Battlestar Galactica - SDCC07

The Women of Battlestar Galactica and Press Conference

From left to right: David Eick, Tricia Helfer, Mary McDonnell, Lucy Lawless, Katee Sackhoff, and Ronald D. Moore.

On Saturday was a Women of Battlestar Galactica panel and with a name like that there is no question that you would absolutely have to go to it. The Galactica ladies in attendance were Mary McDonnell (President Roslin), Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck), Tricia Helfer (Six), and Lucy Lawless (D'Anna Biers). Also at the panel were executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick, Sci-Fi Channel VP of programming Erik Storey with the panel being moderated by Entertainment Weekly's Mark Bernardin.

The line to get in the panel room was very, very long so we were still walking into the room and finding seats after it started. The panelists' introductions were still being made so we didn't really miss anything. When the introductions wrapped up fans were treated to a video montage of nearly all of the Battlestar Galactica women saying "frak." I can honestly say that it was the best montage ever. The video then went into some quick clips of scenes from the show. Some of the clips I didn't recognize, so they could have been from season four or the Razor movie. The actresses were certainly looking good. Katee Sackhoff took us by surprise because she looked mega-hot, which is completely different than her usual, sometimes manish appearance on the show. Damn and damn.

The major things that were revealed at the panel follow below. However, if you are a Battlestar Galactica fan that doesn't like possible spoilers, then read no further. Although, since this stuff was revealed at a panel with about 3000 fans in the audience, it may be okay to know.

At one point Bernardin asked Helfer, "What was it like sharing Baltar with another man?" Before he could correct himself to say "woman," the crowd went nuts. Bernardin knew he couldn't recover from it and took it like a man. Lucy Lawless then came onto the stage to join the rest of the cast for the remainder of the panel. With Lawless' appearance she and Moore confirmed that Cylon D'Anna Biers will be getting "de-boxed" or "un-boxed" in season four. Biers is coming back and bringing chaos with her.

Moore told the audience that characters' destinies will not be what you expect. Many will end up in a completely different place than what you think and the most surprising will be that of Baltar and Six. Lee Adama will be going through a very interesting journey. Apparently nearly getting killed multiple times isn't interesting enough. Starbuck and Admiral Adama will be having a lot of scenes together.

Near the end of the panel an extended trailer for the Razor movie was shown. Razor will not be resolving anything from the end of season three, but will be jumping through the BSG timeline. It will show things from before the destruction of the colonies, the Battlestar Pegasus at the beginning of the series, and other missions that happened to the crews of both Battlestars during the seasons. Some of the scenes are ones that we only heard about in previous episodes. Now we all get to see them. It's interesting to note that Sci-Fi will be airing little clips from Razor before it airs. These clips will not appear in the on-air version of the movie, but will be placed back in for the DVD release. Razor will air on Sci-Fi channel in September, with the extended DVD release soon after.

Immediately after the panel was a small press conference. Since we were at the panel we didn't think we would get in the small room it was being held in, but surprisingly the room was barely half-full when it started. We were able to take some shots of some of our favorite stars, obtained a little more information on what may be happening in season four, and found out a few interesting little tidbits.

Because I like you people, here is an all-girl shot.

With the fourth season also being the final season, things from the set are slowly disappearing. Sackhoff has already taken all of Starbuck's metal dog-tags and now has her eye on the small goddess Aurora statue. Once the series finale is finished the sets get taken down so future DVD movies may not be a possibility.

There will not be any "mostly stand-alone" episodes this season. Every episode is an important part of and continuation of the final act of the show.

Hera will have a special fate in the series. However, there are no plans for a special fate for the other Cylon/human baby hybrid, yet at least. With that being said about the other baby, it makes you wonder if all the Cylons' identities will actually be revealed to the rest of the Galactica crew.

The beginning of season four in January '08 still seems like a long ways off, but at least we have Razor and the season three DVDs to look forward to in the next few months.

- Shawn - 08/01/07