By Christina Radish
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Lucy Lawless and David Eick at ComicCon 2006. |
Following the recent official announcement that season 4 would be the last for the Sci-Fi Channel television series Battlestar Galactica, executive producers Ronald D. Moore (Roswell) and David Eick (Hercules) held a telephone press conference to talk about how they reached that decision, and how they feel about their run with the highly acclaimed series. MediaBlvd Magazine and other publications participated in the call which was held on the afternoon of June 1, 2007.
Question> Before you announced that season 4 would be the last season for Battlestar Galactica, there was talk that the series would continue. Was that just wishful thinking?
David Eick> It was a decision that took some time to arrive at. Like all decisions this large, there were a number of questions that we had about it, internally, and a creative agenda that we wanted to serve. We all had to collectively decide when it was time to be definitive about it, and that time is now.
Question> Was there any pressure from Sci-Fi to drag the show out into a fifth season or beyond?
Ron Moore> To their credit, they were very sensitive to what we wanted to do, creatively, with the show. David and I said, “Look, we feel that the show has reached its Third Act and that it’s about the resolution of the series now. We feel like the storyline is propelling us towards a conclusion.” They asked us questions about why we felt that way, and they understood the reasons. They wanted us to think about it for awhile and make sure that this was what we wanted to do, but they didn’t really fight us on it. They expressed concern that the show might be able to go on longer and they wanted to make sure that we weren’t passing up opportunities to continue telling stories with the series, but they were very accommodating. When David and I were very clear that this was what we really, definitively wanted to do, they supported it.
Question> Do you want to leave the series open-ended to do a feature, or do you want to have a closed end?
Ron> The plan is to end the show and bring it to a definitive conclusion. There are no plans, or even thoughts, in our heads of then doing a feature or mini-series, or anything beyond that, but you never say never because who knows how we’ll feel when we actually write the conclusion. Will there be a plotline or a story that springs to mind, or that we create on the page that then opens a later door? It would be foolish to say, “Absolutely not.” But, right now, the plan is for a definitive end.
Question> Is it true that the first episode of season 4 is going to be a two-hour prequel?
Ron> It’s two episodes that are not really part of the fourth season. They’re not connected to the cliff-hanger where we ended season 3. We were approached by home video, in between the seasons, and they expressed an interest in releasing a couple episodes on DVD. As we talked about them internally, we realized that there was no way we could really pick up the cliffhanger in that form, and we decided to preserve that for the official beginning of the fourth season. The way that made the most sense to all of us was to go back a little bit in time -- not before the series began, but back a season or two ago -- and tell a story then. We found a way to connect the events of that story to things that will happen in the fourth season, so that it sets up some things that will happen in season 4. It will air on Sci-Fi Channel. The plan is to air the episodes on Sci-Fi, and that it will be released on DVD either the next day, or two days later, or something like that. The official start of season 4 will begin in early ‘08.
Question> Are there specific episodes in season two that the prequel takes place between?
Ron> There is a specific point that ties into the story of the Pegasus, which you know was destroyed at the beginning of season three. There are sequences that involve Admiral Cain but it does not take place during the Pegasus and Resurrection ship because those episodes pretty much happened continuously. But, some of the events of the Pegasus’ backstory, during the original Cylon attack, are dramatized. And then, other events after the death of Admiral Cain, while the Pegasus was still in the ragtag fleet, are covered.
Question> Where will you take the 4 newly revealed Cylon's in season 4?
Ron> You can see from the end of the third season that they are all still the same people. They didn’t suddenly switch over and become robots, so essentially you’re going to see an extension of that initial moment, where they try to figure out what this means to them. If they’re Cylons, when did that begin? What are their true backstories and what are they meant to do? Are they dangerous to each other? Are they dangerous to the ship? Do they trust any of the people around them? Should they keep the secret only among themselves? That’s essentially where their storylines are going to pick up.
Question> Was it easier breaking the stories for this season since it’s the last?
Ron> The burden became having a great deal to wrap up and bring resolution to, and we wanted to pay off a lot of things and tie up a lot of loose threads. It felt like we had more than enough to get to where we were going, whereas usually when you’re facing the 20-episode order, it’s like “We need 20 of these? Where are we going to get 20 of these?” You have to start breaking it down into smaller, bite-sized chunks and move yourself along. This time, it was like, “Let’s make sure we’ve got enough time to get everywhere we need to go.”
