Galactica Station & Ragnar Anchorage

Saturday July 28nd
Bionic Woman Preview Online

NBC has provided a preview of the new Bionic Woman featuring our very own Katee Sackoff. Click Here to check it out

Katee Sackhoff has decided to stay with NBC's The Bionic Woman. The actress was apparently about to walk away from a recurring role on the show, but has changed her mind. Sackhoff has apparently signed a last minute deal to appear in future episodes.

Sackhoff appeared in the pilot as evil bionic woman Sarah, nemesis to lead character Jamie Sommner, played by Michelle Ryan. Even though Sackhoff had been included in all of the promotional material for The Bionic Woman, the actress and the studio could not agree on a deal.

That all seems to have changed. An agreement has been reached, and she will continue to play the lead villain on the new series. The Bionic Woman premiers September 26th at 9:00 pm.

Sunday July 22nd
Atmosphere Visual Effects Receives Emmy Nomination for Battlestar Galactica Episode

Source: DMN Newswire

Award-winning visual effects studio Atmosphere Visual Effects has for the fourth year running received another Emmy nomination, this time for the Sci Fi channel's season three episode of "Battlestar Galactica" titled "Exodus, Part 2." Atmosphere has created visual effects for all three seasons of "Battlestar Galactica," produced by R+D TV, in association with NBC Universal Television Studio.

The nominated Atmosphere team includes Tom Archer, Lead Compositor; Andrew Karr, CGI Supervisor; Jeremy Hoey, Lead Matte Painter; Brenda Campbell, Lead Compositor; and Alec McClymont, Lead CGI Artist/ Animator.

The nominated "Battlestar" production team includes Gary Hutzel, VFX Supervisor; Doug Drexler, CG Supervisor; Michael Gibson, Senior VFX Coordinator and Adam Mojo, CGI Sequence Designer

Exodus featured the impossible rescue of the colonists from the Cylon-occupied surface of the planet New Caprica, culminating in a spectacular space battle sequence of blockbuster feature film scale between Battlestars “Galactica” and "Pegasus" and Cylon Base Stars, which ends in triumph and destruction.

For more information on Atmosphere Visual Effects, please visit: http://atmosphere-vfx.com

Wednesday July 18th
Katee Sackoff gets a permanent gig on Bionic Woman

Source: TV Squad

Katee Sackhoff, who plays Starbuck on Battlestar Galactica, just inked a last-minute deal for a recurring role on NBC's Bionic Woman. She has a guest spot in the pilot as a "bad" bionic woman and you've probably noticed that she has been played up pretty heavily in NBC's promo spots for the new series. But, she only was scheduled to appear in the first few episodes... until last night. Sackhoff and NBC Universal came to a contract deal where her "bad" character will now be a recurring role.

David Eick, executive producer for both BSG and Bionic Woman, is said to have been the driving force behind that deal. Sackhoff didn't show up for this week's TCA panel on Bionic Woman because she was still negotiating a contract. A bold move, really. But not as bold as what Starbuck would've done, which is to show up drunk and start fighting with people who asked her questions about whether she's a Cylon.

Tuesday July 17th
Galactica Season 4, Mini-sodes Announced

The Sci Fi Channel says it will air several Battlestar Galactica shorts this fall to tide fans over until Battlestar Galactica: Razor debuts Nov. 24.

The announcement came Sunday as the network unveiled its 2007-2008 development slate of programming at the Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills.

The eight-week, primetime series of mini-sodes are intended to whet the appetites of fans throughout October and November, in anticipation of the premiere of Sci Fi's two-hour event, Battlestar Galactica: Razor.

Razor is a special extended installment that will provide a backdrop to events unfolding in the rest of season four of Galactica.

Filmed as part of the extended episode, the mini-sodes will be included in the unrated Universal Home Video release of Razor and will also be available on SciFi.com after their on-air debuts. The shorts, written by Michael Taylor and directed by Wayne Rose and Felix Alcala, were part of the original script that were cut because of time from the final movie.

