The Plan: DVD cover and details

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?

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!

Thanx Sci Fi Wire!

Eddie on G4 Attack of the Show

Video Game - E3 2009 - Attack of the Show

Don't give up hope for Virtuality

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

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

BSG reports from SDCC

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

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

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

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

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

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

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: