NYCC: '08: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA PANEL

[MichaelDoran]

Report by Anthony Duignan-Cabrera

As Battlestar Galacticaenters its fourth and final season, newly hatched Cylons Colonel Saul Tigh, Ensign Samuel Anders, and presidential aide Tory Foster took the stage Saturday at New York Comic Con to argue the case that, just because they’re toasters, doesn’t mean they have to be frak-ed up.

Joined by Mark Stern, the Sci-Fi channel’s vice president of original programming, the fifth columnists – Rehka Sharma (Foster), Michael Trucco (Ensign Anders) and Michael Hogan (feisty Galactica XO Col. Tigh)—received the kind of welcome normally reserved for the A-List of the most popular TV shows. But that’s part of BSG’s success, its ability to take tangential characters and place them front-and-center if it best suits the story’s needs and keeps the fans coming back for more.

Hogan, who admitted this was his first convention, readily addressed what it was like to discover his character was a Cylon.

“It first started as a rumor,” he recalled. “I got on set and people would be teasing me. I didn’t believe it. For me it was disbelief: that’s kitschy. That’s cheap.”

An on-set poll taken by cast and crew revealed that Hogan’s character was second to last as to who could be called a Cylon.

“I didn’t believe it,” Hogan said. “I didn’t like it. I actually said numerous times once we were shooting, ‘boy, am I ever glad that I am not playing a Cylon.’”

Despite his reticence, Hogan said he just put his faith in the show’s creators: “The ‘powers that be’ have never steered me wrong. I look what they have put (my character) Tigh through and I’ve got to stick with them.”

Sharma was gleeful about her transformation: “Eddie (Olmos, Admiral Adama on the show) kept giving me the nudge: ‘just you wait. Have you read ahead? Just you wait!’ I started squealing in my room.”

Still, she knows being a Cylon has its downside: “Things can change, I could be knocked off, but I really wanted to be a Cylon.”

“My first reaction,” said Michael Trucco, “was ‘I guess I’m coming back’, which is a good thing. Because I was only supposed to be around for two episodes but I have been around for 20 more.”

On a more serious note, Trucco said he thought the producers were “bullsh*tting” him: “I thought there is no way in hell they would keep me as a Cylon. I called Ron (Moore ) and David (Eick) (the show’s producers) and asked how do we reconcile the last few years. It actually worked our pretty good. I’m happy.”

Hogan described the experience of learning his character was a Cylon as difficult. It wasn’t as simple as just waking up and realizing that you have some kind of defect—whether moral, ethical or physical. It wasn’t as “if all of a sudden you were walking down the street and you had the impulse to follow a child,” said Hogan. “A switch doesn’t go off. Tigh has been through so much in his life. He often loses balance. It’s trying to deal with this (new knowledge) and if it’s true I am also dangerous. I have had more battle combat than anyone. I am probably the oldest man alive (in the BSG universe. If I am a Cylon, I am a dangerous person and I have to watch out.”

Hogan says Col. Tigh is still haunted by his late wife Ellen, the woman he killed on New Caprica in Season Three for collaborating with the Cylons.

When asked why Anders still loved Starbuck, Trucco had a very rational response: “I probably hooked up with one of the most powerful women left,” he said.” To continue living is to be in the company of Starbuck and Galactica. There is love and loyalty, but there is survival instinct too. Maybe we’re kindred spirits, maybe we’re the same?”

When a fan asked about the series’ political overtones, Hogan couldn’t contain his glee and support: “I think it is a brave series. It makes me very proud to be involved. It isn’t just escapism.”

Mark Stern agreed: “I have to say that it always amazes me how they continue to refresh the show; the way they keep it topical without being preachy. “

“It’s a political allegory,” said Trucco. “It’s very existential. We (Trucco and his co-stars Sharma and Hogan) have a whole history of who we are. We had what we thought was a complete human life. And so I love the existential aspects of the show and the religious and the political and it hits it bang on the nose.”

[Clem]

I never really had a problem with the Cylons to begin with. They were living beings with barely any difference to us. But then Tori flushed Callie out an airlock and now i'm pissed. Skinjobs gotta pay. Tori, Tigh, Tyrol, Anders, the whole fracking lot.

[FCastiglione]

Originally Posted by Clem

I never really had a problem with the Cylons to begin with. They were living beings with barely any difference to us. But then Tori flushed Callie out an airlock and now i'm pissed. Skinjobs gotta pay. Tori, Tigh, Tyrol, Anders, the whole fracking lot.

lol. i officially hate tori. with that said, the fact that they've done such a good job of not only making me love certain characters, but hate (HATE!!! ) certain characters as well just shows how well done this show is.

EDIT: i do however like how not only does Tori on the show embrace her cylonhood, but the actress portaying Tori wanted to be one to begin with.

