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Supernatural Saturday - Outcasts and Battlestar Galactica from BBC America
By April MacIntyre May 12, 2011, 4:21 GMT
BBC America brings two new additions to its Supernatural Saturday summer line up in June.
Outcasts and Battlestar Galactica find their home on BBC America and make this summer a sci-fi smorgasbord on TV.
BBC America brings two new additions to its Supernatural Saturday summer line up in June.
Emmy and Peabody award-winning science-fiction series "Battlestar Galactica" airs Saturday, June 11, 10:00pm ET/PT with the U.S. premiere of high-concept drama, "Outcasts" airing the following Saturday, June 18, 9:00pm ET/PT.
These intergalactic frontier dramas, which both feature British-born Jamie Bamber, follow the journeys of the human race as they desperately search for a new planet to colonize and call home. But each colony has to face its own demons, which threaten to shatter their hopes and aspirations: the one, an ancient foe on destroying the human race from without, the other, threatening to destroy them from within.
Battlestar Galactica “Night 1” premieres on Saturday, June 11, 10:00pm ET/PT and “Night 2” airs in its new regular timeslot on Saturday, June 18, 7:00pm ET/PT.
From BBC America:
OUTCASTS
From the makers of award-winning and international hit series Life on Mars, MI-5, Hustle and Occupation, comes Outcasts. The series takes viewers into a new world as it explores survival, sex, politics and the drive for power in a new post-Earth era. Created by Ben Richards (MI-5), the series stars Eric Mabius (Ugly Betty, The L Word), Liam Cunningham (Clash Of The Titans) and Hermione Norris (MI-5, Wire In The Blood). Outcasts premieres Saturday, June 18, 9:00pm ET/PT.
With Earth no longer habitable, a group of courageous pioneers have traveled to another planet to begin again. They’ve built the town of Forthaven on Carpathia and have the unique opportunity of creating a new and better future on another planet. Led by President Tate (Cunningham) and his core team of Stella (Norris), Cass (Daniel Mays, The Bank Job, Atonement) and Fleur (Amy Manson, Being Human), they’re determined to run the civilization in a democratic way, but some tough decisions in the past may prove divisive.
As the series begins it’s a moment of incredible anticipation. Forthaven has lost all contact with Earth but the arrival of the last known transporter, with Julius Berger (Eric Mabius) on board, signals fresh hopes and dreams. But why does President Tate seem anxious about the imminent arrival of Berger and will the transporter land safely with Stella's husband and daughter, who she heartbreakingly left behind?
Meanwhile those appointed Expeditionaries, Mitchell (Jamie Bamber, Battlestar Galactica) and Jack (Ashley Walters, Small Island, Hustle), have a mission to explore the new planet and bring back vital information to the settlement. Will they find other life out there, or do they truly have the planet to themselves?
The settlers are a diverse group of individuals who left their old lives behind in extraordinary circumstances. They’ve been promised a second chance but are far away from home, friends, family and their pasts. Passionate about their jobs, confident of their ideals and optimistic about the future, they work hard to preserve what they've built on the planet they now call home.
Carpathia offers the possibility of redemption as the new inhabitants try to avoid the mistakes made on Earth. Inevitably they cannot escape the human pitfalls of love, greed, lust, loss, corruption and a longing for those they've left behind. As they continue to work and live together, they come to realize this is no ordinary planet. Is there a bigger purpose at work? Is the peace of Forthaven more fragile than they think?
WHO’S WHO
Julius Berger (Eric Mabius) was Vice President of the Evacuation Program on Earth, instrumental in leading the evacuation to Carpathia. Berger is en route to the new planet on board transporter CT9, expecting the power and status he enjoyed on Earth.
President Richard Tate (Liam Cunningham) runs Carpathia and is dedicated to keeping the human species alive. He is a fair and respected leader who is determined to run the planet in a democratic way, yet he has made some tough decisions in the past which may prove divisive.
Stella Isen (Hermione Norris) is President Tate’s second in command. She is Head of Protection and Security (PAS), the faculty that aims to maintain order on the new planet. She has sacrificed everything to save humanity, and desperately misses those she left behind on Earth.
Cass Cromwell (Daniel Mays) is a PAS Officer who is unpredictable and fiercely loyal to Tate. His loyalty may have led him to take actions he now regrets, and there are hints his past may be very different to his life now on Carpathia – but he is proud of his new home and keen to maintain it.
Fleur Morgan (Amy Manson) is a young, bright and idealistic PAS Officer, who works closely with Cass Cromwell. She has found her stride on Carpathia and fights hard to protect what they’ve worked for. She has a great working relationship with Cass. Will it develop into something more?
Mitchell Hoban (Jamie Bamber) is Head of the Expeditionaries. Progressive and ambitious, he is frustrated at the established order and has his own ideas as to how the planet should be run.
Jack Holt (Ashley Walters) is second in command of the Expeditionaries, a group of courageous men who explore their new planet and bring back vital information about its landscape and conditions. Jack is tough, armed and potentially dangerous.
Rudi (Langley Kirkwood) is leader of the Advanced Cultivars, a group of genetically modified humans and one of Carpathia's darkest secrets. Angered at the way they have been treated, Rudi is capable of exacting revenge on the people of Forthaven.
Tipper Malone (Michael Legge) is a cheeky rebel who speaks out against the authorities, representing the voice of the displaced youth on Carpathia. His cocksure exterior, however, hides the pain of his own story of how he came to the planet, and who he left behind.
