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koenigrules logged this Intel at 3:55 PM

Sunday, January 30, 2005

Ron Moore Q & A Blog- January 30, 2005
Source: SciFi

Will there be any development between characters on what distinguishes a Sagitaran from Caprican, Virgon, or any of the 12 Colonies? Did they develop seprately their own cultures and even different religions on their worlds? I'm glad the element of different worlds or nationalities was kept in the show."

RDM: This is an area we didn't get a chance to get very far with in the first season, and I'm hoping we explore more fully in the second. I think that some of the Colonies have developed very different cultures and attitudes from one another and that it's rich ground for us. We alluded to some differences here and there, but mostly we talked about the "Federal" (for lack of a better word) governmental structures. We do know that there was a sizable opposition to the Colonial government. Leoben claimed to be an arms dealer supplying freedom fighters or terrorists, depending on your point of view, and Tom Zarek was the jailed leader of a sometimes violent opposition, so it stands to reason that there are a wide variety of views, some of which come into violent conflict with one another. It's also worth bearing in mind that one of the uses for which the Cylons were originally used by the Colonies was as soldiers in their wars against one another.

"I'm part of the nitpick brigade, but since the Colonies are obviously modelled after the US system of government, right down to the line of succession, are legislative and judicial branches? If so what are they called and will we see any manifestation of either branch take shape as series progresses?"

RDM: In Episode 11, "Colonial Day" we'll see the reinstatement of the Quorum of Twelve, a political body established in the original series, which seems to be a cross between a US style Senate and the UN Security Council, where each Colony has a single vote. Presumably there was also a larger representative legislative body and some kind of separate judiciary. There is also a religious body, (unnamed thus far) that acts in some advisory capacity to the government, along the lines of the British House of Lords. Although we haven't dealt with it yet, Elosha was probably a member of this body.

"Do you listen to music while you write? If so any specific bands or cds? Does effect what you write about? If not you, then do any of your writers listen to music? If so, again, any bands or cds?"

RDM: Years ago, I would never listen to music of any kind while I wrote, but in the last years of Deep Space Nine, I started listening to Sinatra and the rest of the Rat Pack and I got hooked on music as a background and inspiration while writing. The trend continued at Roswell and Carnivale, and now I sometimes even have the TV on, with CNN or some classic movie playing. I don't have a favorite to listen to, as the mood seems to change with the specific script or show I'm working on. My tastes are pretty eclectic anyway -- everything from Okinawan house rock (sort of jingle jangle honky-tonk), to electronica, the Beatles, Bach, standards, and my wife has recently turned me on to the glories of funk.

"In the last two episodes it is noted by the priestess that the the thirteen tribes left Kobol about "2000 years ago" and the initial esitmate of the age of the ruins is the same, but nothing is concrete of course. This is where I have a problem: They were obviously a star faring civilization to leave Kobol to being with. To do so requires information technology. Why is their history of that time so sketchy and lacking of concrete records? Yes it was 2000 years in the past but come on, it's not like they only had papyrus to write on. "

RDM: I've been presupposing some kind of cataclysm or crisis that occured soon after mankind settled on the 12 worlds which either wiped out the knowledge base or had it deliberately destroyed for some reason. This doesn't seem that implausible when one considers that a tremendous amount of knowledge from the Greco-Roman tradition was lost after the fall of the Roman Empire and plunged the western world into the so called Dark Ages. Clearly, the Colonials did not fall all the way back to papyrus, and they do in fact, know that they are descendants of refugees from Kobol, hence the term "Colonies." They must have possessed star-faring technology at the time of the exodus, but I don't know how far we'll go into this specific backstory in the series, however.

Read more of the Q & As with RDM here.

koenigrules logged this Intel at 11:38 PM

TV's Cult Night: Fridays provide a haven for sci-fi fans
BY: MATT ROUSH Source: TVGuide

Ever since The X-Files grew from cult status to hit in its first three years, Friday has been a destination for sci-fi buffs seeking out-of-this-world diversion.

Fox tried for years to replicate X-Files' success on Fridays, and UPN moved Star Trek: Enterprise there this season, but that's more of an attempt to put this wooden disappointment where it can do the least damage. Still, the show's recent experiments with multi-episode arcs --including one with guest star Brent Spiner and another involving Vulcan political intrigues --have shown improvement.

But cable's Sci Fi Channel generates the biggest Friday-night buzz, spotlighting its signature shows: the irreverent and long-running Stargate SG-1 and its promising new spin-off, Stargate Atlantis (which has created a scary new adversary in the lifesucking Wraith).

While I still haven't gotten over Sci Fi's cancellation of Farscape, its most enjoyable Friday series ever, the recent arrival of the richly reimagined Battlestar Galactica has lured me back into the fold.

A far cry from the cheesy '70s Star Wars wannabe, the new and darker Galactica is an intensely suspenseful journey of survival. The series follows an exhausted, dwindling band of humans trying to avoid extinction at the hands of the cunning Cylons, rebellious androids who have evolved to look human -- and sometimes even sexy.

Our heroes, including fighter pilot Apollo (Jamie Bamber) and a scrappy female Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff), are outnumbered and often outgunned. Their exploits are gripping, scary and well worth staying home on Fridays to watch.

koenigrules logged this Intel at 9:23 AM

Saturday, January 29, 2005

Ron Moore Blog: Delayed Reaction- January 27, 2005
Source: SciFi

One of the strange things about writing and producing television is the delay between action and reaction. Tomorrow night's episode was written almost a year ago. The battles, thoughts, emotions, disappointments, and victories happened in what seems like the distant past, so when I sit down to watch the show along with the rest of you (and I do watch them on the air) it's like seeing a page out of an old year book. I can remember bits and pieces of the production process, the early drafts of the script, the days spent in the editing bay playing with the footage and waiting for the visual effects to be completed, but none of it is current, all of it belongs to a season now firmly planted in the past.

However, I do find that the same distance from the rigors of production also afford a better vantage point for watching the show with something approaching objectivity. You get so used to an episode during all the aspects of production that the simple pleasure of watching it as a piece of entertainment is slowly vacuumed away over time. Only now, months after the fact, can I watch these shows from a little remove and my impressions of the episodes are often not the same as when we produced them.

For instance, during the shoot of "Water" and shortly afterward, I was acutely aware of just how long the script was and how much material was going to have to be lost along the way. I was fairly upset with myself for writing something so bloated and large that it was killing us on the stage and would later require major surgery in the editing room to make our mandated runtime. The first cut of "Water" ran 10-12 minutes long -- essentially an entire act that had to go -- and for a long time when I watched the final locked picture I was always uncomfortably aware of the "cheats" involved. That is, the dropped scenes, the internal cuts made to scenes that made a hash of some of the logic I'd tried to lay out, the half-expressed thoughts, the missing emotional beats, etc.

However, when I saw the final aired episode, I was hard-pressed to even remember most of the cuts or why they had bothered me in the first place. (Although I still missed a nice bit with Baltar in the Wardroom, where he tossed off a theory of how six small charges could've blown open the water tank, as it was both helpful to the plot and an entertaining bit of grandstanding by the character.) Frankly, I used to think of "Water" as one of the weaker shows in the first season, but now it seems like a fairly coherent piece.

Of course, this kind of shift in perspective after shedding the baggage of production works both ways, and I've found that sometimes revisited shows much later that I'd always considered to be "classics" turned out to lose their charm along with the experience of making it. So as we go forward, I'm both excited and vaguely terrified at how I'll view the rest of the season.

Speaking of excited and terrified, I must admit to being overwhelmed by the response you've generated regarding this blog. There's a remarkable backlog of questions on the board and I'll try to both post here more often and answer more of your questions. I don't know what to tell you in terms of what will catch my eye, but I'll try to look for both the straight-ahead fan questions and the more off the wall questions -- don't be afraid to venture far off-topic, some of the more interesting discussions I had at Trek had nothing to do with the show itself.

koenigrules logged this Intel at 7:41 PM

To Be Cylon or Not To Be Cylon
Source: Sci Fi Pulse

If there is one thing that is markedly different about the Ron Moore remake of Battlestar Galactica it would be the use of humanoid Cylons. Granted a humanoid looking Cylon was used in the defunct Battlestar Galactica 1980 series, but they were portrayed more as clumsy approximations of human beings, and to be honest they never really did convince anyone. The humanoid Cylons in the new series however a far more dangerous breed and have already successfully made the remains of the colonial's paranoid as hell. One Cylon however that they do not know about as of yet is Sharon Valerii Boomer as portrayed by Grace Park and in a recent interview with David Bassom for issue 126 of Dreamwatch the actress revealed some of the complexities of her role in the series.

As fans will know Grace Park plays several versions of the same Cylon or is that person. On the one hand you have the Boomer who is living aboard the Galactica and on the other you have the Boomer who is on Caprica, and as time goes on in the series you begin to recognise that both versions of Boomer have slight differences. When talking about the Boomer aboard the Galactica Park revealed her thoughts on Sharon One's inner conflict and poses some interesting questions for us all to think about.

“I think the really interesting thing about her is that a lot of viewers will be conflicted about how they should feel about her and whether they should view her as a villain or not.

“I remember [‘Crashdown' actor] Sam witwer saying to me that you could call Sharon evil, but at the same time you do have a lot of sympathy for her,” she continues. “It's hard to know how much blame you can really put on her if she's been programmed to behave the way she does and react the way that she is. So it's really up to the viewers to decide if they want to hate Sharon of feel sorry for her.”

One thing viewers will notice about both versions of Sharon Boomer is that she is essentially in conflict with herself over what her true nature is, this aspect of boomer is more apparent with the Boomer who has been living aboard the Galactica. Park feels that it is the duality and the ambiguity of her character that makes it a fun and challenging role to play.

As you may imagine one of the biggest challenges for Grace Park is playing two variations of the same character, the Cylon Operative Boomer we see aboard the Galactica and the Boomer we see taking part in a bizarre Human/Cylon Experiment. The actress revealed that this aspect was a both a fun and difficult challenge.

“The whole process was very challenging for me. I not only had to figure out what was going on with both my characters, but I also had to work out the Cylon mentality, their power structure and their mentality in my own head.”

Admittedly Grace Park is not the only actress on the show that has the task of playing duel roles, Tricia Helfer who plays the seductive and deadly Number Six faces a very similar challenge, and this has resulted in Park and Helfer occasionally having to brain storm together about their duel roles on the series. Obviously the only time that Park has worked with Helfer are in a handful of scenes which take place on Cylon Occupied Caprica, and Park finds this mini subplot a fun aspect of the show.

“I especially enjoyed shooting the Caprica sequences for episode nine [Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down], where we are down in the tunnels and they're sky – high with water. [Commander Adama actor] Eddie Olmos directed that episode and that was very thrilling to do because of the intensity Eddie wanted. Episode nine was probably my favourite from season one because of that.”

