Gordon Gekko and the AMPTP

Above: Nick Counter of the AMPTP declares that "Greed is good."

The AMPTP producers and studio executives have pretty much forced the WGA to strike as soon as Friday, because of AMPTP's insulting and childish refusal to discuss with the writers any plan to address any fair residual compensation for digital downloads.

The WGA will announce their decision Thursday, at 7:00 p.m. at the L.A. Convention Center, and all signs point to a strike being officially called.

United Hollywood has more.

Script Auction!

The California Browncoats are auctioning off a cast-signed copy of the script for the BSG ep “Crossroads Part 2.” Proceeds will support the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The auction ends November 10th.

Thank you Mark Sheppard!

[via SciFi Wire]

Bits and pieces

SyFy Portal found TV Guide’s mention of a new version of “The Story So Far” being created to catch viewers up with Seasons 1-3 of the show. Apparently it will air next spring leading up to the S4 premiere.

More bits of the Jamie Bamber interview call have popped up on SciFi Wire (no spoilers) and UGO (mild S4 spoilers).

David Eick talked to World Screen this week about his work on both BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and BIONIC WOMAN.

Lucy Lawless gave one of her usual delightful, silly, mysterious interviews with iF Magazine. No spoilers here, just giggles and an update on the BSG eps she’s shooting for S4, as well as her music career.

Edward James Olmos, Ridley Scott and Darryl Hannah sat down with CNN for an interview about BLADE RUNNER.

Happy Halloween

Watching BSG just turned me on to some great links on how to carve a Cylon Jack-O-Lantern. Because it’s never too late to make more yummy roasted pumpkin seeds and more pumpkin pies.

Also thanks to this site, I now know where to get a viper pilot costume. Sweet.

Imaginationland

As one of our readers noticed, SOUTH PARK recently tipped their hat to BSG. This episode, “Imaginationland II,” is being rebroadcast tonight along with parts I & III. We all know how much Stone & Parker love them some BSG.

Razor Photos

Check a cool Razor gallery of photos on Space, Canada's Sci-Fi network. (The photos should be considered spoilers.)

Tricia chatted with James T. Kirk and Denny Crane at the Spike TV Scream Awards.

Michael Trucco (Samuel T. Anders) talks Turkey.

Battlestar Inferno

A fanvid by Super-kc.

Heaven's Not Enough

A fanvid by m-a-r-i-k-s.

Writer

Mark Verheiden posts his latest thoughts on the possible WGA strike:

I think what baffles me a little is the reluctance (a kind word) of the studios to even entertain formulas for sharing the wealth on the internet, i-tunes, downloads, webisodes, mobisodes and whatever-a-sodes. It's not like the WGA's demanding advance payments on money that hasn't been collected yet via these new distribution systems. We just want a (small) piece of whatever DOES come in. And yet somehow this is all too complicated, possibly requiring a three year study (gee, what a coincidence, three years until the next contract negotiations!) to figure out just how much money the networks are making from the new technologies that they can't share because it's all too heady... or something.

Jeff Zucker said today that NBC made "only" made $15 million from i-tunes. Okay. All we want is a percentage of that $15 million, then...

That said, it remains to be reiterated that the last thing ANY working writer wants is a strike. This is a tough, time sensitive, mercurial business, and work stoppages can have ramifications beyond the checkbook. And writers, especially in television, are not blind to the downside of what happens when shows go out of production. Besides the damage done to the production staff, when the shows stop coming it's possible audience eyeballs will go with them. So I'm still crossing my fingers that wisdom trumps... something... and next week finds us all busy at our keyboards.

That said, if I had to lay odds, I'd be hoping for nice weather Friday, because picket signs don't hold together very well in the rain...

And Mark reports that he intends to attend the Ventura, California Razor screening.

Video: Admiral and Colonel

Video by Relativitee.

Starbuck Video

Video with spoilers up through the end of season 3.

Check your spam box

Some people are reporting that the confirmation emails for the BSG: Razor theatre screening are ending up accidentally deleted since the mail has ended up in their spam filtering nets. So, if you're signing up for the event, be sure to check your spam box as you'll need the confirmation email to gain admission.

Thanks to reader Aragorn Marsden for the info.

Trivial Pursuits

We continue our campaign to keep your mind off of sucky news and looming menace...

Here is more from the recent Jamie Bamber conference call interviews, on TV with MeeVee.

Katee Sackhoff spoke recently to the Williamette Week in her home state of Oregon. Hmm, Lindsay Wagner is also from around Portland.

In this video from Entertainment Weekly, Tricia Helfer names her 5 favorite fight scenes, including one from her new film WALK ALL OVER ME, and one from BSG S4 that sounds…pretty cool. *g*

The DVD cover art for WHITE NOISE 2, starring Katee Sackhoff and Nathan Fillion, has been revealed via DVD Active…but still no actual street date for the US disk.

Merch

Creation Con has unveiled the fantastic new BSG tee shirt by Jason Palmer. Wow. (Click on image for much more detail.)

