Battlestar Galactica

‘Battlestar Galactica’ Manga Coming in March

News
November 18, 2008

Come March, just as Battlestar Galactica signs off after four amazing seasons on Sci Fi Channel, Tokyopop will be releasing Battlestar Galactica: Echoes of New Caprica, a Manga anthology volume that will feature stories from the Cylon occupation and human escape from New Caprica by a variety of creators, including Richard Hatch, who has appeared in both television editions.

UDON Studios produced the cover art but full contents have yet to be revealed.

Tokyopop has been reaching out to new readers through licensed Manga starting with Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation. Last month, they announced CSI: interns for release next September. Written by Sekou Hamilton with art by Steven Cummings (Pantheon High), spotlights a group of teenagers taking part in an internship program at the Las Vegas Criminal Investigations Unit under the eyes of Gil Grissom and Catherine Meadows.

Other licenses to date include Labyrinth and Ghostbusters.

ComicMix Radio: Kevin Smith and Deadlines

Podcasts
November 11, 2008

With tongue in cheek, Kevin Smith pokes fun at when we can expect the next two issues of this week’s Batman mini series, plus:

Guillermo DelToro fills us in on the Hellboy DVD extras
Get your checkbook – BSG props for sale
A Beatles Rock Band?

All that and more – but only when you Press the Button!

And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via or RSS!

‘Warehouse 13’ Gains New Writers

News
November 9, 2008

The Sci Fi Channel has announced that Jack Kenny (Book of Daniel) and David Simkins (The Dresden Files) have joined the writing staff of Warehouse 13, a new dramatic series scheduled to run for 11 episodes on the channel in July.

The series begins production this February in Toronto and stars Eddie McClintock (Bones), Joanne Kelly (Jeremiah), Saul Rubinek (Frasier), and CCH Pounder (The Shield). It was conceived by Farscape’s Rockne O’Bannon and the two-hour pilot was written by O’Bannon, Jane Espenson (Battlestar Galactica) and D. Brent Mote.

The network describes the series this way:

After saving the life of the president, two Secret Service agents find themselves abruptly transferred to Warehouse 13, a massive top-secret storage facility in windswept South Dakota that houses every strange artifact, mysterious relic, fantastical object and supernatural souvenir ever collected by the U.S. government. The Warehouse’s caretaker, Artie (Rubinek), charges Pete (McClintock) and Myka (Kelly) with chasing down reports of supernatural and paranormal activity in search of new objects to cache at the Warehouse, as well as helping him to control the Warehouse itself.

Kenny and Simkins join co-executive producer Dana Baratta (Runaway), supervising producer Drew Greenberg (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Wars: The Clone Wars), co-producers Matt Federman and Stephen Scaia (Jericho) and staff writers Bob Goodman (The New Batman/Superman Adventures), Tamara Becher (Crash) and Ben Raab and Deric Hughes (The Operator, Afterworld).

Television Notes

News
October 25, 2008

Here are some television tidbits we think you’ll find interesting:

Fox TV Studios is moving ahead with Persons Unknown, having filled out its cast with Jason Wiles, Daisy Betts, Tina Holmes, Sean O’Bryan as Blackham, Lola Glaudini joining the previously announced Alan Ruck, Chadwick Boseman, Gerald Kyd and Kate Lang Johnson. The pilot will be directed by Michael Rymer (Battlestar Galactica) and the series has a 13 episode order. The series is an unusual co-production with Mexico’s Televisa and Italy’s RAI which explains why the pilot will be shot in Mexico City starting on Monday. The premise may sound familiar as the cast, virtual strangers to one another, wake up in the middle of nowhere and have to figure out how they got there and why.

Speaking of Battlestar, as reported previously, Mary McDonnell makes her Grey’s Anatomy debut on the November 13 episode. She’ll be playing a doctor named Virginia Dixon, a surgeon who will do her best to bring “rules and order to the OR” according to ABC. Expect her to pop up in as many as four episodes throughout the remainder of the season. Other guest casting of note includes Alias veterans Carl Lumbly and Melissa George, the latter scheduled to appear in 11 episodes as a new bisexual intern.

Doctor Who’s Billie Piper and husband Laurence Fox welcomed their first child, Winston James Fox, 6lb 11oz , after 26 hours of labor and an emergency Caesarean procedure.

Buffy veteran and current star of How I met Your Mother, Alyson Hannigan, has reported she is pregnant with her first child. She married Angel co-star Alexis Denisof in 2003.

Review: ‘Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles’ Episode #206

Reviews
October 21, 2008

Note: Click here to relive the past episode!

This Week’s Operation: “The Tower Is Tall But The Fall Is Short”
From Fox: “What would a T-1001 need with a Doctor? Sarah, John and Cameron may soon find out as they track down another name on their list. Elsewhere, a woman from Derek’s past surprises him in the present.”

Damage Analysis
“The Tower Is Tall But The Fall Is Short” is the first episode of [[[Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]] in two weeks, and it’s about as good as the show typically offers. There’s interesting character development, including the introduction of a new player in the war against the machines.

The episode focuses largely on Catherine Weaver, the secret liquid metal Terminator in charge of ZeiraCorp. As per the episode summary, it looks like Weaver is not a T-1000, but a T-1001. Big difference, folks. It’s an established fact that Terminators can impersonate preexisting humans, but this episode insinuates that the Weaver we know has been impersonating the true Weaver for at least a couple of years. Catherine’s awkwardness around her daughter Savannah makes a lot of sense given that, well, she’s a robot and the kid’s a kid. Not exactly a match made in heaven, unless you’re Arnold Schwarzenegger. Shirley Manson might not have the sickest acting chops on the planet, but she pulls the part off serviceably, all the while adding an interesting new villain in the mix. And, once again, we feel awful for poor Savannah, who has no idea that mommy dearest has more in common with a toaster than she does with her.

