Bear's Music

SoundtrackNet has an excellent review, and preview samples of Bear McCreary's season 2 Battlestar Galactica score.

Emmy Consideration

The Sci-Fi Channel has set up a site to help promote Emmy nominations for Battlestar Galactica.

Music!

Pre-order an autographed Battlestar Galactica Season 2 cd by Bear McCreary from La La Land Records. Hear some samples from the score.

RSVP to attend the BSG season 2 concert in Los Angeles.

Baltar Rocks

Check out this excellent and funny video of James Callis accepting the three Saturn Awards Galactica recently won. (For actor, Callis, Actress, Katee Sackhoff, and Best Cable Series.)

Caprica

Ron Moore and the Sci-Fi Channel are working on Caprica, a prequel series to BSG taking place 50 years before the current events taking place on Battlestar Galactica.

Season 3 Information

Ron Moore, has updated his Battlestar Blog with a new Q&A session. He detailed more about his time in the NROTC and training cruise on board the USS W.S. Sims FF-1059.

Katee Sackhoff reveals to Sci-Fi Wire a few pieces of information for season 3 of BSG, currently filming in Vancouver, Canada. Look for Starbuck to have a major haircut in season 3.

Meanwhile, the Hollywood North Report updates their Galactica site, and posts MAJOR spoilers for season 3. Only read the report if you don't mind spoilers. They also report:

'According to our BSG source, "the plots are topical and relevant to modern day events...and they are some of the best scripts of BSG to date."'

Season 2 Score

BSG News has posted the cover art for Bear McCreary's season 2 Battlestar Galactica soundtrack from La La Land Records.

Updates

Battlestar Galactica has won the Peabody award.
http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,18736,00.html?fdnews

Listen to Bear McCreary on the Water Cooler TV podcast:
http://www.dtrkprod.com/page15/page15.html

The Golden Toasters are coming:
http://www.goldentoasterawards.hangardeck5.com/

Moore's Blog

Ron Moore has updated his blog quite a bit today. He writes about his speech at the GDC, provides answers in a Q&A, and talks about the new enhanced podcasts, the writer's room podcasts, and future podcast plans.

Read all about it in his blog.

Sci-Fi's Podcast

Ron Moore's Galactica Podcast has been updated this week, with a recording of a writers meeting from July 2005, where Moore and his writing staff hashed out episode 215, "Scar." It's very insightful, as you basically get to sit in on a writer's room meeting. Get it from iTunes or here. (By the way, you can now get an enhanced version of Ron's podcast, with chapter stops and other enhanced features for iTunes and iPods.)

There is more on Ron Moore's talk at the Game Conference here.

And you can see the cover art of the upcoming Battlestar Galactica comic books here and here.

Briefly...

Ron Moore spoke at the GDC and compared and contrasted the old Battlestar with the new Battlestar, and a guy called Zonk took notes.

In other news, the Hugo Nominations for L.A.con IV, the 64th World Science Fiction Convention to be held in Anaheim, California, 23-27 August 2006 have been annouced, and Battlestar Galactica episode 210, Pegasus is nominated for Best Dramatic Presentation (short form).

Moore and Hatch

Ron Moore, head writer and executive producer of Battlestar Galactica, appeared at Creation Entertainment's Grand Slam Scifi Summit convention in Pasadena, California a few weeks ago, and after his appearence on stage he spoke to Pegasus Galaxy about the end of season 2, and prospects for season 3. Among the many interesting things Moore says in the interview, he confirms that Tom Zarek (Richard Hatch) is now Baltar's V.P.

Speaking of Richard Hatch, there's an excellent interview with him at SFX, that took place before season 2.

Message from Bear McCreary

There are a few sites around that have posted links to mp3 files of Bear McCreary's music from season 2 of BSG. Bear wants everyone to be aware that:

These tracks circulating on the internet could have a seriously damaging impact on how well the CD performs. I could tell that these had re-circulated, when I started getting "fan mail" about tracks that I haven't released yet. I have to say it bothers me a lot when fans write me and tell me how much they love the soundtrack and then make it crystal clear that they've never bought any of the albums released.

