Auction Reports

Reports indicate that the BSG props auction was a great event. Check out photos from the events here and here.

Michael Trucco and Kate Vernon attended the event and spoke about working on The Plan.

See also, the Battlestar Blog.

Promo for Deadlock

Preview of the next episode, Deadlock:


Via SevorTB.

Bear McCreary interviews the final five Cylons, part one, of two part interview series with the actors, Aaron Douglas, Michael Trucco, and Rekha Sharma. Next week Bear will post his interview with Michael Hogan and Kate Vernon.

Commentary track for 414

The "enhanced" episode with commentary is on Hulu and SciFi.com, and the commentary podcast is now up on iTunes and the SciFi.com RSS page. I don't know if it was the gin and tonics, or "MrsRon's" presence, or all the discussion of sandwiches and the BSG Auction...but this was one of my favorite podcasts in quite some time. Two things one might consider newsworthy in the 414 podcast: Moore bought Baltar's cigarette case from the auction; Terry Moore seemed to indicate that Moore will be directing again quite soon.





Also on iTunes this week: Celebrity Playlists from Jamie Bamber, Katee Sackhoff, and Michael Trucco. [HT to bsg blog] ...OT: For you LOSTies in the house, they also posted lists from Michael Emerson, Evangeline Lilly, Naveen Andrews.


Other great links after you have seen ep 414:

• Mo Ryan, bless her heart, has another interview with Ron Moore discussing this week's show.

• Bear McCreary has posted his weekly exploration of the music for this week's ep, and includes comments from Ron Moore, Richard Hatch, and Alessandro Juliani. Bear also mentions a portion of the Baltar prayer meeting sequence that was cut from the version we saw on air.

• This is just another frakkin great interview with Michael Hogan. And here's another.
  

More Auction Stuff

Access Hollywood has this up:




Battlestar Blog found video of a Hollywood 411 piece from the Auction.


Melody Muse was blogging the auction here and posted a nice flickr set of her photos from the weekend.


Don't forget the eBay auction is up for another 7 hours...


ETA: Thanks to reader Jack for two more great auction links: a really fun video up on EW.com's BSG HQ, and this SciFi Australia article that runs down the selling prices of a lot of the major items -- apparently the auction raked in over A MILLION DOLLARS this weekend...

Friday is Webisode Day

Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune posts this reminder about the BSG Face of the Enemy Webisodes, and showcased the new BSG season 4.5 poster with Starbuck seen above.

Mo Ryan also has gone on her own Galacticathon re-watching Battlestar Galactica from the beginning, her observations and thoughts are here and here.

Also, not to long ago, Ryan talked to the Daily Show's Resident Expert, John Hodgman who is a huge BSG fan, and who has a cameo role in season 4.5.

Time Magazine lists Battlestar Galactica as the 8th best show of 2008 on their top ten list, and ranks the episode Revelations as the 6th best television episode of the year. And Apple includes Battlestar Galactica in their best of 2008 iTunes selections.

Michael Hogan talks about coming to Galactica's end with DreamWatch's Total Sci-Fi.

In other news, Tricia Helfer is to appear in an episode of Chuck. Check out some set photos from Michael Trucco....Interviews with Tahmoh Penikett....And Michelle Forbes talks about working on True Blood, In Treatment, and Battlestar Galactica.

Here are the latest Catch the Frak Up primers, first the previous one, and then the second one which encapsulates all of season 4.0:

BSG highlights from freelancerxo02:


Roslin14's Desolate Earth video:


BSG Teen Spirit by dfktyjr

Sci Fi Channel exec confirms Battlestar Galactica TV movie is happening

I was contacted last night by the Los Angeles Times to discuss the possibility of the rumored BATTLESTAR GALACTICA TV movie, and what I would most like to see in such a film. The reporter and I chatted for about half an hour; he mentioned he was also speaking with Annalee Newitz from io9.com.

The piece is out today, and lo and behold we now have our first official Sci Fi Channel confirmation that this TV film is a go, based on Sci Fi executive Mark Stern's comments in the article. Finally there is a bit of plot description as well:

Months before its final 10 episodes begin airing in January, we now know for certain that "Battlestar Galactica" will live on -- in the form of a two-hour special on the Sci Fi Channel to air in 2009 after the series concludes.

