Battlestar Galactica

Or more accurately, Lucy Lawless wants you to vote for Marissa Jaret Winokur on Dancing With the Stars … watching is optional.  Although if you do watch, be sure to look for Lucy in the audience since she has been attending as many shows as possible to cheer on her friend. 

When Dancing With the Stars airs again on Monday it will feature the Final Four and some tough competition.  Marissa faces some formidable foes in dancing angel Kristy Yamaguchi, sympathetic heartthrob Christian De La Fuente, and the sexy duo of Jason Taylor and the often-underestimated Edyta.  If you are anywhere near a phone or a computer on Monday between 8:00 and 9:30 EST and then vote for Marissa and help make Lucy a happy woman (check the ABC.com site for the number to call or the address to e-mail.  You can send votes via text as well.

Lucy and Marissa have been photographed together on a wide array of red carpets since 2004, and they are close friends when they are not in the public eye.  Lucy has blogged several times about rushing back from a distant appearance in order to be in the audience to make Marissa more comfortable when she dances:

“I have to rush back to Los Angeles to be with Marissa, who is down to the final 5 in DWTS.  She was in the bottom two last week.  See what happens when I leave town?!  Usually I am there making rude gestures across the dance floor, like I’m pulling a noose tight, just to stop her taking it all too seriously.  Still, I want her to get through another week.  Please don’t forget to vote!  L”

Lucy’s devotion to cheering on Marissa is especially admirable since Lucy has been vocal about the fact that she is not fond of the show.  To devote this many hours to making sure your friend succeed on a show you don’t even like?  Now that is friendship!

A few of the funny, odd, or strange things that happened around the pop culture universe over the weekend:

Has Mary McDonnell had plastic surgery?  Gedblog reports, you decide.  Special thanks to this blog for the screencap from “Six of One,” I tried to pick one that was not a spoiler for folks who have not seen the episode yet.

Nicki Clyne lets us know she is still around and she is still blogging … she has just been doing Euro Cons.

Lucy Lawless has been sending tons of love to Dancing With the Stars contestant Marisa Jaret Winokur, attending at least one taping of the show and Marisa’s rehearsals.  If you are a Dancing fan, be sure to give all of your Dancing votes to Marissa … it’s interesting that while Lucy is a fan of Marisa, she is not a fan of the way the powers that be run Dancing With the Stars (”Who produces this show? Satan???”)

“What the frak!” made an appearance last week on 30 Rock, which literally rocked.

Looks like John McCain is finally getting some geek cred, as folks are starting to wonder if McCain is a Cylon.  Welcome to the party, John, people have been speculating about whether Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama are Cylons for months!  Although to give the guy credit, he has a better Cylon claim in the sense that he looks like Tigh and has a young blonde wife he likes to insult.

The folks over at Popnography have nicknamed the newest Cylons Pudgy, Pretty, Pouty, and Asshole . . . Anders is the pretty one. 

Apparently George Clooney’s Leatherheads is so slow this reviewer kept him wondering about Cylons instead of what the end of the movie would be .  . . and while I am not enough of a hockey fan to understand this reference, apparently Deadspin thinks the Cylons have invaded the NHL too.

Lucy Lawless is currently shooting a comedy with Adam Sandler called Bedtime Stories, where she plays an evil corporate executive who tries to outfox yet another innocent Adam Sandler man child. Last week Lucy told The Huffington Post that the mixture of fantasy and fun is a far cry from the dark themes of the BSG set:

“It’s a complete 180 from Battlestar. I’m so lucky that I get to do that - to do very naturalistic acting and take on heavy-duty situations on BSG and go and have crab claws on an Adam Sandler movie.”

Lucy also said she would not reveal the final Cylon even if she knew who it was, and tells an amusing anecdote about crashing her own movie set while disguised as an intoxicated extra.

Bedtime Stories is a Disney family comedy that also stars Keri Russell, Courtney Cox and Rachel Griffiths and is currently scheduled for a nation wide release on Christmas Day, 2008.

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.”

The luck of the Irish spilled over a couple of days, as we are lucky enough to get to see these fun photos outside the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York where the cast of Battlestar Galactica taped a Top Ten list for the Late Show With David Letterman. 

Today we bring you a few more pictures of the cast in New York, both before and after their appearances on the show.  The picture at the left shows BSG stars Grace Park, Katee Sackhoff, and Tricia Helfer after their appearance on the show. 

