*rubs eyes* What? HOLY FRAK! How hard does THAT rock? :-)

BTW, Nebula1400, this is a great link, but I wonder if it should have a spoiler tag for people in Canada, UK, waiting for DVD, etc.? ;-)

billz | March 08, 13:10 CET

Please add a spoiler tag...
I just got MASSIVELY SPOILED...
And it feels not that great... Really...
I was thinking "here's an analysis", and BAM! Halfway through it, there it is...

It is from last Sunday... The episode has not been broadcasted everywhere yet...

[ edited by pir2 on 2007-03-08 10:32 ]

pir2 | March 08, 13:32 CET

If it's already aired in the States it doesn't get a spoiler tag but I added some info to the subject line so non Americans can be aware.

Simon | March 08, 13:59 CET

Given how many people on this blog aren't in the U.S. - it seems strange that the spoiler tag doesn't remain for a while...

But Jane joining BSG full time - awesome!

crossoverman | March 08, 14:47 CET

While JE's episodes have not been my favorites this season, I'm excited that she's coming on board. She's still one of my favorite writers from the 'verse, and she just seems like such a special person from her blog and everything else I have read. So one of my favorite writers joining my favorite show? Not so bad.

palehorse | March 08, 15:38 CET

Jane is now a regular on BSG!!! How awesome is that?? *Does happy dance*. This was a fantastic article & a million thanks for the link, the site appears to be very cool.
I loved the comment about "retroactive continuity". In the Buffyverse, we call it "foreshadowing":) Jane said "Imagine my delight when I recently came on full time and learned that there are, and have been, plans that extend far longer into the future than one season." I got so excited at that, I nearly keeled over.
Re. Starbuck related spoilers, I guess that issue has been settled, so it should be ok to add this. Did anyone click on "RDM: Katee Sackhoff Gave Bravura Performance", in the left side panel? I finished reading that one with a renewed conviction that she *will* be back. First it says "Sackhoff *possibly* ended a three year run with the *apparent* death of her character". Then "{Sackhoff said}*as far as she knows*, her character is dead and that she has *no immediate plans* to return to the show." (All emphases mine, sorry I still can't get the italics, etc. to work.)
Then Ron Moore danced around the question, mentioning how the season 2 death of a different character had effected him, then said "I can only say that nothing is as simple as it appears at first glance, in Galactia." Then changed the subject. Yeah baby, bring on Cylon Kara.

Shey | March 08, 15:53 CET

Sorry about that. I didn't realize this was spoilery outside the US. In seasons past, we had gotten it after Canada and the UK.

Nebula1400 | March 08, 16:13 CET

Just wanted to say a big thanks on the behalf of us backwards Europeans for putting the spoiler warning on this one - I just hate those spoilers, and without the warning I'd definitely have read this one! Thanks :-)

sasja | March 08, 18:19 CET

I actually pity those are completely unspoiled for Maelstrom.

I was spoiled and it still shocked the hell out of me...

On a lighter note - Jane joining BSG full time - I am delighted! I first read about this over at TWoP - it's great to have it confirmed by the woman herself...

I have long maintained that JE is incapable of writing a bad episode of TV - she's just that good now!!!

Roll on Season 4...

werealljustfloating | March 08, 20:22 CET

Hey, my bad about the spoiler thing for "Maelstrom." Since it was reported so much in mainstream media, and the chances that people DIDN'T see it are pretty slim, we stopped spoiler-warning that specific detail a long time ago.

I should've realized that this might get picked up here, and I wanted to personally apologize to any of our friends here at Whedonesque if you were spoiled. We have actually added a spoiler warning to the story itself as well, even though that's not typically our policy in this situation, because I don't want anyone to be upset that we ruined their BSG experience in any way. :)

And thanks for the nice comments. If you read it before 7 a.m ET, you probably saw a lot of typos. I wrote it at 2 a.m., and was real tired (falling asleep at the keyboard). Luckily for me, our programmer Nick Chase runs a different schedule and made some corrections of typos and such at around 7 or so, and then I just caught a few more, so the story should read much smoother now. :)

AlphaMichael | March 08, 20:40 CET

Great news for Jane and even better news for viewers. I'm so excited!

I'm not that nit-picky of a viewer, but I occasionally wonder about things like where the paper is coming from. And where did Chief and Callie get that knit cap for the baby? Where is the yarn coming from? ;-)

bloodflowers | March 08, 20:41 CET

Wow, I feel so bad for the people who got spoiled on this. I remember a couple years ago I dialed up mugglenet.com and read the poll on the side "Is Sirius Black really dead?" And almost threw up. I hate spoilers.

I'm really torn as to whether I think Starbuck is really dead or not. Watching the episode, I think it is impossible that the writers would be so cruel as to discard a major character like that, for seemingly no reason at all. Kara Thrace's special destiny was to get crushed in the gravity well of a Gas Giant? Seriously? But when you look at the history of the show, RDM and the other writers do have a record of doing crazy stuff that seems good at the time, but never pans out (aka, Fat-Lee), so maybe this time they finally crossed the line. The podcast for this week also really makes it sound like she's gone for good, but that could be a fake.

Is she coming back? I hope so, but I really don't know.

Back on topic, great news about JE becoming full time next season.

Resolute | March 08, 21:17 CET

Yay, Jane!