OK, this Baby Cylon ring is adorable. I want this for Christmas! [via Freshpilot]

That's Entertainment 2.0

Fast Company talked to Ron Moore as part of their “That’s Entertainment 2.0” piece this month:

Ronald D. Moore, 43, has created fanatical followers for the Sci Fi Channel by using the Internet to let fans see the inner workings of his show, Battlestar Galactica. Podcasts go inside the writers' room, and Webisodes have doubled SciFi.com's traffic.

"From the beginning, I wanted a very open policy: Let's put as much on the Internet as we can--concept art, scripts, outtakes. We took a three-day writers' retreat to Lake Tahoe to break the second half of the season; we talked about all the stories, and I recorded all that. It will go up online at the appropriate time. Let people see how we make the sausage. But they have to be prepared to realize that we're making a lot of stuff up on the fly, that we make mistakes. I'd be perfectly happy letting fans digitally download everything in the production office, right up to and including putting dailies on the Internet. Then they could edit their own versions of the show. That's what I would want if I were a big fan."

Strike Updates

Deadline Hollywood is keeping up to date on all the latest WGA contract issues and strike news.

Razor's Toasters

Galactica.TV has an excellent interview with Gary Hutzel, special effects supervisor on Battlestar Galactica, and they talked to him about FX on Razor and how they created the look of the original style 1979 Cylon Centurions and Raiders.

Galactica TV landed a bunch of exclusive Razor images of the old school toasters in action.

Labor Talks

Deadline Hollywood and Maureen Ryan in the Chicago Tribune detail the ongoing WGA/AMPTP talks, that don't appear to be making much progress at this point.

It's hard to believe that an agreement, let alone signs of progress toward an agreement, will be achieved by the November 1st deadline.

UPDATE: See also the latest from Mark Evanier.

Razor Flashback #4

Link.

News From Sci-Fi Wire

Sci Fi Wire reports on Ron Moore directing an episode of Battlestar Galactica he wrote that will shoot before Thanksgiving:

"I've thought about directing for a long time, and this season seemed like the time to finally take the plunge," Moore said in a statement. "It'll be great to be working with the BSG family of cast and crew for my first experience behind the camera, and I'm really looking forward to it."

Jamie Bamber did a conference call to promote Razor, and talked about the final stretch of working on the series:

Bamber has played Lee Adama since the 2003 miniseries that began the series. He said that he is sad about the show's imminent demise but is excited about moving on to the next phase of his career.

"There's always nostalgia," Bamber said. "It's been an amazing learning process for me, personally and this experience is without doubt the most interesting and rich one I've had as a professional working actor. I have learned everything from everyone around me. So it will be very sad to sort of disband the team, and every day that we're up here in Vancouver there is an element of nostalgia about moments passing and little scenes that will never be revisited and sets maybe that disappear, because, you know, they're gone forever."

Sci-Fi Wire also reports on another show runner change to David Eick's Bionic Woman:

Jason Cahill (The Sopranos) is coming on board NBC's Bionic Woman as show runner, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He steps in for Jason Katims (Roswell), who has been pulling double duty running Bionic and Friday Night Lights since joining the former as a consultant in early September, the trade paper reported.

Tricia and Jamie at the Scream Awards

Watching BSG: Battlestar Galactica’s Tricia Helfer and Jamie Bamber hit the red carpet this past weekend, making an appearance at the Spike TV Scream Awards.

Battlestar Video Game footage

Razor Theater Screenings

The reservation site for Battlestar Galactica: Razor screenings is now online.

Frakking April

Previously, BSG fandom started a letter writing campaign to complain about any potential splitting of season 4 into two ten episode runs possibly split apart by as much as a year. I suppose we could tell Sci-Fi we are not thrilled with waiting for BSG starting up again around 5 months from now. No to mention the idiotic wait for the Season 3 DVDs. So, here's the address info again:

Bonnie Hammer
President
NBC Universal/Sci-Fi Channel
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112

Mark Stern
Executive VP Original Programming
NBC Universal/Sci-Fi Channel
100 Universal City Plaza
Bld. 1440, 14th Floor
Universal City, CA 91608

Not that it will do any good, but we can vent. And factors beyond anyone's control, such as the impact of the possible strike could be a factor in Sci-Fi's selection of the April date. Or they simply view spring time as a time period with less network competition. (And even less network competition if the nets are left with only running game shows and reality TV by then.)

And if you're so inclined, you could also let them know that they should tell the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers) to quit being so corrupt and criminal and to cut a deal with the WGAW to avoid a protracted strike.

And while I'm mentioning the labor situation, here's the latest statement from the Writer's Guild:
10/25/07

“Our employers are growing and dominate the global entertainment industry. Yet their opening offer would have rolled back our compensation by 50%. Now they decrease the rollbacks to 45% and proclaim that they are truly bargaining. Minor adjustments to major rollbacks do not constitute forward motion. To make a deal, the AMPTP must engage with us on the issues that matter in this negotiation. With that in mind, we will respond to their proposal tomorrow.”

