Unofficial Battlestar Galactica Blog

Caprica online only?

I was reading the announcement about Capirca a little closer, and it made me think... might Caprica first appear on the new Pulse network that SciFi is working?

Sci Fi Channel is getting into the broadband business, launching new channel Pulse online on May 8.

Pulse was one of just many new developments Sci Fi unveiled Wednesday during its "upfront" presentation to advertisers and the media, including a potential prequel spinoff to "Battlestar Galactica" from the hit series' executive producers.

Pulse will premiere next month with a mix of recycled original series and movies, as well as behind-the-scenes footage and other video extras. Exclusive original content including "webisode" spinoffs of primetime series and a weekly news show will be added in the summer. Sci Fi will go as far as testing potential series pilots online for viewer feedback.

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That would be a good way to make a splash on your new online network! Put up a spinoff series of an already hit show! So what is the community thoughts on this? Is there a chance that Caprica will debut online?

Two great BSG character sketches

Check out these excellent sketches of BSG characters by nyuszi:

• mary mcdonnell as president laura roslin
• jamie bamber as lee "apollo" adama

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Interview with Dirk Benedict

Dirk is now famous amongst new BSG fans for his somewhat scathing post Starbuck lost in Castration. It was interesting to see him comment on the backlash in the interview at Jonja.net.

Jonja.net: I read Starbuck lost in Castration

Dirk: You did? That got me in huge, huge, huge problems. Did you see all the women’s reactions? Oh my god, they were mad. They called me a bitter angry old actor who can’t get a job and he is mad cause he is not on the new show. The article explained I hadn’t even seen the new show, so how could I saw it was bad, I never did say it was bad, a terrible show or awful, I never did say it. I just pointed out how different they are and why they are different. How they both reflect the times they were made in, a sign of the times. The destruction of the family is reflected in the new Battlestar Galactica, the dysfunction and the lack of spirituality and the dysfunctional man, the weak man, the drunk man. Nobody commented on that, it was just I was a bitter, angry; they assume everyone’s dream is to be an actor, to be famous. I don’t know, it’s so shallow and Katee Sackoff got it all wrong, she doesn’t have a clue, she is either brain dead or she must have never read the article. If she read that article and all she could say is “My feelings are hurt, He is just bitter man” Its like a child and I think oh my god this is what it has come to.

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He seems like a genuinely thoughtful man, but he still seems to take himself a bit too seriously. Honestly it is just a TV show. Using it as an example of the downfall of our conservative civilization is a bit of a stretch. There are far better contexts under which to debate changing cultural values...

Source: Big Dumb Object

Update 6/12/2006 2:26pm CST

Due to flame war the comments are now closed. It is all fun and games until people start swearing at each other.

Prepare for the BSG prequel!

Whoa big news. You look away from your news aggregator for a second and the entire fanscape changes in the blink of an eye! A spin-off series?!?! See for yourself:

"Caprica" will be set more than 50 years prior to the events of "Battlestar Galactica" and focus on the lives of two families -- the Adamas (ancestors of future Galactica commander William) and the Graystones. Humankind's Twelve Colonies are at peace and on the verge of a technological breakthrough: the first Cylon.

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Yes... you read that right... Is BSG pulling a Stargate?! Sure seems like it!

I am really trying to figure out if this is good or bad. Sure more sci-fi is a good thing, but three seasons in? It seems a tad ambitious... Sure I will watch the hell out of both shows, but still... I can't help but think it is a bit premature. I don't think I have ever heard of a show that split its time lines being on the air at the same time. Stargate is parallel. Star Trek was parallel. This is going to be crazy!

So what do you all think? Crazy news today!

More info on BSG Titanium Ships

For those of you on the hunt for Titanium ships, here is some more info emailed in by Jason:

Target's DPCIstock number is 087 06 1624.  Their toy departments are in the process of "resetting" with new stock for the upcoming quarter, so chances are your store will be receiving fresh cases of Titanium, even if they've had the one lone Wookiee Flyer hanging around since MLK Day.

