Battlestar Galactica

Memorial Day Weekend is the official start of summer, and for the second year in a row we are celebrating with the Battlestar Galactica Swimsuit Edition of WatchingBSG.  Last year’s edition was one of my first posts after I took over this blog, and given the amount of traffic I still get from that picture of Jamie Bamber in the towel it is only appropriate that we do it again in Summer 2008.

There were plenty of images to choose from this year, because scifi stars and skin magazines have enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship for decades.  Long before Jane Fonda put on her famous bikini for Barbarella, the women of pop culture’s more geeky fascinations have been willing to bring in new fans by plying old poses.  And by old, I mean the “oldest profession” … but that does not mean we don’t like to look anyway.

As with last year’s swimsuit editions, volume one and volume two, not all of these outfits are technically swimwear … but given the skin and the sex appeal involved I am pretty sure you won’t mind too terribly much.  If you are offended, or if you love it, please do not hesitate to post below.

This year’s edition features Battlestar Galactica Cylons Grace Park, Lucy Lawless, Michael Trucco, and Tricia Helfer … and fleet pilots/Cylon speculation favorites Katee Sackhoff, Jamie Bamber, and Tahmoh Penikett.  We also have Gaius Baltar follower and religious cult member Keegan Connor Tracy, in all of her bikini glory.

Grace Park and Tahmoh Penikett appeared on Today yesterday morning to promote Battlestar Galactica in an interview that was much too short to be effective. 

The fault was not with Grace and Tahmoh, who looked great and were charming and pleasant under the circumstances.  Instead, the fault was with Meredith Viera, who was not properly prepared for the interview and seemed confused about whether she should talk about the actors, the show, or the fans, and as a result they did none of the above very well.

It opens with the amazing scene where Helo has to kill his wife so that she can rescue their child, the first Cylon-human hybrid.  It’s a great scene and could have been the perfect springboard for Grace, Tahmoh, and Meredith to talk about how this show is so much more than “sci-fi” and is better viewed as a honest and tragic look at human beings and families, a show that could easily recruit new viewers if they would just give it a chance.

Katee Sackhoff reveals to Televisionary that she thinks Starbuck’s soul mate is a Cylon:  “If there was anyone she’d be happy with, it’d probably be Leoben,” she admits. “Anders is too weak for her emotionally. Lee’s too much of a boy scout; he makes her feel guilty for her anger and her faults just by being who he is. If there’s ever any person she can let her guard down with, and be happy with, probably Leoben.”  Check out more great revelations from Starbuck in the site’s great Katee interview.

Speaking of great interviews, if you have not read the interview with Jamie Bamber over on TVAddict.com yet then you are missing a treat.  Jamie talks about how the relationship between Apollo and Starbuck is “incestuous” and reveals his dark hope for Battlestar Galactica’s pop culture legacy:  “On a psychological level, I hope [Lee] sort of finds self-knowledge and on a show level, I just hope we really scare the hell out of the world. I think, really scare the audience and the wider public to realizing how destructive our progress is. This idea that we have of growth and economic growth and technological progress is not the path to be taken, it’s the path to destruction, and I hope Ron delivers that.”

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram had an interesting description of the final four Cylons that compares them to a famous candy item:  “Not only had Starbuck supposedly found the mythical planet that the ragtag remnants of the human race had been on a death-march across the universe to find, but — unknown to anyone — four of her colleagues turned out to be the genetic equivalent of a peanut-butter cup: heroic human on the outside, shady alien cylon on the inside.”

Tahmoh Penikett talked about how excited he is to be part of Joss Whedon’s new show, Dollhouse.  In other Dollhouse news, Tahmoh’s nemesis on the show will be Olivia Williams — the actress who is best known for playing Bruce Willis’ hauntingly beautiful wife in The Sixth Sense.

And last but not least, TiFaux offers this humorous and helpful guide to identifying TV nerds in the era of the nerd fetish.  It’s a helpful guide for those who are still baffled that we live in a decade where books like Vicki Lewis Thompson’s Talk Nerdy to Me are romance novel best sellers.

Today is the big day, when we finally see what happens after Starbuck returns from the dead and four of the final five Cylons are forced to come to terms with their new identity. What are your plans for watching the Season Four premiere of BSG? Are you watching it at noon online, or with a big group tonight, or in private later so you can catch every word? Or, perhaps, all of the above?

