Nerd Elections

It’s time to fess up and admit it. Sitrep has been shockingly remiss about sharing a particular meme that has been gaining steam since forever. We may have failed to mention it, at first, back when BATTLESTAR GALACTICA season 4.0 was prompting a particular wave of fan responses such as this, this, or this.


We didn't say anything when one or two bloggers began pointing out the similar features of our favorite one-eyed cylon and a certain political candidate. We remained quiet when a well-known sci-fi versemaster also made comparisons between his lauded Knights and another high-profile politico. We failed to mention the continued chatter about certain similarities, real and imagined.



But this month, it has become completely impossible to ignore the pop cultural rumblings and ramblings about who looks like who. Fandom was not gonna let go of this one, no sir. And the press were just as entranced by it all. Even some of our beloved BSG actors waded into the fray…and other well-known actors have come out in favor of their own particular candidates. In fact, the field seems wide open now, doesn’t it?


Most surprising of all perhaps, has been the revelation that Sci Fi Channel/NBC-Universal has made their own stunning choice of candidate.





I can’t speak for Logan – but I know who I’m voting for.


Sure is nice to have so many options, eh?


[Many thanks to the fans at the livejournal bsg blog for providing so many links over the past few months, you guys are the best. Art, from top to bottom: Bumperactive sticker; Vote-Adama poster; Tigh/Roslin banner; Leland is Hope by BeyondInsane; AdamaForPresident button.]

Titles of all the 4.5 episodes

In an effort to counter confusion from spoiler monkeys, BSG writer Mark Verheiden has published all the (current/production) episode titles for the rest of the series. Here they are below, though Verheiden was quick to point out they might not be final for air.

If you consider ep titles spoilery - LOOK AWAY, LOOK AWAY!


401: Razor
402: Razor
403: He That Believeth In Me
404: Six of One
405: The Ties That Bind
406: Escape Velocity
407: The Road Less Traveled
408: Faith
409: Guess What's Coming to Dinner?
410: Sine Qua Non
411: The Hub
412: Revelations
413: Sometimes a Great Notion
414: A Disquiet Follows My Soul
415: The Oath
416: Blood on the Scales
417: No Exit
418: Deadlock
419: Someone to Watch Over Me
420: Islanded In A Stream Of Stars
421: Daybreak 1
422: Daybreak 2
423: Daybreak 3 (assuming it's still a three parter)

CAPRICA hint?

Are you trying to tell us something with the sale of this new tee shirt on the NBC-U site, oh great and powerful Sci Fi Channel?

Going to BlogWorld

I have some cool news... Susan Getgood, who writes a great marketing blog and is a massive BSG fan, has convinced me to come out to the BlogWorld conference in Las Vegas this weekend and speak on a panel.

Here are the details. If any of you will be in town, please stop by!

Social Media & the Writers' Strike: Blogs, Fans & Community

Saturday, Sept. 20

2:45 PM - 3:45 PM, 230

Community Track


This panel, the first of two sessions about Social Media and the Writers' Strike, will offer an overview of how the writers used social media during the strike to inform the public, encourage and reward fan support and keep union members motivated. We will focus on community-developed sites like United Hollywood and the impact of fan support as we discuss the overall impact of social media (vs. mainstream media) on the outcome.

Panelists:

Mark Verheiden, WGA member, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA writer/producer, blogger

Jeffrey Berman, WGA member, co-founder of United Hollywood, coordinator of the Pencils 2 Media Moguls campaign

Susan Getgood…and me!

Susan has another WGA strike-related panel later that day at 5pm, see here for details.

Happy Anniversary

Darth Mojo has re-appeared after a long blogging absence (4 whole weeks, an eternity in the blogosphere!), to celebrate BATTLESTAR GALACTICA’S 30th anniversary this week, talk Centurions with their original designer Andrew Probert…and congratulate his compatriots in the BSG Visual Effects Department on their latest Emmy award. Now Mojo will undoubtably disappear back into the BSG VFX offices, hard at work on 4.5…

Why don't you go on over to Mojo's blog and leave some tokens of your love for BSG – the old, the new...or both.

