The Cylons' Secret : Battlestar Galactica 2 (Paperback)

by Craig Shaw Gardner

Due to be released on August 22, 2006

Story Description:

Sometimes no news is bad news.

It's been twenty years since the end of the Cylon war. The twelve human colony worlds are rebuilding, and the Cylons . . . the Cylons have been just too quiet. They are nowhere to be found. The robotic race that tried to obliterate their creators has gone to parts unknown in deep space.

The aftermath of the war has created a new, illegal profession: scavenger. Tom Zarek is one, scouring the outer settlements for valuable Cylon technologies and artefacts and usually returning empty-handed. But now, he and the crew of the Cruiser Lightning have found the Omega Station, a scientific station shrouded in secrecy beyond the edge of charted space. This is it, the big score, except something is wrong...the base is still occupied, not by humans alone; by Cylons too!

The Battlestar Galactica, one of the oldest warships in the fleet, receives the Lightning's distress call, a cryptic one-word message: "Cylons." William Adama, newly promoted to second-in-command, is worried. Most of his crew are green, new recruits, not prepared for anything but the most routine missions. And, as Adama soon discovers, this mission is anything but routine. Omega is indeed full of Cylons, but also something much more disturbing . . .

Newshound: SciFi

Posted by Blade Runner


Reborn "Galactica" can do battle with the best of sci-fi
Sat 29th Apr

Source: Seattle Times

SAN JOSE, Calif. - "Battlestar Galactica" is redefining science fiction on television - and gathering new fans beyond traditional sci-fi circles.

Don't believe it? Check out a few episodes of the show - the highest-rated original series in the history of the Sci Fi Channel.

You won't find self-contained episodes in which everything wraps up nicely in less than an hour. You won't find silly dialogue, laughable plot predicaments or anything resembling a Tribble. Instead, you'll find a show that can hold its own against anything else on cable - yes, we'll even invoke "The Sopranos" here - in its compelling, multilayered drama and suspense.

"Battlestar Galactica" is huge in Seattle, the No. 2 market for the show after Sacramento, Calif. Ratings here are more than double the national average.

The show isn't an exact remake of the 1978 laughably cheesy series that starred Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict. Instead, it's been "reimagined" under the vision of Ronald Moore, the series' executive producer.

Moore spoke here in March at the Game Developers Conference. He sat down with The Seattle Times to talk about science fiction, gender roles and why in the season finale (editor's note: spoiler alert if you haven't seen the episode) the show jumped a year in time. Here are some highlights from the interview:

Q: The show is really huge in Seattle. Why?

A: I would assume it has something to do with the confluence of all the technology that's up there and science-fiction fans. That's been a common thread forever. People who like science fiction like technology and vice versa. One would hope that Bill Gates is watching us, but one never knows.

Q: The season finale just blew people away. I frankly thought that you were crazy, which might have been the reaction you were expecting from people.

A: That was part of the attraction to do it, to really take a risk at the end, to really hang it out there and really go for it. I kept saying when we were doing it that this is a bet. We're taking a big risk, and we're going to change up a lot of things. Some of the audience is not going to like this, but we have to believe in what we're doing. You don't get any points for doing half measures.

Q: You've compared the next season to Vichy France.

A: The ending of season two was definitely influenced by that. Here's Baltar, the president, who is going to surrender and try to work with the Cylons under occupation. The Cylon march at the end is a direct reference to the Nazis marching into Paris.

Stepping into the third season, we're going to take another time jump ahead a little bit. The occupation is full bloom, insurgencies are cropping up, there's a government that's trying to maintain order. You could make analogies to Vichy France and a lot of other places.

Q: The show's serialized format with broader story lines is more interesting than the self-contained episodic format.

A: That was very important to me, and it's a struggle, because networks in general are kind of resistant to serialized storytelling. They prefer episodic so that they can repeat them in any order and it's easier for new viewers. But ... I'm more invested as a writer in following characters over a course of time.

Q: What character do you find the most interesting?

A: Baltar is fascinating to me and I'm very engaged with that character and all his flaws and foibles, especially since James Callis took the role. On paper, I didn't think it was very funny. It was never intended to be very funny, but he brings such wit and humour to it that the whole character lives in a different way.

Q: The characters' weaknesses are so apparent. You don't have the superhero space traveller who can take on anything.

A: It was part of the concept of doing the show, to say that the group of survivors aboard Galactica are not going to be the best of the best. They're not going to be the Enterprise. They're going to be these guys that were stuck out on this old ship that was being retired, and they're probably second- or third-rate people - but those people become heroes in this context.

Q: Why did you make Starbuck a woman? (The character was a man in the old series.)

A: It just opened up a lot of doors and a lot of ways to tell this story, and I realized that was going to enable me to keep the Starbuck character. The character of the original is very clichéd: hotshot pilot, the drinker, the womanizer, cigar smoker. It works in the old one because Dirk Benedict has this innate charm, and is a wink and a nod to the audience.

We weren't going to have that kind of vibe at all. But by making it a woman, all those attributes suddenly become more interesting because you're not used to seeing them portrayed by a woman.

Q: And you can still have her be the hotshot pilot and the drinker.

A: She sleeps around, she does it because she wants to do it, and because of the nature of the show it meant that that was going to be a deeply screwed-up character. A person who actually has all these attributes is really damaged in a lot of fundamental ways, so it made her more complicated and interesting.

Q: I love that you can take a female character and make her screwed up in ways that female characters aren't normally.

A: They're not usually permitted to be like that, especially in this genre. People ask me a lot about sex in the show, too, and it's always struck me how strange science fiction as a genre is. There's a wide acceptance towards the fetishization of women in science fiction. You can dress them up in leather, S&M outfits, and you can fetishize them as objects, but if you just have sex with them, if it's just like they're people and you allow their sexualization to be co-equal with men, it flips the fans out. It's so fascinating.

Q: Do you think the show can appeal to the mainstream viewer?

A: The challenge to the show at this point is ironic in that the name, I think, now holds people back from the show. Initially, the name "Battlestar Galactica" got the show made and it got people to tune in. Now we've gotten to a place where literally the viewers that would like this show won't watch it because of the name. And it's hard to jump over that, because I think the people that would really like this show are the people that watch "The Sopranos," "The Shield," "Nip/Tuck," "Six Feet Under." If you like classic, high-quality dramas I think you'll like this show, but "Battlestar Galactica" on the Sci Fi channel just doesn't register.

Q: Maybe you should call it "Chicks in Space."

A: Almost. We're almost at that point.

Newshound: SciFi

Posted by Blade Runner


Galactica Cast Was in the Dark About 'Caprica'
Fri 28th Apr

Source: MediaBLvd Magazine

Grace Park says that the cast of Battlestar Galactica didn't know that the spinoff prequel Caprica was in the works until Wednesday, the same day the rest of the world first heard about it. She received a call from her manager, who read about it in Variety. Trish Helfer also sent an email out to the cast, which was the first that most of the rest heard about the show being developed.

Grace said this in an interview Thursday with MediaBlvd Magazine, which will be published next week both in the Magazine, and on the Battlestar Galactica fan site, bsgtns.com.

Grace mentions many other interesting facts about season 3. Another tidbit she mentioned; on the set, the 7 Cylon's revealed so far are referred to as the Significant Seven. The 5 as of yet unrevealed models are referred to as the Final Five. The "Five" unrevealed models are so secret, that even the other Cylons are programmed to not think about them, and don't know what they look like or what they are doing.

Look for the full article, along with the podcast of the interview next week in MediaBlvd Magazine.

Newshound: SciFi

Posted by Blade Runner


A Candid Interview with Dirk Benedict
Fri 28th Apr

Source: Jonja.net

On Sunday April 23rd at the 2006 Denver Starfest, we managed to get Dirk Benedict to agree to an interview. Its agreed that we will do the interview up on the 9th floor of the hotel in the "Greenroom". He follows us to the elevator and we talk to him a bit on the way up. He is very candid and I can tell that this interview is going to be very interesting.

Up in the Greenroom, there is a small interview room set up just for such occasions. After Dirk gets himself some coffee, we all sit down and get to business:


Jonja.net: Dirk, I wanted to know what your boys thought of you being Starbuck. Do they ever think or you as a movie star or are you just Dad?