Question> Will there be less stand-alone episodes in season 4?
Ron> I think stand-alone episodes are a bit slippery for us, in the best of circumstances. The show has worked the best when it’s operated in continuity. What we have promised the network is that we will try not to overly serialize the show, so that it’s impossible to watch an episode out of sequence. What we’ll continue to try to do is provide each episode with a shape, where something begins and ends within the body of an episode, so there’s still a hook to get you involved with it. Even if you did miss the last week, there will be something to engage you this week -- something to let you get familiar with the universe. Then you could go pick up the last week’s episode on iTunes, or something.
Question> Was there any fear the mythology would get bloated, like Stargate, if you went on too long?
Ron> As we ventured into these more mythical supernatural qualities of the series, we didn’t want that to run away with the show. It’s always been about trying to find a balance between those elements and the secular elements of our show. In the third season, we wanted to bring it all together to understand the cosmology of this universe, how it all ties together and what it all means.
Question> Did you have long-term plans for the series, or have you been figuring it out as you went?
Ron> Each season, we mapped out where we wanted to go by the end of that season. That’s how I like to approach things. At the beginning of season one, we talked about where the end of the first year would be. And then, for the second year, we broke it up into groups of the first 10 and the second 10, and kept that style of planning, all through the show. Somewhere mid-way through the second season, I started thinking seriously about what the end of the series itself might be. Ideas for where we were headed and what it all meant started to coalesce over the course of the third season. In season three, we started talking in earnest about, “Well, okay, if we do end it next year, what would it really be?,” and it just felt like, “Yeah, this is the right time to do it.”
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David Eick and Ron Moore at ComicCon 2006. |
Question> How do you feel about the amount of time you’ve had to tell that story?
Ron> In terms of whether we’ve had enough time, I feel like we have. We’re really taking our cues from the story itself, and it just feels like the story has moved forward aggressively. What I’m proud of about the series is that it’s been unafraid to take risks and it’s been unafraid to move strongly forward, instead of trying to tread water. It just feels like the momentum of the series is now moving towards a conclusion.
Question> Did your idea for the end of the show change along the way?
Ron> I think it has headed in the same general direction, since I first started thinking about where the endpoint of the series would be. I think what’s changed is the path to get there, who is going to get there, what it would mean to them and what the context would be, but I don’t know that the end point of the series has really changed that much, since I first started really thinking about it.
Question> Does having a plan makes it more freeing or restricting in the design of the show?
Ron> It felt very freeing. It felt like we had a definitive direction. There was a premise. The ragtag fleet is searching for earth with the remainders of humanity and they’re pursued by the Cylons. It felt like, “That’s the path and it’s a question of what to do along the way.” The show just had a strong point of view and a definitive direction, which I think was very helpful.
Question> Overall, is approaching a TV show with an endpoint a more creative approach?
Ron> I think it’s hard to generalize because I think there are different kinds of shows. A procedural doesn’t require that sort of thing. I don’t think anybody thinks that CSI or Law & Order suffers because they don’t have the expectation of an end point. Certain kinds of shows demand a beginning, middle and end. When you’re crafting the series, you’re setting up a pilot and you’re setting the rules of your universe. You have to have an idea of what it is you’re creating. Are you creating an open-ended franchise, like CSI or Law & Order, that you can essentially do forever because it’s the nature of the criminal justice system? There’s always going to be a tomorrow. There’s always going to be another case, and the series will continue. Or, are you telling something that is tied to a specific narrative that sets up an expectation and ultimately has to be paid off? You have to understand which show you’re doing, at the beginning of the run.
Question> A lot of viewers see very specific metaphors in the show for what’s going on in the world today. Do you ever feel like fans get too literal in their own interpretations, and wish that people would just relax and enjoy the show on its own merits?
David> Part of the point of science fiction, at least in its roots, was always to give the audience an allegory to present a metaphor for what was taking place in the culture. I think we’ve always enjoyed, and taken a certain satisfaction in, the fact that there are those who watch the show and assume that there is a liberal bias and those who watch the show and assume there’s a pro-military bias, and that’s how it’s supposed to work. You’re supposed to bring your own point of view to it, and then be able to extrapolate out whatever messages you want. The show tends to not be terribly definitive. We were pretty clear from the outset that this wasn’t going to be about protagonists espousing lessons and rules, and arriving at the end to save the day and tell everyone what was right and what was wrong. The line separating the protagonists and antagonists often blurs, leaving the audience to ask themselves if they’re rooting for the right side. There’s always going to be a question mark of sorts at the end of most stories, and I think that applies to the political element as well. There really isn’t a definitive answer to anything that’s being espoused. It’s more about the idea that there are two sides to every equation.