April!

Denise Martin of the L.A. Times Show Tracker blog, reports that the Sci-Fi Channel has decided to debut season 4 of Battlestar Galactica in April of 2008.

...Now excuse me because I'm late for my session of scream therapy.

P.S. I guess this explains why Universal isn't planning to release season 3 on DVD until April.

Razor Review from Cinema Blend

Steve West of Cinema Blend has a mostly spoiler free review of Battlestar Galactica: Razor, giving the movie 4.5 stars.

“Razor” has much in common with the mini-series that started this whole show off a few years ago, and there’s an element of seeing the same thing from a whole new perspective during the flashback scenes.... “Razor” begins slowly, but soon builds up and pounds you with nearly non-stop action and excitement for a solid hour. Aside from last season’s premiere, this is the largest cavalcade of battles we’ve seen in BSG for a long while. It’s a welcome change for those who felt the mid-end of season 3 plodded along just a bit too much. Have no fear, there is a lot of action in “Razor,” and it will hold you until the very end. Ronald Moore and the crew working on the show have not lost their touch with brilliant storytelling weaved into a battle heavy showpiece. In fact, you could say that the writer and director of “Razor” found the magic that still leaves season one as the best in the shows history.

Read West's full review here.

Battlestar Galactica: Origins

Matt Brady of Newsarama reports on new BSG comic books:

TAKING A LOOK INSIDE BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: ORIGINS
Following up on Battlestar Galactica: Zarek, which told of Tom Zarek’s early days, Dynamite will delve into the history of Gaius Baltar in November in the opening arc of Battlestar Galactica: Origins.

“We’ve had writers and creators working on Galactica stories for the last year, originally as a collection of mini-series,” said Joe Rybandt, Dynamite Editorial. “As they came together, we had a thought internally about creating a new series – Origins – and placing them within - all to serve as a companion to our current ongoing, Season Zero by Brandon Jerwa and Jackson Herbert.”

“These stories have been developed over the last couple of years, while the show itself was developing its own backstory, so we combine what we know from the show and work in advance with the producers to fill in areas that they’re not exploring,” Rybandt said, adding who the targets of the series will be from the start. “We could tell stories for years on each and every cast member as there are so many rich characters, but to start, we’re focusing on the heavy hitters: Baltar and Six, Adama and Starbuck. We also have an event from the origins of the Galactica universe we’re focusing on, and that’s the first Cylon War, that may be folded into the Origins series, or may be an origins mini-series, that’s being decided now. As for the first arc, Baltar’s story is the key to the Galactica we know today. It was him that set the stage for the Cylon Apocalypse and he’s a truly fascinating character. Throw in his relationship with the Cylon model Six and you’ve got a no-brainer to start.”

And the writer – Kevin Fahey? A new name to comics fans to be sure, but not to those who watch BSG credits in detail. “Mark [Verheiden] sent Kevin our way and he’s proven to be an invaluable resource as from the time we started talking,” Rybandt said. “He’s a staff writer on the show, and he now has a direct connection to the future of the show and the stories they are planning.

For more comments from the creators of this comic visit here for the full article.

"The WGAW continues to be committed to organizing reality."

The Deadline Hollywood column by Nikki Finke of the L.A. Weekly seems to be the best place for news and information on all the WGA/AMPTP contract negotiations if you want to keep up to date on all of that.

Coming to a movie theater near you....

Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune reports:

If you’re on pins and needles waiting for the Nov. 24 debut of the Sci Fi Channel movie “Battlestar Galactica: Razor,” help is at hand. You may only have to wait until Nov. 12.

There will be free screenings of the film in movie theaters in eight cities on Nov. 12: Los Angeles, New York/New Jersey, San Francisco, Dallas, Boston, Philadelphia, Seattle and, yes, Chicago. The screenings will take place at multiple locations in each city, but all of the screenings will be on the evening of Nov. 12.

...Admission is free, but those who want to see “Razor” at a movie theater must first register at the site battlestarevent.com. The site will not go live until Friday. Repeat: The site will not go live until Friday. Seat registrations will be given away first-come, first-serve.

For more details see the rest of the Ryan article.

Ryan also gives her first impression of Razor and notes that she will soon have a Q&A with Razor's writer Michael Taylor. You can leave questions for him at the end of Ryan's post here.

Bear McCreary Talks to the Galactica Sitrep

Battlestar Galactica composer Bear McCreary's impressive Season 3 soundtrack album for Battlestar Galactica is out today from La La Land Records. (I will be posting an album review soon.) The Galactica Sitrep recently talked to Bear about his work, his creative process, and how much fun he has scoring the best show on television.

Question: First, is there any more new on the BSG concert you have planned for January in Los Angeles?

Bear McCreary: I don’t have any new updates as of yet. I’ll be locking down a date in the next few weeks, so look for an update on my website sometime in November. I can say, though, that this concert is going to be even louder and more epic than last year’s.

What are your main musical influences for BSG in particular, and/or in general for the genre shows you're working on?

