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."
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.
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.
Gateworld posted an article about the challenges that Tricia Helfer faces playing such a complex character:
"I've actually played four versions of Number Six," Helfer said, sitting in her trailer during a break in filming. "As an actor that's fantastic. The Six in Baltar's head can be limiting, in a way, because you can't interact with the other characters. There's a certain relationship that they have that doesn't let you branch out. For me, it's fun to have other Sixes, to be able to have scenes with [other characters]. [But] I love working with James. I don't want to change that!"
Remember Sam Witwer? The man who Baltar shot in the head? Crashdown? He has since gone on to bigger and better things! Like producing a record:
I wanted to drop you a line and tell you that Sam Witwer (Crashdown) has just completed work on his first music release. The band is called The Crashtones. You can find more information at www.samwitwer.com.
Good luck Sam!
Thanks goes out to Chuck Hirstius for writing in with this information!
The Small Screen Buzz podcast has an interview with Aaron Douglas over on their site. Go check it out:
Show Topics
1. News: Charmed Fan Campaign
2. Food Network Challenge (Food), "Chocolate Fantasy Challenge," Airdate 2/12/2006
3. Epitafios (HBO Signature), Episode 11, Airdate 2/15/2006
4. Project Runway (Bravo), "What's Your Line?," Airdate 2/15/2006
5. Finales, Premieres, and Debuts for February 20 - February 26, 2006
6. Celebrity Interview: Aaron Douglas (Chief Tyrol on Battlestar Galactica)
I haven't listened to it yet, so I do not know if there are any spoilers. Listen at your own risk!
The Tahmoh Penikett blog has a link up to a new interview with the man who plays Helo:
Yet another interview with Tahmoh has appeared online (the fourth this week!). He still manages to share tidbits about his experience on the show that he's not mentioned before, among them details about his experiences Season 1 and the challenges of filming with CGI cylons.
Warning: The photos that accompany the interview are spoilery for episode 218, "Downloaded". I've pasted the non-spoilery text of the interview below.
As you can read, Justine was nice enough to copy over all the non-spoiler stuff, so you can click over to her site without fear! Thanks Justine!
Gamasutra is reporting that Ron Moore is on the list of keynote speakers at the Game Developers Conference this year:
The organizers of the 2006 Game Developers Conference, to be held in San Jose from March 20-24, have announced that the creator and producer of the new Battlestar Galactica TV series, Ronald D. Moore will deliver the keynote address of the “vision track” at the 2006 GDC.
The vision track of the GDC was introduced at the 2005 conference, and is designed to provide an environment that fosters the innate creativity of game developers, empowering each of them to establish their own long-term vision of the next decade of games.
In his vision keynote, entitled “Building a Better Battlestar,” Moore will discuss his pioneering global application of realism to story and characters in the science fiction genre, and his experiences creating something new and successful out of an existing and adored intellectual property. During the keynote, Moore will discuss each element of the rebirth of “Battlestar Galactica,” using clips and props from the production of the show as references.
If you are a game developer and a BSG fan, this is a win-win for you!
Source: Science Fiction Buzz
This really isn't news-worthy, but I was flipping through the channels and happen to land on SciFi right when James Callis was on the screen... turns out the show was Jason and the Argonauts and he was playing Aspyrtes:
In Greek mythology, Apsyrtus of Colchis was a son of Aeetes. When his sister, Medea, ran off with Jason, the Argonauts and the Golden Fleece, she distracted Aeetes by killing Apsyrtus and scattering his dismembered body parts. Aeetes stopped chasing her to pick them all up.
Not a happy ending for our fine Galactica friend!
It also turns out that Jolene Blalock from Star Trek: Enterprise was in the movie as well... my mind was reeling from it all! Star Trek and BSG thespians, working together!
Anyhow, just wanted to share...
Andrew over at The CIC has an exclusive interview with Battlestar Galactica composer Bear McCreary:
A little project that I've been working on for a little while now, and a holdover from my job on another website, www.clonewarz.com - Interviews. So, it's a very great feeling being able to put up the following interview that I conducted with Bear McCreary, the man behind the music of the show:
CIC - Hello Mr. McCreary, and thank you for having a couple of words with us. First of all, do you follow the Battlestar Galactica Series at all, after everything is finished an on TV? If so, do you have any favorite moments or episodes?
Bear McCreary: Sure thing, thanks for the interview. I am actually a really big fan of the show, so I tune in every week to watch the episodes on the air, even though by that point I’ve probably seen each episode about a hundred times. As for favorite moments, I’m obviously a bit biased by what the score is doing in any given sequence. The opening and closing sequences of the “Kobol’s Last Gleaming” storyline will always resonate with me. However, honestly, my favorite scenes are often not ones where the music is featured prominently. For example, in Litmus, the scene where Tyrol confesses his crime to Adama in his quarters just gives me chills. The performances and writing are rock solid. The music is one of the best cues I’ve done for the show, even though it never stands out at all.
Bear McCreary (the composer for BSG) was interviewed by Robin Parrish of InFuze Magazine. Go check it out. Registration is required, but here is a sample to wet your appetite!
Robin: Take us through what a typical episode cycle looks like for you, from start to finish.
Bear: Oh, Robin, I wish I could! (Laughs.) There is no typical episode of this show!
(Laughs.) In a nutshell, then.
The producers, the writers, and the actors are constantly growing, in regards to what they've learned, what the show needs. Over time, I've gotten pretty good at predicting what works best, musically, in any given episode. Now that I say that, the next few episodes may prove me wrong! But in general, from start to finish, it takes me about ten to twenty days to do a show. That doesn't mean I can only do one show at a time on that schedule; the shows always overlap. Right now, I'm working on two or three.
That's pretty typical. It's really tough on me because I haven't adjusted -- I haven't gotten to the place where I feel like I have a solid handle on this thing, you know what I mean? In a lot of tv shows, you're using the same palette that you paint from, week to week, using a lot of the same themes over and over. With our show, it's different almost every single week. Musically, each episode is almost a big movie adventure all by itself, in a way.
And it's pretty music-heavy, right? There aren't a lot of moments in the show where there's no music playing...
I think it's very music heavy. The average hour-long show on tv has anywhere from twelve to eighteen minutes of music. Our show, I've had episodes that run anywhere from twenty-five to thirty minutes of music. But it's very subtle; it doesn't feel like it's a lot of music. Because a lot of the time, the music is part of the atmosphere, part of the texture of the scene. It doesn't necessarily come at you in a big way.
...
What episode are you working on right now?
I am about to dive into episode fifteen. The break was at ten, so I've finished eleven, twelve, thirteen, and fourteen...
I can tell you this much: the second half of this season is stronger than the first half. I've been really enjoying the episodes that I've seen. In particular, the resolution to the "Pegasus" storyline is really cool.
Read more (free registration required)
It is a great article with some excellent pictures. Bear says he hates spoilers so there aren't any in the article. It is worth the free registration if are interested in the music, the soundtracks and the man behind it all.
The best tid bit of all? The next soundtrack CD! Planned for release late spring or early summer 2006... possibly double-disc!