Saturday July 14th
Did 'Battlestar Galactica' kill Television?

Source: Syfyportal

As the Internet continues to make significant strides in gaining respectability among mainstream media, more and more attention has been focused on the true power of the World Wide Web.

Some of that power was felt just a couple weeks ago when Web-savvy viewers of the CBS series "Jericho" convinced the network they were not paying enough attention to how the show was being distributed through non-traditional means -- you know, the Internet -- and in the end, had vastly miscalculated the audience for the show. On top of that, the campaign to organize the "Save Jericho" campaign came almost completely through the Internet, and CBS is poised to return the show either later this year or early 2008.

Other genre shows, however, have tapped into the raw energy of the Internet, whether it be the well-marketed and fan-produced "Star Trek: New Voyages," or simply by accident like SciFi Channel's "Battlestar Galactica."

"Although live broadcasts are still big business, time-shifted video podcasts have exploded the myth that the value of video resides in when people view them," wrote Wired blogger Adario Strange in a recent column.

That was proved by the first season of "Battlestar Galactica." Because of a partnership SciFi Channel made with British satellite company Sky One, the first 13 episodes of the series were aired across the pond, forcing American audiences to wait months. Well, OK ... audiences that didn't realize the episodes were available online -- albeit unlawfully -- and knew how to download them.

"For months, viewers in the [United States] downloaded the show illegally via torrents," Strange said. "The vibrant conversation in the [United States] regarding the show lasted months as time-shifted episodes trickled in from Europe one-by-one. The value of all those time-shifted Internet views created the hype that made the show a success in the [United States], not simultaneous viewings."

Strange was responding to an analysis made by HDNet executive Mark Cuban who claimed, among other things, that the "more people that see content when it is originally 'broadcast,' regardless of the distribution medium, the more valuable the content" as well as "the greater number of people that watch content simultaneously, the greater the emotional attachment of the viewer."

Instead of ignoring this, many alternative platform observers have called on networks to find ways of utilizing such available media rather than panning it. Mark Pesce, the co-creator of the Virtual Reality Modeling Language -- or VRML -- shared the missed opportunity in a blog post as far back as 2005, especially when it came to the first season of "Battlestar Galactica."

"While you might assume the SciFi Channel saw a significant dropoff in viewership as a result of this piracy, it appears to have had the reverse effect: The series is so good that the few tens of thousands of people who watched downloaded versions told their friend to tune in on Jan. 14 [2005] and see for themselves," Pesce wrote. "We all understand that this piracy is technically illegal, technically a violation of copyright, but we're in a hell of a bind if we're telling the audience to sit down, shut up and do as you're told when it comes to television viewing."

In fact, Pesce argued at the time, production companies and even networks can introduce sort of a faux-product placement in such feeds with something as simple as an advertising logo bug on the corner of the screen, or other sorts of paid advertising to turn the market from one of piracy to one where real revenue can be generated.

"The idea of an advertising payload attached unobtrusively to the television program has a certain appeal," Pesce said. "It can be ignored, but it's always present. The audience can't edit it out of the program without destroying the content of the program. Audiences will learn [to] accept them -- so long as the advertisements aren't too busy, distracting or otherwise obnoxious."

Read more here

Thursday July 12th
Battlestar Galactica looks Frakkin' Good

Source: Wired Blog Network

By Susan Arendt

Battlestar Galactica for XBLA puts you in the cockpit of a Colonial Viper and bids you good hunting, nuggets. Based loosely on the show (meaning it uses the same characters and universe but doesn't adopt any key plot points), the single-player game is 10 levels of space combat. You fly, you blow toasters out of the sky, you head home.

Up to eight players can square play Team Battles or Deathmatches on the 360; up to 16 can put their flying skills to the test on the PC. The combat was solid and the graphics were surprisingly good, especially for an Arcade title. The Cylon AI was pretty smart, too, responding to both visual cues (i.e., you flew by them) and actual attacks.

