The Fedcon Con

Apparently, this weekend in Dallas for FedConUSA, was a complete and total disaster. SyFy Portal has been all over the story, so click their stories here, here, here, and here for all the details.

James Callis who was scheduled to appear released a detailed statement to the message board of his unofficial fan site. Key excerpts:

Sorry to anyone who bought a ticket to this gig.

I had been expecting to go to Dallas for Fedcon for ages! - so in the week coming up - I was surprised that I hadn't heard anything from the promoters via my agent -

At this stage filming for Battlestar is very hectic and Jamie Bamber and myself will be directing webisodes - which is also taking prep time, organization etc.

So with a convention planned mid schedule - I just want things to be as easy as possible.

No tickets and radio silence - were not encouraging signs

It seems that the organizers had no real intention of bringing Aaron [Douglas] and myself to Dallas after a certain point (whenever that was?) that it became commercially un-viable for them to to do so.

But Aaron and I NEVER CANCELED THEM! -

This is not the first time this has happened to me.

Last year I was set to attend FEDCON in Germany - at the last minute - they canceled me. But I was told I had canceled!

Needles to say it's the fans that get the raw deal.

Sorry again for the confusion - but up until the last minute on Friday I was still waiting for a plane ticket - a ride to the airport - and a hotel booking in Dallas. None of which materialized. There was some conversation during the afternoon about if I was willing to buy my own flight there and get reimbursed -

- Yeah.

These people are just brazen

After this kind of fiasco - I for one am going to be a lot more careful what I am going to commit to...

All conventions on the material side are about making money

But on the other side there's something great about all these collections of people/fans and attendees - a common bond through the spirit of ideas and fantasy.

But making money shouldn't include short changing or ripping off your clients- actually more than your clients, "your guests". On level of Karma then the whole thing breaks down - which is exactly what has happened in Dallas at FEDCON this weekend.

Be well

When your planning to go to a convention, do research into the reputation and history of the organizers before spending your money.

ETA: A report on the happenings at FedCon from Trek Movie Report. Also, in the comments, Meshel73 provides links to Aaron Douglas's comments posted on FedCon's message board here, here, and here.

Eddie & Mary

YouTuber Sczep84 has several videos from an old panel at the Paley Center with Ron Moore, David Eick, Mary McDonnell, and Edward James Olmos discussion of the series. (Katee Sackhoff and other cast members were on the panel, but not included in these clips.)

Mary McDonnell talks about the reality of BSG, and how that drew her to the role.

Ron and David discuss casting Mary and Eddie.

Eddie shares he thoughts on the show about his initial reluctance to do science fiction, how the title Battlestar Galactica made him want to run the other way, the impact of seeing Latinos in the future, and he talked about the monumental quality of the show and aging Adama.

Apparently every BSG panel Paley has ever done are available to view at both the LA & NY Centers.

Going Forward

From BSG co-exec producer Mark Verheiden's blog:

I couldn't resist poking around the internets a little in the aftermath of last night's mid-season finale episode, "Revelations," to see what there was see. Happily, most folks seem pleased with the episode, and that's gratifying. A few were wondering, hey, how can they top that? Where can the rag-tag fleet go from there?

Well, suffice to say there are at least 11 hours in the hopper that take us "from there," and the next/last round of episodes are, if anything, even more intense and personal than what's come before. All bets are off, nothing's out of bounds, and nobody (I mean nobody) is safe...

Ron's Oath

From Sprocket762's YouTube channel.

Bridges in time

Thanks to reader Callum for sending us this very interesting "Revelations" frame grab and comparison photo...It is a long hiatus, and fans will have plenty of time to look closely at the details. Or keep their minds on the bigger picture. Or a bit of both.

“I want the audience to work. I ask them to see the film from the beginning and devote their full attention to it, treating it with the same respect they would give a painting, a symphony or any other work of art. I treat them with the same respect by inviting them to search for their own meanings instead of insulting their intelligence with obvious explanations.”
– Michelangelo Antonioni


"Unless you are educated in metaphor,
you are not safe to be let loose in the world."
-- Robert Frost, Education By Poetry

Bear's Revelations Score

Here's composer Bear McCreary's essay about the music for the mid-season finale, Revelations.

