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.]

Sackhoff on L&O

Katee Sackhoff guest starts on Law and Order on December 3rd in the episode, "Knock Off".

Aceshowbiz provides details:

The "Knock Off" episode itself will revolve around a tourist from upstate New York who comes to the city to settle his past, but his trip ends quickly when he is suspiciously murdered. When detective Bernard and detective Lupo come to the city to investigate the murder case, they discover the involvement of Sheriff John Burkhart and his deputies on the murder. Meanwhile, D.A. Jack McCoy faces new competition when a new District Attorney is nominated for the election.

"Knock Off" will see Katee Sackhoff guest-starring as Dianne Cary when The NBC's crime drama series, "Law & Order", is aired on Wednesday, December 3, starting at 10/9c.

Here are some previews of Katee's work on L&O:

Battlestar Galactica Season 4.5

SevorTB has posted the full spread of promos to YouTube:












ETA: Gaeta:

You Will Know the Truth

You Will Know the Truth.

greycoupon runs down the details on the promos shown today on Sci-Fi.

Here's one in slow mo:


If anyone has seen one in normal speed on YouTube or some place, note the link in the comments.

James Callis talked to Choire Sicha of the Los Angles Times about what to expect in the final 10 episodes:

"I don't think anything could prepare you guys for what happens at the end. We weren't prepared," he said.

Hmmm … Go on!

"It's quite — do we use the phrase "space opera"? There is something operatic about the ending of the show, only in the sense that it's like a full orchestra. Imagine very single person in the cast represents an instrument, and you've heard their theme or fugue. And then all the instruments play together. Everybody involved in this thing together — it's like the '1812 Overture.' Not only have you got all of the violins and the flutes, you've also got the flipping cannons they brought off Napoleon's ship, blowing off the roof. It's going off with a bang, this thing."

Was he perhaps setting our expectations too high?

"Honestly you can't be disappointed," he said. "I think if Adolf Hitler were back, he'd be crying in his handkerchief."

Now there's a quote blurb the PR department can use...

Happy Turkey Day

Wishing all our US readers a lovely yummy holiday weekend (and don't forget to obsessively stalk the Sci Fi Channel tomorrow for more promo vids, plskthx).

I will be transplanting myself to another city this weekend for work reasons, a two-month trip, so posting from me will likely be quiet. But let me leave you all with a delicious Baltar fanvid by the always-brill vidder bop-radar. Bop's vid was selected as one of the Best Fanvids of 2008 by New York Magazine, way to go bop!

Says NYMag.com's selector: "The definitive Gaius Baltar character study, hilarious and kind of terrifying. Gaius is the unreliable narrator who takes himself quite seriously, which allows me to be amused at his antics, afraid for him and of him. This vid has made me impatient for the last season of BSG to hurry up and start already!"

So say we all.

SciFi.com posts "An Epic Journey"

SciFi.com and Sci Fi Wire have now posted the 4.5 promo that fans caught on Space this weekend.

The SciFi.com version is the largest and clearest yet available for US viewers.

Enjoy it again...why the frak not!

Oh and for those of you wanting something to discuss over the long holiday weekend, I have a special present: fan smcki10 has posted the promo running IN SLOW MOTION. Frakkin' awesome! Beware of spoilers...

Season 4.5 peek on The Circuit

I just got a tweet from @thehorseman, saying there was a short Season 4.5 promo shown on The Circuit tonight during a Nicki Clyne interview. The Circuit (formerly known as Hypaspace), runs in Canada on the Space Channel.

ETA: @thehorseman decided to do fandom a solid and upload this sucker for us -- low fi but instant gratification. Thanks @thehorseman!



::nerdgasm::

ETA2: brilliant and ardent fan a_celeste just figured out where Canadian fans can view this video on Space's site...and did some very cool framegrabs... WHOA!






ETA: youtuber megazone33 just uploaded another version of this promo from Space, without the interview footage cut through it.



