15 More Days

[Los Angeles billboard on Santa Monica at Van Ness; photo via friend of the blog Luke]

Webisodes 6 & 7 (Hulu and YouTube)

The webisodes recently got some good press, with the New York Times saying the series "could serve as a model of the Webisode genre" and applauding the care taken on the 'sodes. The Boston Herald calls it "gripping storytelling" and thinks the 'sodes are "a nice way to reward fans for their patience" during the hiatus...Bravo.

Oh and Canucks? Space is now rolling out the 'sodes as well, over here.

A few more holiday treats...

Can be found over here today.

Ron Speaks

Two new interviews with Ron Moore are on the interwebs as we get to the final weeks of waiting.

This Sci Fi Scanner chat covers a range of topics; Moore opens up about one of the themes of BSG that will actually continue into CAPRICA*:

Scanner: You admitted recently that Battlestar's themes of faith and religion were something the network requested after reading a line in the miniseries. How did it evolve?

Moore: It was very natural. At Trek I was always trying to work in those angles and blur peoples' religions, but it was very much not a part of what Trek was about -- it just wasn't part of Gene's vision. It appealed to me because science fiction shows just didn't go there. I thought the idea of robots who believe in God was just a fascinating concept. And then I really liked the idea of the polytheists versus the monotheists, and that the monotheists were actually the "bad guys" because there's certain repetition in Western society of the one God driving out the many. There were just layers and layers to play with.

[* How do we know this? See here.]



He also addresses two items that some fans have worried over intensely: the final cylon reveal…and Moore’s now infamous love of the ending of THE SOPRANOS. To the former, he fesses up that “the ‘Who Shot JR’ of it all” will undoubtably set some of you viewers up for a letdown (and that the reveal is coming before the end of the series). And as for the fear that he wanted to end his show the way David Chase did?

Moore: I felt like the series I was telling, unlike The Sopranos, had a beginning, middle and end. So as much as I love The Sopranos, I never seriously thought that was an option for us because it's just not part of our narrative. Theirs was about these characters' lives that presumably were going to continue beyond the final fadeout. Our finale will be the end of our narrative, the period at the end of the sentence.

There is also a three-part interview with Zap2It. In part one, Moore talks mainly about the upcoming TREK movie by JJ Abrams. In part two, he discusses CAPRICA and how he felt when the series pickup was confirmed…

"I was delighted when the 'Caprica' pickup came," said Moore. "I was delighted that the 'Battlestar' universe would continue, and I could continue to play in that world, much more than I thought I would. I really thought of them as very separate projects, very separate moods and feelings to them, and I really wasn't connecting one to the other.

But when the pickup came, I'd already completed most of the post-production work on the remaining episodes of 'Galactica.' It was something to look forward to and go, 'Wow, there really is something more to tell in this world.'"

Of course, the whole theme of "Battlestar Galactica" is humanity coping after the fall, but "Caprica" goes back to when the residents of the 12 Colonies are riding high. Asked if this poses a challenge in finding the right tone while retaining the "Galactica" flavor, Moore says, "'Caprica' is a period piece in 'Galactica' terms. The way the pilot turned out, so strong, and the fact that it did feel like it stood on its own two feet and was a genuinely different period of time to deal with...I don't know. I liked the vibe of it."

"I'm very encouraged to see what we can do."

In part three, Moore talks about what BSG taught him and the rest of his team about making genre TV, complicated and/or anti-heroic TV characters, getting an audience to follow you anywhere…and how the entire BSG cast and crew took full ownership of their show:

"The hours don't mater; the money doesn't really matter; nothing matters except that credit. You can say, 'I was on that show.' You can look back and say, '"Battlestar Galactica," I'm proud of that.' I wanted everybody to sign on it when they came aboard, and I think they did.
 I think it shows in the product. It is informed by good decisions of hundreds of people beyond me, who made decisions on every little piece, on every prop, on every costume, every visual-effects shot, every sound effect, on and on and on.

All these people took great pride in what they were doing, and they wanted it to be the best it could possibly be."

So say we all.

[HT nerdgod]

Late Christmas Gift

Yes, the rumor is true: several webisodes have (accidentally we assume) been posted here ahead of their official premiere.  You can see eps 6, 7, 8...and 10.  9 is missing.  Better hurry!

20 More Days

::eager::

By the way...I don't know what this means. Or this.
But ain't it fun to wonder.


[Los Angeles BSG billboards spotted on corner of
Santa Monica and Vine; photos by our friend Kraig]

Saturnalia

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, joyous Kwanzaa from the Galactica Sitrep:

Webisode 5 (Hulu and YouTube)

Webisode: Face of the Enemy #5.





W/Espenson commentary:


And, some new trailers also via SevorTB:

What are friends for?

h/t SevorTB.

