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...

Mary and Eddie

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):

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." "