Dirk: No, I am just Dad, I do think they think of me that way sometimes but they don't ever talk about it. Sometimes I hear them talking to other people, "Oh, yeah my dad is an actor" Roland, when he was about 4 years old and we were still living in California and we were at a park with him, I had a dog and the boys were playing. All of a sudden he comes over to me and says "Daddy, daddy" I said "Roland what?" He said "That boy said you were on that T.V. show The A-team and I told him he was wrong, right?" And I said "Awww, Roland, actually"……and he gave me a look like……how could this strange kid know more about my own father. I never watched television really, when they were little they didn't watch it, cause I didn't have it on. So I went into the storage bin and got episodes and that was it, he saw 104 episodes. If you go to my house you don't see, you wouldn't know what I ever did for a living there are no photos, no memorabilia. I have a lot of what I have done on DVD and or tape. I didn't look at things when I did them. I never watched Battlestar Galactica when I was making it! It used to drive Richard (Hatch) crazy! We would get together on Monday, the other actors too and they would talk about the show and say "What did you think"? "Uhhhh, I didn't see it" Personally, I don't like looking at myself and I didn't own a T.V. I never owned a T.V. until 1984. When I met my future wife and she had a T,V. and we moved in together, she brought the T.V. so we had a T.V. Actually, I did watch the A-team when we were doing it.


Dirk then gets a call on his cell phone from his son George to say he won a championship and talks to him about that and wishes he could have been there with him. We talk about kids being a priority and he tells me he has been a single parent for 12 years. "It is all encompassing, it is just all encompassing, that was my 18 year old and he is in Idaho his team is playing for the championship, he is on a really good team and plays really well."


Jonja.net: What sport?

Dirk: Soccer, both my kids play soccer. My 16 year old is one of the greatest soccer players in the United States. Every team has an Olympic team in soccer. The Olympic development program in America ODP and there are 4 regions, north, south, east and west. Western region is the strongest one, its got region 4, and fourteen western states which includes Colorado. They send their Olympic team, it starts at age 14 and they go to a tournament, and play each other and at the end of that (it takes a week) they pick the 40 players to stay for another week. No kid from Montana has ever made it, my son Roland made that team last year. Then they stay another week. The coach called me and said "Roland made the team". Then at the end of that week they pick 22 players out of those 40 for the travel team. When he flew back on the plane to Spokane, I picked him up. He had the biggest grin. He looks like David Beckham almost exactly except he is real thin 5'11" and wears his hair really short, blue eyes, smiles, and is faster than Hell. He is a striker, clever, smart, team player. He has a great attitude. My other son George is good too and he is smart. He is about 5"9, he plays a different position. Anyway, Roland is actually a better basketball player than he is soccer, we get him going and he is on an AAU basketball all star team a lot because he is so good. Roland, I have to keep him challenged.

Jonja.net: Dirk were you athletic growing up?

Dirk: Oh yeah I was, their mother was athletic, my father was. I was an all state football player. I was a good basketball player but was all state football, I played in college.

Jonja.net: So what got you into acting?

Dirk: You should read my book, it's a long story. I never wanted to be an actor, I stumbled into it really, I was in college and I a was music major.

Jonja.net: Why do actors always say they fell into it?

Dirk: It is a profession for losers where they can't do anything else, no, I went to professional acting school for two years and then I was in Repertory Theater and then did Broadway twice, two shows New York. Did a film in Europe and then I did a play in Hawaii. The Hawaii 5-0 people saw me and put me an episode, I just did the one. It was 1972. So I did this play and I was a guest star on the basis of that. Richard Zanick saw that episode and hired me to star in the Snake movie which they are showing here (at the convention that morning) So, I was going back to L.A. and I got a call from my agent, Richard Zanick wants to see you about making this Snake movie and then I ended up doing series Chopper One and then I ended up doing a movie with Twiggy. Then I got Cancer and it all ended, everything.

Jonja.net: That's when you started doing the Macrobiotic Diet?

Dirk: Yeah, and I ended up writing a book about it up to 1984, the book goes up to 1984.

Jonja.net: What is your favorite medium, plays, Broadway, film, or theater?

Dirk: Theater, I am best on stage.

Jonja.net: When you met Dwight Schultz on The A-team you guys became very good friends?

Dirk: Yeah

Jonja.net: Yesterday we interviewed him and he said you were his best friend in the business.

Dirk: Yeah, It is mutual. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have Dwight in my life. He is the only friend I have really. I am a weird guy; I am not what I appear to be. People think of me as this, well, girls think of me as this playboy and now I have been a Mom for 12 years. I have more in common with mothers and yet I am in show business and yet I think women should be doing what I am doing.

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.

Jonja.net: I saw you in the Starbucks(Coffee Shop) with Katee Sackoff (The Lowdown)and she couldn't keep up with you, she didn't know what to do with you.

Dirk:She just sat there and giggled. She was cute, she was nice. I thought oh my gosh. No, now, all those fans say "Oh, she is better than he ever was" but there is no comparison, I was a 29 year old man that played that part and I was male, and I was really male!

Jonja.net: Your character was very male

Dirk: but there was a certain part that was part of me and so I was that guy, that guy is very close to me. I can be very charming and sociable, but I don't hang out, I don't join groups. It was a great part and I loved doing it. I don't care about that, Richard (Hatch) is the one who wanted to have the show revived. Nada, nothing zilch from me I didn't care. And then when Tom Desanto contacted me, I got very excited, I had meetings with him. I was about 4 weeks away from starting production. Sets were built, I was playing Starbuck at age 50 and I couldn't wait. The opening scene was you just see this smoke and then you see the cigar and then he turns and there is Starbuck. Same guy but now he is about 50. When I met with Tom, I said I would love to do it but, he is not married he is not the same guy. I want to show the pathos, I want to show the sadness, I want to show the emptiness of that. No children, well, he did have one based on the back-story, a daughter from 1980 Return of Starbuck. I sent the woman off in the ship and I stayed behind. It was called Return of Starbuck (From Galactica 1980) and I was there and this girl was there and she had a child and I sent them away. So that child, showed up in Tom Desanto's Battlestar Galactica. He discovers that. So what I was, was a rough old guy who was training all the young pilots and because of it, I come to know that she is my daughter. She is one of the viper pilots and one of the stars of the new show. I was a secondary character, I was like a supporting role, but it was great, he still drinks, he still smokes and gambles. It continues the story, it doesn't just piss away the whole previous show which is what the new show did. To me it's stupid. They just threw away it all away. But in my article I said it won't matter , because in the end they will be convinced this hamburger is the best hamburger that they has ever made and you never did see the other show. Was there ever another Starbuck? I can't remember, and that is the way it goes.

Jonja.net: Of course we remember you as Starbuck!

Dirk: I kept hearing they may ask me to be on the new show and I said it will never happen, because they couldn't fit my personality into that show. I would want to do something that was a little bit charming. What are they going to do with that, everybody would watch it and go, cause I still look enough like myself, they would go there is Starbuck!. Oh there's Starbuck, he showed up and it was like the interview with Katee. So if I played another character, Kazil, Kaze, Kaza, They'll say "Ah that is Starbuck". They know that. So I have some bets, all they have to do is offer me that part and I lose the bet, I got some other bets too.

Jonja.net: So Dirk gambles aside from being Starbuck!

Dirk: I only bet when I know I will win.

Jonja.net: You have any new stuff you want to fill us in on

Dirk: I am not working; I should be writing I'm not. I may start soon. I did a film in Germany called Golden Times. My first film I have to say it was the most complete experience I had as an actor in a movie. In 1971 in Sweden, Maya Angelou wrote it's called Georgia, Georgia. My last movie in 2004 in Germany, I made a foreign movie in German. My second favorite film, I thought what a way to end. If this is the last movie I ever make. It was great. I play two characters, I play an old, angry, bitter, drunk, bald German actor pretending to be a guy like me from America, speaking English and trying to be a T.V. star. It was so good, I play two characters, and it was very funny. It was three and a half months, big film, it was great.

Jonja.net: On an ending note, is there something you wish someone would ask you that no one ever has, or something you want the fans to know about?

Dirk: No, no, no, (laughing) no, I wish fans read my books more. My one is out of print now " And Then We Went Fishing".

Jonja.net: Confessions of a Kamikaze Cowboy?

Dirk: Wish more of them read that. One thing I would like to do a show with Dwight(Schultz), I have been talking to him forever to do a show together. It's hard to organize. We are both so busy, I get home and I get busy.

Jonja.net: Well you get caught up with your boys.