My inspiration for each show comes from the show itself. “Battlestar” requires a very organic, earthy texture... To help ground the outlandish settings in a more realistic tone. The upcoming “Terminator” series requires a very cold, synthetic sound... To help bring viewers back into the mythology of the films. And “Eureka” needed an outlandish, over-the-top comedic approach, complete with banjos and accordions... To help push the comedic elements of the story. Even “Eureka”’s darker moments are scored with a sense of whimsy.

What is your creative process like? When you are watching a cut and spotting for music, do you start to hear the music you want to do in your mind right away as you watch, or does it evolve over time as you reflect on it before sitting down to write?

My creative process begins with spotting each show. I never know what direction we’re going to be headed until I see where the episode is going. And the episodes are usually so good, that they provide great inspiration.

What is different or what have you arranged or orchestrated differently, for the cues on the season 3 CD we might notice? (Like in the way that "Black Market" was presented on the CD as compared to its use in the episode.) How is All Along the Watchtower different on the CD than on the show, if it is at all?

As with all my CDs, there are subtle differences between what goes on the air and what goes on the CD. Most of the time, it involves editing together several cues into longer suites, which are more enjoyable to listen to than eight 45-second cues. “Watchtower” is essentially the same version as was on the air, except that the long instrumental sections have been trimmed down. These were places where there was dialog or exposition happening in the story. The album version functions much more like a song, and less like a score-piece.

Was the Baltar basestar piano music fun to put all together into one piece for the CD? Does that piece lend itself to public performance almost like a chamber music concert?

I suppose that piece could be put into a chamber music concert, though it was certainly never intended to be done that way. It was a bit of a task to boil down 45 minutes of piano music into one cohesive 5-minute piece. However, I like the album version much better than any of the individual cues, so it was well worth the effort.

Some of my favorite and most informing blog posts you do are about the themes of Battlestar Galactica. What was your approach to scoring Razor? Was the track "Pegasus" on the season 2 soundtrack at all considered as a kind of "theme" for the Pegasus, or does Razor introduce new themes?

Well, I considered using “Pegasus” and other themes from that episode... Until I saw “Razor.” The film is actually about a new character, Kendra Shaw, who happens to be involved with Cain and the Pegasus. But it’s not actually ABOUT the Pegasus. So, I ended up writing a new theme for Kendra and developed it thoroughly throughout the score.

If you had total freedom to re-score the opening credits them of Battlestar Galactica what direction to you think you'd go? Would you go with a minimal drum score as in the mini-series opening credits, or something bagpipe centered as with the Adama family themes, or would you want to go as far as something like Black Market or even All Along the Watchtower? (I found it interesting that at one point Ron and David wanted to use Simon and Garfunkel's "America" as the opening theme in the mini series which would have been fun.)

Wow, this is one of the weirdest and most challenging questions I’ve ever been asked. I hate to pass the buck, but I honestly have no idea. There are so many different musical styles in the series, it’s hard to say which one represents the series the best. The Celtic-influenced Adama theme wouldn’t really be appropriate, nor would the rock-influenced “Watchtower” or “Black Market.” That’s a tough one... Um... How about “Battlestar Muzaktica.” Picture that one. :)

For season 4 have you composed new character themes and overall are you noticing a different tone in your music for the 4th season than the previous seasons? What new directions, influences, or ethnic instruments from around the world are you thinking of weaving in this season?

Season 4 is certainly evolving, as did every other season. It’s too early to say exactly how. I never notice these things as they unfold. Only when a season is over, and I have the chance to step back and look at what I wrote, will I see that the music was evolving. I can say though that the lessons I learned in Season 3 regarding percussion writing will be applied to Season 4. I’m thrilled with the way the drums turned out on the Season 3 album... But in “Razor” they already sound better.

Being an accordionist have you had the chance to use a accordion on Battlestar Galactica yet?

Yes! Check out “The Dance” on the new Season 3 album.

Last season early on you composed music for the dancing celebrations on New Caprica as seen in the flashbacks in Unfinished Business, and you worked with Eddie on selecting songs for use in Joe's Bar in "Taking A Break From All Your Worries" Has there been talk of songs being used this season?

That piece you mentioned is actually “The Dance.” Perfect transition! Yes... I have collaborated with one of the screenwriters and one of the stars. I composed an original song that was performed by one of the characters in a pivotal scene which they shot two weeks ago.

When the producers have decided to go outside for music, such as Philip Glass's Solo Piano music in "Valley of Darkness" or that bit of music from The Deer Hunter they used at the end of "Scar" do you ever get annoyed with them? (I guess I'm getting at the age old notion of producers falling in love with their temp tracks.)

Well, you certainly guessed correctly about the temp track issue. However, it’s not annoying. It’s the nature of the business. While I personally think that the theme from the The Deer Hunter was a bit too recognizable, the Philip Glass piece played very nicely.

Has it been fun to work on Eureka and how is it different that working on BSG?

