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Lucy Lawless in Season 2 of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
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Exclusive Interview: DAVID EICK TALKS CAPRICA & BATTLESTAR GALACTICA SEASON 3 - PART 3
iF MAGAZINE gets the goods on season 3 and fresh off the presses info on the new GALACTICA spin-off series
By SEAN ELLIOTT, Associate Editor
Published 5/4/2006
Season three is just around the corner for SCI FI Channel’s BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, and producer David Eick is hard at work picking up after the year long jump forward at the end of season two. Taking time out from his absolutely swamped schedule Eick gave iF Magazine the exclusive scoop about the upcoming CAPRICA prequel series (which the editors here at the office have nicknamed GALACTICA: B.C.), and the return of Lucy Lawless and Dean Stockwell in season three. iF MAGAZINE: How long has season 3 been filming? DAVID EICK: Season three has been filming for about three weeks. iF: When do you anticipate going into production on the new CAPRICA series? EICK: We would need a green light first. But I would imagine, if that happens, then we would be shooting in August. Ron and I started talking about a prequel series right around the time we were breaking the second season. When I did HERCULES with the folks at Renaissance Pictures we had the spin-off XENA ready to accompany the second season of that show. I told Ron since we were getting ready to head into our second season, that so far he and I hadn’t had a conversation about a spin-off let alone one ready to go to a company with. We realized if we were going to do a spin-off it would have to come from some place organic, it couldn’t just be because we wanted to do one. iF: What was the genesis for CAPRICA? EICK: We got to talking about the events that took place before the attack and how you might be able to spin a story or a style of storytelling that would be different from GALACTICA. We wanted something much more romantic, and much more of a soap that dealt with a corporation and the man in charge of that corporation who in a very innocent and idealized way propagated the artificial intelligence technology that would later become [unbeknownst to him and those involved in the series] the Cylons. That was about as far as we got, and we continued along on our merry way doing season two. We finished that and started to work on season three. Along the same time we were introduced by the studio to a gentlemen named Remi Aubuchon, who had a pitch that struck them as having a lot of similarities to the Cylon mythos. Ron and I thought, "well we were never able to make time to pursue that idea we had a year ago…maybe this is an opportunity to meld what this guy has with what we had. He could write it and we could develop it with him," and so that’s what we did. We were right; his idea was very similar to what we had been talking about. We took some of what we had and some of what he had and he’s going to start writing next week. iF : Is CAPRICA going to air on the SCI FI Channel? EICK: We put our minds together, put the ideas together, and spruced up a pitch. Then we went into the SCI FI Channel and pitched it to them, they were very enthusiastic and it was very well received. They said, ‘we’ll buy it…go write it’ so that is what we are doing.
iF : Lucy Lawless is back in season three, how will her character evolve since she died by Cylon hands? EICK: It does disrupt the new Cylons structure and it doesn’t. It forces a certain detents, that they are going to have re-evaluate certain judgments in their approach to humanity. One of the interesting things about the Cylon culture is it is difficult to hold grudges, even for something as extreme as braining someone with a giant rock, because you can’t kill them. In fact, killing someone is not the worst thing you can do, because Cylons regenerate. It all has to be considered in a different way; it’s not a GODFATHER movie where if you kill someone it’s a cardinal sin that starts wars. It’s a disagreement that we will discover in season three that will force them to contend with each other and reach a compromise through. iF: Has Lucy being on the show changed perspective in regards to the Cylons? EICK: Lucy is a very interesting and imaginative person, and she and I have a lot of conversations. One in particular, she sent me in the direction of reading some materials I was unfamiliar with. That reading did inform the direction we are going with her character. Specifically, we’ll be dealing with a Cylon having a crisis of faith, and that crisis leads her character to a place where she becomes susceptible to betrayal by other Cylons. Her crisis leads to an over correction that turns her into a Cylon heretic. That’s all weird and interesting and very religious, and it ads a certain textured approach to the Cylons. Lucy is someone who is well-read and has intellectual curiosity, and she’s always going to bring up new ideas and bounce them off of us; so that’s the exciting thing about having her. iF: Will Dean Stockwell be returning in season three? EICK: He will be returning. We haven’t actually booked him, but he’s written into the scripts, so if we don’t get him it will be a really big pain in the ass. Check back next week for the final part of our four-part DAVID EICK interview
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Reader Comments
Am guzel mi yarag from sez....
8/18/2009 1:32:53 PM
Baltiman from Coventry, England sez....
Dear makes of Battlestar Galactica...
The new BSG is a brilliant and *huge* leap forwards in creative sci-fi. Much more so than Next Gen was from the original Star Trek. Well done to everyone involved in it's creation.
But..a romantic soap prequel about the build up to the creation of the cylons??? Nooooo, please nooo! It sounds like Dallas meets Small Soldiers filmed on the set of The Phantom Menace. Will everyone please wake up and smell the bacon?
Making a prequel to a hit is going to have a lot of interest - standing, as it does, on the shoulders of a giant; but the results are almost always poor, quickly loose credibility and are never creative IMHO. The motivation to make them is all wrong.
Look how Star Wars fell from the hallowed ground of brilliant Sci-Fi into a prequel with a lack-lustre veneer of CGI to cover inadequacies in plot, character development and dialogue - or, as some people prefer to call it, The Phantom Menace. I prefer to call it a Playstation advert.
Next Gen, although only a shadow of the remake of BSG, was separated from the original Star Trek by many years, gave new life to Gene Roddenberry's ideas and stood on it's own feet. Shortly afterwards we had the "Next Gen" spin offs getting progressively more tiresome until they made the abomination called Enterprise.