Dirk: Who knows maybe in a couple of years, my dream, the things I would like to do, I want to write another movie, I want to write the third book of my autobiography, I want to write one more book about being a single father, and walking away from Hollywood. Well, I didn't walk away from Hollywood, I thought the phone would still ring. It stopped, so Hollywood left me, but when out of town out of site. I want to write about that experience, I want to do a play in London or Ireland, or back on the stage in a play.

Jonja.net: Now that your boys are getting older you may have more time to do more things.

Dirk: Yeah, I don't know, if I am still alive in four years, so good, so far.

Jonja.net: Well, with your macrobiotic diet.

Dirk: Yeah, but I abused myself.

Jonja.net: That was a long time ago though.

Dirk: Yeah, Oh yeah. Well, its time I got back, Dwight (Shultz) is probably waiting for me.

Jonja.net: Thank you very much for your time.

Posted by Blade Runner


Mary McDonnell On The Transition From Movies To Television
Thu 27th Apr

Source SciFi Pulse

Over the course of the last 2 seasons there have been two actors involved in Battlestar Galactica who are more at home on the bigger screen, however one of these two actors hadn't really experienced a television schedule and has worked hard over the last 2 seasons of the show in order to get to grips with the faster paced television schedule. In a recent interview for the official Battlestar Galactica Magazine Mary McDonnell talked about her transition from movie actress to television actress.

"It took me a long time to figure out the most economical way to learn the new scripts that come in every seven days," she explains, "and to collaborate with [the writers] in terms of asking for rewrites of not…. In the beginning, it felt like I didn't have a system in place, because I didn't have a technique. I know exactly what to do when I'm beginning a play, exactly what to do when I'm beginning a movie, but [with this], I had nothing! So it all felt like it was constant."

However as you would expect time has given McDonnell a way and a means of dealing with many of these initial teething problems. "I can read it now and not immediately jump to asking for a rewrite on something that I don't process well. Because what have also found is that at least 50 per cent of the time, it was right."

 The biggest difference is that in a movie the characters story arc is usually resolved in a 2-hour period where as on television the characters are ever evolving and this is one aspect that truly challenged McDonnell.

"I think I can be a bit of a control freak in the work," McDonnell confesses, "so it was hard for me to not be as prepared as I'm used to. When you prepare for a movie, there's usually a lot of time. You show up for the first day of shooting and the whole thing is learned, you know the outcome, and it's about throwing yourself into the moment because you already trust that you know what it is. So this experience has been a little scary for a control freak! I don't know where it's going next week, so I don't know where exactly she should be coming from this week to help play that."

"What I experienced last season is that you get to a certain episode and you think, 'Oh, if I'd only known this in episode three, I could have played that moment like this which would have set up that moment in [episode] five and [so on]. Well, you have to let go and trust the people around you and trust the mechanism that is in place."

Posted by Blade Runner


SCI FI Wire gave the official word on its BSG prequel, Caprica.
Thu 27th Apr

Source: SciFi Wire

SCI FI Channel announced the development of Caprica, a spinoff prequel of its hit Battlestar Galactica, in presentations to advertisers in New York on April 26. Caprica would come from Galactica executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick, writer Remi Aubuchon (24) and NBC Universal Television Studio.

Caprica would take place more than half a century before the events that play out in Battlestar Galactica. The people of the Twelve Colonies are at peace and living in a society not unlike our own, but where high-technology has changed the lives of virtually everyone for the better.

But a startling breakthrough in robotics is about to occur, one that will bring to life the age-old dream of marrying artificial intelligence with a mechanical body to create the first living robot: a Cylon. Following the lives of two families, the Graystones and the Adamas (the family of William Adama, who will one day become the commander of the Battlestar Galactica), Caprica will weave together corporate intrigue, techno-action and sexual politics into television's first science fiction family saga, the channel announced.

Newshound: koenigrules

Posted by Blade Runner


Katee Sackhoff Talks "Battlestar," "The Last Sentinel," and "Indy 4"
Thu 27th Apr

Source: Rotten Tomatoes

RT-News writes: "RT traveled to Vancouver last month to visit the set of "White Noise 2: The Light," starring sci-fi faves Nathan Fillion and Katee Sackhoff. Check in daily for the four-part set visit and sit-downs with Fillion, Sackhoff, director Patrick Lussier and producer Shawn Williamson. First up, Katee Sackhoff talks action movies, "White Noise 2," and her willingness to give up her firstborn to be a part of "Indy 4." Are you reading this, Lucas?

Katee Sackhoff is known to drooling sci-fi fanboys as tough captain Kara "Starbuck" Thrace on TV's "Battlestar Galactica," and now she's making a temporary detour onto the big screen with the supernatural sequel, "White Noise 2: The Light." RT's Senh Duong and Phu Bui-Quang sat down with the lovely Katee and dished about "White Noise 2," working opposite Nathan Fillion, kicking ass alongside Don "The Dragon" Wilson, and what "Battlestar" fans can look forward to with Starbuck's love life.

Rotten Tomatoes: So Katee, how did you get involved in this project?

Katee Sackhoff: I read the script, and I loved it. I was shooting another film at the time. We were doing night shoots till 5 in the morning, so at like 4 in the morning I'm reading the script cause I had a meeting with Patrick Lussier, the director, the next day.

RT: Wow.

KS: So I'm reading the script at 4 in the morning going, "Ok, ok, ok this is really good!" and like slept for a couple hours, got up, met him at Starbucks, had a huge espresso, and then, just kind of got involved that way, and told my managers I was really interested.

RT: So are you a fan of horror films?

KS: I am. I love having the crap scared out of me as long as I'm not alone, like in my house by myself watching it and then I have to go to bed. If I'm gonna watch a scary movie by myself it's usually during the day, 'cause then I can watch a cartoon afterwards or something before I have to go to bed.

RT: Because it's sunny outside…

KS: Exactly. But I live kind of in the middle of nowhere, so when it's dark out you hear the coyotes -- "oh my God, I'm gonna die!"

RT: Can you tell us a little about your character in the film?

KS: My character is a nurse who ends up meeting Nathan Fillion's character, Abe, at the hospital under some pretty bad circumstances, and they find a common ground. They've become soul mates, you know, kindred spirits in a sense because they're going through such a very similar thing. Something that he's going through in his life right now with the loss of his wife and his son is something that she had experienced a couple years before, so she seems to latch onto him and try and help him through the process of grieving and getting over it.

RT: Have you worked with Nathan yet?

KS: No, I haven't, but we have a common friend, and so I knew of him for many years, so as soon I found out that it was with Nathan -- I'm such a big fan of his, I loved "Firefly," I loved "Serenity" -- I was really kind of excited to work with, you know, Mr. Hotpants (laughs). He's called Mr. Tightpants or something like that, so I was pretty excited about it.

I think all my scenes are with Nathan, so we've definitely worked together and we get along really well. We don't take ourselves very seriously, there's a lot of goofing around. So we basically just kind of goof around with each other and they say "action" and then we have to cry.

RT: So were there any "Battlestar Galactica"/"Firefly" duels?

KS: Like who? Like could Starbuck beat him up?

RT: Yeah.

KS: (Laughs) Maybe. We've talked about it briefly, but I think that the fans are really excited about it just because I think that it brings in a built in audience, which is really nice. You know I know that a lot of my fans are eagerly awaiting for it to come out and we haven't even finished shooting yet, and the fact that Nathan's in it just, you know, an added bonus, and I think his fans are vice-versa. It's really exciting, I think everyone's gonna really enjoy it.

RT: We were reading on the internet and there are all these fans that just because the two of you are in it are really looking forward to the sequel.

KS: Yeah, there's either people that are really looking forward to it, or there's people that you just can never win over, the people that still don't like me because I'm a woman (laughs), that are like, "no, she'll never be Starbuck so I'm not gonna see this either," You're always gonna have that, but I think that people are really excited about it because it is Nathan and I.

RT: How did your character in "Battlestar Galactica" prepare you for the role for this?

KS: The characters are very different. You know, Starbuck is extremely capable, and she's very quick with the tongue and even faster with the fist, so she's a very tough person. Sherry, my character in "White Noise," she's just as capable, just in different ways. She's kind of the damsel in distress, which is very interesting for me.

There's a scene where I get in a struggle with a gentleman, and it was really hard for me because I'm so used to playing Starbuck who would give him a dropkick to the face. So it was really hard for me to be the victim and scream like I didn't know what to do and be like, "Oh my God, a knife!" You know, that was pretty hard.

