Battlestar Galactica

Entertainment Weekly is doing a “SciFi Showdown” this week, pitting iconic science fiction moments against each other in a multiple part poll.

Tricia Helfer’s Number Six appears in the “Pleasure Bot” category, pitted against Jude Law’s pretty performance in AI: Artificial Intelligence. It should be no surprise that Number Six is spanking Jude’s cyborg, she is getting 89 percent of the votes at this point. Go Tricia!

The poll also pits Admiral Adama’s battered Battlestar Galactica against Captain Jean Luc Picard’s Starship Enterprise NCC 1701-D from Star Trek: The Next Generation. As of this post, the Enterprise was winning the “Warship” category 61 percent to 39 percent. BSG is also struggling in the “Snub Fighter” category, which asks voters to choose between the Galactica’s vipers and Star War’s X-Wings. So far Star Wars has almost eighty percent of the votes.

Other questions in the poll ask whether K.I.T.T. is cooler than the modern Batmobile, and whether Excalibur is a cooler sword than the Thundercats‘ Sword of the Omens.

Probably the toughest question of the bunch is the puzzler of which ship makes the better smuggling vessel: the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars or the Serenity of Firefly? While the Falcon had Han and Chewy, some serious box office mojo and long merchandising life have dimmed its reputation as an outsider choice. Serenity’s cult following and early cancellation, on the other hand, have helped it retain that criminal cache that every smuggling vessel needs to gain underworld credibility. It’s a tough call, but generations of lunch boxes should be reward enough for the Falcon … my vote goes to Serenity.

Edward James Olmos hits the theaters this week in the feature film Beverly Hills Chihuahua, which title alone indicates is a far cry from the thoughtful darkness and questioning of Battlestar Galactica. EJO gives voice to a doberman pincher in the Walt Disney feature, which stars Drew Barrymore as the title pooch.

Although the plot is predictably panned, the voice actors are getting early raves from publications like The Hollywood Reporter.

The plot of the movie surrounds a pampered pooch who is inadvertently left behind in Mexico. In her efforts to get home she encounters crazy characters and character-building adventures in classic Walt Disney form. Olmos’ character is reportedly involved in the more dangerous side of being a dog, those canines that are bred for fighting at the pleasure and profit of professional gamblers. Hopefully EJO can help make it clear to the audience who the real villains are in that scenario. I understand there is an amazing German Shepherd voiced by Andy Garcia as well, so there is definitely hope that it is the humans (and not the dogs) who will be shown as the instigators of dog-fighting for profit.

There have already been concerns about the film’s ethnic stereotypes, but people familiar with EJO’s career see that as the least of the concerns … the veteran actor and latino activist is not likely to sign on to a film that is insensitive to the point of being offensive. Of larger concern is the long history of canine theft and tragedy that tends to follow popular dog films aimed at children. To lessen the fears of dog-lovers, Disney partnered with PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) to warn people about purchasing dogs from unproven breeders or adopting pets without a plan for their care.

Katee Sackhoff chose a somber get glamorous black ballgown for Sunday evening’s Emmy red carpet, one that simultaneously showed off her toned curves and sported an elegant train. Katee’s look was backless to emphasize her muscled physique but avoided harshness due to her dangling earrings and messy bun hairstyle. Her impish grin made the look complete … and also reminds this fan of the scene in season one where we see Starbuck, prideful and teasing, in a ballgown for the first time.

Katee had a lot to grin about, as news recently broke that she will play the lead in a new NBC show entitled Lost and Found. She will play an unruly cop who refuses to play by the rules, and the show is executive produced by Law & Order creator Dick Wolf. Katee has been taking several steps to insure she has a bustling post-BSG career, so hopefully this is not the only casting news in her future.

Tricia Helfer looked regal on the red carpet at Sunday’s 60th Annual Emmy Awards ceremony, wearing a sweeping red gown designed to show off her long legs and killer curves. Tricia was listed among the best dressed by the Boston Globe at the Pittsburgh Gazette among other media outlets. The New York Post praised her for taking the risk of wearing red on the red carpet and pulling it off thanks to the interesting cut of her gown.

Tricia was there representing both BSG and Burn Notice. She apparently had an equally busy weekend, spilling to E! Entertainment that Battlestar Galactica does not keep fans in suspense about the final Cylon until the final episode. E! rewarded Tricia by highlighting her on the red carpet during the network’s red carpet show, which assured even more eyes were on Tricia.

Grace Park hit the red carpet last Sunday for the 2008 Emmy Awards, wearing a daring skin-tight pants ensemble that went against the ballgown trends of the evening. Grace was representing both Battlestar Galactica and her new show The Cleaner, and wore her hair in a messy curl updo that worked with her daring outfit.