...The stand-alone will document the Cylons' attempts -- those of two agents in particular -- to grapple with human survivors, both those aboard ships and those left alive on planets, shortly after the Cylons' destruction of human home worlds.

So it's a flashback, but not all the way back.

Three confirmed cast members are Michael Trucco (Sam Anders), Aaron Douglas (Galen Tyrol), and Dean Stockwell (Cavil, Cylon model No. 1) -- all Cylons. Shooting will begin promptly in Vancouver, Canada, and Sci Fi promises women regulars are being cast as well, with more names coming soon.

...And, on the other side, have the news-hungry fans been driving the network crazy? "The short answer is absolutely not," said Stern, who has been a regular target of angry fans. (He was blamed for the death of "Farscape," even though he arrived at the network after it had been killed.) "The longer answer is all of our fans are kind of rowdy and invested," he said. "There's no question that there's an appetite for wanting more -- by the way, which started with us! We're all feeling, 'Does it have to be over already?' "

Rowdy? Hells yeah! :)

ETA Thursday: As Maureen Ryan has indicated today, Sci Fi Channel has sent out a press release on the "two-hour special event," which includes the following information:

The cast includes Michael Trucco, Aaron Douglas and Dean Stockwell, with more to be announced in the coming weeks.

Starting before the events of the miniseries, our story focuses on familiar characters including Cylon Number One, known as Cavil (Stockwell), Resistance Leader Sam T. Anders (Trucco) and Chief Galen Tyrol (Douglas). In the beginning, the Cylons had a plan, but it didn't account for one thing: survivors. During the chaotic aftermath of the destruction, two powerful Cylon agents struggle with plots and priorities on the human ships that got away, and among the resistance fighters who were left behind.

Final Comic-Con Schedule

For you lucky ducks who got your tickets, or can afford the highway robbery of eBay scalpers, the final Comic-Con schedule has now been posted for all four days.

In addition to the Thursday and Friday events we posted previously, and the Bear McCreary gig, the following BSG-related events are happening on Saturday:

• 2:15-3:15pm - Battlestar Galactica: Last year, Battlestar Galactica took San Diego by storm. Now the best show on television returns to Comic-Con for a panel filled with excitement, laughter, and a sneak peek into the final revelation. Focusing on the character relationships that give this hit series its power, this exclusive panel sheds new light on the ties between Humans and Cylons and provides valuable insight into the adventure ahead. Panelists include cast members Tricia Helfer, James Callis, Michael Trucco, and Katee Sackhoff and executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick, along with moderator Kevin Smith. Ballroom 20.
  

• 6:00-7:00pm - TV Guide takes an in-depth look at some of the new and returning TV series, featuring the hottest TV talent—in front of the camera and behind the scenes. TV Guide executive editor Craig Tomashoff moderates this panel offering the inside scoop, with some fun surprises. Participants include (in alphabetical order) Josh Applebaum (executive producer, Life on Mars), Jaimie Alexander (Kyle XY), Matt Dallas (Kyle XY), Javier Grillo-Marxuach (creator, The Middleman), Ronald Moore (executive producer, Virtuality), Natalie Morales (The Middleman), Jason O’Mara (Life on Mars), and Jason Smilovic (executive producer, My Own Worst Enemy), among other special guests. Room 6B.

I'm a Frakkin' Cylon?

The latest videoblog.



Can I let my proofreader side show here a bit and say: GUYS, it's spelled FRAKKIN'. Or frakking. RDM has confirmed this. I know, I know...petty.

Confirmation of another long hiatus.

TV Guide spoke to Ron Moore last night and got him to spill something that shouldn't be a big surprise to any trufan at this point:

Battlestar Galactica fans are well-advised to sit back and savor this Friday's midseason finale, because the balance of Season 4 — the series' last, lest we forget — won't be hitting the tube until after "the first of the year," says executive producer Ronald D. Moore. And that's a best-case scenario.

At a Wednesday-night screening of this week's episode, Moore explained to TVGuide.com that even though they are currently filming the series' final scenes, the "practical realities" of post-production — coupled with the formidable end-of-year competition presented by new fall series, baseball and football — places the onset of the final episodes at the start of 2009, at the earliest. "Realistically, there's no way to get back on the air faster," he apologetically added.