Moving on, viewers in the UK will already know what happened in the finale of Battlestar, and to say that the show does not have a few twists waiting to be revealed to those viewers who have only just started watching in the US would be a massive understatement, and Grace Parks Boomer as in both versions play a massive part in the big plot twists that the US viewers will eventually see in the series as it hits episode 13 ‘Kobols Last Gleaming: Part II'.

It's an exciting ending, says Park. I love it! I think what the Sharon on Galactica does at the end of the episode will come as a surprise to people, and it's definitely going to be interesting to see where we'll go from there in season two.

With regards to season 2 Sci Fi has already ordered six scripts for the new series, however there has not been any official word about there being a season two as of yet. However should the series continue with its current ratings trend in the USA , we may well see a second year of the series, you can read more of this interview with Grace Park in the new issue of Dreamwatch which is out in the UK now priced at £3.50.

Blade Runner logged this Intel at 8:28 AM

Friday, January 28, 2005

INTERVIEW: Tricia Helfer
Source:Ugo.com
Exclusive Interview by Daniel Robert Epstein, contributing editor

Warning: Contains some spoilers

Tricia Helfer first caught the attention (and then some) of genre fans in the 2003 Battlestar Galactica miniseries as Number 6, the villainess who was the first in the wave of Cylons destroying humanity. Now she is back as multiple versions of her character in the new Battlestar Galactica series, which airs every Friday night at 9PM on SCI FI Channel.

UGO: How much will we be seeing you on the new Battlestar Galactica?

TRICIA HELFER: My character is in every episode, although with a large cast there will be some episodes that I am hardly in. I think in the fourth episode I have one scene and hardly any dialogue. Then some episodes I am practically in every scene.

UGO: Are you as evil as you were in the miniseries?

TRICIA: I am, if not even more so.

UGO: How could you get more evil than killing a baby?

TRICIA: Well, I think of that baby killing as a mercy killing. I discussed it with the director, Michael Rymer. We didn't want her to be a cold killing machine. We tried to give her a few vulnerabilities to make it different from the stereotypical hot robot chick. In essence I think that makes her scarier because at times it makes you feel for her and other times she does something completely off the deep end. I think that's more threatening. One of my first acting teachers told me when you play someone that's evil, you can't look at it that way, so I don't view her as evil. You have to look at it from the perspective you are playing.

UGO: Would you say that the baby killing was the defining moment for your character in the miniseries?

TRICIA: I played it more that Number 6 actually did fall in love with Gaius Baltar [played by James Callis], so there was a vulnerability because he rejected her but not enough to deter her from doing her job. Originally it was written as plain old snap the baby's neck but we chose to make her fascinated by the baby and she didn't want the baby to suffer from the bombs so it was a mercy killing. As I walked away there was a sense that I didn't like doing what I did. One of the writers came up to me during the shooting of the regular series and said, "Do you know that from that scene we decided that Number 6 wants a baby?" So now Number 6 wanting a baby is a recurring theme in the first season.

UGO: Do you talk with the writers a lot?

TRICIA: The writers are in LA while we film in Vancouver. They are very open to us calling them, but at the end of the day, Ron Moore is our contact. During the season they started sending the writers to set so we could meet them. It's easier for them to write for the actors if they meet us and see our strengths.

UGO: Is there a defining moment for Number 6 in the regular series?

TRICIA: You see more clones of Number 6. There is the one that's in Gaius Baltar's imagination all the time, there is one that's on the home planet and my favorite episodes are 12 and 13 where I get to have a big stunt fight. It's good versus evil with me against Starbuck. It was a lot of fun to train for it and we ended up doing it all ourselves. We wanted it to look like a real fight, not like Kill Bill where it's so over-the-top that it's unreal.

UGO: How many different clones of Number 6 have you played?

TRICIA: There are two that get killed, there is one on Caprica who has the fight with Starbuck, then there is another one who was in the miniseries and then there is one who comes onto the ship.

UGO: Is it tough to come up with new personality quirks for each one?

TRICIA: I discussed that with [writer] Ron Moore. When another Number 6 appeared I asked him how he envisioned it. I wanted to make them slightly different because they were in different environments. I wanted the one on Caprica to be kind of the base one and more militaristic. The one that loved Gaius was a bit more vulnerable and sexual and I played the scientist one as if she didn't know she was a Cylon. It's great as an actor because there are very subtle differences.

UGO: It just so happens that the episode of CSI that you appeared is the one I give to people to get them into the show. That episode was written by one of my favorite writers, Jerry Stahl. How was that experience?

TRICIA: It was great. It was basically one of my first jobs. It was the second season, so it was already the number-one show on television. I didn't work much with the cast since I was playing a victim. The only time I worked with the cast was during my autopsy and I didn't say anything [laughs].

UGO: Your character in the episode is a model who cuts herself up to control her weight. Since you are former model, did that freak you out?

TRICIA: It was an interesting role because it was very dark. It was an extreme case so I never saw anyone do that. I definitely was able to draw from experiences because I met many girls with anorexia and bulimia who have severe body image problems. But I never met anyone with Body Dysmorphic Disorder who cuts themselves. It was hard to draw on some milder experiences.

UGO: What superpower would you want to have?

TRICIA: I'd like to be invisible and be a fly on the wall of people's conversations.

UGO: What are your favorite DVDs in your collection?

TRICIA: I just got a player about six months ago. I like weird, dark and depressing movies like 21 Grams, Requiem for a Dream and Being John Malkovich.

Blade Runner logged this Intel at 5:24 PM

The Galactica Report: Are There Different Versions of the New Galactica?
Source: ignfilmforce

That seems to be the question of the day among viewers of the series that started a couple of weeks ago on the U.S. Sci Fi Channel. As we've reported since last year, fans with access to various peer-to-peer systems have been able to download Galactica episodes as they've aired on the SKY One channel in the UK. Now that the series has begun its US run, fans have been noticing some subtle differences between the two version, leading to speculation that the versions running on the Sci Fi Channel may actually be longer than those seen in the UK.

According to representatives for Sci Fi, the episodes themselves have exactly the same content as those seen in the UK. Some fans have reported lines of dialogue present in the Sci Fi broadcasts that weren't present in the versions distributed on the popular P2P services like Direct Connect and BitTorrent. So far, every example pointed out to us has turned out to be a case of mis-remembering by the person making the allegation. Every episode checked by IGNFF was identical to its UK counterpart in story content.

The reason fans began looking for changes can be found at the start of every episode that airs on Sci Fi. The theme music for the US broadcasts has been changed for some reason that is currently unknown to everyone. The general consensus among viewers of the series that have heard both versions is that the new theme music blows. No comment from Sci Fi on why the music was changed but they would be well advised to go back to the UK version.

koenigrules logged this Intel at 1:35 AM

Is a Second Season on the Way?
Source: ignfilmforce

Fans who were able to view episode 13, Kobol's Last Gleaming (Part 2), earlier this week are screaming bloody murder (see below for our review if you're dying for more details), desperate to know the fate of the series. While Sci Fi and SKY are saying nothing about the future of the series outside of confirming that they have ordered scripts for a possible second season, the ratings for the series would seem to indicate that both networks have something of a hit on their hands. The series premiere helped propel Sci Fi's Friday night lineup into new ratings frontiers, leading some in the industry to speculate if the network might finally be in the position to establish a second night of original scripted programming (Sci Fi has tried to establish a Thursday night "reality" lineup with mixed results).

If Sci Fi were to decide to establish a new night of original programming, Galactica would be the perfect choice. Stargate: SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis seem to function best while attached at the hip and they've really made Friday night their night. Galactica stands apart from those two series both in look and feel and with some of the other backdoor pilots on Sci Fi's slate like Painkiller Jane, the channel may finally start to realize its potential as the source for original genre series.

koenigrules logged this Intel at 1:32 AM

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

GalacticaStation.com interview on Subject to Discussion radio show

Tonight, 1/26 at 8 p.m. Pacific time (10 p.m. central) yours truly will be the guest on Subject to Discussion, an internet radio show, to discuss the new Galactica & the fan community's reactions to the show. Tune in & listen at http://www.lvrocks.com/ and join in the chat room as well. And no more flying turkey promotions this time...I learned my lesson about that.

*UPDATE*
The show went very well & the guys from the LVROCKS were first-rate hosts. Looks like the Galactica fans came out in abundance. Anyone who didn't catch it can listen to the archived show HERE.

Xenu logged this Intel at 9:02 PM

Sci-Fi Channel: Renew This Show!
BY: MICHAEL HINMAN Source: SyFyPortal

While the United States and Canada is just three episodes in on the new "Battlestar Galactica" series, there is going to be a decision made in the next few days on whether or not NBC Universal -- which owns Sci-Fi Channel -- is going to move forward with a second season of the series. If you live in the United Kingdom and have access to Sky One, then last night, you had a chance to see the final episode of the first season. I am not going to spoil it here ... but even though the ending was spoiled for me some time ago, I still jumped at the twist ending. I was so engaged in the episode that I forgot everything I knew ahead of time about the season finale, and it jumped out at me as if it was something brand new.

If you saw the entire season, you would be begging for more, too. No, I didn't fall into the cliffhanger trap. I know how these things work ... but I still want more BSG. I want to know what's going to happen next. I want to see more of my characters, more of my storylines, more of the writing and directing that I like to watch.

Read more of the story here.

koenigrules logged this Intel at 4:08 PM

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

BBC cult Review: Galactica's finale provides everything except answers.

WARNING: SPOILER HEAVY

Ron Moore must have been one very confident man when he plotted out the arc of this series. This episode is assured, intense and gripping, but leaves more unanswered questions than a politician on Newsnight.

Will Adama survive? Is the President bonkers? What did Baltar see? And why did the Cylons have to go to such extreme lengths just so one of them could get knocked up? Thank the gods that another six episodes at least have already been commissioned.

Most US programmes have an A and a B story. Here we had Baltar on Kobol experiencing serene, mystic visions of human past and Cylon future in the midst of death, while up in the fleet, Adama and the President faced off in an tense political drama that tests Apollo's loyalties to the limit.

But Galactica went not one, but two better, adding in story strands C and D. Boomer, of all people, is picked to destroy the Cylon base ship. After running the gauntlet of its meaty, gutlike interior, and an eerie horde of zealot-eyed Sharon models she succeeds in annihilating the ship in the best space explosion on screen ever.

Meanwhile, under Caprica's golden light, Starbuck fights for her life with Number Six, as Helo copes with the thought of becoming father to a half-Cylon.

Enough action for you? Had enough surprises? Well, tough, because this episode has one more. Seconds from the end, Boomer shoots Adama, in a scene so harsh and shocking it was like watching a murder in the street.

And there it ends, for the time being. Can we have some more please, Mr Moore? Soon if you can manage it.

Blade Runner logged this Intel at 9:37 PM

'Galactica' Beats Our Premiere Of Stargate Series
BY MICHAEL HINMAN Source: SyFyPortal

Who is the new powerhouse on the Sci-Fi Channel? Move over "Stargate: Atlantis" because "Battlestar Galactica" is now in the house.

