly those jets like they were frakking Vipers?!?

The enhanced version of "Blood on the Scales" isn't on Hulu right now, and I haven't checked SciFi.com because I've decided not to listen to the commentaries until the series has played out.

I also noticed that they had the web exclusive "The Hatch" up at Hulu and Sci Fi Wire. We'll post the Sci Fi Wire version here:

Maureen "The Watcher" Ryan comes through again for us fans, and as much as I want to be suggestion-free from the commentaries, I can't help reading the interviews she's been gracing us with. This week, for 'Blood', Maureen brings us Talking about 'Battlestar Galactica's' 'Blood on the Scales' with writer Michael Angeli. The obvious spoilers should be expected.

io9 caught up with Aaron Douglas at NYCC Friday, and shook him down with a Q&A about Emissary and BSG (okay, mostly BSG). It's spoilery as in it's suggestive of how you might feel by the end of the series, and it also tells us what will be explained in more depth as the series draws to a close. Okay, warning finished. Now read or watch the video and adore the awesome Office meets BSG t-shirt Aaron is sporting.

io9 also reports on the NYCC Emissary panel, with the promo video. No glimpses of Aaron in the promo, but I love ludicrously high-concept stuff!

IGN checked in today from NYCC and gave a little bit of the scoop on Joss and Tahmoh's Dollhouse panel.

Billy lives! In our hearts at least, but Paul Campbell is reported to have taken part in a very interesting tree-planting ceremony in the Yucatan. Read all about it at PR-USA

SciFi Wire has an interview with author Eric Nylund about the new 4 issue comic series Battlestar Galactica: Cylon War. Issue number one is currently in stores, and I promise a review one of these days soon. In short - a big double thumbs up! I think I'll refrain from posting the generally negative review over at IGN, so if you wanna read it you'll have to dig it up yourself :D. Comic Book Resources has the rundown from the Dynamite Comics panel at NYCC, which discusses some of the BSG projects.

Katee Sackhoff talks to Dose.ca as she gets buff for her role in Lost and Found. Don't forget to watch Katee in Nip/Tuck this Tuesday at 10pm on FX.

Kate Vernon talks briefly to The New York Daily News and mourns the show and the end of her work there.

Totally crazy Trylon Viers to be viewed at io9! Read down the comments in the article for a video interview and test drive with one proud owner.

So, I'm really bummed that the Cylon Detector app available from iTunes really is only for the iPhone and not the Touch. I have the latter which lacks a camera with which to utilize said app, even though they say you can use it on the Touch using a stored photo. What the frak fun is that? If you do have an iPhone though, here's the iTunes store link. I'll just have to live vicariously for you.

Take a virtual tour of the Galactica at SciFi.com. It's fun, and I just spent way too much time exploring.

Something many a BSG fan may have pondered is the impact of all the nuclear arsenal and the resulting consequences of their use in the Battlestar 'verse. Being a fan of apocalyptic themes myself (not that I want them to happen!) and more recently an addict to the game Fallout 3, I've been learning up a little more on the subject of a nuclear holocaust, kind of inadvertently. Some have asked why the Cylon-human alliance didn't even try to make a go of it on Earth, since the radiation was "slight" and 2,000 years old. We saw vegetation there, did we not? Will McCarthy posted a rather brilliant post over at Sci Fi Wire discussing what the possibilities might have been with some real-world science. Check out How we'll survive Battlestar Galactica's radioactive future, and when you're done with that, stop over at the Next Big Future blog to check out Brian Wang's research and analysis on the subject in the post The Science of Nuclear War Effects and Battlestar Galactica. After that, I recommend you rent The Day After Tomorrow and get that survival sled packed! Include lots of chocolate ;)

On to the less heavy stuff...

As you may notice, there's a new "poll" up (in parenthesis because the polls here are a little less than normal, and are mostly a fun way to interact). Most of the polls here are left to multiple choice... just an FYI. Here are the results of the last poll, recorded down in history:

"So far... Notion, Soul, Oath"

Good, better, best	1 (7%)
Best, better, good	3 (21%)
Other combo	2 (14%)
Frakkin blah blah	0 (0%)
Humans are dumb	2 (14%)
Viva la Revolution!	0 (0%)
Frak the Revolution	4 (28%)
Told too much in 'Notion'	2 (14%)
'Notion' made more questions	3 (21%)
Good balance of Qs and As so far	0 (0%)
Who dies next?	2 (14%)
Everyone	1 (7%)
No one (of consequence)	2 (14%)

Votes: 14

Frak the Revolution it is!