Webisode 4 (Hulu & Youtube)

Enhanced version

BSG Auction

All I Want for Christmas

Is this.

(Well, OK, also this, this, and this. But mainly that first thing.)

Promo photos

The first set of promo photos for season 4.5, episode 413 "Sometimes a Great Notion," have surfaced. Many thanks to uberfan dryope for sharing with us hoi polloi.

Katee Sackhoff Q&A, Part 2

What does it mean?

10 second promo, SevorTB.

More Better. And Jane.

Time Out NY thinks BATTLESTAR GALACTICA was the best show on TV this year. (And that the characters on FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS are like unicorns. And that Gaeta's song was really, really good.)

The Los Angeles Times thinks finding Earth on BSG was one of the best moments on TV this year.

Jane Espenson has been busy talking to Sci Fi Wire about THE PLAN, the webisodes, and her new gig working on DOLLHOUSE. So busy is Jane, in fact, that she's apparently ending her blog on TV writing.

Another busy one: Mark Sheppard, who spoke with iF Magazine about his work on the new show LEVERAGE, as well as the BSG finale and his parts on DOLLHOUSE and MEDIUM. 

Random Mary McDonnell-related sidenote: the director's cut of DONNIE DARKO hits Blu-Ray early next year.

Webisode 3 (YouTube)

With writer commentary:


h/t BSG blog.

Webisode 3 (Hulu)

[res-fanatic update o' the day: after comparing the full-screen streams on Hulu and SciFi.com again today, there is pretty much no difference now, IMHO. But sorry SciFi: Hulu still pwns -- they let me EMBED. ;-P ]

Cool New Promos

From SevorTB.

This won't surprise any of us...

...but it is all fun to read, regardless:

• Time Magazine picks BATTLESTAR GALACTICA as one of the Top Ten TV Shows of 2008.

• Newsweek reflects on how BATTLESTAR GALACTICA will be remembered as one of the great works of post-9/11 American art. [HT Verheiden.]
  

• MediaPost reports on new TV audience research that reveals BATTLESTAR GALACTICA has "a whopping 53% of its household viewing -- more than half of its overall viewing -- watching after its original episode premiere" on DVRs. The highest time-shifted viewership in all of televisionland, according to Nielsen Media Research.
  

Webisode 2 (Hulu)

[Note for resolution fanatics only: as reader Jeremy pointed out the other day, it does seem that the SciFi.com stream has improved almost to match the standard-def Hulu stream. But my money's still on Hulu, as their full-screen mode remains the larger on my Mac monitor. Fanatics unite!]

Webisode 2 (YouTube)

With Espenson commentary:


h/t tracyloowho via BSG blog.

Entire series for $99

The Amazon sale on Seasons 1-3 plus RAZOR on DVD has now gone down to a pretty frakkin great price of $99.

Webisode One / Hulu

This may seem a tad picky...but for anyone else who appreciates BATTLESTAR GALACTICA's wondrous visual effects shots, let it be noted for the record that Hulu's webisode stream looks MUCH better on full-screen mode than either SciFi.com or YouTube versions. I realize none of us fanatics would wait out the 1-4 day delay for vids to show up on Hulu...but it's definitely worth a second look once it posts there. Thanks to reader redwards95 for pointing out that the webisodes are also posting to Hulu's even better-looking HD high-res 480p stream, if your connection can handle it.

[How to go full-screen on a Hulu vid: watch the ad and get the vid started. Hover cursor over vid and when vid menu appears, press the full-screen icon in upper right corner of screen. To return to small-screen view, press reduce-screen icon in lower right corner; or press the Escape button on your keyboard. The other way to do all this: click on the vid while it's playing to pop up a new Hulu window, and use it to switch to full-screen view. To get to the 480p high-res stream, you must open this new Hulu window, and select the 480p icon on the lower right corner.]

Webisode One

With commentary from writer Jane Espenson:


Videos from SevorTB.

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

Virtuality…and a few random items

There are some crumbs of news this week about another show we BSG fans are keeping our eyes out for: Ron Moore and Michael Taylor’s VIRTUALITY. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Fox is looking at the pilot now and it “might stay in consideration for May and be reworked as a more mainstream drama.”

Hmm. Is that news is making you even more nervous than Fox’s previous announcement about DOLLHOUSE getting a death slot? Well here’s something that might cheer you up: through some random googling, Sitrep has discovered that Wendy & Lisa are working on the musical score to the VIRTUALITY pilot. Which will be great stuff, I'm sure. (W&L fans out there: apparently they are also about to release a new record, their first in 10 years). Wendy & Lisa's music has been featured on HEROES, CARNIVALE, CROSSING JORDAN, and they are also working on the new Showtime series NURSE JACKIE with Edie Falco.


