The stars of Sci Fi's biggest shows turned out for the Sci Fi Channel's 2008 upfront party on March 18. The Morgan Library on Madison Avenue was the cozy venue, making the party touting the network's upcoming schedule a relatively intimate affair.
Battlestar Stars Tight-Lipped
"All will be revealed" on this season of Battlestar Galactica, but not in advance. Nine members of the sprawling cast, plus creator Ronald D. Moore, showed up for the event. Edward James Olmos (Admiral Adama) and Jamie Bamber (Lee) both seemed restless, as if they wanted to be elsewhere, but still were happy to chat cagily with reporters about season 4, which debuts April 4. The statuesque Tricia Helfer (Number Six) was effervescent in a tiny black dress, chatting so happily about her role that she missed the start of the presentation speech by Sci Fi honcho Dave Howe.
Katee Sackhoff (Kara) was just as beautiful in long hair (reminding me, unfortunately, of the unpleasant New Caprica story arc) as she spoke cryptically about her character's future -- the cast were all obviously anxious to avoid revealing spoilers, as Grace Park (Sharon) repeatedly explained. Sackhoff did talk about Kara Thrace's sex appeal, suggesting that men liked women who could put on a dress and look good, and still kick their butt. Asked about whether she'd come back as resident guest villain if Bionic Woman's unexpected success in the U.K. conjured a second season for that beleaguered show after all, Sackhoff said shortly, "My contract's up."
My favorite conversation was with James Callis (Gaius Baltar), who is as unassuming as his character is self-absorbed. Callis laughed at the half-facetious suggestion that Battlestar was in some ways Gaius's journey, saying he sees Gaius as reflective of just one aspect of the human story on the show and "even as rash as Gaius is," he wouldn't say it was all about him. Gaius's role in bringing on the war with the Cylons does represent the collective guilt of the humans, Callis agreed, not only in creating the machines but in humanity's inherent touch of evil, making the characters on the show a microcosm of humanity and Gaius "the microcosm within the microcosm."
I told Callis one of my favorite aspects of his character was the chiding "Caprica Gaius" that Caprica Six sees, the counterpart to the version of Six that appears to Gaius, and Callis said we'd be seeing him in season 4. "That avenue will be pursued," he added cautiously, "but I'm not sure how far it will be pursued." One thing he did state categorically: season 4 is the absolute end of the line for Battlestar Galactica. There won't be any renewals or reunion movies to take the story beyond the season 4 climax, their discovery of "Earth." (I guess they learned the lesson of Galactica 1980.)
Eureka Works the Room
The Eureka crew put up a good try at competing with Battlestar's glamor, with stars Salli Richardson (Allison), Erica Cerra (Jo), and Jordan Hinson (Zoe) in lovely gowns and the boys, Ed Quinn (Nathan) and Joe Morton (Henry) looking quite dapper and relaxed. The standout in this cast, though, is series star Colin Ferguson (Jack), whose open shirt and effortless geniality put everyone at ease. Ferguson greeted reporters warmly and courteously stopped on his way into the party to let me snap a picture.
Meanwhile Quinn talked about how this summer's forthcoming third season, for which 21 episodes have reportedly been ordered, would benefit from a change in tone, becoming a little brighter and more colorful after plumbing darker depths in season 2.
Tapping on Atlantis and Sanctuary
Alongside the full casts of Eureka and Battlestar Galactica, Amanda Tapping looked a little lonely as the sole representative of the Stargate franchise. In fact Tapping was doing double duty, as she's splitting her time these days between Stargate Atlantis and Sanctuary, the web-originated Victorian-era fantasy series created by Stargate writer Damian Kindler that was picked up by Sci Fi in January. Tapping told me she thought Sanctuary was a great fit for Sci Fi, saying that the new series was turning out "even better than I expected," partly because the network has a real knack for this kind of material. She does seem happy to be playing a maverick like Helen Magnus, someone who's "the opposite of Carter" in many ways.
Regarding her reduced involvement in season 5 of Atlantis, Tapping said she didn't know how many episodes she was in this year: she filmed the start of the season with the Atlantis crew, then switched over this month to the 13-episode run in front of the green screens with Sanctuary. Once she's done there she returns to Atlantis to film at least part of the end of season 5. When I asked if she'll ever get to do a show that wasn't on Sci Fi, she laughed and said, "Sci Fi pretty much owns my ass."
