Battlestar Galactica

There is so much news going on right now, I don’t know where to start!

First of all, there will (probably) be two more Battlestar Galactica telemovies, but very few details are available yet.  They will be about events that have happened in the past, like Razor, but what events and who they will focus on is largely still a mystery.  I will definitely have more details in the weeks and months to come, but for now let’s just enjoy the news that more BSG is on the horizon.

Next, Ron Moore has a new interview with Wired magazine that contains this disturbing quote:

Wired: Since then, have you written yourselves into any corners?

Moore: Some of that is happening right now as we wrap up the show. It’s like, OK, what did that mean, exactly? How do we get out of this?

Battlestar Galactica composer Bear McCreary has a long post about “Gaeta’s Lament,” the song that is very important to Friday’s episode.  He also confirms that this song, and many of the other ideas that have worked their way into this season, were ideas that were formed during after hours of drinking.

Katee Sackhoff has been cast as a doctor on a four-episode story arc of the bawdy plastic surgery drama Nip/Tuck.  If you have seen that show, you know that Katee’s extensive experience doing sex scenes on Battlestar may come in handy.  Unless, of course, sister guest star Morgan Fairchild beats her to it.

The first United States promo for Life on Mars is out, and you can see a brief glimpse of Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen at the 2:06 minute mark.

Michelle Forbes brought her sexy self to the season finale of Lost, playing a pivotal role in the Oceanic Six story line.

Be sure to look for Callum Keith Rennie (Leoban) in the recently released trailer for X-Files 2: I Want to Believe.

There’s a lot more to cover, but we have time to catch our breaths as there are two weeks before the next episode.  If you are looking for something to help you pass the time, check out this “Faith” recap quiz over at GeekSugar.

If you don’t have time to rewatch the entire Battlestar Galactica series to refresh yourself before Friday’s premiere, you can watch Battlestar Galactica Revealed and get up to speed fairly quickly.

Revealed is essentially a series of clips from the show interspersed with commentary on the characters and circumstances of the series by Executive Producers Ron Moore and David Eick.  While not nearly as entertaining as its sister program, Battlestar Galactica: Phenomenon, it is arguably more useful for fans who want to get back in the BSG groove before season four.

The best moment of Revealed is when David Eick describes Giaus Baltar as being “equal parts Stephen Hawking, Jim Morrison, and the back room side of Bill Clinton.”  Although most people would argue that the final figure in that trinity was much more interested in politics and public policy than President Baltar, who seemed mostly interested in drugs and hookers while he was in office, it is an interesting comparison. 

Moore also implies that the Six in Baltar’s head is the result of a nervous breakdown and nothing more, but he does not fully commit to the idea and David Eick implies that Six’s presence will continue until Baltar finally “learns his lesson.”

Friday night’s season four premiere will start just where season three ended, right after Kara “Starbuck” Thrace’s seeming return from the dead and right after the four final Cylons have learned who - and what - they are.  The reaction to those event reverberate through both sides of the war, and through the season to come.

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.

GalacticaTV.com has an interesting interview with Battlestar Galactica special effects supervisor Gary Hutzel, shown with Edward James Olmos in the photo above. Gary reveals Razor spoilers and Cylon creation information, as well as some great pictures from the upcoming movie.

Ron Moore has announced he will direct one of the episodes in the final season of Battlestar Galactica. It is one of the later episodes of the season, and things aboard ship are interesting … especially between Roslin and Adama. Whether Ron’s definition of “interesting” is the same as the Roslin/Adama shippers remains to be seen.

Tricia Helfer’s dominatrix film, Walk All Over Me, has an official release date: December 5 at various theaters across Canada. Also Tricia’s blog has some fun pictures of Tricia that her husband took backstage at the Scream Awards, including this cute picture of her with Star Trek legend William Shatner.

GalacticaSitRep.com found an interview where Katee Sackhoff talks to her hometown paper about how she wishes she never started smoking (she quit between seasons two and three of Battlestar) and how fighting Tricia’s Number Six is more fun than fighting Michelle Ryan’s Bionic Woman.

Nicki Clyne blogs about her recent trip to Australia for Supernova, where she famously performed karoke with Nick Brendon of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame.

Some political blogger compares Edward James Olmos to Mount Rushmore, or maybe to the antithesis of John Edwards’ hair … depending on how you read it.

Justine, the hardworking blogger over at All About Tahmoh Penikett, has kindly offered to e-mail non-Canadians scenes from Tahmoh’s appearance on the Canadian show Whistler. She also has the link for Canadians who can watch Tahmoh’s part online.

La La Land Records has the soundtrack for Battlestar Galactica’s Season Three for sale.

Battlestar writer Jane Espenson reveals she does not have perfect recall of all of the many details that make up the Battlestar universe, and has to rely on the other writers in the writers room to keep her in line.

