Blu-ray DVDs: coming in 2009?

The Digital Bits has another tidbit regarding the upcoming Season 4.0 DVD release:

FYI, there's no Blu-ray version announced, however, a OUR sources tell us that there ARE plans in the works for BSG to debut on Blu-ray later in 2009, so stay tuned. One last note - the 1/6 DVD street date means you can reasonably expect Season 4.5 to debut on Sci-Fi at the end of January.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA season 4.0 DVD out January 6

TVShowsOnDVD has the official announcement of the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA Season 4.0 DVD set and all the extras. The American release date is now officially January 6, 2009, and RAZOR (both aired and longer DVD-only cuts) will be included.

Back in July we reported that industry sources had passed along Universal's tentative plans to release Battlestar Galactica - Season 4.0 on DVD...and that it would clock in right at the end of the year, on December 30th. This morning the studio formally announced this release, including the finalized street date. They've adjusted their original plans by a week: the schedule now shows they will put this in stores on January 6th.

You'll get a 4-disc set that's loaded with bonus material, in addition to the 10 episodes from the first half of the final season. Disc 1 will contain both the original broadcast version (88 mins.) AND the Unrated Extended Version (101 mins.) of the special feature-length story Razor, which is already available separately. The half-season's 10 episodes are contained on the remaining three discs, along with plenty of extras:

Episodes:

• He That Believeth In Me
• Six Of One
• The Ties That Bind
• Escape Velocity
• The Road Less Traveled
• Faith
• Guess What's Coming to Dinner
• Sine Qua Non
• The Hub
• Revelations

Bonus Material:

Disc 1:

Deleted Scenes

The Look of Battlestar Galactica

My Favorite Episode So Far

Season 4 Sneak Peek

Season 4 Trailer

Razor Flashback Minisodes

1. Day 4,571
2. The Hangar
3. Operation Raptor Talon
4. Free Fall
5. The Lab
6. Survivors
7. Escape

Commentary to the Razor Unrated Extended Edition with Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore and Writer Michael Taylor


Disc 2:

Deleted Scenes

Ronald Moore's Podcast Commentaries


Disc 3:

Deleted Scenes

David Eick's Video Blogs

"Faith" Commentary with Executive Producer Ronald. D. Moore and Supervising Producers Bradley Thompson and David Weddle

"Guess What's Coming to Dinner" Commentary with Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore and Writer Michael Angeli

Ronald Moore's Podcast Commentaries


Disc 4:

Deleted Scenes

The Journey

Cylons: The Twelve

Season 4.5: The Untold Story - Untold

The Music of Battlestar Galactica

"Sine Qua Non" Commentary with Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore and Writer Michael Taylor

Ronald Moore's Podcast Commentaries


This has only been announced for DVD; there is no Blu-ray Disc version listed. Video on this release will be presented in Anamorphic Widescreen. Audio soundtrack will be English - Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround. Subtitles are going to be in English and Spanish. The cost for all of this will be $49.98 SRP.

Let's hope they add Blu-Ray as well. I wonder if "The Music of Battlestar Galactica" is the video that Bear McCreary showed at his LA concerts this spring?

The 4.0 DVD and a Seasons 1-4.0 DVD box are already out in the UK, but as usual without the American bonus features.

No sign of packaging art previews yet...but if you don't like them, maybe you can use this gorgeous fan-created box art instead.

Halleluja

Rufus Wainwright singing Leonard Cohen's Halleluja from kdPsyche17.

A Chat with Alec Peters from Propworx

As we have mentioned before on Sitrep, The Sci Fi Channel/NBCU have enlisted auction company Propworx this year to catalog a massive array of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA props, costumes, and set elements, which will be sold off to fans at auctions taking place in early 2009. Propworx’s Alec Peters recently talked to us about the auction process.

If you have any other questions for Alec, leave them in the comments of this post, and he will be answering them in the next couple of weeks.