Please keep in mind that no matter how cool the music is, if the tiny record label (La La Land Records) putting them out can't make enough money... there will be no BG soundtrack albums in the future. Please be aware that downloading these tracks puts future soundtrack albums in serious jeopardy.

I'm in the studio all this month fine tuning and remixing for you guys so that the Season 2 album is going to be even better than the Season 1 soundtrack. Rest assured that you're in for a treat come June. But, please help me out here and stop these files from getting around.

Warm Regards,
-Bear McCreary

Best Episodes

Now that season 2 has concluded, I thought I'd post my list of favorite episodes. As you can see from the list, I like most of the shows. I'm treating them as all equally good, as I don't want to rank them. They are just listed in chronological order. I know a lot of people don't like Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down, but I think it's funny. In fact, it's the only funny episode in the series. (Well, there were also a lot of funny Gaius moments in Six Degrees...) And Edward James Olmos did a great job directing Tigh Me Up... It was like a great stage farce.

I'd also say that the most perfect episodes have to be, Act of Contrition/You Can't Go Home Again; Hand of God; Kobol's Last Gleaming Part 2; Valley of Darkness; the Pegasus-Resurrection Ship arc, Scar, and Lay Down Your Burdens part 2.

As always, it's just my opinion. Your mileage may vary.

At any rate, here's my full list of must-see episodes:

Best of season 1
33
Act of Contrition
You Can't Go Home Again
Six Degrees of Separation
Flesh and Bone
Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down
The Hand of God
Kobol's Last Gleaming 1-2

Best of season 2
Scattered
Valley of Darkness
Fragged
Resistance
The Farm
Home, parts 1-2
Flight of the Phoenix
Pegasus
Resurrection Ship 1-2
Scar
The Captain's Hand
Downloaded
Lay Down Your Burdens, parts 1-2

BSG Humor

On their podcast for Lay Down Your Burdens part 2, Ron Moore and David Eick noted that they were drinking some good stuff: Johnnie Walker Blue Label. (Or was it the Black Label?) Anyway, as their podcast continued on, and as their beverages started to kick in, they made some entertaining jokes. So, to those that have wondered, they were just joking about Olmos not coming back in season 3, and being replaced by CGI. (And they were just joking about season 3 taking place 5 years later.)

Anyway, I've seen some posts on the internets wondering if they were joking or not, so, yes they were. (Just like Eick and Katee Sackhoff were doing one long elaborate joke in Eick's video blog number 20.)

And I think drinking makes the podcasts better. I think I'll start drinking when I record the Galactica Sitrep podcasts.

And Ron and David also did some drinking on their commentaries for early season 1 episodes on the season 1 dvd set. (Since Ron didn't start the commentary podcasts until toward the end of season 1.)

I would have to say drinking always makes commentary tracks much more entertaining. So, to Ron Moore and David Eick, keep up the drinking. Especially if it's expensive good stuff.

IGN review

Eric Goldman in IGN Filmforce reviews Lay Down Your Burdens.

The Sci-Fi Channel has a plan

Galactica Station posted this story today:
'Lay Down Your Burdens-Part II', frakkin' fantastic.

Tue 14th Mar

By Koenigrules

Advancing the clock one year later was a stroke of genius by producer Ron Moore. Womanizing President Baltar has settled on New Caprica with over half of the fleet (and it looks like half the single women as well in his chambers!!!). Apparently, the Cylons have not detected them in the nebula. But complications still arise. Starbuck's husband, Anders, is dying of pneumonia unless Kara can get Pegasus Commander Lee to give up some medical supplies; Galen Tyrol is Union President fighting for the rights of his people, with a pregnant Cally by his side; and, Roslin has gone back into teaching, trying to derive some satisfaction out of her former assignment while being assisted by Maya (who has adopted the Cylon hybrid baby, now named Isis).

But all that changes when a Cylon armada appears overhead and Centurions march into the camp in Nazi-like fashion. Supposedly, when Gina blew herself up and Cloud 9 with the nuclear device Baltar gave her, lingering traces of radiation were detected by the Cylons, hence explaining their presence on New Caprica. Led by the 'changed' Six and Eight (from the earlier 'Downloaded' episode), the machine race plans to hold the humans hostage while they initiate their new plan (whatever that might be). And as the Raiders zoom overhead, all Kara can relate to Galen is that they will fight them until they can't. Wow, what an awesome cliffhanger. And coupled with the impressive special effects, this is sure to go down as one of the best (if not most controversial) episodes of the series for daring to be so different.