The third episode of the reimagined series, which guest-starred former "Galactica" star Richard Hatch, continued its dominance in ratings on the Sci-Fi Channel, pulling in a 2.3 rating, or 2.9 million viewers. It was just a small slide from the first season premiere, which pulled in a 2.6 rating, or just over 3 million viewers. The dip was just 12 percent for "Battlestar Galactica" which still did better than both of its lead-in shows -- "Stargate SG-1" and "Stargate: Atlantis."

What does this mean for a second season of "Galactica"? The jury is still out, but reports have NBC Universal making a decision by the end of the week.

You can read more here.

koenigrules logged this Intel at 4:14 AM

Monday, January 24, 2005

SCI FI OWNS FRIDAY NIGHT:
SCI FI Channel #1 Cable Net for 2nd Consecutive Friday
Source: FutonCritic

New York, NY (January 24, 2005) -- The debut of 'SCI FI Friday' - the biggest night of sci-fi on television - led SCI FI Channel to its second consecutive week as the #1 network on cable among P18-49, P25-54, M25-54 and M18-49 in Prime (8-11pm). It also marked the highest-rated and most-watched Friday SCI FI has ever delivered in first quarter.

The Winter Premieres of SCI FI's perennial viewer favorites 'Stargate SG-1' (8pm) and 'Stargate Atlantis' (9pm), combined with the critically-acclaimed 'Battlestar Galactica' (10pm), have made the Channel a viewer hotspot on Friday nights. For Friday Prime (8-11pm), SCI FI:

--Ranked in the Top 5 cable nets among P2+ (#3), P18-34s (#2), M18-34 (#2), F25-54 (#5) and F18-49 (#5), in addition to the #1 finishes reported above in P18-49s, P25-54s, M18-49s and M25-54s.

--Ranked in the Top 10 among F18-34 (#9)

--Claimed two of the Top 3 telecasts in cable among P25-54s and placed all three 8-11pm telecasts in the Top 5

--Claimed two of the Top 3 telecasts in cable among P18-49s, and placed all three 8-11pm telecasts in the Top 10

--Claimed three of the Top 4 telecasts in cable among M25-54 - including the #1 telecast of the day ('Battlestar Galactica,' 1,378,000 M25-54)

--Claimed the Top 2 telecasts in cable among M18-49 ('Battlestar Galactica', 1,254,000 M18-49; 'Stargate Atlantis' 983,000 M18-49)

--'Battlestar Galactica' at 10pm was the #2 program in cable among P18-34

SCI FI, along with sister network USA, led NBC Universal cable networks in dominating the night. With the combined strength of 'Monk' (USA), 'Battlestar Galactica' (SCI FI), 'Stargate Atlantis' (SCI FI) and 'Stargate SG-1' (SCI FI), the networks claimed four of the Top 5 shows among P25-54 for the night.

'Battlestar Galactica'
With a 2.3 HH rating/2.9 million P2+, 2 million P25-54 and 1.8 million P18-49, 'Battlestar' faced and defeated its competition. Among M25-54, the series delivered 1.4 million viewers - more than 13 of the 20 programs that aired on the broadcast networks that night, including 'Star Trek Enterprise' on UPN and 'Jonny Zero' on Fox.

When compared against SCI FI's 1Q04 time period average (10-11pm), 'Battlestar' was up:
+109% in HH ratings
+137% in P2+
+222% in P25-54
+256% in P18-49

Read more here.

koenigrules logged this Intel at 7:44 PM

Sunday, January 23, 2005

Ron Moore Blog: Q & A- January 20, 2005
Source: SciFi

The following Q-and-A occurred with RDM thios week:

"How did you transform the characters from TOS to TNS? Did you just sit down and Think "Well I'll make Adama a veteran commander on the verge of retirement, instead of a Moses figure". What did you use for inspiration for Adama and other characters, Baltar in particular. Some authors, for instance, will raid the diaries of real people."

RDM: I would never raid someone's diary for inspiration unless it was within reach.

The beginning of the process involved thinking about the characters as pieces within the larger context of the show: The commander, his son, his son's friend, the loyal second in command, and the traitor. They were the inner circle of the original show, the core characters that made the drama work. Understanding how they interrelated and how they moved the show forward was essential to understanding the show itself. After that, it was mostly a matter of thinking about them and their interactions with one another ---what's an interesting father/son dynamic? What are the issues peculiar to this relationship that set it apart and what are the common chords we all understand?

Adama's journey was tied to that of his ship. Galactica herself was, in my mind, a glorious old bird from another time. I could appreciate the heroic lines of her shape and the triumphant step of the original theme, so when it came time to think about what the new Galactica would be, I essentially felt like we should treat her like the original ship suddenly transposed to this this setting -- an old, proud, handsome woman about to take a well-deserved retirement after a long and successful career, only to be suddenly recalled to duty. Adama would reflect his ship -- an old, proud, warrrior about to fade away into retirement.

"Do Chief Tyrol, Dualla and Lt Gaeta have first names? And if so, what are they?"

RDM: Only the Chief has a first name so far: Galen.

"Why couldn't you have done this series as a 40 yr after TOS instead of redueing it ?"

RDM: I wasn't interested in the continuation story. I saw more to be gained by going back and retelling the tale from the beginning than by picking up the story 20 or 40 years later. I personally never thought a continuation was a bad idea, but it simply didn't interest me as a writer.

"Col Tigh , you took a military man and turned him into a drunk . A strong dedicated man and made him self absorb, incorrigable . Why?"

RDM: I wanted a new dynamic between the CO and the XO. Typically, the second in command is a kinda thankless task (just ask Commander Riker) and tends to fall into the "I agree with everything you just said, sir" category except for carefully delineated objections and arguments. His "command decision ability" isn't really the core of the character, since that primary role is assigned to the commander. So the task is make the character of the XO and his interaction with both the crew and the commander interesting on its own. I was definitely influenced by the character of Cmdr. Eddington played by Kirk Douglas in "In Harm's Way," who was both a drunk and morally challenged to say the least. However, I loved the fact that his CO, (John Wayne) valued him as an officer, kept him aboard ship and even promoted him eventually. I thought that relationship between the heroic captain and his flawed friend would be an interesting one if it were translated to the Galactica universe.

"Would you be willing to clear up Colonel Tigh's "Jesus" comment in the miniseries. As you probably know, many people have formed outrageous theories based on this one word."

RDM: I've seen a couple of postings on this topic, and truthfully I don't know what it's in reference to. It definitely wasn't in the script and I don't remember it in the show, but if it really does exist I'd say it was just an adlib on the set that made it into the final cut.

"My question has to do with the music. While I am a fan of the original series more out of nostalgia than anything else, I still think the original theme music is extremely evocative and powerful. I'm assuming you decided to go in a completely different direction with the score in keeping with the tone of the new show. Still, there are moments where I just wish the Battlestar theme would ring out or at the very least be hinted to -- if only to signal some glimmer of hope for these characters in the midst of their desperation. (Like in "Water" when Boomer is on the Raptor and finds what they have been searching for.) I realize the mini-series had a nod to the Stu Phillips theme as the "national anthem" during the flyby, but I can't help but feel that something is missing. I have the same feeling on shows that feature the Enterprise without the Courage fanfare.

Can you discuss the thought process behind the decision not to re-use the theme and how you and your staff came up with the musical direction of the series."

RDM: You pretty much hit it on the head when you said I just decided to go another direction. In fact, when I first pitched the series I made a specific point of saying we weren't going to go with a lush, orchestral score because it had been done to death. Michael Rymer, who directed the miniseries, and David Eick, my partner, had a tremendous amount of input into the score and worked directly with our composer, Richard Gibbs.

"My question is are you going to have a story arc that follows clues to the fable lost 13th colony?"

RDM: Yes, and by the end of the first season, you'll have an idea of how that will play out.

"in what sense religion (particularly as it relates to current events) has informed the inspiration behind the series and to what extent, if any, this relates back to how it informed Glen Larson's series."

RDM: The religious angle was something that evolved after the first draft of the miniseries. In that draft, I had mentioned, almost in passing, that Number Six believed in God and that really intrigued Michael Jackson (the executive, not the singer) who was working at the studio at the time. He suggested making it a bigger part of the show and also to more strongly play the Al-Queada/Cylon parallels. Both comments surprised and delighted me and I was more than happy to go in both those directions. The Colonials in the original were always mentioning the "Lords of Kobol" and I decided to make that literal rather than figurative and give them a polytheistic religion and the Cylons a monotheistic belief system. I found the clash of those two belief systems to be fascinating in our own history and thought it would be an interesting conflict in the show.

Read more of the Q-and-A with Ron Moore here.

koenigrules logged this Intel at 3:26 PM

Battlestar Galactica takes viewers by storm
By OLAV ROKNE -- Calgary Sun

For a genre that is supposed to look to the future, science fiction is taking a lot of inspiration from the 60s and 70s.

With the Star Trek juggernaut rumbling along in its sixth television incarnation and Star Wars prequels raking in hundreds of millions on the silver screen, could a Battlestar Galactica revival be far behind?

A quarter-century after the original premiered on NBC to lacklustre ratings, the new Galactica has taken the Science Fiction Channel by storm, grabbing record-breaking viewership for its first episode last week.

Its absolutely perfectly timed, says Mary McDonnell, who stars as President Laura Roslin on the new series. Were in the centre of what needs to be talked about ... it addresses humanity in terms of monotheistic and pluralistic, which we are seeing as major issues in both spirituality and politics.

Viewers were introduced to the apocalyptic world of Battlestar Galactica last year in a four-hour miniseries, whose stellar ratings helped spawn the full-blown weekly drama, airing in Canada Sundays at 6 p.m. on Space channel 46.

Just as in the original, Battlestar Galactica starts with a bang -- the near extinction of the human race by genocidal robots known as Cylons.

Although the miniseries told essentially the same story as the pilot of the often-lampooned original, it reinvigorated the franchise by dealing with humanitys near-extinction through grim-and-gritty seriousness. The characters in the new Galactica are devastated by the loss of untold billions of people while the president balances her responsibilities as leader and deals with terminal cancer.

Because she is dealing with her own mortality, my character has the opportunity to move forward more quickly. Its a dark journey, but it is a journey of power. explains McDonnell. My character didnt exist in the original series ... so a great part of what I had to do was help with the reinvention of the situation.

While the core of the show remains the same, just about all the details have changed -- the Cylons, which could be charitably described as lumbering chrome toasters in the original, are now vicious, fast and able to disguise themselves as human, while fan-favourite playboy fighter pilot Starbuck is a woman (Katee Sackhoff) in the new series.

Supporting character Boomer, who was played in the original by blaxploitation star Herb Jefferson Jr., has been re-invented as a Cylon disguised as a young oriental woman, played by Grace Park.

Our goal is nothing less than the reinvention of the science fiction television series, series producer Ronald D. Moore told the Hollywood North Reporter. We take as a given the idea that the traditional space opera, with its stock characters, techno-double-talk, bumpy-headed aliens, thespian histrionics, and empty heroics, has run its course and a new approach is required.