::watches again...and yet again::

Season 4.5 First Look

Promo for season 4.5 promo to air during a Bond marathon on Thanksgiving day on Sci-Fi from YouTube user SevorTB

In other 4.5 news io9 rounds up all known spoilers and speculations the final 10 episodes of Battlestar Galactica.



Fan vid by Roslin14.

Another Coming Out Party?

Ain't It Cool News has posted some intriguing tidbits about BATTLESTAR GALACTICA's final set of mid-season bridge webisodes:

From one of our most reliable sources ever:

The new Battlestar Galactica webisodes "The Face of the Enemy" start going on line next month. Two recurring male characters are revealed to be gay.

One hears the first webisode was shown at some sort of Producers Guild event or something. Full-on making out was apparently part of the fun!

Who are the recurring males? Gaeta, whose very name has “gay” in it, never seemed too interested in the girls – but perhaps that’s too obvious?

My money’s on Tigh and Tyrol. Remember how sore Tigh got when he found out the chief was secretly boning Boomer? (source post/SPOILER ALERT)

We here at Sitrep can not only confirm this info -- we can give you a bit more. If you'd like to know for sure which two characters will be sucking face on screen in the webisodes, check out the comments section (SPOILER ALERT).

Sitrep is also hearing that the webisodes will premiere online in mid-December, though the Sci Fi Channel has yet to make any announcement. Last week The Futon Critic posted the webisodes are to be broadcast on air January 15.

Filling the Hiatus Gap

While we wait for Battlestar Galactica 4.5, enjoy some genre trailers fans of BSG should also be very excited about:


WATCHMEN


ETA: Watch ginormous full screen stream over at official site.



STAR TREK XI


ETA: Watch embiggened HD files over at Apple. And, if you're REALLY interested, check out io9's microscopic recap (warning for SPOILERS and TMFI).

Mary McAwesome at Seattle Grace

Those of you jonesing for a Mary McDonnell fix: don't forget that the Divine Ms. M starts her run on GREY'S ANATOMY tonight.

Here's a few links to keep you happy till then: a Zap2It interview, an EW interview, and this ABC interview:



Speaking of BSG women, also note that Grace Park has begun her run on the show THE BORDER this week, Stephanie Jacobsen looks to be continuing on TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES for some time to come...and Michelle Forbes had her first quick appearance on last Sunday's ep of TRUE BLOOD (see halfway down this post for a lot more on that).

METAtropolis

Grant Gould notes:

Audible.com launched an exciting, original sci-fi project that’s comprised of 5 interconnected novellas written exclusively for Audible – and for downloadable audio.

It’s called METAtropolis, and the authors are top-line: John Scalzi, Jay Lake, Toby Buckell, Elizabeth Bear and Karl Schroeder.

So why should BSG fans care? Because our team of narrators includes Michael Hogan, Alessandro Juliani, and Kandyse McClure, that’s why! They all turn in great performances, but I’m especially partial to hearing the dulcet tones of Col. Tigh read Jay Lake’s spectacular story! Now you know what these guys were doing on their summer vacations…

Folks can head over to www.audible.com/meta and listen to samples, read more about the project, and (of course) buy it!

Montage

By Intrepid1207

Webisodes and Essential Elements

Via Futon Critic:

As previously announced, "Battlestar Galactica" will begin its swan song on Friday, January 16 at 10:00/9:00c. Also keep an eye out for "BSG: Essential Elements," a half-hour special on Sunday, January 11 at 11:00/10:00c. And if that wasn't enough "Galactica," it's understood the latest wave of webisodes for the series will be broadcast during the network's January 15 presentation of "Pitch Black."

BSG's Tahmoh Penikett enters a DOLLHOUSE

This moment

Congratulations to the President-Elect.

Public Service Announcement

"So Say We All" image via BSG effects genius Mojo.


Express yourself, and vote on Tuesday November 4th.

The Galactica Sitrep encourages you to vote for the candidate of your choice, but we do have a candidate we like.







This has been a public service announcement. We now return you to regularly scheduled Battlestar Galactica blogging....