This is from an old-ish post over at Geek Crafts, but for all you knitters - check out the BSG Nebula hat! Also known as the "Mandala" by pattern contributor quirkyknitgirl.

The quote o' the week from Roslin:

"I swear it. I'm coming for all of you"

Caprica premiere hits DVD this April (?!)

2009-02-05T21:36:00.011-05:00

I'm thinking that NBCU is experimenting here... Sci Fi Wire reported today that the series premiere for Caprica will be available on DVD this April (the 21st to be exact), and it will be a feature-length "uncut and unrated" version as opposed to the broadcast presentation due to air in 2010.

Sounds a little... different, no? At first glance, it seems NBCU might be trying to put Caprica out there while people are still riding the BSG wave, which will see it's last episode air in March - the month before this DVD release. The BSG movie "The Plan" is scheduled to air in June, which makes Caprica seemingly staggered into the mix. Perhaps there will be some sort of correlation between The Plan and Caprica.

I think the BSG wave may be part of it, but you would think that perhaps they could have waited at least until the fall, since that's a big outlet for introducing a new series to it's audience. Even waiting until early summer or a little later (or after The Plan?) would stagger the time gap between the end of BSG and regular broadcast for Caprica. As it stands now, Caprica is tentatively set to air in January 2010, but we've all seen those kinds of dates get pushed and pushed. It's quite possible there could end up being a year or so wait between the two series, and sticking a Caprica DVD in there a third or half-way through that wait would ease the pain a little. That thought led me to remember one of the oldest tricks in the book: starvation. Take Nintendo as an example. The Wii gaming console has consistently been the highest selling console since it emerged onto the playing field (I believe it was the fall of 2006). It's been the top seller each holiday season since it's release. At first it was new and exciting... and different. The Wii appealed not just to gamers, but to everybody else. Now today, try going into any given retailer and see if the Wii is in stock, and chances are there are probably none to one or two available (as opposed to the 50 to 100 Xbox 360s and PS3s they have in stock), or people are standing in line early Sunday mornings to get one. Still. Three years after it's release. Or is it four? People still want the Wii, and they want it bad, perhaps simply because they can't get them.

So maybe there are some other genuine counterparts to the delays for both Nintendo production and in the Television industry. One company can only make so much of a product at a time to feed the world. But surely NBCU isn't blind to the fact that fans of BSG and other series go absolutely gaga if their series is delayed, or even threatened to be cancelled. Remember the peanuts. Always remember the peanuts. Since ratings have proven to be an almost obsolete resource with the advent of internet streaming and the PVR, one of the new ways the companies have been getting an inkling of whether there is an audience is when the audience is outraged with hunger and telling the company/studio/media all about it.

So, stock up fans. Eat up all the BSG you can, and have a nip of Caprica. There's another long, hungry winter coming, and when it's over (i.e. when Caprica comes to air in 2010) you're going to want it like you've never wanted anything before. Maybe.

Edited - io9 has some more details on the content of the DVD and some executive explainations from Mark Stern of the SciFi Channel.

Keep checking in at capricadvd.com

Alternate post title: "Let them eat frakking cake"

Aaron on 'Emissary'

2009-02-03T14:38:00.003-05:00

Anyone lucky enough to attend New York Comic Con this Friday (February 6) might also be lucky enough to catch the Emissary panel, which is a new series Aaron Douglas is co-starring in. From Comic Book Resources:

"The panel takes place Friday, February 6th at 6pm and will include the first look at Emissary’s teaser footage and a Q&A with the stars... The Emissary cast includes Philip Morris (Smallville), Aaron Douglas (Battlestar Galactica), Brian Thompson (X-File, Star Trek: Enterprise) and Emmy nominee Thaao Penghlis with additional cast members Yuri Lowenthal and J LaRose in attendance at the NYCC panel."

