By: John McFetridge
Date: June 17, 2009
Source: John McFetridge’s Blog
Half the writing team of The Bridge – Dannis Koromilas, me and Peter Mohan.
Clearly craft services is doing a top notch job on this show.
THE BRIDGE (BLOG) – John McFetridge: Untitled (June 17, 2009)
Galactica.tv (Michael Nankin) June 6, 2009
Michael Nankin Interview
By: Marcel Damen
Date: June 6, 2009
Source: Galactica.tv
Note: This is a snippet of an interview with MICHAEL NANKIN where he mentions AARON DOUGLAS / CHIEF TYROL. To read the full interview, click HERE.
Amazing story.
I did that with Aaron once too. There was this scene in Ties That Bind where he’s having problems with Cally. Where he’s sitting with Cally and their child Nicky. There’s a long, long, long scene about him saying, “No, I’m not having an affair with Tory.” It was like the same information over and over again. We shot that one silent as well and ended up with a mix of some of the dialog. It’s a great technique because then in the calmness of the editing room, you can sort of pick and choose the important lines instead of in the fog of war when you’re on the set. Especially with that particular episode because the baby we used never stopped crying once for a second. (laughs)
That’s hard, yes. (laughs) Michael Rymer also said that Aaron did a lot of improv. They never did the actual scenes according to script. He improvised a lot.
Yeah, well it was interesting, there was a period of time where the writers were getting very upset because it was starting to get away. It was starting to get out of hand, the amount of improvising. Because the writing is awfully damn good on that show. It’s dangerous to think that you can improve it every time when you’re on the set. Sometimes things seem great on the set and then they’re really not. They’re not thought through. And yet getting these actors together and actually putting them into a situation can also, you can also find better things to say. Usually it’s saying less than what’s in the script, rather than saying different things, is what makes it better. Because these faces in the situation are just so eloquent. The real test of the writing is its structure, so by the time you get to the scene the behavior of the people really tells you a great deal of the story. You find you don’t have to say everything that’s in the script. A lot of times things are put in – the process is – these writers are really good. They generally don’t overwrite. But once the network and the studio get involved, they’re always asking for – their fear is that things aren’t clear enough. So the writers are always adding explanations, or people saying things that they ordinarily would not say to each other, just to assuage the fears of the network that the audience isn’t going to get what’s going on. Then you get to the stage and all those lines just stick out like a sore thumb. You usually don’t – you realize you don’t need them. Then the network is fine when they see the show because they realize that that idea is being communicated anyway without having said it.
What actors do you particularly like working with because they always surprise you?
Well, I mean you know, the entire Battlestar cast is in that category. (laughs) I’ve had a very – I’ve had a wonderful experience with Katee Sackhoff. I’ve directed two or three episodes that really feature her story and really, really demanded that she stretch as an actress. You know Katee is not a trained actress, she’s just a natural. I’ve never known quite how much she prepares, I suspect it’s not that much. She just throws herself in the moment and her instincts in the moment are just fantastic. When we did Maelstrom, which was a journey into the psyche of Starbuck, Katee and I just went – we got – it was a very intimate experience. I saw her dredge up things from her own life and inject it into the character in ways that were – I was filled with respect for her and her courage and her ability to just go anywhere. We had a great, great rapport on the set. And then you’ve got Mary and Eddie who just can do anything. I love Jamie Bamber. People don’t immediately go to him when you talk about the actors in Battlestar because he’s subtle, he’s such a subtle actor. But his instincts are just rock solid, I love working with him. Tahmoh’s able to show the audience who he really is. Helo is just Tahmoh because he’s able to just become completely transparent through the character and just reveal himself. Aaron’s great you know. Oh and Michael Hogan! Michael Hogan is amazing. (laughs) To do two seasons with one eye and still communicate everything that he did. There was a moment where I was shooting close ups in the CIC of everyone reacting to Starbuck’s death. In that moment, I changed the style of the show because we shot it just very – we put the camera on a tripod – because I was getting into this very, very emotional moment. I wanted the series to feel different in that moment. So we stopped with the hand held documentary style. I just shot them very classically in that moment where they all realize she’s gone forever. Michael Hogan does this thing where he just, he doesn’t really emote? But he dies with her on screen. You see the life just run out of him. It’s an incredible moment of acting. Who have I left out?
