Since Ron Moore’s Battlestar Galactica went off the air a few years ago, there have been plenty of fans with a critical response as to the way the storylines got wrapped up and had a less-than impressive ending.

Now, through the genius of College Humor, they have managed to sum up all 4 seasons of the epic sci-fi series into a simple RPG circa the mid 1990s. With all of the wonderful text-based options to boot.

So if you were a fan of the series, or not so much, you will thoroughly enjoy this video game satire. If only it were real…Take a look after the jump.

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When Battlestar Galactica ended its run a few years ago fans were pretty disappointed. It was a great show that was enjoyed by a lot of people. One of the reasons for that enjoyment was the great cast.

Ron Moore, Exec. Producer and Co-Creator of the re-imagined series, tried to give fans something they’ve been wising for with the pilot for his series for NBC called 17th Precinct. Reuniting for the pilot were BSG alumni Jamie Bamber, James Callis and Tricia Helfer along with Caprica‘s Esai Morales. Sadly, no Edward James Olmos was in sight.

However, what we did get is a pretty interesting and inventive pilot which gives a new twist on the well-worn police procedural. It’s so fresh, in fact, that’s that’s probably the reason NBC decided not to pick it up. They would rather have a block of Whitney Cummings and Chelsey Handler shows and put Community on “hiatus” than have original programming.

But, I digress. Check out the pilot after the break while you still can. It might go away just as fast as it appeared.

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Freddie Mercury is a musical genius. If you ever doubt that fact go watch Highlander and enjoy a fantastic film that is made nigh classic by its soundtrack from Mercury’s band Queen. His loss ranks amongst the most tragic music industry passings, and he remains an icon to this day.

Bear McCreary, composer of such classic TV shows as Battlestar Galactica and The Walking Dead, has teamed up with his brother Brendon and Metalacolypse creator Brendon Small to honor the late rock icon. In a tribute show benefiting the AIDS Project LA the three musicians will take the stage together and put on a show.

There are often really cool things to do when you live in Los Angeles, but I have to say this event might out do them all. I implore anyone and everyone who lives in the LA area to check this out. Not only are you assured of getting a great show, but you also are contributing to a worthy cause. My fingers are crossed that they rock out to an epic version of Princes of the Universe.

Full details on the event after the jump.

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Last week we looked at a new arrangement for a classic score, this week we are again taking a look at another new take on some familiar tunes. Unlike The Lord of the Rings Symphony, which was basically an awesome mix-tape of Shore’s scores, The Music of Battlestar Galactica for Solo Piano is a complete re-imagining of the music from the series.

The tracks on this 2-disc set are all arranged by McCreary and performed by talented Korean pianist Joohyun Park, who brings a new perspective to the music. The songs were all originally written for large orchestras, but the these arrangements and  Joohyun Park’s expert performance take these tracks to a new and interesting place.

Conceptually I love the concept of taking popular orchestral scores and arranging them for solo piano. Not only is it often very pleasant to listen too, but it also encourages people to show interesting in playing and eventually making music themselves. If one person, with practice and time, can play film and TV music all by themselves, you drastically increase the likelihood new talent will choose the life of a multimedia composer.

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One of the greatest sci-fi horror films of all time is undoubtedly James Cameron’s Alien franchise. Though the series seemed to lose focus as sequels progressed, there is no denying the gasp inducing moments that still hold up over twenty years since the original film’s release. Not surprisingly, there have been a number of movie tie-in video game titles as well. While some were critically received better than others, there is no question of the selling power of the franchise that has created over 20 titles over a handful of different consoles.

In Spring 2012, SEGA will be unleashing the next installment in the Alien series with Aliens: Colonial Marines. Written by Battlestar Galactica writers Bradley Thompson and David Weddle, Aliens: Colonial Marines will follow the events of the film series, specifically those of Aliens as a search and rescue team of marines tries to find Ellen Ripley and the rest of the missing crew from the Aliens film.

Aliens: Colonial Marines will be a first person tactical squad based shooter. Players will control a team of four marines, each with specific skills and weaponry that they can control by issuing commands as well as swapping on the fly between teammates. The game will also feature two player split screen co-op gameplay and four player online co-op as well. Competitive multiplayer has been announced but details are yet to be revealed.