I found some of these over the weekend, and thought your other readers might want a small review.  They were at Wal-Mart, btw.  I had a gift card, otherwise I wouldn't go there, but I digress.  (No pictures, sorry!) They were $4.97 each plus tax.

GALACTICA:  3.5" long, metal body with extending plastic flight pods. Reasonable accuracy for the size, right down to the Colonial emblem on top.  The hole for the display stand is placed a bit further back than I'd like, so yours may tend to droop from the front-heaviness.  Unless you're desperate for one, I'd say wait for the 6-inch version in the summer.

RAIDER:  Again, exact in shape, even with the wing tips made of stiff but bendable plastic for safety.  I think Hasbro may need some correcting on details like painting, though.  The Raider is black and purple, with red only on the engine thruster tips.  No red eye, and although someone made an effort to include the old insignia, instead of two concentric pentagons, they put one hexagon on each wing--and the ones on mine were uneven.

VIPER:  Oh, it's a big pretty white plane with red stripes, and guns on the wings and a pilot, and it just looks like a big Tylenol!  (Someone had already grabbed them when I got there, so feel free to insert your own Airplane reference.  I can post a review when I find one.)

More reports continue to surface (as well as photos) of people obtaining these little jewels of fun. If you have any links to reviews or photos, put them in the comments!

Galactica Titanium ships are OUT!

Jason emailed in with some great information about the Galactica Titanium ships!

Hey--just an FYI that the Galactica Titanium ships are OUT!  They have been spotted at Wal-Mart, and will show up elsewhere soon (Target, Toys R Us, etc.)  If you call a store to ask if they're in, here are a few tips:

1. According to Entertainment Earth, they are in every case of 12 Titanium ships labeled as "Wave 6."  Should be at least one set of Viper, Raider and Galactica per case.
2. They will be stocked with the Star Wars ones, so any stocker should be able to find "any Titanium that isn't Star Wars."
3. The Toys R Us stock number for the Titanium ships is 340895.
4. Pictures (and inflated prices) can be seen at eBay.

Hope this helps!

Oh it helps! Thanks Jason! As stated, you can find them on eBay.

More info on Majestic Studios action figures

Here is some more information about those Majestic Studios Battlestar Galactica action figures coming down the line:

CEO Rick Phares says, “The Cylon will be the most accurate figure we have released to date because we’re working directly from the original computer CGI files of it’s design from ZOIC, the special effects company responsible for bringing the Cylon to life on the screen.”

The Cylon will stand a towering 13 1/2-inches so that it will be in scale to the 12-inch human figures. It features interchangeable arms that can be switched to the Cylon’s trademark turret guns.

Lee “Apollo” Adama (portrayed by actor Jamie Bamber on the show) will be dressed in his leather-look fatigues and come with full flight gear, including helmet and his trusty blaster. He will have two interchangeable sets of hands so that you can switch from flight gloves on to gloves off.

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Ron Moore blog update

Ron Moore throws down another entry in his producer blog. HIs best stuff in this entry isn't about BSG, but about his life decisions surrounding the military:

It's interesting that I've almost never mentioned the fact that I was a Marine Midshipman -- I almost invariably talk about being on track to join the Navy. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's a bit of wishing my way onto the path I thought I would've been happier on, or maybe it has to do with lingering embarassment over my washing out of the whole program, or who knows what.

The closest I've come to making peace with this part of my past came about three years after I'd washed out. I went back to Cornell to see friends at my fraternity (K.A.) and hang out a bit, and I found a old box with some of my junk still in it. Most of it was literally trash, but when I found my old shoulder boards, I felt like I'd done something wrong by leaving them there to tarnish in a box. Men had fought and died with that Eagle, Globe, and Anchor on their collars and it bothered me that I'd tossed mine aside so cavalierly. So I put them in an envelope with a note and left them at the door to the NROTC unit up at Barton Hall. I remember I wrote something like, these meant something to me once, and please return them to the unit and hope they find their way onto the shoulders of someone who deserved them instead of lying in a box of trash. I felt better somehow after doing it, felt like I'd maybe shut the door on that chapter of my life, but in truth, I don't think I've ever really made peace with the experience and I probably never will. There will always be a sense of something left undone, something incomplete, and certain questions about myself left unanswered.