[AJ Ryan]

I thought Season 3 was pretty weak overall, and the "twist" at the end seemed highly forced. The only character who this made any level of sense for was Tyrol.

The rest just seemed like cheap shock value. And while I haven't seen this weeks episode yet, I have been disappointed at how almost nothing has happened in the early episodes of Season 4.

The season premiere felt like it could've been an extra 15 minutes added to last year's finale, instead of stretching it over an entire 40 minutes where little to nothing happens.

Still, the end of last week's episode gave me hope, because the Starbuck/Helo missions seems to actually be moving the story forward.

[Punchy]

Originally Posted by Clem

I never really had a problem with the Cylons to begin with. They were living beings with barely any difference to us. But then Tori flushed Callie out an airlock and now i'm pissed. Skinjobs gotta pay. Tori, Tigh, Tyrol, Anders, the whole fracking lot.

So killing practically the entire human race is fine, but flushing one measly, whiney drugged up woman is bad?

Come on!

[Clem]

Originally Posted by Punchy

So killing practically the entire human race is fine, but flushing one measly, whiney drugged up woman is bad?

Come on!

Yes, Callie trumps the human race. So there.

[Punchy]

Originally Posted by Clem

Yes, Callie trumps the human race. So there.

In the voice of Ron Weasley 'You need to sort out your priorities!'

[Angael]

I felt some sadness when she got flushed, but throughout the story she always seemed on edge! Freaking out about this or that all the time.. Paranoid comes to mind.. I dont know if it was the intent of the writers to kill her, but with the way her character was played you knew something was going to happen.. She shot Boomer for cryin out loud, and didnt even get spanked for it.

[ausuran]

Originally Posted by Angael

I felt some sadness when she got flushed, but throughout the story she always seemed on edge! Freaking out about this or that all the time.. Paranoid comes to mind.. I dont know if it was the intent of the writers to kill her, but with the way her character was played you knew something was going to happen.. She shot Boomer for cryin out loud, and didnt even get spanked for it.

I agree. I made a list at the beginning of this season as to who I wouldn't mind seeing killed. And it was Callie, Dee, and Rosalin. So, one down. I always hated Callie. She was winy and shot Boomer.

[philip_ayres]

Nooooo ! Not seen 403 yet. I hate you all. But not as much as I hate Tori.

[Supes]

Originally Posted by philip_ayres

Nooooo ! Not seen 403 yet. I hate you all. But not as much as I hate Tori.

Yeah really, same here. Anyone heard of spoilers tags? But Tori does royally suck.

[Stunn]

It's a rule of thumb not to be reading discussions about episodes on television shows that have recently aired when you haven't seen it yet.

[philip_ayres]

Originally Posted by Stunn

It's a rule of thumb not to be reading discussions about episodes on television shows that have recently aired when you haven't seen it yet.

I thought the discussion was about the panel and not 403 ? Panel says nothing that spoils anything post last ep of S3.

[aceatkins]

I LOVE Tori, and I love what they've done with her since the Cylon reveal. She's arguably the member of the Final Four they've done the most with (her storyline with Baltar is fascinating to me). As for her actions in this week's episode, consider that Nicky is essentially just as important to the Cylons as Hera -- he's a human/Cylon hybrid, and one only the secret four even know about. It makes total sense to me that she would do whatever it took to protect that kid, and he absolutely needed to be taken out of Callie's care, at least temporarily. So I saw that as her attempting to save the future of her species. It's no different from the humans flushing any of the Cylons they've found on their ships out the airlocks.

That is, assuming Callie isn't the final Cylon. And I'm not convinced that she isn't. I HOPE it isn't her (I'm personally still pulling for Roslin, even though it would be kind of cheap), but it would be interesting. And it would also restore Hera's place of importance, since Nicky would be a Cylon/Cylon offspring (although, actually, that's kind of monumental in and of itself, I guess).

[Stunn]

Originally Posted by philip_ayres

I thought the discussion was about the panel and not 403 ? Panel says nothing that spoils anything post last ep of S3.

It doesn't matter. Stuff like this always happens with TV shows. If you're a few days behind on a TV show and you don't want to be spoiled, you have to avoid all fan discussions unless you're in a place where you're 100% positive that you won't be spoiled in. It's not usually fair, but that's how things tend to work.

[AJ Ryan]

Originally Posted by aceatkins

I LOVE Tori, and I love what they've done with her since the Cylon reveal. She's arguably the member of the Final Four they've done the most with (her storyline with Baltar is fascinating to me).

*I apologize ahead of time for my bitterness*

Arguably?
Considering that is damn near the only thing that they have done with her ever, and they haven't really done anything with any of the other 4 at all, that really doesn't seem arguable.