Eureka was a blast! It’s very different from BG, in it’s tone. There’s a sense of lightness and whimsy present, even in the darkest cues. And our ensemble was very different. It was scored with rhythm section, dobro, accordion, guitars and goofball synthesizers. My biggest inspiration for the score were Elmer Bernstein’s score to Ghostbusters and Jerry Goldsmith’s scores to Gremlins II and The ‘burbs. So, it was certainly refreshing coming from the dark and grim nature of the Galactica universe.

For the Sarah Connor Chronicles, is the electronic and synthesized score that Brad Fiedel did for the films a kind of touchstone for you on that project?

Yes, I’m drawing my inspiration from Fiedel’s score for The Terminator and Terminator 2.

You've said, that the Terminator films contributed to your decision to become a film composer, so it must be quite a lot of fun to work in the Terminator universe?

Yeah, I’m a very happy composer right now. :)

Do you have any more up coming film scoring projects coming up?

My plate is pretty full with these two series, as well as preparing for two big Halloween concerts at the end of the month and for the Galactica concert in January. So I’m not pursuing anything else right now.

Any new solo work, or compositions, such as your compositions for Jenni Scott?

I loved writing 3 Pieces for Trio for Jenni Scott. Let’s put a shameless plug for the album I did with her in here. Ok, now that’s out of my system. I don’t have anything in the works at the moment, because writing concert music takes so much time and creative energy. It’s hard to find the time while I’m working in television. But, this is a venue I plan on returning to again in the near future.

Thinking back on your college education at USC's Thornton School of Music and working closely with Elmer Bernstein, what were a few of the most important things you learned that have had a practical impact on your work today?

There are almost too many to deal with. Probably the most important thing I learned from Elmer was that there are more important things in life than getting ahead in the entertainment business. He really helped me put life in perspective.

Do you feel that in all your current projects you have all the creative freedom you need?

I am VERY fortunate to have the creative freedom I do. Battlestar, Eureka and Terminator are all produced by very daring and open-minded producers. These are all series that let me expand the music throughout the life of the show.

With all this work you're getting, how do you find time to sleep?

That is a good question. I just looked at the clock and realized that I should probably grab a few hours’ worth.

What would you say to encourage people to follow their passions in life, and focus on the kinds of things that drive their ambition, as you've done in your life in building your music career?

Do what you enjoy doing. I spent every waking moment in high school and college writing or performing or listening to music.

When you just want to relax, and zone out, and take your mind to a different place, what do you put on your iPod? And the opposite to that, is what piece of music do you listen to for a boost of energy, excitement, and for waking up to attack the day?

Wow. A couple tough questions! I tend to listen to old film scores for inspiration, and you can pretty much always find Queen, Oingo Boingo or Guns n’ Roses in my playlists.

Thanks for the great questions! So Say We All...















Thanks Bear, for your great answers, we appreciate it.

The Greatest Badass In The Galaxy’s Spurned Lovah

Livejournalists Bamber News and dryope found tons of photos of Jamie Bamber and Tricia Helfer at the Scream Awards this weekend, as well as this black-carpet (heh heh) interview with Bamber from Dread Central. Go to 2:40 into the video to see his bit (youtube mirror link here).

Meanwhile we the unwashed masses can watch the taped broadcast of the Scream Awards tomorrow night on Spike TV.

Randomly Noted

Jennifer Godwin posted a brief run down of "Ten things to know about Razor" on E Online's Watch with Kristin blog. No major spoilers, just a list of brief bullet points worth checking out.

Co-exec producer of BSG, Mark Verheiden has some of the latest info on the potential WGA strike on his blog.

Keep an eye out for Sam Witwer (Crashdown) in this trailer for "The Mist"

Husker takes on two bandits

Razor Flashback #3

Rumor Control: Season Four and Strike Talk

As I suspected, there is still no firm date for the start of Season 4 next year. SyFyPortal got the skinny from a SciFi Channel rep: it is not, as many fans have been fantasizing, January 2008. “Early 2008” is the best SciFi has to offer right now. Please don’t let it be April!

Meanwhile, Terry Moore (“MrsRon”) shares updated news about the potential WGA strike over on the skiffy forum. Apparently the WGA is asking writer/showrunners to cease ALL duties, not just writing – which means many shows would shut down completely during a strike, even those in production on completed scripts.

UPDATE: See the New York Times and L.A. Times for the latest news on the outcome of the WGA's strike authorization vote.

SyfyPortal also discusses Ron Moore’s denial of a big spoiler (WARNING) and analyzes other recent statements via “MrsRon”:

In the same conversation through his wife, Moore also revealed that he has only just recently completed Episode 13 of the last season, which means he still has six episodes to write before writers walk out on Nov. 1 as part of an imminent writers strike. It's unclear how Moore is covered under WGA rules in case of a strike, and if his position as an executive producer affects his ability to continue writing even during a walkout.

It had been believed that writing was nearly complete so that "Battlestar Galactica's" shooting schedule would remain uninterrupted in case of a prolonged writers strike.