Adama's Medal of Distinction

Galactica Sitrep/ProgGrrl: You are currently inventorying all the items for the auctions, correct? Have you been up in Vancouver on the set of the BSG movie, THE PLAN? I understand the film shoot just wrapped this week.

Alec Peters: Yes, we are working 12 hour days cataloging and photographing everything from props to costumes to set pieces. And while THE PLAN has just finished filming, we will be working through the end of October.

Cally's Deckhand Helmet; the Galactica Munitions Key

GS: I noticed that the auction site has posted a very well-shot photoset of the CIC set before and during its permanent dismantling. Sci Fi Channel exec Mark Stern said earlier this year that all the BSG main sets were digitally recorded from many angles -- potentially for use later in a “virtual” form. Do you know anything about that?

AP: Yes, there were two different digital assets produced. A high res quicktime movie and they just finished taking digital photographs in case they want to recreate the sets in CG later.


GS: Are you guys photo-documenting the dismantling of every major set from the show? I assume the rest of the series’ sets will be ready to dismantle now that THE PLAN is wrapping…(*long sigh*)

AP: Well, we took photos along the way. And as of now, all the sets are gone.


GS: Can you explain the auction process…ie, are you doing this alone? Who is making the decisions about which items go to the auction?

AP: I have a full time assistant, Joe Beaudoin, who runs the Battlestar Wiki. He is a wealth of knowledge. I also have had my photographer and his assistant working full time all this past month. NBC Universal has pretty much given us free reign to auction whatever we think fans and collectors will want. I have a good deal of experience in this space, so I know what fans and collectors want and what they have no interest in. Battlestar is unique in that so much of the show is MEANT to look like everyday stuff. So a lot of what might have been cool if it was in a Star Trek set, is just not real interesting on a Galactica set. But that is what gave the Galactica a real world, believable look. So it worked great on the show, but it may not be something that translates well into a collectible prop.

Joe at work on the catalog; Starbuck's statues of Artemis and Aphrodite

GS: As for the auctions: these are going to take place in Los Angeles during the air dates of season 4.5, correct? How many auctions are planned?

AP: There are two live auctions planned, one January 16-18 at the Pasadena Convention Center, and one in April after the show is finished, we are planning that for the Pasadena Convention Center as well. In between there will be Internet auctions every week in conjunction with the final 11 episodes.


GS: Are you going to have all the items inventoried and announced before the first auction takes place?

AP: Absolutely! There will be a great catalog out in December, which every BSG fan will want a copy of. It will be like any great auction catalog from Christie’s or Sotheby’s. Also, every single lot will be online in even more detail at our web site, www.battlestarprops.com.


GS: How will online bidders be able to participate, and compete fairly, with the buyers who show up at the physical auction site in Los Angeles?

AP: Oh yes, the online auction, which you will be able to access from our site and Scifi.com, will be integrated with the Live auction. If you bid online, you will be bidding on the same terms and directly against the live bidders!

Baltar Election Propaganda Flyers; Socrata Thrace's Medal of Valor

GS: OK, if you’ll induldge me here…I’m trying to decide how much money I need to start stowing away for this once-in-a-TV-lifetime event. Can you tell us yet if any of the following items are going to be included in the auction?

• A set of Triad cards
• The painting hanging in Adama’s quarters
• The Basestar Hybrid’s tank, or any of the cylon downloading tanks
• The Cylon Basestar furniture
• The Cylon Basestar command center waterfall (umm…is there a name for that?)
• The Ruins of Kobol
• The Arrow of Apollo
• The Book of Pythia
• Six’s red dress
• Starbuck’s blue dress
• Tigh’s Ambrosia bottle
• Jake’s water bowl from New Caprica
• Romo’s glasses
• Gina’s nuke

AP: Well, the ruins of Kobol? I mean those were HUGE! So no to them. Pretty much everything else we have and will be auctioned. The only thing we don’t have yet is Jake’s bowl. We have been looking for it for a month!