Nicki Clyne, Supernova, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Nick Brendon, Battlestar Galactica, Razor, spoilers, Gary Hutzel, Edward James Olmos, special effects, scifi, Tricia Helfer, dominatrix, Canada, Walk All Over Me, Star Trek, William Shatner, Tahmoh Penikett, Ron Moore, Roslin, Adama

It’s been a while since we have done a BSG T-Shirt of the Week, so I thought I would relaunch the feature with the shirt that gave me the idea in the first place. Because what is more geeky then a shirt, based on a shirt, based on a internet comic strip, based on a line from Star Wars?

This shirt is available at CafePress.com and is a reference to the “Joss Whedon is My Master Now” tees that were sold by PvPOnline.com a couple years ago.

The t-shirt was based on a PvP online comic strip published on May 10, 2005, right before Revenge of the Sith came out in theaters. Click here to see the strip. The strip became an instant classic, just like most of the things Joss Whedon has put on TV. Listen, I like Ron Moore and I like BSG, but Ron Moore is no Joss Whedon.

Battlestar Galactica, Ron Moore, PvP, Joss Whedon, Sith

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

The Envelope is the place to go for talk about the Emmy nominations, which will be announced this week, and we here at watchingbsg.com are still hoping Mary McDonnell will be on the Best Actress list.

Cultural Leanings speculates about what might happen if the writers of Battlestar Galactica and Heroes switched places for a week.

Edward James Olmos is on board for the new Disney movie South of the Boarder, which supposedly celebrates Latino culture … although not everyone thinks that “celebrate” is the right word to use there.

An interesting interview with Battlestar Galactica’s Number Six, Tricia Helfer, about her work on the Command & Conquer video game.

The Chicago Tribune has posted their edited transcript of the conference call where David Eick & Ron Moore announced that Season Four would be in, complete with spoilers.

Wil Wheaton, Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Wesley Crusher, is a fan of Ron Moore and especially for Moore’s hope that Star Trek will be returned to the fans.

And finally a quick correction from yesterday, it is a few more weeks until Emmy nominations are announced and not a few more days. Nominating ballots are due back June 22, but nominations will not be announced until July 19. Go Mary, and go BSG!

Battlestar Galactica, Number Six, Tricia Helfer, Command & Conquer, Heroes, Disney, Edward James Olmos, South of the Boarder, Chicago Tribune, David Eick, Ron Moore, Wil Wheaton, Star Trek, Stark Trek: TNG, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Wesley Crusher

Battlestar Galactica’s head writer, Ron Moore, loved the finale of The Sopranos, a development that worries fans of the series who are hoping for resolutions in Season Four.

The Sopranos finale aired on Sunday and has come under heavy criticism this week due to its abrupt ending. Unresolved endings are not unheard of in television, but this one ended practically mid-sentence, leaving fans desperate for more.

Apparently, Moore loved it:

It’s poetic. It’s exciting. It’s perfect.

And most of all, I wish I’d thought of it first.

This is worrisome for fans of Battlestar Galactica, as it has already been confirmed that Season Four will be the last of the beloved series. Speaking at an event last week, Moore warned fans not to get too attached to the idea of a “happy ending” for the series saying that it is the “yearning” that defines the characters more than the completion.

In his blog post this week Moore seems to idolize Soprano’s writer David Chase, saying “the man has balls the size of Volkswagons.” He is not the only TV writer to do so, either, as the New York Times reports that the head writers for Lost and other critically acclaimed shows loved the ending as well.

It’s great that the writers are happy, but what about the fans? Endings like this seem selfish to me, like the writers are giving a big “F You!” to the fans that have supported a show while playing to their peers or to “history.” It’s a controversial way to go out, frustrating people instead of inspiring them in the way that shows like Six Feet Under choose to end their runs.

I get more pessimistic about Season Four by the day.

To take the edge off the worry, I will leave you with BeaucoupKevin’s humorous discussion on what the finale should be like:

jkrach: I liked Ron Moore’s SOPRANOS-fanboy take, but I’m really glad Chase did the ambiguous ending before Moore could think of it for the BSG finale.
BeaucoupKevin: I think the last shot of BSG should be the fleet jumping into earth orbit and us hearing chatter from the various governments
jkrach: I think they should land on Earth, near the shattered Statue of Liberty, and gape as a squad of angry apes on horseback charges them.
BeaucoupKevin: The last moment is Starbuck screaming “TRANSFORM AND ROLL OUT” and that is what they do.

Battlestar Galactica, Ron Moore, finale, Sopranos, David Chase, Statue of Liberty, Transformers, Earth, Lost

Collider.com has an interesting video interview with Ron Moore where he talks more about Season Four. Moore admits that he has a good idea what time period will be happening on Earth when the BSG characters arrive, but he yet to work out the conclusions of the story arcs involving the individual characters. Oh, and yes, Caprica the series is still a possibility, no, J.J. Abrams has not called him for his thoughts on the new Star Trek project, and yes, they are hoarding money for the final episode to make sure they “go out with a bang.”

Variety, God bless them, mentions Katee Sackhoff as a serious dark horse candidate for an Emmy nomination for her roller coaster year as Starbuck.

Michael at SyFyPortal has an interesting interview with Bodie Olmos, Edward James Olmos’ son, who plays the recurring character of “Hot Dog” on the show.

