The first panel we attended to start off San Diego Comic-Con 2013 was the 35th Battlestar Galactica Anniversary panel, on Thursday, July 18, 2013. Click through to read Josh’s recap of the panel which included cast members, writers, and producers from the show!
Our first panel at Comic-Con 2013 was the 35th Battlestar Galatica Anniversary Celebration panel, which took place in Room 6BCF on Thursday, July 18 from 10:30am-11:30am. This panel was actually a last minute decision, as we were eating breakfast and saw that Edward James Olmos tweeted he would be there, and also thanks to Twitter updates, we knew that we could make it in because there were still plenty of empty seats available. By the time we got to the room, we walked in about 15 minutes late.
The panel featured Edward James Olmos (Admiral William Adama), Richard Hatch (Tom Zarek/Apollo), Lili Bordán (Dr. Becca Kelly from Blood and Chrome), and several writers and producers from the show. The panel primarily consisted of fan questions.
One question that was asked was to Richard, who played Apollo in the original, was which Apollo was the better Apollo in his opinion. Richard of course deferred to his successor as the better of the two, probably as professional courtesy, but it was a funny question to hear his response.
Another good question was regarding the acting between Richard and Edward, and how they interacted with each other as Tom Zarek and Adama. They both complimented each other’s work, which in my opinion, was a great part of the show. I enjoyed hearing them reminisce about that.
There were some interesting story line tidbits we heard as well. While the writers initially tried to leave it to our imagination, they do reveal that their interpretation was that Starbuck had died when we thought she had near the end of Season 3, and that she was an angel. They joked that at the end she either ascended to heaven, or was just hiding in the tall grass. Pretty funny if you remember the last scene.
Another fan asked about the plan for Season 5, and we learned that there were no specific plans for it. Ron Moore basically had 4 seasons planned out, and didn’t plan further.
Probably the most exciting news was that there are tentative plans for a Battlestar Galactica movie. According to Richard Hatch, it would likely be a “re-imagining” again for the series though, with an entirely new cast, which is a little disappointing. But, they have already told their story, so that might not be so bad after all. It is hard to imagine someone else as Adama though. Almost nailed that part. Also according to Hatch, Bryan Singer is attached to the movie, but seems busy with other projects, and he seemed to hint the script is not ready yet. Still, exciting prospect for the future of BSG!
I was glad to hear that most of the writers of BSG have gone on to new projects, with many of them going to Defiance interestingly enough. Defiance is a new SYFY series set in a post apocalyptic town that was once St. Louis. (You can read about Defiance under our TV Recaps menu).
Overall it was a fun panel. I enjoyed seeing Adama and Zarek in person, and I hope there is a future for Battlestar Galactica in one format or another. “So say we all!”