And start saving your money. Galactica has a huge following worldwide, and we have already gotten inquiries from 5 countries and I expect more before it is all over. We will have items for every budget, but you better be packing some cash if you want to win Adama’s painting! That is the hottest item I think.


GS: So...just to confirm, you said every item that I listed above, except the Kobol ruins, is probably going to be in the auction?

AP: Not the waterfall either. Are you interested in that?

GS: Ha, no. I can't really afford to bid on ALL that stuff…When I get serious, it will probably be for the viper suit, the arrow, the book of Pythia, maybe the triad cards. Or Adama's painting, which I'm sure will be too costly for me. Frak it. Oh wait, there is one more thing I want to ask about - are you going to auction off any of those life-size cardboard cylon standees they used on set to stand in for the visual effects shots?

AP: Yes we should have at least one Cylon cardboard standee.

GS: Great…Thanks so much for your time, Alec.

Fanvid: I Wake Alone

A Kara study by barbarismbegins. Scenes through season 4.

News of CAPRICA?

That new T-shirt in the NBCU store got us hopeful that word might soon be coming on the fate of the BSG prequel series CAPRICA. Not to mention all that idle chatter this summer about a decision coming soon...about knowing something by September... etc, etc, etc.

Any of you who read the sci-fi site i09 have probably noticed that the Sci Fi Channel has been up to some interesting hijinks lately: putting way too many cooks in the kitchen at their hit show EUREKA…considering a network name change (“BEYOND”? Seriously?)…and announcing three new reality shows this past weekend during a digital press junket in Colorado -- while several of their scripted pilots (including CAPRICA) await word of life or death. For we fans of scripted (science-)fiction programming, the truth ain't pretty.

Now comes the latest rumor Sitrep is hearing: CAPRICA, if it gets picked up for series at all, won't get a decision from the Sci Fi Channel until February 2009. At the soonest.

So cool your heels, BSG fans...reality bites.

Fanvid: Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect

By chaila. Summary: Bill builds castles made of sand. Spoilers through 4x12 Revelations.

Auction to benefit Helfer's charity

Thanks to reader Ben Lehre, who also happens to be the President of one of Tricia Helfer’s favorite charities, the Los Angeles-based Kitten Rescue, for the heads-up on this auction:

Tricia has adopted three cats from us (including Mr. Nix, formerly "Phoenix", a cat that was survived a house fire with serious burns, and who was featured in her PETA ad) and supports us through the auctions she does on her website as well as in other ways. Basically, Tricia is a crazy cat lady trapped in a supermodel's body.

She recently presented NVISION 08, a conference hosted by NVIDIA, and while there she autographed a CPU that was tricked out in a Battlestar theme. NVIDIA's charitable giving people have put it up for auction and the proceeds are going to support our organization. The auction site (with photos & info) is here…

So please everyone -- especially you Cat People out there -- go support this great cause. Isn’t Ron Moore a cat person as well? I believe he has mentioned it on several BSG podcasts…

My kitteh Pyewacket, a rescue cat herself, has approved this message.

Massive Spoiler Alert

Actor Aaron Douglas (Galen Tyrol) was recently on Cort and Fatboy of KUFO, and revealed massive spoilers for season 4.5. (Though he seems to think he was talking about the ending of the midseason finale for 4.0 Revelations. Instead, it seems that he was talking about the first ep of 4.5, Sometimes a Great Notion.) While confusing, it does appear that the thrust Aaron's comments are basically accurate.


However, SyFy Portal attempts to clarify some of the confusion surrounding Aaron's comments and adds some details from unnamed sources.

Don't read any of the above linked articles if you want to remain spoiler free about the rest of the series.

It'll be interesting to see if TPTB have a talk with Aaron about his Non-disclosure agreement.

