A new Battlestar Galactica TV movie is expected to go into production, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at the end of summer… The movie, which is being written by fan favorite, Jane Espenson, will be directed by Admiral Adama, himself, Edward James Olmos.

Currently the cast includes Michael Trucco [Sam Anders], Aaron Douglas [Chief Galen Tyrol] and Dean Stockwell [Brother Cavil]. According to the Sci Fi channel press release, more casting news will follow “in the coming weeks.”

The movie opens before the events of the miniseries, with the story focusing on familiar characters including Cylon Model Number One, known as Cavil (Stockwell), Resistance Leader Sam T. Anders (Trucco) and Chief Galen Tyrol (Douglas).  It seems that the Cylons’ plan failed to account for one thing: survivors.  In the chaotic aftermath of the destruction, two powerful Cylon agents struggle with plots and priorities on the human ships that got away, while trying to deal with the resistance fighters who were left behind.

The as-yet-untitled movie will be released after the conclusion of the regular series, following the Razor model – first being broadcast by the Sci Fi Channel with a DVD release to follow shortly thereafter.

Today I participated in a call with Battlestar Galactica’s iconic Six (Tricia Helfer) to talk about her role in the July 10 premiere of USA’s new hit show Burn Notice. Of course Galactica came up as well and we got some great tidbits from her. The transcript from the call will be coming later this week. To wet your appetite. Here are some little tidbits.

• Tricia will be in 7 Episodes of Burn Notice playing a mysterious spy. She’ll be in the first two episodes of the season, the season finale and a couple in 2009.
• Her character is the public face of the organization that burned Michael.
• She really liked the being on the set and said it was a real welcoming environment.
• She talks a bit about the difference between Vancouver and Miami, Fl. Said she had to get use to it being sunny in Fla.
• She has a list of DVD Sets that she wants to watch since she doesn’t watch much television. She likes quirky shows like Madmen and Weeds. Is currently watching Dexter, 24, and Arrested Development.
• When asked if she uses the word Frak in her every day life she no. Primarily because her character on Galactica rarely says it. But Frak has become part of other cast and crew’s vocabulary.
• She didn’t have to audition for the Burn Notice part. Matt called her up and said he had a part for her.
• She’s shooting a pilot for a new Fox Television show called Inseparable. She’s playing a Psychologist to the lead. It’s about a cop who was shot and paralyzed. He develops a split personality one that’s crippled and the other one who isn’t. She’s not in the Pilot episode that much because they are establishing the main character.
• She was great to talk to, wasn’t at all squeamish about talking about BSG and what her post BSG life will be like.
• She will be at Comic-Con as part of a Cylon/Human couple. Doesn’t know if the Burn Notice folks will be doing anything.
• She hasn’t been following the looming strike.

EM Interview Highlights

By Michelle Alexandria
Originally Posted 7.2.2008

Universal Pictures digital Platforms Group announcing their introduction of a Mobile Battlestar Galactica Game that they developed in partnership with Glu Mobile. The game is set aboard “the legendary BSG-75” where the player is in a “top down shooter position” for an adventure that “stretches from one end of the galaxy to the other.”

How to Play “Battlestar Galactica”
Battlestar Galactica is a top-down shooter game that stations the player aboard the legendary BSG-75.  Players have a chance to pilot three types of Vipers or Raptors while defending the Fleet against relentless Cylon attacks. Players begin the game as “rookies” and progress in rank as they play. With each promotion, players unlock new features within the game.

There are 24 possible missions and additional training missions, as well as bonus stages and intense boss battles.  “Battlestar Galactica” also allows for multiple-stackable ship upgrades and Wingman powerups.

“On television, ‘Battlestar Galactica’ is incredibly visual and full of action and we wanted to deliver that same exhilarating experience to the mobile phone gamer,” says Jeremy Laws, Senior Vice-President, Mobile & Broadband, Universal Pictures Digital Platforms Group.

“Battlestar Galactica” is now available on most major wireless carriers in North America and will be available worldwide shortly.

Escape Velocity opens with Chief Tyrol given a poignant eulogy at Cally’s funeral and ends with Gaius Baltar in a [for him] most unusual position. In between, this is one of Galactica’s most intense episodes – even though there are no great Cylon battles or even much action at all.

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Wow, tonight/today is a big day for me. I get the new Call of Duty 4 maps today and tonight is the premiere of the Final (sort of) season of Battlestar Galactica. Luckily I don’t have to choose between playing COD or watching BSG because the kind folks over at Sci-Fi sent me a copy of the screener earlier this week. They made me sign away my life to get it, but it was sort of worth it.  Here’s the thing, I love all things BSG, but I thought last season sucked. After the amazing first six episodes of the season, it just spun it’s wheels until the big season ending reveal.  Watching tonight’s episode, I had that feeling again. Like come on, let’s get to the point and move the story along.  I have no doubt that once all 10 eps of this shortened season air, it’ll become clear how brilliant this show still is.  BSG opened with a bang, they obviously have a bigger budget for their final season and they spent it beefing up the show’s SFX.  There are lots of big sploshings in all it’s CGI glory. The ships make beautiful orange fireballs.