Despite these differences, the new Battlestar Galactica has a lot to offer fans of the original: The fifth episode makes tongue-in-cheek reference to the ill-fated spin-off Galactica: 1980, a later episode is a remake of The Hand of God -- the finale of the original series -- and Richard Hatch, who played Apollo in 1978 has a recurring role as terrorist Tom Zerik.

Hes a remarkable actor, says McDonnell. It was fun to work with him, and he has provided such a wonderful link to the original series.

Long seen as a cheap knock off of Star Wars, Galactica has finally come into its own as the most-watched science fiction show on television, taking in 3.1 million viewers compared to just 3.03 million for UPNs Star Trek: Enterprise a significant accomplishment because Enterprise is on a broadcast network, while Galactica is only on cable.

The reaction to the show has been fantastic, says McDonnell. Theres excitement about this show at every level, from the actors and writers to the fans thats something you dream of as an actor.

Eagle-eyed viewers will be able to spot B.C. landmarks peppered through the show, from the quasi-futuristic architecture of Simon Frasier University to the Rocky Mountains.

While nothing has been confirmed yet, there are high hopes for a second season six scripts are in the works and McDonnell says the cast has big aspirations for next year.

We dont have the official green-light yet, she says. But the show has been a huge hit in England, and the audience is really excited.

Blade Runner logged this Intel at 4:51 AM

Saturday, January 22, 2005

BSG Ratings Go Up for Episode 1.03- 'Bastille Day'
BY: KOENIGRULES Source: MediaBlvd

According to my very reliable BSG source, the overnights for Episode 3 were a 3.4. The overnights last week were a 3.3 (and the national was a 2.6). Going up in the second week is extremely rare for a TV series. If the national holds and BSG does a 2.7, this would be exceptional and would help to lock in a Season 2 commitment.

Aaron Douglas (Chief Tyrol in TNS) confirmed this news as well over at the MediaBlvd: "Wow...that was quick. Where do you get this stuff? I only found out a couple of hours ago. And remember that overnights are a small barometer and not officially anything but they do represent some form of hard data. Good news though. Now we need everyone to keep it up."

SO SAY WE ALL AARON!

koenigrules logged this Intel at 10:52 PM

Richard Hatch Makes American Return To 'Galactica'
BY MICHAEL HINMAN Source: SyFyPortal

With all the different things that one can say about actor Richard Hatch, one thing that I will definitely agree is that Hatch knows good characters when he sees them.

Hatch has been a vocal opponent of the new reimagined "Battlestar Galactica," but decided to keep an open mind about the series, despite the fact that a new actor -- Jamie Bamber ---would be playing the role. And Hatch stayed true to that open mind, listening to what executive producer Ronald D. Moore had to offer.

What Moore gave Hatch was the character Tom Zerak. A political prisoner from Sagitarion who was one of 1,500 prisoners aboard a ship that its captain wanted to euthanize after the attack. No one even knew Zerak was on board, and his help would be needed when the new Colonial government decided that 1,000 workers would be needed to mine the water that Boomer (Grace Park) found in the previous episode.

But wow ... look at this. We're just three episodes in. If you count the miniseries, that's just seven hours of "Battlestar Galactica." And it seems like each week, the production crew behind the scenes are trying to give us an epic. And I have to say that they are succeeding.

Read the full article here.

koenigrules logged this Intel at 10:39 PM

Hatch links 'Galactica' to its roots
BY JANICE RHOSHALLE LITTLEJOHN Source: Chicago Sun Times

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- The Sci Fi Channel is bringing back "Battlestar Galactica," ABC's campy 1970s space opera, with a boost from original series star Richard Hatch.

The 59-year-old actor first appears in the third episode of the new series, which is shooting this day at an abandoned warehouse near the base of Vancouver's Port Mann Bridge. Galactica fleet Capt. Lee "Apollo" Adama (Jamie Bamber) is taken hostage by a group of convicts led by Tom Zarek (Hatch).

As the production crew readies for the scene between Zarek and Adama, Hatch, who once played Apollo, and Bamber, the current Apollo, are as easy as a Sunday morning while hamming it up for a photographer.

"There wasn't the discomfort I thought would be there," Hatch says later in his trailer. "It was a weird kind of deja vu --like I was coming home." The new series can be seen at 9 p.m. Fridays. "Bastille Day," the first episode featuring Hatch, is scheduled to air tonight.

Despite Hatch's upbeat on-set demeanor, there was no such warm fuzziness when talk about reworking the franchise began.

Before the release of Sci Fi's miniseries version of "Battlestar" in December 2003, Hatch -- who had worked nearly six years to revive the property -- criticized Sci Fi for ignoring fan appeals for a "continuation" series with original cast members.

Hatch turned down a cameo and criticized writer/executive producer Ron Moore for his reinterpretation of the original series, including the switch of macho fighter pilot Starbuck (played originally by Dirk Benedict) from male to female.

The miniseries lacked "passion, energy, and excitement ... nothing giving you any reason to care," Hatch said at the time. "It's not 'Battlestar Galactica.'"

In spite of a boisterous online campaign to boycott the four-hour miniseries, "Battlestar" gave Sci Fi its highest ratings that year and became the most-watched cable miniseries in 2003.

Hard feelings aside, the decision to bring Hatch onboard was pretty much a given when "Battlestar" was picked up as a regular series, according to Moore. "It just seemed like a good fit for Richard and when I mentioned it to him, he responded and went for it," Moore says.

While some "Battlestar" devotees have accused Hatch of selling out, he insists he just "fell so in love with the story."

"I will always love the original show. I wish they'd brought it back," he says.

But he added: "You now have to deal with what is. In all truth, this is a totally different take... Once I [could] look at it for that and see where they wanted to go, it was very hard not to get excited about it."

And who knows? Maybe Hatch's appearances in the new series can rouse some enthusiasm from the holdouts.

"The meeting of these two characters works on so many different levels," says Bamber, his face made up to look cut and bloodied as he prepares for his on-camera assault.

"There's even a discussion of the name 'Apollo,' stuff fans can get into. But it's more important that the two characters are meeting in a very important situation with some ideological similarities and yet differences, as the two Apollos have become different," Bamber says.

The cast includes Edward James Olmos as Cmdr. William Adama; Mary McDonnell as President Laura Roslin; Katee Sackhoff as cocky, cigar-wielding Kara "Starbuck" Thrace; Grace Park as Galactica pilot and Cylon sleeper agent Sharon "Boomer" Valerii; former Victoria's Secret model Tricia Helfer as Cylon seductress Number Six, and James Callis as mad scientist Gaius Baltar.

When we last saw the rag-tag "Battlestar" bunch, they were on the run from the robotic Cylons who had nearly obliterated the human race. Now with supplies waning as fast as their weapons and their hope, Cmdr. Adama and President Roslin find their biggest challenge is the survival of humanity.

"The show will still incorporate elements of a post-9/11 world and the Iraqi war world," says Moore of the series' ripped-from-the-headlines topicality.

"What I like about science fiction is the idea that things that matter to me in American culture today, that I have an opportunity to explore those things, to comment on them ... without having to write a 'West Wing' or an 'NYPD Blue,'" Moore says. "Here's another world, and it's a lens through which we can view our own."

koenigrules logged this Intel at 7:07 PM

Just the facts: "Battlestar Galactica" Extra
By MAUREEN RYAN Source: Chicago Tribune

For a Jan. 21 feature on the new "Battlestar Galactica," I spoke to Ronald D. Moore, creator of Sci Fi Channel's new "Galactica" series (which airs Fridays at 9 p.m.), and to Richard Hatch, Apollo on the original "Galactica." Hatch guests on the Jan. 21 episode, "Bastille Day," playing a political prisoner named Tom Zarek. Excerpts from both interviews are below.

Richard Hatch

Eventually Universal decided to go with a brand new "Battlestar" created by executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick: It became clear to me that "Battlestar Galactica" was on its own path. It was going to find its own way. Ultimately, I didn't own "BSG." It's something I love and believe in but the owners would make the final decision. They were going to do what they thought best, and follow their own vision, and I had to make my peace with that.

On Moore's "Galactica": When I met Ron Moore, he's an intelligent, down-to-earth man. Once the network decided they didn't want to do a continuation but a re-imagining, they hired an incredibly talented and gifted writing staff and crew and actors to put it together.

At a "Galactica" convention, Moore played scenes from the new miniseries: The hard part is, no matter how wonderful it is when you're dealing with something that came before, you have a lot of fans who really bonded to the original series. It's very difficult for them to cross over, the same way it was hard for "Star Trek" fans to open up to "Next Generation."

I have to say, I think similarly to Ron in terms of how he explores characters. We're all a combination of good and evil, there's no such thing as black and white. Human beings are rarely played as complex as we really are, but that's what he wanted to do with these characters, explore them at a deeper and more profound level. That's what I was hoping we'd be able to do with the original show. We'd made a good start against tremendous odds, but we needed that second year to get into those complex character and relationship issues. And that's what they're doing [on the new show].

I'm happy that they brought together this extraordinary group of writers and producers and actors to create this. Sometimes they put together people who don't care, and you get something cheesy. They chose to do something intelligent, with vision and complexity.

On wanting a juicy role on the new series: It's not about ego. If someone offers me a cameo... well, if you can't bite your teeth into something, [it's not worth it]. I got tired of roles that didn't move me. I wasn't really interested in doing something just for the sake of doing it.

You can read more of the Hatch interview here.

Ronald D. Moore

On the philosophy behind reinventing "Battlestar": My overarching feeling about the original was that it had to be true to the roots of its own premise. The premise is the same as ours. The Cylons destroy the entire human race and only a handful of people survive. It's a scary premise, but within the first couple hours [on the original show], they go off to the casino planet. They retell the "Guns of Navarone," they retell "Shane." It became popcorn stuff, which I think is at odds with the premise of the show itself. The entire destruction of their race, then they're hanging out with casino showgirls?

But it was 1978, it was coming off Star Wars, they wanted to capture the escapism and fun of "Star Wars." "Star Trek" had not truly become a pop culture phenomenon. They really only had the old ["Star Trek"] series as a model and that was the plot of the week.

So for this production, [the idea was] let's take this situation seriously. Let's really play what would really happen if our civilization was really wiped out. Which after 9/11, is not such a farfetched idea. It's drawing on those emotions, those reactions in our country after that event, the issues we're dealing with – the war on terror, the war in Iraq, civil liberties and freedoms versus security. Play the show in that key. That's the show. It's a heavy premise.

But there's still life. People still try to enjoy themselves. One of my favorite beats is when [President Laura Roslin] is told that a baby has been born. Somehow that means so much.

On the themes of the show: The tension between security and freedom is inherent to democracy. When you're thrust into this situation where the survival of the race is in question...people want to save themselves, but what are they saving? They have to be careful that they're saving the right things for the right reasons.

On the future of the show: The [Sci Fi] Channel ordered six more scripts...It's an expensive show. They have to do a lot of bean counting to figure out what makes the show [worthwhile]. I'm hoping we get a second year. So far there's been a really good response in the UK, SkyOne there is very happy with the ratings and the critical response has been good.