Battlestar Galactica will be 800 points when it's released sometime this Fall (not sure just when yet, it depends on when the show's new season starts on Sci Fi). As for downloadable content in the future, such as new missions or game modes, they "can't officially announce that yet," nudge nudge, wink wink.

Wednesday July 11th
Interview with Richard Hatch

Date of publishing: 8th July 2007
Source: Scifi World

Richard Hatch has enjoyed international recognition for more than two decades. He has starred in such series as The Streets Of San Francisco for which he won Germany's Bravo Award, the equivalent of an Emmy Award, and the original Battlestar Galactica for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. These two series continue to play throughout the world today. He has also guest starred in numerous television series including Dynasty, T.J. Hooker, MacGyver, Murder, She Wrote, and Jake And The Fatman. His feature film credits include Charlie Chan And The Curse Of The Dragon Queen with Michelle Pfeiffer, The Jungle, Prisoners Of The Lost Universe, African Fever and Party Line. Richard is also the author of a trilogy of Battlestar Galactica novels for Byron Preiss Publications. He has also been writing Battlestar Galactica stories for Extreme Comics and Realm Press. In 1999, Richard wrote, co-directed and executiveproduced a 4 minute Battlestar Galactica Trailer which not only won acclaims at sciencefiction conventions but also in the worldwide press. At present, Richard's other pet project, Great War of Magellan, which he created and wrote, is also currently being filmed as a Trailer directed by Richard, and he is in discussions to create a series and/or video game based on the story. Richard Hatch is currently playing Tom Zarek in the new version of Battlestar Galactica.

Gilles Nuytens: After three years on the new Battlestar Galactica, what is your overall impression?

Richard Hatch: I think that the new re-imagined version of Battlestar has turned out to be, you know, an extraordinary show in terms of the quality of the acting, the writing, the special effects - it’s probably one of the best if not the best sci-fi, produced sci-fi, show of all time on TV. And I think it’s quite amazing that they’ve gotten the studio support to do such a provocative cutting-edge show that seems to push the boundaries of how we’ve defined sci-fi or how sci-fi was defined in the public consciousness for the past 20, 30, or 40 years. It’s basically forced people to re-evaluate their opinions about science fiction and to realize that science fiction is not about four-headed monsters, but it’s about people, it’s about life, it’s about politics, it’s about what’s going in our world, from a fresh perspective that allows us to maybe put a mirror up to our society and see the world with a 360° vision maybe.

I think Battlestar Galactica has shattered a lot of old judgments and belief systems about the genre and has allowed people who never watched science fiction ever before to all of sudden realize that, “Oh my god, this is about something that I can relate to, this is about something that makes sense to me in my daily life, it’s something that’s going on in my world today, and it’s relevant.” I think science fiction lovers would have told these skeptical audiences that science fiction has always been about the world, about people, about life. But also it explores the theoretical probabilities and possibilities of life, and maybe the world has gotten to a place where we’re more ready to ask deeper questions. But certainly Battlestar has changed the landscape of science fiction on television and it’s opened up a whole - I think in terms of music it’s innovative, the story writing, the wonderful cast, being able to do again the kinds of special effects that are being done on Battlestar - I don’t think they’ve ever been done before for any science fiction show on TV. It goes to show you that what was considered impossible a few years ago is possible, and I think it stretched the limits of maybe what producers, directors, writers, are going to be doing in the future. I think Battlestar has been a benchmark in terms of the evolution of science fiction on television and we’re going to see a whole slew of new kinds of science fiction shows coming out that got their impetus, their inspiration, from this Battlestar.

