Battlestar Galactica

I have a love/hate relationship with the Syfy channel. I enjoy awful Z-grade movies and Twilight Zone reruns as much as the next guy, but after they had the nerve to produce the incredible Battlestar Galactica, I feel like giving the network a big slap on the face and shout "See what you did there? Why can't you do more things like that?" They also changed their name from Sci-Fi, which accurately describes their content, to Syfy, which sounds like 18th century slang for what happens when a sailor isn't careful while in port. I really have to wonder who is running the show over there.

That guy is apparently Mark Stern, who has greenlit a new pilot called Three Inches for the network. The show "...centers on an underachiever who gains the power to move any object using his mind, but only for a distance of three inches. He recruits a team of fellow heroes, each with their own less-than-spectacular abilities." Sounds like either an intentionally comedic Heroes or a TV version of the flawed-yet-fun-and-forgotten Mystery Men. Says Stern: "It's a very postmodern approach, with a really wonderful, tongue-in-cheek script."

A postmodern, tongue-in-cheek superhero series? Consider me there for the pilot, at the very least. The 90-minute pilot will premiere at a time and date that has not been announced yet. What do those sci-fi dreamers/afflicted colonial merchant marines have up their sleeves? More as it happens.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

I haven't seen Caprica yet, but word-of-mouth has been getting better since the debut of the pilot episode. Battlestar Galactica was a weekly religious event for me, so I'm not sure why I didn't jump into Caprica from the start, but I'm glad to hear it's good -- means I have something to look forward to as the seasons start hitting DVD.

Ratings have been getting better for the show as well, with strong demographics in the golden "young adult male" category that tthe advertisers love so much. The show is doing well enough that SyFy are pursuing Ronald D. Moore to build another spin-off around the Galactica universe, this one set in space like the original show.

Where could Battlestar Galactica go next? Do we want to see a show that centers around another ship in the fleet, taking place during the series' previous seasons? Do we want a spin-off about Cylon culture similar to the original movie The Plan? I vote for The Life and Times of Gaius Baltar, a weekly prequel series that follows James Callis' complicated villain character through his early life of arrogance and deceit (but since that one doesn't take place in space, it won't be happening). What do you want to see in a new Galactica spin-off?

(via The Hollywood Reporter)

I love that the Ronald D. Moore Battlestar Galactica just keeps on trucking, in one form or another. Whether it's merchandise or the TV spin-off Caprica, it's good to know that there are fans out there hungry enough to keep it alive in some form.

Game developer Bigpoint is working on a free, broswer-based massive multi-player online role-playing game (MMORPG) set to debut in Fall 2010. According to The L.A. Times, the new Battlestar Galactica game will feature space combat, along with exploratory missions. Instead of a monthly fee, the game will generate revenue by selling special equipment and game add-ons -- a practice that's been quite successful with games like MapleStory and Flyff.

I think we're long overdue for a Battlestar Galactica game that forces users into sticky moral predicaments, with no clear black or white answer. It's one of the elements of the show that made it such a compelling television show, and it's something that the generic space shooters that have worn the Galactica brand name just can't deliver on. Maybe this game can find a way to work some of that moral ambiguity in?

[Welcome to the Sci-Fi Lunch Break, where we'll be occasionally supplying you with a cool bit of audio/visual goodness to break up the monotony of the work day. You bring the turkey on rye, we'll bring you something out of this world to watch while you eat it.]

I'm sure it made everyone smile when a young James Tiberius Kirk was hauling down a dirt road at the beginning of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek hit the play button on the radio and the Beastie Boys' oh-so-familiar Sabotage came blasting on. But you know what? That cultural collision wasn't just quit geeky enough for someone on the Internet and thus the Battlestar Galactica / Sabotage match-up was born.

This is no ordinary mash-up though. Someone didn't cobble together a bunch of BSG clips and set them to the tune. No, they actually edited the footage to mirror the original Sabotage video as closely as possible. And if you don't remember the original video well enough to have your jaw slightly dropped, give this YouTube Doubler link a go and see if it doesn't do the trick. At the very least, it'll make you want to rewatch BSG something fierce.

The show may be over, but the steady stream of merchandise isn't! Diamond Select Toys has three new Battlestar Galactica two-packs hitting retailers' shelves any day now.

The two-packs are divided into Boomer/Athena, Starbuck/Leoben, and Tigh/Gaeta. Leoben (played by Callum Keith Rennie) and Felix Gaeta (Alessandro Juliani) are appearing as action figures for the very first time, while others are getting new re-sculpts, the most noticeable of which is Saul Tigh (actor Michael Hogan) who sports his eye-patched look after losing his eyeball to Cylons during the occupation on New Caprica.

The figures look good, with slightly better likenesses on the male characters than the females. You can see larger photos of the assortment at Figures.com.

It should come as no surprise that the premiere of Syfy's Battlestar Galactica spinoff Caprica failed to draw a large audience last Friday, earning only 1.6 million viewers. The pilot had been available on DVD and online since last year, so most people interested in the show had probably already seen it.

The good news is that Syfy estimates that the first episode pulled in about two million views online. Not counting DVD sales, that means about 3.6 million people watched Caprica and, hopefully, most of them will return for the series' second episode on Friday night.

