Poll Results: Going to conventions, visiting the set...

This poll wrapped up a couple weeks ago, but here are the results for those interested.

• 59% of voters haven't been to a convention, but would like to.
• A lucky 35% have seen Tahmoh at a con though!
• 75% of people would say hi to Tahmoh if they saw him in public.
• 80% would love to visit the Battlestar set.

New Need for Speed: Carbon graphics

New art has appeared for the latest in the Need for Speed video game series, Need for Speed: Carbon, which will feature Tahmoh as Darius. The multi-platform game is due to hit shelves on November 1, 2006. Here's the new logo, courtesy of NFS-FR.com:

Carbon will also feature actress and model Emmanuelle Vaugier. And from this shot, it appears the game characters will be very life-like:
Need for Speed: Carbon official site.

Hush to reair on Lifetime

Hush, which stars Tahmoh alongside Tori Spelling and Victoria Pratt, will reair on Lifetime twice next week.

Wednesday, October 4th @ 9pm
Thursday, October 5th @ 2pm

A woman [Tori Spelling] is excited when her husband [Tahmoh Penikett] suggests that they move to the idyllic small town where he grew up. She hopes that a fresh start will lead to success for the in- vitro fertilization procedures that have failed so far. However, once they move, his vindictive ex-girlfriend [Victoria Pratt], becomes obsessed with him and focused on getting him back.

You can see lots more screen-caps over at Northern Lights.

First photos of Tahmoh in The Green Chain (2006)

Tahmoh plays fire-fighter Brett Jackson in the upcoming Canadian film, The Green Chain, which wrapped production at the end of August.

Says Director Mark Leiren-Young:

"It was an amazing ending to a wild ride. On a movie that's all about trees and the people who love them, it was perfect that we were able to help people who are fighting to protect a forest." Actor Tahmoh Penikett (Battlestar Galactica, Cold Squad), playing a forest fire fighter, was the last of seven great actors to film his solo segment in this unique feature.

"The battle between loggers and environmentalists is defining, dividing and destroying communities in Canada and around the world. The Green Chain is a powerful, funny and thought-provoking film about the conflicts between people on both sides of the battle who love trees -- and are willing to risk anything to protect their personal visions of the forest, and our planet."

Post-production is expected to conclude by the end of the year. So hopefully, it will be premiering in early 2007.

Press release about the film wrapping (PDF).

Galactica on the cover of Entertainment Weekly

This week's Entertainment Weekly features Battlestar on the cover. You can read a most of the cover story on the EW website (spoilers inside!).

"Battlestar Galactica: Sex! Violence! Toasters? Behind the Scenes of TV's Next Great Cult Hit."

The promo photo of Sharon swearing her loyalty to the fleet with Helo in the background is included in the article. Be sure to pick up a copy!

The Men and Women of Battlestar Galactica

Just came across two newish promo shots of the men and women of BSG. Helo is included.

On Galactica, the men wear uniforms...And the women don't. Apparently. The shot of the men is included in the new BSG image gallery on the redesigned sci-fi site.

New profile for Helo at scifi.com (& new site poll)

Scifi has redesigned their Battlestar webpage and updated the info for the upcoming season. Helo gets a new photo and a new character description:

Sharon Valerii's former ECO (Electronic Countermeasures Officer) and fellow Raptor pilot (callsign "Helo") was stranded on Cylon-occupied Caprica after the initial attack. There, he met another copy of Sharon, fell in love with her, and eventually returned with her to the Galactica to await the birth of their child, Hera. Recently promoted to executive officer of the Galactica, he struggles to balance his very real loyalty to humanity's fight for survival with his equally real love for the Cylon mother of his child.

Confirmation that Helo will be Galactica's XO at the start of the season.

We're going to overlook the fact that the actor description for Tahmoh hasn't changed and is inaccurate (he wasn't in TAKEN).