Ron Moore’s next job is writing a sequel to “I Robot” … unfortunately he has already finished a draft, which means he is working on the movie script while he is also writing Season Four. Distracted writers often mean diluted writing, so I view this as a bad omen.

Click here for more information on the plot and powers of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, the hot new video game in development that stars BSG’s Crashdown, aka Sam Witwer. Witwer plays Darth Vader’s apprentice searching for the remaining Jedi during the dark time period between Episodes Three and Episode Four. The video clip has interviews and previews, and confirms the rumors that the game will have an MMO component.

TV Squad explains why you shouldn’t hold your breath for a BSG movie.

BSG Producer David Eick’s Them series, starring Number Six/Tricia Helfer, is still alive at Fox TV and may be a possible midseason replacement for the network. Good news on the surface, but can the producer give his attention and love to Battlestar Galactica, Bionic Woman, and this alien series all at the same once? Only time will tell.

Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars, The Force Unleashed, Sam Witwer, David Eick, Tricia Helfer, Them, Bionic Woman, Jedi, Darth Vadar, I Robot, Ron Moore, Katee Sackhoff, Emmy, J.J. Abrams, Star Trek, Bodie Olmos, Edward James Olmos

Edward James Olmos, Katee Sackhoff, Jamie Bamber, Mary McDonnell, Lucy Lawless and Mark Sheppard were among the VIPs at the SciFi Channel’s All Access Event at the Arclight in Los Angeles last Wednesday.

After being treated to a replay of the season finale “Crossroads” on the giant screen of the Cinerama Dome, fans got to ask over two hours of questions to the cast in a Q&A session moderated by Lucy Lawless. TV Squad has a great recap of the event, which featured a lot of laughter and talking about sex, which of course led to some great quotes from cast as well as producers David Eick and Ronald D. Moore.

Lucy asked “Is Admiral Adama ever going to get laid?” *laughter* Jamie responded by saying “He’s Latino! He has to do it two times a day!” Then someone interjected (I forget who, everyone was cracking up at this point) that we’d already seen Lucy in a threesome with Six and Baltar, to which Lucy said “Well, that was Cylon sex … woo.” What, like that doesn’t count?

Lucy then went on to ask if anyone had a favorite “nudie” scene, and Katee talked about her body paint scene with Callum Keith Rennie. The director kept saying that her pasties were getting in the shot, so she finally ripped them off, and Rennie covered her breasts up with his paint-coated hands. Problem solved. David Eick joked that he was going to buy his own house in Malibu by selling the naked pictures of Katee on eBay, baby.

Don from AI in Software was also lucky enough to attend, order soda with Edward James Olmos, and witness this exchange:

Lucy Lawless said her favorite Battlestar moment was when her character was interviewing Lee Adama while his bathrobe was falling off. She was like “what was keeping your towel on, Lee?� Jamie Bamber had this look on his face like “well clearly it was my giant british penis� but elected to say nothing.

Don also adds context to the widely-reported comment by Edward James Olmos that Blade Runner failed because of Harrison Ford. Apparently Olmos was commenting on the failure of the movie’s fans to accept him in the role, which canceled the possibility of the planned sequels, and giving Blade Runner as an example of “good” science fiction as opposed to “action movies that are supposedly set in the future.”

The Q&A from the event also contained some spoilers, so stop reading now if you like to avoid such things:

- The joking at the Q&A added fuel to the fire storm of speculations that the producers do not actually know what the Cylon’s plan is, which is worrisome as they will soon be filming the final season.

- Fans at the event also got to see a promo for this fall’s movie Razor, which focuses on the Pegasus and includes flashbacks involving the history of the ship and thus shows us more of the formidable Admiral Cain.

- Don’t expect a happy ending, as the producers feel the heart of the show is more about the “yearning” than the completion.

- The Six in Baltar’s Head will be back in Season Four, with some “new twists,” and the show may finally get a homosexual character as well.

- A fleeting glimpse in the Razor promo has some fans wondering of the classic Cylons from the original BSG will make an appearance. Apparently the movie has flashbacks to the original Cylon war, which creates the opportunity for a lot of fun tributes to the old series.

We leave you with a clip of the carpet chaos and one more blogger quote, from TVSquad, and a photo that shows exactly what he is talking about … a lot of guys were talking about Katee Sackhoff’s sexy lace up boots, but I think it is Mary McDonnell who steals the evening in her blue dress.

Lucy asked how the younger actors were enjoying being on a successful series, to which Mary McDonnell primped and preened and said “Oh, you mean me?” Honestly, the woman looked amazing, and I would totally believe that she was one of the younger generation.

Battlestar Galactica, Arclight, Los Angeles, SciFi Channel, Jamie Bamber, Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sackhoff, Lucy Lawless, Mark Sheppard, Harrison Ford, Blade Runner, Cylon, Pegasus, David Eick, Ronald D. Moore

Yahoo! TV recently posted an interview with Ron Moore about what’s to come for Battlestar after the hiatus. As noted in the article, it’s mildly spoilery. But not really. Like all good show creators, Moore manages to talk a lot without actually saying much about what’s in store. (more…)