So it's been very different for me. The director's been amazingly approachable and he's helped me so much because I'm so used to playing that tough character that it's nice to have someone sit there and go "Cut. Katee, don't look like you're gonna beat Nathan up. You're supposed to be kissing him right now." So little things like that have helped.

RT: Have you seen the first "White Noise?"

KS: I did. I was a big fan of the first "White Noise." I love Michael Keaton, and I was terrified, absolutely terrified the whole time I was watching that movie. And in the very end when he gets beat up by the ghost, I couldn't figure out quite what was happening for like the first two seconds, and then all of a sudden I went, "Oh my God, they're breaking his bones!" I was freaking out like, "That's so gross! That's horrible!" Oh God, it was so scary. So I was really excited to do this next one.

RT: So in this one, the emphasis is less on EVP, and more on premonitions.

KS: Yeah, it's more on premonitions and I guess death's design and [what happens] if you interfere with that. It's got a little twist of Final Destination in there, but it's definitely got a lot of the original in it as well, as far as the EVP is concerned, but there's definitely that whole "if you interfere with death's design you've got to equal things out a little bit," which is kind of eerie.

I think that's what's so interesting about this type of horror film as opposed to the last one I did, "Halloween: Resurrection," which is totally different because it's some guy chasing after you with a butcher knife that's died 50 times and keeps coming back. How realistic is that? But this is so realistic that it is more terrifying. Because there are people that do believe in EVP, and that's really kind of freaky. I think this is a little bit more of a psychological thriller as opposed to a campy, gory, blood-all-over-the-place thriller. A different kind of scary on the seat of your pants.

RT: It's probably easier on you.

KS: It's the first job I've done where I've actually been clean with no blood and bruises and cuts, and like, gunshots wounds. So I'm really excited about that, that I actually get to look normal for at least the beginning of the movie.

RT: I was looking at your filmography and you did a movie with Don "The Dragon" Wilson.

KS: I did. Are you a Don "The Dragon" Wilson fan?

RT: Well I'm a huge martial arts fan so I've seen some of his films.

KS: Right. This was called "The Last Sentinel" and it's the film I did right before this. It's a very, very low budget independent film where I think myself and Bokeem Woodbine are the only ones that really talk in the movie. It's me doing long monologues with Don "The Dragon" Wilson fighting in the background. Jesse Johnson was the director of that film, and Jesse Johnson did "Pit Fighter" which was his first film. He is a stunt coordinator that's done all the "Mission Impossibles;" he's a brilliant stunt coordinator.

We had a million dollar budget with 50 million dollar stunts, and I got to do all my own stunts. And that was my big thing and that's why I did the film. I was so excited to do my own stunts and work with Jesse because he is such an amazing stunt coordinator and I loved "Pit Fighter." So it should be good. I have no idea what it's going to look like, but I know the fighting's going to be great because I had to learn to knife fight for it. So it was pretty interesting.

RT: So are you more interested in the action-type movies?

KS: Action comes easier for me. It's a lot easier for me to scare somebody and hit them than it is for me to make them cry or make them laugh. But it's definitely more challenging for me to do roles like Sherry in "White Noise" that are more just normal people, because then that's just selling the reality of the situation as opposed to the fantasy of it. It's different, but I'm a mixture. I keep saying my next movie's gonna be a nice little romantic comedy with no blood, no death, no guns, no killing, no ghosts, no robots that are gonna kill you.

RT: You've said that you want to work on the prequel for "Indiana Jones."

KS: I would give up my firstborn to be in the next "Indiana Jones." I grew up watching "Indiana Jones" and was such a huge fan of that trilogy and Harrison Ford. Yeah, I would literally give up my firstborn -- granted, I don't have one yet so I don't really know if that's an option, but I would love to do that.

I love action films. I love movies where things blow up, I don't know why. I was born in the 80's, and so I think that my generation is very over-stimulated so if something doesn't blow up or if it's black and white I don't want to see it.

RT: When you started acting eight years ago did you ever imagine that you would be in one of the most popular sci-fi TV series and now a big budget sequel to a popular film?

KS: Isn't it weird? It's so weird how life works out. I got into this business because it was the only other career I could find that I didn't need a college education for, other than being an athlete which is what I had done and I had gotten injured so I had to figure out something else to do really quick.

RT: What did you do before?

KS: I was a swimmer. So I had planned on going to Stanford and swimming and going to the Olympics and doing the whole thing, and then I got hurt and it was like," Ok, what do I do now?" In the back of my mind I guess it was always like," It's never going to happen." Because you never really hear of anyone that makes it. You always hear horror stories of people moving to Los Angeles and coming home a year later. So I always knew I had the drive and ambition for it, but I think that this business has so many other things that go into success that you have no control over, so you never know. I wake up every day and pinch myself, and I'm so lucky to be where I am. Then again, I'm extremely ambitious and my goals and my ambitions are so huge at this point that, you know, we'll see where it leads.

RT: What was your first major break?

KS: It was in Portland, Oregon where I'm from. I went down to be an extra in a movie that my mom had seen in the newspaper. And one of the girls that they had cast in Los Angeles didn't show up, or they forgot to cast the role, or something like that, but they had to shoot the scene that day, or the next day, or something crazy. So they decided to just start auditioning extras and I called my mom and was like, "you've gotta get down here right now because I'm only 17 and I've got to sign a contract." So my mom got down and I got the part. And so that was my first job and it was with Kirsten Dunst.

RT: Which movie was it?

KS: It was for Lifetime, called "Fifteen and Pregnant." Everyone thinks it's a documentary. Other than that, I'd have a firstborn to give to Harrison Ford for the part. So I did that role and the director of that film, Sam Pillsbury, and his wife really took an interest in me and convinced my mom to let me move to Los Angeles. I moved to L.A. 3 months later and they introduced me to an agent and a manager. That was the next job and I got a series like 6 months later, so it was so quick. I'm glad I didn't go to college.

RT: What upcoming projects can we look forward to seeing from you?

KS: If you're an action fan, or a fan of Don "The Dragon" Wilson, "The Last Sentinel" is gonna be a huge film. I think that fans of "Firefly" and "Battlestar" and fans of the original "White Noise" are gonna love this film. It's well written, the direction by Patrick Lussier is amazing, so this is gonna be a great film. And we're getting ready to start the third season of "Battlestar," we start in a week. But that's what I have going on right now and we're working on other things for my next hiatus which isn't for 9 months, but, you know, we're working things out, things are in the can.

RT: What kind of stuff can we look forward to on "Battlestar Galactica?"

KS: Well, Kara Starbuck has an unlikely love affair with a gentleman who everyone is aware of, but whom no one would ever think of as the person that she would end up with, even if it's just for a little bit. As we know, Starbuck moves on very quickly from man to man. People should also look for a nice little haircut that's gonna take everybody back to what she looked like in the original, which I'm not too proud of or happy about, but you know, I'm gonna look like a boy again and that's ok. And again lots of special effects, guns, and fights, and I'm sure Starbuck will not disappoint. She will beat up a few people at least in the next season, so we'll see. I'm sure they'll be happy about it."

Newshound: shirelym

Posted by Blade Runner


SCI FI announces Galactica spin-off!
Thu 27th Apr

Source: Gateworld

By the Lords of Kobol ... The SCI FI Channel has stunned fans today with the announcement of Caprica, a spin-off series from its top-rated Battlestar Galatica. SCI FI calls the potential new show "television's first science fiction family saga," centering on the history of the Adama family and the birth of the Cylons.

Set more than 50 years before the events of Battlestar Galactica, Caprica takes place on the capital world of the Twelve Colonies. There humankind thrives, living in a peaceful society with the benefits of high technology. But the development of an advanced, robotic, artificial life form is about to change everything.

The show is in development by Galactica executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick, 24 writer Remi Aubuchon, and NBC Universal Television Studio.

Here is the network's own description of the series:

The people of the Twelve Colonies are at peace and living in a society not unlike our own, but where high-technology has changed the lives of virtually everyone for the better. But a startling breakthrough in robotics is about to occur, one that will bring to life the age-old dream of marrying artificial intelligence with a mechanical body to create the first living robot -- a Cylon. Following the lives of two families, the Graystones and the Adamas (the family of William Adama, who will one day become the commander of the Battlestar Galactica) Caprica weaves corporate intrigue, techno-action and sexual politics into television's first science fiction family saga.