Tricia had initially arrived in full Six gear, wearing the white wig and red dress, and Grace entered the building in her fleet uniform.  Katee appears to have arrived in civilian clothing, much like Jamie Bamber who wore a dashing suit.

While you can’t see it in the photo to the left, Katee has a giant animal print bag on her arm that is even larger than Tricia’s chic black bag in this photo.  If anyone knows who makes the bag please let me know, as I have already had a couple people ask.

Also if anyone was at the taping, I would love to know the story behind the photo of Nicki Clyne, who plays Cally Tyrol.  It looks like she is doing a curtsy, but perhaps this is some sort of sobriety test parody?  Either way, the photo begs for some context!

There are more photos of the various Battlestar Galactica stars in before and after garb below, and of course be sure to check out yesterday’s post for more images.

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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?

Edward James Olmos will be featured in a documentary on Discovery en Espanol on Sunday night, where he will discuss the real issues behind gang violence in a documentary called Voces de Cambio. This is a cause close to Olmos’ heart and one he has spoken about in the past, and he makes another passionate plea for action in the broadcast:

“We are all responsible for our future. This is a simple truth an honest truth. The role that ex-gang members have on society is intrinsic. An ex-gang member can turn around the lives of thousands upon thousands of people as they turn negative energy into positive - it’s enough to make one cry.”

BSG writer Mark Verheiden recently blogged about the bittersweet joy of ending his Battlestar Galactica experience, and about the cast and crew’s belief that “no spoilers” makes the show a more enjoyable experience. 

Speaking of spoilers, a clip from the extended version of “Unfinished Business” (also known as “the New Caprica shipper episode”) has been leaked on the Internet.  Or you can wait and watch the clip in context when the Season Three DVD comes out later this month.

On a related note, I recently confessed on the ShaunOMac show that I have been taking great pains to avoid watching any of the Season Four promos for the show or the cast and crew interviews, which is why you have not seen any on the blog.  The always-reliable folks at Galactica SitRep have them all, however, so if are looking for a good collection head over there.  If you really think we need to have them over here at WatchingBSG.com too then feel free to drop me a note and let me know.  Now back to the news!

Even if you are spoiler-phobic like me, you can still enjoy the new clip up on SciFi.com where the channel condenses the first three seasons of BSG into one eight-minute clip.

Some lucky fans snagged a radio interview with Mark Sheppard, who plays Baltar’s mysterious lawyer Romo, at last weekend’s MegaCon:

“When I asked Mark Sheppard to do the on-air interview he asked me, ‘What do they want to talk about?,’ and I said, ‘You!’ He replied, ‘Great! I know all about that subject.’”

Lucy Lawless’ new movie, the animated Justice League: A New Frontier, has been getting strong reviews.  Lucy’s controversial Wonder Woman joins a cast that includes Bionic Woman’s Miguel Ferrer, Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s David Boreanaz, and many others.

Grace Park’s film West 32nd will be featured at the San Francisco Asian American International Film Festival later this month, but the early word is that Grace herself will not be able to join her costar John Cho at the screening.

The always-entertaining Leah Cairns recently did an audio interview with the folks over at Battlestar Blog, which you can listen to here.

Lucy Lawless shook her groove thang last night at Los Angeles’ legendary Roxy, where her Xena: Warrior Princess costar Renee O’Connor joined her on stage for a duet of the Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty classic "Stop Draggin My Heart Around." 

Renee is often a surprise guest at Lucy’s stage shows, much to the delight of her fans, and the two women’s natural chemistry and great friendship definitely add even more fun to Lucy’s performances.  Saturday’s performance was their second show, as Lucy also rocked and rolled at the Roxy on Friday evening, and included another surprise guest in the form of Hairspray star Marissa Jaret Winokur.

The show was sponsored by Creation Entertainment, a company that usually focuses on fan conventions for shows such as Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, Stargate, and Xena.  The show was in conjunction with a Xena convention the company was hosting in Burbank, California, and Creation offered a bus service for the $59 concert to convention attendees.

According to the reports from AfterEllen.com, MC Kat Crimmons warmed up the crowd before the show with a comedy set that included at least one Cylon joke and an acknowledgment of some fan fiction writers who have included her in their stories since she started appearing at Lucy’s shows: "In most of them I’m this young Amazon warrior, and Xena shows up in my village to help us battle the Cylons. We butt heads, then go on a scouting mission and end up by the campfire. Some of the things the writers have us do, I couldn’t imagine … Well, I have imagined them. In fact, I suggested them. So, keep up the good work."