Take a peek below at the first screens and trailer for this upcoming title and stick to the Flickcast for more on Aliens: Colonial Marines as more information becomes available.

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Excellent news for fans of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica that were disappointed when the show ended its run on SyFy a couple years back, a new show called Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome is coming that’s sure to make you happy. This new show, which we mentioned previously as just a possibility for the web, has now been given the greenlight for a two hour pilot by the powers that be at SyFy.

In case you forgot or didn’t hear about this new show before, it deals with the young years of Ensign William Adama as he begins his journey through the first Human Cylon war. It takes place between the events of the first BSG series and those of the currently running show Caprica and is being produced by David Eick.

While this is good news for fans of the show who wanted more, one question remains. Will this new show be given the treatment it deserves or will it, in fact, be a web show as was previously reported? Obviously, we would prefer a full blown series with all that entails instead of a web series. Not that we have anything against web series, we certainly don’t.

However, if we have a choice we would prefer the show to be much like the previous BSG series and have that kind of budget and scope. A two hour pilot seems like a promising start so I guess we’ll find out soon enough what’s going to happen. In the meantime, we’ve always got our BSG complete series on Blu-ray.

Check out the full press release from SyFy after the jump.

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The Syfy Network has confirmed that Caprica will return on October 5, three months earlier than originally planned. Previously, it was announced that season 1.5 of the Battlestar Galactica spinoff would not air until January of 2011, which really didn’t make much sense.

In its new timeslot, Caprica will air following new episodes of Stargate Universe, which makes a heck of a lot more sense considering they are both Sci-Fi shows and Stargate is a great lead in. Syfy EVP Mark Stern obviously agrees.

“Though we initially announced the January return of Caprica, we still had hopes of finding a way to get the series back on the air sooner,” said Stern. “We’ve been able to successfully re-work our schedule, and are thrilled to bring the show back during what is traditionally Syfy’s most-watched time of the year.”

Sadly, while this is good new for fans of the series, the fact that no decision has been made on a second season for the show makes this news not quite as good as it could be. It seems Syfy is trying to give the show a chance by moving the premiere earlier but will most certainly be watching the ratings carefully to see if a second season is warranted.

So, if you’re a fan of the show and want to see it come back for a second season, you had better encourage everyone you know to watch the show when it comes back.

Yes, you read that headline correctly. Syfy is preparing a new Battlestar Galactica series, currently entitled Blood and Chrome, that will follow the exploits of William Adama during the Cylon War.

However, before you start to get too excited the series won’t actually be a full blown TV show airing on Syfy. Instead, it will be a web series with about 10 episodes, each around 9 minutes long. Not that I have anything against web series, in fact I kinda love them. I was just hoping for a new network show with a big budget and lots of awesome Cylon heads exploding and big space battles.

Oh well, here’s more on the show from Syfy:

According to Mark Stern, Syfy’s executive vice president of original programming and the co-head of original content for Universal Cable Productions, “Battlestar Galactica” and “Caprica” co-executive producer Michael Taylor will write the the script for the new venture.

“Blood & Chrome” is “about a young man’s initiation into war: both the realities of war as fought by soldiers on the ground (and in Battlestars and Vipers), and the somewhat less real version portrayed in the media,” according to Taylor.

“Blood & Chrome” would consist of nine or 10 episodes of nine or 10 minutes each, and it would make use of cutting-edge digital technology and special effects to depict the Cylon War. If it is greenlit to production, it will be filmed using green screens and virtual sets, not unlike Syfy’s “Sanctuary” or James Cameron’s “Avatar.” Before “Battlestar Galactica” ended, high-tech scans were made of all the show’s sets, so that the special-effects team will be able to re-create them (possibly even in 3D).

But wait, there’s more:

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You might have noticed that we’re big fans of Battelstar Galactica here at The Flickcast, so we were thrilled at the chance to sit down and discuss the reimagined world that he has brought to life with fellow producer, Ron Moore. At a roundtable at this year’s Comic-Con, Eick discussed the future of Caprica over a bottle of Don Julio and when fans can expect another season to be announced and ready to go.