Galactica.tv (Alessandro Juliani) June 5, 2009
Alessandro Juliani Interview
By: Marcel Damen
Date: June 5, 2009
Source: Galactica.tv
Note: This is a snippet of an interview with Alessandro Juliani where he mentions AARON DOUGLAS / CHIEF TYROL. To read the full interview, click HERE.
So Aaron Douglas said that you guys are friends, but unfortunately never got to do scenes together, and he said you often played guitar in front of his trailer.
In front of his trailer? (bursts out laughing) I think that was back when Aaron Douglas was smoking a lot of Crack! Because I’ve never brought my guitar to the set. But I think Aaron is getting confused because he used to bring his Japanese Flute to the set, and would play it in front of my trailer. But this was when he was hoping to kinda seduce me ‘n’ stuff, and it got really complicated and messy, so I probably shouldn’t go into it! (both laughing)
Was that to relieve stress, what did he you play?
It was to relieve stress for him! For me it was annoying as heck when he was playing outside my trailer all the time. (laughing) I had to get security to take him away eventually.
THE BRIDGE (BLOG) – John McFetridge: More from The Bridge (May 14, 2009)
More from The Bridge
By: John McFetridge
Date: May 14, 2009
Source: John McFetridge’s Blog
Publicity is starting to heat up for The Bridge. Here’s an interview with the star, Aaron Douglas:
http://watch.ctv.ca/etalk/tv/extended—the-bridge/#clip169797
I particularly like the part around 2:08 when he talks about how good the scripts are ;)
Of course, the credit for that really has to go to showrunner Alan Difiore and co-exec producer/writer Peter Mohan (as well as the other writers Tracey Forbes, Graeme Manson and Dannis Koromilas). I’m learning an awful lot from all of them.
Also, exec producer Craig Brommell keeps us honest and never lets us take the easy way out. We’ve only started to scratch the surface of his experiences as both a cop and the president of the union, but maybe more important is the attitude he brings.
It’s very exciting as the show comes together. The cast really is good, Aaron Douglas is terrific as the beat cop-turned union president and the rest of the cast is excellent as well.
Aaron is right, I think, there’s a lot of stuff here that hasn’t been in previous cop shows. There are a lot of conscessions to the limitations of the real world – people can’t do everything they want. Budgets are tight, manpower is limited, priorities have to be set – which all means some very tough decisions have to be made – usually on the fly.
SCI FI Wire (Ronald D. Moore) March 23, 2009
Ronald D. Moore Interview
By: Ian Spelling
Date: March 23, 2009
Source: SCI FI Wire
Note: This is a snippet of an interview with RONALD D. MOORE where he mentions AARON DOUGLAS / CHIEF TYROL. To read the full interview, click HERE.
What got cut? What had to go to keep the running time at two hours and 11 minutes?
Well, there was a series of flashbacks that had to do with Boomer [Grace Park] and Helo [Tahmoh Penikett] and Tyrol [Aaron Douglas] back on Galactica when she was a rookie pilot. It was the first time she kissed Tyrol, the beginnings of that relationship, the beginning of Helo having his longing for her, and sort of establishing where that triangle was way back in the beginning. We cut that, just for time. It will be on the extended DVD version.
What else will be on that extended DVD?
Longer versions of the same scenes. There’s another scene where, after Tyrol says, “We have to hook Anders into CIC,” we’re in Adama’s [Edward James Olmos] quarters, and he’s adamently opposed to it. It’s a really hot, angry scene between him and Tyrol and Starbuck. Eventually he decides to do it. That was a great scene that was hard to cut, but we finally cut it. I don’t remember what else. Oh, there are more scenes, flashbacks in the strip club, sort of fleshing out the Tigh [Michael Hogan] and Ellen [Kate Vernon] story a little bit more, things like that.
