Unofficial Battlestar Galactica Blog

Subject 2 Discussion Interview

I, Trapper Markelz, owner and operator of Battlestarblog.com, will be appearing on Subject 2 Discussion tonight! Here are listening instructions:

The first half hour of the program is "News to You" news items that readers found interesting during the week that were sent it are discussed and commented on as well as the big news of the day and week. Then the second half hour of the first hour is our Political Discussion with Justin from the Donklephant centrist political blog.

The second hour will kick off with the Pop Culture Discussion with Blogcritics.org and then ending the program in the final half hour will be our Battlestar Galactica Discussion with Trapper Markelz from Battlestarblog.com.

To listen to SUBJECT2DISCUSSION go to www.LVROCKS.com Tuesday at 7pm PT, 9pm CT or 10pm ET and click on LISTEN and click on CAM/CHAT to join us in the chatroom.

For those who miss the LIVE program, can join us via podcast with or without an IPOD.  If you have an IPOD here is the IPOD rss url:

http://podcasts.lvrocks.com/rss.aspx?channelid=5

If you do not have an IPOD you can still listen to the podcast via this address:

http://podcasts.lvrocks.com/details.aspx?castid=5

By clicking on that address it takes you to a screen where you can pick and choose the previous programs to listen to.

Listen in! The plan is to discuss the blog, possibly how it got started and all that, as well as discuss the latest Battlestar Christmas Gift post! Should be fun!

Update 11/30/2005 7:41am CT

The interview was a good time. I had a few moments to rant, a few moments to rave. Give a listen to my segment by downloading this MP3 file:

Battlestarblog.com Interview on LVRocks.com 11/29/2005

Enjoy!

Battlestar Galactica Gift Guide

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If you're looking for a great gift to give someone you might want to look into sending them a gift basket.  The online gift basket store GourmetGiftBaskets.com has a huge selection of gift baskets to choose from.  While they might not have a Battlestar Gallactica gift basket, what they do have is fruit gift baskets, wine gift baskets, birthday gift baskets and many more.

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We all love Battlestar Galactica and I am sure we also have friends and family that love the show too! What better way to celebrate the gift giving season than with a BSG token of love? For your convenience, I have compiled a list of my favorite Galactica treasures:

First, the obligatory ones:

• Battlestar Galactica DVD: Season One If you know someone that likes science fiction, but hasn't seen the show, what better way that to introduce them? Maybe tie it in with a BSG marathon fill of egg nog and cookies?
• Battlestar Galactica DVD: Season Two Part 1 If you are going to buy someone season one, why not bring them fully up-to-date with the first half of season two?
• Battlestar Galactica: The Miniseries It was a long time ago, but this is some science fiction everyone should see... right?
• Battlestar Galactica Soundtrack CD: Season One A great gift for the film score fan in your life. You can read my listening notes here.

I also know of some people who don't have cable or satellite, meaning a perfect gift might be Dish Network, or Direct TV, or local cable so that they can watch the Scifi Channel and actually see the show! It might be something as simple as upgrading them to the package that carries Scifi! Or maybe your recipient is too busy to watch TV on a Friday night and they need a Tivo unit... or if they are a work-aholic, maybe a Sling Media device so they can watch BSG while working late on their work computer!

Watching the show is only the first part... remember the podcasts? That takes an iPod or some other MP3 player.

Of course there are other gifts besides the actual show! Does your recipient have an Xbox or a Playstation2? Maybe Battlestar Galactica the video game will tickle their fancy? Sure it is the classic series, but you still get to fly a Viper! I played it and honestly, it wasn't the greatest game in the world, but I am a sucker for space action games... so it was a good time.

If virtually flying a Viper isn't your style, maybe your special someone needs their very own Viper to put on their desk at work! They will be the envy of all their mates!

Remember the BSG Trading cards? I wish someone would buy those for me! Of course if you get the cards you will need a cool binder to keep them in!