To cheer you up, here are a few vids TV Guide shot of the Final Three at NY Comic Con recently: Rekha Sharma... Michael Hogan... Michael Trucco...

Sigh. Yeah, didn't really work for me either. But Final Three, we lurves ya. And "Revelations" are around the corner.

Off The Wireless

PopCandy has a link to these delightful Comic-Con exclusive merch items from the NBCU shop: a BSG Toaster and Dwight Schrute "Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica." T-shirt and bobblehead. That toaster actually brands a cylon head onto the toast. OMG.

(click for gigantor!version)

A fan who shall remain nameless was nice enough to scan a foxy shot of La Sackhoff in this week's TV Guide (see below), which features a nifty tease for "Revelations":

Brace yourselves, Galactica fans. Executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick are promising BIG things for the mid-season finale of the series' fourth and final year. Eick teases the cliff-hanger "definitely rivals the Season 2 'one year later' shock," but he's otherwise playing it coy...[snip for mild spoilers]...Eick says he's drawn to [the Starbuck] plot because "the struggles Starbuck faces on her own ship call into question the nature of who these people are." For Moore, "the Adama-Roslin relationship [is paramount]. I really like how it's matured. It moves me." The final 10 episodes have not yet been scheduled, but whenever they run, BSG's status as a sci-fi landmark is already set in stone. Frak yeah.

It moves us too, RDM. Awwwww. Is it Friday yet? Wheeee!

(click to embiggen photo...but warning: mild spoilers!)

The New York Times posits BATTLESTAR GALACTICA as the latest cultural example of love between robots and humans. Hmm..."a love that dare not compute its name"? More like..."a love that most guys I know cannot wait to figure out how to achieve"... ;) Somehow this writer manages to bring up The Merchant of Venice, Metropolis, and R.U.R., but not A.I.'s Gigolo Joe. Go figure.

The Los Angeles Times gives a cool shoutout to both Laura Roslin and Buffy The Vampire Slayer while discussing how pop culture has prepared Americans for wide acceptance of a woman as POTUS.

io9 took time out from their busy schedule of completely misunderstanding and/or hating on BSG season 4, to have a quick chat with writer Jane Espenson about her last episode, “The Hub,” and find these cool BSG blueprint designs that were hidden somewhere on Sky One’s site.

Livejournalist ebneter posted this report on seeing Katee at the Wizard World Con last week.

Make Blog shows off a new entry in the “Make a Cylon” contest: Crow T. Cylon! Pretty cool…if you still want to enter the contest, you have till THIS FRIDAY. (Tip o’ the Hat to bonniegrrl)

A whole bunch of VIRTUALITY casting was announced yesterday:
"Joy Bryant, Sienna Guillory, Nelson Lee, Omar Metwally and Richie Coster have joined the cast...Bryant is set as Alice Thibadeau, Lee is playing Kenji Yamaguchi, Guillory will portray Rika Goddard, Metwally is set as Dr. Eyal Meyer, and Coster was cast as Jimmy Johnson." Shooting of this pilot begins in Vancouver next month.


Emmy bees are buzzing away this month since the nomination ballots are due by June 20th. THR mentions BATTLESTAR GALACTICA in these two pieces – always a bridesmaid in the high-profile categories, until last year’s writing and directing nods. (That second article has some interesting discussion of online TV viewing, btw.) EW takes a sort of surprising sideswipe at the show here while also suggesting Mary McDonnell’s time has come at last.

Maureen Ryan has made a list of all the ways she found LOST and BSG similar this season.

Once again, we find BSG in the Top 20 TV shows on the torrentstream…a whole other world of ratings that no one is counting, hmm.

In Bear McCreary's weekly post about his score work (this time for "The Hub") he discusses bringing back a favorite old melody that he'd been saving for just the right occasion... AWWWWW... and mentions what he'll be blogging about after this Friday's mid-season finale:

"The Hub was a good episode, but next week’s is a very special one to me. And after that, though it’s hard to believe, we’re off the air for a while. I’m going to continue to update this blog over the summer, and post Galactica updates as I finish scoring the last ten episodes. I’ll also post information about several new projects and soundtrack albums I’m doing this year. So, stick around during the break. :)"

SoundtrackNet has posted their report on the Bear McCreary BSG concerts, with a bunch of nice photos and DL'able MP3 snippets from every piece performed during the set.