Some Reviews

Alan Sepinwall posted his review of REVELATIONS on his blog, What's Alan Watching. (Also look through the comments to his review to read The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan's first reaction to the episode.)

TV Squad chimes in on the amazing episode.

Scott Ian posted brief reaction on his blog, promising more later.

We'll publish more reviews, as they come in.

As of this moment, Bear McCreary hasn't written anything about his extraordinary score for Revelations. But, he has announced that there will soon be soundtrack albums available of his music for Terminator: TSCC, and Eureka.

Check out some video highlights of the Ron Moore/Katee Sackhoff/Mary McDonnell/Trica Helfer panel discussion at the Cinerama Dome at Daphne's Adventures on YouTube.

4.5 tease

A short promo teasing season 4.5 that ran tonight.



HT to ddt73.

Extra minute tonight?

I just got a tip from PopCritics that we might want to set our DVRs to tape BSG long tonight -- apparently it will run one minute longer than usual.

Meanwhile, please feel free to come here later after you see "Revelations" and let us know what you think! Logan and I sure enjoyed it.

I was just gonna say that.

I was just going to do a quick post on something I read about Thursday's Dome event, when BSG writer/producer Jane Espenson beat me to it...

Before the screening began, Ron Moore got up and made everyone promise to keep the secrets they were about to learn a full two days before the official broadcast. He had everyone raise their right hands and repeat an oath beginning, "I, state your name...". So everyone, of course, said, "I, state your name..." As he knew they would. It was a sweet moment of shared smart-assery, as Ron knew it would be.

It made me think about some things, that moment. How often does a crowd get a chance to be funny? Being funny as a group with no prior planning is ridiculously difficult. ...So why does the "state your name" joke work? Because the audience knows the bit. I am not coming up with where exactly I've seen the bit before, but I certainly have. Taxi, perhaps? Perfect Strangers?

I know where I've seen that bit before:



[RIP Harvey Korman]


Meanwhile, check out this other interesting post by Jane, wherein she explains how the BSG writer/producers move back and forth between LA and Vancouver to work on eps. Cool behind the scenes stuff.

Under the Dome

BSG co-exec producer and writer Mark Verheiden reports on the night at the Arclight Cinerama Dome.

Trek Movie Report has part one of a two part exclusive interview with Ronald D. Moore about his work on Star Trek, BSG, and future projects. (Audio of the interview is also available on the Trek Movie Report site.)

Trek Movie Report also teases tonight's episode REVELATIONS.

TV Guide's Anna Dimond interviewed Katee Sackhoff who wants closure on Battlestar Galactica:

TVGuide.com: After four years on this show, how has it changed you, personally?

Katee Sackhoff: I've learned a lot about myself. I've learned that being away from home for five years is hard. I've learned that relationships take work — friendships and romantic relationships. I think I've learned, with the little success that we've had with the show, that everything's relative, that family's more important. And that's an important thing to learn about yourself. I think we all move to California with these grandiose ideas of excelling at out craft and what we do. I learned along the way that what's most important is what I had back home [in Oregon].

Amrie Cunningham of TV Addict talked to Rekha Sharma:

TV Addict: What can you tease about the finale?
It’s not what you expect it’s going to be. Much like the show has been, there are a lot of surprises. The surprises that are coming, you know as an actor playing them, was like Oh my God what is going on. Reading the script that we’re about to shoot. We just had the final read through on Thursday of last week. It was an amazing read through. Every emotion you could go through, I think went through that room.

BSG FX artist Mojo compares the original Battlestar Galactica to... a cheeseburger.

Follow up on news and rumors

Two of our favorite Professional Fangrrls, Maureen Ryan at The Chicago Tribune and Jennifer Godwin at E!Online, have taken things a tad further in the news department this week by prodding their own sources.