Of course, why settle for pictures when you can have SIGNED pictures? Maybe a BSG Autograph would serve as the ultimate stocking stuffer?

There are always fan made T-shirts that will provide the unique gift that no one else has! And it isn't just T-shirts... CafePress lets you put those logos on almost anything! I think everyone needs a "FRAK" coffee mug... It should be included with your discharge papers when you leave the hospital with a newborn.

Do you know a BSG fan fiction writer who needs a present? Maybe some slick writing software will fit the bill? Or perhaps you know someone who spends all day making LiveJournal/Blog icons for the show? How about a brand spanking new version of Photoshop Elements? Or maybe you are loaded and can buy them the full version? I use a little package called Ulead Photo Impact that does just fine.

Maybe the fan you know is a gun geek? Why not get them their own Beretta Storm just like they use on the show? I hear it comes with all kinds of crazy accessories too! I am not a "gun" person... but I know people that are... maybe you do too?

There are lots of types of fans out there. I say when in doubt, just go to eBay and search on Battlestar Galactica... there are always some gems in there... you can't go wrong.

Merry Christmas to all... and if you don't believe in Christmas, or you don't celebrate it or something, than Happy Holidays!

What BSG gifts are you buying for people this year? Leave a comment! If you know of something cool I left off the list, let me know as well and I will add it in!

Deleted scenes from season 2.0

The Tahmoh Penikett blog has a great recap posted about the new deleted scenes that have been released by SciFi for season 2:

Sci-fi.com has posted about 30 deleted scenes from the first half of Season 2 online. About 6 feature Helo.

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Justine did a great job organizing them with screen caps and direct links to the Helo related ones. The rest you can get by viewing the episode synopsis for each one in season 2.

Unfortunately I do not have time to watch them all right now, but I will put it on the list and post some thoughts hopefully later in the week.

Tricia Helfer gets a new gig

Someone going by "Ro Laren" sent me an email about Tricia Helfer's hosting job via Trekweb:

Tricia Helfer, known as the duplicitous Number Six to fans of Ron D. Moore's BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, has been appointed as host of Canada's upcoming NEXT TOP MODEL, where she could be an inspiration for sci-fi's Next Top Cylon.

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I assume she is doing this in the Galactica off season?

Second season dates on Sky One confirmed

Chris Howell of The Great Link sent over the news:

Fans of Battlestar Galactica within the UK having been asking the same question over and over again – when will Sky One broadcast Season 2?

Well, in a sign of things to come, Sky One have rolled a hard six and announced, via their programme information site, that the Season 2 premiere, ‘Scattered’, is currently due to be broadcasted on Tuesday, January 10th at 9pm.

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The days of going without will soon be over for those of you in the UK!

Interview with BSG effects house Zoic Studios

Battlestar Galactica Online has posted a great interview with the Zoic team responsible for BSG's amazing visual effects:

BSG-O: Which tools did you use, for the mini-series, but also for the episodes of the series?

Zoic: We primarily use Lightwave for the 3d animation, with the occasional use of Maya for most of the Cylon Centurions. To composite the imagery, we use a combination of Combustion and After Effects.

BSG-O: Which effect was the hardest or the longest to conceive (Mini-series and episodes)?

Zoic: For the mini-series, we thought the jump effect was going to be the hardest. We spent a lot of time developing an intricate look for it; after all it was going to be the "Warp Effect" of the series and would persist through the life of the show. The director had another idea, that is was extremely quick and not that eventful, we took his direction and were quite pleased with the way it turned out, which was simple and concise. The actual hardest effect to finish would have been the ragnar cloud. We shot multiple cloud tank elements, which we found looked too traditional. We ended up displacing 3d geometry and layering it with volumetric elements to get the final look.

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BSG Tech Blog #3

Hollywood North Report has posted the third in a series called the BSG Tech Blog. Like the Mythbusters would say, "Beware, there is science content":

When we originally decided to publish the TECH BLOG, the idea was that we would do a mix of original topics along with selected topics from our board. Personally I never dreamed we'd get so many good questions. Not only have the questions been good ones, a few have been at an impressively high level. Keep 'em coming!