With this news, however, it seems almost impossible -- unless the strike is short-lived -- that the final season would not be split with one half in 2008 and the other half in 2009. This would suggest that SciFi Channel's chatter about splitting the season is actually based on production issues, not entirely over SciFi Channel trying to expand the shelf life of the series.

Nicki Sings Tainted Love

Nicki Cylne (Cally Henderson Tyrol) was recently at the Sydney Supanova 07 convention in Australia. LiveJournal user lapzod has some great Flickr photos of Nicki singing with Nicholas Brendon - "Xander Harris" in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" at Sony's Singstar booth.


See part of Nicki's convention talk here and another song with Nicholas Brendon here.

Ron Moore, David Milch, and Jenji Kohan, together at last…

Well how did I miss this!?! Darn it. The New Yorker Festival recently hosted a panel discussion called “Outside the Box: Television Masterminds” that included Ron Moore, David Milch (DEADWOOD/NYPD BLUE) and Jenji Kohan (WEEDS). EmDashes has more details (and a tad too much Milch-hating for my taste, but whatever), and here's a bit more from The New Yorker’s Vulture columnist.

[VERY OT: For you fans of THE WIRE: looks like showrunner David Simon has got his next HBO project lined up. And: this is awesome.]

Season 3 DVDs in April?

TVShowsOnDVD.com pointed us to this post on the Digital Bits Rumor Mill blog - according to "an insider" from Universal Home Video, the USA release of Season 3 DVDs is "penciled in" for April 2008.

That's just...frakked.

Katee Sackhoff and Joss Whedon, together at last…

OK...*sigh*...it’s only on the cover of the new GEEK MONTHLY magazine. But still!

Thanks to livejournalist nnaylime for sharing the scans of this new feature piece on Katee. [OT: you Joss fans can also go here for a taste.]

Jamie Bamber, Zachary Quinto, Tricia Helfer, and Harrison Ford, together at last…

SPIKE TV is taping the 2007 Scream Awards this Friday night in Los Angeles, at the Greek Theater in Hollywood.

They have announced appearances will include Christian Bale, Jamie Bamber, Kristen Bell, Jessica Biel, Tim Burton, Bruce Campbell, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes, Harrison Ford, Megan Fox, Sid Haig, Paris Hilton, Tricia Helfer, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jesse James, Amy Lee, James Kyson Lee, Tommy Lee, Kristanna Loken, Zachary Quinto, Keith Richards, Freddy Rodriguez, Robert Rodriguez, Seth Rogen, Eli Roth, Quentin Tarantino, Danny Trejo, Milo Ventimiglia, Michael Weston, Ray Winstone and more. Color me impressed.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA is nominated for three Scream Awards this year: Best TV Show, The Ultimate Scream, and Katee Sackhoff for Sci-Fi Siren. Go vote for the Awards here, you have until Friday October 19 at 2pm EST. Get over there!

The Awards will be broadcast on Spike TV, Tuesday October 23 at 10PM ET/PT.

New Merch

Very cool new BSG merchandise this fall includes Diamond Select’s scary Cylon Centurion bust, and BSG dogtags by Quantum Mechanix that you can personalize with up to 20-character names.

A new book on philosophy and BSG is coming out this spring from Open Court Books.

THE LAST SENTINEL, co-starring Katee Sackhoff, is coming out on DVD November 13th.

Starbuck: Kill Me Again

Katee Sackhoff discusses Starbuck’s ultimate fate with the National Ledger:

[Sackhoff] says if she has her way, her wild and fierce character, Starbuck, will go out in a blaze of glory in the final season of "Battlestar."

"I keep telling them, 'Kill me again,'" says Sackhoff, whose character apparently died at the end of last season but will be mysteriously back when the Peabody Award-winning drama returns mid-season for its own swan song.

The actress earned a Saturn Award for her portrayal of the intense, worlds-weary fighter pilot, Kara "Starbuck" Thrace, on "BG." After all these years of playing her, Sackhoff feels adamantly that her character just wouldn't fit with a happy ending. "That's just who she is. She's happy and comfortable with her sadness. She's had such a hard life, whenever she is happy it doesn't feel good to her. And she's so scared she's going to lose it she pushes it away before it can go anywhere. It's sad, but at least she knows who she is." Sackhoff says she's let her wishes be known to "Battlestar Galactica" executive producer David Eick. "In the last episode, I want them to have me sacrifice myself for everyone, because the only way this woman would be happy is if she was gone when there was nothing else to fight for. That's the only thing that would have this woman be at peace."

Artist & Livejournalist Grant Gould (gdg) has just shared his nice collection of Starbuck art. The rest of Grant's art is also posted at this site - including his viper pilot pinup cards.

Fan Made Razor Trailer

By atasr55

Video Game

BSG game on X-Box Live and PC.

New Razor Ad

Frakking unbelievably good

TV Squad has posted a mini-review (spoilery) of RAZOR, which they also received in the mail this week, and pronounce the film "frakking unbelievably good"...there's an excellent fight scene screencap in there too.

Razor Flashback 2

The second Razor flashback.

