Sam, Lee & Kara

Battlestar Galactica may be the best SF series, start to finish, ever produced for television. Even so, after sleeping on it, I have to say that the final season opener left me cold. [SPOILERS beyond this point!]

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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

Battlestar Galactica Katee Sackhoff

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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Tin Man Cover Art

Tin Man is the Sci Fi Channel’s re-imagining of a classic work of fiction and its film adaptation. It’s darker, livelier and definitely entertaining, but it’s not your great-great grandparents’ Wizard of Oz.

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Stargate Atlantis Season 5 EclipseMagazine.com Television 

Stargate Atlantis is getting a new commander for its fifth season –which also includes the series’ 100th episode – when it begins production in Vancouver, B.C., Canada later this month. (more…)

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Since I’ve been such a good little whore for all things Galactica this month, the folks at Universal gave me 1 hr, today, to come up with some questions to ask the great Ron Moore, creator/producer of BSG. So I shot these over to one of my contacts and he got Moore to answer, the interview went a little something like this. We talk about the Strike, Razor, Lesbianism and more! Be sure to check out our Razor DVD Giveaway! This is an EM Exclusive.

1) What was the genesis of the idea to do Razor?
It came from Universal Home Entertainment. They had an idea of releasing a video version of Galactica in the fall. It had done well on DVD in the release of its seasons. We weren’t going to broadcast season four until spring of ‘08, so it made sense to have a BSG release in the fall. They would broadcast it once on Sci Fi and release it within a week on DVD. It quickly came about. We ended the third season on a cliffhanger, so that didn’t make sense to tie that in – we had to go back in time and do a story before the cliffhanger. We decided to revisit some aspect of the Pegasus/Admiral Cain storyline and see the original attack on the colonies and from Pegasus’ point of view with the original Cylon attack. The writers kicked around story ideas and went through it at my house. We have 10-15 minutes more on the DVD, including young Adama and the first Cylon War. There is more footage with young Helena Cain as a child during the first Cylon War, plus extended version of other scenes. It doesn’t predate the series. It just happens to take place around the original Cylon war – it skips around chronologically.

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Hey, hey, we have another fantastic contest for you. Because we’ve been such good whores for all things BSG, the folks at Universal Home Video have given us five copies to give away. The DVD hits the street on Dec. 4 and will be a two disk extravaganza. This contest will run for the next two weeks. On Wednesday, Dec 12 shoot me an email with your full mailing address and User ID. That’s it. Post a comment about BSG, or the SCI-Fi Network for a chance to win, it’s that simple.

In the meantime check out some of these exclusive SFX shots! These shots are not your typical approved artwork, this comes directly from the pipeline of production at Universal Studios. Our source had a chance to meet with the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA editors, and they pulled this actual step-by-step visual effects sequence from the show. Warning, these are nice huge pictures. (more…)

Razor EclipseMagazine.com Hollywood Insoder

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 14th] and Stephanie Jacobsen, who plays the titular character, Kendra Shaw.

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Jamie Bamber Interview EclipseMagazine.com Hollywood Insider

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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Battlestar Galactica Razor Review - EclipseMagazine.com Television

When I went to the mailbox earlier this week there was a little surprise in my box namely a Sci-Fi screener for Battlestar Galactica: Razor. I generally do not review Sci-Fi Channel screeners because I get them so early in the process that the shows are usually incomplete, they are good for background information but not really to review. Razor was the first screener I received from them that was actually complete and wow, did I like this movie. I’m ready for the next season of BSG. (more…)