edwardjamesolmos

I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry. A panel discussion is being held on March 17th at the United Nations in New York about Battlestar Galactica and the themes the show covers, including "human rights, children and armed conflict, terrorism, human rights and reconciliation and dialogue among civilizations and faith". Among the panelists are Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Ron Moore and Dick Eick.

This concept does seem a little trivial given the magnitude of the problems in the world today. However, government representatives in the U.N. are still people and if either they're BSG fans or feel a discussion of the issues would be relevant to their work today, more power to them. Mind you, they could have just attended Comic Con and gone to similar panels. I'm still not sure how to react to this.

Wait a minute. The moderator of the panel is Whoopi Goldberg. I've decided to laugh.

(S04E19) You can tell that this show is approaching the end. Tonight's episode had the credits and chanting immediately after the "previously" montage and didn't even show scenes from tonight's episode during the final part of the opening. Plus, it was written by the same guy who wrote the original mini-series way back when. That's a telling sign.

Caprica City looks like a high-tech New York City. That was probably intentional.

(S04E18) I know it's a little late in the game to make this sort of observation, what with the show having only two episodes left, but if I were to compare characters in this show to characters in Gilligan's Island, I would say that Six is Ginger, Eight is Mary Ann and President Roslin is Mrs. Howell. Adama would naturally be the Skipper and Tigh would be Gilligan. I'm still working on Mr. Howell and the Professor.

In the beginning of the episode, either in someone's fantasy or projection or reality, Hera is moving the Galactica in a position next to the enemy Cylon fleet. Foreshadowing?

(S04E17) Before I go all spoilery on tonight's episode, what was the tattoo on Starbuck's back? It looked like a temple of some sort. Was it the Temple of Five?

Tonight's episode had its share of "what the frak" moments. It had some revelations, but it created more mystery than it solved. I was a little annoyed at the tease of learning the secret behind Starbuck's resurrection that ultimately didn't happen.

(S04E16) We've reached "The Final Five" on a few levels. Ellen Tigh is back, and it's good to know that despite being part of a species with a potentially infinite lifespan, she still gets jealous when her husband has a baby with someone else.

The minute Ellen came back, I knew the baby would miscarry. I believe it was Tigh, as one of the Cylon progenitors, that was keeping the unborn Liam alive (if the Cylons do in fact need love to survive). Once Ellen came back, it caused conflicting feelings and the baby was done for. I wonder if Caprica Six will try to exact revenge as a result and we'll see a Cylon catfight.

(S04E05) Like so many TV shows before it (such as 24), Battlestar Galactica is built on those "what the frak" moments in which the revelations continue to astound us. Between those WTF moments, there has to be some sort of explanation as to why the moment happened and the events leading to those moments. They're not as much fun, and rabid fanboys have a tendency to nitpick the frak out of them, but they're necessary to the narrative. Tonight's episode was heavy on exposition and light on WTF.

Obviously, we learned that Ellen Tigh resurrected (no surprise there) and she was apparently in charge of the project from 2000 years ago which created the human-style Cylon race. I didn't even catch all of the explanation. The following is what I did understand:

(S04E14) It is impossible to have a bad episode of Battlestar Galactica. Even a bad episode is better than most of the other crap on TV. Fortunately, this was the opposite of a bad episode.

Obviously, there was no question about how this entire coup was going to end. Our heroes have way too much spunk to let little worms like Gaeta and Zarek control their ship for long. This is actually a rare case on the show of a neat wrap-up of a plot-line (and since we only have six episodes left, we'll probably see more wrap-ups, some of which might be neat).

(S04E13) Galactica, Frak yeah!
Coming again to save the mother-frakkin' day, yeah!
Galactica, Frak yeah!
Frakkin' is 'bout all we say, yeah!*

*With apologies to Trey Parker and Matt Stone

This was an excellent episode. While the whole "coup d'état" storyline has been done before (if memory serves, the last one was lead by Bill Adama himself), this was done in with more grace and subtlety. The experience was very much like an Alfred Hitchcock movie. The audience knew exactly what was happening while the characters didn't. I was practically yelling at the screen "Gaeta is committing treason! Why haven't you figured it out?"