A Daily Kos poster has this theory about how BSG and STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE share similar themes. I’m not a DS9 watcher and therefore have no opinion, but maybe some of you folks will dig it…or want to debate it for a few days. IDIC bbs.

Correction: Lucy Lawless’ free concert in Los Angeles is on June 28th, not the 29th. Her fan site is tracking the deets.

A&E has updated their web site and a page is now live for the new series THE CLEANER, co-starring Grace Park, which premieres July 15th.

Tricia Helfer’s site has EW’s and TV Guide’s previews of her role on the series BURN NOTICE. The show’s second season begins July 10th.

A very basic page has gone live on NBC’s site for the pilot Michael Trucco is shooting this summer, MAN OF YOUR DREAMS. The latest info seems to be this show is a possible pickup for midseason 2008-2009.

You lucky Aussie fans (and people with a massive collection of frequent flyer miles) can now go see Jamie Bamber and James Callis at the GenCon next month. That is gonna be FUN. Someone PLEASE VIDEOTAPE THAT for me, kay?

Meanwhile, apparently Aaron Douglas and James Callis are so tightly scheduled during these final weeks of shooting that it has effected their commitment to sparkle motion -- er, I mean to FedConUSA in Dallas. The latest news seems positive…

Gizmodo has noticed that the Cylons are probably doomed to failure, because they are running Windows XP2 on their basestars. Tsk-tsk.

Are You Frakkin' Kidding Me?

The next video blog is up, in which castmembers discuss the thing that most shocked them about their characters. There are some small season 4 spoilers in the second half, nothing major.


Part 2 of the fandom Q&A with Michael Trucco is also up:

Trucco Q&A

Sci Fi has posted Part 1 of Michael Trucco's Fandom Q&A video. Yay for towels!

Promo for "Faith"

Anders Inside look at BSG with Michael Trucco:

Both videos thanks to SevorTB.

Battlestar Wiki's page for The Road Less Traveled.

Scans scans scans

TV Guide talks to Michael Trucco about his car accident last year.

Starlog talks to Tahmoh Penikett about the show.

Richard Prince photographs our space grrls on bikes for Interview Magazine. In bikinis. No talking necessary.

I haven't seen you at any of the Cylon parties.

Below are the first two bits of my video of the NY Comic Con Cylon party...and here are three / four / five / six. Enjoy. There are massive spoilers for last week's ep, but otherwise you are OK to view this, my spirgin brethren.

ETA: Sci Fi has just posted the entire panel here. Funny enough, the quality isn't much better than mine. At least they used a tripod. ;)

Speaking of fun videos, fan Joshua sent us this gorgeous HD footage from Bear McCreary's concert last week. And a fan named Avery posted this lovely high quality vid as well - including some bits of the very funny cast video that screened at the concerts (see about halfway through).

Part 1


Part 2

NY Comicon Panel MP3

I'm still working on the video, which I will post soon -- but here is a downloadable MP3 of today's entire Comic Con panel with BATTLESTAR GALACTICA cast Michael Hogan, Rekha Sharma, and Michael Trucco, along with SciFi Channel's Mark Stern. David Howe of the SciFi Channel introduces moderator Marc Bernardin from Entertainment Weekly. Bernardin, a long time trufan of this show, is a terrific mod and asked great questions.

For the spirgins: the panel was blissfully (and surprisingly) spoiler-free, except for discussion of this past week's episode. I have to say we have one heck of a spoiler-sensitive fandom right here, as was clear from the crowd reactions during the panel.

Pop Candy and IGN have both posted panel reports, and Wired spoke to Stern after he left the stage this afternoon.

New York Comic Con update

Well well well. Wasn’t I a gleeful little fangrrl yesterday when I heard the news – Sci Fi Channel just announced the final guests for New York Comic Con: Michael Hogan, Michael Trucco, and Rekha Sharma. That’s right folks: 3 out of 4 of The Final Four…and I believe that this is Mr. Hogan’s first con appearance, is it not? Needless to say I am very pleased and looking forward to it. For those of you bumming that Tahmoh Penikett won’t make it, be made happy knowing it’s because of his DOLLHOUSE work. I hope that helps. *\o/* (That, and the Amy Acker news, adds to my happy today.)