Lucy Lawless is mentioned over on People.com as one of the celebrities in the audience for Melora Hardin’s caberet show at Hollywood’s Catalina Jazz Club this week. Melora plays Jan, the self-destructive executive of Steve Carrell’s Michael on The Office.

Keep it up Grace Park fans! Grace now has well over 1,000,000 votes in TV.com’s viewer contest to determine the Hottest Actress of 2007, and a nice lead on Heroes’ hottie Hayden Panettiere.

If you are a graphic artist and a Tahmoh Penikett fan, you can get on Tahmoh’s radar by submitting a banner design for Justine’s All About Tahmoh blog. Helo himself will be picking the winner.

More details on Sam Witwer’s new project, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, were revealed at CES recently. Sam played “Crashdown” on Battlestar Galactica and will play the main character in this new and highly-anticipated video game.

Alessandro Juliani, aka Lt. Felix Gaeta, is also an accomplished opera singer. Click here to listen to an audio clip of him singing at a BSG con last August.

Has Tricia Helfer’s body combined with the manipulative moves of Number Six and inspired a new male phobia of Fit Women?  This web site says "yes." In other Tricia news, check out this clip of her talking about season four.

Lucy Lawless won the top spot on LesbiaNation’s list of Top Ten Women We Love in 2007.  The list also included Stargate legend Amanda Tapping and Lucy’s Xena: Warrior Princess costar Renee O’Connor. 

In other Lucy news, she appeared at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas yesterday, speaking on a panel about "Science Fiction’s Influence on Technology."  If you find a recap of the panel, please let me know.

Justine wants everyone to vote for Helo, also known as Tahmoh Penikett, for hottest actor in the Best of 2007 awards.  He is woefully behind right now, probably due to the unfortunate photo choice which makes him look slightly deformed.  This one is much better.  The awards also nominated Battlestar Galactica Season One (not season two?) in its Best in DVD category.

Geno points out this incredibly unflattering photograph of Edward James Olmos on Celebrity Puke, where the Admiral is compared to an ass.  The photo was taken recently as Eddie was lunching at the famed Ivy restaurant.

Crave Online has a new interview with Katee Sackhoff, where she talks about her various projects including White Noise 2: The Light which comes out on DVD this week.  The movie also stars Nathan Fillion, who played Captain Malcolm Reynolds in Joss Whedon’s space western Firefly, which inspired this cute exchange in the interview:

Crave Online: Hypothetical, who would win in a fight? Malcolm Reynolds or Starbuck?
Katee Sackhoff: Who is Malcolm Reynolds? You like that? Ah, I’m just kidding. Probably me. Yeah. Maybe. He’s bigger than I am.

AOL TV recently published its list of TV’s 50 Sexiest Women — Ever, and honored Battlestar Galactica’s Grace Park, Lucy Lawless and Tricia Helfer by including them among small screen legends like Lynda Carter of Wonder Woman and the ladies of Charlie’s Angel’s.  And from these Maxim photos, it is easy to see why.

Grace holds the number forty-seven slot on the list, while Tricia appears in space number thirty-one.  The list had high praise for both ladies, noting their sexiness is increased by the various incarnations they play of their Cylon characters.  Grace and Tricia can play deadly or seductive, malicious or maternal, and that type of versatility and unpredictability adds to their mystique and the sexiness of their characters.

Their sister Cylon Lucy Lawless was also honored among the Sexiest Women on TV - Ever, for her performance on BSG and of course for her legendary role as Xena: Warrior Princess.  Lucy appears at number thirty-seven on the countdown.

Other small screen sirens on the list included Sarah Michelle Geller’s Buffy Summers from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Carmen Electra’s Lani McKenzie from Baywatch, Jennifer Garner’s Sydney Bristow from Alias, Victoria Principal’s Pam Ewing from Dallas, Peta Wilson’s assassin from La Femme Nakita, Sherilyn Fenn from Twin Peaks, Jeri Ryan’s Seven of Nine from Star Trek: Voyager, Alyssa Milano’s Phoebe Halliwell from Charmed, Nichelle Nichols from the original Star Trek, Julie Newmar from Batman, Jessica Alba from Dark Angel, Cartherine Bach’s Daisy Duke from The Dukes of Hazzard, Donna Douglas’ Elly May Clampett from The Beverly Hillbillies, Barbara Eden’s Jeannie from I Dream of Jeannie, and Charisma Carpenter and Heather Locklear from everything they have ever been in on TV. 

