TVSquad

The wheels keep on turning for the Battlestar Galactica spin-off Caprica. Eric Stoltz is the latest addition to the cast. He'll be playing Daniel Graystone, wealthy computer engineer. Details are few and far between, of course, but so far we know that after a family tragedy he will use his knowledge of technology to forever change the future of Caprica. He's joined by Alessandra Toressani, who will play his daughter, Zoe. And if your mind just flashed to Stoltz in Killing Zoe, we're on the same page.

That news is given a bit more of a boost if you recall that Paula Malcomson has already been cast as Amanda Graystone, a surgeon described as "something of a double agent." Now, add that to the previously revealed bits that tell us the story takes place 50 years before Galactica and focuses on the creation of the Cylons. A picture starts to emerge.

(S04E04) The Ood return.The race was seen two years ago in the two-parter "The Impossible Planet" and "The Satan Pit" as a servant race. In this episode, we learn exactly why they're so good at being servile. Here's a hint: it's not by choice.

Arriving on the planet known as the Ood-Sphere in the year 4126, the Doctor and Donna find the planet's Ood-production factory which prepares them for shipping throughout the three human-occupied galaxies.

(S04E06) More than a few people thought last week's episode was filler. Things picked up again this week, with a lot of reveals along with a few more questions. Throw in another "red shirt" death and some other surprises (that I won't mention here in case there are spoiler-phobes about), and you've got the makings of a good episode.

This week I didn't bother with the ten minute preview online. In an interview with Mark Verheiden regarding last week's episode, he indicated that this episode was originally going to start off at a different point. So, in essence, if you were watching the preview today, you were seeing what was meant to be in last week's episode, originally.

Just yesterday I posted about the casting announcement for Amanda Graystone in the Battlestar Galactica prequel, Caprica. Now comes word that one of the most anticipated characters of the series has been cast.

Esai Morales, who you may know best as Lt. Rodriquez on NYPD Blue, or as Major Beck from ill-fated Jericho, has landed the role of Joseph Adama, father to William, grandfather to Lee. Joseph is described as "a man who has done a few crooked things in his life" and is one to be feared. Remember, he knows a thing or two about the law as well.

In looking back at photos of young Bill Adama from the Razor vignettes, Nico Cortez -- who plays Bill -- could easily pass as Morales's son. I wonder if we'll be treated at all to some scenes from the future of the Cylon war, where Cortez can reprise his role.

(S04E05) It looks like Sci Fi took to heart some of the complaints over last week's online preview. This week they weren't so vague, making it crystal clear how much of a preview we were going to get. If nothing else, I could skip over the first ten minutes of the episode when it aired on TV.

As we heard tonight, the mission of the Demitrius is nearing the end of its 60-day mission, and there's noticeable tension on-board. Two months doesn't really seem all that long, but then I got to thinking -- what is a "day" to the humans as related to Earth time? Are we to assume Caprica has the same cycles as Earth? I know, I'm digressing here, but I do wonder how they differentiate a day amongst all of the different colonies, then simply say "a day" on Galactica. Most likely they have a military-set definition for it.

(S04E04) I went on earlier today about how a lot of us were cut short in the early viewing of tonight's episode, which made me think perhaps something "big" happens later that they didn't want revealed early. With the exception of one "maybe big" moment, I can scratch that theory.

I wouldn't exactly call this a throw-away episode, though with what we saw in the past three episodes it did drag is places.

For the past few weeks, SciFi.com has been giving viewers an early look at that week's episode, online. The first and second episodes were shown only at noon Eastern, while the third (last week) was shown every hour throughout the morning and afternoon. In all cases, you couldn't rewind or pause the feed, and there are short commercials throughout. This was fantastic for fans eager to see the episode early -- until today, that is.

Sci Fi's website promised a noon "preview" of tonight's episode, which to most meant would be the same, full-episode preview we've been seeing this season. Instead, viewers got the shaft after about 20 minutes of the episode airing, including ending the viewing with a commercial.

I don't keep a very close eye on weekly ratings, especially for cable shows, so it was sort of a surprise to me that Ghost Hunters is listed as one of Sci Fi's "most watched shows" -- not because it's not good, but because I don't know anyone who watches it besides myself. In fact, I've been calling it a "guilty pleasure" all this time.

