BSG and Caprica creators Ron Moore and David Eick, showrunner Jane Espenson, and actor Esai Morales, who plays Bill Adama's Tauron father Joseph, spoke at yesterday's Caprica/Battlestar Galactica panel about what we can expect from the show's first season.

If you were hoping the show would retain the topless nightclub shots from the DVD pilot, you're in for a bit of disappointment; the network demanded all nipple-y bits be digitally erased for the television premiere (officially announced today as January 22, 2010). But fans of Battlestar Galactica should still keep their eyes open for other visual goodies, says Eick:

The relationship between the two shows is very tangential, but there will be easter eggs for fans along the way. I think as fans of Battlestar watch Caprica there are occasional nods to Battlestar, to some knowledge that I think the fans will have.

For example, many fans noticed that the nightclub in the Caprica pilot suspiciously resembles the opera house shown throughout BSG:

Yes, as a matter of fact, we're going to some of the same sets. In fact, where Esai [Morales] and Trow have a conversation about what he has to do is the same place where we shot a lot of Helo and Sharon running for their lives in the first season.

At the same time, you won't see any of the twelve Cylon models we know and love, and we probably won't meet any other younger versions of our heroes, or their families, apart from young Willie Adama.

Although the look and feel of Caprica is a world away from the gritty Battlestar Galactica, the design team is the same, and Moore and Eick assure us that they'll maintain the same attention to detail, but to a different effect:

We wanted it to feel like it's a bit of a period piece, because it is a period piece for the Galactica. It's 58 years prior to Battlestar Galactica, so we wanted to have this feel like it's a different time within this particular universe. And yet we wanted to communicate different cultural identities, so we saw that the Taurons feel more like they're in the 1940s, with these hats, ties, and smoking clove cigarettes, the cars more vintage, and they sort of have that flavor throughout...it's a different style, an aesthetic different from seeing the contemporary Caprica during Battlestar.

And in the press roundtables after the panel, Moore told us that there was a deliberate decision to make Caprica look and feel as different from BSG as possible. That includes a lot more outdoor and street filming, as opposed to BSG's mainly interior shots. It's expensive and difficult to recreate Caprica in Vancouver on a regular basis, shooting one episode in seven days, but it's totally worth it, says Moore.

At the beginning of the panel, Moore listed Caprica's major theme as being mankind's relationship with advancing technology and the ethics of dealing with artificial intelligence. But as the panel went on, he, Eick, Espenson focused most of their discussion on the political and cultural conflicts between the humans. We'll apparently get to see more of the world-building around Colonial life that we glimpsed in the pilot. Says Moore:

At this point in time, the planets, the Colonies, are at war with each other periodically. It's not a time of war...the colonies themselves are a loose commonwealth, confederation. There is no president, no equivalent to Laura Roslin at this point in time. There's a prime minister of Caprica and there are heads of state on various other colonies.

There are tensions, reservations, biases. There's a certain racist thread that runs through some of the relationships in terms of Taurons and Capricans.

So does this mean we'll get to see what armed skirmishes look like between the individual Colonies? All signs point to yes. During the press roundtables after the panel, Moore told us that "the twelve colonies actually war with each other" during this time period. And instead of the Cylons being the main "other" that our heroes are threatened by, the humans treat each other as the exotic threat, because the Cylons don't really exist yet. Moore says science fiction can address thorny issues like racism, because people who would get offended by the discussion of such topics don't take the genre seriously enough to care.

Jane Espenson noted that this different situation for the colonies allows the writers and designers to differentiate between the different colonies through their dress, traditions, and — she said rather pointedly into the microphone — their tattoos, like the one on Sam Adama's neck.

The panel's moderator asked Esai Morales whether his character, Joseph Adama, has a tattoo as well:

I may not have done what my brother did, but I may have a tattoo here or there somewhere. But we can't give it all away here. We have to save some of it.

In the press roundtables, Espenson added that she's trying to go against real-world ethnic stereotypes in portraying the twelve colonies. The writers have a bible describing all twelve of these worlds, saying things like "This one is like India, except," followed by a big list of differences. Each of these twelve worlds could be its own TV series, and they're trying to make sure each planet has a varied climate and its own mix of cultures and classes, rather than having planets that are purely homogenous. One example of avoiding stereotypes is Sam Adama, Bill Adama's brother — he's a gangster, but he's self-educated and always speaks with perfect grammar. So he's a total thug, but without any of the usual cues that would make it easy for us to identify him as such.

Talking to Newsarama, Eick admitted that webisodes are definitely part of the plan for Battlestar's final season:

Yes, we are doing webisodes but when they are premiering I am not positive. Like the webisodes we have done before, they will continue on the story threads that don’t make the cut. I don’t want to give too much away but they are going to follow the same paradigm as we’ve done before.

