Battlestar Galactica

When he is not playing The Chief on Battlestar Galactica, actor Aaron Douglas enjoys participating in the occasional celebrity poker tournament. Aaron’s most recent poker adventure took place in Park City, Utah, on January 16 as part of the famous Sundance Film Festival.

The Green Suite Celebrity Poker Challenge benefited Ante Up for Africa (which promotes relief and awareness efforts), Lives to Save (which focuses on relief for Hurricane Katrina victims who are still struggling to rebuild their lives), and The Vine Group (which provides educational support to African countries).

Other celebrities in attendance included actor Mekhi Phifer (ER), shown above, actor Yancy Arias (Knight Rider), actor Don Cheadle (Ocean’s 11), numerous pro poker players and other celebrity personalities.

Tonight is a new episode of Battlestar Galactica … if you watch the preview above and can’t wait for it to come on the air, then there will be plenty of chances to watch the episode today on the SciFi Channel web site.  I don’t know about you, but I definitely plan on checking Nicki Clyne’s blog this weekend because it looks like she has a major role in this episode.

Hulu has a new clip of various Battlestar cast and crew members talking about the end of the series, which is available below, but I would not watch it if you are actively avoiding spoilers.

There are still a few more hours to leave your questions for Michael Trucco (Anders) and Rekha Sharma (Tory) over on the scifi.com forums.  The chosen questions will be answered via video blog, in a continuation of the series of video blogs that the SciFi Channel has been releasing for Season Four of Battlestar Galactica.

If you did not get to attend the amazing concerts this weekend featuring Bear McCreary’s Battlestar music, there are plenty of recaps to be found around the Internet.  The Hollywood Reporter had high praise for the show, and anointed Bear McCreary’s blog “one of the best in the business.”

The Boston Herald has a new interview with Tricia Helfer, where she talks a bit about the final Cylon and how Head Six was her least favorite version of Six to play in Season Four.

Check out this enjoyable list from Lisa Paitz Spindler of thirteen enjoyable things about Battlestar Galactica.  Meanwhile Gaius Baltar makes this list of Top Ten Screen Traitors, and rightly so. 

And speaking of lists, Mary McDonnell and Michelle Forbes are rightfully included on Maureen Ryan’s list of amazing actresses who look their age and still look beautiful.  There have been several articles written this week about how the Hollywood obsession with plastic surgery is harming the audience’s ability to connect with certain characters and shows.  While it is not easy to make fun of someone’s efforts to improve their appearance, I am glad critics are finally speaking up about the fact that too much plastic surgery can actually harm the audience’s ability to care about a main character … it is hard to worry too much about plastic, after all.

Tricia Helfer is going to be on The Tonight Show this Friday, April 11, 2008. She will also be on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson next week, on April 15.  Fans of Six, set your TiVos!

TV Guide talks about season four of BSG in its latest issue, labeling the final journey of the fleet as a Cylon-apalooza.  The accompanying story contains some minor spoilers about what is in store for the first ten episodes of this season, and much speculation about the final model.

When the Wired story on season four resurrected Aaron Douglas’ old vow to never utter “frak” on camera, the good fans at the Chief’s Deck went back and busted the boy for the potty mouth he really is … and then redeemed him shortly after, pointing out the related quote was from Season One and the Chief did not start throwing frak around until Season Two.  Good detective work, folks, especially considering The Chief bellows BSG’s signature curse word twice before the opening credits in the season four premiere.

Scott Ian from Anthrax has posted his thoughts on “He That Believeth In Me” over on his new, official BSG blog on SciFi.com.  It’s a very enjoyable post, although I got stuck on the phrase “If I’m wrong, hire Apollo to sue me.”  I know the Colonial culture is eroding with each passing soul, but surely they still require someone to have a bit of formal legal training before they take on clients?  Or perhaps since there is still no money it does not matter either?

Adama and Roslin shippers are very happy about this episode, especially due to the background photograph that is clearly visible in this screencap up on Battlestar Blog.  Warning, do not click through if you have not seen the episode yet!

Leo Chiang, the tattooed pilot from Galactica’s reserves, may not have been there for the big battle in “He That Believeth In Me” … but he did get to eat some great food after wrapping The Day The Earth Stood Still.  Check out Leo’s pics from the party, which were kindly posted on his blog.

Just in case you have not seen it yet, here is a clip of the Top Ten List from last week’s Late Show With David Letterman entitled “Top Ten Reasons to Watch The New Season of Battlestar Galactica.”