THE BRIDGE (BLOG) – John McFetridge: Writing episodic TV is like writing Haiku (March 8, 2009)
Writing episodic TV is like writing Haiku
By: John McFetridge
Date: March 8, 2009
Source: John McFetridge’s Blog
Two weeks into my new job as the most junior story editor on the TV show The Bridge (premiering July 9th on CTV and CBS at 10:00 pm), one of the more experienced writers said, “Writing TV is like writing Haiku, you have to fit everything into the structure,” and I thought, yeah, that’s right, people don’t complain that Haiku is too formulaic.
Then he said you could also use dirty limericks as the example, but that’s not as classy.
The writers’ room is a very funny place and a fun place to be.
It’s quite different than writing novels. When I write a novel I start with a couple of characters I think would be interesting to follow and I follow them. I have a vague idea where they might take me, but most of the story emerges from the writing. I’m never sure exactly how the novel will end or even who will emerge as the main character. In Dirty Sweet there’s an unnamed, low-level biker in one scene and he doesn’t say anything, he’s background. In Everybody Knows This is Nowhere he gets named J.T. and has some lines and some scenes. He’s pretty much a main character in Swap. This was certainly no clever plan I had worked out in advance.
But the whole season of The Bridge (11 episodes actually, the pilot has already been filmed and is going to run as the first two episodes) is getting worked out in note form on a big whiteboard across an entire wall of the writers’ room. All six story editors contribute to the outlines of every episode and the head writer (the Showrunner, in TV-speak) is the final word. Then each writer is assigned one or two of these detailed outlines and writes them up as scripts.
The speed at which all this happens is also making my head spin. I’d fallen into a schedule that worked around my kids’ school schedule. They start school in September and I start writing a book. For the past couple of years I’ve been able to finish by June when they finished school.
We started outlining this TV show two weeks ago and the first episode we’re working on will air July 23rd. When the producer told us this, I said, “July 23rd, 2010, right?” I was only half kidding. Filming starts in April.
So, everything has to fit. It has to be like Haiku.
Looks good so far.
The Watcher (Michael Taylor) March 8, 2009
‘Battlestar Galactica’s’ Michael Taylor talks about ‘Islanded in a Stream of Stars’
By: Maureen Ryan
Date: March 8, 2009
Source: The Watcher
WEBMISTRESS NOTE: There was no Chief Tyrol in tonight’s episode (4×18: Islanded In A Stream Of Stars). But according to an interview with writer Michael Taylor, he was meant to be in it but his scenes were cut.
Note: This is a snippet of an interview with MICHAEL TAYLOR where he mentions AARON DOUGLAS / CHIEF TYROL. To read the full interview, click HERE.
Is there a lot of material that had to be cut from the episode we saw? If so, what was it about?
Yes, there was probably a good deal of material that had to be cut. I say “probably” because it’s a long time since I wrote the script, and I am too lazy to revisit it now. I know that there were scenes, or at least one scene, of Tyrol in the brig, and I think my sense there was that he had confessed and put himself in there out of guilt.
And there was plenty of other stuff left on the proverbial floor — scenes that were cut, or just saved down — as is often the case with these overstuffed episodes, and especially mine, which are stuffed to the point where scenes and characters are always drifting out the seams, like that Six from the rupture in Galactica’s hull.
In the end, though, I would say that for the most part episodes (mine, anyway) are better for what by necessity is cut. Though here, at least, there will be a chance to check out what some of those missing bits may have added when Eddie’s extended cut comes out on the DVD.
Bear McCreary: BG4: “Islanded in a Stream of Stars”
BG4: “Islanded in a Stream of Stars”
By: Bear McCreary
Date: March 7th, 2009
Source: Bear McCreary’s BSG Blog
WEBMISTRESS NOTE: There was no Chief Tyrol in tonight’s episode (4×18: Islanded In A Stream Of Stars). But according to Bear McCreary’s blog he was meant to be in it but his scenes were cut.
Note: This is a snippet from BEAR McCREARY’s blog where he mentions AARON DOUGLAS / CHIEF TYROL. To read the full blog entry, click HERE.
One of the biggest challenges of Islanded was actually scoring two different versions of it. In addition to the version you just watched, I also scored an extended version for the DVD release. Not only are many of the dialog scenes expanded, but there are several scenes that were cut entirely from the show that required substantial original music. One of these scenes established that Tyrol is now in the brig for his role in Boomer’s escape and kidnapping of Hera. I was disappointed that this story point was cut from the episode, since Chief’s arc last week was so emotionally powerful.