The writers clearly have a plan and now that they know the show has a definite end, I’m 100 percent sure it’s going to go out with a bang.  The question is, are they going to play coy with us fans and move everything at a snail’s pace until we get to the big moments. Again, I’m not saying tonight’s episode is bad, it’s really good, but it also felt kind of blah. The problem is, BSG is known for it’s drama and characters and that seemed to take a back seat to the new enhanced SFX. The crew’s reaction to Kara’s return from the dead was spot on. I’m kind of sick to death of the whole “Who is a Cylon?” theme as well. As usual the stuff with Gaius was terrible. It looks like this season he’s going to become some Jim Jones like cult leader - which is just stupid. The ending was definitely intriguing, but the way Sci-Fi built hyped it up, I was expecting a really huge reveal. Something that’s going to propel the story forward or fundamentally change everything. Instead what I got was, that’s it? I know I sound negative; tonight’s premiere is a good opening, just not as great as I wanted it to be.

Final Grade B

EM Review
by Michelle Alexandria
Originally posted 4.4.08

On Friday, I had the opportunity to take part in a teleconference with Starbuck, herself - Katee Sackhoff, of the Peabody Award-winning Battlestar Galactica. She talked about her reaction to the mind-bending prophecy that Starbuck was a harbinger of doom; which is tougher - love scenes, or fight scenes; who she thinks Starbuck should wind up with [if indeed she wainds up with anyone...]; how she’d like the series to end for Starbuck, and much more.

Battlestar Galactica returns to the Sci Fi Channel Friday at 10/9C.

Note: There were some reception problems, so there will be an occasional word or phrase missing [replaced with the word unintelligible].

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The bad news is that we have to wait until April for season four of Battlestar Galactica. The good news is that we get a two-hour special, Battlestar Galactica: Razor, this weekend [Saturday, Nov. 24^th, Sci Fi, 8 p.m.]to hold us over until then. Razor looks at the past three seasons of BSG from the point of view of the crew of Battlestar Pegasus – specifically, Kendra Shaw, who goes from raw rookie to hardened razor over that time.

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The story of how Kendra Shaw goes from raw rookie to battle hardened razor is set against the story of how the Battlestar Pegasus survived – from the first Cylon attack to its rendezvousing with the Galactica. In preparation for the airing of the Sci Fi Channel event, Battlestar Galactica: Razor [Saturday, Nov. 24, 9 p.m.], I had the opportunity to take part in conference calls with Jamie [Lee Adama] Bamber [posted on November 14^th] and Stephanie Jacobsen, who plays the titular character, Kendra Shaw.

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While we’ll have to wait until next April to rejoin Battlestar Galactica’s ragtag fleet in Season Four, in a week-and-a-half [Saturday, November 24, 9 p.m.], the Sci Fi Channel will premiere the two-hour BSG special, Razor. Razor fills in the gaps regarding how the Battlestar Pegasus managed to avoid destruction during the Cylon attack that kicked off the series. Recently, I was part of a conference call with Jamie [Lee Adama] Bamber. Bamber is a genial, voluble fellow and extremely eloquent. He addressed Lee Adama’s role in Razor and teased the fourth season, while also making known where he felt some of the program’s few flaws lay. It was the best teleconference in which I’ve participated in several years… So, ladies and gentlemen… Jamie Bamber!

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Here’s a sneak preview of this week’s Battlestar Galactica Razor that will air during Friday night’s Flash Gordon.

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Battlestar Galactica Razor Clip!
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If you like this sneak peak, get a load of this. SCI FI Channel and Microsoft have joined forces for a groundbreaking partnership to bring Battlestar Galactica to the big screen. Special advanced preview screenings of the all-new two-hour extended episode Battlestar Galactica: Razor will be held in select movie theaters on Monday, November 12 – nearly two weeks in advance of the episode’s television debut on SCI FI. Written by Michael Taylor and directed by Emmy nominee Felix Alcala, Razor tells the story of Lee Adama’s (Jamie Bamber) first mission as commander of the Battlestar Pegasus and will reveal the story of how Admiral Cain (Michelle Forbes) served her ship during the original Cylon attack on the Colonies.

Screenings will take place in the New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, Dallas and Seattle metropolitan areas. Admission is FREE, courtesy of Xbox360, Zune and “Mass Effect,” the epic science-fiction action and role-playing-game (RPG) experience created by BioWare, exclusively for Xbox360. These special screenings were arranged through National CineMedia. A complete list of theaters and ticketing information are available at www.BattlestarEvent.com. Seating is extremely limited. Razor will air on SCI FI on November 24 @ 9pm and will be followed by the release of an extended/unrated DVD edition on December 4. I already wrote an early review of Razor which you can see here.