The announcement comes as part of SCI FI's development slate of original scripted series, mini-series, reality shows, and new late-night programming, with no word on when Caprica might go into production or premiere on the cable channel. The development slate is a long-look ahead at what the network has planned and likely not a formal pick-up of the show -- and some series, for one reason or another, never see the light of day.

If the show receives an order to go into production, certainly don't expect to see it air this year.

Count on GateWorld to continue to follow developments as they happen. The third season of Battlestar Galactica premieres this October on SCI FI.

Posted by Blade Runner


DAVID EICK GIVES iF THE SCOOP ABOUT BSG
Thu 27th Apr

The genesis of creating a series that would not be a STAR TREK rip-off is revealed

Source: IF Magazine

When David Eick was asked by Universal Studios to produce a new BATTLESTAR GALACTICA TV series, he knew he wanted to veer away from anything that would be conceived as a STAR TREK rip-off. Who better to helm the writing of the series, and to keep it away from TREK themes than Moore, who had worked on STAR TREK in it's various incarnations for ten years. Thus began the creative process behind one of television's most successful and popular Science Fiction dramas on the air.

In the middle of working on scripts for the highly anticipated season three of BATTLESTAR, Eick took time out of his day to share stories of the genesis of GALACTICA, and how he became joined at the hip to fellow producer Ronald D. Moore.

iF MAGAZINE: How much of a split was there in the creation of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA between yourself and Ronald D. Moore?

DAVID EICK: I wouldn't say it's a fifty/fifty split when one guy actually goes and writes the teleplay. Ron wrote the thing. On that front there was a lot imagination and conjuring. Prior to his starting that gauntlet of pain; there were a number of very lengthy and involved meetings talking about what we wanted to achieve with the series. We talked about characters, plot, and how we wanted to tone the style of the work. There was a lot in place for him to sort of use as the backboard as he was going through the writing. After he had a draft, we then went through two complete revisions before we submitted it to anyone.

The great thing about working with him in the concept stage is that Ron is not like other guys who do what he does for a living. Ron lacks insecurity, and he has a real healthy sense of self-confidence and a certain calm understanding of his abilities. It makes him very collaborative and open to suggestions. Not just suggestions like having Six's [Tricia Helfer] spine glow; that's an idiosyncratic thing in a scene that gets a lot of attention. He accepts input on really significant conceptual themes. That extends even to now. He and I will break out a season arc, in terms of what we want to do with a season. We'll spend a lot of time working on it, and the low-man on the totem pole writer will suggest something that might be a wrecking ball through all the work we've just done. If we think it's a good idea we'll do it though. A LOT of writers will not do that. Those writers have a lot of insecurities as craftsmen, and they don't want people meddling with things on that level. It's refreshing to work with someone who doesn't suffer from any of those ailments.

iF: Was the Sci-Fi Channel the first network you approached for BATLLESTAR?

EICK: This whole thing began in an unorthodox way. There was a script for a project called BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, which was a continuation of the old series produced by Bryan Singer. It was set up at Fox as a two-hour pilot. They had gotten the script and hated it, and were trying to back out of the commitment. Fortunately for everybody, Bryan had to go do X-MEN 2 and that gave everyone the out. Back at Universal David Kissinger and Angela Mancuso said 'why are we doing this for Fox, when we should be doing this for our in -house network? Let's do it as a mini-series and let's throw this bad script out and start from scratch.' David called me, asked if I would like to take it on, and I asked if I could start all over. He said I could, and I started shopping around for a writer. There was already a buyer lined up, and it was formulated that I would produce it, Sci Fi would be the network it would be on; now all we needed was a writer and an idea.

I started sitting down with different people that I had known, and Ron was one of them. He really sold me on the idea of the series being an analog for post 9/11 socio-political landscapes. Everyone else was yelling about the Cylon planet, and stuff that I certainly wasn't interested in. That was the beginning. We only knew each other generally. He had worked for me when I was an executive running development at USA Network. We had brought him on board to be a consultant producer on a show called G VS. E, and I had gotten to know him in that capacity. In fact when we decided to do GALACTICA we had had a pitch meeting in my office the week before to discuss whether we wanted to do a series together, so when I was asked to produce GALACTICA he was fresh in my mind.

He was very receptive when I contacted him to do it. I think he surprised himself by wanting to do it, because he had been doing STAR TREK. I did know that he was tired of STAR TREK. He had been off of it for a while and he had done ROSWELL, but to him STAR TREK was a very limited sort of environment. Not that he had always felt that way about it, but he had gotten to point after ten years where he felt very constricted by it. I knew that I wanted to do something very un-STAR TREK like, and I knew we weren't going to get the go-ahead from the network unless we had something that distinguished itself very loudly as not STAR TREK. I didn't know what that meant, I vaguely knew what STAR TREK was and I knew that its conventions had been ripped off and done to death by a hundred other shows. I knew we had to veer away from that, and who better to bring on board than someone who knew STAR TREK backwards and forwards and could go right every time they went left. It did inform my decision to call him.

iF MAGAZINE: Did you and co-creator Ron Moore watch the original GALACTICA before you started work on the new series?

DAVID EICK: I did a show with Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi called HERCULES. At one critical point during development of that show, Rob Tapert instructed everyone at the company to go home and read Robert Graves, to become immersed in mythology and Greek myth. Everyone dutifully went home and read the materials, and I very deliberately chose not to. Something interesting happened. Over the course of the next few months, I was the guy in the room that it had to make sense for. Someone in the room would say Narcissist was such and such, and I would say "I don't know what that means." It was a good balance, because there was always a voice for the audience saying you can't just have things written for people who know the mythology, otherwise we won't have a TV show.

In the same way, Ron and David Breck who was attached to direct at the time, and myself were sitting at the Pino Hollywood Bar talking over broad strokes about what the concept could be. We kept coming up with the idea of going home and watching the pilot. I saw this as an opportunity to be the voice in the room that had not seen the pilot and needed to make the writing understandable from that point of view. It can't just work for the people who are familiar with the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA mythos.

I very deliberately watched it right before I got the script. I went thought the entire development process, all of the story breaking, all of the characterization without watching it. As soon as the network signed off on it and Ron went off to write his gauntlet of pain; that weekend I got the pilot and watched it. Then I would have some referential base of context with Ron for the next stages of development.

iF: Have you given thought to bringing celebrity writers onto the series?

EICK: Not so much celebrity writers, but we've had interest from people that I am a big fan of like Vince Gilliagan who was one of the great writers from X-FILES. Michael Chabon (SPIDER-MAN 2) who is a great novelist and one of my favorite screenwriters is another who approached us. We've had interest on that front and there's Frank Pearson possibly directing an episode as well. I don't know if those names mean much outside of Hollywood. I did see something in Entertainment Weekly over the weekend about Stephen King singling out the show. I had no idea he watched I, and I was a voracious consumer of everything he wrote from CARRIE to the TOMMYKNOCKERS. I thought it would be fun to coerce him into writing an episode. I have no idea if he'd be up for that or not.

iF: Are you planning on bringing any more classic GALACTICA actors on the show like Richard Hatch?

EICK: Laurette Spang who played Cassiopeia on the original series emailed me, and I thought it might be fun to try to find something for her. It's just not where our heads are at in terms of generating that kind of publicity for the show. My agenda is to broaden the show and to continue to bridge the show to different audiences. We're not targeting the sci-fan specifically right now. I think if you are a sci-fi fan you have sampled the show, and you have decided whether you like the show or not. Those fans are either an audience for the show or not, and if you've rejected it we're probably not going to get you back.

The audiences, who haven't found the show and might like show, are the ones who have been kept at bay by the title or based on the network that we are on. These are the audiences I am trying to get to, and they're the ones who watch SOPRANOS, NIP TUCK, ER, and WEST WING. An audience that likes that kind of drama would like our show and watch it. I don't think they know about it, or I think they see the title and say 'I don't watch that kind of STAR TREK stuff.'

So to say, "let's get Dirk Benedict to play a Cylon," yeah that'd be fun and we talk about it from time to time.

iF: Was there ever a plan to kill President Roslin , Mary McDonnell's character, or did you always intend to save her in the end?

EICK: I don't think we've ever ruled out the death of any character with the possible exception of Adama [Edward James Olmos]. The practical reality of having actors of that calibre on our show trumps and outweighs whatever short lived story telling advantage might be gotten from the shock value of killing them. No, honestly I don't think we were ever seriously considering getting rid of her. Even that statement is 80% true. On a show that is this committed to being this realistic about the ramifications of violent conflict and war, that anyone could go. That's certainly true of anyone else, and that's 80% true of Eddie [Edward James Olmos] and Mary.

iF: Will there ever be an episode of GALACTICA dealing with all of the loss on the series?