The Watcher (Bradley Thompson and David Weddle) February 28, 2009
Play it again, Starbuck: Talking to Weddle and Thompson about ‘Someone to Watch Over Me’
By: Maureen Ryan (and Alan Sepinwall: TV critic at The Star-Ledger)
Date: February 28, 2009
Source: The Watcher
Note: This is a snippet of an interview with BRADLEY THOMPSON and DAVID WEDDLE where they mention TYROL. To read the full interview, click HERE.
Alan Sepinwall: When Tyrol returns to the dream house on Picon, is it empty because he’s not doing the projection with Boomer? Or is it empty because she was scamming him the whole time?
Weddle: Cylon projections are fantasy expressions of their subconscious desires or emotional life. Tyrol’s return to the empty fantasy house at the end of the show to find Boomer and his imaginary daughter gone was an expression his devastation and despair.
Thompson: It’s empty because that’s what he experienced. Like Tyrol, you’ll have to draw your own conclusions. But it was definitely not a random dramatic decision. We weren’t being all mysterioso. There’s logic to it.
While working in Japan a long time ago, a Japanese businessman I was interviewing explained that when Americans come to his country, they’re always asking what they should see, and his countrymen advise them to go see this or that famous shrine. The Americans take the trip and arrive at this shabby little shrine. And they’re disappointed. An interview subject told me it was because of a different cultural orientation. “For you Americans, it’s all about reaching the goal. For us, it is the journey.”
“Battlestar Galactica” is a wonderful journey – which, because we all took it together, will make Ron’s fantastic three-hour finish all the more compelling.
Mo Ryan: Did Boomer really love the Chief? Or was that final speech to him just another part of her con job?
Weddle: Did Boomer really love the Chief? That’s an interesting question and one I don’t have a neat answer to. Boomer is deeply conflicted. I think the process of having false memories planted in her, getting switched “on” as a Cylon, shooting Adama, getting shot by Cally, and her experiences on New Caprica have left her severely disturbed. She was determined to go through with her mission, but in the process of seducing Tyrol she reawakened feelings of love that she thought were dead. I think she experienced real misgivings just before she got on that Raptor, but felt she had gone too far to back down. Wrapped up in that is her perverse envy of Athena, who obtained everything Boomer once wanted, and this festered into a sick desire to strike out at Athena. It’s difficult to say someone who did that loves the Chief, and yet in her damaged way, I think she did and still does love him.
Thompson: Good question. She may not even know the answer. Boomer’s a complicated, damaged individual. Might both be true?
Mo Ryan: Is Tyrol in love with the real Boomer or the one he remembers?
Weddle: This is exactly the question he is struggling with. His visits to the fantasy house illustrate that he’s in love with the dreams he’s attached to Boomer about a life he would like to have. Don’t we all do this to some extent to the people we fall in love with? And when they fail to live up to our fantasies or expectations, it can be excruciating for them and for us.
Thompson: Black-and-white answers would be nice. But that’s not generally true of the human – or Cylon – heart. Brings up an interesting question: Does commitment to your mission, your country, your people, outweigh the dictates of your heart?
Mo Ryan: What did the Chief think was in that box he toted around for Boomer? Change of clothes?
Weddle: In the beginning of the episode, Starbuck instructs Raptor pilots going out on long duration planet-hunting missions to pack food and water for those long flights. And we see them pack cases just like the one Boomer puts Hera in. Tyrol thought he was giving Boomer a chance to get away and find a life somewhere. Naturally, she would need to take food and water to give her as much time to do that as possible.
Thompson: “PROVISION PACKAGE – LONG DURATION” – We establish those big boxes of gear as planet-hunting mission requirements early in the show, and since that was Athena’s task, it would draw attention if she didn’t load out one of those crates. So Chief Tyrol probably assumed she was carrying the box she was issued for the flight.
Mo Ryan: Would we be correct in assuming that everything Boomer did from the moment she left Cavil’s base ship was part of his plan to get Hera?
Thompson: How do you escape from a fully armed base ship?