(more…)

Interview with Robert Tapert

News
October 19, 2008

I recently got a chance to sit down and chat with legendary producer Robert Tapert, who you know best as Sam Raimi’s better half working with him on things like Hercules, Xena, Evil Dead, and even producing some great horror films to hit theaters in the past few years such as The Grudge and 30 Days of Night. I talked to Rob about some of his newer projects, including The Ghost House Underground Collection, a collection of eght horror films hand picked by Tapert and Raimi, which we will be reviewing here in the coming weeks. We also chatted about his newest TV project, Legend of the Seeker, and even a possibility of an Evil Dead remake.

ComicMix: The Ghost House Underground Collection recently was released on DVD and they are slated as being "hand selected by Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi". Is that true?

Robert Tapert: Sam and I picked the bulk of them. we are partnered with two other guys [Barry Brooker and Stan Wertlieb] who come from a long line of building DVD libraries. There was some guidance that was needed so that we didn’t pick all foreign flicks and had a wide enough variety to make the collection worth while. Overall, though, most of our picks made it into the final box set.

CMix: Were any of the eight films in the box set produced by your and Raimi’s production company, Ghost House Pictures?

RT: When we created GHP, [Sam and I] would be approached by dozens of directors and agents and young filmmakers who wanted to be hired. After a while we would follow up with them and hear terrible stories about how they got ripped off and lost tons of money through distribution. Then a little over a year ago, Barry and Stan came to us and told us that there is a business to be built in creating a Ghost House Underground consumer brand for direct-to-DVD movies. [Sam and I] were worried about becoming just another distributor who wouldn’t help these young filmmakers, but Barry and Stan said "as long as you pay the filmmakers what their due — wouldn’t you have been happy being payed what you were due when working on Evil Dead?" We agreed and have been happy with the outcome thus far. These films, and probably for the next incarnation are pre-existing films that are sent to us or we’ve at festivals or thousands of other ways.

(more…)

Sci Fi Channel hits Head for DVD

News
October 11, 2008

A few forthcoming DVD announcements caught our eye and we share them with you as the holiday season rapidly approaches.

Fox Home Entertainment will be releasing a high-definition Blu-ray version of Stargate – The Ark of Truth on January 13, 2009. The standard release came out last March after airing on Sci Fi Channel. The retail price will be $34.99.

The video is a continuation of Stargate SG-1 after the weekly series’ story ended after 10 seasons.

Extras are expected to include the same from the standard edition.

•    Commentary with Robert C. Cooper (Writer/Director/Producer), Christopher Judge (Teal’c) and Peter Woeste (Director of Photography)
•    The Ark of Truth: Stargate at Comic-Con
•    Uncovering The Ark of Truth Featurette
•    Stargate SG-1: The Road Taken – Prelude to Stargate: The Ark of Truth

Meantime, Universal Home Entertainment has announced a January 6, 2009 release for the fourth season of Battlestar Galactica, shortly before the remaining ten episodes begin airing on Sci Fi Channel later that month.

According to Digital Bits, the 10-episode set will be on four discs complete with the broadcast and extended version of Razor and the Razor webisodes.

This is only planned as a standard DVD release. Apparently, Universal is waiting for the entire series to wrap before releasing any of it on Blu-ray.

Special features will include:

•    Ron Moore’s podcast commentaries
•    Deleted scenes
•    Additional commentaries
•    David Eick’s video blogs
•    The Journey
•    Cylons: The Twelve
•    Season 4.5: The Untold Story – Untold

‘True Blood’ ups 4 to Regular Roles

News
September 27, 2008

With True Blood earning good ratings and second season order, the producers are expanding the cast with the addition of four new regulars.

Mehcad Brooks, Todd Lowe, Deborah Ann Woll, and Michelle Forbes have already appeared as occasional participants this season and the quartet has been upgraded to series regulars.

Brooks will debut as Benedict "Eggs" Talley, a mellow, guitar-strumming refugee from a hard life in the season finale later this fall.

Forbes is best known for her work on Star Trek: The Next Generation as Ensign Ro and as Admiral Cain in the revamped Battlestar Galactica.

Hodgman Doctor not Toaster

News
September 26, 2008

John Hodgman may be a PC but he’s no toaster. The pitchman in the Apple ads has told Wired that he will guest star on Battlestar Galactica as a doctor. The Daily Show regular said, “Well, I always had this desire to celebrate and somehow be a part of things that I thought were really great. When I wrote about Battlestar Galactica for The New York Times Magazine in 2005, I was mainly geeking out about the fact that I was standing on the set, you know? So it was very unnerving and surreal to go from being the guy who wrote about Galactica to making a cameo appearance as a doctor in an upcoming episode.”

McDonnell Leaves ‘Galactica’ for ‘Grey’s’

News
September 23, 2008

The Galactica Sitrep reports that Mary McDonnell will leave the president’s office aboard the Galactica to join ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy for a mid-season three-to-five episode arc. Episode ten is already filming so this should air after the holidays when the final Battlestar Galactica episodes also air on Sci Fi Channel.

Tagged: Battlestar Galactica