It’s funny because I have gone to many conventions and I’ve sat with the producers of Heroes, of several other top science-fiction shows, and many of them are huge Battlestar Galactica fans - they really, really love the show. I think it’s inspiring a lot of artists and creators to move in new directions and try new things and think out of the box. Ron Moore, I think, has courageously gone where few people were willing to tread. After three years I think Battlestar has demonstrated that this story is worthy of a three-generational audience; from the original show to this show, it’s quite a huge audience that has always loved Battlestar. And I think that the new series has more than justified that this story is a very powerful story and one that is worth telling. It’s not just that memory that we have of the original Battlestar, of this big space opera, but that Battlestar has always been about much more, it’s always been deeper, richer, fuller, philosophical, spiritual, political; it’s always been about all those things. Obviously thirty years ago they were not able to mine the rich and dramatic territory that the new show is able to do thirty years later, because number one, the creators involved are very out of the box, very creative, very imaginative producer-writers, and also because you’ve got a network that supports going in these new, innovative directions, whereas before we never had that kind of support. In fact ABC, the studio - nobody really supported science fiction back then. But again, a lot has to do with the evolution of science fiction in the minds of not only executives, but we’re realizing that science fiction is the number one, you know, it’s not just a niche genre, we’re realizing that the biggest grossing films of all time are science fiction/fantasy movies and television - I think seven out of the ten. It’s just kind of strange that it’s taken so long for the networks to realize that sci-fi is for everyone, not just a few crazy people walking around in costumes, and I consider myself one of those crazy people, because who in the world doesn’t like to put on a costume and role-play? I mean, we all grew up doing those kinds of things; it’s one of the most fun things to do, and fantasy and sci-fi conventions allow the whole family to go and have a great Richard hatch interview - Tom Zarek - Apollo Battlestar Galacticaweekend and step into a very imaginative topography and let their creativity soar. I have never met anybody that didn’t love a good book or a great story, and science-fiction/fantasy has some of the greatest stories ever told.

Again, I think Battlestar is on the forefront of all of this. I think these ideas have been laying dormant, have been explored in the past, but never with such commitment, with such passion, as the new Battlestar Galactica has explored this new territory. Again, I think the new Battlestar has proven itself worthy of an icon, becoming a sci-fi icon, and it’s demonstrated the viability that science fiction is about something that we can all relate to and it goes well beyond the so-called sci-fi niche audience. It’s like Star Wars in the sense that Star Wars appealed to fans of all ages, all backgrounds, all nationalities, and it appealed to people who never even liked science fiction before. But Battlestar again is different than Star Wars; it’s less of a space opera and it’s more about really getting into the heart of who we are as people, what makes us tick, where we come from, were we’re going, the infinite possibilities of life. I just think as an artist, for me, I live to be part of the shows that do what Battlestar is doing and to play characters like the one I’m playing, Tom Zarek, that allow me to really be challenged as an actor and to do the kind of work that you see on Battlestar all the time; some great acting, great writing, great producing, great production value, I mean this is a pretty amazing show.

Gilles Nuytens: Galactica is really an adult sci-fi, but when you say you like the show or you like sci-fi to someone, you can always notice a smile on their face - they won’t take you seriously. They have preconceived idea about what sci-fi is that hasn’t really evolved in years. It’s like we must produce extremely good stuff to attract the attention of media, which is a good thing in the end, because it means having a good product. What do you think about the situation and how can we change the mentalities?