Raider

Sci-Fi Wire:

Battlestar Raiders On Sale

NBC Universal Television will sell a high-quality, limited-edition replica of a Cylon Raider from SCI FI Channel's original series Battlestar Galactica, starting Sept. 28.

Developed by Quantum Mechanix through a licensing agreement with NBC Universal, the Cylon Raider replicas will be available online for $949.95.

Measuring 15 inches by 9 inches, the Cylon Raider replicas are based on a computer-generated model and come assembled and painted from The FX Company, based in Ocala, Fla. The ships feature custom electronics with light displays, including the scanning/sweeping red LED eye and flaring white engine lights. The Raider's lighting system runs on a 12-volt transformer.

Only 500 of the replicas will be sold, each with a brass plaque signed by either Battlestar Galactica executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick, director Michael Rymer or one of the cast members, including Jamie Bamber (Apollo), James Callis (Baltar), Tricia Helfer (Number Six), Michael Hogan (Tigh), Edward James Olmos (Adama), Grace Park (Athena) or Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck).

A P.C. on Galactica?

In an interview with Wired, author, Daily Show Resident Expert, and P.C. from the Mac ads, John Hodgman notes in passing that he'll be on Battlestar Galactica:

Well, I always had this desire to celebrate and somehow be a part of things that I thought were really great. When I wrote about Battlestar Galactica for The New York Times Magazine in 2005, I was mainly geeking out about the fact that I was standing on the set, you know? So it was very unnerving and surreal to go from being the guy who wrote about Galactica to making a cameo appearance as a doctor in an upcoming episode.

Silence

GDG found this great fan vid by vogt48.

Grace

Grace Park briefly talked to TV Guide at the Emmys.

Tribune of the People

Maureen Ryan of The Chicago Tribune confirms our earlier report about Mary McDonnell guesting on several episodes of Grey's Anatomy this season, with additional details:

Mary McDonnell of “Battlestar Galactica” is in final talks to appear in a multi-episode arc on “Grey’s Anatomy” this season, a representative for the medical drama confirmed Monday. News of McDonnell’s “Grey’s” gig first broke on Galactica Sitrep.

The show is currently shooting its tenth episode, and if contracts are signed soon, as is expected, McDonnell will be shooting scenes with the “Grey’s” cast shortly. Given that McDonnell’s episodes fall in the middle of the “Grey’s” season, it’s not known yet whether they will air before or after the December holiday break. I suppose we could be watching McDonnell on both Thursdays and Fridays in January, which is when “Battlestar” begins its final round of episodes.

For Ryan's full report read it here.

Ryan adds in some new information on Caprica:

One more bit of “Battlestar”-related news: There's still no official word on whether “Caprica,” a “Battlestar” prequel, will become a full-fledged series. In response to a query about the show, Mark Stern, Sci Fi’s executive vice president for original programming said the network’s executives were still “trying to figure out the financing.”

“The show is phenomenal, but with the pick-up of ‘Warehouse 13’ [which was announced by Sci Fi recently], we now have to figure out if there’s a way to do another new series next year or not,” Stern said. “Stay tuned."

Towels

Well my WGA Strike panel yesterday was quite an experience, and it was a thrill to finally meet in person someone who is partially responsible for making my favorite TV show, look them in the eye and shake their hand.

There was a lot of fascinating discussion on the panel with Mark Verheiden and Jeffrey Berman (co-founder of UnitedHollywood and creator of the Pencils 2 Media Moguls strike action), as well as the other strike-related panel that featured Berman and Michael Coulton (one of the quick wits responsible for the "AMPTP.com" parody site). Apparently the conference-holders recorded the panel audio and will be posting it soon; I'll let you know.

Mr. Berman tells me he never heard back about what happened with most of the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA fans who won Pencils 2 Media Moguls prizes. If any of you winners out there want to submit some details and stories to us (at bsgsitrep at gmail dot com) about your prize wins, we will make sure Mr. Berman receives them.