However you watch it, Galactica Sit Rep has some links to places where you can discuss the details with fans after the episode is over.

New York Magazine has some great advice for people who are trying to convince their significant others to watch Battlestar Galactica … and thanks for the link, Everett Bogue!

The magazine also has a great interview with Michael Hogan, who plays Col. Tigh on the show, where he talks about adjusting to life as a Cylon and how he may request that his children make sure “All Along The Watch Tower” is played at his funeral.

Fans of Tahmoh Penikett (Helo) and Kandyse McClure (Dee) can bid on dinner with the attractive twosome in a charity auction over on E-Bay. The proceeds go towards helping Canadian actress Babz Churla battle cancer, and Callum Keith Rennie (Leoban) is helping her out as well.

Speaking of Tahmoh, he recently landed the plum role of Eliza Dushku’s love interest on Joss Whedon’s new series, Dollhouse. Readers of this blog know I am a huge Joss fan, so I am very excited about this combo … hopefully we will get more news on Tahmoh’s role in the near future.

Oh No They Didn’t has a nice roundup of the television pilots that are being considered for next year, including Michael Trucco’s new show Man of Your Dreams. And speaking of Joss Whedon’s actors, Alan Tudyk (Wash from Firefly) has been cast in a new legal drama that may be on NBC.

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.

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.

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

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

Love the classic Battlestar Galactica vipers? This new limited edition statue can be yours.

Good news for Helo fans: a new forum has been created that is dedicated to Tahmoh Penikett. In other Tahmoh news, he will be appearing in Sacramento at the end of the month as he has graciously agreed to take Jamie Bamber’s place at Sacramento Con.

Very intriguing speculations about Season Four on Boobtube, if you are not spoiler phobic be sure to check out the post entitled “Starbuck is Not a Cylon, She is Jesus.”

The folks over at Libertas are not big fans of BSG’s Season Three ender, particularly the speech Jamie Bamber gave in defense of Baltar.

Tahmoh Penikett, Helo, Battlestar Galactica, Jamie Bamber, Sacramento, viper, toy, Diamond Select, Jamie Bamber, Baltar

In honor of the holiday week, here is a cute clip of Battlestar Galactica’s Grace Park (Boomer/Athena) making a “Cylon Shooter” for Tahmoh Penikett (Helo). Remember folks, don’t drink and drive!

Grace Park, Tahmoh Penikett, Cylon, Battlestar Galactica, shooter, drink

The Battlestar Galactica Swimsuit Edition is back! Hawt pix of our favorite scifi stars first hit this blog the Friday before Memorial Day, and to celebrate Independence Day watchingbsg.com is bringing back the hawt pic love. Like the previous version, this post not strictly limited to swimsuits; but like the previous version, I doubt anyone will mind too much.

These two pix above are from the Stuff magazine shoot of Tricia Helfer and the other ladies starring in the Charlie’s Angels telemovie a few years ago … Tricia, of course, had the Farrah role.

And not to leave out the guys, here is a lovely towel screen shot of Tahmoh Penikett courtesy of his fansite … which is a very fun and active blog if you have not checked it out already:

Battlestar Galactica, Grace Park, Boomer, Tricia Helfer, Tahmoh Penikett, Lucy Lawless

Tahmoh Penikett, Battlestar Galactica’s Helo, was listed as one of TV’s Hottest Dad’s by AOL TV this week. Other hot dads included Heroes’ Nathan Petrelli, Adrian Pasdar, Veronica Mars’ Keith, Enrico Colantoni, Law & Order SVU’s Detective Stabler, Christopher Meloni, Bones’ Booth, David Boreanaz, 24’s Jack Bauer, Keifer Sutherland, and Medium’s Joe Dubois, Jake Weber. Happy Father’s Day to fictional and real dads everywhere!

Battlestar Galactica, hot dads, helo, Tahmoh Penikett, Veronica Mars, Keith Mars, Enrico Colantoni, Elliot Stabler, Christopher Meloni, Law & Order SVU, Steeley Booth, Bones, David Boreanaz, Joe Dubois, Medium, Jake Weber, Heroes, Adrian Pasdar, Nathan Petrelli, Jack Bauer, Keifer Sutherland, 24