Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance

This page covers the webisode series titled "The Resistance", which follows the exploits of the New Caprica Resistance. For other meanings, see "Resistance".

"Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance" An episode of the Re-imagined Series
Episode No.	Season , Movie {{{movie}}}
Writer(s)	Bradley Thompson David Weddle
Story by
Director	Wayne Rose
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)
Production No.
Nielsen Rating
US airdate	starts September 5, 2006
CAN airdate	{{{CAN airdate}}}
UK airdate
DVD release
Population	survivors
Additional Info
Episode Chronology
Previous		Next
Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II	Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance	Occupation
Related Information
Official Summary
R&D Skit – View
[[IMDB:tt{{{imdb}}}|IMDb entry]]
Listing of props for this episode
Related Media
			@ BW Media
Promotional Materials
Online Purchasing
Amazon: Standard Definition | High Definition
iTunes: [{{{itunes}}} USA]

Overview

Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance will be web-based series that claims to fill in the gaps between season two and three of the re-imagined series. The series is a limited-run series that will last 10 episodes.

The webisode series is written by veteran BSG writers Bradley Thompson and David Weddle, and directed by Wayne Rose. The entire series is about 25 minutes long in total, and divided into 10 episodes.

When BattlestarWiki asked Bradley Thompson about the webisode series, he said:

"It's true that David Weddle and I wrote the webisodes. Ron Moore and David Eick assigned them to us during the production of Exodus. The ten short segments combine to tell one story, which takes place during the Cylon Occupation that ended Season 2. The webisodes plant seeds that come to fruition in Season 3. They were all directed by Wayne Rose, the veteran director who's been doing 2nd Unit and 1stAD work for the series. The original title of the story was "Crossroads." The running lengths will vary with what's necessary to tell each segment of the story. The first cut I saw of all ten ran about 25 minutes. The run plan we were told was that they'd put up one a week as a countdown to the season premiere -- but SciFi may have other ideas on that by now."

Contract Disputes and Production Delays

According to Bradley Thompson, the webisodes were originally meant to be aired once a week, for the 10 weeks preceding the Season 3 premiere on October 6th. This would have resulted in the webisodes premiering in mid-August. However, their release was delayed due to a labor dispute between the Writer's Guild of America and NBC/Universal regarding extra pay for the writers doing the webisodes.

In August 2006, news began to leak out that the release of the webisodes would be delayed, though they were essentially finished at the time. NBC-Universal did not want to pay the writing team for webisodes content, holding that they were not actually covered under Guild contract, and were technically just promotional material. The Battlestar Galactica writing team embraced the new story opportunity, but other NBC-Universal series such as The Office felt that webisodes were nothing but extra filler they were being forced to crank out. According to Thompson, the writing team was given extra pay for vaguely described "extra work", but no long-term resolution was ever reached. The WGA is concerned about the long-term implications of online content: writers are not specifically compensated for their work on them, and NBC/Uni might argue that they have no claim on redistribution profits if they try to classify it as "promotional" material. In any event, by August 2006 the negotiations between the WGA and NBC/Uni broke down, and the WGA ordered all series producing webisodes (such as Battlestar Galactica and The Office) to refuse to physically deliver the webisodes to NBC/Uni for distribution online. NBC/Universal, who produces both shows, has filed a complaint with National Labor Relations Board, claiming that this writing is included in the current WGA contract and urging the NLRB to make the series release the material.

However, several weeks later the finished webisodes were handed over to NBC/Uni. The first of ten webisodes are due to be released on Tuesday, September 5, 2006, and subsequent installments are scheduled for every Tuesday and Thursday until the Season 3 premiere on October 6, 2006.

Notes

• The original title of the webisode series was "Crossroads"

Re-imagined Series definition: Battlestar Group ^{(TRS: "Water")}. It also doubles as an acronym for the television series itself.