Battlestar Galactica - Catch the Frak UP & New Webisodes

The last half of the fourth and final season of Battlestar Galactica begins on SciFi on January 16th. You can Catch the Frak Up! with the below embedded video and also catch new webisodes over the next few weeks bridging the two season halves.




SciFi.com is releasing new Battlestar Galactica: Face of the Enemy webisodes as a lead up to the resumption of the 4th and final season of Battlestar Galactica. SciFi is also releasing enhanced webisodes with commentary by writer Jane Espenson. They are also being made available on Hulu.com and I have linked the first three below:

Webisode 1




Webisode 2



Webisode 3

The Deadline for voting in The Hugo Awards is coming up and I thought I'd take a look at the Dramatic Presentation Categories, starting with the Dramatic Presentation Short Form categorie.

In the Dramatic Presentation Short Form category, we've got the following:

Doctor Who: Human Nature/Family of Blood
Doctor Who: Blink
Torchwood: Captain Jack Harkness
Battlestar Galactica: Razor (televised version, NOT the DVD version)
Star Trek: New Voyages: World Enough and Time

Doctor Who and Steven Moffat stories are definitely on a roll, ahving won the last two years, but htis year's race might be really close. Of the five, I see the weakest one as the Torchwood entry. It got enough support to get onto the ballot, but I don't think that will equate to enough first place votes to give it any chance at the hugo.

Battlestar Galactica has a strong support base, and has gotten a fair number of votes in recent years for its entries (the first episode of the series, "33", did win a Hugo. There was some talk to put the DVD version on the Long Form ballot and it may have gotten some votes, but not enough. It would have been interesting if it had made both ballots for the different versions, though. Mojo was really pushing for the DVD version to be nominated at Gallifrey One, but I don't think there were many Hugo voters there.

STNV: Director/co-writer Marc Scott Zicree has talked this up quite a bit and did a screening of it at last year's WorldCon in Japan. He also went through a bunch of stuff to justify its nomination for the Nebula Script award. There's also still a lot of Star Trek fans out there and it could get a significant number of #1 votes. The sympathy factor may play a role with co-writer Michael Reaves suffering from Parkinson's disease. Reaves made an appearance at LosCon last year when they screened it and it was a bit hard to see him in his weakened condition. He's recently had some surgery, but I haven't seen anything about how he's been doing following it.

Doctor Who: Both entries are strong contenders and have been getting mentioned a lot. There appears to be some sentiment to lean towards Paul Cornell's two-parter since he hasn't got one yet. Of course, these are the same voters that have given the same award to Locus Magazine (for semi-prozine) and Dave Langford (fan writer) for many years running (although Langford may finally get unseated by John Scalzi this year). Moffat will be taking over the show for its fifth season in 2010, so he stands a good chance of continuing to have episodes nominated. Since it is not clear how often Paul will get to write for the series, he might not get another chance for a while.

The Neil Gaiman Factor: Neil Gaiman has come out in support of each of the two Doctor Who nominees and the ST NV nominee over the last several months, and has made additional mentions of all of them in other blog posts. Gaiman did co-write a novel with Reaves and recently had a dinner with Moffat turn into a big rumour about Neil writing a script for Doctor Who.

What will I be voting for? I'm still trying to decide. There are good and valid reasons for nominating four of them and maybe in a week I'll figure it out for myself.

In any case, the voting deadline is coming up so if you are a member (attending or supporting) of Denvention, make sure you use your vote. I could have made a difference in one category (and likely two) if I had voted last year. I think this category may be pretty close, so if you have a favorite, make sure to vote for it.

Battlestar Streaming Again

It appears the one time (noon ET) streaming of the season opener was a success and that SciFi will be continuing to do that on a weekly basis for the time being. So if you have access today at noon, head over to Scifi and watch the episode early.

Also, SciFi has started up a Humans vs. Cylons social network/game. I figured I'd give it a try and see if I can help the Cylons to win the war. Following this link will take you to a signup page where the whizzy heads will gain points by signing up new recruits.

A Package Arrived Today....

A couple of days ago, I filled out a form, promising that I would keep certain information to myself and not divulge anything about the last fifteen minutes of what I was going to see because I filled out the special document. So, was it a secret government document I was being entrusted with? No, it was the first episode of Season 4 of Battlestar Galactica, "He That Believeth In Me", that will debut online at noon ET on Friday on SciFi.com and be aired at 10 pm ET/PT Friday night on the SciFi Channel.

For those of you who need a refresher on where we were at the end of the season, the episode starts out with a 2 and half minute "previously on..." and the episode picks up right where we left off, with the Galactica and the fleet being attacked by a large fleet of cylons and Lee Adama having just met up with a returned (or is it resurrected?) Starbuck, who was last seen going to pieces in an exploding viper a few months back. Needless to say, everyone is a bit skeptical about Starbuck, but being a bit occupied with a possibly devestating cylon attack, they order all pilots out to join in the fight and Starbuck joins into the fray.

The battle and fight with the cylons is very dramatic and when it turns on a single instance (that only the Watchtower group knows the truth about), they are saved for the time being, albeit with some losses. As expected, Starbuck is not trusted, especially when her ship looks like it just came off the assembly line, and she is kept under watch even while she tries to explain what happened to her.