All she had done previously was get bitched at by the President once and have sex with Anders (once?).

All Anders seems to be doing is continuing his depressing relationship with Starbuck.
Tigh hasn't done anything and I don't even understand what his role on the ship is any more.
Tyrol, similarly has done a whole lot of nothing since the big reveal as well.


It seems the 4 spent a lot of time secretly (and suspiciously) meeting each other and talking about how they can't get caught, because surely they'll all be killed since Adama would NEVER have Cylon crew member....er....uhm, wait what'd I just say?

What I wouldn't give for an episode where something actually happens aside from the last 10 minutes so they can set up another cliffhanger.

[Mike Pawuk]

Originally Posted by Clem

I never really had a problem with the Cylons to begin with. They were living beings with barely any difference to us. But then Tori flushed Callie out an airlock and now i'm pissed. Skinjobs gotta pay. Tori, Tigh, Tyrol, Anders, the whole fracking lot.

Geee, thanks for the spoiler warning. I didn't get to see the episode yet since I was at the NYCC and was going to watch the episode this week.

[OM]

...Having not seen any of the first three eps for this season due to my having my right leg amputated below the knee and some complications that kept me in the hospital about 10 days longer than expected, I really fracking appreciate you dips'hits spoiling the events that have taken place. You really are total frackhea....

Wait. Hold on. Morphine withdrawal again. Sorry, mometarily forgot I *LOVE* spoilers. Mea culprit

[slaps self in embarassment]

[DarkSpeedy]

I hate Callie , so I like Tori

I liked the end of season 3... I think it was shocking and it can take the Cylons to a whole new level of threat...

That being said! I really hope that Admiral Adama, The President, or Lee Adama aren't cylons... I think at that point the story would be ridiculous as it's the cylons versus themselves basically. I don't know who the fifth is... But I know who it SHOULDN'T be. The thing is, someone might pick up on this and say "that's why they'd be a perfect cylon", but again, it would make the show pointless!

THAT being said, I love the show and think it's awesome and I"m so glad Callie went out the airlock! I'm so glad that I'm not even mad that I haven't seen the episode yet and I've read a spoiler! Hey Callie!!! How's space taste?

[ascloseasme]

Tigh was the only reveal that irritated the crap out of me. When Anders was introduced, I actually thought he was going to be some kind of very literal "infiltrator"-type model cleaning up the pockets of surviving humans. And I thought we were supposed to kind of suspect Tyrol since he beat Callie up?

This season has been slow as can be, but I love what's going on with the Cylons (the internal feuding). The way seasons 2 and 3 opened were just so much more impressive than this one though. These four should actually do something other than get together and sort of say "Oh we're Cylons" over and over.

[Angael]

With all the secret meetings they have, you'd think somebody on the ship would catch them.... GOD!!! all they talk about is 'Hey are you still a Cylon, cause I am'.. HELLO! One way to prevent people from knowing you're a FRACKING Cylon is avoid all the FRACKING meetings! Its like an alcoholics meeting, 'Hi, my name is Tyrol and im still a Cylon.'

I wouldnt be surprised if Roslyn is a Cylon.. I do think she is not the prophet that leads them to earth.. She had to take a drug to induce her visions.. Where as Starbuck has had visions all her life (the picture she put on her wall) Lee Adama will be President and he will be the President when they get to earth. Roslyn will either die, or become a Cylon. Adama will die in the war against the robotic Cylons to save the partially human Cylons.. Starbuck will command Galatica or whats left of the military force..

I was thinking that this series reminds me of Robotech..

[rassmguy]

...make no sense whatsoever. You're reading an article about a panel discussing the present and future of a TV show. What the frak were you expecting to find here, if not spoilers? That's the focus of the article. If you're avoiding spoilers about season 4, then don't read articles and forums about the show in which any rational person should expect spoilers to pop up. You have only yourselves to blame.

[davester]

Well, as soon as Callie learned they were Cylons, I knew she was going to die.

I presume the truth will come out, at least about Tory, since the Galactica's launch bay should have some security cameras, right?

[ascloseasme]

I'm guessing Tory probably rigged it to look like a suicide... Drug-induced or whatever. If she was upset about an alleged affair, it'd be believable enough of a cover-up... Even Tyrol might believe that.

[Batitude]

My main issue with Tigh being a Cylon was a timeframe one.

It's been 45 years since the end of the Cylon war.

Tigh's been in the military for 40.

So that means they completed their evolution in 5 years! Now I know Razor showed a first generation humanoid Cylon but I still thnk that's stretching it! Plus if they had working models already (I'm assuming Tigh is #1) why wait another 40 years? They already had people in secure positions.

I also think it was interesting that they used a Stones song to activate them. Does that mean that when they get to Earth they'll find it's full of Cylons???