I haven't even read the article yet because, honestly, I'm an emotional mess whenever I think about this show since "Maelstrom" aired. I'm practicing avoidance! (And Resolute, you pretty much articulated my thoughts exactly)

However, Jane Espenson coming on board is the best news I've heard all season. I disliked the Kat episode, but it wasn't her fault as the podcast revealed that the episode was sliced and diced something awful in postproduction editing. "Dirty Hands" was easily the best of the standalones this season, and I saw her fingerprints all over my favorite parts. I love Jane.

Isn't she cocreating/producing/writing for Andy Barker, P.I.? I suppose that won't present a scheduling conflict? I hope she drinks her V8!

orphea | March 08, 22:18 CET

Jane joins the staff AND there will be a Season 4. Two good pieces of news there.

yourlibrarian | March 08, 22:56 CET

While this is a uber-spoiler moment for me technically (living in Canada means later air dates), I am not too disappointed since I am waaay behind in my BSG watching and everything from the TV miniseries is basically a giant "La-la-la!" moment for me;)

But has anyone thought that Katee Sackhoff could come back as Kara...but as a Cylon Kara? Find out that she's one of the...12 is it?...Cylon models. Cuz that would blows minds, I think;D

BlueEyedBrigadier | March 08, 23:52 CET

BlueEyedBrigadier, the Space Channel in Canada simulcasts BSG with SciFi in the states. It was only season 2 that we got shafted on.

Resolute | March 09, 00:12 CET

Season 1 as well surely? Here the UK we saw it first before everyone else. I think.

Simon | March 09, 02:36 CET

I've long said that Battlestar Galactica has one of the best writing teams on television, and the addition of Jane Espenson as a regular writer will only make it better.

I think "The Passage" was one of the very few weak episodes of what has been a strong season. However, Dirty Hands was classic Galactica, a great 4 star story overall.

I sometimes have trouble linking BG writers with praticular episodes, largely since from my own viewing experiences and listening to all those podcasts it feels an awful lot like RDM's show, and feels like it's built to a large extent in Post-Production.

rabid | March 09, 02:41 CET

There is no better writer than Jane to be involved with the twist and turns of this show. I'm very happy!

Madhatter | March 09, 03:50 CET

As I noted, Resolute, I am quite behind in my BSG appreciation. Last time I really paid attention was when Season 2 was airing...and Canadian viewers were getting shafted;D

BlueEyedBrigadier | March 09, 04:03 CET

As someone who in the space of last week watched Seasons 1, 2 and 3 thus far, and then watched "Maelstrom" this past Sunday, I am somewhat shellshocked by the whole experience - this is, on the whole, some fine, fine TV. I managed to remain entirely spoiler-free, and the experience was well worth it.

(And as someone who has been painting that particular mandala herself, as well as others, throughout her entire life, I was more than a little creeped out. Luckily, no one has allowed me to pilot a plane thus far...)

Jane's "Passage" was right up there with my favourites - made me cry, and I didn't notice it was hers 'til after I watched. I couldn't be happier about La Espioriginal joining the great writing staff at BSG. I figured it had happened when lexi recently mentioned on here that she just got a new office over there...

I look forward to a more fortunate resolution to the "Maelstrom" issue than is fully apparent at the moment... godammit.

QuoterGal | March 09, 07:33 CET

At the risk of being spoilery, I will say this:

I predict the next time we see you-know-who, that s/he will be waking up in a tub of you-know-what, and while both s/he and the audience will think that s/he is obviously a thing-a-ma-bob, we will eventually find out that s/he isn't, and that whole thing is a big mind-frak, because when we thought s/he you-knowed, what actually happpened is s/he pulled the doo-daa and got whats-it'd into you-know-where and was picked up by the hoo-hoo that we thought wasn't there, but really was.

You heard it here first.

AlanD | March 09, 07:51 CET

Glad she's on board! I thought "Passage" was much better than "Unfinished Business," which she admires so much, but maybe that's just because I don't like to watch boxing.

jcs | March 09, 10:40 CET

What AlanD kind of said.

IrrationaliTV | March 09, 11:01 CET

What TamaraC said about what AlanD kind of said. ;-)

billz | March 09, 11:53 CET

AlanD, that was sheer precognitive poetry of the whatchamacallit kind.

I think.

billz knowz what I mean...

QuoterGal | March 09, 12:59 CET

AlanD, that was brilliant. I'm not sure to what extent you had any serious intent in your um, syntaxically challenged ramble, but can I just say .... *I thought of the same thing!!* Or at least, I think I may have :)
I feel so bad about anyone who got spoiled on this thread. I'm new enough here that I think (I hope) I was following the guidelines as I understand them, but I hate spoilers myself. So if I contributed to any spoilage for anyone, I sincerely apologize. Eventually I have to figure out why I can't get any of the comment box "tools" to work, then I can just use the spoilery hidey thingy, like AlanD did. But in English.

Shey | March 09, 14:53 CET

*does dance of joy* wonderful to hear that Jane will be on the staff full time. :D


And actually, the SPACE channel broadcast isn't a simulcast with SCI-FI, and therefore, we're a few minutes ahead- because we have fewer commercials. So technically (beyond the teaser) we see them first. :P


And after the season two nightmare schedule.....it's surprising how good that feels. ;)

Trek_Girl42 | March 09, 22:25 CET