Alan Sepinwall: Ron said in the podcast for “Deadlock” that there was originally a different plan for how Boomer’s story would end, but he couldn’t get into it yet without spoiling what was to come on the actual show. Are we yet at a point where you can explain how the original plan diverged, or do we need to wait a while?
Thompson: You’ll have to wait.
Mo Ryan: To me, so much of this episode (quite heartbreakingly) dwelled on what these people have lost or given up or had to suppress in order to survive. Was revisiting that an important part of starting to close the chapter on the story of these characters, in particular Tyrol and Starbuck?
Weddle: It was thrilling and fulfilling for Brad and me to write this episode because we got to revisit the pivotal characters of Boomer, Tyrol and Starbuck. We were deeply involved in plotting their character arcs throughout the four seasons of the show and it was exciting and rewarding to craft some of the final movements of their journeys. The entire staff believed it was very important to revisit the Boomer/Tyrol relationship, especially since the Chief has discovered he is a Cylon. And exploring Kara’s relationship with her father in a way completes her biography and rounds out her character. This episode puts events in motion that will propel our characters to the climax of our story. So it is not a tone poem in any sense of the word.
Thompson: We always felt that a love such as shared by Chief Tyrol and Lt. Valerii wouldn’t simply go quietly away – especially given the changes that both have gone through in the last four years. And the reasons they parted – do they make sense after all this? Is there still something left? We wanted to see where that led. And since we’re in the last headlong dive for the final logo, if not now, when?
Mo Ryan: For me, the moment when Tyrol spots the daughter he could have had is one of the most bittersweet and emotional ones of the season. Aaron Douglas’ performance was spot on throughout, but I am betting director Michael Nankin had something to do with the performances we saw. Am I right in recalling that you had asked that he be hired to direct this episode? Why?
Thompson: Every one of the cast was blow-you-away spectacular. One of Nankin’s many gifts is the ability to run the throttle on these powerful engines so that the moment has maximum impact when it finally plays. I have to say that Aaron and Grace outdid themselves for this episode, fearlessly reaching into painful personal places for some of their best work. And Katee reached the same place with Slick.
Another part of Mr. Nankin’s talent is that he creates an atmosphere where actors feel safe taking chances, can risk falling on their asses, knowing that he’ll put them back on the path if they go astray. It’s a trust built over a lot of working together. And it’s especially tough on these actors because with them, we expect brilliance.
Michael Nankin is one of the most talented directors I’ve had the good fortune to work with, and he was slotted into Episode 19 long before we knew what it was – or that we’d be writing it. After “Someone…” Mark Verheiden was sorting out the writing assignments for the last shows of the series and asked us if we wanted to do one more. We, of course, grabbed for it with both hands and our prehensile feet. He then asked which slot we’d prefer and it was a no brainer: Mr. Nankin’s.
Mo Ryan: Speaking of composition, what had to be cut from “STWOM”? What happened on set that you weren’t expecting or that presented difficulties?
Thompson: It’s been a while since I watched all this go down, but I think most of the cuts were in the music because it was long and that was the place where we could best afford the loss. The show was restructured in editing, because Andy and Paul found a way that the climax with Kara and the climax with Boomer could happen simultaneously, which made the end much more satisfying.
And I should note that we’d been admonished (by high level players who will remain nameless) not to have Helo make the mistake he makes. We backed off in subsequent drafts (feeling like we were somehow cheating the fans) until Michael Nankin’s first round of script notes hit Ron, saying, “I can’t believe you have this opportunity and you’re not going all the way with it.” And Ron turned to us and said: “He’s right. It’s so wrong we have to do it!” And we got to put that moment back in the show.
An addendum on Boomer-Tyrol story from Thompson: I recall correctly, the Boomer-Tyrol aspect of this story was something we’d floated in the room in Season 3 but didn’t know where it fit or what it would be. Like so many “Battlestar” ideas, it simply hung in limbo until the time was right for maximum impact.
That’s one of the genius parts of Ron — patience. Like with the nuke Six asked Baltar to get. And how it eventually played out. When the time came, we were very happy we’d had that one in our back pocket. But Ron didn’t force playing that card until it made sense to do so. Likewise with Boomer-Tyrol.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mo Ryan here: Here are a few of my thoughts on “Someone to Watch Over Me”
Anyway. I give high marks to this graceful and emotionally rich episode. And if the personal excavations it presented, the forward movement regarding Tyrol, Boomer and Hera, the terrific performances and the amazing music by Bear McCreary weren’t enough for you, then I respect your point of view. But I couldn’t disagree more strongly.