Richard Hatch: Oh, I think the answer I just gave you answers that totally. Basically I answered about three questions probably, all at once, but obviously again, people who have judgments about science fiction, don’t know science-fiction, have not read science-fiction -they have a very cliché, limited, narrow view of what science fiction is and it’s not based on reality, it’s not based on fact. You know, it’s like anything in life - people form preconceived ideas about everything in life, and most of these preconceived ideas are based on fear, insecurity, lack of knowledge or awareness, and no framework of understanding. Does it mean someone is less intelligent or less gifted? It just means that it’s outside someone’s frame of reference, because maybe they grew up thinking that science fiction is this or that and, unfortunately, there were a number of science fiction movies that were made many years ago, that might have given people the impression that science fiction was just corny, stupid and silly and with silly costumes. But I think that in the age we live in, we’re shattering a lot of old belief systems, judgments, and paradigms, and if I’ve learned anything, we are normally wrong about most of our judgments, whether it be people, politics, religions, philosophies, most of our judgments are wrong because we only see part of the picture. And I think that today, fortunately because of the media, because of the ability to share information, to see situations from multiple viewing points, the world is beginning to debunk many of our judgments about everything in life, from alternative medicine to science, to UFO’s, to this and that. Some people live in a very narrow frame of reference, because of its terrifying to think that things may not be what we want or need them to be in order to feel safe or comfortable.

One of the biggest issues for many people has always been the fear of really thinking there may be life out there beyond us. I could go on and on [about] every scientific experiment, every new technology brought forth into this world has been ridiculed and put down, people have burned at the stake, put on the cross, tortured, thrown into prisons because they had new ideas or new ways of doing things that terrified people. People have always been afraid of something new. I think that science fiction is not just a bunch of garbley-gook, it’s always been written by the visionary, most intelligent people on the face of the planet, and it has always extrapolated from where we are now and where we might be hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of years from now. Science fiction, especially intelligent visionary science fiction, can be almost prophetic, in terms of some of the issues and areas of exploration. Most of us just need to look over all our judgments, and keep an open mind towards everything and maybe do a little more research and open our eyes to maybe looking at life, and art, and situations from what I call a larger, more expanded viewing point, as opposed to a narrow point of view. There is so much more out in the world than most of us see and again we limit what we see by these judgments that we make about things, and most of the judgments about science fiction have always been wrong.

Gilles Nuytens: The new show describes the human condition far better than most of the shows we can see on television right now, do you agree with that?

Richard Hatch: I totally agree with that. In the past we tended to show life through rosy-colored glasses; we only wanted to see the so-called positives, the things that we felt were up-lifting and inspiring, and we wanted to show the positives as opposed to the negatives. But I think that in this reality-based world where we’re being forced to look at ourselves in the mirror, we’ve come to deeper revelations and understandings about life, about ourselves, about the world, about politics, and so our naivety has been pierced, and we now in a sense are much more open and ready to look at movies and television shows that more honestly reflect the world. Now doesn’t mean that we don’t like a touch of fantasy throw in, or that art is a way of showing life, but it also helps us to see things we don’t see. Ultimately I think art should be inspiring, but that doesn’t mean it should all be black or white, good guys versus bad guys - you are either good or you are bad. Everything has been kind of relegated to clichés. I think that the new art and new movies have come to the realization that nobody is all good or bad, even bad guys are capable of doing good things and good people are capable of doing bad things under the right conditions. Battlestar has put people into the most extraordinarily challenging conditions and we’ve been able to see the best and the worst of humanity in a very, very powerful and realistic way. And that’s one way of mirroring the world. You could also do it in a little bit more [of a] fantasy context where you’d be one or two steps removed from the world, but at the same time you’d still be able to view the world and still be able to explore sociological, philosophical, spiritual, [and] political issues. But again, there are different ways of doing it and Battlestar does it in a very in your face, very direct, very blunt, very honest, very gutsy way; it’s a very powerful show and [for] some people it’s almost too dark for them and [it may be] too much for them. I would only say to them that ultimately at the end of the day I think this new Battlestar, even though it maybe dark, it is inspiring because it shows that deep down inside of everybody there is a spark of life, a spark of goodness, and that even the worst of us has a longing to do the right thing. And yeah, we see the flaws, imperfections, and the conflicted struggles of every human being on the Battlestar Galactica, but at the same time we see the real hope, real inspiration, and the true hero is not always the one who’s got the shiny clothes on and the mask and the cape, or the so-called perfect person. Sometimes it’s that courageous struggle within all of us to find our way in the world and to overcome our challenges, our dark side, and maybe it’s in the struggle that we find more [of] a powerful sense of humanity, and whether we win or loose or whether we succeed or not, is not even as important as the struggle. I think it’s all about the struggle within and each person to deal with their demons. Battlestar really reflects and mirrors that in a powerful way and ultimately I think that’s even more inspiring, than the so-called cliché of the good guy beats the bad guy down and wins in the end, which is what we have seen in the past.