One would think that news would not be forthcoming so soon on Galactica's third season, but it did late this week. NowPlayingMagazine interviewed Ron Moore about the direction he would take with the next batch of 20 episodes. Included below are edited highlights of the interview.

First up, Battlestar Galactica will not be Occupation New Caprica for long. While the Cylons will hold the fleet on the planet, a resolution of sorts will occur by the fourth or fifth episode. According to Moore, "I don't think it will take quite as long as it took us to wrap up the arc at the beginning of the second season." The humans will return to the Battlestars Galactica and Pegasus very quickly and resume their journey to Earth.

Secondly, a new arc on the Cylon home world will be introduced. "We're going to do an ongoing Cylon story where we're going to be cutting over to the Cylon world for the first time." As Lucy Lawless (Number Three aka D'anna Biers) is joining the cast for at least 10 episodes, one can only speculate that she will be one of the Cylons on the home world who will try to convince other models that it is the wrong thing to negotiate with the humans. Hopefully, Brother Cavel will show up too; an inside source at the SCI FI Channel has indicated that negotiations are underway to bring back Dean Stockwell to the series in the upcoming season.

Finally, Baltar will further go down the path to darkness and corruption. "[We plan to make him] more of an antagonist." Whether his character will ever reach the depths of depravity as the original figure played by John Colicos has yet to be determined. When asked whether Gaius will be sitting up in a high chair giving orders to the Cylons like Colicos, Moore could only indicate with a chuckle, "I don't know... That's still a possibility."

In other Season 3 news, SCI FI issued a press release earlier this week announcing that it would delay the series premiere until October 2006. (The release is available at thefutoncritic). Immediately, the boards went crazy, with some fans in "gloom and doom" mood. But a SCI FI source told this reviewer that "BSG is going nowhere."

Reasons for the delay in airing the next batch of 20 episodes were provided:
1) SCI FI wants to have original programming throughout the entire year instead of at 10-week intervals; 2) the entire set of Galactica episodes will be shown uninterrupted; 3) SCI FI wants to try out other series that are less arc heavy in BSG's summer timeslot; and 4) it is hoped that a new combo of programs can occur in October, like Season 2 of Dr. Who with Galactica's Season 3. All these reasons make sense to this reviewer. Further, the source indicated that Galactica is their premier show, having reached critical acclaim and bringing recognition to the channel. SCI FI remains hopeful Galactica will last several more seasons, and with this programming move, it very well might.

So remain hopeful, keep watching Galactica and perhaps Who as well, and stay tuned to more developments regarding this exciting show as yours truly continues coverage for many seasons to come.

Posted By Blade Runner

Season 3 News

Ron Moore continued his talk with Now Playing Magazine regarding season 3. He also talked to Sci-Fi Wire about the end of season 2 and plans for season 3.

SyFy Portal reviews, "Lay Down Your Burdens."

Manifesto

I was going to write a brief review of my thoughts on "Lay Down Your Burdens part 2" but, at the root of it, my view is simply this: That Battlestar Galactica isn't science fiction. Rather, it is a drama, that just happens to take place in space. With the season finale, Ron Moore and his team have abandoned all the usual expecations of a SF series season ender. He's re-writing the rules for the sake of taking the story seriously, and and treating the audience like adults. But, instead of me going on and on about it, Ron Moore pretty much laid it all out with the following manifesto that was attached to copies of the script for the Battlestar Galactica mini-series in 2003. It was this manifesto, this mission statement, that really captured Edward James Olmos' imagination, and inspired him to take the part of William Adama . With "Lay Down Your Burdens", Ron Moore has lived up to all the goals he stated here:

Battlestar Galactica:
Naturalistic Science Fiction
or
Taking the Opera out of Space Opera

by Ronald D. Moore

Our goal is nothing less than the reinvention of the science fiction television series. We take as a given the idea that the traditional space opera, with its stock characters, techno-double-talk, bumpy-headed aliens, thespian histrionics, and empty heroics has run its course and a new approach is required. That approach is to introduce realism into what has heretofore been an aggressively unrealistic genre.