Judging by the excellent premiere, Caprica deserves at least one or two full seasons to flesh out its characters and explore the ideas, concepts and plotlines introduced in the first two hours. I'm really looking forward to this Friday's ep, which finds Daniel Graystone coming close to discovering Zoe's presence in the real world. Check out a sneak peek after the jump.

In news, TNT has given the green light to three new shows. In cool, relevant news, one of those shows is Untitled Alien Invasion Series, a concept co-created and produced by Steven Spielberg. I'm going to go ahead and assume the title will change in the near future.

The mammoth TNT press release (which I read at AICN) describes the series thusly: "The series opens shortly after aliens have wiped out most of the human population. The aliens are now rounding up the few people left, but they are met with strong resistance from a group of soldiers and civilians who fight for their survival all while struggling to maintain their humanity." Shades of War of the Worlds, pieces of V, maybe a little Battlestar Galactica...certainly not the most original science fiction concept out there, but it's definitely a premise that could support an ongoing series if the writing is up to snuff.

The pilot was written by Robert Rodat (Saving Private Ryan) and the series stars Noah Wyle as "The Reluctant Leader," Moon Bloodgood as "The Unrealistically Attractive Therapist," Jessy Schram as "The Unrealistically Attractive Motorcycle Scout" and Seychelle Gabriel as "The Orphan, Whom We Can Presume Has a Heart of Gold."

Spielberg's TV ventures have varied in the past, ranging from "Oh My God, What An Achievement!" (Band of Brothers), to "Really? This Is Something You Had Faith In?" (The United States of Tara, On the Lot) to "Okay, Steve, You've Had the Rights For Several Decades Now, Can You Please Get it Made?" (Stephen King's The Talisman).

Snark and kidding aside, I'm completely game for a new alien invasion series after the failure that was the new V. Similarly to Push hitting the small screen, television may be the ideal place to examine the concept of an alien invasion in a way we haven't seen before. Not to mention, I need something new to watch when Lost ends this year.

A look at tonight's sci-fi TV:

Caprica, "Pilot" – Syfy and the producers of Caprica have really gone out of their way to ensure that no one will watch tonight's two-hour premiere. The pilot was released last year on DVD, and an extended cut has been streaming for free online since December. For those of you who haven't seen it, the Caprica pilot is an extraordinary two hours of television full of promise for the season set to follow it. Much love for Battlestar Galactica will certainly enhance your viewing experience of the prequel series, but it's not necessary to enjoy it. (9 p.m. ET on Syfy)

Batman: The Brave and the Bold, "Sidekicks, Assemble!" – Batman baddie Ra's Al Ghul takes a lickin' from sidekick trio Robin, Aqualad and Speedy. (7:30 p.m. ET on Cartoon Network)

Star Wars: The Clone Wars, "Lightsaber Lost" – Apparently, little Ahsoka has trouble holding on to her lightsaber. After its stolen, she turns to an ancient Jedi master to help her get it back.

Medium, "Psych" – Allison has visions about a schizophrenic girl who might be responsible for her parenst' death. (9 p.m. ET on CBS)

Head after the jump to view the Caprica pilot and more clips.

Here's proof that Sideshow Collectibles will occasionally put out something awesome that is also completely affordable. Yeah, maybe I can't afford to buy an actual life-size Cylon but I can spare $25 for a Viper model kit.

The Battlestar Galactica model, from Moebius Models, is currently avilable for pre-order on the Sideshow website. It''s also a great reminder of how much I adored Battlestar Galactica during its run on SciFi (SyFy?), despite a bit of a stumble across the finish line as the series closed. The Viper Mk-II is just plain cool, whether you liked the finale or not (I did, by and large -- I just didn't like the episodes that led to it). I have a tiny die-cast Viper Mk-II sitting in front of me right now, actually, so I can personally vouch for its coolness levels as a spaceship design.

(This review originally appeared onTV Squad. Battlestar Galactica: The Plan airs Sunday at 9 p.m/8 p.m. Central on Syfy.)

Leoben, that tricky toaster, was right: All of this has happened before, and all of it is happening again.

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan retells major events from the first two years of the celebrated sci-fi series through the eyes of the Cylons. It weaves together recycled scenes from the series with new footage to reveal a first-hand account of the Cylon agenda, or "plan."

The result is a film that feels incomplete, episodic and disjointed. It plays less like a movie and largely like a disk full of high quality bonus material. Most of what happens here feels irrelevant to the series -- almost like it was tacked on to the BSG mythos to satisfy completists and hardcore fans. Still, it's worth watching to see Dean Stockwell carry the film with a fearless performance as the scheming and duplicitous Brother Cavil. The veteran character actor takes center stage in The Plan, and your enjoyment of the film will rest largely on how much you like, or dislike, Cavil and his major role in the series.

Stockwell's performance isn't the only thing worth recommending here. The Plan fleshes out a few of the series' more compelling stories, and it makes room for a new one involving Simon (Rock Worthy), aka Cylon Number Four. Worthy is terrific as a Four living with a human family and torn between his human life and his duty as a Cylon. Cylons learning to love other humans and to cherish their own humanity is a repeating theme in The Plan.