Colonial Dispatch 4.23.09

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?

Aaron on 'Emissary'

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

Aaron chats with Slice of SciFi and The Chief's Deck

Check out the podcast interview with Aaron Douglas at Slice of SciFi "about the history of his character and his approach to playing Chief Tyrol." The interview officially starts around 29:20, but really starts at 30:15, if you want to skip the rest of the news and podcast, but they do have a pretty cool Dollhouse discussion right before Aaron's interview. Also, here's the Rekha Sharma interview from July that they mentioned, and if you click their "Battlestar Galactica" tag, there is a good amount of other juicy BSG stuffs. And wow - I could totally deal with going to CactusCon in Phoenix (Starting January 23) after suffering the northeastern winter so far.

(Edit) Here is a Q&A with Aaron over at the Live Journal fan site The Chief's Deck in their "Ask the Chief" section.

Aaron!

It's official - CTV has given the green light for 11 episodes of "The Bridge" which stars our very own Aaron Douglas as Frank Leo, an "outspoken union head" (Woah! This remind anyone of the good old days of The Resistance?).

"Based on the insights of veteran insider and outspoken former Toronto police union head Craig Bromell, CTV has ordered 11, one-hour episodes, following the production of a two-hour pilot shot in Toronto last summer. The Bridge provides an unflinching look at the struggle street cops face as they not only battle criminals - but also their own bosses - in order to protect society and, ultimately, themselves." CTV, CNW

Production begins in 2009, so it'll be awhile... especially for US fans, but in the meantime we'll at least get an Aaron fix when The Day the Earth Stood Still comes to theaters on December 12, where he will be playing Sgt. Winter. I have no idea if that character exists in the original movie, but I think I'm going to try and give that a watch soon, before the new one comes out. Good stuff!

Also of intrigue - Blood: A Butcher's Tale, starring Aaron as Sam the vampire butcher is now complete, but no word on any release. It will probably have to hit festival circuits and get picked up (hopefully soon), unless it goes straight or quickly to DVD.



As a final note, here's a little clip of Aaron with Richard Hatch at the From the Land Beyond convention in Sacremento this September. Aaron talks about all the props that "went missing" from BSG and the demolition of the sets.

BSG Con cancelled :(

The Battlestar Con scheduled for late November in Burbank, Ca has apparently been canceled. WTFrak? Not that I was going to go, but that's just kind of sad. I haven't heard any explaination as to why, but I'm guessing most of the cast will be so tied up with other projects, that maybe not a lot of them could commit? Maybe Gate Con will share again? Maybe there will be a future BSG reunion convention?

The Good News:

- Aaron Douglas is a last minute add-on to the Fan Expo in Toronto this weekend. Way to support the fans Aaron!

- Eddie Olmos will have his own panel at Dragon Con on Monday at 10am (September 1). Thanks to Battlestar Blog, and Cassie Gordon from DC PR for posting a Google spreadsheet to tide everyone over until a PDF of the DC schedule can get put up.

Definitely, Yes

It's now officially official, if that wasn't clear from the news posts yesterday - SciFi has announced the "prequel" movie. But, I'm a little confused at the way they put it in this SciFi Wire report:

"

12:00 AM, 07-AUGUST-08
	New Battlestar Prequel Coming SCI FI Channel announced that it will air a new Battlestar Galactica two-hour prequel movie, set to air in 2009 following the conclusion of the series. Directed by star Edward James Olmos, the as-yet-untitled new film will be set before the events of the original Battlestar miniseries and will focus on Cylons: Number One, known as Cavil (Dean Stockwell), resistance leader Sam T. Anders (Michael Trucco) and Chief Galen Tyrol (Aaron Douglas). In the beginning, the Cylons had a plan, but it didn't account for one thing: survivors. During the chaotic aftermath of the nuclear destruction, two powerful Cylon agents struggle with plots and priorities on the human ships that got away and among the resistance fighters who were left behind. The film will be written by Jane Espenson and will begin shooting in Vancouver, Canada, at the end of the summer. After airing on SCI FI, it will be released on DVD by Universal Studios Home Entertainment. The final 10 episodes of the fourth and last season of Battlestar Galactica will begin airing on SCI FI Channel in 2009.

"

- So if it takes place before the events of the miniseries, then how will it have to do with the Cylons dealing with survivors of the attack (since the attack took place during the miniseries... at the end even!)?

Also don't get how the series Caprica has been picked up in the UK already, but it hasn't become official yet in the US where the parent company (NBCU) is based anyway - ? Granted, they are probably just securing rights, if at least just for the pilot for now.

I guess we'll have to wait and see.

YES!

Judging by the wording "Shooting will begin promptly in Vancouver, Canada" used in this report from The LA Times today, I am going to take it as a confirmed "yes" that a second (to Razor) Battlestar Galactica movie event is a go. Eddie Olmos will direct, Jane Espenson will write, Aaron Douglas and Michael Trucco, as well as Dean Stockwell are confirmed, and it will be a flashback to shortly after the Cylon apocalypse (I'm thinking the general era of season 1 after the miniseries).

Expect to see the still untitled event (shortly?) after the conclusion of the series in 2009.

Frakkin' yeah.

Season 4 sit-rep

Some news is starting to trickle in from the Battlestar Galactica panel at Dragon-Con, and some really ominous rumours to boot. Word has it that Jamie Bamber and Aaron Douglas had a little roast at the expense of Sci Fi Channel politics, and supposedly "joked" that season 4 was to be split into two stints of ten episodes each, the first half being aired in February 2008, and the second the following February. I've checked around some of the forums and it seems that this truly is a false alarm by attendees of the panel who accepted Bamber and Douglas's gesture as a joke. Many others are skeptical. It's not like we haven't heard "slips" from the actors before that were later confirmed as truth. Nor is it so far fetched to believe the Sci Fi channel would do this, since the second season of BSG was similarly split along with other scheduling catastrophes for other programs.

First report from Ain't it Cool

Rumor catches on at Buddy TV

The fan-world goes nuts, and is undecided as to the validity

Frown not fans. Here's a wonderful thing that came from Dragoncon: An interview with Jamie Bamber. Some great words in there!

Other recent S4 stuffs:

In the span of a week, we thought Kevin Smith was going to guest-direct an episode of BSG in season 4, but it looks like that's a no-go. I stated my feelings on this previously, and I really have respect for Kevin Smith in his own right. He actually, and very humbly, describes in his own blog what happened, and the reasons why he was hesitant himself are exactly the reasons I was hesitant to be enthusiastic about the prospect of a Smith directed BSG episode.


In the meantime, I'm sitting on my hands until an official statement is made concerning the season 4 split.

Here's some news for fans of Ye Olde Tyme BSG... BSG 1980 on DVD rumors!