The NBC-Universal-Cylon Empire will be using its vast reach for good, not evil this fall. (Well, good and self-interest, but hey! Close enough for this economy.) An hour-long Battlestar Galactica series recap will air on every network in the NBC-Uni constellation: Bravo, USA, Universal HD, the on-demand channels, NBC West Coast… wait, not East? Ah, well: Looks like we’ll have to get it bundled with the Series 2.5 DVD. Plus, there’ll be clips on YouTube. Yup, this thing is gonna be more or less unavoidable.
The recap will be narrated by former President Laura Roslin (Mary Smokin’ McDonnell), now described on the site as a "resistance leader on Cylon-occupied New Caprica." (Did we know that fer sure before now?) Besides being a boon for those who keep getting the you-gotta-watch nudge from their friends, this recap will test a number of big-media theories: Does cross-platforming really work? Can you make a niche, mythology-heavy cable show into a mainstream sensation with sheer synergistic leverage? Can you boil two and half seasons into a tasty one-hour reduction that will both engage the viewer and bring him/her up to speed?
In Battlestar’s favor, I’ll say their editors are masters of the "Previously on…," that small unsung masterpiece that brings newbies up to speed and gives loyal fans the gist of what they’re about to see. If the BSG crew can pull off such incredible story compression in 30 to 40 seconds, imagine what they can do with a whole hour. In fact, I’m thinking of hiring them to flash-edit my life into a tantalizing promo. I’m 30 over here. I need to get jazzed for my next season.
What say, BSG novitiates? Would a one-hour recap be enough to make you watch in October? Or will you just wait for the whole series to hit DVD?
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I LOVE Battlestar Galactica!!! Can’t wait for it to come back on again…
I’ll take a clip show from these guys anyday. BSG is good television, and the best sci-fi available.
I’ve wanted to start watching to see what all the fuss is about, but felt like it would be too difficult to catch up. This is welcome news.
Scott, thanks for making my day. BSG 2.5 on DVD? Now I can finally make space for more programming on my TIVO!
Thanks to one of my co-workers who kept hounding me to watch it, I’m now a full-fledged BSG addict. October seems so fracking far away.
I can’t believe this was shunned by the Emmys — not to mention some of the polls about who was shunned by the Emmys (tvguide.com news had a link to one paper earlier this week). For anyone with cable but not premium, there is no question that this is the BEST show out there right now.
I just watched the mini-series that started the whole thing and have season 1 now at the top of my queue on Netflix — the mini-series was so intense, I can’t see how I could catch up on time for the new season — I think I’m stuck watching on DVD (though I may just tivo the new season to watch once I’m caught up…)
This is awesome news for everyone I’ve been hounding to give this show a chance. I’m glad to see NBC Universal believes in this program so much to give it a chance on so many different levels. It deserves it!
So say we all!
I’ll take the DVDs…I don’t have cable, anyway!
Well Lucy Lawless will be in the show so…I can’t wait to see her!!!!!!!!
Frackin sweet, now I can get everyone I know up to speed on BSG. By far the best show on TV, the fac that it did not get nominated for an Emmy proves that the emmys don’t know frack about frack.
Mary McDonald and edward James Olmos should have been nominated. I have never been this invested in a show again.
If anyone in the indusrty is reading this: BSG is so good, I don’t fast foward (TIVO) through the comercials as a sign of respect to the advertisers that they were smart enough to advertise on this show.
Battlestar is SO frakkin’ brilliant! The whole Emmy nomination process needs a complete overhaul! Those Emmy-voting frakkers who dismiss this show as just another lame sci-fi series don’t know what their missing!
They’ll pull it off nicely. Now if we could only get them to air the HD showings closer to the date they’re aired on SciFi.
It looks so amazing in HD that I’ve actually considered waiting to watch it on Universal HD. But, if they wait three months before airing them, I guess I’ll have to watch on SciFi. So fracking frustrating!
I love BSG!!! Can’t wait for it to start in October. Hopefully EW will cover it more frequently in the magazine and on the website.
Of course there’ll be Emmy disappointment! The Emmys don’t know great shows when they see one! Buffy, when it was on, was snubbed all the way through. Buffy, and BSG are definitely some of the best TV I’ve ever seen. The Emmys did something “right” a few years back when Arrested Development actually won. But that was like the one time thing which is to never happen again…But I’m glad the network have faith in this show. This show is still a young one, and I hope they won’t frack it up.