This is the duo who also wrote “Maelstrom,” and who gave “Scar” — one of the show’s best action hours — a deeply resonant emotional story. They also penned “Sometimes a Great Notion,” and like that episode, “STWOM” contained a lot of carefully placed emotional ordnance. If Boomer’s betrayal of Tyrol wasn’t as devastating as Dee’s suicide, it was close.
And we got time to experience Tyrol’s joy and pain as well. What was so affecting about Tyrol’s journey was that this is a guy who holds everything in. He’s the man who keeps things together, whether it’s an aging ship or the workers on New Caprica or the flight deck crew. He fixes things, he makes them work, and his feelings don’t get in the way, not if he can help it.
For the entire episode, he’s fighting the strongest emotions he’s ever felt — love, fear, grief for what he’s lost, the hope that he might get a shard of it back, and then the deepest betrayal he’s ever known. To see this dutiful, matter-of-fact guy wrestle with all those things, and practically drop to his knees as he begged Roslin to spare Boomer’s life was nothing less than engrossing.
The hardest moment of the hour was watching him discover the daughter he never had with Boomer. How many times have we seen this show take great joy and combine it with such heartbreak? The ecstatic look on Tyrol’s face, as he saw her and as he stood outside Boomer’s cell, brought a tear to my eye.
Kudos to Katee Sackhoff and Aaron Douglas for bringing it in this episode. Roark Critchlow struck just the right note as the piano player. And a special mention should be made of Grace Park, who has effortlessly made the Eights all seem quite different over the years. And that animal scream Athena emitted when she told Helo their child was missing brought home the character’s turmoil.
Bear McCreary: BG4: “Someone to Watch Over Me”
BG4: “Someone to Watch Over Me”
By: Bear McCreary
Date: February 27, 2009
Source: Bear McCreary’s BSG Blog (HERE, HERE and HERE)
Note: This is a snippet from BEAR McCREARY’s blog where he mentions AARON DOUGLAS / CHIEF TYROL. To read the full blog entry, click HERE, HERE and HERE.
BG4: “Someone to Watch Over Me,” Pt 1
Bradley Thompson added “We had some idea it would be a Starbuck vehicle, and we had some notion that we’d get to do Boomer/Tyrol, but we definitely knew that given the choice, we’d sing our swan song with Michael [Nankin].”
“I remember you talking about Gershwin in our conversations,” Weddle recalled. “So when it came time to come up with a title for the episode, I looked up Gershwin songs and found ‘Someone to Watch Over Me.’ I ran it by Brad and he said, ‘Jesus, that’s perfect! Not only for the Kara story, but for the Tyrol/Boomer story as well.’ Brad was primarily responsible for writing the Tyrol/Boomer story, so that became a seal of approval.”
BG4: “Someone to Watch Over Me,” Pt 2
I also performed additional pieces at the request of Michael Nankin. “I also started having ideas — which developed during prep and the shoot—about using Slick’s compositions as score for other scenes,” Nankin explained. “In my shooting script I’d drawn lines from piano scenes, extending over the next two scenes (or the previous two scenes,) indicating where this would happen. I started talking to Bear about this in the early stages, so that he could write to it, essentially scoring the episode before it was shot. The episode contained stories that were very different in tone (Starbuck’s visitation, Tyrol and Boomer’s cylon projections, the plot to steal Hera, Adama and Laura saying goodbye) which I felt this approach to the score could smooth out. I always attack an episode with the idea of making it all of one thematic and emotional piece, rather than disjointed A, B and C stories.”
Nankin showed me these specific scenes in the script he wanted music for and I played them out in my mind, performing score that I thought would be useful in the cutting room. It was strange, to “score” scenes that hadn’t been edited (or in some cases, even shot) yet. Supervising editor and associate producer Andy Seklir was also on set, so I was able to discuss these pieces with him as well.