When we last saw Baltar, he was being whisked away by some women and we get to meet his followers, who want to protect him (and make him feel much better). Of course, they don't know that he has the Six in his head for that, but they are right about trying to protect him from those that would want to hurt him.

The four newly revealed cylcons (the Watchtower group) no longer hear the Dylan song but are starting to develop their own sign language, giving each other knowing looks when the subject of hidden cylons come up. They're also having a bit of trouble dealing with it on a personal level, leading to one very surprising daydream early in the episode which would liken Bill Adama to the bowl of petunias in the HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy ("Oh No, Not Again.").

As the first installment of the final season, it keeps things ramped up and ends with one of those "To Be Continued's" that make you want to wish they were showing two episodes this week instead of just the one.

For those of you in the NY or LA area, you may be able to take advantage of a special "Free Pizza for Humans" promotion, so watch for special ads in your area and be prepared to make a call for a late night snack. When you call them up, say ""I want to order a frakkin pizza!" and if you give them the proper answer to a question, you'll get a free one! Don't ask me which pizza places are participating, that is being kept under wraps as far as I can tell. Since it is only in the two areas, I certainly can't take advantage of it...

For lots of links and such about Galactica and the new season (and a link to scans of Tricia Helfer's FHM magazine spread - although I think we've seen her in less on the show...), check out the Galactica Sitrep blog.

Battlestar Galactica: What the Frak?

If you need to catch up on the first three seasons of Battlestar Galactica to getr eady for the fourth, here's your chance in this video similar to the recent one done for Lost...



For more Galactica videos (including snippets from the Battlestar Galactica Revealed special airing on Friday, March 28th, visit the official SciFi Channel YouTube page.

Also, the Battlestar Galactica Season Three DVD set has just been released and can be ordered from Amazon via the Magrathea Marketplace.

Caprica Pilot, BG Webisodes, New Scare Tactics, Alice Miniseries

The Scifi Channel had their upfront presentation last night and announced a bunch of things coming up soon and in development. I'll summarize the highlights with links to the press releases at the NBC Universal Media Village SciFi page.

The Battlestar Galactica prequel, Caprica, has been given the greenlight for a two hour backdoor pilot. Production will beging soon with an airdate likely this fall. The official description for the pilot movie is "Set 50 years before Battlestar Galactica, Caprica follows two rival families - the Greystones and the Adamas - as they grow, compete, and thrive in the vibrant world of the 12 Colonies. Enmeshed in the burgeoning technology of artificial intelligence and robotics that will eventually lead to the creation of the Cylons, the two houses go toe-to-toe. Caprica will deliver all of the passion, intrigue, political backbiting, family conflict and hardcore action that always leaves Galactica fans begging for more. " Full Caprica Press Release

Also on the Galactica front, SciFi will debut the fourth season opener online at Noon ET on Friday, April 4th, the same day it debuts on the channel. They will also be having new webisodes but didn't announce any details. Finally, they will be launching an online social gaming experience pitting humans versus cylons. Other new online features will be a new site, The Game Site, that "will be a hub for reports on all things relevant to the gamer lifestyle." and The SciFi Game Center collecting various casual online games to play. The David Hewlitt produced series Starcrossed will be an online show and will debut in late 2008. Finally, the SciFi Rewind video player will have a large catalog of SciFi channel shows to watch on demand. Full SciFi Digital Press Release

SciFi Reality

Reality shows include more Mind Control With Darren Brown, the return of Scare Tactics (now hosted by Tracy Morgan), more Ghost Hunters International, and a couple of new pilots, Estate of Panic and BrainTrust. In conjunction with the release of the new Indiana Jones movie, SciFi has a new documentary special on The Mystery of the Crystal Skulls that will air on May 18th following a marathon of the first three Indiana Jones movies. Full Reality/Alternate Programming Press Release. Full Ghost Hunters International Press Release

Scripted Development

New scripted developement includes the following:

(Full Scripted Press Release)

Alice - The producers of Tin Man adapt Alice In Wonderland for a mini-series.

The Stranded - A pilot movie based on the Stranded comic by Mike Carey, recently part of the SciFi/Virgin Comics partnership. Carey is writing the script for the pilot. Virgin Comics has part of Issue 1 of the series available to view online.

From a Virgin Comics Press Release: “From day one,” Carey says, “working on The Stranded has felt like being at a nexus point of creativity. Virgin and SCI FI created the perfect platform, and then supported the book and the creative team through all the stages of development. This feels like something we all own, and we all love. I can't wait to take it forward into its next incarnation.”

True Believer - Rosario Dawson produced pilot that is "a quirky, contemporary dramedy about a 20-something comic book nerd who hires a washed-up real-life Superhero to be his crime-fighting sidekick and teach him the ropes. Together, this unlikely duo set out to save the World. "

Deputized - A 2-hour pilot written by Joe Gazzam, Deputized is a dramedy in which an "average Joe" suddenly finds himself possessing special abilities after being accidentally fitted with an alien exoskeleton that cannot be removed. As a result, he is enlisted to serve on the inter-galactic police force that patrols the universe.

Finally, Richard Branson (head of Virgin) has joined SciFi's Visions for Tomrrow Advisory Board. Full Branson/VOT Press Release