Lily Isen (Jeanne Kietzmann) is Stella’s daughter, who Stella had to leave behind on Earth when she came to Carpathia. Lost and troubled, Jeanne seeks answers.
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
The brainchild of legendary Hollywood producer Glen A. Larson (Magnum P.I., Knight Rider), and the penship of Ronald D. Moore (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager), Battlestar Galactica has become a cult-favorite since its re-imagining first hit television screens. Battlestar Galactica “Night 1” premieres on Saturday, June 11, 10:00pm ET/PT and “Night 2” airs in its new regular timeslot on Saturday, June 18, 7:00pm ET/PT. Two episodes will premiere back-to-back each week starting on Saturday, June 25 with Season 1 Episode 1 at 7:00pm ET/PT and Episode 2 at 8:00pm ET/PT.
The intergalactic space opera stars an outstanding ensemble cast stars which includes Edward James Olmos (Blade Runner, Miami Vice, CSI: New York), Mary McDonnell (Dances with Wolves, Independence Day, Donnie Darko), James Callis (Bridget Jones’ Diary, FlashForward, Eureka), and Jamie Bamber (Law & Order: UK, Outcasts) and portrays the gripping saga of humanity's last remnants and their struggle to find a new home while fleeing from their deadly Cylon enemies.
Faced with an un-winnable battle against a deadly enemy, they are forced to flee under the protection of their one remaining warship, the outdated Battlestar Galactica. Pursued by the Cylons, some of whom have now taken human form, Commander Adama (Olmos) and President Roslin (McDonnell) lead these last remaining humans in search of a new home - a planet called Earth.
Battlestar Galactica’s gritty realism, intensity, issues-driven topicality, and command performances and garnered it numerous awards and critical-acclaim, which saw it recognized two years in a row by the American Film Institute (AFI) as one of the most outstanding programs of the year.
WHO’S WHO
Admiral William Adama (Edwards James Olemos), a veteran of the First Cylon War, is the commanding officer of the battlestar Galactica, and has the longest tenure as the highest ranking officer in the Colonial Fleet after the Fall of the Twelve Colonies.
President Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell) was Secretary of Education at the time of the Cylon attack and later became President of the Twelve Colonies despite never being elected to office. She is also believed by some in the Fleet to be a religious figure essential to the fulfillment of the Pythian prophecy.
Lee Adama (Jamie Bamber) is a Captain in the Colonial Fleet Reserve with the call sign "Apollo". After Major Jackson "Ripper" Spencer, the Galactica's CAG (Commander of the Air Group) is killed in battle, Lee Adama becomes senior surviving pilot, then joins the Galactica crew and becomes its CAG.
Dr Gaius Baltar (James Callis) is a brilliant scientist. Though not without his flaws, Baltar has acted selflessly on numerous occasions, and has saved the Fleet on numerous occasions.
Number Six (Tricia Helfer) is a humanoid Cylon. Stunningly beautiful and highly religious, this highly driven model is marked by a ruthlessness against all who stand in her way.
Lt Sharon ‘Boomer’ Valerii (Grace Park) serves as a Raptor pilot on Battlestar Galactica. She is engaged in a secret relationship with Chief Tyrol and carries a huge secret that she is currently unaware of.
Cpt Kara ‘Starbuck’ Thrace (Katee Sackhoff) Galactica's best pilot, although she is also known for being an avid card player, drinker and often has problems with authority. Commander Adama loves Kara despite her flaws and considers her something of a surrogate daughter. However, Starbuck and Colonel Tigh share a mutual sense of loathing.
Col. Saul Tigh (Michael Hogan) is the Executive Officer (XO) of Galactica, and repeatedly serves as acting commander in the absence of William Adama. Before his service on Galactica, he served as Adama's XO on the battlestar Valkyrie.
The Mythology of Battlestar Galactica
In a distant part of our galaxy, a human civilization lives on a group of planets known as the Twelve Colonies, to which they have migrated from their ancestral homeworld of Kobol.
The Twelve Colonies have warred for decades with a cybernetic race known as the Cylons, whose goal is the extermination of the human race. The Cylons offer peace to the humans, which proves a ruse. With the inadvertent aid of a human genius named Baltar, the Cylons carry out a massive attack on the home planets of the Twelve Colonies and on the Colonial Fleet of starships that protect them.
These attacks devastate the Colonial Fleet, lay waste to the Colonies, and destroy their populations. Scattered survivors flee into outer space aboard available spaceships. Of the entire Colonial battle fleet, only the Battlestar Galactica, a gigantic battleship and spacecraft carrier (analogous to an aircraft carrier), appears to have survived the Cylon conflagration.
Under the leadership of Commander Adama, the Galactica and the pilots of "Viper" fighters lead a fugitive fleet of survivors in search of the fabled thirteenth colony known as Earth.
FACTOIDS:
· The original Battlestar Galactica – created by Glen A. Larson - first hit TV screens in 1978 and was followed by a brief sequel TV series in 1980. The reimagined miniseries Battlestar Galactica, developed by Ronald D. Moore and David Eick, was telecast in 2003 and then aired as a TV series from 2004 to 2009.
· In the original Battlestar Galactica (1978), Viper weapons fire was red lasers and the Cylon Raiders fired blue lasers. In the reimagined version, both ships fire actual bullets.
· Starbuck, who is played by Katee Sackhoff, was a man in the original Battlestar Galactica (1978) show, played by Dirk Benedict. It's also the name of the first officer aboard the Pequod in the book Moby Dick.