Good news everyone. It seems that this whole movie thing is working out quite nicely for the folks over at Sci Fi. Executive VP of original programming for Sci Fi, Mark Stern, now also counts himself as co-head of the newly formed Universal Cable Productions. Why should we care? Because at the end of the day that means a little more Battlestar Galactica.

The success of Razor is a big part of this. Stern describes it as doing "phenomenally well in the international and DVD market." It's led to a whole new way of financing and creating entertainment for the network. The new Battlestar project will air after the series completes its run next year. Edward James Olmos is on board to direct, and he'll have a script by Jane Espenson to work with. Both nice choices. Casting is still up in the air at the moment. So far, Michael Trucco (Anders), Aaron Douglas (Tyrol), and Dean Stockwell (Cavil) are confirmed.

The story is prequel-esque. It goes back to just after the Cylon destruction of human home worlds. We'll follow the Cylons as they deal with human survivors, aboard ships as well as on planets. There is also a hint that the movie will focus specifically on two of the Cylon agents.

"There's not going to be a big black screen at the end, with everyone sitting there going, 'What?'"

Frak! The 'Battlestar Galactica' summer finale airs Fri., June 13, 10 PM, on Sci Fi and the series will end its four-season run in a few months, but Edward James Olmos promises it won't go out quietly.

As star and sometime director of the show, Olmos says leaving his character and fellow cast mates, the Cylons and the epic search for Earth is the hardest thing he's ever done.

AOL TV got him to dish about the finale, but rest assured: Adama would never lead you to spoilers.

Last night, SciFi aired the first promo for the upcoming Battlestar Galactica movie and today it's up on YouTube. We all know Battlestar Galactica: Razor is about the Pegasus and what happened to it between the time the Cylons started a war and it met up with the Galactica.

Our favorite characters (Starbuck, Admiral Adama, Apollo) are also in the movie so it appears to start as the war with the Cylons begins and then the Pegasus somehow gets separated from the rest of the group. Of course, the promo doesn't reveal much, but it was enough to wet whet my appetite for some new BSG. I'm particularly anxious to see another side of Admiral Cain, who was pretty rotten once she appeared on BSG. Also... notice all the female soldiers on the Pegasus.

Battlestar Galactica: Razor airs on Sci Fi in November.

Video is after the jump:

This afternoon I listened in on a conference call with Battlestar Galactica Executive Producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick, announcing news regarding the series' fourth season. Just as mentioned earlier in the month -- and as many had already figured out -- the forthcoming season of the show will be the series' last.

Highlights from the call after the jump.

I thoroughly enjoy Battlestar Galactica. I feel that the special effects (when shown) are fantastic, the scripts are well-written, and the characters are all multi-dimensional. I have especially been enjoying this season, and I have yet to miss an episode. That being said, I do have one tiny issue with the show . . .

I can't hear a frakking word they're saying!

I have never seen a show with so many low talkers. They speak quietly everywhere: crew quarters, active hanger bays, planet-side. They even speak softly in crowded, noisy bars (as seen in this week's episode). I am constantly raising and lowering the volume on my TV just to catch a fragment of what they're saying. It's almost like I'm watching a British sitcom! Now I know why this show hasn't been nominated for any type of award. It's because the judges get so frustrated adjusting the volume up and down that they just give up and turn off the TV.

As Battlestar Galactica wraps up its second season tomorrow night with a 90-minute finale, its cast is just about to start shooting season three. Just to keep all of us fans sane, Sci Fi has already announced that Galactica will return to its Friday night timeslot in October, although a specific date has not been revealed. The network has ordered 20 episodes. We already know that Lucy Lawless will return as cylon for a 10-episode arc next season. It looks like we'll get to see most of the major cast members again next season, too. Filming of season three of BSG starts in April in Vancouver, B.C.

The Sci-Fi Channel has announced that new episodes of it's Friday night lineup of Stargate SG: 1, Stargate: Atlantis, and Battelstar Galactica will surface this summer, on July 15. Stargate SG:1 has some new cast members, including Beau Bridges, Lou Goseett, Jr., and Farscape star Claudia Black. Bridges will also be seen on Stargate Atlantis, along with Agent Skinner himself, Mitch Pileggi, in a recurring role. All of this makes no sense to me since the last episode I saw of Stargate was about 9 years ago when it premiered.