The final episode of Battlestar Galactica could be spread out over as much as four hours, allowing for a full explanation of the robot-apocalypse show's complex mythology at last. And the BSG TV movie that's in the pipeline wouldn't air until after the final BSG episode — which could allow it to revisit some events from the show's past from the vantage point of all the knowledge we'll have gained by then. BSG mastermind Ron Moore and Sci Fi Channel execs also spilled some details on the prequel series Caprica and the BSG webisodes at a TV critic event over the weekend. Click through for details.
The final episodes of BSG season four are currently scheduled to be 11 hours, of which three will be the series finale. But Ron Moore is currently editing the finale together, and may end up with way more material than he can fit into three hours. So it may have to be four hours, if the Sci Fi Channel agrees. No matter how long it winds up being on TV, the finale will be longer on the eventual DVD, Moore promises. The "back half" of the season will definitely start airing in January.
As for Caprica, the Sci Fi Channel will decide in January whether to turn the TV movie pilot into an ongoing series. If Sci Fi decides to keep it as a standalone TV movie, it could air this fall. But if the channel decides it wants a Caprica series, exploring the origins of the Cylons, then the first 13-episode season would air sometime in 2009. Caprica is set exactly 51 years before the events of BSG. During this era, the 12 Colonies still aren't united under one government. We won't be meeting the ancestors of Felix Gaeta or many other BSG characters as a result.
Caprica is written as a pilot rather than as a stand-alone movie, so if Sci Fi decides not to make it a series, you'll be left with a lot of unsatisfying questions and unresolved issues after watching it. And here are some new stills, showing Paula Malcomson and Eric Stoltz as the Graystones, the family that develops the Cylons. And Sister Clarice Willow, who runs the school where the Graystone and Adama daughters attend, until they're blown up.
The BSG TV movie takes place at some point during the show's earlier seasons, and it assumes you'll have all the knowledge about the final Cylon and any other revelations during the final episodes. Moore sort of hinted that it could be retelling some past episodes from the Cylon point of view, which could be kind of fun. Also, the production team is still hoping to make ten BSG webisodes, which would be cowritten by Jane Espenson and Seamus Kevin Fahey, but no contracts are signed yet. [Chicago Tribune]