More off the wireless...

Polly Walker (CAPRICA) has become a BSG fan while catching up on the show, and is looking forward to going to fandom conventions. And we are looking forward to having you, my dear!

Jane Espenson, BSG writer, BSG webisode writer, and writer of the post-series TV film BSG: THE PLAN, will be a guest on SyFy Radio December 18th.

Galactica.TV has been posting tons of new interviews during the long hiatus, including Michelle Forbes (Cain), Carl Lumbly ("Bulldog")...and Tiffany Lyndall Knight (The Hybrid).

Bear McCreary’s score music for TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES is now available on CD…and you can have Bear sign one for you this Saturday in Los Angeles.

Speaking of Los Angeles…if you’re going to be in town for the huge Props and Costumes auction the weekend of January 16-18, 2009, you should definitely hang with the BSGcast folks because they are planning some fun stuff to celebrate the season premiere and preview the auction. I may be in L.A. for that, fingers crossed...

Holiday Merch Alert, part 1: Amazon has a big sale right now on BATTLESTAR GALACTICA DVDs: you can buy seasons 1 through 3 plus the TV film RAZOR, for a total of $121.99. Catch the frak up! (HT /Film)



Holiday Merch Alert, part 2: did you know that the NBCU-SciFi store has released a new version of the infamous Frakkin' Toaster? And this version puts WORDS on your toast?

Looks like something Starbuck would use to cook
your Valentine's Day breakfast, don't it?

Oh and speaking of DOLLHOUSE and that, erm, "death slot"...have all of you heard the news? There's going to be an exciting new "Sci Fi Friday" happening, starting Friday February 13, 2009. That's when the following 3-hour block of TV will suddenly coalesce across two TV networks:

FOX, 8pm: TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES
(mid-season return)

FOX, 9pm: DOLLHOUSE
(series premiere)

SCI FI, 10pm: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
(already in progress bbs!)

Pretty nerdalicious. We BSG fans are so comfy in the death slot already, aren't we? Not only will I stay home on Fridays for this lineup -- I might not even use my DVR. ::gasp:: It's worth pointing out the number of BSG alumni who will be spread across those two earlier hours: Jane Espenson...Tahmoh Penikett...Mark Sheppard...Toni Graphia...Stephanie Jacobsen...

First new Q&A pops up

This time it's Part 1 of Katee Sackhoff.

If you live in Portland, Oregon...

...I want to punch you. j/k


Via friend of the blog anno-superstar:

Cort & Fatboy (who I keep telling you to go listen to on a daily basis) have some great news for you PDX BSG lovers! Every Friday at the Bagdad Theater in Portland, OR, starting January 16th, Cort & Fatboy are gonna have a big, free, Galactica viewing party on the big screen. You gotta be 21 and over to attend because the Bagdad Theater is a brewpub.

Will anyone step up in NY or LA and do this? We shall see.

I am not making this up. I swear.

I'm not, Mark Verheiden said it!

BSG (now CSI) writer Bradley Thompson went and got hitched the other night, and he did so in grand style. The officiator was none other than Admiral Adama himself, Edward James Olmos, in a ceremony that concluded with a rousing "SO SAY WE ALL!" It was a great party and a blast to see so many members of the BSG cast and crew again. Reminding me that BSG will be back for the final episodes starting in January!

Congrats to Bradley and the new Missus, who we are assuming is the delightful lady known on the Sci Fi message boards as Mexichick. Cheers!

(BTW, MV also has a few comments about the first ep coming up when Season 4.5 starts on January 16th...Sounds great.)

Catch The Frak Up

Need a refresher on the show before it starts next month? SciFi has updated their WHAT THE FRAK'S THE DEAL WITH BSG? video and now it's called CATCH THE FRAK UP.  Ferreals.

Meanwhile a page has gone live for the BSG season 4.5 webisodes, which begin this Friday at Noon EST.

It's happening, people...I can see the light at the end of the hiatus tunnel...

Clips we've been waiting for

Ron Moore (and Joss Whedon and Seth MacFarlane) on the season premiere of ROBOT CHICKEN...Warning: so, so NSFW.


Clip one:

Clip two (near the end):

A peek at Katee Sackhoff on NIP/TUCK's new season, which starts January 6.

[HT to Whedonesque and BSG Blog for the links.]

Season 4.5 clips on SciFi Channel tonight

The always dedicated fan SevorTB has uploaded two BATTLESTAR GALACTICA season 4.5 preview clips that aired tonight during the broadcast of STARGATE ATLANTIS and SANCTUARY. Enjoy!