I performed solo piano versions of “Roslin and Adama,” Tyrol’s Theme and Starbuck’s Theme and anything else I thought might come in handy. (And since you’re wondering, the entire Roslin and Adama subplot was cut out of the episode, so I hope you can see these scenes on the DVD set.)
BG4: “Someone to Watch Over Me,” Pt 3
Before the teaser ends, we begin the episode’s other plot line. Chief Tyrol learns that the cylons wish to execute Boomer for her role in the cylon uprising. At the moment he realizes this awful truth, listen for a subtle statement of the Boomer Theme in the gamelan:
This theme is one of the oldest in my toolbox and, in combination with the Tyrol Theme, will play an important role in their arc this episode.
At the end of the B Theme, we cut to the Chief’s storyline. He’s welding in a hallway, but thinking about his past relationship with Boomer. Here, the score takes an interesting turn. We are no longer in Joe’s Bar, and yet we continue to hear Slick play the piano. But, it moves from the physical space of Joe’s Bar to sounding like it’s in a concert hall. It has, in essence, transitioned from being a real instrument in the ship, to a part of the score itself.
While the Tyrol Theme would have been an obvious choice for this montage, I felt it was more important to establish the piano music as a thread tying this episode together. So, Slick’s piano plays the Sonata A Theme throughout the entire montage, although joined by percussion, yialli tanbur, duduk and the other BG score instruments.
At the end of the montage, we again witness Boomer dying in Chief’s arms and the piano slowly echoes away, playing an ascending figure that we will hear again when the Chief / Boomer storyline reaches its climax at the episode’s conclusion.
From there, we cut to the first big step in the Chief / Boomer storyline. He goes to the brig to visit her and has an unintended projection, taking them to the dream house they never had the chance to build together. In this scene, Chris Bleth plays the Tyrol Theme on the alto flute:
This theme has an interesting and convoluted history. I originally composed it for Season One’s Litmus, intending to write the definitive Tyrol / Boomer Love Theme. However, unbeknownst to me, they had no more love scenes in the season, and she was killed early in Season Two. At the end of Season Two, I re-tooled the theme to serve as a Tyrol / Cally Love Theme, underscoring his heartfelt apology to her for breaking her jaw. After occasional uses in Season Three, the theme was basically put to rest when Cally died in Season Four.
However, in Someone to Watch Over Me, the Tyrol Theme comes full circle and again functions as the Tyrol / Boomer Love Theme, just like I’d originally intended.
After his initial bad projection experience, Chief comes back and tries it out again. This scene represents the most complete, lyrical and romantic version of the Tyrol Theme since their relationship together at the end of Litmus. The simple arpeggiated accompaniment in the gamelan, piano and harp is also a reference to that Season One cue.
Chief walks through their dream house, basking in every last detail. However, he’s surprised to see a growth chart on the wall for what must be their child together. At this touching, suspenseful moment, the Tyrol Theme is played by an ethereal piano… Slick’s piano! I did this to further blend these two storylines together, as if Slick were in the score as well, commenting on the Chief’s discovery of his daughter.
And what a discovery it is. As he moves up the stairs, the score modulates upward and swells to a big statement of the Tyrol Theme in electric violin, erhu, duduk and bansuri accompanied by gamelan, piano and harps. This kind of romantic musical gesture is rare on Battlestar Galactica, but the incredibly moving performances from Aaron Douglas and Grace Park allowed for me to write bigger musical gestures.
We return briefly to Chief’s storyline. Roslin informs him that she’s releasing Boomer to the cylons, and he doesn’t take the news well. He decides that he must rescue her. The cue underscoring this decision begins with low strings, synths and frame drums, a very typical Battlestar Galactica texture. However, as he puts his plan into action, Slick’s piano sneaks into the score, playing arpeggiated phrases against the ever-intensifying percussion backdrop.
Chief turns out the lights in a hallway where cylons are working and clubs a Sharon over the head with a wrench. At this point, the piano accelerates out of control. It breaks free from the percussion groove and takes on a life of its own.