IGN has a positive review of Razor, fairly light in spoilers, but if you'd rather see Razor completely unspoiled, avoid reading it. The bottom line:

Battlestar Galactica: Razor is essentially here to tide us over until Galactica really returns with new episodes, but in that regard, it doesn't just play as filler and is an especially impressive piece of work.

Jamie Bamber on Our Favorite Battlestar

Bamber News has posted scans of Jamie Bamber's written intro to the recently released Battlestar Galactica: Official Companion Season Three.

Well done, Mr. Bamber. Now if we could get Mr. Callis to jot down his thoughts, I'd be in true NERDVANA. *g*

Razor Review and spoilers

Michelle Alexandria in Eclipse Magazine has an early review of Razor that includes two significant plot spoilers. Read it at your own risk. The bottom line is, she liked it, calling it "amazing" and gave it a "Final Grade: A"

Bionic Blackwater?

Economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman makes this observation about Bionic Woman in his blog:

Bionic Blackwater

After a hard day’s teaching, a guy’s gotta flake out a little. So I watched Bionic Woman last night — and found myself thinking about, yes, privatization.

I’m pretty sure the original, 1970s Bionic Woman worked for a government agency. But this version works for a private contractor - she even gets assigned to protect the daughter of a tycoon who gives the company a lot of business. Yet this private company seems to be empowered to go around killing people. And nobody seems to consider this at all unusual, or legally dubious.

I guess TV writers just pick up on the Zeitgeist.

Supanova this weekend

Nicki Clyne will be at the Supanova Con in Sydney, Australia, this weekend. If anyone goes or talks to someone who attends, let us know? We'd all like to hear about it.

ETA: Warning, that Supanova link has spoilers in it, according to a friend. Also, Kate Vernon will NOT be at Supanova (Nicki is replacing her).


[photo by megan mumford via nickiclyne.com]

Blowing My Mind

Several people have pointed me to this not-so-new but mindblowing essay.

Whoa. Deep.

Also, something Mark Verheiden just wrote made me go watch that S4 promo again. And again. *squee*

[Etch-A-Sketchist art via WatchingBSG]

100,000 vs. 6,000,000

Those of us in fandom who follow TV biz trends and ratings, may find these of interest: Canadian producer Guinevere Orvis writes about how social networking is effecting TV viewing habits and fandoms, and mentions this tidbit (bold case mine):

Broadcasters can address distribution control in a different way: by actively engaging in it themselves and fostering fan involvement. Consider the case of when Ron Moore started writing on the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA blog. The Sci Fi Channel expected 100,000 visitors in the first six months and instead they got 6 million. It’s a great example of how a television producer embraced the social space and it resonated explosively with his fans and their friends. I’m glad that my industry seems to be more forward thinking about the online space than the music industry has been.

Meanwhile, over at The Hollywood Reporter, this quote provides a possible answer to fandom’s constant question: can’t the networks make money feeding us digital content? (bold case mine)

Since few under 30 and virtually no one under 18 is watching scheduled television per se, forward-thinking nets are making their key shows available on as many platforms and under as many different price models as they can dream up.

"Digital is not yet the tail that wags the dog, but it's sure making the dog bark," is how one network exec described it. He also said it will become clearer over the next six to nine months just how big a stream these new ancillaries have become, if for no other reason because the labor talks will demand it.

Every network has a different tilt -- price points, exclusivities, ad avails, revenue splits -- when it comes to putting their shows online. But all of them are starting to see the pennies add up.

Several hundred million dollars in 2008 at each of the networks, this exec hazarded.

Hey Nielsen! Rate This.

The Nielsen Company is the largest and most important provider of TV ratings and entertainment marketing research in the USA. They have opened a web site (still in beta) where you can rate TV shows, films, music, and more.

You know what to do folks! Git yer BSG-lovin’ butts over there, sign in and rate the show. While you’re at it, remember to do Katee and David a solid if you are enjoying BIONIC WOMAN. This is an unheard-of chance to speak directly to the TV ratings makers.


[Many thanks to Skiffy forum member MalteseCrichton for pointing this out.]

First Listen to Season 3 Soundtrack

SoundtrackNet is giving a "first listen" to all the tracks off of Bear McCreary's Season 3 soundtrack album, which hits the shops October 23. These are partial tracks, but they sound great. Can't wait.

Data Points

BSG's co-exec producer/writer Mark Verheiden has an update on his blog about the possible writer's strike, and how it could effect Battlestar Galactica:

In terms of what a November strike would mean for BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, well, I'm not exactly sure, except there would be nobody writing scripts if a strike is called, and there are still several episodes left to be written. I'm hoping that the waters calm and a deal can be made, of course, but if there is a strike, then a lot depends on just how long it goes.

Mark also points to the blog of writer Mark Evanier where you can get more information on the possible strike.

Saturn92103 has a report from a convention event with Katee and Tahmoh, and among other things, Katee said this about Bionic Woman:

Some non spoilerly specifics - Katee asked everyone to give Bionic Woman a chance. She said the show is still finding it's legs and suffers from the input of 9453957 people at NBC. She also admitted that they had to tame Sarah Corvis a bit because she was overshadowing Jaime Summers.