On not being boxed in by the sci fi label: I try to talk about the show being a drama first. It's not about bumpy-headed aliens or weird mind control or body snatching or anything like that. I hope we've made something that fans of "The Shield" or "Nip/Tuck" would like.

On re-imagining key roles, especially that of Starbuck, as women: If you look at the old show, it's a very male show. In the original series, there's an episode where all the men get sick and it's, "We need pilots!" and they train the women [which is treated as a big deal]. Obviously we have a much more integrated military now.

And one of the first ideas I had when they approached me for the project was, "What if we make Starbuck a woman?" I thought, it'd be an interesting way to turn the rogue, hot-shot pilot [stereotype] on its head. How many times have we seen that before? And usually the woman is like Kelly McGillis' character in "Top Gun," the woman standing by the edge or the runway.

On Edward James Olmos as Commander Adama: He really grounds the show. When he walks into the [main command center] set, everyone stands up a little straighter. Eddy is definitely the commander. He has that certain gravity and weight and it plays in every scene.

On James Callis, who plays troubled scientist Gaius Baltar: He's the actor [whose role] changed the most from the script. In my mind, he was always this complicated, ambiguous, morally, ethically ambiguous guy, he had this weakness for women, he had an ego. What I didn't really write was that he was funny. James really brings that to the party, he gives the whole show a jolt. He's funny.

Hatch's role of Tom Zarek: I got really interested in Richard doing it. It's very different from his old role, it's a political character, a human antagonist within the fleet. He's the guy who'll say, "All you people are wrong, this society must be torn down."

Regarding bringing back other cast members from the original "Battlestar": I'm open to it. The trick is to do what we did for Richard, which was to find a good, rich role for them to play.

You can read more of the Moore interview here.

koenigrules logged this Intel at 1:37 PM

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Latest RDM Blog: Let's Talk
Source: SciFi

Since SciFi has been kind enough to provide this space, it seems like a good opportunity to open up a dialog with you, the fans of the show. So in addition to providing you with my thoughts and reactions to the series as it unfolds, and various behind the scenes tales of derring-do, I'd like to also use this blog to answer your questions and respond to your comments. I used to do something like this at AOL during my tenure at Star Trek, and I really enjoyed the chance to communicate with the fan community, so why not do it again?

Judging from the volume of posts on the board, I don't think I'll be able to answer every question, so I suppose the best I can do is cherry-pick out a few representative questions each week. Did I say week? I meant to say, "cherry-pick out a few represenative questions WHEN I GET A CHANCE." I'm new to this whole blog business and as yet I haven't established a rhythm of posting here at all, so we'll just have to see how it goes.

For the first batch:
"What battlestar was Apollo from? Notice he's never mentioned it or the loss of friends from whatever squad he was assigned to."

In my first draft of the mini, Lee Adama had just been accepted into test pilot school on Caprica and was not currently assigned to any battlestar. Presumably, he had been posted to at least a couple of battlestar air groups in his career, as well as several ground assignments as well. This isn't canon yet, however, and I'm currently thinking of changing some elements of his specific backstory as I work on storylines for Season Two. Overall, I'd say Lee was striving (perhaps too hard) to blaze a different path for himself in the fleet from that of his father. I don't think Lee ever saw himself as a battlestar commander and was looking for a different way to make his mark.

"Why Colonial One looks so much like Airforce One? Was that deliberate?"

The design of the ship itself was meant to evoke commercial airlines and of course, present-day Air Force One is a modified 747. One of the things we discussed was trying to make Colonial One immediately identifiable amid the sea of other ships, so we started to make the color scheme and markings more distinctive and recognizable. It does evoke Air Force One at this point, and I'd say that helps with both recognition and with reminding the audience that it's the president's ship.

"Will we ever hear anything about other battlestars? Especially Pegasus?"

We have discussed the Pegasus storyline for a couple of years now. It's still tooling around inside my brain, but I haven't settled on a take yet. Call it a strong possibility at this point. No plans to see any other battlestars at present.

"Why is everything so low tech when clearly these humans are so advanced? It seems incongruous."

The plot explanation is that following the Cylon Uprising 40 years ago, Colonial society took a giant step backwards to protect itself from the technological nightmare it had unleashed. With their enemies able to hack into virtually any network, the Colonials had to rely on stand-alone technologies that we not connected to other components. Ships like the Galactica were designed with this in mind, as well as the old military philosophy of building equipment that will function even in the most dire of circumstances. You don't want to be using cordless phones when the ship is hit by a nuke and power is disrupted to say the least. You want something reliable and solid and preferably with a cord.

The creative explanation is that high-tech ships with touch screens and computers that talk has been done to death in my opinion. Also, having magical technology that does all the work for you tends to take the human beings out of the dramatic equation. I wanted a lower-tech Galactica so that we could put people back into scifi. This show is about our characters, not about the magical technology that they use.

On a personal note, I'd like to extend my thanks to everyone reading this blog and to all the millions of others out there who showed up in record numbers to watch our premiere last Friday. As much as I believed in this show, and as much as I truly felt satisfied with what we had done, there's always a bit of holding your breath to see if the audience will actually show up. To my everlasting gratitude, you did show up and I hope you continue to watch and enjoy the show.

I'm looking foward to continuing to talk with you all in the future and seeing your reactions to the rest of the season.

Posted byRon at 04:30 PM

koenigrules logged this Intel at 10:23 PM

'Galactica' Battles Way to Strong Debut
Source: zap2it

The series premiere of "Battlestar Galactica" led the Sci Fi Channel to the top spot on cable, at least by several measures, on Friday.

The two-hour premiere, a reworking of the late-'70s ABC series with a decidedly darker tone than its predecessor, drew 3.1 million viewers Friday (Jan. 14), second on all of cable for the night. About 1.8 million of those viewers were in the adults 18-49 demographic coveted by advertisers, the best on cable that evening.

"Galactica" also led the night among Sci Fi's core audience of men 18-34 and men 18-49 and was the No. 2-rated episode of a series in the channel's history. Only the premiere of "Stargate Atlantis," which drew 4.2 million viewers for its premiere last summer, did better.

The ratings for "Battlestar Galactica" didn't quite live up to those of the Sci Fi miniseries that spawned the weekly show. The mini, which aired in December 2003, averaged just over 4.2 million viewers over its two nights.

Still, Sci Fi is happy with the show's performance, which also outdrew an original episode of "Star Trek: Enterprise" (3.03 million viewers) on Friday. "Battlestar Galactica" moves into its regular timeslot, 10 p.m. ET Fridays, this week.

koenigrules logged this Intel at 2:49 PM

Galactica Scores Big Ratings
Source: SciFiWire

The two-hour Jan. 14 premiere of SCI FI Channel's original series Battlestar Galactica was the number-one cable program on that date in key demographics and ranked as the highest-rated January show in the network's history. Galactica ranked first among adults aged 25-54 and 18-49 and men aged 25-54, 18-49 and 18-34. The show earned a 2.6 household rating (3.1 million viewers), ranking second among all cable programs.

Galactica was also SCI FI's highest-rated first-quarter series telecast ever and its second highest-rated series telecast ever, behind only Stargate Atlantis' series premiere in summer 2004.

Galactica delivered 2.2 million viewers aged 25-54 and 1.9 million among those aged 18-49. The show won a decisive victory over UPN's Star Trek: Enterprise, outperforming its new episode in total viewers, among adults 25-54 (2.2 million vs. 1.7 million) and 18-49 (1.9 million vs. 1.5 million). Among men 25-54, Galactica delivered 1.5 million viewers, beating 16 of the top 20 programs on the six broadcast networks, including CSI: Miami, JAG and Fox's premiere of Jonny Zero.

Battlestar Galactica moves to its regular timeslot on Jan. 21, joining SCI FI's Friday-night lineup of original programming, "SCI FI Fridays." Galactica will air Fridays at 10 p.m. ET/PT, following Stargate SG-1 at 8p.m. and Stargate Atlantis at 9 p.m.

koenigrules logged this Intel at 8:34 AM

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Ronald D. Moore's BATTLESTAR GALACTICA Premieres to Record Ratings for Sci-Fi Channel
By STEVE KRUTZLER Source: TrekWeb

Former STAR TREK writer/producer Ronald D. Moore has reason to celebrate, as his new Sci-Fi Channel series BATTLESTAR GALACTICA set ratings records for the cable network with its Friday premiere.

According to a press release circulated by the network, BSG was watched by 3.1 million viewers and becomes the highest-rated January program ever on Sci-Fi. BSG's premiere is second only to the network's summer 2004 premiere of STARGATE: ATLANTIS. With a 2.6 household rating, BSG delivered #1 performances among cable networks on Friday in several demographic categories, including M25-54, M18-49 and M18-34.

The PR goes on to compare the show to Friday's first-run presentation of STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE: "BATTLESTAR won a decisive victory over UPN's ENTERPRISE, outperforming its new episode in total viewers, P25-54 (2.2 million vs. 1.7 million) and P18-49 (1.8 million vs. 1.5 million)."

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA continues its season on the Sci-Fi Channel, Fridays at 10p following STARGATE: SG-1 and STARGATE: ATLANTIS.

koenigrules logged this Intel at 8:03 PM

Monday, January 17, 2005

Olmos Says Old Fans Can't Be Won Over [& Ratings Look Positive]
BY: MICHAEL HINMAN Source: SyFyPortal

Olmos, who plays Cmdr. William Adama in the reimagination of "Battlestar Galactica" that premiered last weekend on Sci-Fi Channel and Space, said that Sci-Fi Channel president Bonnie Hammer needs to change her view on how to deal with some fans who are resisting the new series.

"She thinks we'll win them over," Olmos said during a television critics press tour. "It's not about winning them over. It's about them becoming understanding of the world that we've unleashed."

...Aaron Douglas, who plays Chief Tyrol in the series, said that he had heard that overnight ratings gave BSG a 3.3 rating. If true, those numbers would be in-line with the first night of the miniseries back in 2003, which earned a 3.4 rating, reaching nearly 3.5 million viewers....

But if the numbers hold true, the premiere will join the miniseries toward the top of Sci-Fi's highest-rated broadcasts of all time. By comparison, Sci-Fi Channel's highest-rated show -- "Stargate SG-1" -- averages somewhere around a 1.7, representing just under 2 million viewers.

Read more here

koenigrules logged this Intel at 6:30 PM

February 1st GO Day for BSG Season 2
BY KOENIGRULES Source: MediaBlvd

According to Robert Falconer, the Senior Editor from HollywoodNorthReport, "I would be very surprised if a second season didn't come to pass. I have it on good authority by someone connected to the production, and who speaks to the writers on a regular basis, that February 1st is "go-day." In other words, February 1st is the day the network decides whether or not to renew the series for a second season."

To increase the likelihood that this would come to pass, SCI-FI showed the first two BSG episodes back-to-back in order "to go for maximum saturation in the market and drive the ratings up as high as possible within two weeks."