That paradigm would presumably be The Resistance, the 2006 online-only 10-part lead-in to Galactica's third season, and the Razor "flashbacks" that trailed last year's one-off movie. Does this mean that you'll only get the full story behind why this has all happened before and will all happen again if we tune in online?

David Eick Talks Battlestar Galactica Past, Present, Future [Newsarama]

BSG and Caprica:

I asked Eick whether BSG's ending would tie in with the prequel series. Did the development of Caprica spell any changes for how BSG ends? No, said Eick. The two shows have been totally separate since Caprica first went into development a couple of years ago. "They were on two separate tracks," and BSG's ending has been planned out "in broad strokes" for a long time.

So does that mean we won't see any Caprica characters in the tail end of BSG — such as Daniel Graystone or his daughter Zoe? Eick confirmed that nobody from Caprica would be turning up on BSG. "It's a prequel, so we don't have to deal with that kind of cross-pollination, since it takes place 51 years before the BSG miniseries."

The BSG TV movie:

It's not a done deal yet, says Eick. If it happens, it'll be like Razor in that it'll "involve a unique perspective on a story you thought you knew." He won't reveal when in the show's past it takes place, but it delves into "territory that the fans would be familiar with, and offers new perspective."

Lee Adama actor Jamie Bamber says it's "highly unlikely" that he would be in the TV movie, now that he's starring in Law And Order: UK. "I don't think the story is intended to be a Lee story anyway, from what i know." He wouldn't mind going back and reprising the role of Lee, but he feels like the show has ended well and he won't lose any sleep if he never plays Apollo again.

On subverting expectations:

Eick says having the title Battlestar Galactica helped the show. "I don't want to say it lowered expectations, but it created a climate of expectations that it was going to be a certain type of show that it didn't turn out to be." People expected something goofy, funny, escapist or silly from a show with that title — and maybe BSG would have been more popular if it had been more escapist — but that wasn't the show Eick and Ronald D. Moore were making. And the show, as it was, took people by surprise.

On being a secret cylon:

I asked Michael Trucco (Sam Anders) how he tried to convey Sam's unease within his own skin after Sam found out he was a Cylon. Trucco said that sense of unease was "exactly what i was hoping would come across." He wanted Anders to have a sense of not just confusion about being a cylon, but "actually loss of identity." Everything Anders felt was true was wrong. The sky is red instead of blue, and it's always been red in spite of what you might think. Everything Sam thought he stood for was upended, and he was a "man without a country," not knowing what he was. And of course, Anders was paranoid about Starbuck finding out, after she said she would put a bullet in his head if he was a Cylon.

Trucco's only regret about playing Anders was the show didn't explore his feelings when he thought Starbuck was dead at the end of season three more.

The Gaius Baltar leadership method:

When I realized I was about to be sitting next to James Callis — who comes across exactly like Gaius Baltar in person, but much nicer — I had a question I was burning to ask. As Baltar, he's been a political leader and a religious leader. How are those two different ways of wielding power different?

His answer was very Baltar-esque: "Political power on some level is leading from the front, and it's a very ego-driven... Lots of smiling and glad handing. And being the religious guru is about searching for something internally. The third eye doesn't look outwards, it looks inwards." (When he said that last part, he got that Baltar mock-serious look on his face.) He also said he was very relieved he would never have to be "this guy" any more.

The LA Times spoke to Grace Park, the show's turncoat Cylon Athena (and more loyal Cylon Boomer, as well as many, many other Sharons), who seemed to have an idea of what's going on:

I just heard about the first Battlestar movie being greenlit... A TV movie, but still! But this — it's like, yeah, it's over but we're ready to move on but nobody's manager or agent has been called. It's supposed to start in August.

The reason that no managers or agents have been called may be that the rumored prequel direction of the TV movies will ultimately turn out to be true: In which case, the movies will follow up on the flashback sequences from Razor with an all-new, all-cheaper cast. That would be an interesting decision from show creator David Eick. It would mean that he's betting fans are more interested in the show's mythology and backstory, than they are in the characters.

Alternatively, another reason that managers and agents are still waiting by their phones could simply be that Park's source is wrong. Elsewhere in the same Times story, a SciFi spokesperson is quoted as saying

[The channel would] love to see the continuation of 'Battlestar' with a special event akin to Razor but the idea is still in the discussion stage.

Does that mean all of the movies are in the discussion stage, or just a Razor-esque one? Does anyone actually know what's going on over there? And, more importantly, if they do make the spin-off movies, will one of them be a remake of The Love Guru with Baltar in Mike Myers' place?

Is a 'Battlestar Galactica' TV movie deal nearly done? [LA Times]

SeaQuest DSV: The original came with a Spielberg pedigree but, let's face it, it was pretty crappy (The quickest indicator? Darwin, the talking dolphin). While any revamp would be missing Roy Scheider and dreamy Jonathan Brandis, you wouldn't have to change much in order to bring the show back: Keep the whole concept about humanity having to move to the oceans after exhausting the rest of the world of its natural resources, and just play it straight. As long as you have at least one guest-shot from Stephanie Beacham.