Call it "Naturalistic Science Fiction."

This idea, the presentation of a fantastical situation in naturalistic terms, will permeate every aspect of our series:

Visual. The first thing that will leap out at viewers is the dynamic use of the documentary or cinema verite style. Through the extensive use of hand-held cameras, practical lighting, and functional set design, the battlestar Galactica will feel on every level like a real place.

This shift in tone and look cannot be overemphasized. It is our intention to deliver a show that does not look like any other science fiction series ever produced. A casual viewer should for a moment feel like he or she has accidentally surfed onto a "60 Minutes" documentary piece about life aboard an aircraft carrier until someone starts talking about Cylons and battlestars.

That is not to say we're shooting on videotape under fluorescent lights, but we will be striving for a verisimilitude that is sorely lacking in virtually every other science fiction series ever attempted. We're looking for filmic truth, not manufactured "pretty pictures" or the "way cool" factor.

Perhaps nowhere will this be more surprising than in our visual effects shots. Our ships will be treated like real ships that someone had to go out and film with a real camera. That means no 3-D "hero" shots panning and zooming wildly with the touch of a mousepad. The questions we will ask before every VFX shot are things like: "How did we get this shot? Where is the camera? Who's holding it? Is the cameraman in another spacecraft? Is the camera mounted on the wing?" This philosophy will generate images that will present an audience jaded and bored with the same old "Wow -- it's a CGI shot!" with a different texture and a different cinematic language that will force them to re-evaluate their notions of science fiction.

Finally, our visual style will also capitalize on the possibilities inherent in the series concept itself to deliver unusual imagery not typically seen in this genre. That is, the inclusion of a variety of civilian ships each of which will have unique properties and visual references that can be in stark contrast to the military life aboard Galactica. For example, we have a vessel in our rag-tag fleet which was designed to be a space-going marketplace or "City Walk" environment. The juxtaposition of this high-gloss, sexy atmosphere against the gritty reality of a story for survival will give us more textures and levels to play than in typical genre fare.

Editorial. Our style will avoid the now clichéd MTV fast-cutting while at the same time foregoing Star Trek's somewhat ponderous and lugubrious "master, two-shot, close-up, close-up, two-shot, back to master" pattern. If there is a model here, it would be vaguely Hitchcockian -- that is, a sense of building suspense and dramatic tension through the use of extending takes and long masters which pull the audience into the reality of the action rather than the distract through the use of ostentatious cutting patterns.

Story. We will eschew the usual stories about parallel universes, time-travel, mind-control, evil twins, God-like powers and all the other clichés of the genre. Our show is first and foremost a drama. It is about people. Real people that the audience can identify with and become engaged in. It is not a show about hardware or bizarre alien cultures. It is a show about us. It is an allegory for our own society, our own people and it should be immediately recognizable to any member of the audience.

Science. Our spaceships don't make noise because there is no noise in space. Sound will be provided from sources inside the ships -- the whine of an engine audible to the pilot for instance. Our fighters are not airplanes and they will not be shackled by the conventions of WWII dogfights. The speed of light is a law and there will be no moving violations.

And finally, Character. This is perhaps, the biggest departure from the science fiction norm. We do not have "the cocky guy" "the fast-talker" "the brain" "the wacky alien sidekick" or any of the other usual characters who populate a space series. Our characters are living, breathing people with all the emotional complexity and contradictions present in quality dramas like "The West Wing" or "The Sopranos." In this way, we hope to challenge our audience in ways that other genre pieces do not. We want the audience to connect with the characters of Galactica as people. Our characters are not super-heroes. They are not an elite. They are everyday people caught up in a enormous cataclysm and trying to survive it as best they can.

They are you and me.

Chief Tyrol's Labor Speech

A very slight re-working of this speech was used on Friday's Galactica finale for the Chief's labor speech:

"There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!"

--From the conclusion of Mario Savio's memorable speech, before Free Speech Movement demonstrators entered Sproul Hall to begin their sit-in on December 3, 1964.

Hear the speech. (in Real Player.)