Also, Aaron Douglas (Chief Tyrol) disclosed that the overnight ratings were excellent for these two episodes. Aaron indicated that the overnights "averaged a 3.3. [And even though] the nationals don't come in until this Tuesday, where they could likely drop approx. 20%, high 2s are good for SCI-FI."

So keep your fingers crossed Galacticans. We will shortly know if Season 2 will come to pass for the crew of the Battlestar Galactica.

koenigrules logged this Intel at 9:57 AM

Battlestar Galactica: Episodes 9, 10 & 11- TV REVIEW & SPOILERS
The war between the Humans & Cylons heats back up.
Source: ignfilmforce

January 14, 2005 - The first 13 episodes of the Battlestar Galactica comes near the end of its run and as the finish line to what will be either the end of its run or the end of its first season (8 scripts have been ordered but no firm decision has yet been made on whether or not they'll go into production) approaches, we start to see more of what the series hopes to offer viewers if it is to continue.

In episode 9, Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down (an obvious reference to the film, Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down), Adama is behaving strangely which seems to play directly into the warning the captured Cylon gave President Roslin in the previous episode. As the fleet goes into alert status due to a lone Cylon fighter entering the sector, a stunned Galactica crew finds that their Commander isn't on board. Colonel Tigh takes command during the situation and is in the mood for direct answers when he goes down to the flight deck to meet Adama's ship. The Colonel is shocked when Adama steps off his Raptor and presents Tigh with his wife, Ellen, thought to have been killed during the Cylon attack on the 12 Colonies.

Privately, Adama explains that he has been keeping tabs on Ellen since she was discovered comatose on one of the ships in the fleet. Adama and Ellen clearly don't care for each other; Ellen Tigh represents everything destructive in Colonel Tigh's life while Adama is everything Ellen hates about the military. Both Roslin and Adama are afraid that Ellen is a Cylon and a beleaguered Dr. Baltar is told to make Ellen's blood test that would confirm or disprove her humanity.

Tigh Me Up, Tigh me Down has moments of genuine humor that help break up the general bleakness of the series' tone. Ellen Tigh is as emotionally destructive as a hurricane and clearly thinks that Humanity's current situation could put her husband and, by association, herself, into a position of greater authority. The episode also points out Galactica's strength in telling stories centered around how humans are adapting to their current situation. When the series is trying to pontificate about God, it falls flat on its face but when it shows the flaws and the greatness of humanity, it's dead on target.

Episode 10, The Hand of God, is the first episode that sort of re-makes an episode from the original series. As the fleet's fuel supply drops dangerously low thanks to the constant faster than light jumps it has to make to keep away from the Cylons, Adama has ships scouring the area for any possible fuel supply. One of the ships in the fleet happens to be a fuel processor / freighter so if they can even find the raw materials, the Galacticans can make fuel for the fleet. Boomer (the one on the Galactica, not the one currently running around Caprica with Helo) and her co-pilot get lucky and find an asteroid with enough raw materials to keep the fleet flying for years. The only hitch: it's crawling with Cylons.

Adama calls on Starbuck to help create an audacious plan to take the fight to the Cylons which, if it works, could make the Cylons think twice about picking a fight with the remnants of humanity and may also be a sign of greater things for the outspoken lieutenant.

As with Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down, The Hand of God fires on all cylinders as we see the Galactica and her crew do what they're best at, making war. With easily some of the best battle sequence since the mini-series, Hand of God even manages to entertain as Number Six, the Cylon living in Baltar's head that we still don't know whether or not is an implant or just a manifestation of Baltar's guilt, convinces the greatest traitor in the history of humanity that he is really an instrument of God. Meanwhile, the multi-deity religion practiced by the citizens of the 12 Colonies also gets a little more explanation as President Roslin has a vision brought on by her cancer treatments that parallels the "Pythian Prophecies" in one of the "sacred texts".

Episode 11, Colonial Day, sees the welcome return of original Galactica star Richard Hatch as the terrorist or freedom fighter, depending on who you ask, Tom Zarek. The President has decided that it's time to restore more of the civilian government including a Quorum of the 12 Colonies. The citizens of the 12 colonies each vote a representative to speak for them in the quorum and Gemenon elects Zarek. Most of the people in power, including Adama, distrust Zarek and his motives. Those fears appear to be met when Zarek's first action is to propose an election be held for the position of vice-President. Since President Roslin got the job by being the only surviving member of the Cabinet, there is no plan of succession should something happen to her. While they can't argue Zarek's logic they aren't overly surprised when Zarek is nominated for the position.

Meanwhile, an assassination plot seems to be taking shape but appears to be stopped by Apollo and Starbuck. The actual plot is never found out by the Galactica officers or the audience and one can only hope that something will be made of it before the end of the series' run.

Galactica seems to really be hitting its stride with these episodes and it looks like Ron Moore is discovering just how important it may be to have Hatch on his side for the run of the series. Richard Hatch as Tom Zarek adds an electricity to the plot, knowing his opposition to this "re-imagining" of the series he starred in only adds to the irony of Zarek's back story. If there's any failing to Colonial Day, a reference to the 12 Colonies version of something like the United States' Independence Day, it is that Zarek seems to be getting a shift from Nelson Mandela-ish freedom fighter of conscience to more of a Yassir Arafat-ish terrorist that will stop at nothing to accomplish his goals. If this is an attempt to somehow turn Hatch into the villain in the fold, it is ill-advised. Hatch is an asset to the series and Ron Moore should look seriously at expanding his presence if the series is picked up for a second season.

Read more here.

koenigrules logged this Intel at 1:09 AM

Sunday, January 16, 2005

Does old sci-fi have a future? Battlestar Galactica retooled for 2004
BY VINAY MENON Toronto Star

Fans of Battlestar Galactica, you may now exhale.

Since 1978, when the original ABC series first aired, devotees have waited with bated breath, hoping a spirited remake might finally exorcise a quarter-century of musty nostalgia.

In 2003, some intergalactic hope arrived with an ambitious mini-series. But while a ratings hit, the four-hour project drew a decidedly mixed reaction, gaining new adherents and alienating purists who objected to the re-imagined characters and grim, darker milieu.

Tonight, another chapter begins with a new series of Battlestar Galactica (Space, 8 p.m.). It picks up where the mini-series left off, which means bleating over the philosophical and aesthetic changes from the original will continue.

Unlike some of my esteemed colleagues, I don't claim any great love or appreciation for science fiction. When a press release begins, "It has been more than 40 years since the humans of the 12 Colonies of Kobol battled with the Cylons, the sentient robots that turned on their creators with deadly results ..." I know the night will involve A) a dangerous amount of vodka and B) an urgent long-distance phone call.

So I poured myself a martini, screened the pilot and rang up Ronald D. Moore, Galactica's executive producer and a chap with some sci-fi cred — Star Trek: The Next Generation, Roswell, Star Trek: Voyager, Carnivale, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

"I have always thought of the show as a drama first," he says from his office in Los Angeles. "It just happens to be in a science fiction context. But the show has never been, and will never be, about the alien of the week or the planet of the week or mind control or time travel or body snatching or all the other cliches that go along with the genre."

Okay. Now we're getting somewhere.

To those of you not particularly well-versed with Galactica's backstory or space-Armageddon mythology, allow me to impart some random and, quite possibly, wildly inaccurate observations.
First, there's a war between the humans and the machines. The robots are called Cylons. They're metallic and menacing, fitted with illuminated red eyes that scan from side to side. They initiated a nuclear attack and reduced the human population to 50,000. There are some renegade human fighters, led by Commander William Adama (Edward James Olmos).

There is a giant spaceship. There's a scientist with a British accent, one Dr. Gaius Baltar (James Callis) who appears to be having an affair with a mysterious Cylon who has manifested in nubile human form. Known simply as Number 6, this comely robot is played by Canadian model Tricia Helfer.

"The show really is geared to people who enjoy shows such as The Shield, nip/tuck and The Sopranos," says Moore. "It's about complicated, edgy, ambiguous characters and their relationships and dynamics."

Moore says he has "a lot of sympathy" for fans of the original who were less than thrilled with the mini-series and, quite probably, the new series.

"When I was growing up in the '70s, I was a fan of the original Star Trek series. And certainly if somebody had come along and reinvented Star Trek and recast the roles and changed everything, I would be upset, too."

Science fiction, he says, especially when experienced in youth, creates a warm glow of romance. Understandably, fans want to recapture those feelings and reconnect with the beloved, original worlds.

"It was impossible for me to give that to them," he says. "A lot of the key decisions on what the show would be and what it would not be were made even before it was announced in the press and the first hue and cry started."

Still, mindful of the core audience, Moore reached out, talking to fans, gathering opinion, tinkering with minor elements. He even attended a Galactica convention where he was promptly booed.

But he's detected a surge of interest in the new show, especially in Internet chat rooms.

"You'll see there are a lot more people there than have been in there in the past 10 years combined. And people are into the show. The core, old guard that refuses to even watch the new series really don't have anything to talk about."

There's a deeper irony, isn't there? Would the 1978 series, with its campy escapism, ridiculous writing and, at times, shallow characterization, even hold up today? What are people clinging to?

"What I responded to on the old show when I was looking at it a year or two ago and considering the project is, at its heart, there is a dark and interesting premise to Battlestar Galactica," he says.

"The Cylons come in and commit genocide in the pilot; wipe out the civilization in a heartbeat. Our heroes are part of a core group of survivors who flee into the night, run away, and are pursued as they hunt for Earth. The problem with the old show was, yes, that it was also trying to be escapist fun at the same time.

"There was a really good premise. But it was not able to also be Star Wars, also be Star Trek, also be everything else ABC wanted it to be in the late '70s, so it couldn't square the circle."

When Moore watched the original pilot again, the first time in more than 20 years, he says the psychic heft and free-floating anxiety from our post-9/11 world was inescapable.

"When you watch that pilot now, it really strikes a chord," he says. "You are struck by the emotion of an attack from the blue, of a fundamental reshaping of everything you thought you knew. "

And I realized that if I retold the story today and played those emotions truthfully, it would be a powerful piece. It would be an opportunity to comment on, to explore and to challenge things that are happening today."

The new series has 13 episodes. Next month, Moore will get network word on the possibility of a second season. So the power now shifts to viewers.

Is Moore's brave new endeavour a worthy addition to the Battlestar Galactica canon? Nearly three decades after the original, has he managed to square the circle?

koenigrules logged this Intel at 11:32 AM

Hatch opens to new version of 'Battlestar'
BY JANICE RHOSHALLE LITTLEJOHN Associated Press

The 59-year-old actor first appears in the third episode of the new series, which is shooting this day at an abandoned warehouse near the base of Vancouver's Port Mann Bridge. Galactica fleet Capt. Lee "Apollo" Adama (Jamie Bamber) is taken hostage by a group of convicts led by Tom Zarek (Hatch).

As the production crew readies for the scene between Zarek and Adama, Hatch, who once played Apollo, and Bamber, the current Apollo, are as easy as a Sunday morning while hamming it up for a photographer.

