By TRexx / 05:30, 27 June 2005 / General Genre/SciFi

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As Vancouver hosts the production of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA season two, Canada's SPACE channel went on-set to chat with some of the cast.

"BATTLESTAR GALACTICA is a show about politics and survival and terrorism and, uh, love and faith," says Grace Park, who plays Lieutenant Sharon 'Boomer' Valerii. "I think that the battle between two different ways of thinking, and what happens when there's been decades of bloodshed and turmoil and rage between these two sets of people -- and then there's, like, a dark, deep chasm between the two; and, like, are we ever going to cross it? And what's starting to happen in the second season is, like, Helo and Sharon fall in love, and it's almost like they're bridging the gap but they're both in the void. And they could fall forever. Or it could be like the beginning of something."

Tahmoh Penikett (Lieutenant Karl 'Helo' Agathon) took SPACE viewers on a behind the scenes walkabout, including the hangar bay in Studio G where Raptor and Viper ships are stored. Along the way, Penikett encountered Park, resulting in a playful jig (video at VRRRM.)

Cinemax will premiere BATTLESTAR GALACTICA next month in the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Singapore, where executive producer Ronald D. Moore recently spoke by phone to the Manila Bulletin.

"Coming from STAR TREK was very useful," said Moore. "From the very beginning I wanted to do everything that STAR TREK was not. We made a very conscious effort from the very beginning that we will make this show as different from STAR TREK as we possibly can.

"Concentrating more on the characters is one of the reasons I took the project. I really wanted to try a different style of storytelling in science fiction. I felt that there was room in science fiction to do a show that was really about the characters first and foremost, and do away with the sort of sci-fi trappings like the silly hair and the spandex outfits. We got rid of all of that and we made it more of a character story about people that happened to be inside a science fiction universe, that you have an interesting and dynamic show!"

So, why do Moore's Cylons appear human? Budget. "We were dealing with a practical type of production. If we were to have guys in suits again, like they wore in the original series, how are we going to do that? A lot of the audience would want the suit to be faster moving, cooler looking and more dangerous, in a practical reality we won't be able to build that. The second option was to make them CGI, but that's expensive too. So, the suggestion came, what if they looked like us. So, since in the story humans created the Cylons, these machines evolved to look like us. They considered themselves the children of mankind, and they have their own faith and their own religion and their own belief systems. I began to realize that was the heart and soul of what the show was... I committed to the vision of this show and I just sort of believe in my heart that this was the right way to go; so we just soldiered on and take a gamble and do the show we thought was best, and make it the best show we possibly could and hope that the audience would respond."

What do GALACTICA's producers expect from the Asian audience? "I hope they embrace it like the American audience," Moore states. "I hope that they see a lot of themselves in the show and the world around them. The show is interesting because it talks a lot about contemporary times, a lot of morality and politics and social dynamics that's happening around us. And I think it is as relevant in Asia as it is in North America, and I'm hoping that they see a lot of truth in the show and respond to it as well."

Read more of Moore's interview at The Manila Bulletin Online.

Edward James Olmos (Commander William Adama) told the Chicago Tribune this week that the second season of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA is "better than the first one -- it's more complex." However, he adds, "I'd hate to be a person who saw Season 2 without having seen Season 1."

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