One short anecdote I need to share with you guys. At one point I was prompted to discuss the BSG fan response to the Pencils 2 Media Moguls campaign. I explained about the infamous "towel scene," and the fans' response to the towel prizes. Mark Verheiden then pointed out that he happened to be the writer of that episode. His comment: "You should see the out-takes."

Don't Question Her Commitment To Sparkle Motion

The Galactica Sitrep has a just heard a great rumor that the always awesome Mary McDonnell will have a three-to-five episode arc on Grey's Anatomy on ABC this season. This is great news for Mary McDonnell fans everywhere. (I've never watched Grey's Anatomy except for once while waiting for Lost to come on, so now I have a reason to check it out.) No word yet what kind of role Mary will have, but we'll look forward to finding out.

In other casting news from the BSG ensemble, Activision announced that joining the voice cast for the upcoming Spider-Man: Web of Shadows is Tricia Helfer, who will perform voice over duties for the Black Cat.

And Kandyse McClure joins David Anders in Sci-Fi's remake of Stephen King's Children of the Corn.

Meshel73 points to a BuddyTV Interview with Paul Campbell (Billy from BSG) who co-stars in the new Knight Rider series on NBC.

The Battlestar Blog also notes that Sam Witwer (Crashdown) is interviewed on the Big Fanboy podcast episode 92. Sam will appear on Smallville this season.

And former Smallville and BSG co-exec producer Mark Verheiden who now works on Heroes, encourages everyone to check out Heroes: Villains starting on Monday night on NBC.

EJO Holds Court

Here's the 10-Minute edit of Part 3 of 3 in Matt & Nat's coverage of Edward James Olmos and Aaron Douglas' 1-hour Q&A at Fan Expo 2008 in Toronto. For the full 21-minute version, visit BSGcast.com

Keep On Trucking

If you're a truck driver, don't try to watch Battlestar Galactica while on the road.

Benjamin Trotsman, 37, was spotted driving erratically in the early hours of the morning by another trucker who called police.

He was travelling north on the M6 and was seen veering across the carriageway over a 25-mile stretch between Kendal and Penrith in Cumbria.

A Cumbria Police spokesman said: "The driver was seen to be watching a film on a laptop computer that was situated on the dashboard in his cab.

"He appeared oblivious to other motorists and continued to drive in an erratic manner, speeding up and slowing down, and crossing on occasions on to the hard shoulder."

Police stopped the lorry and when they examined his laptop it appeared that Trotsman had been watching Battlestar Galactica.

Writers & Directors for Season 4.5

Someone just sent us a nice tip...the writing and directing credits for the rest of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA's final season. Enjoy.

413: Sometimes a Great Notion
Written by David Weddle & Bradley Thompson
Directed by Michael Nankin

414: A Disquiet Follows My Soul
Written by Ronald D. Moore
Directed by Ronald D. Moore

415: The Oath
Written by Mark Verheiden
Directed by John Dahl

416: Blood on the Scales
Written by Michael Angeli
Directed by Wayne Rose

417: No Exit
Written by Ryan Mottesheard
Directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton

418: Deadlock
Written by Jane Espenson
Directed by Bob Young

419: Someone to Watch Over Me
Written by David Weddle & Bradley Thompson
Directed by Michael Nankin

420: Islanded In A Stream Of Stars
Written by Michael Taylor
Directed by Edward James Olmos

421: Daybreak 1
422: Daybreak 2
423: Daybreak 3 (assuming it's still a three parter)
Written by Ronald D. Moore
Directed by Michael Rymer

We All Scream for BSG

Still left with a lingering bad taste in your mouth that BATTLESTAR GALACTICA is not nominated for many more Emmy Awards on this weekend’s upcoming show? Do your part and go vote for BSG for 2008 Scream Awards.

BSG is nominated for Best TV Show, Edward James Olmos for Best SciFi Actor, and Tricia Helfer for Best SciFi Actress.

Vote now!