Each number on the list was recited by a member of the BSG cast, appearing in their character’s costume, which added to the fun.  The actors and actresses on the list were, in order of appearance, Aaron Douglas, Lucy Lawless, James Callis, Grace Park, Tricia Helfer, Michael Hogan, Jamie Bamber, Katee Sackhoff, Mary McDonnell, and Edward James Olmos.

If you don’t have the time or the technology to watch the clip, a text version of the List is below … it was a lot of fun, even if the audience did not seem to truly “get it.”

Number Ten, Chief Tyrol:  “In the dramatic season opening episode, we save fifteen percent by switching our insurance to Geico.”

Number Nine, D’Anna Biers:  “You’ll find out who’s in the hatch, and who gets off the island - crap, wrong show.”  In my opinion Lucy did a pretty good job with this one, which was awkward to read … and she did not even blink when Dave mispronounced her name “Diana.”

Number Eight, Dr. Baltar:  “My character creates his own line of Honey Roasted Space Nuts.”

Number Seven, Lt. Sharon Valleri:  “What else are you going to do, read a book?”

Number Six, Number Six:  “There’s a good chance you get to see me naked.”

Number Five, Col. Saul Tigh:  “There’s a good chance you’ll see me naked.”  Be sure to watch Tricia crack up behind him during the deadpan delivery.

Number Four, Captain Lee Adama:  “New FTL drives will allow the colonial fleet to better adjust to gravitational variations and achieve maximum superluminal travel to outrun the pursuing Cylon basestar - I don’t know what the hell I am talking about.”

Number Three, Starbuck:  “We engaged in a life and death battle against evil robots … you know, same $&#@ as last year.”

Number Two, President Laura Roslin:  “I take on the most challenging task of my political career - doing a lame top ten list on a third rate talk show.”

Number One, Admiral William Adama:  “Watch me lead us into war against the Cylons, without an exit strategy.”

Check out these adorable pictures of the cast of Battlestar Galactica as they enter the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York to tape the Top Ten List for tomorrow night’s Late Show with David Letterman tribute. The list will be BSG-themed, with each cast member reading one of the lists’ famous one-line jokes.

The photo above shows BSG stars Michael Hogan (Col. Saul Tigh), Jamie Bamber (Lee “Apollo” Adama), Mary McDonnell (President Laura Roslin), James Callis (Dr. Gaius Baltar), and Aaron Douglas (The Chief) outside the famed theater. We also see a grinning Grace Park (Sharon “Athena” Agathorn) entering the theater in her BSG uniform, while Jamie Bamber is wearing a suit - a contrast that is consistent with the fourth season promotional photos (as well as some of the early spoilers).

Some of the pictures showed Aaron Douglas and Michael Hogan in uniform as well, while Edward James Olmos (Admiral Bill Adama) wore a Battlestar Galactica pullover and many of the other stars wore street clothes. Whether those photos were taken before or after the show was filmed, however, is not always clear.

Below is a collection of photos from outside the theater, including a great photo of Edward James Olmos & Michael Hogan, and a shot of Katee Sackhoff (Kara “Starbuck” Thrace) carrying a ginormous zebra striped bag over her shoulder while signing autographs for fans. Tricia Helfer arrived in full Six regalia, including her famous white wig and killer red dress.

There is also a cuddly photo of Aaron Douglas with Nicki Cline, who plays his wife Cally. Nicki was not among the cast members listed by the SciFi Channel as appearing on the Late Show, so it is not clear if she was there to cheer on the cast or if she is making a surprise appearance.

In an interesting coincidence, Rainn Wilson from The Office was also on the scene at the same time as the BSG cast. Could the list contain a “Bears, Beets, Battlestar Galactica” reference?

Battlestar Galactica will be featured in TV Guide at the end of this month, potentially on the cover?  The news comes from Michael Trucco’s newly redesigned web site, which also has the scoop on the actor’s new comedy series Man of Your Dreams and his guest appearance on Eli Stone.

In other Michael Trucco news, the fan who won the phone call from the man who plays Samuel Anders in the Pencils to Media Moguls campaign during the writers’ strike is kind enough to post about it here.  Rene had nothing but praise for Michael, and indicates that he is recovering well from the broken neck he suffered a few months ago.  He was definitely up and about in early February, when he and Battlestar Galactica cast member Kate Vernon (Ellen Tigh) walked the picket lines with Ron Moore and the other writers on the show.

Aaron Douglas will shed his Chief Tyrol persona to play another soldier in the upcoming remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still which stars Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly.  John Cleese, Kathy Bates and future Hollywood royalty Jaden Smith are all rumored to be attached to the project as well, as is fellow BSG cast member Alisen Down.