Also in Aaron news - Here's some video of last Friday's "Geek Out With Wil Wheaton, Yuri Lowenthal, and Aaron Douglas" session at Phoenix Comic Con. I'll post video 1 of 4 here, and you can watch the remaining 3 either at the youtube user's page who posted them, Autolooper, or over at The Chief's Deck.

Aaron will also be attending The Dallas All-Con (March 13, 14, and 15) as a guest of The 501st Star Garrison, the Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas region branch of the 501st Legion. Aaron is not scheduled for any particular event at this con, but will probably be doing autographs as he pals around with the 501 SG. Will Aaron be in trooper gear? Also via The Chief's Deck and All-Con on Myspace

Looking at Gaeta and Battlestar

2009-02-01T21:19:00.005-05:00

Over at io9, Annalee Newitz reflects on Gaeta as a character, his demise (okay, so that's relative), and how he ties into the greater web of the story. Interesting stuff. I haven't been posting many other reviews since "Sometimes a Great Notion", but this one is worth a gander (yes, I said that) - Why is Gaeta so Bad?

Another reflection, but this time on the career of Battlestar as a series, and how it's relevant in the scope of television history. Oh, and did you know Eddie Olmos was a Throbbing Gristle fan? I suspected he was punk-rock. Read Kill Your Television Series: The bittersweet, dignified demise of Battlestar Galactica by Mark Holcomb of Moving Image Source (Journal of the Museum of the Moving Image). via Club Jade

Colonial Dispatch 1.31.09

2009-01-31T21:35:00.005-05:00

We're 3/10 of the way through season 4.5 now with "The Oath" this past Friday. Full episodes and commentaries are available for all 3 on SciFi.com and Hulu (actually, Hulu does not have commentary for 'Notion' presently). A little note about the episode commentaries, or "enhanced" versions - if you are a complete spoiler virgin, it isn't recommended that you watch/listen to these since Ron makes a good amount of allusions to what may (or may not) happen in future episodes, amongst other generally mild spoilers. I can't help watching them myself, but sometimes I wish I hadn't because I start to know what to expect.

^ That all being said, here's yet another interview with Ron Moore by Maureen "The Watcher" Ryan from the Chicago Tribune, discussing his directorial debut in "A Disquiet Follows My Soul". Very mild spoilers alluding to the remainder of the season.

... and today Mo Ryan has an interview up with writer Mark Verheiden discussing "The Oath" (includes her own thoughts on the episode).

Looking for an interesting recap and analysis of the epsiodes? Check out Ben Scarlato's thoughts from the perspective of ethical technology from The Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Deep thoughts.

Kandyse McClure talks to MediaBlvd Magazine On Dee's Departure From 'Battlestar Galactica', and she's currently filming her new series Persons Unknown in Mexico City. *winks to location*

Michael Trucco recently visited his hometown and students who actually have Battlestar Galactica on the curriculum. Lucky kids. San Mateo Daily Journal

Get the Stealth Cylon Centurion figures while they're hot at NY Comin Con! A limited quantity will also be available online, as reported by Action Figure Insider Mag, who also mentions the "2009: Year of the Minimate" panel at NYCC! You mean BSG Minimates might be easier to find this year??

LOL at io9's commentary on "How the BSG Writer's Room Works". I knew I couldn't have been the only one thinking that when I listened to Ron's commentary of 'Disquiet'. Spoiler - retconning might ruin your imaginations natural ability to take a leap of faith for the show!

Buddy TV has an interesting look/speculation at where the rest of the show can move onto in the remaining (8) episodes. I know some of you must also be wondering "Where do we go from here?" as well - ?

Colonial Dispatch 1.26.09

2009-01-26T18:20:00.003-05:00

BrickCon 2008 is getting a little recent boost in recognition for the Battlestar Viper hangar complete with 35 models and variations of Vipers composed of LEGO bricks. See the pics at Gizmodo and DVICE.

Could the new Obama administration be too happy-shiny-hopeful for Battlestar? io9's Annalee Newitz asks "Is Battlestar Galactica Relevant in the Obama Era?".

Kandyse McClure talks to SciFi Wire about her role in Children of the Corn.

Also at DVICE - A steampunk Cylon contest! The winner will be announced by the March 20 season finale, which leaves you plenty of time to submit your Cylon! Details

A little about Angel of Death's Zoe Bell who will costar with Lucy Lawless in the upcoming web series.