The fashion press reaction to Grace’s picks were mixed, with her appearing on some folks worst dressed list and others cute lists, but anytime we get to see Grace out and about is fine with me. She reportedly slipped to the press that she and most of the other BSG cast members were staying at the home of Jaime Bamber (Lee “Apollo” Adama) for the weekend, while Jaime and his family were back in the U.K. Sounds like the best after-party in Los Angeles was at the Bamber residence, even if Jaime was not around to make an appearance with his famous towel.

Post Fail LOLCat

Or perhaps the fail is the lack of posts, as in this case. Nothing like announcing new content is incoming on watchingbsg.com only to be able to face the technical inability to follow-up and make new posts! Once I got my system issues worked out with 451 Press, other issues cropped up with my home computers, blah blah blah.

I will save you all the technical details, it’s the least I can do. My apologies to the readers, but things should change in the next few days assuming the technical gods comply … So Say We All.

In the interim I will get up some pictures of this week’s disastrous Emmy celebration, which thankfully featured some gorgeous appearances by the Battlestar Galactica cast. Gorgeous photos of Grace Park, Tricia Helfer, Katee Sackhoff, and others should follow very soon. Hopefully more posts will be up soon as well, technical (Cylon?) gods willing.

My sincere apologies for being MIA this summer, and thanks to everyone who has checked in and asked about my father. He is doing much better, and I am almost healed from the trauma of the finale of Battlestar Galactica.

Yes, I am among those who are discontent with the latest season of BSG and am apprehensive about the last few episodes. I have written before about my concern that Ron Moore was confusing the ability to piss off an audience with good writing, and as I watched that concern become reality it was like the last hope I had for BSG was extinguished as well.

My complaints about the last set of episodes have probably been listed elsewhere (to be honest I am not sure because I stopped reading the blogs and message boards this summer as well), but they center around the erratic pacing and story lines. So the past few months BSG, which was once so shiny and interesting to me, became a thing I could not think about without feeling disappointed and sad. And the blog has of course suffered as a result.

But then I caught an earlier episode on television last week, and it reminded me why I love this show and why I am still interested in following the escapades of the cast and crew after it is over. So I am revving back up the blog a bit, and hope to catch up on the BSG news. With so many interesting projects in the works, there is a lot to write about!

More Soon,
Margie

Check out this charming video from inde darlings and Battlestar Galactica fans the Old 97’s, which features Number Six Tricia Helfer as the unattainable object of geek desire.

“Dance With Me” is a geek fantasy, with the guild-obsessed main character kicking booty throughout a curiously empty yet overstaffed nightclub looking for the real-life version of his favorite cylon.  All while wearing a “Frack Me” tee, of course.  Oh, and the guy has an inhaler.

The best line is at the beginning:  “Dude, I’m telling you, I am the only level 30 alchemist in the entire guild.”  Anybody know what game he is talking about, by the way? 

The song has been described as a “spontaneous tango spread across the floor of a dusty Texas bar” and it is crazy catchy.  Tricia looks amazing, of course, in a yellow chiffon mini dress which swings with her movements.  If you are a Tricia fan, or even if you are not, the clip is worth a gander. 

According to Tricia’s official site, she is friends with the bands lead singer Rhett Miller which is how the combination came about.  And Rhett apparently likes to return the favor and promote BSG as well, even when he isn’t asked about Tricia.  But relax, shippers:  they are both happily married to other people. 

The professional joining has paid off, however, as the video has gotten positive attention and is apparently now in the rotation on VH1.  It was also fairly popular on YouTube for a while, and will hopefully gain more momentum over the summer.

If you have already seen Friday’s amazing Battlestar Galactica episode, The Hub, then you might enjoy this humorous YouTube clip based on the episode. I know I did! If you have not already seen The Hub, however, do NOT click this link as you will definitely be spoiled!

Memorial Day Weekend is the official start of summer, and for the second year in a row we are celebrating with the Battlestar Galactica Swimsuit Edition of WatchingBSG.  Last year’s edition was one of my first posts after I took over this blog, and given the amount of traffic I still get from that picture of Jamie Bamber in the towel it is only appropriate that we do it again in Summer 2008.

There were plenty of images to choose from this year, because scifi stars and skin magazines have enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship for decades.  Long before Jane Fonda put on her famous bikini for Barbarella, the women of pop culture’s more geeky fascinations have been willing to bring in new fans by plying old poses.  And by old, I mean the “oldest profession” … but that does not mean we don’t like to look anyway.

As with last year’s swimsuit editions, volume one and volume two, not all of these outfits are technically swimwear … but given the skin and the sex appeal involved I am pretty sure you won’t mind too terribly much.  If you are offended, or if you love it, please do not hesitate to post below.

This year’s edition features Battlestar Galactica Cylons Grace Park, Lucy Lawless, Michael Trucco, and Tricia Helfer … and fleet pilots/Cylon speculation favorites Katee Sackhoff, Jamie Bamber, and Tahmoh Penikett.  We also have Gaius Baltar follower and religious cult member Keegan Connor Tracy, in all of her bikini glory.