Sneak peek: the BSG wrap "yearbook"

CinemaSpy has somehow gotten their hands on a copy of the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA cast and crew series wrap gift: a beautifully bound and printed "yearbook" featuring photographs, production materials, and personal statements from the crew to each other. ETA: On his blog Mark Verheiden has corrected an error in CinemaSpy's post, RE writing credits for episodes 414 and 415.

Go over there to take a look at this very special memento.



Meanwhile, CinemaSpy continues to host blogging by BSG's science advisor Kevin Grazier; the newest posts are here and here. There is also a thread here where you can leave questions for Mr. Grazier.

Burn

Tricia Helfer will be back on the latest episode of Burn Notice (2x09: Good Soldier). The epsiode (mid-season finale) airs on Thursday, September 18, at 10pm on USA. h/t to Meshel73 for the info.

Bon Voyage

E! Online:

Monday in Los Angeles, Hatch and nearly 100 other Galactica-friendly travelers, from stars of the original show to fans, will set sail on a five-day, four-night roundtrip cruise to Mexico, and, along the Pacific Ocean way, mark the sci-fi series' 1978 premiere.

A longtime Galactica champion, Hatch starred as the first Capt. Apollo on the 1978-79 series, and, for the last four years, has appeared as activist/agitator Tom Zarek on the acclaimed Sci Fi Channel redo.

Husker badassery wins an Emmy

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA won two Emmys at the Creative Arts Emmys ceremony last night.

The first went to Gary Hutzel and his amazing team for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series. Second year in a row, bravo fellas! In case any of you folks missed it the first time, go back and take a look at the awesome Emmy breakdown sheets that the department put together to send to voting members earlier this summer, which VFX artist Mojo was nice enough to share with us. Awwwwwwwwwesome.

BSG's other win was awarded to "RAZOR Featurette #4" for Outstanding Special Class - Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment Program... which is an unweildy name for this year's "webisode"/"minisode" award. Featurette #4 is the massively cool minisode of Husker ejecting from his viper, and engaging in mid-fall hand-to-hand with the reimagined old school Cylon Centurion. Nice.

Congrats to everyone involved!

Apollo and Starbuck join Dick Wolf's police force

News this morning confirms that both Katee Sackhoff and Jamie Bamber have taken new roles as police on TV.

The Hollywood Reporter today announced Sackhoff has been cast as the lead in a new show from LAW AND ORDER creator Dick Wolf, called LOST AND FOUND:

The hourlong "Found"...centers on Tessa (Sackhoff), an offbeat female LAPD detective who, after butting heads with the higher-ups, is sent as a punishment to the basement to work on John Doe and Jane Doe cases (source)...

[Pilot writer] Chris Levinson says the show will distinguish itself from other crime shows by featuring a healthy dose of dark humor and by the lead character's distinct lack of resources: She works out of a basement office with little support from the department. (source)

ETA: The Ausiello Files is reporting that, possibly due to this new role, Sackhoff's part on next season's NIP/TUCK has been recast with Rose McGowan. Darn it!


Meanwhile The Guardian recently reported more details about Bamber's character on ITV's new show LAW AND ORDER UK:

The UK version of Law & Order, which follows the work of police on the street through to legal action by the Crown Prosecution Service, starts filming this month.

ITV1's 13-part series stars Bradley Walsh, who has also featured in Coronation Street, Torn and The Old Curiosity Shop, as Ronnie Brooks, "a real East End copper's copper." He is partnered by Jamie Bamber, perhaps best-known as Apollo from Battlestar Galactica, as Matt Devlin, who tackles crime using "part seduction, part force."

The pair report to Detective Inspector Natalie Chandler, played by Harriet Walter, whose credits include Atonement. Law & Order's legal side, featuring the workings of the CPS, is led by the Doctor Who and Torchwood actor Freema Agyeman as the "hard-working, strong-willed" prosecutor Alesha Phillips. The lead writer on the UK show, Chris Chibnall, has credits including Life on Mars and Torchwood.

ITV1's Law & Order is based on the highly successful US version, created by Dick Wolf, who has also worked on Hill Street Blues, and will be co-produced by the UK company Kudos, Wolf Films and NBC Universal.

Off Topic Hiatus Fodder: other Femmebots and Bear soundtracks we like

Hey, if Logan can write about the LHC, then I'm coming in here to post about one of my favorite returning fall shows, TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES. Season two has just begun on Fox (and you can still see the first episode online via these sources).