The Man from UNCLE: Bionic Woman may not have worked out, but why not go whole hog into the spy game instead of hinting at some nefarious background that lacks Oscar Goldman? Play up the distrust between the various nations' spies and bring in some of the paranoia that makes Galactica so compelling, and all you need is a modern Robert Vaughan for success.

The Man from Atlantis: Both Galactica and Bionic Woman like to go for the "what does it mean to be an outsider" theme, and what's more outsider than coming from an undersea kingdom? As a plus for the straight female and gay male viewers, you get to see the main character in swim trunks for the majority of each episode. Downside, of course, is that people will think you're just ripping off that Aquaman episode of Smallville

ALF: A longshot, admittedly, but it's got the sci-fi background Eick likes and what better to indulge Eick production traditions like occasionally sloppy writing and the urge to analyse humanity than a sitcom about an alien living in suburbia? Replace the muppet with state of the art CGI and get Bill Murray or someone to do the voice and I'm seeing cynical lead in to The Office every Thursday night.

The Golden Girls: Okay, I know, this sounds unexpected, but think what Eick's touch could do with this set-up - Four old women facing up to their mortality, shot with steadicam, talking about how horrible it is to get old and remembering happier days. One of them can have an incurable disease or something, and every third episode, we can have one of them thrown out an airlock when things get slow. The result, a Golden Girls for the 21st Century: Dark, unrealistic and almost endlessly depressing. Mr. Eick, I think we've found your project. I'll be waiting for my 10% finder's fee.

Moore just signed a deal to write and produce an original science fiction movie trilogy for United Artists, the resurrected production company that wants to create its own home-grown franchises. No word on what the trilogy will be called, or what it's about. New UA CEO Paula Wagner worked with him 10 years ago, when he co-wrote Mission Impossible II, which she produced.

As for Eick, he just signed a two-year development deal with NBC/Universal, on the heels of his failed Bionic Woman reboot. He's going to work on reinventing another, as yet unnamed, Universal franchise. But he's also working on two other projects, which scarcely sound science fictional at all: AKA, a "family adventure" that he describes as Little Miss Sunshine meets Thelma And Louise, and another series that's "sort of a modern-day Hart To Hart." [Hollywood Reporter and Variety, via Wes]

What pleases about BSG, for a mainstream audience not necessarily inclined to freak out over spaceships, is the careful way the show's creators David Eick and Ronald Moore have created an entire political system for the characters to inhabit. We aren't just motoring from battle to battle. Instead, we watch as the human president fights with political pretenders and the military for power over the few thousand people left after the Cylon attack. There are press conferences and elections, worker strikes and Cylon sympathizers. The humans even become suicide bombers at one point.

This isn't a show that gives us a simple, Star Wars-style good vs. evil fairy tale. Everyone, even the steely Cylon, are ambivalent and ethically fungible. With next season concluding the epic tale of the human and Cylon battle to reach Earth and colonize it first, the action is sure to be intense. But don't expect the meaty political allegory to fall by the wayside. Things are just starting to get interesting.

We'll be watching characters dealing with a legal battle over who is to blame for last season's witchhunts, where accused Cylon collaborators were summarily executed without trial. And the Cylons have started having children with humans, raising the question of whether the us vs. them, human vs. machine binary really makes sense at all.

It's possible that what allows BSG to be so overtly political, complete with subplots about suicide bombing, is precisely the fact that it's set in a science fictional world. There is a narrative comfort zone for audiences: We don't have to worry that what we're watching is about ourselves because it takes place in a fantasy world. And yet there's no mistaking the fact that the characters in BSG are us. And I don't just mean the humans. We are the Cylon too.

The new season of BSG starts airing Friday, April 4 on the Sci Fi Channel.

Rather than buying her sister's affection with $175 jeans and red wine, Jamie would try to set boundaries for Becca—and impress upon her the repercussions for bad behavior. Becca might still act out, but we'd believe she liked 70s punk and Broadway musicals. In fact, everybody would have a believably complex personality, not just the appurtenances of one; a show can buy all the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and New York Dolls songs and vintage GTOS it wants, but these aren't a substitute for good writing. The word "Good!" shouldn't be the first to spring to a viewer's mind when a character collapses after being poisoned.

Because Jamie wouldn't be working for the Berkut Group, she wouldn't have a boss like Antonio, who plays the Wise Black Man one week, and the Scary Black Man Threatening A White Woman the next. Ruth's authoritative manner and short haircut wouldn't immediately rate the questioning of her sexuality ("Is she a lesbian?").

Would it be a better show? I don't know—but I think I'd rather watch it than this one.