Sci Fi has some good news for us fans of Ghost Hunters, giving the show another 13 episodes for this season. They've also decided to give Destination Truth another seven episodes.

GH has gotten a lot better these past couple of seasons (it's currently in its fourth season), getting rid of all of the hokey drama that I'm near certain drove lead hunter Jason Hawes crazy. Viewers didn't want to see that crap; we wanted more of the supernatural and the science. These guys film in my neck of the woods of New England all the time, and I'm dying to get to ride along some day to report back on what it's like. Some day ...

(S04E03) At the conclusion of last week's episode, I made mention of how quickly things were moving along, specifically with the Cylon Centurions' evolution. I thought for sure things would settle down this week, but they gave me a surprise. Hell, I think they gave everyone a surprise. Sorta.

ComicMix has weekly interviews with Battlestar Galactica co-executive producer Mark Verheiden. In the latest interview, ComicMix asked an interesting question about something I didn't notice from the season premiere (warning: SPOILERS!):

CMix: In Tigh's hallucination, he shoots Adama in the same eye that Tigh lost. Intentional?

MV: Per one of the writers of that episode, Mr. David Weddle:

"I was waiting for someone to pick up on that telling detail. Congratulations. But I am disappointed you have not figured out its significance within the larger mythology of the show. It's all laid out for you. All you have to do is run the episode over again in slow motion, and the deeper truth will be revealed."

Hmmm... Makes me want to run it slow motion!

Now that we got the confirmed greenlight for the Battlestar Galactica spin-off series, Caprica, of course we can expect to see more details of the series trickle in. Just today, for example, sources have provided us with casting information for the series. Cool stuff!

Anyone familiar with the details of the show knows that Caprica will center around two families, the Graystones and the Adamas, and the goings on leading up to the Cylons as we see them on the show now. Now we can get a sense of what the characters on the show will look like and perhaps make our own wishlist of who we'd like to see in the roles. I warn you that there are what to some will consider SPOILERS ahead.

So, you're sitting in front of your flat-screen, watching your Season Three DVD of Battlestar Galactica, in anticipation of the new season starting April 4th, and you happen to glance over at your 2-Slice stainless steel toaster. As you stare at your reflection in the gleaming metal you think 'Hey, if I put some flashing lights on the face of that toaster it would look like a Cylon's head. But, who in hell would be interested in seeing something like that other than myself?'

Funny you should think that, because someone is interested in seeing your creation. In fact, three someones in the form of Scifi.com, dvice.com, and Make magazine are willing to judge your work, along with others, to see who can mod or make a Cylon from scratch. If they like what you made they'll give you a chance to show your creation on the SCI FI Channel.

And you thought putting blinking lights on your toaster was stupid, didn't you?

Since it looks like Bionic Woman is not coming back to NBC, although nothing's been confirmed, the executive producer is moving on. David Eick is writing a pilot based on the Alfonso Cuarón film Children of Men for SciFi.

The film, brilliantly directed by the Mexican filmmaker, was a grim tale about the future -- England in 2027 -- where women have become completely infertile and the human race faces a major crises with less than a century to survive.

I'm curious to know how many people are newcomers to the current Battlestar Galactica series on Sci Fi. Seeing as this is the final season coming up, are there people more inclined to try to catch up (or have been catching up) so they can enjoy the end of the show in real time?

Sci Fi has put together a short special called Battlestar Galactica Revealed, featuring scenes from past seasons and interviews with the cast and creators of the series. These videos, along with the eight minute "recap" video (shown over on the right of the site as of this writing), should help get those not interested in picking up past seasons on DVD caught up with things (though shame on you for your intolerable disinterest!) Check out the videos after the jump.

As Brad mentioned last night, a few new projects were mentioned during the Sci Fi Channel's upfront presentation. The one I'm most excited about (though at the same time frightened by) is the Battlestar Galactica spin-off, Caprica, which will have a two-hour "back-door pilot" shown probably later this year.

Another project mentioned which surprised me was Alice, described as a "modern day telling of Alice in Wonderland," much like Tin Man was for The Wizard of Oz. What surprised me about this is how Mark Stern, executive vice president of original programming for Sci Fi, reacted when I actually asked him about this idea last year during my visit to the sets in Vancouver.