"There wasn't the discomfort I thought would be there," Hatch says later in his trailer. "It was a weird kind of deja vu - like I was coming home." The new series premieres 9 p.m. Friday with a two-hour episode.

Despite Hatch's upbeat on-set demeanor, there was no such warm fuzziness when talk about reworking the franchise began.

Before the release of Sci Fi's miniseries version of "Battlestar" in December 2003, Hatch - who had worked nearly six years to revive the property - criticized Sci Fi for ignoring fan appeals for a "continuation" series with original cast members.

Hatch turned down a cameo and criticized miniseries writer/ executive producer Ron Moore for his reinterpretation of the original series, including the switch of macho fighter pilot Starbuck (played originally by Dirk Benedict) from male to female.

The miniseries lacked "passion, energy, and excitement . . . nothing giving you any reason to care," Hatch said at the time. "It's not 'Battlestar Galactica.' "

In spite of a boisterous online campaign to boycott the four- hour miniseries, "Battlestar" gave Sci Fi its highest ratings that year and became the most- watched cable miniseries in 2003.

Hard feelings aside, the decision to bring Hatch onboard was pretty much a given when "Battlestar" was picked up as a regular series, according to Moore. "It just seemed like a good fit for Richard, and when I mentioned it to him, he responded and went for it," he says.

While some "Battlestar" devotees have accused Hatch of selling out, he insists he just "fell so in love with the story."

"I will always love the original show. I wish they'd brought it back," he says.

But, he added: "You now have to deal with what is. In all truth, this is a totally different take . . . once I [could] look at it for that and see where they wanted to go, it was very hard not to get excited about it."

And who knows? Maybe Hatch's appearance in the new series (he'll also be in Episode 11) can rouse some enthusiasm from the holdouts.

"The meeting of these two characters works on so many different levels," says Bamber, his face made up to look cut and bloodied as he prepares for his on-camera assault.

"There's even a discussion of the name 'Apollo,' stuff fans can get into. But it's more important that the two characters are meeting in a very important situation with some ideological similarities and yet differences, as the two Apollos have become different," Bamber says.

The cast includes Edward James Olmos as Cmdr. William Adama; Mary McDonnell as President Laura Roslin; Katee Sackhoff as cocky, cigar-wielding Kara "Starbuck" Thrace; Grace Park as Galactica pilot and Cylon sleeper agent Sharon "Boomer" Valerii; former Victoria's Secret model Tricia Helfer as Cylon seductress Number Six, and James Callis as mad scientist Gaius Baltar.

When we last saw the rag-tag "Battlestar" bunch, they were on the run from the robotic Cylons who had nearly obliterated the human race. Now with supplies waning as fast as their weapons and their hope, Cmdr. Adama and President Roslin find their biggest challenge is the survival of humanity.

"The show will still incorporate elements of a post-9/11 world and the Iraqi war world," says Moore of the series' ripped- from-the-headlines topicality.

"What I like about science fiction is the idea that things that matter to me in American culture today, that I have an opportunity to explore those things, to comment on them . . . without having to write a 'West Wing' or an 'NYPD Blue,' " Moore says. "Here's another world, and it's a lens through which we can view our own."

koenigrules logged this Intel at 11:06 AM

Saturday, January 15, 2005

SCI-FI Exclusive Video Feature #1: From BSG Miniseries to Series

From adapting a miniseries into a weekly show to changing the genders of several major characters, hear from the stars and creators of Battlestar Galactica how they "re-imagined" a classic into an edgy new SCI FI Original Series. Click here to see the video in Quicktime or RealPlayer.

koenigrules logged this Intel at 5:59 PM

Why 33 Minutes?
RON MOORE BLOG Source: SciFi

The truth is, there's no real answer. It's just a random number that felt right when I came up with the idea that our people were under continuous, relentless attack since the end of the pilot. I wanted it to be a short interval, just long enough for them to grab a bite to eat, jump in the shower and maybe try to catch a catnap before dragging themselves back to their duty stations and begin the whole tedious, terrifying ordeal all over again.

A deeper truth is, I was never interested in coming up with an explanation for Why? Never. I mean, I suppose I could've come up with a sufficiently important-sounding bit of technobabble that would've made sense (you see, the Cylon double-talk sensors tracking the Olympic Carrier's nonsense drive signature needed 15 minutes to relay the made-up data wave through the pretend continuum, then the Cylon navigational hyper silly system needed another 10 minutes to recalculate the flux capacitor, etc.) but what would that have really added to the drama? How does explaining that 33 minute interval help our understanding of Laura's terrible moment of decision, or bring us to any greater knowledge of Dualla's search for her missing family and friends, or yield insight into Baltar's morally shattered psyche?

It doesn't, of course. The answer, however artfully it may (or may not) have been crafted can only subtract from the experience we have in watching the episode. Not knowing the how's or why's of the Cylon attack puts us in the same seat as the characters we're watching. They're in the dark, and we're in the dark. The relentless attack is unfathomable in its origin and unstoppable in its execution. It's mortality coming at you on a loop. If you only had 33 minutes before the next time you could die, what would you do? And what about the time after that? And the time after that? At a certain point, you stop caring about why it's happening, all you know is that it is happening, and it's happening to you.

So the mystery of 33 will be permanent on this show. No explanation, not even the attempt. Let it just be a number that seemed like an eternity for five long days on the battlestar Galactica.

koenigrules logged this Intel at 1:29 PM

Friday, January 14, 2005

Olmos Sticks to Outspoken 'Galactica' Guns
BY DANIEL FIENBERG Source: zap2it

It was over a year ago that Edward James Olmos instructed obsessive fans of the original "Battlestar Galactica" that maybe they'd better not watch the Sci Fi Channel's update of the franchise. Time and the success of the first "Galactica" miniseries have done little to soften Olmos' resolve. Most actors want the largest possible audience to watch their shows, but the Oscar nominee just doesn't seem to care.

"There's a lot of people out there that do not like anything that's done on any remake ever," Olmos tells reporters at the semi-annual Television Critics Association press tour. "They like the originals of what they remember and they want that... Get the DVD of the original and when we're on on Friday nights, put it in and don't watch our show, because it could be detrimental to you mentally."

That's not the kind of thing that network executives like to hear and Olmos' words had Sci Fi President Bonnie Hammer cringing at Thursday's (Jan. 13) panel.

"She thinks we'll win them over," Olmos says, noticing Hammer's reactions. "It's not about winning them over. It's about them becoming understanding of the world that we've unleashed. The world that we've unleashed has nothing to do with the world that they were visiting back them."

In the eyes of many viewers, the new "Galactica" is actually superior to the original. Early word on the series, which has already premiered in England, was rapturous in many science fiction fan circles. Many of those purists had already been swayed by the 2003 miniseries, despite such controversial decisions as the choice to turn ace pilot Starbuck (Dirk Benedict in the original) into a fetching female played by Katee Sackhoff.

One important skeptic won over by the update is Richard Hatch, one of the stars of the original series and the author of a number of "Galactica" novels. Initially outspoken in his distrust of this particular remake, Hatch has signed on for a guest starring role on the new "Galactica."

"I had to come to the realization that, number one, this was not my story," says Hatch, who had been attempting his own "Galactica" revival. "I did not originate it. I believe in the story very, very much and worked very hard to bring back 'Battlestar Galactica.' But I think it all comes down to how it's brought back, who's involved with bringing it back."

Hatch was drawn in by executive producers Ron Moor and David Eick, as well as the strong cast including Olmos and Mary McDonnell. Olmos is pleased with Hatch's stamp of approval. After nearly two years of listening to harsh criticisms from a passionate fan-base, Olmos sees the chance to throw off the yoke of hatemail and just go about making a good series.

"All I can tell you is just don't write to me," Olmos instructs disgruntled "Galactica" conservatives. "Write to Richard."

koenigrules logged this Intel at 4:59 PM

The Hollywood Reporter BSG Review

The re-imagining of the Battlestar Galactica franchise is space noir.
Jan. 13, 2005

Bottom line: Fast-paced action and intriguing, dimensionalized characters make this re-imagined series a show to follow.
9 p.m. Friday, Jan. 14
Sci Fi Channel

For character-driven, hard-edged science fiction, the return of Battlestar Galactica cant be beaten. Where the original series cruised in with campy derring-do, this re-imagining of the franchise is space noir, with actors playing it for high, realistic stakes.

Old fans of the series may be a mite disappointed at the changes, but this fast-paced, tense and dramatic hourlong has plenty of choice rewards for viewers and upholds the smart promise of the 2003 miniseries.

In the opening installment, 33, our heroes are still fleeing from the robot menace known as the Cylons, who have built a few human-looking models to infiltrate the ranks of the surviving humans. And some of these robots are programd to believe they are human.

Edward James Olmos as Commander Adama and Mary McDonnell playing President Laura Roslin bring commanding dignity and great presence to their roles as the military and government leaders, respectively, of humanitys forces.

In the miniseries, the human-built, rebellious robot Cylons have nuked several human-colonized planets and are now trying to destroy the fleet. Theyre keeping the pressure tight as Olmos and his band try to figure out how to escape their enemy without and within -- as the top brass has learned there may be robot spies among them.

One of the most interesting conflicts is between the haunted Dr. Gaius Baltar (James Callis) and Number Six (Tricia Helfer as a very sexy robot Cylon). After their affair, she revealed that shes a robot and now haunts him, influencing him to do some clandestine dirty work. She also claims to love him, and this adds an unexpected dimension to her character.

The visuals and sound effects are extremely cool, with spaceships rendered as both sleek and dangerous, and the noises of fast-moving fighter ships toned down from the high-pitched whines of the original series.

Characters Lee Apollo Adama (Jamie Bamber), who is the commanders son; Kara Starbuck Thrace (Katee Sackhoff); and Colonel Tigh (Michael Hogan) are all generously dysfunctional and fun to follow.

Following the series debut will be a second new episode, Water.

Taking a peek at the third episode, Bastille Day, airing Jan. 21, reveals an interesting political conflict sparked by guest star Richard Hatch (who played Apollo in the original late-70s Galactica series). Among the gritty noir moments: When Olmos suspects Callis of playing games, he comes up with a dark look thats unforgettably chilling.

Blade Runner logged this Intel at 4:45 PM

Galactica "Hatch"es Guest Star
BY SCOTT COLLURA NowPlayingMagazine

If you've visited our site this week, you must be aware that Battlestar Galactica's first season premieres tonight on the Sci Fi Channel. We've certainly promoted the thing up the Cylon wazoo, so without further ado, here's the final installment of our recent talk with Galactica executive producer Ron Moore.

In next week's episode, "Bastille Day," Richard Hatch, star of the original Galactica, makes a guest appearance as a character named Tom Zarek. Moore explains that he actually wrote the part for Richard, who played Apollo on the old show.

