Friday, July 24, 2009

Comic-Con: Battlestar Galactica ‘The Plan’ and Caprica Q&A

Caprica

This morning Battlestar Galactica producers David Eick and Ronald D. Moore gathered with several cast members and writer Jane Espenson to discuss the upcoming BSG film, The Plan, and the new TV series Caprica. Edward James Olmos, who directed The Plan, was on hand, and he was also joined by Esai Morales and Grace Park.

Unfortunately, we didn't see much new footage (aside from a short teaser for The Plan). Still, it was nice to see just how much everyone involved continued to love working in the BSG universe. Since the Q&A was fairly disjointed, I'm just going to run down some of the juicier news bits:

  • Ronald D. Moore stressed that the relationship between Caprica and Battlestar will be fairly tangential. While Caprica will certainly refer to things introduced in BSG, they're aiming to give the show room to create its own world as well.
  • Esai Morales hadn't watched BSG before he got the role (and apparently he's still working through it), but he's well aware of the dynasty he's getting himself into. "It's a religion" he said.
  • Moore refers to the setting of Caprica as "Rome before the fall."
  • Olmos made a very interesting connection to his character Gaff from Blade Runner. He said that if you start watch Blade Runner directly after the final episode of BSG, you'll see just how easily Gaff fits into the Adama clan. After all, he was a cop hell-bent on taking out skin jobs.
  • Olmos says The Plan is like The Bible for BSG. It will breathe new life into the series, and will make you want to rewatch the whole thing.
  • When asked how tough it was to direct The Plan while maintaining 5 years of continuity, Olmos replied: "It felt like I was allowed to experience something most artists don't have an opportunity to do, to have an entire 5 years of human emotion put on film that I can use to tell this story."
  • On how the Emmy's snubbed the BSG cast, more had this to say: "Its a frakking crime that the cast was never recognized for the performances they did week in week out. It's criminal!"
  • Espenson mentioned that she brought a lot of dark humor to The Plan, and confirmed we'll be seeing more of it in Caprica. She loves the way it can make things even more chilling. She's particularly proud of Cavil's "Let's get this genocide started!"
  • Morales mentioned that we still have a long way to go in minority representation in the entertainment industry, but he's grateful to follow in the footsteps of Olmos.
  • In his closing remarks, Olmos proved how commited he was to the franchise: "I'm in this for the rest of my life".

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