Question> Will reaching Earth be on tap for the beginning of season 4, or will that be the last shot?
Ron> I don’t want to be that definitive about it, but the show has always been about the search for Earth. To end the series without getting to Earth, or a version of Earth, or something we call Earth, or at least having somebody say Earth would be unsatisfying. It will definitely figure in to this year’s storyline.
Question> The relationships of the characters are so important to the show. Do you think you’ll have time to bring closure to all of the relationships?
Ron> That’s the plan. That’s how we approached the storylines as we were breaking them out for the season. The intention is certainly to concentrate on the characters and their relationships, and bring them all to an endpoint. I don’t know if we’ll resolve every single thing about every single relationship. I think there’s value in leaving some things open to the imagination and having some things that are tantalizingly unresolved. But, the intention is to move towards what is a final chapter.
Question> Now that you have a timetable, is there something you had in mind that you didn’t have a chance to do, or something about the pacing you would have changed?
David> We never got Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff) and Number Six (Tricia Helfer) together.
Ron> I don’t know if there’s any regrets over things that we never did. I don’t think so. I think everything that we talked about found its way into the show, in one form or another. The only regret that I remember we had, towards the end of the third season was saying, “Too bad we got rid of the Pegasus. That was the great ship and it’s too bad we couldn’t keep it around longer and tell some more stories.” Now we get a chance to do that too.
Question> How did you select who would be the four human Cylons?
Ron> It was a process. We sat and we talked about who would be the final four. Actually, we gravitated kind of quickly to these four names, for various reasons. Tigh (Michael Hogan) was the sexiest because he was the one with the biggest hatred for the Cylons. He had killed his own wife because she collaborated with the Cylons. He was a drunk and he had all these completely human qualities, and there was something amazing about realizing that he’s a Cylon. Anders (Michael Trucco) had participated in two resistance movements and was drawn to Kara Thrace (Katee Sackhoff) for reasons unknown, and she had a specific destiny within the mythos of the show. Tyrol (Aaron Douglas) was the everyman. In some ways, he was one of the most human characters and it was just very unexpected to believe that he was a Cylon, and yet we’d already built into his backstory that he had a religious connection that seemed greater than anyone else’s. He was at the Temple of the Five on the algae planet. He was drawn there by reasons that had nothing to do with logic or rationality. He had a specific connection. He had dreamed about being a Cylon, and he’d had emotional reactions and thought he was in love with a Cylon, at the beginning of the mini-series. And then, Tory (Rekha Sharma) was a wildcard. Tory was the one that we knew the least about and we could have more fun with because we weren’t locked into as many choices with her as we were with the others.
Question> How did you view the fan reaction vs. your expectations of the big Cylon reveal?
Ron> I think it was probably what we anticipated. I took the way people reacted to the season two finale as a guidepost. When we made the year ahead jump and then put them all down on the planet, people were ecstatic and people were outraged. There wasn’t a lot of middle ground. I kind of felt like, “Well, that’s what they’re going to do when we reveal the Cylons,” and that’s pretty much what happened.
Question> Do you still regret the Sagitarian plot?
Ron> I think it was a misstep. In the planning of it, it was a storyline that we were very excited about and really liked. It was very charged and had a lot of racial and political overtones to it, which are the things that we generally love to do in the show. But, I can look back at it and say, “Ultimately, that didn’t pay off and we had to retrofit a lot of things to cover our tracks.” I think when you’re doing a show like this, if you’re going keep trying to knock ‘em out of the park, there are going to be a few times where you’re just not going to make it. I think that just goes with the territory.
Question> Did the rest of the cast know that Katee Sackhoff was coming back?
Ron> No. It was quite a process, actually. We were trying to keep a secret, and keeping a secret in this business is very difficult, especially with the Internet and all the various ways that information leaks out. Initially, we tried to let just Katee know and not tell anybody else, but when the scripts landed in Vancouver, it was like a small nuclear weapon had been detonated. Various people were up in arms on the set, and David and I had make some sheepish phone calls and gradually bring more people into the circle of. It was amazing because we did still manage to hold the secret throughout. It paid off, eventually, but it was a bit rocky there for a little while. .