Chew on this.

Wow, a Season 4 promo! *glee*

A new RAZOR promo

Global Flashbacks

For our friends across the globe jonesing to see the first Flashback, these two alternatives to SciFi Pulse may work for you.

ETA: Thanks to The Frakheads, here's a working YouTube post:

RAZOR promo photos

Livejournalist wisteria has gotten her hands on new RAZOR promo photos. Mildly spoilery, and so what! Fun stuff in there - what's the deal with the hypodermic? This one is definitely my favorite. *snicker*

Razor Flashback 1 and Season 3 CD

You can view the first Razor Flashback with young Lt. William Adama here, at Sci-Fi.com.

Also Bear McCreay has announced that he will be doing a pre-release signing of the Season 3 soundtrack CD at Dark Delicacies book store in Burbank, California, Tuesday October 9th. Even if you can't be there in person, you can order the signed CDs from the bookstore.

To Do Tonight:

Frakking Hiatus of Doom Part 1 is officially over. Hallelujah!

More Human Than Human

Promotions for the DVD of BLADE RUNNER: THE FINAL CUT have begun in earnest, leading up to the December release. This new cut just screened at the New York Film Festival last week, and opens in theaters TODAY, for a limited time only in New York and Los Angeles. Here in NYC, if you’ve never seen a film at The Ziegfeld Theater…well, you just haven’t lived, man. Seriously.

Check out recent interviews with director Ridley Scott in The New York Times and Wired Magazine…and Wired’s “nexus” of the many ways this groundbreaking film has influenced culture since it was first released in 1982.

A New Fan

The New York Sun's Bruce Bennett waxes poetic on his discovery of the excellence of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, and why he likes it more than STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION…and Alex Payne’s SIDEWAYS. (?) [Thanks to reader Glenn for the tip.]

Two Katee Scenes

Maureen Ryan has posted video of two new scenes from next week's Bionic Woman episode, "Sisterhood" on her Watcher blog at the Chicago Tribune:

...Given how well recieved Sackhoff was in the role of Sarah (the actress is now a recurring guest star), the producers set about finding a way to have these two become a little friendlier.

And, as others have speculated here and here, now that the show has introduced the idea that a bionic woman can be "hacked" and have her programming changed, what are the odds that Sarah gets "fixed," and maybe even becomes the co-lead alongside Jaime? Or what if Sarah gets rewired to be "good" and Jaime's the one who goes rogue? It's all just speculation, but I don't think any of that lies outside the realm of possibility for the show -- if it sticks around for a while, that is, which isn't a sure thing at this point. Anything to keep Sackhoff around and give her more to do is a good idea...

Read Ryan's full update here.

FBI Profilers beat Emo Docs beat Nano Femmebots

From the Fast Nationals for last night, Zap2It is reporting that BIONIC WOMAN’s ratings went down a bit (much like those of HEROES this week), PRIVATE PRACTICE’s went up…and CRIMINAL MINDS came up from last week’s 3rd place finish to beat them both.

That’s genre TV for ya, folks. It’s our niche, deal with it.

The Upcoming Strike

There's been a lot of speculation that the Writers Guild of America will go on strike in the spring of 2008 along with the Screen Actors Guild. But, Michael Ausiello reports that the WGA sent out Strike Authorization ballots, to begin a strike on November 1st when the current contract ends. Writer and producer J. Michael Straczynski confirms that the authorization vote is in progress and he points to this page with a detailed summary from the WGA that explains why there will be a strike. The short answer is because the studios are run by the criminally corrupt and greedy who not only don't want to pay writers fairly, but in fact want to roll back "every fundamental protection writers have won in the last 50 years."

So, there will be a strike. {ETA: See Producer/Writer Mark Verheiden's comment below. ProgGrrl.}

How will this affect Battlestar Galactica? Unknown. But, the expectation is that all the scripts for the season will be finished by November first. Certainly all writing will stop as of November 1, finished or not.

P.S. Did you catch Bionic Woman's second episode? Mostly a snore, except for Katee's excellent scenes, and a cameo by the Battlestar Pegasus from "Exodus Part 2" crashing into the Basestar. (Playing on a television in the foreground of a scene with Jamie Sommers.)

Surfing with Katee

Posted by George3667

Two Breathe Me Videos

by ny8618


by ChemicalAttraction

Upcoming Interview with Bear McCreary

We'll be having a Q&A interview with Bear McCreary soon, to coincide with the release of the season 3 soundtrack late this month.

If you have any questions for Bear leave them here as comments to this post, or email questions to me at logan[DOT]gawain[at]gmail[dot]com.

Be creative and original with questions he's never been asked before...

Sacramento

encyclops posted on the Live Journal Battlestar Blog, a detailed report of Tahmoh and Katee at the Creation Con in Sacramento on September 30th. (No spoilers of note.)