From Ryan:

According to well-informed sources, it’s almost certain that at least one “Battlestar Galactica” TV movie will be made this year.

Here’s even better news: The last-ever episode of “Battlestar” will run three hours, which means that final part of Season 4 will be 11 hours long....

Regarding the “Battlestar” TV movie, as "Razor" did, it will probably air on Sci Fi first then be released on DVD within days (the preceding sentence was updated with new information from a Sci Fi rep). There’s no word on who will be in the movie, what it will be about and when it will air. All of that is still to be determined.

From Godwin:

I talked to Dave Howe, Sci Fi Channel president, and you guys are definitely going to have to wait half a year for the final 10 episodes of Battlestar Galactica. He told me that, "[It will premiere] first quarter next year—we haven't fixed a final date, but we don't want to keep the fans waiting too long."

...The proposed Battlestar Galactica spinoff Caprica (starring Esai Morales, Paula Malcolmson and Eric Stotlz) is officially still just a two-hour movie, but based strictly on the enthusiasm of Howe and NBC Universal chief of cable programming Bonnie Hammer, I'd say that Caprica is getting picked up. Howe wasn't making any promises yet, but he said, "Based on the casting and the writing and talent involved, I think it's going to be spectacular." Hammer agrees that it's good stuff: "The dailies look amazing." Yay!

Both pieces have other fun tidbits...go on over and read them fully!

TGIF folks.

*happy dancing*

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.

A year on CAPRICA? Let's hope so.

The Doctor and Mrs Who radio show folks were at it again last night, dropping news that they assure us is from a reliable source.

Their sources tell them that CAPRICA has already received a 13 episode series order while the 2-hour "backdoor pilot" film is still shooting this month in Vancouver.

I'll let you in on a little secret of my own: like the Watch With Kristin folks, I have also managed to get my hands on the CAPRICA pilot script (dated 2006). And peoples, let me tell you, it is GOOD. You will be very, very pleased. Without spoiling anything further, I will say that Watch With Kristin was quite accurate in their descriptions of characters and concepts. But they left out a few truly fascinating wider story elements that will give BATTLESTAR GALACTICA fans a ton more to ponder and chew on. It will give you some cool new perspective on BSG -- and I say this before even seeing "Revelations," not to mention 4.5.

Based on what I read, the casting is ABSOLUTELY PERFECT all around. I can't wait to see how it turns out. And for those of you who sort of freaked out about the DALLAS or AMERICAN BEAUTY comparisons -- yes, it is a drama. But it is a Sci Fi drama, and other comparisons come to mind, such as thought-provoking films METROPOLIS and A.I., and even some aspects of MINORITY REPORT. Now remember, I only read a script so I can't say how it will look, feel, etc. But they've got a powerful starting point with these words on paper. Be happy.

Whether we see a 13-episode series, or just 2 hours of CAPRICA, BSG fans will be getting a fascinating new window opened up on Caprican (and Tauron) society. Meanwhile the show's look and design is apparently in the capable hands of BSG miniseries Cinematographer Joel Ransom and BSG series Production Designer Richard Hudolin. I hope the awesome digital effects team currently working on BSG will have time to jump in on CAPRICA's effects.

And if they do go to series, let's cross our fingers that some of our favorite writers go on staff, huh?


Speaking of Richard Hudolin: io9 recently featured him in their piece 10 Hollywood Designers to Watch Out For.

Revelations

SevorTB posted to YouTube a short advert for REVELATIONS:


Scifistorm provides the What the Frak Happened on BSG for THE HUB:


Scifi.com's live streaming of the entire episode of REVELATIONS starts here at this link at 9 AM to 4 PM eastern time. (6 AM to 1 PM pacific time.)

Let us know your thoughts and reactions to the episode in the comments to this post.

Reviews of The Hub

Alan Sepinwall writing for The Star-Ledger praises Mary McDonell's work in "The Hub" written by Jane Espenson and directed by Paul Edwards.

