Bear McCreary on composing for Dark Void

Jet packs are cool.

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...

More BSG cast in "The Plan", and other shiny stuffs

The Battlestar sequel movie begins filming this Monday, and according to The Watcher, more of the cast from BSG proper will make an appearance, including (but hopefully not limited to) our Cylon friends Tricia Helfer, Rick Worthy, Matthew Bennett, and Callum Keith Rennie. Michael Hogan and Rekha Sharma will also be making minor appearances unfortunately. But you never know until you see the final cut!

Ooh ooh! Maureen also notes that BSG writer Mark Verheiden will be writing for the second story arc in season 3 of Heroes! Additionally, no new word on whether or not Caprica will get picked up as a full series yet.

io9 posted some more info in their Morning Spoilers on Tuesday on some minor characters from the series who will get big parts in the prequel movie, as well as the general fate of the humans. Read more on this info gathered from Dragon Con at DoorQ.com (mild spoilers - not purist friendly! I know of some of you out there who won't be reading this!).

Also check out this entry at io9 for some very minor spoilers about what Olmos said about "the feel" of his character as the series draws to an end, as well as what SciFi EVP Mark Stern said about the final Cylon (from Huffington Post).

Other updates:


If you're an old school BSG fan and enjoy cruises, Galcticruise pushes off next week! I'm wondering what the future may bring us for RDM BSG fans. Space Shuttle tours perhaps?

Old school fans mourn the loss of Jeff MacKay who played Corporal Komma on the original BSG. MacKay died on August 22nd in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

NBCU reports that SCIFI has seen it's best summer ratings ever, and the scifi.com website hasn't been too shabby either with the Battlestar site hitting number 1:

"SCI FI ’s Website www.scifi.com had record traffic for the summer with double-digit increases among all key metrics year-to-year. SCI FI Rewind averaged 2.6 Million streams (+565% vs. last summer) and Battlestar Galactica was the #1 ranked section on the site with an average of 4 million page views (+141% vs. last summer). Battlestar Galactica also ranked first in video with an average of 1.2 Million streams (+343% year-to-year). "

Speaking of NBCU, Prez Bonie Hammer's hottest moment was giving Battlestar Galactica the greenlight at SciFi. (Conde Nast Portfolio)

AskMen.com is holding their own 2008 elections for the top 49 in several categories. You can vote for Ron Moore in the Cultural Icons section by clicking here.

Tricia Helfer adds to her resume of video game voice acting with the upcoming Xbox 360 exclusive Spider-man: Web of Shadows, in which she voices Black Cat (she also voiced the same character in one episode of Stan Lee's TV toon The Spectacular Spider-man). Tricia also voiced in Command & Conquer 3 (Kane's Wrath and Tiberium Wars).

If you don't mind being spammed by the Think Geek newsletter (doesn't sound too awful), when you sign up for the newsletter you can enter to win a sweeet limited edition Cylon Raider model (the base is signed by Katee!). Click here, and while you're at it check out some of their other frakking awesome BSG merchandise like this "What the Frak" tee (hoodie also available), or the ever popular "How to Spot a Cylon" poster. The drawing ends September 30th,

Check out BSGCast's Part 2 of their video coverage (with always excellent commentary) of Eddy and Aaron at Toronto's Fan Expo '08. They have promises of part 3 (the final part) for next week!

There are all sorts of videos up of the Battlestar panel at Dragon Con 08. I haven't watched any yet, or read reviews from the event, so I can't testify for the spoiler content, but one would assume that they are keeping a very tight seal on what they do and do not say about the series finale. I've at least read around enough to be pretty sure there aren't any major spoilers leaked from the con, but there are certainly mild spoilers as to the general feel and content of the series end. I was about to dig in to nnaylime's youtube page for expansive video coverage of all things BSG (and related) from D*C.

Edit - Also found some D*C 08 BSG footage from this post by Livejournalist wisteria.

The after party hosted by The Colonial Fleet seems to have been a smash hit, with an appearance and speech by EJO. James Callis, Michael Hogan, Tahmoh Penikett, ad Aaron Douglas also showed up! Here's some video from said frak-down. Look for Part 2 in related video, and be prepared to have a strange desire to chug ambrose!

Whew! Enough for one post already!