TV.com

We had a news and notes thread for Season 4, which used to be pinned to the top of the forum. Since Season 4.0 has already aired, that thread doesn't have much relevance anymore. However, with the lengthy hiatus planned in between the two halves of the season, it makes sense to have a new "news and notes" thread for Season 4.5.

A new set of webisodes to be available later in 2008

The Chicago Tribune reports that the Sci Fi Channel will produce a new set of webisodes and make them available during the mid-season hiatus. No word yet on the exact date of release.

Season 4.5 to start in the 1st Quarter of 2009

There have been quite a few developments this week. First off, the president of the Sci Fi Channel confirmed that the 2nd half of the season will begin airing in 2009. But it will be the 1st quarter of 2009, so we know the episodes will start to air in January, February or March.

The second half of the season may expand to 11 or 12 episodes

Ronald Moore is writing the script for the series finale himself. Apparently the script contains so much material that it will probably be necessary to expand the series finale to 2 or 3 episodes. Thus, the back half of the season may include as much as 12 episodes, not the 10 episodes previously announced.

Battlestar Galactica TV movies

It also looks like at least one of the rumored BSG TV movies will be made. No word yet on the other two movies that had been discussed on a few websites.

The Caprica prequel

The Caprica TV movie will air on the Sci Fi Channel later this year as a possible backdoor pilot. There are some concerns that the story is so dense that it might not work well as a stand-alone TV movie. However, if enough BSG fans and new viewers tune in -- and buy the DVD -- we could still see a weekly Caprica series at some point in the future.

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You may comment on BSG news items but please do not post any significant spoilers from unaired episodes on this thread. I will try to edit this first post of the thread so that all major developments can be found in a convenient location.

It would be great to get 12 episodes instead of 10. Frankly the more the better IMO and I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels that way. Any news on the possible Web/minisodes we heard about? Are they just a myth or could they still happen?

If they are concerned the Caprica story would be too dense for a two hour movie, they should just turn it into a miniseries like they did for BSG.

Any other specifics on the webisodes? Such as when will they take place and so on? Also, I'm guessing only Americans get to see this websides, as always, right?

No information about the schedule has been released yet. It's likely that the webisodes will be available for U.S. residents only as with most official video streams.

I hate that about the webisodes. I mean there are some of the videos on SciFi website that you can see from anywhere, so why can't they make the webisodes available to everyone? They have to know that they have fans outside of the US.

But as for having the webisodes, great. More BSG is never a bad thing. And the TV movie should be interesting, as should the Caprica movie. So I guess lots more BSG to tide us over. It's a small comfort. I wonder what the TV movie will be about.

And having the finale as a three parter? That would be beyond amazing. And I have a feeling everyone is going to die waiting in between episodes.

2009?! So we may have to wait upto 9 months?!

damn I hate mid-season breaks. Couldn't they be like 2 or 3 months?

They usually are. This is the only show (that i know of) that has season and midseason breaks as long as this. I don't really see why it can't be a three month break anyway. They started filming the second half of the season in march, I think. So three months should be plenty of time to get caught up and what not. I don't get why scifi is being so stupid. And anyone who says "I would rather have a show that isn't rushed" they are currently writing the series finalle, they would not be rushed at ALL!

They are just wetting the appetites of long time fans and hoping new fans would be able to catch up after watching the dvds of past season or catching them in reruns. This eventually will lead to a huge cresendo when the final act is revealed which hopefully will translate into unbelievable ratings high for the show.

Battlestar Galactica remains at the top spot on the TV.com Top Ten list, four days after the mid-season finale aired. That's a good indicator of the effect that the episode had on its viewers.

We'll try to keep interest in BSG high during the long hiatus. Maybe we'll continue to get good news about more BSG TV movies.

It's actually supposed to be 12 hours long. Like the regular season with 9 episodes, but episode 10 has been extended to 3 hours.