At this late date in the lifespan of "Battlestar Galactica," what superlatives are left to describe the work of Mary McDonnell? How can I praise this performance week after week, season after season, and capture how much better it keeps getting without sounding like a sycophantic broken record?

Here's the best I've got, really: if this were baseball, I'd start suspecting her of using steroids or HGH, because in recent weeks she's gone from late '90s Barry Bonds (consistently brilliant, but in a way that almost makes you take her for granted) to early '00s Barry Bonds (jaw-droppingly, insanely, don't-dare-change-the-channel amazing). Mary's head is still the same size, but somehow, she's found a way to take her game to a new level of late. I am so grateful that we get to watch her play this character.

New York Magazine joins in the Adama/Roslin ship:

As a serious remake of a campy seventies sci-fi show, Battlestar has defied expectations from the start. So it’s fitting that as we move closer to the big finale, this season is becoming something we never expected: a love story between two of its oldest characters.

Brittany a reviewer for TwoCents wrote:

Could someone please hand Mary McDonnell an Emmy? Just hand it right to her because there’s no need to go through a selection process or a nominee category. I can’t begin to express accurately how amazing she was in this episode (take her performance in Taking a Break From All Your Worries and multiply it by about ten thousand.), and while we’re at it, let’s just hand Edward James Olmos an Emmy too. He was in this episode for all of a few minutes, but it was the powerful last scene that should sway Emmy voters.

Marc Bernardin in Entertainment Weekly observed:

I liked this episode far better than I liked the last one for a host of reasons, not the least of which was that we had but one story to follow: Laura and the Lost Boys taking down the hub. Period. Yes, Battlestar Galactica can be a masterful show when it comes to juggling its various plot strands and keeping its vast and stellar ensemble busy. But there's also something to be said for picking one tale and following it through.

IGN noted:

Buffy alumni Jane Espenson wrote this episode, and like Buffy, there was humor intermixed with the drama, mostly thanks to some very funny moments between Baltar, Roslin and the Hybrid – James Callis was hysterical making his demands of the Hybrid and insisting he was getting through to her, as an exasperated Laura began mimicking him. On the more odd side was Balter essentially preaching to a Cylon Centurion – I don't know if I quite buy Baltar doing this unprovoked, but then again, this is Baltar, who thinks of himself as, essentially, the voice of the god the Cylons pray to. As it turned out, that Centurion was destroyed, but one wonders how close it was from going on a Baltar-fueled rampage, as he told it how it was serving as a slave.

Other reviews and recaps of The Hub from FlickFilosopher, The House Next Door, TV Squad, The L.A. Times Show Tracker, PopCritics, Galactica Variants, SyFy Portal, Battlestar Galactica Review Blog, Zap2It, TV Fodder, TV with MeeVee, Hollyscoop, BuddyTV CinemaBlend, and a picspam, review and sceencaps by The Justiner.

Do we deserve to exist?

Writing for Mental Floss, Sam J. Miller has written a brilliant piece of analysis comparing and contrasting Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica:

Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica have wildly different aesthetics and ideologies, and both aspire to very different goals. Fundamentally, it boils down to this: Star Trek is about who we want to be, and Battlestar Galactica is about who we are.

Star Trek takes place in a world where all the ugly things about human existence have been erased....

That’s why the world of Battlestar Galactica feels so fresh, and so challenging. People still drink too much, and beat their spouses, and work too hard, and hate their bosses, and distrust the government, and fear death. The crew of the Galactica is not boldly exploring the universe for exploring’s sake, learning about fascinating new cultures and inviting alien species to join the benevolent Federation of Planets. It’s running away from a race of genocidal robots bent on their complete annihilation, while trying to maintain some shred of humanity and civilization.

...The apocalypse obsesses us. These days, the idea of society’s total collapse has broad traction across the political spectrum. Even Oprah’s worried—that’s why she picked Cormac McCarthy’s The Road for her book club. No getting around it: we’re afraid. We want to prepare ourselves mentally. We buy batteries. We lap up every new zombies-destroy-humanity movie. All of a sudden, it’s disturbingly easy to imagine the human race reduced from billions of people to tens of thousands. These days, Battlestar Galactica’s warning that technology and progress will bring us to the brink of total annihilation is far more resonant than Star Trek’s hope that technology and progress will solve all of our problems.