EICK: We're aware of the those things at least to the extent of Tyrell losing Socinus as he did in one of the early episodes of season two; I don't know if we feel obligated to carry over into subsequent episodes his pinning over the loss of his friend Socinus. Like in real battle, your sanity is your ability to recover from those kinds of tragedies fairly quickly.

In the case where it's a more momentous loss, like Laura Roslin losing Billy [Paul Campbell] and in a different way Adama "losing" Sharon [Grace Park], we do carry it over to reflect on it. In the episode following Billy's death we did say that it had been several months since he died. That was a device used to serve some other story issues, but it also helped us move past the mourning of Billy.

iF: Do you have some sort of bible set out for the evolution of the Cylons?

EICK: There is a new variation coming in season 3 for the Cylons. I wouldn't say there is an elaborate bible as to what our flexibility is in respects to the Cylons' development. We don't want to lock ourselves in and not be able to entertain new ideas or better ideas. There is a general sense of a biomechanical history behind the Cylons, and there are various ideas and tangents that can spin from that principal. We will continue to investigate new Cylon forms, but we're not locked into anything per say.

STAY TUNED FOR PART 3 OF iF EXCLUSIVE DAVID EICK INTERVIEW

Posted by Blade Runner


The Secret Projects of Crashdown
Mon 24th Apr

Source: Media Boulevard

Click on the link to listen to the Podcast Interview and sound clips from the "Crashtones"

Sam Witwer is likely most well known for his stint as Crashdown on Battlestar Galactica, but has appeared in numerous other series including ER, Jag, NCIS, Enterprise, Cold Case, Dark Angel, Angel and others. He recently sat down with MediaBlvd to discuss his experiences acting on Battlestar Galactica and the other shows, and to talk about his music. Sam is the driving force behind the Crashtones and the new album, entitled Colourful of The Stereo, has recently been released.

Sam first became interested in acting when his family took a tour of Paramount studios when he was a child. The tour guide mentioned that Star Trek:TNG, one of Sam's favourite shows, was filming on a closed set that day. Crushed over not being able to see the show he loved being filmed, Sam was thrilled when the tour guide took him and his brother for a one on one talk with Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher) who was studying in his trailer. "The guy talked to us for 30 minutes, while the rest of the tour group just sat by and patiently waited. That experience put it in my head that I wanted to be an actor," said Witwer. Later in school, his grades weren't that great, and he was in danger of not being able to graduate with his class.

"By the time I'd got into high school, I'd decided I was going to be a rock star-- I was going be realistic and choose something that was going to have a good chance at succeeding," laughed Sam.

Since his parents pressured him to go to college, he applied to several drama schools since grades weren't as important there, including the prestigious Juliard School of Drama. "I was this slacker kid who got accepted to Juliard, and had no idea what the hell that meant," he says. Not really knowing what to expect is probably what got him accepted. "Everyone else is in a turtle neck, doing these breathing exercises trying to become the wall-- doing all kinds of weird stretching breathing exercises, whereas I was this guy in ripped jeans and a t-shirt who showed up and was kind of like- Hey what's going on."

However, resentful of having to leave music behind, Juliard wasn't really what Sam wanted, and he eventually left. "I had several faculty members take me aside... telling me to get out and go and do my thing - to be the kind of actor I wanted to be," he says.

Witwer would move to LA a short time later, and was there for about a year auditioning as much as possible before scoring his first role. He would play parts on several popular series over the next few years. "Little by little the parts got bigger and more challenging," he said. Witwer says he had a lot of fun guesting on the multiple series in which he landed single episode parts. "Generally the episode is going to be about you. You go in there and are basically playing the lead on an episode." Witwer comments that as a series regular, "90% of the time you are walking by saying hi John, hey bill, and that's it. When you guest, you generally have some meaty stuff to sink your teeth into."

One of the highlights was his appearance on Dark Angel with Jessica Alba in the role of Marrow, a genetically superior vampire like character who was set to have become a recurring character if the show had not ended. It was also his first acting experience in Vancouver, and he got the chance to film a martial arts sequence with Alba. "I had these pale blue contacts in and I couldn't see out of them. So I'm there exchanging blows with Jessica Alba, the star of the show, and I can't see what I'm swinging at."

He was worried he might accidentally stab her in the face with the prop dagger his character was swinging, which was terrifying to him, but "luckily no one got stabbed, and I got paid," he said. Another highlight of his acting career was his appearance on Star Trek: Enterprise. "That was me just calling my agent and saying, get me on Star Trek." However, his character was a member of the race known as the Zendi Sloths. "I'm affectionately referred to, by my other friends that work on Star Trek, as Sam the Sloth, which totally sucks." Another memorable role was playing opposite Sally Field in ER. "I got to call her a bitch", he said."

Witwer would later be cast as the character Crashdown, on Battlestar Galactica. Sam isn't sure where the character's name originated. He and buddy Nick Wechsler, an alum of the WB/UPN series Roswell, talked once about the possibility that the name may be in homage to the Roswell website crashdown.com. "I wonder if my character was named for a website that was named for your show--wouldn't that be weird", he once asked Wechsler. Ron Moore, who runs BSG also ran Roswell during it's second and third season.

(Editor's note: if Ron Moore indeed came up with the name, it's likely an homage to Roswell's Crashdown Café, but since MediaBlvd also owns crashdown.com, we'd like to think that Sam's notion is the correct one!)

The decision for Crashdown to die on Battlestar Galactica was something for which Witwer was partly responsible. "I was happy being on Battlestar, was a fan of the show, and loved it before I even joined it…, but also had a lot of things in Los Angeles that I couldn't get back to." David Eick promised that if the character died it would be a very dramatic event, and kept his word. The extreme situation (the colonials surrounded by Cylon's and about to meet certain death) and Lt. Crashdown's decision as senior officer to essentially sacrifice Callie, holding a gun to her head to get her to step out and attack, provided a very challenging role for Witwer. "I was really happy that they gave me material that maybe not every actor could pull off". Luckily for Sam, it seems that Nicky Clyne bears no ill will for the final showdown between their characters. The two remain close friends, and sometimes get together with other friends to watch movies together "Mystery Science Theater 3000 style."

When he isn't playing music, Sam is currently working on a new "secret project". "It's a laser beam that's going to be targeted on the sun," Witwer joked about the secret project rumours. In reality, he is producing, writing and directing, an independent film. "It's a romantic comedy, not quite like what anyone has ever seen." Witwer has been writing the story for a few years, and might end up co-directing. The project is currently linking up with a production company and has some top industry people stepping up to help it take place. "The general reaction to the script has been pretty positive." Witwer says nothing is concrete, but there is a possibility that there may be some cameos from the other Battlestar Galactica actors.

Sam's real love however, would appear to be his music. The band name "Crashtones" was a second choice, after Crashdown. But Witwer was worried that he probably shouldn't use that since it was his Battlestar Galactica character's name. According to Witwer, "there are rumour's circulating that there isn't really a band behind the Crashtones music". The rumours are that Sam plays all the instruments and is every member of the band. "I just think that's ridiculous!," he said. "You can see pictures with us all together so I don't know where that comes from," he laughs. However, he acknowledges that if those rumours were true, "It's kind of a solo project." If the rumors were true he would have played most of the instruments, keyboards and vocals. He would have also had a buddy come into play drums and others to guest in some of the songs.

"It's the ultimate expression of what I wanted to do at the time." he said, of the album. The process of making the CD involved many trips to Northern California to work with his cousin Michael Witwer, who owns a studio and who encouraged him to just come and do it. It also involved the purchase of huge amounts of equipment, and then learning to use that equipment. "It was expensive on a personal level, but not on an industry level," he says. He went on to say that now that the infrastructure is up, he can do it again cheaply. The music on the album "Colorful of The Stereo" is hard to classify as being any one particular style, and in fact that is largely what Sam hoped to achieve. His musical influences include Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Faith No More, Peter Gabriel, and even James Brown. "I like a huge variety of musical styles, and that was kind of the concept of the album," he says. Among the songs that have the most appeal in Sam's mind is The Date Song. "King of the Robots is just fun," he says. Heavier stuff on the album includes the songs If I could, 16-17, and Reflex which are about slightly more unpleasant subject matter while the song Alone is soft and sweet.

