This one won't be as hot as Susan Boyle, but it will probably still be around in a decade.



For those who don't get it, the person saying "You Suck" is none other than the new Battlestar Galactica's Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore. This short video comes from an episode of CSI, where Moore made a cameo as a rabid scifi fan at a convention. In the episode, a producer is showing fans a brand new, grittier "revamped" version of a 1960s scifi show "Alpha Quest" (fictional). The exact same thing happened to Mister Moore several years ago when he presented his new, grittier version of 1960s scifi show "Battlestar Galactica". At that time, Battlestar fans booed him off the stage and called his version of the show GINO - Galactica In Name Only. So its really funny that on CSI, he's the person actually booing off the producer!

There were several BSG/Scifi cameos including Grace Park (First humanoid Cylon to be revealed in BSG) and Kate Vernon (Final humanoid Cylon to be revealed in BSG). The episode was directed by long time BSG director, Michael Nankin, and the episode was written by BSG writers Bradley Thomson and David Weddle as well as Star Trek veteran writer Naren Shankar.

This month, the United Nations has organized a panel with the creators and stars of Battlestar Galactica in New York. Here is one short and very interesting clip of the proceedings.

If you are interested.. No scratch that. I strongly encourage you to view the full discussion. The panel talks about issues such as the rule of law, justice, the war on terrorism, politics, religion and more. I personally feel these are topics most people rarely think about and in truth everyone should at least spend a few days thinking about them. I am really glad that Science Fiction, especially Battlestar Galactica has brought to the world a platform on which to look at these issues not only in a very visceral manner, but also from very different angles. How often do you get to see the point of view of a terrorist and realize that he or she is not some crazy nutjob who just wants to kill people, but that they are people in desperate situations who have decided that the only solution is to do a deed they know is evil and causes harm to other human beings?

Please click here for a link to full video of the BSG Panel at United Nations. PS: You will need RealPlayer to view this.

Can I just end by saying that this kind of speculative fiction on the human condition is why I love science fiction so much. If you have not watched Battlestar Galactica, please do watch it. To my friends, I can loan you my BSG DVDs (Just promise you'll return them).

SPOILER ALERT. If you have not watched Battlestar Galactica episode 4x14 - "Sometimes a Great Notion", do not continue any further as this post is chock full of shocking development.




So Kara Thrace aka Starbuck crashed and died on Earth several months ago. This brings up the question of the identity of Starbuck 2.0. Exactly what is Starbuck 2.0? Here's my theory.

2,000 years ago, Earth Cylons created immortality in the form of a primitive resurrection machine. This technology can clone many copies of the Cylon body, and allow the mind to be "downloaded" from a dying body to a new body. Perhaps it is an experimental machine. It makes sense because only 5 Earth Cylons were resurrected. Also, it explains the resurrection machine's flaw. While the download of the mind (or soul) works, old memories are not accessible. Thus the five newly resurrected Earth Cylons can't remember their past lives.

Since Earth is nuked, the five resurrected Cylons obviously need to find a new home. They take one of their resurrection machines, and travelled all the way to the twelve colonies where they lived anonymous lives for most of the next 2,000 years. However some time during the past century, the Colonial Humans stumbled upon the resurrection machine and managed to decipher some of the technology. They used the machine to create artificial intelligent beings who choose to call themselves Cylons. Thus was born the Colonial Cylons.

Fast forward a few decades. There's a war between Colonial Humans and Colonial Cylons. The Colonial Cylons somehow gained possession of the primitive resurrection machine and recognized it for what it is. They not only mastered the resurrection technology, but also perfected it and eliminated the memory loss issue.

So what has all of the above has to do with who Starbuck 2.0 is? Well, here is my theory. Starbuck 2.0 was resurrected using the primitive Earth resurrection machine. This is why she cannot remember the past. Yup, I believe Starbuck 2.0 is a brand new 13th Cylon!

My guess of Ellen Tigh as the Final Cylon came from way back in October 2007. I officially stuck with my prediction by publicly announcing it in November 2007. Today, vindication! Ellen is indeed the Final Cylon.

There were clues all the way from season one's episode, "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down". Many people somehow misunderstood that episode, thinking that Baltar and his Cylon Detector has confirmed Ellen as a Human. In reality, Baltar never ever revealed Ellen as Human nor Cylon. Since her appearance in the fleet, she has been playing the fool but at the same time she has also been manipulating events in the background. She was meddling with Tom Zarek and the presidential election in "Colonial Day". She also encouraged Saul Tigh to enforce martial law in Season Two.

Still, none of these events really screamed out to me that she's the Final Cylon. What convinced me was Ronald D. Moore's statement that the Final Cylon has a choice to make, Cylons or Humans. Sorry, I can't remember when or where RDM made that statement. I think its in one of the podcasts but I could be wrong. Wherever I got that statement from, it stuck with me as a significant clue. You see, in order for the Final Cylon to make an informed choice for or against Humanity, he/she has to have significant interaction with both factions, but yet isn't biased towards either party.

Most of the cast of Battlestar Galactica are already heavily biased to either Humans (most of the Galactica crew and pilots) or Cylons (most of the Cylons). So, it is relatively easy to figure out the ones who are still on the fence. Namely civilians like Gaius Baltar, Doc Cottle, Billy, and of course Ellen Tigh. I also briefly considered Athena too, but she seem to have an alternate destiny so I ruled her out.

"And the fifth, still in shadow, will claw toward the light, hungering for redemption that will only come in the howl of terrible suffering. " -- Hybrid's Prediction from Razor

That was my final clue. Not only is the Final Cylon to judge for or against humanity, the Final Cylon comes with a huge bundle of suffering. Gaius Baltar is the obvious fit here, having been the person who killed off most of Humanity. However, he doesn't seem to be suffering that much especially on New Caprica. Ellen on the other hand, was caught in a grinder between humans and cylons. She forced herself to sleep with Cavil-the-cylon just to save her husband. And Ellen paid the final indignity of having her husband being forced to kill her.