Speaking of which, Raina asks:

"Is Dr. Baltar's Cylon Detector based off of the gel electrophoresis technique? I noticed in a screencap that the output looks much like one you'd expect from an electrophoresis, albeit digital and 3D."

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The Tech blog is a good mix of fun and information. My science geek head exploded while reading this.

New Battlestar Galactica novel?

I found a little something on PeterDavid.net while surfing the feeds:

So it's definite, I'll be doing a "Battlestar Galactica" novel (I say it's definite because I got the contract in the mail.)

I figure I must be on the right beam because two of the story elements I wanted to explore were nixed by the BG folks on the basis that it's stuff they're planning to explore in season 3.

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Interesting stuff! I will have to start watching his blog to see where it leads! Here are some other books by Peter David:

Peter David Biblography

Episode 2.01 - 2.10 action video

Trekscaper put together a fun action recap of the first ten episodes of season two. Check it out:

Not much to mention, besides that I am eagerly waiting for the remaining 10 episodes of the new Battlestar Galactica, that will resume in January 2006. I have made a musicvideo from season 2 episodes 1-10. It is an action musicvideo. You can download it from the following link:

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Episode 2.11 gets supersized

So I came across this little bit while reading about ABC's Lost, thanks to The Vast Wasteland. It is from a TV Guide column called Ask Ausiello:

Question: I'm not a dork; I get a lot of [bleep]; but I love, love, love Battlestar Galactica! Do you have the lowdown on the rest of the season? — Chris

Ausiello: The first episode back in January is so big that producers had to split it into a two-parter, airing Jan. 6 and 13. And look for [removed due to possible spoiler]

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So does anyone have the word on if this means there will actually be 21 episodes this season, or has episode 2.11 always been a two-parter? I would think from a cost perspective, if you can make two episodes out of one, it doesn't cost the studio anymore to run it right? With the show as hot as it is, that just means one more week to sell ad space!

Anyone know?

BSG lands the trifecta

As reported by The Futon Critic and every other person in the BSG blogosphere:

SCI FI Channel has renewed its original series 'Battlestar Galatica' for a third season. One of television's most critically-acclaimed shows, 'Galactica' is part of the Channel's troika of hit dramas that make SCI FI the #1 cable destination for P18-49 and P25-54 on Friday nights. Production on the 20-episode order is slated to begin in Vancouver in February 2006 for premiere later in the year.

The series entire ensemble cast returns for the new season, including Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sackhoff, Jamie Bamber, James Callis, Tricia Helfer and Grace Park. Also returning are executive producer and writer Ronald D. Moore and executive producer David Eick.

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Oh happy day! It looks like this party isn't going to end for quite some time!

Tricia Helfer signing December 10th, 2005

I came across this blog that talks about Metro Entertainment hosting an autograph signing with Tricia Helfer (Number Six). You can pre-order photos off their website or even send in your own stuff to get autographed.

Tricia Helfer Autographs

Searches on ebay show that Tricia autographs are going for around $25 so the price they are asking at Metro seems pretty fair.

I suppose if you are close to the store (6 West Anapamu, Santa Barbara, CA 93101) you could even stop in and say hi!

Aaron Douglas trying to mirror real life

The Great Link has a link posted to an article in TV Zone Magazine. It says that Aaron Douglas is taking a more active role in the behavior of his character due to comments from fans of the show:

"In [Season 2] I’ve taken a bit more of an active role insofar as talking to [Executive Producers] David Eick and Ron Moore about my character as well as to our show’s military technical advisors because I want to get it right. We get so many comments from people in the various armed services that our show does a great job of mirroring military life, despite it being set in the future and outer space. I want to make sure I maintain that sense of realism in my performance."