Question> Will Lucy Lawless come back in season 4?
Ron> It’s possible. It’s in the planning stages. Nothing is firm, but it’s one of the things that we’re talking about.
Question> How did the actors feel about the show ending? Did they agree with your decision, or did they want another year?
David> That sort of depends on the actor. Some of them were very understanding of the point of view that the show had reached its natural conclusion and was ready for its Third Act. And, there were others who believe that the show might have a longer life than that, or who were more surprised by the decision. But, for the most part, everyone is now looking at this season in a way that they might not normally look at the fourth season of a show. Rather than this being another big step on a potentially infinite journey, it’s the concluding step. There’s a sense now of everyone really sinking their teeth into this and grabbing ahold of it as tightly as they can because they know this is the last swing.
Ron> I was up in Vancouver on the set recently and the best way I can describe it is that it felt like the beginning of senior year. Everyone was very aware that this was the last time, right down to it being the last first day of shooting. Everyone’s starting to think about signing each other’s yearbooks, and all that kind of stuff.
Question> What can other producers learn about how you have shown diversity on TV?
Ron> I think the beauty of a show like Battlestar is that we’ve never been concerned with the ethnicity or the sex of a character. More often than not, a character is written and then we have the conversation of whether it should be a character of color or ethnic diversity. Sometimes, we’ve written characters and decided much later to make the character a woman instead of a man, or vice versa. You write great characters and you let the best actor, the best director and the best writer win the job. If that’s your approach, and if you’re pure about it, you’re going to find yourself with a pretty eclectic group, in terms of racial and sexual diversity. That’s how we’ve always done it and it seems to have worked.
Question> What has surprised you most about your run with Battlestar Galactica?
Ron> The response the show has generated, the amount of press that we’ve gotten, and the acclaim and the awards that the show has garnered has been gratifying and very surprising. I think I speak for David and I both when I say that, at the beginning of the whole process, we believed in what we were doing and thought, “This is going to be good. We can really make a good show here,” but I don’t think we really anticipated we’d be getting a Peabody and those kind of accolades. That’s really been icing on the cake of what’s been a really wonderful, creative experience.
Question> There’s been some talk about Caprica as a series. Is that on the radar anywhere?
David> Well, we’re certainly tremendously excited and enthused by what we were able to develop with Remi Aubuchon into a prequel launching point for a new series called Caprica, which would basically take the stories that we come to discover in Battlestar Galactica and go all the way back to their embryo, specifically the discovery of the technology that will lead to the Cylons. It’s a tremendously arresting idea that was really beautifully executed, and we’re anxious for any opportunity to pursue it because we really think it’s a special project.
Question>Has Sci-Fi ordered the series, or have they passed on it?
David> I don’t think we know the definitive answer to that. It’s not on the immediate front burner, but I don’t think anyone has definitively said to us that it’s dead. We continue to hope that there will be an opportunity, a forum and a programming need for it. It’s certainly something we believe in, wholeheartedly, and think it would not only capture a lot of Battlestar Galactica fans, but would open up a whole new audience to this mythology because it’s a very different kind of show.
Question>Would Caprica have a similar model to Battlestar Galactica, or would it be open-ended?
Ron> I think Caprica would have an endpoint because we know what the future is. Because it’s taking place before the events of Galactica, there is certainly a place where Caprica would end. It would not go further than where Galactica.
Question> Ron, is anything going on with The Thing?
Ron> I’m working on the script.
Question> Are you aiming for a particular start date?
Ron> Until they get the script, they don’t really make the decision on when something is going to start.
Question> David, can you talk about your next project, Bionic Woman?
David> I’m trying to make use of the Battlestar Galactica cast as much as I can because we’ve inadvertently stumbled upon the greatest collection of actors that I’ve ever been a part of. Katee Sackhoff is in the pilot for Bionic Woman and, once Battlestar ends, if she’s free, we may be able to use her in an episode or two of Bionic Woman. Tricia Helfer was in another pilot I did for Fox, called Them, which may be flirting with a midseason order. And, once she becomes available, she’d be a nerve center for that project. Then, of course, as the directors who we’ve come to know and love on Battlestar become available, we’ll be looking for opportunities to use them on other things. It’s been a great growth and evolution, creatively, for everybody to come out of this show and feel like, “Wow, we’ve got directors and actors and all sorts of great, talented, creative people that we’ll always stay in touch with and always work with,” because once you find those people, you don’t let them go.