"I had met Richard for the first time at Galacticon, which was a Galactica convention, before the miniseries had premiered," he says. "I went to show clips of the miniseries to the faithful, who booed me. They really booed me and were unhappy. They were pretty antagonistic about the direction that we were going [with the show], and Richard was there and he stood up like Moses, sort of like, 'My people, be silent, give him a chance!' And they did. They listened."

Of course, Hatch had been trying to mount his own version of Galactica for years, which was meant to be a sequel to the original, so naturally he wasn't too thrilled to hear about Moore's remake.

"I met him backstage and he was very nice, a very gracious man," Moore continues. "And he had been very vocal and very public about the fact that he did not think that we were doing the right thing. He was not in favor of the project. He thought this was a mistake. But he was very honest about it. And we talked well and got along and afterward I said if we go to series, I'm going to want you to guest star on the show. So once we got to pick up the series, we [came] up with a character that we really liked in the show. And he loved it, and he really wanted to do it, and it all worked out."

And while guest stars, particularly washed-up celebrity guest stars, used to show up on the original show all the time (Ray Milland, Fred Astaire, Ray Bolger, etc.), they are definitely not the norm on the new series.

"It's mostly the core characters, because we have so many of them," says Moore. "And then we have recurring characters, like most of the Cylons are recurring. It wasn't so much a conscious choice. It was just sort of the way the storyline worked out [that] we tended not to do big guest star roles. Richard was the exception."

Regarding the Cylons, Moore says that we won't be seeing too much of their society at first, but the long term plan on the show is to slowly delve into what makes the villainous androids tick, so to speak.

"You will get inside one of the [Cylon] ships for the first time in the [season] finale," he hints. "But no, we've been very careful to stay away from that world. We're talking about eventually opening up the Cylon world and going aboard the ships and starting to see that culture, but I want to do it very slowly and I think right now the Cylon society is very interesting because you don't know anything about it and it's mysterious and kind of cool and kind of out there. And the more you reveal, the more you start getting familiar with that and it might not have quite the same intrigue."

So there you have it. Ron Moore has a lot of big plans for this show, but it's up to the audience to watch the thing and keep the ratings strong in order to get new episodes produced. So watch it already. By your command.

koenigrules logged this Intel at 3:48 PM

Moore Charts Galactica's Future
SCI-FI Wire

Ronald D. Moore, creator and executive producer of SCI FI Channel's original series Battlestar Galactica, told SCI FI Wire that he's already mapping out season two just as the first season begins its 13-episode run on Jan. 14. "The network has asked for backup scripts for the second season, so we're working on six scripts right now with the writing staff," Moore said in an interview at the TV networks' winter press tour in Universal City, Calif. "I'm deep into what the second season would be. The first season ends on ... multiple cliffhangers, ... and so it's a lot of resolving those cliffhangers."

Moore added, "Most of the things that we're doing in season two were at least begun in season one. A lot of the religious things that happened in the show in terms of the colonies and in terms of the Cylons. I think probably the big opportunity in season two that we didn't get in season one is to open up the Cylon world a little more. To see more of other Cylons. See how the society functions a little bit more. And give a sense of what that community is all about."

The first 13 episodes of Galactica, which have already wrapped production, pick up almost immediately where the 2003 miniseries left off. The ragtag fleet of human survivors, led by President Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell) and Cmdr. Adama (Edward James Olmos), are trying to hold things together while continuing to flee the Cylon menace. Moore said he's pleased with how the first season ended up. "The overall arc has to do with the relationship between Adama and Laura Roslin, the sort of transition of both of them from what you think is going to be their roles of the military hawk and the civilian dove. And starting to realize that actually that she's a harder-line character than he is, and that he is the son, not of a long line of military men, but the son of a civil ... liberties attorney. And that he's actually very reticent to be her policeman, as he says in one of the episodes. And that by the end of the season, their conflict would come to a head."

Moore added that he felt that Galactica ended up having a lot to say about the current state of affairs in the real world. "The show is of its time," he said. "It is a show that is about people dealing in a post-apocalyptic world and dealing with the fallout from that and dealing with issues of war and peace and terrorism and security and freedom. And it's set in a military world. So no matter what we did, in a certain sense, it was bound to resonate. And just as we got further into the show, it just became apparent that that was something that the show was comfortable doing and that I wanted to do. I wanted to comment on things that were going on around us. I wanted the show to be thought-provoking. I wanted the show to provoke people. I wanted the show to make people think about the world that they live in."

As Galactica unfolds, Moore will be posting his thoughts on a personal blog on SCIFI.COM. Battlestar Galactica premieres Jan. 14 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

koenigrules logged this Intel at 9:30 AM

Putting The Science in Science Fiction

Battlestar Galactica Science Advisor, Dr. Kevin Grazier, Talks Saturn, Cassini-Huyge...and Galactica

By Robert Falconer, HNR Senior Editor

Heres a question for yo. What do Battlestar Galactica and the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn and Titan have in common?

Well, if you answered that they both take place in outer space, youre only one-third right.

Science is an integral part of this new Galactica, and the series has enlisted the help of one of NASA/JPLs best and brightest, Dr. Kevin Grazier, Cassini-Huygens Investigation Scientist. Thats the second thing they share in common.

Click HERE for the rest of the article

Blade Runner logged this Intel at 6:33 AM

Taken from NowPlayingMagazine:

Reviews of Battlestar Galactica - "33" and "Water"

By SCOTT COLLURA

As the Sci Fi Channel's new rendition of Battlestar Galactica begins its first season tonight, only five days have passed since the events of the pilot/miniseries (which aired 13 months ago for we the viewers). And in those five days, the crew of the Galactica haven't gotten a wink of sleep. You see, they've been way too busy having to coordinate the very laborious process of jumping to lightspeed, and they've had to do it every 33 minutes since we last saw them. It's the only way they can stay ahead of the vicious Cylons, who somehow are able to track the humans' location, no matter where their FTL jumps take them. Like clockwork, it takes the homicidal robots 33 minutes to appear after each jump.

But doesn't it figure that executive producer Ron Moore's newly re-imagined Galactica would start off with a bang? When the miniseries aired in December 2003, it impressed as many genre fans as it put off. Those Galactica diehards who'd been campaigning for a sequel to the original show were irate that Sci Fi would choose to remake their beloved series, but what were they thinking? A sequel to Galactica, with the original cast returning, was never a viable option.

Instead, what we did get was the new face of sci-fi TV, a show that happens to take place in outer space but otherwise is as strong a drama (so far) as any other series going right now. What Moore and his partner David Eick have done is take real, human characters and placed them in a genre setting. Sure, the space battles and visual effects are cool, but it's the dynamics among the characters that make this show so good.

The entire cast from the mini is back, with Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell leading the group as, respectively, Commander Adama and President Roslin. Uneasy allies, the two are attempting to work together to lead the space convoy that makes up the mere 50,000 survivors of the Cylon holocaust that has decimated humankind. But despite their best efforts throughout this episode, that 50,000 count keeps slowly ticking down. And then, after the most recent FTL jump, one of the ships in the convoy disappears. Did its jump engines fail? Did the Cylons take it out before it jumped? Was the ship full of Cylon impostors?

Don't look for answers, because Battlestar Galactica is more interested in posing questions than answering them. What, for instance, is the deal with Boomer (Grace Park), the Galactica officer who we know from the miniseries is a Cylon, or at least a base model for a line of Cylons? And how about Helo (Tahmoh Penikett), the officer who was left to die on the irradiated planet Caprica in the miniseries? In a brilliant move, Moore has decided to take us back to what is now Cylon-occupied Caprica each week and continue to follow Helo, who must surely be doomed. Or is he?

Of course, there's plenty more going on here, and this is just the first episode. Adama's son Apollo (Jamie Bamber), hothead pilot Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff), second in command Col. Tigh (Michael Hogan), Chief Tyrol (Aaron Douglas), brilliant but deceitful (and bordering on insane, perhaps) Doctor Baltar (James Callis), and let’s not forget his constant companion, the Cylon known as Number Six (Tricia Helfer)...these are all characters who are given their due in this episode alone.

To paraphrase Tyrol from the miniseries, Moore has gotten this old girl ready to roll and is ready to kick some Cylon ass! A

The Sci Fi Channel is kicking off the first season of its new Battlestar Galactica series by airing the first two episodes tonight back to back. So if the first hour, "33," wasn't enough to get you hooked, then hour number two, "Water," should do the job.

This episode forces me to do something that I would rather not do, and that's compare Galactica to modern Star Trek. The recent Trek series have become an easy target these days for genre fans who feel that there's a lack of quality sci-fi programming on the air, and they're right to say that Trek seems to have hit a dead end. Galactica only reinforces that notion, and this episode really brings the point home.

As Commander Adama and the fleet have managed to avoid the Cylon threat, at least temporarily, what passes for a normal day-to-day existence seems to be developing onboard the fugitive ships. But when the Galactica's water supply is sabotaged, an entirely new danger arises. H2O is going to run out fast, and rioting is already beginning in some parts of the fleet as people begin to panic.

Now, if this was Star Trek, Picard or whoever would just replicate more water. Or they'd warp to a "Class M" planet and beam some water up. Whatever, there'd be water.

Not in Galactica. As Col Tigh says, "Most planets are just hunks of rock and balls of gas. The galaxy is a pretty barren and desolate place when you get right down to it." These guys need to find water, and fast, but where?

To continue the Trek comparison, the water supply was compromised when a crewmember apparently stole several high-grade explosives from the weapons locker and blew the hull of the Galactica out. Adama now realizes that at least one Cylon must be living onboard the Galactica. And Boomer, who has already been established as having some relation to the Cylons, wakes up soaking wet and with one of the missing explosives in her bag as the episode begins. She has no recollection of how she wound up in such a state, and she begs her lover Chief Tyrol to help cover it up, but is she responsible for the sabotage?

Watch the episode and judge for yourself, but Galactica isn't passing judgment on her one way or another just yet. Would Star Trek ever - ever - let an episode end with even a shred of doubt about a character's integrity? Of course, Trek vet Ron Moore is running Galactica, and he's finally getting to do all the things he wanted to do over on Trek that he wasn't allowed to.

Other plot points continue to develop quickly in this episode, while new character interactions are beginning as well. Starbuck and Baltar, for example, wind up in a high stakes card game together that is bound to lead to some kind of relationship between the two. Lee Adama (Apollo) is still trying to balance his loyalty to both his father and the President, while also struggling with the tragic events of the previous episode. And Baltar, when he's not playing cards, is digging himself deeper and deeper with lies about building "Cylon detectors" and other fictions for Adama.

Last Star Trek comparison from us this season, we promise: even if the Galactica crew finds water, they don't have transporters. So how the heck are they going to get it up to the ship? Tune in next week.

koenigrules logged this Intel at 1:04 AM

Thursday, January 13, 2005

Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace Is Learning The Ropes Says Sackhoff
By IAN M. CULLEN Source: SciFiPulse

In a new interview conducted by Steven Eramo, actress Katee Sackhoff gave a little insight into her role as rebellious hot shot pilot Lt. Kara Thrace in the Ronald D. Moore Remake of