Looking for the perfect Father’s Day gift for your favorite BSG fan?  Check out this mint-condition Battlestar Galactica lunch box, which comes with the thermos and depicts the classic Cylons going to war on the lid.

The set is available from a company in Great Britain that sells childhood collectibles, and the current price is approximately $154.47 USD (not including shipping).  If that is a bit out of your budget, then they also sell the thermos separately for approximately $40.00 USD. 

And if that is still too pricey, you can always check out some of the tees that have been featured as the BSG T-Shirt of the Week.  Paul at ToyBender has several interesting posts on BSG toys as well, on the off chance that your recipient would prefer something he can hold instead of something he can wear. 

This weekend Canada celebrates the Leo Awards, the event that celebrates outstanding work in British Columbia film and television.  While Battlestar Galactica is not nominated (anybody know why?  I assume it does not qualify for some reason), two of its stars are up for two awards in the acting categories.

Callum Keith Rennie (Leoban) is nominated for his performance in Normal and Tricia Helfer (Number Six) is nominated for her dominatrix role in Walk All Over Me.  Both films received several nominations, and are supposed to be worth checking out.

Callum and Tricia’s acting categories will be presented tomorrow night at the Westin Bayshore in Vancouver, British Columbia.  Keep your fingers crossed they win - or at least show up for the party!   Hopefully both stars will attend, in which case I will post pictures as soon as possible.

Edit: Tricia and Kandyse McClure (Dee) will be presenting, so come back here in a few days for an update.

There is so much news going on right now, I don’t know where to start!

First of all, there will (probably) be two more Battlestar Galactica telemovies, but very few details are available yet.  They will be about events that have happened in the past, like Razor, but what events and who they will focus on is largely still a mystery.  I will definitely have more details in the weeks and months to come, but for now let’s just enjoy the news that more BSG is on the horizon.

Next, Ron Moore has a new interview with Wired magazine that contains this disturbing quote:

Wired: Since then, have you written yourselves into any corners?

Moore: Some of that is happening right now as we wrap up the show. It’s like, OK, what did that mean, exactly? How do we get out of this?

Battlestar Galactica composer Bear McCreary has a long post about “Gaeta’s Lament,” the song that is very important to Friday’s episode.  He also confirms that this song, and many of the other ideas that have worked their way into this season, were ideas that were formed during after hours of drinking.

Katee Sackhoff has been cast as a doctor on a four-episode story arc of the bawdy plastic surgery drama Nip/Tuck.  If you have seen that show, you know that Katee’s extensive experience doing sex scenes on Battlestar may come in handy.  Unless, of course, sister guest star Morgan Fairchild beats her to it.

The first United States promo for Life on Mars is out, and you can see a brief glimpse of Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen at the 2:06 minute mark.

Michelle Forbes brought her sexy self to the season finale of Lost, playing a pivotal role in the Oceanic Six story line.

Be sure to look for Callum Keith Rennie (Leoban) in the recently released trailer for X-Files 2: I Want to Believe.

There’s a lot more to cover, but we have time to catch our breaths as there are two weeks before the next episode.  If you are looking for something to help you pass the time, check out this “Faith” recap quiz over at GeekSugar.

Not a Cylon-style dream vision, but a new role that involves viewing things from behind the camera … instead of in front of it, where the two actors usually find themselves when it comes to Battlestar Galactica.

In the next year there will also be ten new BSG mini-webisodes, and they will be directed by Jamie Bamber (Lee “Apollo” Adama) and James Callis (Gaius Baltar).  Each actor will direct five episodes each, and it is not yet clear if they will share the same plot line of if the webisodes will be dealing with separate times and characters.

Jamie talked about the project a wee bit when he was a guest on the ShaunOMac show Friday night, but for the most part details on this are TBD. 

By the way, I was a guest on Shaun’s show last night and we had some interesting discussions with callers about the way the season is developing … and that infamous Last Supper photo.  You can listen to recordings of both shows on BlogTalkRadio.com.

Oh Hulu, why have you forsaken us?  For weeks now you have faithfully shown us the new Battlestar Galactica episodes, and now you have taken away the light.  You leave us in darkness, waiting for the moment when you choose to share BSG with us again.

Is it a Fleet approved torture technique, taking away our BSG just when we have allowed ourselves to become dependent on you?  Or perhaps Leoban schooled you to find our weakness and exploit it?

Either way, you leave us without Guess What’s Coming to Dinner for far too long.  Sure, you posted a new schedule, but can we trust you now?  Has our relationship been ruined?  Or can you regain our trust and our faith?

“Guess What’s Coming for Dinner Part 1″
Airs 5/16/08 - Available on Hulu 5/25/08

“Guess What’s Coming for Dinner Part 2″
Airs 5/30/08 - Available on Hulu 6/7/08

“Sine Qua Non”
Airs 6/6/08 - Available on Hulu 6/14/08

“The Hub”
Airs 6/13/08 - Available on Hulu 6/21/08

Like the revelation of the final Cylon, I guess we will just have to wait to find out.