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That is some great blog writing. It really let's you inside Ron's head a little bit. It makes sense why so much of the show works the way it does. Through Ron's reverence for the military, we are treated to a spectacular display of realism in his writing.

Finding Home

This is a really awesome picture that deserves a link:

"Holy Frack! ...I think we've... we've found Earth!"

Podcast with Bear McCreary

Check out the Water Cooler TV podcast for an interview with Battlestar Galactica composer Bear McCreary:

We begin our "Behind the Music" series as we talk with composers Sean Callery and Bear McCreary - the men responsible for the music of "24" and "Battlestar Galactica."

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Shooting schedule for season three

A "secret source" on set emailed in this shooting schedule for April 10th, 2005. Consider it spoilerish since it does describe what happens in a few scenes.

April 10, 2005 BSG shooting schedule (jpg)

I know I normally do not post spoilers, but this seemed cool. Click if you are interested!

Kevin Smith loves BSG

You know Kevin Smith right? The guy who made Clerks and Mallrats and all those other crazy films? He has a big rave on his site about BSG this week:

Without changing much of the original “Galactica” premise, the creators and folks involved with the show have done the equivalent of taking a covered wagon and creating a BMW from the design: it still takes you from place to place, but now it does so while keeping you safe from the elements, getting you there quicker, warming your ass with heated, leather seats, and bathing your ears in audio delights from an iPod-friendly sound-system. With the mini-series alone, these people managed to not simply just teach an old dog new tricks; they taught that bitch to speak, travel to alternate dimensions, fold space, and cure cancer.

How was this accomplished? How did the new “B-Star G” peeps spin straw into gold? How did they make the human beings as interesting (if not more so) than the fucking Cylons? Like all great art, they simply held a mirror up to our culture. “Galactica” V.2 is an allegory for 9/11 and the War on Terror viewed from both sides. It offers a far more complex view of two opposite ideologies in juxtaposition to one another, presenting neither side as particularly evil – just terrifying. Extremely well done Science Fiction has always been most powerfully effective when it lays out humanity naked and shows us ourselves, warts and all. Whether it’s “Planet of the Apes”, “Star Trek”, or almost anything by Phillip K. Dick, the best sci-fi isn’t simply laser-beam driven shoot-‘em-ups between good guys and bad guys; it’s the abyss we look into and see someone awfully, sometimes painfully familiar looking back from. There will always be a place in Science Fiction for the Joseph Campbell-described archetypical hero’s journey of the “Star Wars” saga, but what Sci-Fi does best is allow the author to comment on what it’s like to be a human being – the shame, the miracle, the sacrifice, the desire, the grand heights, and the abject lows. And if an author can accomplish this in stealth mode – be entertaining while not calling attention to his or her loftier goals – so much the better.

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It look like we have ourselves another convert! Woo hoo!

Kevin says on his blog that he does "hours of web-investigation on the subject" so if you happen to stop by, HI KEVIN!

Season 2 soundtrack art released

The Battlestar Galactica Season 2 Soundtrack CD art is here and it is HOT!

BSG News has the image

This cover seems so much more "dynamic" to me... more exciting than the season one CD.
 

Moore looking at a Galactica game?

Straight from Reuters to me to you:

Moore says no one has come up with the great TV/video game hybrid yet, the game that everyone in the U.S. has to play. As a result, there's the opportunity to be a pioneer in this space.

"I've thought about doing something where you start a property across mediums, with Internet participation and role-playing video games," he says. "Not every show or property will lend itself to that type of hybrid environment, but if you set it up from the get-go to design it that way, I think that's a really rich and interesting place for the business to go."