Read the rest at Sci-Fi World

Tuesday July 10th
'Battlestar Galactica' Leads Syfy Genre Awards Nominations

Source: Syfyportal.com

Could the third time be the charm for "Battlestar Galactica"?

For the third year in a row, the critically acclaimed SciFi Channel series led a vast field of television shows in overall nominations, picking up 13 nods, as SyFy Portal releases the final nomination list for its eighth annual SyFy Genre Awards.

The series which is executive produced by Ronald D. Moore and David Eick, held off a charging "Heroes" from NBC, which picked up 10 nominations while "Lost" and "Doctor Who" earned six and five respectively.

"We had a very diverse nominating committee from all over the world who had to narrow down a list of thousands to just under 70 picks," said Michael Hinman, founder of SyFy Portal who created the SyFy Genre Awards back in 1999. "I know I personally have been involved in this since the beginning of the year, so to finally get to this point is quite relieving. I just feel bad for all of our readers who will have some very difficult choices at the ballot box this year."

Besides picking up the main categories such as BEST ACTOR/Television, BEST ACTRESS/Television and BEST SERIES/Television, "Battlestar Galactica" also garnered a lot of nominations for BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR/Television and BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS/Television as well as three of the five slots available for BEST EPISODE/Television.

"I make it no secret that 'Battlestar' is my favorite show, but it is starting to get embarrassing that the committee is picking and picking the show, but there are not enough votes for it," Hinman said with a laugh.

Those actors with multiple nods are Christopher Eccleston and Edward James Olmos. Eccleston is nominated for BEST ACTOR/Television for his work on "Doctor Who," and received two more nominations for his guest work on "Heroes" this past season. Olmos is up for BEST ACTOR/Television for his work as Adm. William Adama in "Battlestar Galactica," as well as for the Gene Roddenberry Lifetime Achievement Award.

The SyFy Genre Awards honor the best in television and the silver screen that premiered to American audiences between June 1, 2006 and May 31, 2007. Readers can visit SyFy Portal beginning July 25 to vote once per day per e-mail address on the complete ballot, with the poll closing Aug. 25. In the past seven years, more than 2 million ballots have been cast.

Leading up to the first day of voting, SyFy Portal will release a series of stories highlighting the nominees in each category, which it will maintain on its message boards, the SyBoards to help voters cast informed votes.

A new category this year is Best Web Production, including two Webisodes from "Battlestar Galactica." One thing to note is that the video announcing the awards cite Webisode 12 and Webisode 13 as nominees, when in fact, it meant to announce Webisode 9 and Webisode 10 (there were only 10 Webisodes).

BEST ACTOR/Television
Christopher Eccleston, "Doctor Who"
Joe Flanigan, "Stargate: Atlantis"
Matthew Fox, "Lost"
Edward James Olmos, "Battlestar Galactica"
David Tennant, "Doctor Who"

BEST ACTRESS/Television
Evangeline Lilly, "Lost"
Mary McDonnell, "Battlestar Galactica"
Jacqueline McKenzie, "The 4400"
Billie Piper, "Doctor Who"
Amanda Tapping, "Stargate SG-1"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR/Television
James Callis, "Battlestar Galactica"
Michael Hogan, "Battlestar Galactica"
Lennie James, "Jericho"
Masi Oka, "Heroes"
Terry O'Quinn, "Lost"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS/Television
Tricia Helfer, "Battlestar Galactica"
Ali Larter, "Heroes"
Lucy Lawless, "Battlestar Galactica"
Elizabeth Mitchell, "Lost"
Katee Sackhoff, "Battlestar Galactica"