Tahmoh Penikett, who plays Helo, has a new interview out this month that features photos from Season Four and the actor’s musings on his character’s feelings about the various developments of the series.  Thanks to the always-reliable Justine for posting scans of the interview, and linking to some previously undiscovered behind-the-scenes photos from Season One which were recently posted on Battlestar Blog.

According to this LiveJournal post, Nicki Clyne and Allisen Mack have some new friends.  Meanwhile, at least one more person wants to make friends with Grace Park, as her turncoat Cylon character makes Entertainment Weekly’s list of Television Characters You Would Like to Date.

Tricia Helfer recently had another movie come out, the psychological thriller Spiral.  Zachary Levi from Chuck plays the tormented lead, and talked in an interview with IFMagazine about how much he enjoyed working with Tricia.  He also mentioned that she would be great as a character on his show (perhaps as Sarah’s spy sister), a sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with:

“Tricia was a doll. She was ridiculously talented and ridiculously hot,” Zachary said.  “She was so nice. She was only there one day and it was a great day. We sat around and talked about life and Battlestar Galactica and her husband and how great life was and it was a really fun time to be making the movie. That day with Tricia was a lot of fun. I hope that our paths cross again in the future and we get to work together again, because she really is a class act.”

This photographer has a cute pic up of Aaron Douglas from last weekend’s SF Ball in Great Britain.

I watched a lot of television while I was sick, including the episode from the first season of Supernatural that featured Callum Keith Rennie (Leoban) as an obnoxiously cocky hunter who gets eaten by a Wendigo.  If you are a Leoban fan add it to your Netflix queue if you have not seen it already.

Check out this interesting animation of Giaus Baltar created by Braden Poirer of Ontario.  I like the way he captures James Callis’ questioning attitude and the way his back alternately slumps and arches when he talks.

Calling all Racetrack fans!  The official Leah Cairns web site launched this week over at leahcairns.com, and features great photos like the one above as well as interviews, family photos, and upcoming convention appearances.

Obama is a Cylon?  Maybe, maybe not but Battlestar Galactica fans who are also political junkies will probably get a kick out of this photo of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s heads photoshopped on Apollo and Starbuck’s bodies.

GalacticaSitRep is running a contest to give away two of the Chief Tyrol dolls that were recently issued by Diamond Select Toys.  If you are a fan of the Chief, his alter ego Aaron Douglas, or just like cool toys be sure to check it out.

Speaking of Aaron, Battlestar Blog found this interesting clip of Aaron, Callum Keith Rennie, and Gerard Butler from 300 in the movie Shattered.

In other Battlestar Galactica toy news, apparently fans will have the option to buy a life sized Cylon sometime in the near future.  Perfect for that odd space in the corner where your interior decorator says you need "something tall."

If you like fan fiction, you should check out Admiral Adama’s live journal page which takes the concept to the next level.  This may be the wave of the future for dedicated fan writers, who are not satisfied with the idea of writing a story and want to explore a character even further over time.

Be sure to check out this nice note on Nicki Clyne’s blog, pondering how fans can provide positive connections in this mixed up crazy world.

Note from Margie: 451 Press is still having trouble with its comments, so please be aware that if you leave a comment it will likely be marked as spam.  If you would like to make sure your comment reaches the blog, please e-mail me through the Contact form or by contacting watchingbsg@gmail.com and I will be happy to post it for you. 

In honor of the birth of Aaron’s Angels, the new Aaron Douglas fan group, I am finally getting around to posting this clip of Aaron’s guest appearance on the new CW comedy Reaper.  Aaron’s deadpan comedy is a perfect match for the show, which follows a young man whose parents sold his soul to the devil and now he is a bounty hunter from hell.  Sounds ridiculous, but trust me it works … the show is very funny, and has been getting good ratings (for the CW) and rave reviews.

This scene shows the arrival of Aaron’s character, who is bringing Sam his large contract from the files of hell.  Aaron looks good in a UPS-style uniform, and although Sam has most of the lines the demon definitely steals the scene. 

If you enjoyed the clip be sure to subscribe to the new WatchingBSG account on YouTube, as I am hoping to add more clips in the future. Special thanks to Ryan at WatchingBionicWoman.com, who is helping me with this new feature for the blog.

The fans who love Aaron Douglas and his amazing performance as Chief Tyrol now have an official name:  Aaron’s Angels.  The news was joyfully announced today on The Chief’s Deck, where it was also reported that Aaron loved the name so much he did not even want to allow other options to go to a vote:

"On Sunday night when I sent Aaron the list of suggested names (click HERE for that list) and asked him to pick his top three so we could vote, he went nuts for Aaron’s Angels. He absolutely loved it and wants it to be the fan name. I tried talking him into picking a couple of more names from the list so that we could have a vote but he insisted on Aaron’s Angels. If he didn’t feel so strongly about just one name I could see us going ahead with a vote, but I’m sure you’ll all agree that’s no longer necessary. But just for fun I asked him what would have been the other names he would have chosen for the vote. Here are his choices …. Aaron’s Aristocrats, Douglas Defencemen, Douglas Deviants, Douglas Dolls and The Dougies."