Read more

Ron Moore Blog Update - Michael Piller

Ron Moore posted a new entry to the official Battlestar Galactica blog. The post is a tribute to Michael Piller who passed away on November 1, 2005:

I first met Michael Piller in July of 1989. I sat in the outer office of his suite in the Hart Building on the Paramount lot with a white pad on my lap filled with my illegible scrawl which contained the seeds of the half-dozen stories I planned to sell to “Star Trek: The Next Generation” that very day and which would no doubt launch my career that very afternoon even though my spec script, “The Bonding,” had yet to be actually, technically, purchased, much less produced. I sat there and waited nervously for what would be my very first official Hollywood pitch session, having little idea of exactly what I was supposed to do or say and even less notion of what might follow after. Eventually, the door opened, and I was ushered into Michael’s office, where a tall man wearing an LA Dodgers’ ballcap, sneakers and a loose-fitting button-down shirt, stood up behind his desk and greeted me with a broad smile as he shook my hand.

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HNR visits the set of Battlestar Galactica

Check out the lucky guys over at Hollywood North Report. Don't worry, it is spoiler free:

Last Wednesday (Nov. 9) we were invited to spend the afternoon on the set of science fiction's hottest new series, Battlestar Galactica, during the filming of the two-hour finale, episodes 19 & 20.

HNR is thus far the only independent news website granted permission to visit the set, and we were pretty jazzed about it, frankly, particularly given the series' rising cache and critical acclaim.

We've got some treats in store for you before month's end; just enough to tide you over the Holidays and whet your appetite for the series' return to television in January.

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Richard Hatch Supanova podcast

I linked to a write-up about Richard Hatch being at SupaNova 2005. Bruce Moyle was kind enough to send a link from his site where you can download the podcast of the SupaNova 2005 panel with Richard Hatch:

Richard talks about:

• About Being an Artist
• Battlestar Galactica New & Old
• Playing Tom Zarek
• Becoming an actor and moving onto the big screen
• Star Trek
• and more…

Go get the link

Thanks Bruce!

BSG on demand via Direct TV

It seems like everyone is reporting this, but I heard it at Big Dumb Object first!

Sci Fi Wire is reporting (via The Hollywood Reporter) that NBC Universal is set to launch video on demand via DirecTV. CBS and Comcast (who?) have announced similar deals, however the intersting part of the NBC deal for us lot is that it includes Battlestar Galactica and Surface. (NBC Universal own SciFi Channel).

Sketchy details so far, 99 cents per episode (nicely undercutting iTunes), and what do you bet some nasty DRM? And how about opening it up to the rest of the world? Presumably if it's via DirecTV it will be some sort of cable download thing?

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It seems to me that this is one of those "next step" sort of things that just doesn't go far enough. I have Dish Network so am I totally screwed? Why not just sell them off your website or something? Why do you need a distributor at all? Oh well... baby steps down the hall... baby steps to the elevator...

I'm a geek, and this made me laugh

This came down my feeds and it gave me a chuckle:

It saddens me a bit to see BSG loose the nitty-gritty internal consistency I've always loved. The whole "Cylon virus" and "hacking our mainframe" crap is pretty bad. BSG still rocks my socks; don't get me wrong. But I can't help but wonder:

How exactly do you reformat a Battlestar? Is it like format c:? Or mkfs /dev/galactica?

Read more... the funniest part is this comment

SyFy Portal compares BSG and Star Trek

Scott Nance at the SyFy Portal takes on a comparison of Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek:

Some fans, at least, sure don't like to compare "Battlestar Galactica" with Star Trek.

"One is a space drama, one is a space opera. STOP COMPARING THEM PEOPLE," one such fan wrote on the TrekFanUnited message board. "Each is BRILLIANT in it's own right, but comparing these two is like comparing ST to Star Wars.......there IS no comparison. They are to [sic] different in intent and scope to be compared."

Despite the warning, I'm going to plunge ahead and compare them anyway because in the most important way possible, the two series share a common bond.

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I have to agree that by Scott's criteria, they do share a common ground... but isn't the ability to frame "taboo" events true of all science fiction series? I believe the quote in the article is: "Sci-fi is allowed to explore the human condition in allegorical terms." This isn't specific to Battlestar or Star Trek, so how can that really count that as a reason to say they are similar in their approaches?

