Battlestar Blowout: Ron Moore Answers You!

Source: Kristin's Blog

It's Friday, folks, which some (like moi) might like to call "Frakkin' A, It's Battlestar Day." The show is completely rocking this season and is this close to its fall finale (the second-to-last episode airs tonight). So, to celebrate, we checked in with the big brain behind the Sci Fi Channel's gritty, sexy, smarty-pants series for the latest scoop on Starbuck, Apollo and those pesky Cylons!

I'm talking, of course, about creator and executive producer Ronald D. Moore, who is answering everything you always wanted to know about Battlestar Galactica and weren't afraid to ask ('cause you did—via email, to me).

If you aren't already a BSG addict, read this for some insight in the best psychotic-killer-robot show on TV, and then tune in for the truly fraktabulous fall finale next Friday, Dec. 15 on Sci Fi. Be warned, though, some of this Q&A gets a little spoilery, so if you don't want the fraktastic surprises ruined, proceed carefully.

KV: First, let me say, this season has been amazing.
Thank you.

KV: And as you know, we have fan questions for you. Lots and lots of fan questions. So, let's dig in. First, from Roguegirl: Will we ever find out why baby Hera is the shape of things to come?
Yes, we will—but probably not until close to the end of the series.

KV: Someone just walked past my office and heard I was interviewing you, and now I have a Post-it note here that says, "Ask him if Lucy Lawless is dreaming or if she really does kill herself!"
In the shows we've seen, yes, she is killing herself over and over again.

Daragirl: Where are you headed with the storyline about Starbuck's (Katee Sackhoff) daughter? Does it have anything to do with the upcoming flashback with Starbuck and her mother?
It does not—and we have pretty much wrapped up the storyline about Starbuck's surrogate daughter. We did have some more storylines developed about Casey and Starbuck's relationship with the little girl, but we abandoned them along the way. Actually, we don't have plans to see Casey again this season.

KV: Okay, bye, little girl.
She went off to live with Boxy—a reference from the miniseries—there was a little boy Boxy that was never seen again.

Kbroxmysox: Are Adama (Edward James Olmos) and Roslin (Mary McDonnell) going to become more than friends and associates?
We are going to play around with that a little bit. In some upcoming episodes they are going to start dancing around the idea that maybe/maybe not there is something here. We're not going for full-blown romance, but there could be something in the offing.

Uryadone: Are we going to see a return of the mysticism in the future? Does the show deal with President Roslin's seeming abandonment of her role as the leader of the prophecies?
You will definitely see both of those things.

nacho77: Will Anders (Michael Trucco) have a new storyline without Kara?
Yes, he will. It's later in the season, and it's sort of hard to describe—he starts his own storyline in the latter half of the season.

KV: This is my favorite question. Kbroxmysox asks, "What the frak is going on with Baltar (James Callis) and Six (Tricia Helfer)?" And just from me, do you feel like it's just important that they are together, or do the writers spend a lot time on the mechanics of chips and fantasies and who's in whose head?
We kind of do both—we play both sides of the line so she can argue that she is a chip in his head or that she is a manifestation of his unconscious or she is a guardian angel from some other power. The trick of the show is to never really answer that question, because she is more interesting if you don't know who she is and exactly what she's all about. But, internally, we do have an idea why she is there and why she is telling Baltar certain things at certain times. And there is a connection to why Caprica Six needs her own Fantasy Baltar as well.

Martin: Does Six love Gaius, and does he love her, as they have claimed?
Does Fantasy Six or does Caprica Six?

KV: You tell me.
I think it is genuine. Both the Six he knew—the woman he actually knew on Caprica—and the manifestations both share the same characteristic in that they really want Baltar to love them. That's a key idea of hers. Whether Baltar loves her goes to the question of "Can Baltar love anyone?" That is an open question, even now.

KV: Off that. There has been a lot of discussion about hybrids. Helo (Tahmoh Penikett) and Sharon (Grace Park) were able to have a baby on the grounds, allegedly, that they brought love into the equation. If Six and Gaius love each other, could they have another hybrid baby?
You would think. But clearly they have been having sex for a while, and we played with the idea on New Caprica that Baltar was having performance problems, and we used to even have some dialogue about her frustration about the fact she wasn't getting pregnant—and she does want to have a baby. If Baltar is saying he loves her, and she's not getting pregnant, it seems to put the lie to what he has said.

Menamarie: Do Cylons get older, or do they always stay the same age?
That's a good question! We've talked about it internally, as well, but we don't really have an answer for that. On camera they don't look like they are aging, so we haven't had to deal with it. [Laughs.]

Ninjakat: Do we ever see the remaining five Cylons and find out the backstory of why the seven we know don't speak of them?
Yes, we will—I can't even really tell you when it will happen, but I can tell you it will definitely happen.

Nacho77: Are the five secret Cylons newer models or older models?
You are going to find out—that's a hard question to answer. The final five Cylons are different than the other Cylons, but I don't want to give away if they are newer or older or what their relationship is to the other Cylons. That's one of the mysteries we are teasing out over the course of a lot of episodes.

Menamarie: Is the ragtag fleet going to encounter any other signposts or interesting artifacts left by the 13th Colony that point the way to Earth?
Yes, they will, and that happens this season.

KV: As a follow-up, do you believe that the 13th Colony was intentionally poisoning Cylons that might be toddling past their beacons?
No, that is an interesting theory, but that wasn't ever what we talked about. It was a genuine accident.

KV: In the vein of War of the Worlds, bacteria…
Yeah, it was more along those lines.

Annmys: What can we expect for season 3.5?
We are going to see some interesting things: We meet Adama's wife for the first time, in an unusual way, and see who his ex-wife is and the roots of why they were divorced and the problems Lee had growing up. There are some big stand-alone episodes, including one for Helo, and one for Tyrol (Aaron Douglas), and there's a really pivotal episode with Starbuck, sort of a fighter-plane episode about her. Beyond that, it starts to wrap up into our finale, and there is a three-part episode that gets us to the end of the season. By then, we will have major revelations and some major plot turns.

KV: Would you guys do something again like the webisodes during the hiatus between seasons two and three?
We haven't talked about it yet, because there are still some problems between studios and the Writers Guild. So, as of now, there is nothing planned.

Annmys: As the producer and writer in charge, do you know how the show ends?
Yes, I do. I have an idea where we should end the series, and the question is how long the story, I think, can go from here to there.

KV: How long would you like to carry on?
It's so hard. By the end of the season I'm like, "How many more of these can we get out?" And then sure enough, we think of a whole lot more in the writers' room—but at least a couple more years.

KV: Is there anything else you want the people to know about Battlestar Galactica?
The biggest thing to be aware of is that in the spring, we are moving to Sunday nights at 10.

And may the Gods of Kobol bring BSG very excellent ratings in its new time slot, bring you all brand-new TiVos for Chrismukkah and everybody a little peace on Earth. Amen. (Er…so say we all!)

—Additional reporting by Jennifer Godwin