Eager Sci-Fi geeks (I admit I am one) often move in small circles and somehow seem to think that theirs is a populist view and that this is somehow important - they don't and it isn't. BSG is so good that the fact that the backdrop is Sci-Fi is irrelevant. The show holds up an honest mirror to humanity and shows us naked, warts and all - this is what gives the show impact.
Avoid the dead end alley that awaits in spin-off city, go make something new and challenging - you obviously have the talent and insight. My vote would go for a 1960s political drama called "The truth behind Pamama". Manuel Noriega playing some sort of Commander Adama character and the CIA star as the coke sniffing Cylons, throw in a Boomer or two for intrigue. Now THAT would be worth watching!
10/8/2006 4:42:31 AM
steve from leicester sez....
quite honestly I think this is the finest piece of television ever devised - even better than Band of Brothers which was also put together with lavish attention to character and plot detail. The realism of the effects just add to the sumptuous slender of this opera. I hope the writters can keep up the pace in season 3 but at the same time i wish these things could get turned around quicker but i 'spose you can't be too greedy. I only hope a certain Mr Lucas is paying attention for his forthcoming Star Wars series - can you imagin such production values, character and scripting but set in the SW mythology !!!!
9/6/2006 10:59:43 AM
lee from norfolk sez....
Can i just say that the show has been great so far im really hooked to the show all the characters are great and im glad season two was spiced up but i think the show could be more romantic and not always focusing on apollo and starbuck but other than that its been great i think they designs of the cylons are exellent so i can't wait untill season three starts looking forward to it
6/22/2006 2:51:56 AM
Darrin from Somerset sez....
I think skipping a year kind of threw me off a bit.. and the wait ... jeez.. why so long??? You have won a devoted fan but out of sight out of mind.. Looking forward to Caprica..
6/19/2006 8:24:24 AM
Cavel from Nova Scotia sez....
On a few web sites, Dean Stockwell's name is Cavel (pronounced 'Cah vil). I wonder where they got his name. It's not really Greek like Apollo, nor is it 1950's like Billy. It should be pronounced (ca 'Vel).
5/26/2006 5:13:39 PM
Kroninn from VENTURA, CA sez....
Chatoyant from Orlando...Leave it alone. We all know what happens when girls get their hands on a guy's show, it's the beginning of the end. I want inventive story-writing, Power-Struggle, realism, suspension of dis-believe. Not "Days of our lives" with guns and uniforms. Leave the estragen out of it. Sensitive audience? This isn't DR. PHIL, it's part of BSG. Sorry, but that's just crap.
5/22/2006 10:28:38 AM
SPIKE TV from Cable sez....
"We wanted something much more romantic, and much more of a soap..."
Bwaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Television for Women. And girly men.
5/11/2006 10:54:52 AM
Tony from UKUK sez....
More of a soap than BSG? Wow. It'll be Days of Our Lives in Space.
5/8/2006 2:25:57 AM
Vay Ammunu sikim from Saudi Arabistan sez....
Yav bırakın bu işleri ilerleyin yv bırak capicayı amuga goyim başltanın bsg'yi zikecem ha. yarag kafalılar.
5/7/2006 7:39:56 AM
Chatoyant from Orlando sez....
I am totaly psyched about 3rd season, I knew they would have something clever in store for D'Anna. And Cavil, too! Faith and science, man and machine, love and toasters. And what is wrong with soap operas except for the bad acting? Get over yourselves boys, and share it your best girl. If Caprica brings in the sensitive audience, Battlestar could benefit.
5/5/2006 5:04:57 PM
James Bond from London and Loving Lucy sez....
I am immensely interested in the interview and new direction of the Battlestar Galactica series this season, with the Indescribably Talented Intelligent Lovable Adorable Tender Wonderful Beautiful Gorgeous Arousing Precious Sweet Sweet Heavenly Sexxxy Perfect :) Goddess Lucy, :) whom I Love :) so Indescribably Endlessly Heavenly Forever! :)
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Lucy! :) I was very interested in what producer and Her friend David Eick said, and especially that she is such an interesting, imaginative, well-read, and intelligent intellectual person while being so Incomparably Unbelievably Out of this Wordly Heavenly Sexxxy Perfect! :) She is so Heavenly Sexxxy Perfect :) in every way it is hard to believe She is actually a real part of the world. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Lucy :) Oh God Lucy :) I Love :) You :) Lucy! :)
Forever Devoted :) to the Sweet Sweet Heavenly Perfect Goddess Lucy, :)
James Who Loves Lucy :) Forever :)
5/5/2006 2:59:22 PM
hellboy from Serbia sez....
"We wanted something much more romantic, and much more of a soap..."
Come on David. At least stop making soap of BSG.
5/5/2006 1:33:09 PM
The Merovingian from someplace else sez....
Well I'm pretty excited, but confused on that; is the whole "it's a soap and romantic etc etc" details just...early planning stages stuff? Because Eick talks about it like that was their early idea.
5/5/2006 12:07:33 AM
Andrew from Chicago sez....
"We wanted something much more romantic, and much more of a soap..." -- O Brother! Where's HAL 9000 when you need him.
5/4/2006 8:11:32 PM
Rukos from Philadelphia sez....
Good interview... enough interesting bits without giving anything of real substance away... Will we see an eventual explanation of the origin of the cylon monothesitic religion out of the polythesitic 12 gods of Kobold ?
5/4/2006 7:13:50 PM
Byron from Phoenix sez....
Great interview. However, I don't really agree with the statement that the next season of BSG is right around the corner. At least from the fan's perspective, October is an etnernity. We still haven't been given a real explanation about why they next season was put off for so long. Can you ask Eick about that?
5/4/2006 4:39:42 PM