Since I made that prediction all the way in 2007, several events that unfolded in 2008 only served to solidify my prediction. There's the Last Supper picture which confirmed who wasn't the Final Cylon. The biggest event was Saul Tigh being revealed as a Cylon! That really ups the personal stakes. Boy oh boy, what a grinder Ellen is in now. If she chooses against the Cylons, does it mean Saul has to die?

At any rate, it is quite obvious now that Ellen possesses her own regeneration technology from 2000 years ago. She regenerated herself, Saul, Tyrol, Anders and Tory. She regenerated herself on New Caprica, and she regenerated Starbuck on Earth. Does that mean Kara Thrace the new 13th Cylon model? O.o

Its time for another piece of speculation on my part. You see,, one day I read about some non-BSG news, but something clicked in my head. News came along that Alessandro Toreson was cast in the role of Zoe Greystone in the BSG spin-off series, Caprica. I looked for her pictures on the web and what I found is shown on the right. Doesn't she bear a strong resemblance to Ellen Tigh (Kate Vernon)? What if Ellen Tigh isn't just the Final Cylon but actually the First Cylon - Zoe Greystone? This idea resonates so strongly with Battlestar Galactica's theme, "Its all happened before and will all happen again", that I can't help but feel that Ellen Tigh IS Zoe Greystone.

And with that little bit of speculation, I shall end this post.

As we approach April, my heart can't help but flutter in anticipation of hree shows that will finally start airing after such a long break without any ground breaking shows.

Macross Frontier
The first show is Macross Frontier, a brand new anime series that picks up the on story of Macross. For those of you need a reminder Macross, also called Robotech when it aired in Singapore over 2 decades ago, is the story of the first Human-Zentraedi war that was eventually stopped by the love triangle trio of Rick Hunter, Lisa Hayes and the singing of Lynn Minmei. Macross Frontier carries the story forward several centuries, to an age where the surviving Humans and Zentraedi work together to colonize the galaxy via huge colony ships.

To whet your appetite, here's a promo music video for Macross Frontier:

By the way if you have not heard the rumor, Toby Maguire of Spiderman fame has purchased the rights to create a live action Robotech movie. So who knows? In a few years there might actually be a Hollywood version of Robotech.

House
That's right, one of my current favorite characters on television, Gregory House is back from the Writer's Strike with 6 new episodes starting at the end of April.

I know many people who watch the show has a love-hate relation with Gregory House. For me, I just feel that he is like me in quite a few ways that watching the show, watcing House is almost like watching a filtered mirror of myself. I understand how House thinks, and unlike most people I do not see him as an egotistical, selfish person. Instead behind the facade most people cannot see past, I see a deeply caring, loving soul who has been cut too many times but still continues to care and love.

Battlestar Galactica
The show that I have really truly been aching for is the fourth and final season of Battlestar Galactica. After the long one year haitus, the uncertainty of the Writer's Guild strike, tele-movie Razor that only raised more questions than it answered, it is good to finally have the show back on television.

I once again reiterate my prediction that Ellen Tigh is the final cylon!

I mentioned earlier that Battlestar Galactica fans have been pouring over a recently released "Last Supper" image looking for clues to what happens in the forth and final season of the critically acclaimed show.

One fan, attitudeandwine, noticed that there were many blank spots on the original image and knew that Leonardo da Vinci love the use of symmetry in his works. I think she's on to something and while her original image was suggestive, it was also slightly unclear. Since I had a little time on my hand and am fairly familiar with Paint Shop Pro, I decided to try and mirror the image myself. Here's the result of my own attempt at photoshopping (Click the image for a high resolution version).

Here is another version of the same image, done with a different image blending mode that allows us to see an overlap of both the original and mirrored image.

Some of the more obvious things that can be observed in the images:

1. Athena and Helo are looking at either Tyrol or Caprica and seems to be waiting for them to act.
2. Athena's hand is reaching to touch either Tigh's arm, as if seeking help.
3. Tigh is looking at Apollo or Baltar.
4. The positioning of Tigh under Adama is interesting, suggesting that their CO/XO relationship remains unchanged.
5. I think Anders kissing Caprica's arm is just coincidence.. *shrugs*
6. Tyrol, standing between Apollo and Baltar, stares very intently at the knife. I don't think he's going to kill either men.
7. On the left hand side, a partially hidden Apollo seems to be staring at the open book on the table.
8. Adama and Roslin are indeed holding hands behind Adama's back.
   

I have no frakking idea what all this means. If you do, drop me a comment!

The above stunning picture of the Battlestar Galactica cast has been circulating on the web since it was released recently. Looks familiar? It should, because bears quite a bit of similarity with Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper painting.

Many fans have been pouring over this image trying to look for symbolic clues, speculating on the roles each character will play in the upcoming final season of Battlestar Galactica, or who the final Cylon will be. It is a nice bit of viral marketing that generates some much needed hype for this show.

Just for fun, I will state for the record that I believe Ellen Tigh is the final Cylon. I don't have any particular solid reasoning behind this prediction, it is just a gut instinct that she is a good "fit" to be the final Cylon based on of how she mysteriously appeared on the show, how she lived and how she the relations she has had with both human and Cylons.

PS: Click on the image to view a high resolution version of the picture.

If you were asked to truthfully express in one sentence who you are and what defines you as a person, what would your sentence be? Here is a promo video for the final season of Battlestar Galactica.

An alternate version, with some differences.

Powerful stuff, 'nuff said.