The Envelope Part Deux

Earlier this week Louise attended one of the six LA Times “The Envelope” events sponsored by the publication as a way for voting members to see shows and/or films that are being considered as nominees for awards season.  These events are now open to the public – but on a first-come, first-serve basis.  Thankfully, myself and a friend (along with about 150 to 200 other interested folks) were able to attend the Battlestar Galactica presentation last week at Graumann’s Chinese Theatre in the heart of Hollywood.

The difference with this presentation from the Californication event for which Louise attended was this event included two gentleman representing the United Nations (The Department of Public Information Department to be exact) as well as actors Mary McDonnell and Edward James Olmos and the shows’ executive producers (and masterminds) Ronald Moore and David Eick.  This event was a “sequel” of sorts to the recent presentation the cast and crew made to the United Nations in New York and centered on “TV’s Role in Making Global Issues Relevant”.

As anyone who has watched episodes of the series know, many topical events were portrayed throughout the course of the series, including the genocide of the human race by the Cylons, torture of prisoners and secret tribunals just to name a few.  The issues of race, religion and freedom from tyranny were just a small sample of the hard-hitting issues that were shown in the series.  Many current topics were discussed during the presentation with clips from the show interspersed to bring the message to the forefront.

The event wasn’t entirely serious, though.  There were moments of laughter as well as excitement – especially when Mr. Olmos explained more about the upcoming BSG movie The Plan which will take the 280 plus days after the Cylons attack on the human race and examine it from their point of view.   The movie, directed by Mr. Olmos, will be airing this fall on the Sci-Fi Channel and the trailer that was shown was well received by the entire room.

The audience was warned, however, that the version that will air on TV will only be 88 minutes, but the DVD version is actually 2 hours and 6 minutes long.  If you are a fan of the reimagined BSG, you will want to see this movie and purchase the DVD when it is available.

Before the end of the event, the cast and crew gave “shout-outs” to several of the shows’ writers, producers and directors who were in the audience.  Mr. Moore also made a point of asking for a special round of applause (that turned into a standing ovation) for director Michael Rymer, who oversaw the mini-series and the bulk of the series.  According to Mr. Moore, Mr. Rymer worked in conjunction with he and Mr. Eick in developing the show and while Ron and David received the bulk of the attention over the course of the series, Mr. Rymer deserved the same accolades.

Lastly,  Mr. Eick and Mr. Moore were asked briefly about Caprica, the new series for the Sci-Fi Channel about the genesis of the Cylons and the early days of William Adama and his father, and they advised the series should be coming to the air in early 2010.