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A lot of this article is a retread of snips from his Game Developers Conference (GDC) keynote... I don't remember reading about his "hybrid" idea though. Can TV show producers be game producers? I bet he could if he had one hell of a dev studio to back up his story.

Did Moore finally get his way with BSG?

Some interesting thoughts by Kyle about Ron Moore's drive to innovate the expectations of science fiction writing:

So, being the nerd that I am, I'm painting away in my studio with the special edition of Star Trek Generations playing on Mr. iMac with the commentary on. Generations being written of course by Brannon Braga and Ron D. Moore. Moore went on to write and run the amazing revamp of Battlestar Galactica, while Braga went on to co-create and run the Lost in Space bore-fest Star Trek Voyager.

Two things become very evident with this commentary:

1. Branna Braga was probably the biggest proponet of the Voyager "reset" button, claiming that you can't shake up the status quo on a television show or else the audience will be lost. Moore, who would later make the term "status quo" forbidden on BSG is pretty quiet after this statement, which is probably the most polite thing he could think of doing.

2. The key plot points of BSG were in Moore's head for years, and if he couldn't make them work while Berman and Piller were in charge of TNG, he would get to them eventually.

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When the Springfield and BSG collide

Ha! Check this out:

Six and Giaus... Simpson?

Great work!

BSG night with Gabe

If you have seen documentary Trekkies, than you remember Gabe Koerner... if you haven't seen Trekkies, than you should know that Gabe has done a little work on BSG doing 3d modeling. Turns out he had a little BSG party at his place and a few cast members showed up.

I met a wonderful fella named Sam on myspace, who played a character called Crashdown on BSG. If you watch (SPOILERS if you've not seen season 2), Crashdown was the character in command of the downed Raptor crew on Kobol, who got in over his head and was shot in the back by Baltar.

He's a talented local musician and is fast becoming a good friend. Well, Allison's just been catching up with season 2, and we've gotten to his pivotal episode. So we thought it'd be cool to invite him over for the night.

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Sam and Nikki seem like rad people. It must be so strange to watch your own performance. I have done a lot of performing in my days, but it must be a huge difference when you are on an effects-laden show like BSG where the entire picture doesn't come together until it is fully produced. I can't imagine you get a very clear sense of it all just acting in the quick little bits between takes and in front of blue screens.

Galactica wins a Peabody award

Thanks for the emails Wicky and Stephen... It looks like Galactica picked up a Peabody award. The George Foster Peabody Awards are often cited as the most prestigious awards in electronic media. E! Online has a small story:

Meanwhile, Sci Fi Channel's Battlestar Galactica, a hit reimagining of the campy 1970s series about a ragtag fugitive fleet on a lonely quest to start life anew on Earth, also brought home its first Peabody--something the original never did.

"It treats contemporary issues from an angle that really make you think about those issues…issues of race, gender, all those things are dealt with in that context," said Newcomb. "In a way it's almost a counterpart to South Park which just throws everything up there, while Battlestar considers them in a dramatic narrative."

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More praise for a deserving show! It is pretty hilarious that they compare it to South Park.

Season 2 soundtrack coming in June

As reported by BSG News, according to the La La Land Records home page, season 2 lands this summer:

JUNE
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: SEASON 2
The best musical moments from the second season of the acclaimed Sci Fi Channel series, composed by Bear McCreary

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Right around the corner!

All dressed up, no Vipers to fly...

Do you have a need for needle speed? Are you craft with the BSG costumes? Go check out the Battlestar Galactica costume community that just opened up:

Welcome to Battlestar Galactica Costuming :) Hopefully we can all have a good time talking about two of our obsessions in here with little to no drama. Only rules I have are respect your fellow posters, be kind and have fun! At this time I don't mind buying and selling, but if it becomes a problem I have no qualms about banning it.

Oh yeah, no spoilers.  Anything that's not yet aired is a spoiler.  Including plot points, pictures, and dialogue. 

So lets get to posting :D

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Post your pictures, share your patterns... enjoy! This action is serious.

Galactica Battlebuddies, Series 2

Grant Gould is back with a second set of Battlebuddies!