The number one spot on the list went to Pamela Anderson’s character from Baywatch and the way she filled out her swimsuit.  What, no mention of V.I.P. or Stripperella?

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.

The SciFi Channel website has video of the Battlestar Galactica panel at Comicon featuring Tricia Helfer, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sackhoff, and Lucy Lawless.

Tricia Helfer will be in Toronto this weekend for the World Series of Video Games.

ScoreNotes.com has an interview with Battlestar Galactica composer Stu Phillips.

And it looks like someone else dislikes the episode “Black Market” at least almost as much as I do … a skewering of Jamie Bamber’s performance that misses the storyline inconsistencies of the episode.

A sassy list of “Smart Girls We Love” includes the fabulous Mary McDonnell, who is accurately described as a “stone cold fox.” Other sexy smarty-pants include Kristen Bell’s Veronica Mars and Jewel Staite’s Kaylee on Firefly.

The first season of Dexter comes out on DVD today, so if you are a fan of Sam Witwer (aka Crashdown) be sure to pick up a copy. He appears in a three-episode arc that was well-reviewed, as was the entire first season of this show about a serial killer who kills other serial killers.

And last but not least, check out this flowchart illustrating the geek hierarchy.

Battlestar Galactica, Jamie Bamber, Black Market, Mary McDonnell, Tricia Helfer, Katee Sackhoff, Lucy Lawless, Veronica Mars, Kristen Bell, Firefly, Jewel Staite, Dexter, Sam Witwer, DVD

Edward James Olmos & Ron Moore have been nominated for the Gene Roddenberry Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the genre. Fans can vote for “Eddie” or at SyFyPortal, the host of the SyFy Genre Awards.

Edward James Olmos has an acting and producing career that has spanned decades, but most scifi fans associate his early years with his role in Blade Runner. In the past few years he has captured the loyalty of even more scifi fans for his intense portrayal of Captain Adama on Battlestar Galactica.

Ron Moore is also a scifi veteran, a trusted Star Trek writer and producer with a long list of scifi credits that include many Star Trek versions and of course Battlestar Galactica. As of July 30, Ron Moore had more votes than his star from the fans.

The other three competitors in the category are Gene Coon, the man who created the Klingons in Star Trek, Russell T. Davies, who resurrected Dr. Who, and James Doohan the Scotsman who played Scotty on the original Star Trek.

Battlestar Galactica garnered the most SyFy genre nominations this year, getting recognition for several of its actors and a nomination for best show and best episode. BSG got 13 nominations total including nominations for Mary McDonnell, Tricia Helfer, James Callis, Michael Hogan, Eddie, Lucy Lawless, and Katee Sackhoff. To vote for BSG, click here. Fans are allowed to vote once per day, per IP address, through August 25.

Edward James Olmos, Battlestar Galactica, Gene Roddenberry, Russell T. Davies, Dr. Who, Scotty, James Doohan, Star Trek, Klingon, scifi, Tricia Helfer, Mary McDonnell, James Callis, Michael Hogan, Lucy Lawless, Katee Sackhoff, award, Gene Coon, Blade Runner

DeekoNews.com is reporting that James Callis is in Estonia this summer filming a movie based on the prolific Dragonlance book series. The site claims a story appeared in the Russian press recently stating that James was filming the flick, that he was doing an amazing job, and destined to be the breakout star of the show:

Breakout role goes to James Callis (aka Dr. Gaius Baltar) as Raistlin (love the white-blonde
hair!), the weaker twin of Church’s character who is a mage.

Other Dragonlance cast members apparently include Ethan Hawke, Thomas Hayden Church, Val Kilmer, Kate Beahan, Kumiko Harada, and Adrian Brody.

This movie is entirely different from Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, an animated movie starring Kiefer Sutherland, Lucy Lawless, and Michelle Trachtenburg scheduled to be released this fall. But there is nothing in IMDB about a second Dragonlance movie, in fact I can’t find much information about it at all. It’s either a hoax, a well-kept secret, a confused report, or something else quite strange. If anybody finds any information please post and let us know!

Battlestar Galactica, Dragonlance, Lucy Lawless, Michelle Trachtenburg, Kiefer Sutherland, Ethan Hawke, James Callis, Thomas Hayden Church, Val Kilmer, Adrian Brody, Kate Beahan, Estonia, dragon, book