Witwer didn't want to discuss what the story was behind any particular song. "If I were to tell the story of what it's about, then no one else has a chance to tell their story about that song," he says. He goes on to say that sometimes the stories that people tell him about his songs are better than the stories that actually inspired them. "What is art if someone can't just stand back and look at it, and come back with their own interpretation, and tell their own story about it?" he asks.

Witwer considers himself to be incredibly fortunate. "Acting is kind of my day job, it pays for what I want to do - I wanted to make an album, and Battlestar was funding the money for that, not to mention living, and rent checks". Though he realizes he is going to have to get back into auditioning since that is what pays the bills, "But how fortunate am I to be able to say something like that?" he asks."

Newshound: Sci-Fi

Posted by Blade Runner


Bradley Thompson on joining Battlestar Galactica writing team
Sun 23rd Apr

Source: Cult times

With writing partner David Weddle, Bradley Thompson is helping lead the rag-tag fleet headed by Galactica to a new home…

Having spent two years as writers/executive story editors on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Bradley Thompson and his long time friend/writing partner David Weddle not only gained valuable insight into the Trek universe but also into how to craft Sci-Fi adventures for television. Such experience came in handy when he and Weddle accepted an offer from the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica's creator/executive producer Ronald D Moore to come and work on that series.

"David and I had worked with Ron back on DS-Nine and subsequently heard he was doing Galactica," says Thompson. "We hadn't seen him for a year or so when we got an invitation to a screening of the 2003 Galactica mini-series at the Directors Guild in Hollywood. We went and were totally blown away by what we saw. While we were there, David and I met up with Ron and told him how much we enjoyed ourselves. He suggested we get together for lunch, and on that day we continued to talk about the show and what we'd seen.

"Halfway through lunch, Ron said to us, 'You could write the character of Boxey'. David and I envisioned Boxey as this Dickensian, Artful Dodger-type individual and thought, 'That would be great'. That then turned into Ron offering us the chance to come on board Galactica starting in Season One [as story editors/co-producers], which we both jumped at. Suddenly, we weren't only talking about shaping a character but also helping build an entirely new universe from just the Galactica mini-series. From there, the questions were, 'Is the show going to fly? Will it be fun to write? Will such a series speak to what's happening in today's real world?' The last one was, perhaps, Ron's highest priority. In what you'd call the show's 'mission statement' he stated something like, 'This is about us [Human beings] and who we are at this point in time'."

Thompson and Weddle made their writing début on Galactica with Season's One's Act of Contrition, in which Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff) reveals a secret she has been keeping from Commander Adama (Edward James Olmos). "One of the big things not dealt with in the mini-series was Starbuck's relationship with Adama's son Zak [Tobias Mehler] and how her feelings for him contributed to his death," explains Thompson. "She's confessed this to Apollo [Jamie Bamber], Adama's other son, but not the commander. David and I thought the best way to get Starbuck to do that was to have an episode where we're losing Viper pilots in battle and she's forced to go back to training new ones. This would reawaken all her memories of Zak and what happened. That's how this story came about."

World War II's The Battle of Midway was the writers' inspiration for their other first season script, The Hand of God. "In this episode Adama turns on his pursuers, the Cylons, and figuratively speaking punches them in the nose," says Thompson. "With this story we were essentially hinging on the concept of how fate changes things, and for that we looked to The Battle of Midway. If you're up on your history, you'll recall that in a matter of something like 30 seconds, the whole tide of World War II shifted, largely because the Japanese miscalculated. So we were playing with that idea, which we described to Ron Moore as 'the hand of God,' and he asked us, 'So how does the story end?' David and I had come up with an idea for this tactical plan about how our heroes were going to destroy a Cylon base star, but Ron felt that wasn't quite enough. We really needed something more."

Read the full interview in
Cult Times #128

Posted by Blade Runner


Golden Toaster awards 2
Sun 23rd Apr

Nominations

Nominations

Newshound: CylonGod

Posted by Blade Runner


Frackin' A ! - Chatting with Starbuck and # 6
Fri 21st Apr

Source: Bay Windows

Come on. Don't pretend you're not a fan of the Sci-Fi Channel's Battlestar Galactica. I know you're caught up in the drama, characters, and well-written storyline as much as I am. If you can't get over the show's premise - a group of human survivors are both searching for Earth and fighting a never-ending army of robots the humans created, called Cylons - then you're missing out. The show just won a prestigious Peabody Award, the first for any Sci-Fi Channel series. Now in its 65th year, the Peabody Awards recognize distinguished achievement in electronic media, and doesn't affiliate itself with any genre. WGBH-Boston was also a winner this year, and the awards will be presented in a ceremony hosted by two-time winner John Stewart on June 5. If that doesn't convince you, learning more about two of the show's stars will. I spoke with actors Tricia Helfer and Katee Sackhoff the week before season three started shooting in Vancouver, British Columbia. Helfer, a relative newcomer to film and television, is "Number 6" on the show: a complex, tough and sexy Cylon. She made a name for herself as a model in New York before making her move to film. On the big screen, Helfer can be seen next in the movie Mem-o-re with Dennis Hopper.

Sackhoff plays a different kind of bad-girl, the kick-ass Kara "Starbuck" Thrace. Starbuck is a tough fighter pilot determined to fight authority as strongly as she fights the Cylons. Friends on and off the show, Helfer and Sackhoff were both great to talk to. They are extremely warm and inviting, fun and were excited to talk about the crossover success of Battlestar Galactica.

Helfer, born and raised in Canada, now lives with her husband in Los Angeles. Sackhoff calls L.A. home as well, although she grew up in the Portland, Oregon area. Last year, they both temporarily lived in Vancouver during the shoot, but are trying something new this season. "This year, I think I'm going to... try and stay down in L.A. more and just fly up for work," Helfer said. "With a large ensemble cast like we have on Battlestar, there is quite a bit of time where you're not filming, so I know a lot of the L.A. actors on the show really do commute."

Sackhoff is trying a different approach. "As soon as we got picked up for the third season, I bought a house," Sackhoff said. She now lives in Northern Washington State, just miles from the Canadian border. "Even though it's not home to me, it allows me a place of familiarity to come back to every night. I've been more relaxed."

I jokingly asked if there was any reason the show wasn't going to picked up for a third season - it is one of Sci-Fi's highest rated shows - and Sackhoff said, "I'm such a pessimist when it comes to television shows because every show I've been on hasn't made it past the first season. I'm always shocked because I think TV audiences are very fickle in what they like. It changes every year." Both actors agree that being in a science fiction-based show is a bonus. "The science fiction fans have been remarkable and been very loyal, and kind of given us a chance," Helfer says, although she did point out that it wasn't well received at first.

Sci-fi fans are known for their meticulous attention to detail, and many were skeptical that remaking the original 1978 series was a good idea. When creators Ronald D. Moore and David Eick changed the sex of some of the characters, including Sackhoff's Starbuck, many die-hard fans were up in arms. "We've managed to change a lot of them over and [they] are huge supporters of the show now," Helfer says.

But the show has shown a great increase in crossover fans as well, reaching more of a mainstream audience. "It's fun to really see the show get out there to the broader audience just because it's a good show," Helfer says, continuing, "It should get out to a broader audience. I think this year is really going to be kind of the test for that."

Sackhoff says they were happy to have the sci-fi audience, too. "We're extremely lucky to be on a science fiction show that really isn't science fiction," she says. "It's reality based, and they've done such a great job talking about issues that are relatable to people with... things that are going on right now and issues that need to be talked about." Besides having a female president, which is on the tamer side of the current issue spectrum, the show also addresses botched elections, the power of the people over government, war, religion, banned abortions and even perceptions of God and the afterlife. "We're so lucky that we're on Sci-Fi because some of the things we talk about - the way that they are approached - wouldn't necessarily be allowed on a mainstream network," Sackhoff says.

Helfer agrees. "The show is quite cutting edge in terms of issues that society is facing, and I think we can get away with it more so than a political show [set] on Earth, so to speak. It does have that fantasy element," she says. Seeing the show as a drama with a gripping storyline is one of the main reasons it has crossed over to a wider audience, including myself.

"I think once you start getting into the funny headed creatures, or whatever, that makes a mainstream audience say 'Okay, I'm really watching a Science Fiction,'" Helfer explains, saying "it's still realistic for the future." Sackhoff gives much of the credit for reaching many different audiences to the creators and writers, saying, "What's so great about the show is there are always different voices and different sides. We're not going far right or far left with the issues. We're not really excluding anyone."