I would like to point you to an article I linked that I think tackles the issue a little more fully, addressing why Enterprise failed and why Battlestar Galacitca succeeded:

Trek compared to Galactica by hard core fans

I think the meat of the article is that science fiction works best when it mirrors our lives. In the end, later Star Trek shows failed to do that in a compelling way and therefore lost their audience.

Battlestar and Star Trek really are two different shows that I think you have to watch for two completely different reasons. I still watch Star Trek on DVD at least once a week and I watch it because of the optimism, the ideals and the noble nature of the characters and their causes. I watch Battlestar for the drama, the intrigue and that shred of redemption that such fatally flawed characters are continually pursuing.

But, I was never really one of those people that participated in the Star Wars/Star Trek debates... I appreciate the stories for what they are... They don't need to be more than that and it would only hurt if one was truely better than the other... the fact that we have Star Trek, Star Wars, and Battlestar Galactica makes this science fiction fan a happy one.

Interview with Bear McCreary - Part 2

The SyFy Portal has finally posted the second part of an interview with BSG composer Bear McCreary. You can read the first part here.

Having music overlooked in a television series or movie project is something that Bear McCreary says is a compliment. For him, music is an invisible layer that is working its best when it isn't noticed.

But being invisible isn't always a benefit, especially last summer when McCreary's critically-acclaimed music for SciFi Channel's new "Battlestar Galactica" went virtually unnoticed by those choosing Emmy nominees. While it is a hard pill to swallow, it was something McCreary said wasn't unexpected.

"I was pretty disappointed," McCreary recently told SyFy Portal's Michael Hinman. "I don't think it was because I'm a newcomer. I think 'Battlestar" got looked over pretty deliberately. There's a certain stigma against sci-fi. We only got nominated in the visual effects categories, and I can tell you why."

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BSG Season 2.0 box art

The Cylons community has some great pictures of the Battlestar Galactica Season 2.0 box art posted:

HNR has gotten an advance look at the box art for Battlestar Galactica - Season 2.0, a three disc set which includes deleted scenes, podcasts with executive producer Ronald D. Moore, and a look at what's coming in the second half of the second season.

The season 2.0 DVD set will be released on December 20, just in time to make a perfect stocking stuffer for all your Cylon friends. The retail price is $49.98 U.S..

Read more and see the art.

BSG DVD features for free

Some of you might have seen this, but it is the first time I have come across it. It looks like you don't have to buy the DVD to get the special features. Head over to TV.com and watch the special features that are included on the season 1 DVD for free!

To celebrate the release of the US version of the Battlestar Galactica first-season DVD set, TV.com brings you a look at the DVD set's bonus materials. Tune in right here and watch our exclusive presentation of "Battlestar Galactica: The Series Lowdown," as well as deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes featurettes--in their entirety!

Read more and watch the vids!

Is this legal?

I really like the clip of the art & sketches... maybe because it starts with the much missed original credits theme! MAN now I am stoked for the rest of season 2!!

Katee Sackhoff Interview

BSG News is linking over to an interview with Katee Sackhoff where she says:

“I did get [hate mail] for a while, people were just really mad,” Sackhoff comments. “There was a side of me that wanted to get on the Internet and slam back and say ‘Kiss my ass’. But if they remade Indiana Jones with a woman I’d be mad, so I have to put myself in their shoes, and go, ‘I guess I get it’.

“I actually think it would have been worse if they’d cast a guy,” she adds, “because at least by casting a woman you can’t compare the two characters, there’s such a difference. But I can’t imagine what a male actor would have gone through in this role, they’d have just got beaten.

“But now people come up to me and say they prefer my Starbuck.”

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The Great BSG Pumpkin

You have to go over to the 13th Colony community and check out the awesome pumpkin carving skills of Alryssa:

Epic BSG pumpkin carving