BEST ACTOR/Movie
Gerard Butler, "300"
Johnny Depp, "Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End"
Doug Jones, "Pan's Labyrinth"
Clive Owen, "Children of Men"
Brandon Routh, "Superman Begins"

BEST ACTRESS/Movie
Ivana Baquero, "Pan's Labyrinth"
Kate Bosworth, "Superman Returns"
Lena Headey, "300"
Keira Knightley, "Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End"
Julianne Moore, "Children of Men"

BEST YOUNG ACTOR
Ivana Baquero, "Pan's Labyrinth"
Noah Gray-Cabey, "Heroes"
Conchita Campbell, "The 4400"
Thomas Dekker, "Heroes"
Hayden Panettiere, "Heroes"

BEST WEB PRODUCTION
Episode 1, "Sanctuary"
To Serve All My Days, "Star Trek: New Voyages"
Webisode 9, "Battlestar Galactica"
Webisode 10, "Battlestar Galactica"
World Enough and Time, "Star Trek: New Voyages"

BEST WEB SITE
Dark Horizons
GateWorld
Outpost Gallifrey
SciFi Wire
Whedonesque

BEST SPECIAL GUEST/Television
Richard Dean Anderson, "200," Stargate SG-1
Christopher Eccleston, "Distractions," Heroes
Christopher Eccleston, "The Fix," Heroes
Nathan Fillion, "I Do," Lost
George Takei, "Landslide," Heroes

BEST EPISODE/Television
"Company Man," Heroes
"Crossroads Part 2," Battlestar Galactica
"Exodus Part 2," Battlestar Galactica
"Maelstrom," Battlestar Galactica
"The Parting of the Ways," Doctor Who

BEST SERIES/Television
Battlestar Galactica
Doctor Who
Lost
Heroes
Jericho

BEST MOVIE
300
Children of Men
Pan's Labyrinth
Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End
The Prestige

GENE RODDENBERRY
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Gene Coon
Russell T. Davies
James Doohan
Ronald D. Moore
Edward James Olmos

Monday July 9th
Battlestar Galactica: Secrets from the Set

Source: MediaBlvd.com

Production on the final 22 hours of season 4 of Battlestar Galactica is currently underway in Vancouver. An extended two-hour episode, “Razor,” will premiere in November 2007, setting the stage for the rest of the season to commence in 2008. The SCI FI Channel invited members of the online press to the set of the show last week, and gave them unprecedented access to the cast and soundstages where the show is filmed. Several spoilers were revealed during the panel discussion, and in the tour of the Cylon basestar and hanger deck sets.

Actor Aaron Douglas, who plays Chief Tyrol, dominated the panel discussion with his funny stories and animated way of telling them. Part of what he said though is sure to raise the spoiler flag for the SCI FI Channel’s flag ship show. Douglas revealed that the final 5 Cylons are in fact a different breed of Cylon than the human form versions that attacked the colonies. These 5 in fact are the original Cylon’s, are immortal, and are the Cylon Gods. Apparently, the repeating theme within the show, that all of this has happened before, and will happen again is going to be explored in the final season. But it was clear that the implications are that the Cylon’s rose before in the distant past of the colonies, and will rise again.

Another secret let out of the bag, perhaps unintentionally, was revealed during the press tour of the sound stages led by Richard Hudolin, Production Designer, and Doug Maclean, Art Director for the series. During the visit to the Cylon control room, it was said that filming had just finished on a battle sequence on another Cylon set for episode 4 of Season 4. Press tour members were led through a Cylon conference room where an explosion had occurred, and where the walls were filled with bullet holes. The scene was also spattered in blood.