But some homos would love to see a gay character or two. After all, it is the future. We'd like to think we're progressing. "I don't know why we don't have any gay characters on the show," Sackhoff said. "But I guess in a sense it's like they are or they aren't. Let's not make an issue out of it." She jokes, "We're always trying to figure out who the gay ones are. They think Starbuck's gay, anyway. When I had my first sex scene with a guy, I was like, 'they're going to be so disappointed."

"At the end of the day, gay or straight, she's such a role model for women," Sackhoff says of her character, Starbuck. "I think that's what's so great about it. She walks a fine line. She's not very feminine, she not very masculine. She's just kind of who she is. She's a happy medium, I think."


Can't wait for season three?

Both Tricia Helfer and Katee Sackhoff had seen two episode scripts when I talked to them, and Helfer said "I think we're definitely going to hit the audience with some interesting things right in the first few episodes." Sackhoff was also excited, but didn't give me any clues into what would happen. Not that I thought she would.

To get caught up, Universal has the original miniseries available on DVD. It is four hours and started it all back in 2003, but you might as well just purchase season one, which is also available. The miniseries is included, as well as the 13 episodes of season one. Extras include commentary by the shows creators, and a slew of featurettes, including the "Series Low-down" that originally aired to attract sceptics.

For season two, Universal has a "Season 2.0 Volume 1" including the first part of season two. Some watchers say Universal is pulling a fast one by releasing just half of the series now. They have yet to say when or if they will release the second half of season two.

You can also watch reruns of the show on the Sci-Fi Channel every Friday at 5 p.m. and early Saturday morning at 2 a.m. (if you're still up). Season three is set to air in October, which, you'll discover, is an incredibly long wait.

Newshound: Sci-Fi

Posted by Blade Runner


BSG (Cell Phone Game Review)
Thu 20th Apr

     

Source: IGN

The Cylons days are numbered.

The Battlestar Galactica franchise has enjoyed a solid renaissance on the Sci-Fi Network, paying definite homage to the original television series -- but certainly updating it for an ever more savvy (read: jaded) audience. The space battles with the merciless Cylons are certainly good inspirado for a top-down shooting game -- so why doesn't In-Fusio's blaster exactly make the cut?

The problem here is enemy repetition. While In-Fusio serves up wave after wave of Cylon fighters for you to blast out of the cosmos, after a few levels of making scrap of these inter-galactic enemies, you've really seen all there is to see. Unlike Star Trek, which has multiple alien races to draw from -- Romulans, Borg, Klingon, etc. -- Battlestar Galactica mainly focuses on just the Cylons. And that makes good television drama, but vids (especially shooters) need a variety of enemies to keep gamers engaged. Imagine Raidant Silvergun or Darius with only a couple ship models. I don't care how ingenious the patterns and formations are, I'm always looking to blow up the next big thing.

Variety, however, does come from mission structures. The game starts off with a basic top-down vertical level -- and after finally ploughing through it (and a good 100 Cylon ships), I confess I was a little sad about having to plough through 19 more levels of the same. Thankfully, Battlestar Galactica offers another scheme on certain levels -- 360 degree combat not entirely unlike the arcade classics Sinistar and Time Pilot. You steer your ship every which way but loose, trying to take down -- wait for it -- more Cylons. The designer does shake this up even further by giving missions different objectives, such as collecting objects floating in the void or taking down a set number of ships.

Controlling the 360 sequences takes a little getting used to, but once you have the hang of it, you'll be fine. (Your ship's shield helps lessen the ordeal.) I did have issue with the auto-fire, though -- especially in the vertical scrolling segments. It fires in short bursts, and the bullets are spaced apart a little too far. Earning the bonuses for taking down an entire stream of Cylons is nigh impossible, because the spacing between the last shot in the auto-fire burst and the first in the next is too big. A Cylon always slips through.

Battlestar Galactica looks the part of the top-down shooter. Your Viper ship and the Cylon fighters are very recognizable. I'm not even a big fan of the show, but I was able to make the connection. There are no actor likenesses in the game, as you are cast as a lowly new pilot working his way up through the ranks. The backdrops are appropriately spacey, such as flying over scenes of cosmic vastness or strafing over a major ship. I tested the game on a Sony Ericsson 710. The visuals are crisp and clean, but do nothing to advance the ball. (Not that the ball always needs to be advanced -- but it's always nice when it happens.)


Closing Comments
Battlestar Galactica is likely to appeal to the show's surprisingly large fan base, but I suspect traditional shooter fans will get a little restless after several levels of shooting down the same enemies. The game presents a little variety through the different objectives, but I confess it wasn't enough to hold my interest. This was definitely one of those games where it settled into work rather than fun.

Newshound: Sci-Fi

Posted by Blade Runner


Ron Moore's Blog Update
Wed 19th Apr

Source: Sci Fi Channel

Q & A

"Are you going to destroy Sharon and Helo's relationship or give it a stronger foundation? From my POV, Sharon's reactions and actions are consistent with the Sharon we met on Caprica. I'm not particularly mushy, but this very human story is one of the primary reasons I watch the show. That this Sharon might have PPD and PTSS is reasonable and I hope that when we see her in the Season three she will be healed and moving forward with her life outside the cage. This fan doesn't care how she gets out of the cage as long as she does. "

Their relationship will continue to grow and evolve. That's not to say it won't have the ups and downs of any relationship, but we're not looking to destroy it. The issue of the cage, what she's been doing in it, and what her future is will be dealt with in the first couple of episodes.


"Are you planning a Sharon swap? Will you swap AdorablyCylonCagedSharon with DownloadedMosesBoomer in terms of which Sharon will be onboard Galactica for the duration of the series? I pray you don't sacrifice one Sharon for another. I've never confused the two versions of Sharon and I believe you and your writing staff can make room for them both of them. "

I'm happy with the fact that we crossed each Sharon over into the other world and I'm not planning to reswap them again. There's also no plan at the moment to destory either one.


"In the season two finale, before it was revealed that Sharon didn't fess up about Cavel, was Brother Cavel going to reveal himself as a Cylon? I ask because he said something akin to the Cylons seeking greener pastures. It's unlikely he'd say he was a Cylon in the hanger bay, but I wonder if he was going to fess up in private. Was he truly there to deliver the message?"

He was planning to reveal himself and deliver a message. Whether there was more to his plan than that is speculative at this point, and anything's possible, but our feeling is that was his primary function.


"Are there no animals seen on the show on purpose? (I'm guessing its to avoid weird "alien" cats with three eyes like on Trek episodes.) So far I've only seen rats (Helo with Sharon) and snakes (in a Roslin hallucination)."

We hadn't gotten around to showing them in prior episodes, but we have talked about dogs, cats, and chickens on the show and one would imagine that they'd be very familiar looking without additional goofy prosthetics. In the first couple eps of season three, there will be at least one animal featured in a subplot.


"Why are the home worlds other than Caprica not really mentioned? Was there one planet per tribe?"

It's just a factor of Caprica having had the capital city of the Twelve Colonies. That put Laura there in the miniseries and it was natural to have Baltar there as well so as to keep the confusion factor to a minimum for the audience rather than trying to establish and identify more than one planet. Same goes for the reason Helo & Sharon put down there in the mini. So from that point forward, Caprica sort of becomes the default planet to reference and deal with. We have talked about Saggitaron and Gemenon and sketched out the particulars of their cultures, but we just haven't done a lot more with the rest of them, which is unfortunate.


"Why don't Cylon raiders fire conventional missiles anymore?"

That's a good question and Gary Hutzel brought this up himself. I think it's something we just kinda stopped thinking about as we were working on the dogfight sequences, because they were already so complex that adding yet another layer on top seemed overwhelming. However, I agree that it's something we've established and should try to reintegrate into the show again.


"Ron, in Starship Troopers (the book, not the movie) it says:
Quote:
"The last thing a trooper hears before a drop (maybe the last word he ever hears) is a woman's voice, wishing him luck. If you don't think this is important, you've probably resigned from the human race." --Starship Troopers, p. 161
Alot of scifi works follow this convention (Aliens, Halo, etc.) I've realized that both of the Raptor transport pilots on the show, first Boomer and later Racetrack, are female. Was this a conscious choice, to follow the ST quote? Do you agree with it?