If you are interested in joining Aaron’s Angels, there is a web site up which is accepting photos of fans with Aaron, and they are hoping t-shirts will be on sale soon.

In other Aaron news, The Chief’s Deck is also reporting that he will be a guest star on this season of Smallville.  Aaron will appear in the fourteenth episode, tentatively titled "Traveler," and his part is rumored to be that of an alien-phobic person named Pierce who kidnaps Clark and holds him in a special (kryptonite?) prison.  We all know that Aaron is very good at playing very bad, so this should be an interesting episode … I guess I will have to overcome my hatred of Lana Lang and tune in.

EDIT: The above post was edited at the request of one of the leaders of the Aaron’s Angels, Michelle. My initial post contained an offhand comment implying there was a friendly rivalry between the Angels, the Bunnies, and the Kitties and the idea that there was a rivalry - even a friendly one - was deeply offensive to many fans. I sincerely apologize to anyone who may have been offended by my phrasing and wish you all the best with your future fan efforts.

First of all, a HUGE congratulations to our friends at Galactica SitRep who are featured in this week’s Entertainment Weekly as the best Battlestar Galactica fan site.  This is a well deserved honor for a great blog, and if you have not visited Galactica SitRep before then you are missing out!

New photos of Jamie Bamber, who plays Lee "Apollo" Adama on Battlestar Galactica, have appeared on the Internet this week courtesy of YouTube videos posted by Factory.  The portrait version is linked above, and be sure to check out the stills of a handgun toting Jamie in a "Wild Bunch" style photo shoot as well.

Calling all Aaron Douglas fans to The Chief’s Deck, where there is a vote going on to finally pick a name for Aaron’s legion of female fans.  "Jamie Bamber fans are known as the Bamber Bunnies. Mark Sheppard fans are the Romo Kitties. Tahmoh Penikett fans are Helo Hunnies. And now we need a name for fans of Aaron Douglas."  The early favorite seems to be Aaron’s Angels, which I personally think is pretty cute.  And whether you are a Bamber Bunny or an Aaron’s Angel, be sure to cast your vote on watchingbsg for your favorite fellow in our ongoing poll.

The ongoing discussion about the feminist credibility of Battlestar Galactica continues on this blog, and if that is one of your passions (or you simply like thinking about the academic side of BSG) then don’t miss the Society for Cinema and Media Studies conference in March.

Jamie Bamber’s female fans often refer to themselves as the Bamber Bunnies, and they are putting their passion to good use by publicizing efforts to raise money to send the studios pencils as a gesture of support for the writers who are currently on strike. Jamie is supporting their efforts by giving a worn towel to the two fans who buy the most pencils in his name, a genius idea inspired by Jamie’s famous Battlestar Galactica towel scene. Jamie will sign each towel as well, and a third towel will be raffled off to a fan who supports the pencil purchasing effort. Kudos to Jamie and to the BSG cast for this creative and way to seduce fans into participating in the pencil efforts.

Fans who want to add their pencils to the pile can visit pencils2mediamoguls.com to make a donation and see daily updates on the campaign. Fans are encouraged to donate to the site rather than send pencils themselves, as Hollywood learned from ShaunoMac’s Save Jericho Campaign that items are more effective when they arrive in bulk. By buying pencils, fans show their support and they will also be entered into a raffle to receive prizes such as phone call from a BSG star or from other celebrities such as Michael Rosenbaum who plays Lex Luthor on Smallville. BSG cast members Tricia Helfer, Michael Hogan, Mary McDonnell, Michael Trucco, and Jamie Bamber have all agreed to make phone calls to raffle winners as well.

Ron Moore decided to trump that by offering the chance to attend a hockey game with Aaron Douglas, who plays Battlestar Galactica’s beloved Chief Tyrol (and who is reported to be hysterically funny in person). The winning fan will get to go to a Canadian hockey game with the Chief and an unnamed friend, who may or may not be another BSG cast or crew member. Great job, BSG folks, on finding creative ways to get fans involved in the process and inspired to support this cause!

Edward James Olmos was in Los Angeles last weekend to promote the New LATC and diversity in general.  He has also been invited to the 30th anniversary of WPFW Radio in Washington, D.C. on the 15th of December.