With Slick coaxing her along, Kara begins to noodle around on the keys, struggling to bring the melody up from her oldest memories. These shots are inter-cut with Boomer retrieving Hera from the nursery and sneaking her aboard a raptor, unbeknownst to the Chief who is helping her escape. Throughout the whole montage, the mysterious piano strains slowly become more and more familiar, underscored with a haunting bed of strings and synths.
From the climactic moment of Kara’s storyline, we cut back to the Chief and Boomer one last time. He helps her aboard the raptor and kisses her. Even though the audience knows that Boomer is kidnapping Hera, the Chief is totally ignorant of this, so the score comments only on his emotions. We hear one last warm statement of the Tyrol Theme as they kiss, before the score takes a detour into more tense and dissonant territory.
After the pandemonium, Chief Tyrol discovers that he inadvertently helped Boomer kidnap Hera. Here, Chris Bleth’s also flute states a creepy version of the Tyrol Theme against shifting, minor chords. This is his darkest moment, and thusly the most dissonant arrangement of his theme yet.
The Chief, stunned and heartbroken, stumbles into their projected dream house. He finds his way into his daughter’s room, but she’s no longer there. The house is an empty shell, the façade it had always been.
The Sonata, lush and romantic on its own, provides painful, bittersweet counterpoint to the visuals. Kara’s father had given up everything he ever had so he could write this piece of music. And now it underscores the pain Tyrol experiences at losing the family he might have had if life had turned out differently. He falls to his knees, a broken man. But, the piano performance, fluttering through half-diminished chords like a butterfly, descends gently to its graceful concluding chord as we fade to black.
Wil Wheaton blogs about Aaron (February 22, 2009)
Wil Wheaton mentions Aaron in his latest blog entry ….
well, at least i got a good story out of it…
My table in the vendor’s room at the Phoenix Comicon was right next to Aaron Douglas. Aaron is a good friend, and he knows that I’m a huge fan of his show and admirer of his work. He also knows that I’m way behind on BSG (near the end of season 3) so he’s made this heroic effort to protect me from spoilers.
On the second day of the con, Gil Gerard walked over to Aaron and, with a huge smile on his face, very excitedly said, “Hey, Aaron! [GIANT FUCKING BSG SPOILER] man! Cool!”
I clamped my hands over my ears as fast as I could, but it was too late. When Gil walked away Aaron looked over at me with tremendous compassion behind his massive beard and said, “Sorry about that.”
“It’s my own fault,” I said, “and it’s actually pretty incredible that I’ve known you this long and been at cons with you without that happening.”
I let a solitary tear fall from my eye and splash onto my table. “I’ll be okay.”
I guess if you’re going to be spoiled, you should at least get a cool story out of it, and I bet there aren’t a lot of people who can say, “Oh yeah, Gil Gerard totally spoiled Battlestar for me.”
Goddamn my life is weird sometimes.
Source: WWdN: In Exile
If I’m remembering this correctly, Wil said during the ‘Geek Out’ guest panel that Gil’s spoiler was that Aaron was one of the final five cylons. Awwww, poor Wil.
THE BRIDGE (BLOG) – John McFetridge: The Bridge picked up by CBS (February 19, 2009)
The Bridge picked up by CBS
By: John McFetridge
Date: February 19, 2009
Source: John McFetridge’s Blog
The TV show I’m going to start working on next week, The Bridge, has been picked up by CBS for broadcast in the USA, probably in the fall of ’09.
A website called TV, eh has all the info.
I like this description of the show:
Written by five-time Gemini Award winner and six-time nominee Alan Di Fiore (DA VINCI’S INQUEST, THE LIFE, THE HANDLER), THE BRIDGE peels away the veneer of a big-city police force to reveal the political machinations underneath. After the rank and file unanimously vote street cop Frank Leo (BATTLESTAR GALLACTICA’S Aaron Douglas) into office as union head, he begins his quest to put street cops first and clean up the force from the ground up. But the old boys’ network running the police force and the city’s self-serving politicians are not about to sit idly by while a former street cop makes up his own rules. Frank walks a thin blue line as he battles wiretaps and a concerted campaign to bring him down, letting nothing stop him from fulfilling his unwavering vow that when cops are in trouble, he will be there.
Gemini Awards are the Canadian version of the Emmy Awards. Five-time winner, Alan Di Fiore. I’m looking forward to learning from him.