“I think we just finished what we’re calling Season 1.5. You will hear about the next season by August 15 or before. We’re still working out contracts, among other things.”

Since there are wildly divergent opinions between fans of Eick’s last creation, Battlestar Galactica, and fans of his current endeavor Caprica, we were curious to get his take on this on-going schism and if there was a way to keep both camps happy, or if it was something that they were even worried about.

“We knew to expect a greater mix with this, because we knew we were not going to develop it or market it as a spin off of Battlestar. We knew those fans might have expected it would be much more intensely easter eggy in terms of well, here’s how Laura Roslin got her name and all that kind of stuff, but we just knew we weren’t going to do a show like that.  We very consciously tried not to market it or complicate it like that. We just believed that the audience would discover the show, let the show find its way, finds its legs, tighten its focus and get better, which it does.

“By the way, Battlestar was initially just as divided but for completely different reasons. So, I think we had this whole contingency of fans of the original show who are boycotting it, so it doesn’t feel any different to me. The very first Comic-Con for Battlestar was like George W. Bush going up at an ACLU rally. We felt like pariahs the first time.”

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One thing I can’t get enough of are comic book conventions. I started attending eight years ago and haven’t looked back. If  you’ve never been (and are at all interested in comics) I encourage you to check out at least one if it’s within a reasonable distance.  I promise, you won’t experience anything like it as they have an energy all their own.

This passed weekend Wizard World delivered their comic convention to Toronto, Canada.  It was an inaugural event here in Canada but there were no shortage of attendees. While the list of guests was not as huge as I would have liked, there were some interesting names.  Firefly’s Jewel Staite, Battlestar Galactica’s Kandyse McClure and Luciana Carro, Buck Roger’s Gil Gerard and Erin Gray, and Caprica’s own Magda Apanowicz.

A couple very notable appearances were made by Bob Clark, The legendary Gorn Captain from Star Trek and a personal favorite Doug Jones, best known for his portrayal of The Silver Surfer in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Jones, well known for his very articulate portrayal of movement in the roles he takes on also played Abe Sapien in both Hellboy movies.

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Since Battlestar Galactica ended, fans of that world and characters have had to content themselves with watching the show on DVD or by watching the BSG prequel show Caprica. That show started strong but then floundered for a time finally hitting its stride over the last few weeks with some truly excellent episodes. Obviously, the quality of these recent episodes has paid off as the rating for the show have improved as well.

Now, the mid-season finale is upon us and to give you an idea of what’s going to happen, the folks at Syfy have sent us a little preview. Of course, we’re going to share it with you. Here’s what to expect from tonight’s episode, entitled “End of Line”, directly from Syfy:

Daniel (Eric Stoltz) finally sets a deadline for resetting the U-87 Cylon – and unknowingly ending Zoe-A’s (Alessandra Torresani) existence as she knows it – she makes a desperate attempt to save herself. But when her plan backfires, she finds herself out of time and out of options. Furious with a recent comeuppance, Barnabas (James Marsters) ignites his feud with Clarice (Polly Walker) into an all-out war. Trapped in the middle is Lacy (Magda Apanowicz), who is forced to make a decision she may regret forever. Daniel makes a confession to an already reeling Amanda (Paula Malcomson) that sends her over the edge.

Mmmm, sounds very interesting. Can’t wait. Check out this preview of tonight’s mid-season finale after the jump. Caprica airs tonight at 9/8C on Syfy

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Obviously, we’re big fans of Battlestar Galactica around here. It was a great show that, at least in our opinion, went away too soon. We’re also fans of the pioneering band The Beastie Boys and have always thought these two things should come together somehow and if they did, the results would be awesome.

Well, our wish has been granted because an enterprising person out there in the world (aka YouTube user katamaran78) has decided that it should be so and has created a cool video combining BSG with The Beastie Boys mega hit “Sabotage.” The result is very cool and very entertaining and in every way as awesome as we thought it would be.

Sadly, as good as the video is, it does remind us once again how much we miss BSG. Fortunately, we’ve always got Caprica to dull the pain. Check out the video after the jump.

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