Katee from Comic Con

io9 presented some speculations and observations about the final 5, and posted this Access Hollywood video of Katee Sackhoff talking generally about the final episodes of Battlestar Galactica:


Gizmodo ponders the size of the International Space Station as compared to SF spacecraft including the Battlestar Galactica.



If you've never seen the ISS fly over from the ground, click here to see when the station will pass over your area.

Auction catalog live this week

The entire BATTLESTAR GALACTICA Props & Costumes Auction catalog is now available for download in PDF format over at the Propworx site. Man, if only I had a few extra Gs lying around...this is just a frakkin amazing offer. (ETA: this fan warns there may be some spoilers buried in the fine print descriptions of some items...you have been warned. I still haven't gotten past just looking at all the pretty pictures...ETA2: here's a discussion of one of the spoilers, which I haven't read.)

At least most of us can afford the printed catalog, available for purchase beginning next week. According to Propworx there will be additional photos and information going live at www.auctionnetwork.com shortly as well.

Of note in the catalog foreword is mention of several BSG production crew panel events happening in Los Angeles during the live auction weekend:


PREVIEW DAY
Friday, January 16, 2009

Panels:

Richard Hudolin, Production Designer 11:00 a.m.
Ken Hawryliw, Prop Master 12:00 p.m.
Doug McLean, Art Director 1:00 p.m.
Jonathan Lancaster, Set Decorator 2:00 p.m.
Glenne Campbell, Costume Designer 4:00 p.m.

SciFi Channel greenlights CAPRICA to series

From Variety this evening:

Sci Fi Channel has greenlit "Caprica," the much-anticipated prequel to hit series "Battlestar Galactica."

"Caprica" will star Eric Stoltz, Esai Morales, Paula Malcomson and Polly Walker, and will be set 50 years prior to "Galactica's" seminal attack on human civilization by those dreaded 'droids the Cylons. Family-drama-themed series will focus on the Earthlike planet of Caprica as two rival families deal with, among other topical issues, the broader implications of their society's emerging artificial intelligence technology sector.

Produced by Universal Cable Prods., "Caprica" will be exec produced by "Galactica" masterminds Ronald D. Moore and David Eick, along with Remi Aubuchon ("24"). The pilot was co-written by Aubuchon and Moore and directed by Jeffrey Reiner ("Friday Night Lights.")

Having already produced a two-hour backdoor pilot, Sci Fi is aiming for an early 2010 bow for the series, with production starting around the middle of next year, probably in Vancouver, where both "Galactica" and the spinoff's pilot were shot.

" 'Battlestar Galactica' was absolutely our flagship show. It put us on the map and helped transform the perception of the network," said Sci Fi prexy Dave Howe, noting that the cabler hopes to draw a broader audience to a series it sees as more compelling family drama than "space opera."

"We want people to come to this who have never heard of 'Battlestar Galactica,' " he added. "I think, because ('Galactica's') backdrop was space and spaceships, there was a barrier to entry for some viewers. 'Caprica' has none of that. It's an intense family drama set on an Earthlike planet, in the near future, speaking to a lot of the ethical dilemmas that we as a human race are going to have to face very shortly."

"Galactica" has had its fourth and final season in the can for several months, with the final 10 episodes culminating their run March 20. A two-hour movie adaptation, "Battlestar Galactica: The Plan," is slated for early summer.

Mark Stern, original programming topper for Sci Fi and Universal Cable Prods., says waiting until 2010 to bow the prequel will give the producers time to regroup the core of "Galactica's" writing staff, which has largely scattered to other shows.

"One of the other things we have going for is, this is one of the first shows we've done in conjunction with our new cable studio," Stern added. "There will be a lot of coordination between the studio and the network, not just on production, but how the series is launched, as well."

Wow.


ETA: left off the Variety piece, but included in the SciFi press release, was that SciFi has made an order for 18 more hours of show. That's 20 hours of Caprican goodness, people. :)

Webisodes begin December 12th

Mo Ryan has confirmed with sources close to the show that BATTLESTAR GALACTICA's final set of webisodes will begin online December 12th. Two per week will be posted for five weeks. 

As an unrelated note, she also has confirmation from the network that the post-series TV film title really, truly is BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: THE PLAN.

ETA: SciFi Wire has a synopsis of the webisode plotline:

The 10 webisodes, entitled "The Face of the Enemy," tell a story that takes place between seasons 4.0 and 4.5 of Battlestar and follow Lt. Gaeta when he is sent off in a Raptor with a handful of strangers and one of them mysteriously dies. The psychological human-vs.-Cylon struggle is played out in the restrictive confines of a Raptor as everyone is a suspect, and paranoia sets in among the group. Grace Park and Michael Hogan also star.

[PS, thanks for all the love, Mo...RIGHT BACK ATCHA.]