I have a million things I should be/need to be working on, but these are just so damn fun to draw -- I had to take a few hours to crank out Series 2 :)

Read more and see the art!

I love the Tigh character with the bottle... out of all of em, I think I would have to get Tigh and Baltar and have them posed kicking each other's asses. I like how Tyrol comes with a "dream diary" HA!

Johnny Walker Blue Label

The Battlestar Galactica Sitrep had a good post about this:

On their podcast for Lay Down Your Burdens part 2, Ron Moore and David Eick noted that they were drinking some good stuff: Johnnie Walker Blue Label. (Or was it the Black Label?) Anyway, as their podcast continued on, and as their beverages started to kick in, they made some entertaining jokes. So, to those that have wondered, they were just joking about Olmos not coming back in season 3, and being replaced by CGI. (And they were just joking about season 3 taking place 5 years later.)

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I actually went online looking for a bottle of blue label to pick up and try. I have never been a big scotch drinker, but I drink Maker's Mark from time to time, so I think it will be a nice step up for certain occasions.... Anyhow, turns out Blue Label runs around $200 a bottle from what I have seen. I guess you have to be a big-shot series producer like Ron Moore. ;)

I wouldn't be a true Battlestar geek if I didn't get my hands on a bottle eventually... I started drinking Earl Grey tea because Star Trek's Captain Picard did... if Blue Label makes the world go round for BSG... count me in!

Anyone recall if Adama has a favorite drink? I am blanking as to whether or not there is one.

Ron Moore interview about gaming

The Tahmoh Penikett blog linked me to this one. An interview with Ron Moore about BSG and video gaming:

Moore would love to see Battlestar Galactica explored in another video game. He said he'd like to see some type of game where you were set in the Galactica world and had to navigate these crises.

"You took the role of Adama or Starbuck or Tigh and were able to make decisions and guide the character through either the adventures you'd seen on the show or adventures that took place before the show began or adventures that never happened," explained Moore. "To me, I would enjoy trying to do these things. If I'm Kara I can drink and sleep with people and slap my superiors in the face and then every once in a while jump in the cockpit of a Viper and shoot down cylons."

Moore said he wants the game to incorporate a complex world, rather than just having a first-person shooter game that focused on shooting cylons. He said the ideas that intrigue him involve the real world of Galactica. Some issues that gamers could deal with include where the water for this week is coming from, dealing with low food rations, and a contending with a plague outbreak on another ship.

"Games have the ability to expand the universe that the show does not," said Moore. "We're limited by budget. There's a reason we don't see many civilian ships in the fleet and it's strictly money. It's not because there aren't plenty of stories to tell. In a game you could explore this find all these different cultures and how the colonies are different from each other and have episodic stories that could take place on these other ships in the fleet."

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Ambitious sounding! I wonder what Moore thinks of the Freespace mod currently in development. Maybe we need a Battlestar Galactica MMO? One can dream...

Don't blame me...

Don't blame me I voted for Roslin

BSG coming to Comcast VOD

If you have Comcast cable, good news for you! Gateworld is reporting that IMDB says that Battlestar Galactica is being added to the Comcast Video On-Demand service along with a few other NBC shows. You won't even need a Comcast DVR! You can watch it any time you like!

Comcast announced Thursday that it will be adding several popular NBC shows to its on-demand service, including the Law & Order spinoffs SVU and Criminal Intent, the comedy The Office and the drama Las Vegas.

Subscribers who access any of the shows after midnight on the day they are broadcast will be charged 99 cents to see them. Shows from NBC's cable siblings USA Network, Sci-Fi Channel and Bravo, including Monk, Battlestar Galactica, and Celebrity Poker Showdown will be available without charge, as will NBC's two night-time shows, The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and Late Night With Conan O'Brien.

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This is convenient for me because I just switched to Comcast! One can only hope that it will be the HD version! I would pay $0.99 if it was in HD. Otherwise I can just watch my standard-definition version recorded on my DVR.