Star Trek doesn’t pretend that human beings are perfect—prior to the discovery of the Warp Engine, Earth had been brought back to the edge of the Stone Age by the “Eugenics Wars”—but it does take for granted that human beings are good, and that history represents a fumbling messy sort of progress towards perfection. What makes Battlestar Galactica so haunting is the existential question it poses to all of us: “Do we deserve to exist?” In light of Auschwitz and Darfur and the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, Tibet and 9/11 and Abu Ghraib and global warming, can we honestly say we don’t deserve total destruction? That we’ll learn? That we’ll change? Early on, Galactica’s commander wonders: “When we fought the Cylons, we did it to save ourselves from extinction. But we never answered the question Why? Why are we as a people worth saving?”

Pulling excerpts of Miller's piece really doesn't do it justice. Click here to read his complete amazing essay. You'll definitely want to read the whole thing.

In other news, James Callis talked to The Onion A.V. Club about Gaius Baltar.

(Also of note at their site is a two part interview with the great writer Harlan Ellison here and here.)

Also, Tricia Helfer appears in the video Dance With Me by the Old 97's from their album Blame It On Gravity.

More about these TV movies

So people are wondering what is going on with these rumored BATTLESTAR GALACTICA movies, especially after last night's Dome event and the vaguely positive statements Ron Moore made during the panel.

Sitrep's sources are telling us that the BSG writer/producers just got contracts from the studio for these three TV movies today. This is a "step deal" which means the studio can greenlight one, two or three of the proposed films as they like. The BSG team has made a "pay or play" deal for the first film -- that means it is very likely the first film is a go, people!

Given that everyone's contracts are ending with the series wrap this month, I would imagine the studio would never have offered actual contracts without checking with cast and crew to determine feasability.

In other words: forget your hiatus, c'mon get happy.

BTW, we've got a poll running on our right-side column asking what you'd like to see in these TV movies - please vote!

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.

We're All Verklempt

From The National Ledger:

Emotions are high on the set of "Battlestar Galactica" as the troupe wraps up the last few episodes for this final season, reports Rekha Sharma. "One of the writers came up to me on the last day of one of the episodes and started saying goodbye, and it was like a shot to my stomach," says the actress, who plays the aide/advisor to President Roslin (Mary McDonnell) on the show that's garnered an Emmy and Peabody Award during its five-year run. "I said, 'Stop, please. Save it for the end because I can't take it. I was about to bubble up into tears. It's been such an awesome ride. It's wonderful to work on a show that's going to end with such integrity. There are shows that started off good, then petered out, but that won't be the case with this one."

She says, "I just read the ending, and it's so ----ing beautiful ... at one point my heart was racing for about 10 pages, then for 10 pages I was crying. I was on the plane, and the person next to me probably thought I was insane. It's intense. It's a kind of resolution to all the storylines, but at the same time it's like life, life does go on."

From Aint It Cool News Dome coverage (warning--spoilery article):

Hercules Is Gobsmacked By Friday’s Mind-Roastingly Intense Five-Star BATTLESTAR GALACTICA Mid-Season Finale!!

...the script for the series finale made Edward James Olmos and Aaron Douglas cry, according to Helfer. Helfer describes her own reaction to the finale script: “Like somebody punched me in the stomach.” Helfer said the ending will compel fans to revisit the series’ beginning.

...McDonnell said the series finale script filled her with “an incredible feeling of adrenaline.” “It made me understand the entire saga, and made me excited for all of you,” she told the audience. She added she was “blown away” by it.

Oh, man. I may have to start some other blog as a diversion, if we are truly headed into another 5-8 month hiatus. *mixed emotions of separation anxiety and unbounded geekgrrl happy*