Apparently the sequence involves a sort of mini-rebellion with some Cylon centurions rebelling against their skinjob Cylon masters, and the battle damaged set is the result From the debris scattered about, the numerous bullet holes in the walls, and the shattered glass of the conference room, it would appear that the Centurions are not very happy about being enslaved, much as their ancestors were enslaved by the humans, which led to the first Cylon war.

Also of note from the set was the existence of a brand new viper model, briefly seen at the end of the Season 3 finale, and flown by Starbuck upon her return from the dead. This new viper has apparently been totally rebuilt, much to the dismay of the fleet, which leads to speculation from the other characters that Starbuck is in fact a Cylon.

Read the rest of the article here

Sunday July 8th
Battlestar Galactica Set Report: Part One

By Kyle Braun

"With the announcement that Season 4 will be all she wrote for the series at large, all of the invited reporters were looking for a hint of what's to come."

Source: UGO.COM

When the SCI FI channel announced they were throwing open the doors to four of their hottest shows, one set stood out above the rest. It didn't take a call sheet or an itinerary to know that Battlestar Galactica is what the online press were frothing at the mouth to see. TV's best space opera has some of the most ravenous fans in the world, and with the announcement that Season 4 will be all she wrote for the series at large, all of the invited reporters were looking for a hint of what's to come. While the Season 4 spoilers were kept under wraps, the SCI FI channel and Vancouver Film Studios showcased Battlestar Galactica in all its glory.

Delving into the darkness of Stage G, my skin began to tingle with excitement. It turns out the anticipation was well-justified, especially after rounding a corner where the hanger bay of the Galactica revealed itself like a surprise party somewhere in space. A full-size Raptor, two real-size Vipers and six empty chairs were positioned in front of the online press where actors Aaron Douglas, Michael Hogan, Jamie Bamber, Grace Park, Tahmoh Penikett and producer Harvey Frand took to the stage.

The Galactica Sound Stage:

Sure, it was a blast to see the cast of Battlestar Galactica, but the real fun was seeing all of the sets and set pieces. With Galactica's production designer Richard Hudolin and its art director Doug McLean as tour guides, the visit to the set was nothing short of spectacular. Almost all of the Colonial Fleet sets were housed in Stage I, and that's where Richard Hudolin explained how a sound stage sits in for the only warship left from the Twelve Colonies.

"There are two rooms here, and we're playing one of them right now as an infirmary. There's a wall hidden that just flies straight up, so we can split this room in half, and play this as a smaller infirmary or a lab. The room next door, we can play as a ready room or play all of this as a ward room," explained Hudolin. "So, in this one space, we have about six or seven different configurations. Part of the problem with ,em>Battlestar is that we that we have a limited space, and if someone wants to come in here and shoot back to back to back, we need the time to flip it over. There's a crew that does nothing but flip sets, but in here and in the room next door. The way this was originally designed, we had a space on the North Shore [of Vancouver] that was 100 feet wide by about 200 feet long, so all of this new set, plus the one next door, were all one set, so we could do these long tracking shots that we did in the mini-series."

Doug McLean, the Galactica art director, also mentioned that the small room was the true workhorse on the Battlestar Galactica set, stating, "Probably 60% of the Galactica was these two rooms and one other room." McLean also shared some of the other uses and purposes for the set. "This room plays as the enlisted bed, it plays as the ward room, it was Baltar's lab when it was that, it plays as the plotting room and next door is the ready room. We tear it all out and we use it when we're playing the Cylon containment cell. The small room we have is the lab, the brig, the enlisted quarters, as well. As Richard says, it does flip over a lot, and that's one of the challenges with scheduling."

The Many Faces of the Galactica Set:

Although the stage served as one of the main staples for the show, the one room actually serves as several locations within the show. The entire set is designed to give the sense there is a massive Battlestar, when in reality, everything is contained in one warehouse-sized building. "It's quite flexible. I think when you watch the show, they don't feel like those are all the same room. One of the ways that is helped is, unlike a lot of shows, we have a lot of corridors," explained McLean. "Initially, it