Poll: Caprica

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!)

The Plan coming in November, Caprica in January tentatively

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:

Caprica Video Blog #2

Caprica Video Blogs!

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.

Colonial Dispatch 3.24.09

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...

Caprica DVD - Lookie!

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.

Caprica premiere hits DVD this April (?!)

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"

Sneek peeks!

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

_______________

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

Caprica ready to go

According to a brief mention in this Buddy TV article about McCain and Palin's Cylon identities, production has "wrapped on the pilot for the BSG spin-off Caprica" which is the first I've heard of that. Now that it's ready to go, you can bet that they'll box it (pun intended) until the time is ripe after BSG has seen itself through to the end next spring, but you never know. Here's to hoping.


I just watched the Caprica trailer on SciFi again, and I could swear it's a little different than before, but I haven't seen it in awhile.


Photo from 13th Colony

Goodbye Battlestar, Hello Caprica

Sorry about the lack of updates here lately, but hopefully any proper BSG fan knows enough to check Sitrep for everything you wanna know and then some. Especially cool is the new Caprica sneak peak scoped at the LA Times website (also featured at the SciFi Battlestar site and the widget on this page), and freelancer's awesome new montage. Both videos are posted below. Otherwise, Sitrep has been majorly covering the TCAs which is chock full o' Caprica news, and sadly a little chat with Jamie Bamber who talks about wrapping BSG. *cries*

Caprica teaser (LA Times)



freelancerxo02's totally awesome BSG "Montage"

News from the front lines

By "front lines" I mean the midseason finale prescreening held in Los Angeles this past Wednesday. Not much we didn't already know, save for a few words from Katee Sackhoff and Mary McDonnell about their characters as E! Online reports. Of note is mention of the Caprica series, of which I have to wonder if they are considering it's pilot "movie" as one of the three rumored TV movies (see post above) to come aside the final 10 episodes of the series.

"Twelve Colonies, to Be Continued: The proposed Battlestar Galactica spinoff Caprica (starring Esai Morales, Paula Malcolmson and Eric Stotlz) is officially still just a two-hour movie, but based strictly on the enthusiasm of Howe and NBC Universal chief of cable programming Bonnie Hammer, I'd say that Caprica is getting picked up. Howe wasn't making any promises yet, but he said, "Based on the casting and the writing and talent involved, I think it's going to be spectacular." Hammer agrees that it's good stuff: "The dailies look amazing." "

Caprica casting begins!

This from scifi.com:
"
Caprica, Warehouse 13 Are Cast

Paula Malcomson (Deadwood) has been cast as the female lead in Caprica, SCI FI Channel's prequel to Battlestar Galactica,

...

Malcomson will play Amanda, a surgeon who works as a double agent, in Caprica, which is set 50 years before the events in Battlestar. Caprica follows the evolution of the Cylon race and the fight between two families.
...
"

Finally! The Frak blog Caprica series roundup

Better late than never I s'pose ;)

Here's what we know so far about the upcoming Caprica series from various sources:

The Wired blog summarizes it pretty well, thanks to TVAddict as a source

Caprica is set 51 years before the planet goes nuclear.

The show will portray the inhabitants of Caprica as a seedy bunch, "reading like an episode of HBO’s The Wire."

The pilot is filled with political intrigue, racial prejudice, religious zealots, "and a seriously cool take on Second Life courtesy of (the fictional company) Graystone Industries million dollar idea, the HoloBand."

Father and billionaire scientist Daniel Graystone is busy worrying that, "his company is on the verge of losing the government contract for the Robot Super-soldier and Meta-Cognitive Processor after wasting five years and half a billion cubits."

His wife, Amanda, is cheating on him with his chief rival Tomas Vergis (a Tauron).

His daughter Zoey joins an organization called, 'Soldiers of One' -- "a monotheistic religious group that advocates the worship of a single, all-knowing, all powerful God whose mission is to, 'drive out the many Gods.'"

Act one ends with a violent act of terrorism that kills Ben and Zoey as well as innocent bystanders Shannon and Tamara, wife and daughter of Joseph Adams. Cue world beats opening credits.

Graystone and Adams befriend each other in grief and decide to use the technology at Graystone Industries to download both daughters' consciences into the cybernetic life-form nodes (or Cylons) that are currently in R&D at the company.

By the end of the pilot, Adams and Graystone are enemies, torn apart by ethical differences.

TVAddict source article

Another TVAddict article on Caprica casting. It could be you!

A TV Squad commentary on the casting news

Earlier reportings on Caprica from Cinemablend

'Exclusive' Caprica Pilot Preview from E! Online

If you haven't heard by now... Caprica is greenlighted

More apologies for the semi-hiatus, and this may be old news but this wouldn't be a BSG blog without some mention of the new Caprica series being given a go by the SciFi/NBCU network. This time it's really, really, officially official. More articles and interviews to come, but for now - Caprica's imdb page is updated, as well as on Wikipedia proper, and Battlestar Wiki never disappoints either. Check any of these liks for the know plot synopsis so far.

Finally... some Battlestar NEWS!

It seems almost everything reported about Battlestar Galactica - the upcoming season 4 possible split, the season 3 DVD set, the fabled Caprica series - has all been heresay with little or no follow-up confirmations. What gives? Well, there is a little trickle of info about all of the above issues reported on TV Guide.com today. One would think it's a pretty reliable source, but then again, they could easily have a lot of facts wrong (and who can blame them, since it's all so frakking confusing). I'll just copy and paste the whole thing, or you can follow this link for the story from the source...

Will Galactica Split Season 4? Plus Spin-off, DVD News

Michael Trucco and Jamie Bamber in Battlestar Galactica by Eike Schroter/Sci Fi Channel Photo

"Sci Fi Channel execs continue to be at odds over whether to cleave the final season of Battlestar Galactica into two 10-episode chunks. As one source tells TV Week, "the money people" are itching to amortize the pricey series across two half-seasons. Showrunner Ronald D. Moore, however, tells the trade it might be better to run all 20 at once, "so [the fans] don't have to wait" — especially since viewers reportedly will "freak out" when they see the ending of Episode 10. A decision on the game plan may not come until January.

Elsewhere, Sci Fi is said to be pondering a two-hour standalone Caprica spin-off movie that, if successful, would serve as a pilot for a new character-driven, less-action-heavy series.

Also, TVGuide.com has learned that the Season 3 DVD set isn't due out until spring 2008. "

Good: RDM seems to be putting his two cents in about keeping season 4 together for the shttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifake of the viewers. Also, especially awesome is the hopeful news about the Caprica series, which I would personally love to see.

Bad: I hope they aren't confusing the Caprica series with the Razor movie, as some other media sources have done, but I don't believe they are. The really bad news is the push for the season 3 DVD set. Spring 2008? Gah!

The way they worded this also implies that a possible season split really is for the money, although this report could easily be hyping up non-information anyway. It does make sense if they are considering a Caprica series though, since if Sciffy let BSG season 4 play itself out without a long hiatus, their main attraction would be gone sooner. Therefore, the promise of more Battlestar in some shape or form would make up for the loss.

Edit - Another article on the same subject, but a little more in depth and closer to source.