I’m also hoping to catch a bunch of other events, which I’ve cataloged over on my LJ if anyone is interested...for example: has anyone else noticed that Bill Plympton, Seth Green, Milo Ventimiglia, and the entire cast of HELLBOY are supposed to attend? Seems like I will be living in the IGN Theater for most of the weekend. If you hear about any other cool panels or booths related to film and TV, do let me know.

I’ll be twittering all weekend on my mobile – see the sidebar here to follow me – so give me a shout and let’s find each other, fellow Con-goers! Also keep your eyes out for the beloved Whitney “PopCandy” Matheson, who is on her way up from DC as we speak.

Those of you in the New York area might also be interested in a panel about TV fansites that I am participating in on May 19th, at the Paley Center. I just heard a rumor that there might be some showrunners attending this thing…probably not OUR showrunners, methinks, but hey, who knows. [OT: Did you Joss Whedon fans out there also hear about this event happening next Friday at Paley NY? I’ll see you there.]

For those of you not in New York, you can still get some questions in for Michael Trucco and Rekha Sharma over on these two skiffy forum threads. But hurry – deadline is 5pm Eastern US time today.

And because it was such a great interview, let me pimp one more time Trucco’s 20-minute chat with Slice of SciFi this week. A fun listen for you Trucco fans.

See you at the Javits Center...

Frakheads and Browncoats unite

[Mark Sheppard, Adam Baldwin, Jamie Bamber, Leah Cairns and Ron Glass
at Serenity Complete; photos by Bamberrific]

Much to the thrill of the Frakheads and Browncoats at this past weekend’s Serenity Complete con in London, it turned out that a huge number of SERENITY and BATTLESTAR GALACTICA castmembers managed to attend. BSG cast included the previously announced Nicki Clyne and Mark Sheppard – but also Michelle Forbes, Kandyse McClure, Leah Cairns…and Jamie Bamber, who had cancelled the previous week, but managed to get to London from Vancouver afterall.

Reports are starting to trickle in -- what fun to see Firefly/Serenity and BSG actors hobnobbing at one con together, tee hee! We’ll have more fannews later this week, as happy attendees settle back at home…at least those who aren’t on their way to Germany for the FedCon, with many BSG guests still confirmed despite production being in full swing. A first taste are these comments and photos posted on the skiffy forum by happy Bamber fans (squee begins on page 1073, and there are photos and more at 1074, 1078 and onwards).

Over at the Starfury site, the next UK BSG con announced is Battlestar Starfury coming this December, guests TBD.

In other con news this week…

A fan has posted some photos of Grace Park from the Grand Slam con 2 weeks ago in Burbank. Creation often posts video snippets from their events, we’ll see if anything turns up.

Aaron Douglas had to cancel his appearance at the Pittsburgh Comicon due to the BSG shooting schedule.

Mark Sheppard will be appearing later this year at Australia’s Supernova in June, and Mark will be at Baltimore’s Shore Leave in July with Leah Cairns.

Michael Trucco has announced on his official fan forum that he is coming to the New York Comic Con. No confirmation yet from NYCC itself – let’s hope Michael will attend the Saturday noon event along with Grace Park and Tahmoh Penikett. (Thanks to cujoy for the tip.)

Also, on this Slice of SciFi podcast, Trucco is interviewed and mentions he may be working with JumpCon this summer to attend their Boston, Chicago, and Stamford events. JumpCon is the same company that secured several dates for Eddie Olmos and Mary McDonnell to appear together *joy*… Trucco’s terrific, detailed interview begins 36 minutes into the podcast. (Thanks to xenite99 for this tip!)

Upcoming interviews

Thanks to tipster livejournalists, we now know that Katee Sackhoff will be appearing on the Canadian TV show "The Hour" on CBC tomorrow at 11pm Eastern...and that there will be an interview with Michael Trucco in TV Guide the week of April 4th.

Hopefully we'll have clips soon for those of us who cannot watch the CBC.

ETA: Thanks to reader sean, we also have heard that Grace Park and Katee Sackhoff will be on CBC Radio's Q this week, possibly tomorrow.

A phone call with Michael Trucco

A lovely BSG fan known as RenewingSpirit on the skiffy forums, won the Pencils2Moguls raffle prize of a phone call from Michael “Anders” Trucco. With his permission she recorded the conversation to share with other fans. It’s posted here as a streaming WMA file. [hat tip to greycoupon]