Friday, October 19, 2007

Rumor Control: Season Four and Strike Talk

As I suspected, there is still no firm date for the start of Season 4 next year. SyFyPortal got the skinny from a SciFi Channel rep: it is not, as many fans have been fantasizing, January 2008. “Early 2008” is the best SciFi has to offer right now. Please don’t let it be April!

Meanwhile, Terry Moore (“MrsRon”) shares updated news about the potential WGA strike over on the skiffy forum. Apparently the WGA is asking writer/showrunners to cease ALL duties, not just writing – which means many shows would shut down completely during a strike, even those in production on completed scripts.

UPDATE: See the New York Times and L.A. Times for the latest news on the outcome of the WGA's strike authorization vote.

SyfyPortal also discusses Ron Moore’s denial of a big spoiler (WARNING) and analyzes other recent statements via “MrsRon”:

In the same conversation through his wife, Moore also revealed that he has only just recently completed Episode 13 of the last season, which means he still has six episodes to write before writers walk out on Nov. 1 as part of an imminent writers strike. It's unclear how Moore is covered under WGA rules in case of a strike, and if his position as an executive producer affects his ability to continue writing even during a walkout.

It had been believed that writing was nearly complete so that "Battlestar Galactica's" shooting schedule would remain uninterrupted in case of a prolonged writers strike.

With this news, however, it seems almost impossible -- unless the strike is short-lived -- that the final season would not be split with one half in 2008 and the other half in 2009. This would suggest that SciFi Channel's chatter about splitting the season is actually based on production issues, not entirely over SciFi Channel trying to expand the shelf life of the series.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the info in this post...although the Jan date wasn't just a matter of fan fantasy, it's the date we were TOLD to expect in the press releases on BSG being renewed for the fourth season. Then in the press release on SciFi's shows this fall, that morphed into the more handily indefinite phrase "early 2008" But I think most fans were still expecting something in or closer to January.

I just wish they hadn't said any date at all! This new disappointment just makes me more bitter. But bottom line for me is, Sci Fi should explain the whys behind this, instead of leaving the fans to fume and guess.

--Dionusia