How Caprica differs from Battlestar, and how it's the same from SciFi Wire.

And the last SciFi Wire bit for today is - Ron Moore talking about his directorial comeback in "A Disquiet Follows My Soul".

Yet another interview with Ron and Kate, this one from Media Blvd Magazine.

The latest from Mo "The Watcher" Ryan: 'Battlestar Galactica' veterans move on to 'Caprica'

A couple of not so recent videos from Access Hollywood's Dish of Salt blog: Tahmoh Penikett talking about the end of BSG, and Tricia Helfer on the end of the show.

Battlestar gets nominated for a Golden Reel for music editing in the TV category. Yeah, I'm pretty pissed about the SAGs too.

io9 deciphers parts of the "Cylon Bible".

Here's what you thought of "Sometimes a Great Notion" - No haters or non-believers here!:

Loved it - Sheer perfection	10 (45%)
Very good, but we'll see how it looks after the show finishes	8 (36%)
Hated it	0 (0%)
Too depressed to comment	2 (9%)
Feeling rather 50/50 about it	3 (13%)
Haven't seen it yet	0 (0%)

22 Votes

New poll coming shortly!

Colonial Dispatch 1.22.09

2009-01-22T21:20:00.003-05:00

The next episode airs tomorrow night, and SciFi Wire has a super spoilery article (which I haven't read yet, since they said it had major spoilers), which we'll just hold off linking to until after Friday night, since it apperently concerns that episode. If you want to be super-spoiled, you can navigate there yourself (and if you do, perhaps you can describe what the spoilers pertain to exactly, without actually giving us the spoilers).

Kate Vernon and Ron Moore's conference call with Deadbolt.com: Ronald Moore and Kate Vernon Look Back on Galactica's Final Cylon

TVaddict.com also got in on a conference call: On the Phone with Ronald D. Moore and the Fifth and Final Cylon

Did we totally miss this interview with Jamie Bamber at the Star-Telegraph last week? Better late than never: A conversation with Jamie Bamber of 'Battlestar Galactica'

Gamespy speculates about a possible video game/virtual world tie-in to Caprica in 2010. Scroll down to the third to last paragraph.

"Sometimes a Great Notion" did pretty frakking good ratings-wise.

Prezzy Laura Roslin is celebrated as one of TV's smart women at the msnbc.com blog Test Pattern.

Looks like fans can get 10% off BSG stuff (excluding the Cylon and QMx items) at the SciFi.com shop by using the coupon code "BSGFAN". Offer lasts until April 15, 2009. Ooooh. They have Mini-mates! via Monsters and Critics

This may seem like old news, but some retailers are giving an extra push to get those cob-webby old external HD-DVD drives for the Xbox 360 out the door and off their shelves. The BSG relevance? For 50 bucks you get the player bundled with season 1 of BSG, season 1 of Heroes, and King Kong all on HD-DVD. You still may not be impressed unless you are an Xbox 360 owner who knows what happens when you let the disc drive built in to your console spin more than absolutely necessary. The HD-DVD add-on also upconverts standard DVD, so you're not left watching season 1 of Heroes and BSG, King Kong, and perhaps Transformers over and over again. CNET

Know anybody who needs to catch up on BSG? I may be in the minority here, but I would never be so cruel as to refer anyone to watch/listen to those annoying speed-recaps (the narratoress makes my skin crawl). There are alternatives! One is the "10 Things You Need to Know" video series with Ron and David, but IGN also has a Timeline series they've been cobbling together. Here's Part 1, Part 2, and most recently Part 3. Sorry speed-recap narrator lady. You can't win them all.

Eddie Olmos drove home a powerful point to focus on the youth during Wednesday's luncheon fundraiser at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Monterey County. I'll be on the lookout for a transcript, and if anybody catches one (or video) give us a heads up. Monterey County Herald

More Eddie stuff! I usually like to get spoilery stuff out of the way first, but I wanted to embed this SciFi Wire video (because I can) which seemed to make more sense at the end of this post. The extent of the spoilers are that EJO expresses his feeling for the tone of the remainder of season 4.5. You may have already heard his feelings on this before, and other than that there are no specifics: