While we await Ron Moore's commentary podcast for Battlestar's season finale, we were treated yesterday to a Q&A podcast between Moore, his wife and several fans at a viewing party in Berkley, CA. Here are some of the highlights:- The idea for the final four Cylons came up in the writing room. They had to narrow down the parameters a bit as to who would make the best choice to be a Cylon. Not Bill Adama and not Roslin (he felt that would have robbed something from the show). And what what did Lee give you were he a Cylon? Tyrol seemed a natural (had an affinity for Cylons, was in love with one, drawn to the temple.) Anders was drawn to Kara (how was it that he survived two resistances?) Tory was a wildcard. The "real" one was Tigh, and it was the scariest one for them to decide to go with. Ron wrestled with it the most -- losing the fact that he's the most human of the characters (other than Baltar, with the human suffering, etc.) but you gain such an amazing revelation.
- They have a backstory planned for Tigh that works and makes sense. These four are "different Cylons than the others, the 'significant seven' as Ron and those in-house call them. The differences will be part of their self discovery.
- The 'All Along the Watchtower' choice a long story. Ron had originally planned to have a "Galactica version" of the song playing sort-of in the background all series long, to in a way tell the audience that there is a tie between this show and our reality. He reminds us of the cycle of time, that it's all happened before, that there are even sprinkles of Shakespeare within the show, so the audience has to ask, "how can this be?"
- He confirms that Nicolas (Tyrol's son) is a hybrid child. His story is different than Hera's but is closely related.
- Someone did ask what they will find when they get to Earth, and he totally avoided that. Though he does know.
- They will reveal the 5th Cylon "probably next season," and Ron does know who it is, but he won't say if it's someone we've seen before or not.
- They published fake pages for the finale at one point to foil people, ones that didn't reveal the song title or the final-four reveal.
- Lots of background and fun stories about the killing off of Starbuck. Too much to mention here, but it's worth the listen.
- He expresses a bit of disappointment in the leaked info from the screener that ruined the surprise for lots of people.
- Moore explains that this story is really about them getting to Earth and that's the end, though he seemed to indicate it wouldn't just end at them landing on Earth.
- They burned up a lot of their budget on the first four episodes of the season with the effects, locations, etc. This made it necessary for "bottle episodes," episodes that just stand alone and are usually shot in one small set with limited characters in order to save money. When you are doing 13 episodes you can make it that perfect little movie-like show, but when you do 20+, some just "slip past the goalie," and there are episodes that are just more cheaply done, and the networks ask for more stand-alone episodes.
- Moore talks about what other shows he watches and admires (and one he finds "so bad it's good.")
- He mentions what fan sites he frequents (sadly TV Squad is not included. Boo.)
- Says one of his favorite episodes is "Unfinished Business" though many fans seemed to hate it.
- They tried to justify the seemingly never-ending cigarette supply on the show and just gave up trying to figure something out.
Be sure to give it a listen for more!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-04-2007 @ 4:15PM
Mel said...
I'm deaf.
What is the answer to this then?
- Moore talks about what other shows he watches and admires (and one he finds "so bad it's good.")
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4-04-2007 @ 4:50PM
Akbar Fazil said...
Mel:
Shows he likes:
Sopranos
Bill Maher
Project Runway
Boondocks
Robot Chicken
Seinfeld
Colbert Report
Sunday morning news shows
Situation Room
doesnt watch: Alot of hour dramas since he analyzes them too much and cant enjoy them.
Show thats so bad its good: Cheaters
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4-04-2007 @ 4:58PM
Jennifer said...
I don't remember the rest of the shows, but the "so bad it's good" was some show called "Cheaters," I think- people caught in the act.
Hey, why not mention the Starbuck stuff? Oh well, I'll give a brief recap of it for those who can't hear it: she knew from the getgo they planned on killing her off and bringing her back, but originally planned on not telling anyone about the return. They eventually realized that the cast had to be told the truth, but the crew wasn't told. Katee's dad couldn't be told because he'd blab it to everyone he knew.
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4-04-2007 @ 5:42PM
Tom said...
Keith--please contact me --I have an exclusive interview with Aida Turturro (Janice Soprano)--that I would like to share with you (and your readers)--I can send you html code and video---please contact me when convenient.
Thanks,
--Tom
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4-04-2007 @ 6:01PM
Akbar Fazil said...
Tom,
I think you would have better chances reaching the writers here using the contact us link at the bottom. Leaving a random comment in an unrelated entry isn't always the best idea.
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4-04-2007 @ 6:04PM
Borat said...
Ok so they decided who should be the final 5 during the writing of the 3rd season? I thought such major plot points were in the creator's mind since the start! It just shows that there may be some things which may not "fit" in properly with Tigh's backstory?
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4-04-2007 @ 6:23PM
Akbar Fazil said...
Well Borat, I feel Tigh will have the easiest explanation for his back story personally. Honestly, whats to not fit? He has always thought he was human until now, nothing he did in his past life can contradict that fact. He fought in a war, he had a drinking problem, he has martial issues, has anger issues. Sounds pretty human to me. The real question will be is what exactly makes him a cylon and how did his life in Colonial society start?
I ask the same question I ask of Lost viewers who yell "they are making it up as the go along!"
What is the difference between having something all planned out from point A to E knowing B,C and D before you start than having point A and E planned and working out B,C and D as you go?
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4-04-2007 @ 8:02PM
Keith McDuffee said...
Something else I should have mentioned...
Moore mentions in the podcast that a third(!) of the viewers for BSG view the show via TiVo or some other DVR, and those numbers are counted by Nielsen in the way of ratings, since advertisers don't care about DVR ratings, as those people skip commercials.
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4-04-2007 @ 9:26PM
Borat said...
"What is the difference between having something all planned out from point A to E knowing B,C and D before you start than having point A and E planned and working out B,C and D as you go?"
Hmmm. The thing is, the five cylons are *crucial* to the storyline...earth is probably directly tied into these five cylons somehow...I don't know how one could start writing BSG without knowing who the cylons are and that earth is going to be found. Figuring out the love storylines, how earth is found, battles, etc. are all the B, C, D storylines you mentioned.
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4-04-2007 @ 11:42PM
Akbar Fazil said...
Well, we dont know yet how crucial the final five are to the finding earth. It is safe to assume that they are vital. However, it does not distract from the story being told imo. RDM has stated that since early season 1 he has known what the full endgame of reaching earth is going to be. Everything else is just gravy to get us there imo.
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4-05-2007 @ 8:38AM
Chris G. said...
Perhaps I'm just dim, but where is the link to the Q&A podcast?
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4-05-2007 @ 12:28PM
Keith McDuffee said...
I'm sure this isn't a new theory, but I'll say it anyway. Since Moore has been going on mentioning "all of this has happened before" as the central theme to this show, I think it stands to reason that we will find out that Tigh, Tyrol, Anders and Tory are merely decedents of a much, much older line of "cylons," ones that actually were able to breed, grow old and die.
Now let's take the whole thought of "this has all happened and will happen again" thing further. The fleet is approaching Earth, and we're all wondering what they will find there. It seems almost more likely that they will find nothing and will basically begin life all over again on the planet. We will learn that human life started on Earth, we created robotic, self-aware beings that took over the planet, only to have a small fleet of humans to escape and find the other colonies to settle on, with some of their robotic creations in-tow. The humans procreated with the synthetic beings, which is where Tigh and the others came from. And now we're seeing that process repeat.
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4-05-2007 @ 3:41PM
Carson said...
Link to the Q&A podcast?
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4-06-2007 @ 8:24AM
Sue Ann said...
Hey Chris G.,
http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/season03/ will take you to the podcasts for season 3.
You know folks, if Tigh is a Cylon, he probably never fought in any wars. If the Cylon human models were created after the original war - and there has been no indication that they existed during that war - then Tigh did not fight in the war. So, he was planted as a vet to meet Adama, perhaps? I love the fact that Adama's #1 and Roslin's #1 are both Cylons - intriguing. I wonder if these Cylons are separated from the other 7 due to disagreement over wiping out humanity. The presence of Hera on the Opera House stage seemed to wake the 4 Cylons - perhaps they exist to see the human race continued through human-cylon hybrids. Can't wait to find out what will happen.
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4-10-2007 @ 1:45PM
Celly said...
Thanks for the link!
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4-17-2007 @ 9:00PM
forddorr said...
the 'significant seven' or 'The Five' (eye of jupiter espisode)
Which is it? Are these newly revealed Cylons 4 of 5 or 4 of 7?
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