Showrunner Josh Friedman just talked to Wired about T:SCC recently...

On parallels to Battlestar Galactica: "I'm a huge fan, I'm just behind a season. It's almost so good and so close to what we're doing, sometimes it's painful to watch. We have a writer on our show who was on BSG the first two years {Toni Graphia-ed.}, and she serves at a checkpoint to make sure we don't cover the same ground. I don't know who the 12th Cylon is and I've threatened to fire people who tell me anything about that show. I like the idea that there are hidden Terminators ... but you have to be careful or else it becomes Where's Waldo?, and a cheap effect. There could be a Terminator that we discover along the way. I can't even remember how many there are on the show right now."

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA music composer Bear McCreary, who also scores T:SCC, is apparently going to be posting throughout the new season much like he did this spring during BSG season 4.0. For his blog post on T:SCC episode 201, he focuses mainly on his collaboration with T:SCC actor and musician Shirley Manson for the show's great cover of "Samson and Delilah." The track is used with rich multi-layered effect, during the season opening sequence -- a kick-ass action scene played without any sound other than this song. (Bear's soundtrack to another show, EUREKA, is also out on CD now by the way.) ETA: here's a seriously low-fi version of the track on youtube.

If you like T:SCC make sure to check out the official production blog, which will be running weekly podcasts, notes from Friedman and his writers room, chances to ask them questions, etc.

LHC

So, is everyone excited about the Large Hadron Collider coming online shortly at CERN? I suppose it has little to do with Battlestar Galactica, unless you believe that turning the thing on is going to cause the destruction of the earth. (I don't.)

As the BBC explains, the LHC will allow scientists to smash protons into even smaller particles in the quest for the Higgs particle also known as "the God particle." Though Stephen Hawking has placed a bet that we won't find it. In any event the research is aimed at understanding some fascinating questions about the universe. The scientists at CERN have made a helpful rap video that explains the basics:


See also, CERN in 3 minutes:


And for some science tie-in to BSG, I found this online at the BBC on the development of robots that are more human.

So, if we survive the LHC, there's still a good chance that the Cylons will eventually rebel against us.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA returns to iTunes...in HD

"NBC is coming back to iTunes." (Big cheers) "The Office is coming back, Monk, Battlestar Galactica, 30 Rock... and they're coming back in HD."

- Steve Jobs at Apple's "Let's Rock" press conference today
(quote via Engadget live blog)

*happy dance*

Thanks reader Trace for the heads-up!

ETA: Here's more about the announcement. Here is the update on iTunes 8. Here is the link that goes directly to the Standard-Def Season 4.0 episode page. There is a separate page for High-Def. And, for the next two weeks: THE ENTIRE EPISODE 403, "HE THAT BELIEVETH IN ME," IS FREE OF CHARGE TO DOWNLOAD.

[photo: Engadget]

THE PLAN commences

Shooting of the cylon-centric BATTLESTAR GALACTICA telefilm, THE PLAN*, begins today in Vancouver.

The Watcher and TV Guide both posted new details about the film last week. The Watcher also got an update from Ron Moore on the status of CAPRICA: "no word yet, but all signs look good at this point"...hopefully there will be more news on the prequel airdate and possible series pickup by the end of September.

Meanwhile, The 13th Colony says that the series Galactica CIC set has been permanently dismantled. Sigh.


(* We don't know yet if this is this will turn out to be just a working title.)

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA actors in the news...

Michelle Forbes gets a part on Alan Ball's new HBO series TRUE BLOOD. Season one, which just began airing last night, is apparently wrapped so is this for season two?

Tricia Helfer and Katee Sackhoff keep on truckin'...

James Callis, Aaron Douglas and Richard Hatch discuss their next projects with fans at Dragon Con. And you Callis fans out there please note we're still seeking confirmation of which Merlin project he is talking about a commenter on this post updated us on this, and thinks it is a Sci Fi Channel TV movie about Merlin.

Finally, a Mac-friendly legal way to buy BSG episodes

[Amazon's Top TV Sellers]

Lost in the manic newsrush of the TCAs and Comic-Con earlier this summer, was the E3 announcement that Amazon was beta-testing a new online On Demand service to sell TV show episodes that would work with PC's, Macs, Tivos, and other media boxes in a way that Amazon Unbox did not.