Before he went on strike with the Writer’s Guild of America, Battlestar Galactica executive producer Ron Moore was kind enough to stop by the SciFi.com message boards and answer some questions from fans.  Among the gems are spoilers for Season Four and a scene that could have been included in the episode "Unfinished Business" to explain why Starbuck would sleep with Lee Adama one night and then marry Anders the next morning.

Coyote Squirrel articulates the guilt that a lot of Battlestar Galactica fans are feeling this week, now that we know the network did not want to pay the Battlestar Galactica cast and crew for the webisodes.  We want to know what happens to poor young Adama, but in the current climate we feel a little dirty about that.

Lucy Lawless recently sold her L.A. home for $4.8 million, making a nice profit over what she had originally purchased the house for in 1998.

Aaron Douglas will be MC’ing an event on November 24 in Vancouver, so be sure to stop by if you are in the area.

Nicki Clyne makes a cute confession in her most recent blog post, that she was recently embarrassed by a fan who asked her if Aaron Douglas’ (Chief Tyrol) spine glows.

Variety posted an early review of Razor that was mostly positive, while Watch with Kristin reveals some essential things to know before watching the show.   Among Kristin’s tips?  Have patience with the first fifteen minutes, because it definitely gets better, and be prepared that you will only see a few of the regular Battlestar cast members.  But it is worth it, she swears … but unless you are lucky enough to attend one of the theatrical screenings this Monday night, you will just have to wait and find out with the rest of us on November 24th.

Big news for fans of Aaron Douglas and his everyman Chief Tyrol: Aaron will play a “delivery demon” on an upcoming episode of the critically acclaimed CW show Reaper. Daemon’s TV has the scoop, and the original pic. Nice horns Aaron!

Tricia Helfer has a pilot deal in development for next fall, she revealed to Canada’s 24. Could this be the “something big” she hinted at during another recent interview?

Katee Sackhoff recently revealed one of the big differences between working on Battlestar Galactica and working on Bionic Woman: they recycle on Battlestar. Apparently Katee is quite the crusader on the Bionic set, as she is trying to convince them to do an anti-smoking ad as well. Speaking of Katee’s character Sarah Corvus, do you think Sarah reminds you of Faith from Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

A new Tahmoh Penikett interview is up on GalacticaTV.com. Tahmoh talks about his guest role on Smallville, reveals that Helo has a big story in the middle of Battlestar Galactica’s fourth season (”I think it will be one of our best seasons”), and talks about working with Academy Award winner Anna Paquin in the new Halloween horror movie Trick ‘r Treat.

Spraugue Grayden, who plays the pragmatic Heather on Jericho, talked about how much she loves Battlestar Galactica in a recent interview.

Someone needs a coder for a Battlestar Galactica MUD, while the New York University student newspaper has a quick quiz asking readers to name the twelve colonies of Caprica in alphabetical order.

Over at Idea Pizzeria, Sage uses recent training with the Myers-Briggs Personality Test Indicator to come up with her prediction of how the Cylons will form more Cylon-human hybrids in season four.

There is a list of the Top 50 Dystopian Movies of All Time up over on Snarkerati, and while Battlestar Galactica does not qualify there are plenty of good film suggestions if you are looking for something to watch between now and the Razor premiere in November.

Tahmoh Penikett, Battlestar Galactica, Smallville, Trick r Treat, Anna Paquin, Academy Award, Tricia Helfer, pilot, dystopia, film, Spraugue Grayden, MUD, Jericho, Heather, Caprica, Myers Briggs, Katee Sackhoff, Sarah Corvus, Faith, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Aaron Douglas, Chief Tyrol, Reaper, demon

We are doing something fun this week at watchingbsg.com, and trying to settle the debate over who is sexier: Aaron Douglas or Jamie Bamber? What do Battlestar Galactica fans find more attractive, the officer or the everyman?

At first glance, Jamie has an easy advantage in this poll. His steamy towel scene is famous among Battlestar Galactica fans of both genders, and he has appeared in Playgirl and countless “Hot 100″ lists.

However, every Battlestar Galactica fan knows that Aaron Douglas has his own share of rabid fans who appreciate his rugged good looks and legendary sense of humor.

So let’s hear it … who do you think is sexier? The waxed and polished officer aura of Jamie Bamber’s Lee “Apollo” Adama, or the accessible everyman adorableness of Aaron Douglas’ Chief Tyrol? Click to vote, and let your voice be heard.

Battlestar Galactica, Chief Tyrol, Lee Adama, Apollo, Playgirl, sexy, poll, Aaron Douglas, Jamie Bamber