This new service has just opened for business, offering tons of TV shows and films for rent or purchase via both streaming and downloading. You can access it via a Mac, PC, Tivo, Sony Bravia TV, Windows Media Center, or XBOX 360. (source)

Mac-using BATTLESTAR GALACTICA fans looking for a way to purchase episodes online have been out of luck since NBCU and iTunes parted ways last fall and all the eps were removed from the iTunes Store.

You can see a free 2-minute sample stream of BSG ep 401, "He That Believeth In Me" on the BSG page. It started to instantly stream onto my Mac when I selected it. The full-screen mode looks pretty darned nice on my iMac 20". Eps are priced at $1.99 each, with a season pass costing $1.89 per ep. Amazon provides info here on how to connect a computer to a TV monitor if you are interested. Here is their SciFi & Fantasy TV page.

The only downside is that they still haven't created a way for Mac users to download these episodes; as of now, you can only stream it. Here is the fine print:

When you buy a video, your viewing rights do not expire (except as provided in our Terms of Use). You can watch a video you own online and download it to 2 locations (TiVo DVRs and Windows PCs). You can also transfer a video you own to 2 portable devices. Note: Some new release movies will become unavailable for viewing or downloading for an unspecified period of time due to licensing restrictions. You will be notified about this before we process your order.

OK that is a bummer, sure...but a Mac user seeking a way to legally purchase season 4 episodes now has an option, at least.

I didn't check the Amazon international sites outside of the US to see if this works in other countries besides America...anybody out there getting results?

Driveby DragonCon Goodies

Sorry folks but my "real job that pays actual money" has been mad busy this week, so I am a bit behind on the posting, and sharing collected DragonCon links with you. However, I cannot let another moment go by without sharing the following, which is guaranteed to provide much fandom happy:




- nnaylime's massive collection of panel videos on youtube and for download! Remember to leave comments thanking her, she's a trufan. She's got some other reports up of her con experience on her livejournal, if you're looking for that.

- jettdelirium's wonderful photos and write-up of her experience at the Colonial Fleet party

- bobbarker's glorious party and parade photos

Too fun...no wonder the cast hung out all night!

[photos: jettdelirium and bobbarker]

BSG Cast

Matt and Nat offer up part 2 of their three part Q&A with Aaron Douglas and Edward James Olmos from Fan Expo 2008 in Toronto. Matt and Nat say, "Be prepared for a SUPER-long Part 3 next week on BSGcast.com!"



Plus, Battlestar: Lost a YouTube mash-up by xGriiFin

From the horse's mouth

Posted on Sci Fi Wire:

Battlestar Rumors Debunked

SCI FI Channel is calling "inaccurate" rumors that the second half of Battlestar Galactica's fourth and final season will be delayed and confirmed again that the original series will return with new episodes in January 2009.

Several Web sites, including io9 and Galactica Sitrep, have posted the rumors, reportedly based on comments made by Battlestar cast member Aaron Douglas at Dragon*Con.

The reports are erroneous, the channel confirmed to SCI FI Wire. "It is still slated to return January 2009," a spokesman for the channel said.

I love it when a plan comes together. Don't you?

Is Season 4.5 airing in January 2009...or April?

Thanks to reader wjeffbishop for giving us a heads-up from DragonCon this weekend -- during some at least one of his panels, Aaron Douglas mentioned that he has heard talk of the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA season 4.5 broadcast being pushed back until April 2009.

This contradicts what Sci Fi Channel exec David Howe said earlier this summer, that it would air in January 2009.

April is just a rumor for now. We shall see if the date is moved or not for the final season... and if SFC history is any judge, fans will have to wait many more months for an official announcement.

ETA: several other fans at the con have confirmed that Douglas was discussing this new date...

ETA2: Here is a Geeks of Doom article on the subject. And, even more interesting, here is Cinema Blend with another theory: is this rumored delay an indication that CAPRICA might get a series greenlight?

ETA3: Sci Fi Wire reports that Sci Fi Channel denies this rumor; new BSG episodes will premiere in January 2009.