The photo seems to be an outtake from the S3 promotional photo shoot. You can see the other new season 3 shots here. In looking through the high-res Helo promo shots I realized two things:

1) You can read his dogtags in some of the shots. Who the frak is "J" Helo? Wouldn't it make more sense to have his actual name ("Karl Agathon") on the tag?

Also you can read his serial number: 384162

2) The airbrushing monkies have been at work. Compare:

Hmm, time for a new poll.

Interview with BSG writer/producer Ron Moore

An interesting new interview with Ron Moore has appeared on CHUD.com. It's very thoughtful and touches on the new season and the future of the show, but is only vaguely spoilery.

You guys work in a very interactive environment because the fans are so vocal and so involved. Do you ever wish that you didn’t hear from the fans, that you didn’t have CylonLuvr93 wishing you dead on a message board?

Moore: No, not really. I am pretty much egocentric about the way we do the show [laughs]. I write it for me and what I personally like; I’ll drive people crazy this way – it’s really about my tastes, I like this or I don’t like that. I listen to people in the production: the cast, the crew, the writing staff – it’s very collaborative. But I’m interested in what the fans say and I don’t care what the fans say. It’s both. As a writer, the internet gives me that experience of walking into the back of the theater and watching the audience watch my movie, which I don’t get in television. I’m always interested in what the response is going to be, good or bad. The bad reviews are the ones I read the most closely – I’ll frequent boards that rip the show apart from one side to the other because it sort of makes me think about the show. It makes me challenge my thinking about the show, it makes me think critically about the decisions that we made. Generally I walk away going, ‘Oh fuck them, they don’t know what they’re talking about,’ but for a moment I had to think about it. I don’t think I’ve ever regretted that there’s a strong internet component.

Read the rest of the interview.

More photos from the TV Guide Emmy After Party

Thanks to Michelle for these great additional photos of Tahmoh at the TV Guide Emmy After Party a couple weeks ago.

Official BSG Convention Recap and Photos

For a tremendous recap of Tahmoh's panel at the Official Battlestar Galactica Convention in August, go read Bijoux's 2006 BSG Con Report.

Roadrunnerdm took some equally tremendous photos of the panel, so here are some highlights of both:

• The most physically difficult scene he shot was in "33". He was really amped to bring off the idea that Helo was injured, dying of radiation poisoning, being hunted by two Cylon Centurions, and he'd probably been running around for weeks without food. At that point, Tahmoh hadn't worked long enough with Michael Rymer to realize that he was one of those directors who liked to spend a whole day shooting one scene. So Tahmoh would be doing windsprints up a hill so when the Cylons were chasing him, he'd actually be exhausted. But of course, Rymer being Rymer, he had Tahmoh do those running scenes several times and by the end Tahmoh was dead tired. Tahmoh also mentioned that he got hit in the head by a pot during the scene where the Cylons bust into the restaurant when he's making toast.


• He said that if he wasn't acting, and he was stupid enough and wanted to make money, he'd be a muay thai fighter. Though right now he's in no shape to be fighting because of all the cheese and wine James [Callis] buys him.


• He said that when they shot that scene where Helo and Tyrol bust into the brig to stop the Pegasus people from raping Sharon, there was actually a lot more stuff shot that didn't make it on screen. While shooting the scene, Tahmoh and Aaron had to wait outside in the hall and all they could hear was Grace whimpering and trying to defend herself, and it didn't take much for them to get revved up to run down the hall and beat the crap out of the other guys. The stunt actor that they had him tackling was a professional wrestler, ex-muay thai champion, and NMA fighter. "This guy is built like a brick shithouse - excuse me." The actor wanted Tahmoh to him him as hard as he could, so take after take Tahmoh would try his hardest to take the guy down, and each time the actor said Tahmoh could hit him way harder if he wanted.

Read the rest of Bijoux's report. (She also recaps the other stars' panels).

See Roadrunnerdm's whole Tahmoh gallery. (She also has galleries for the other BSG stars).

Even more Dragon Con photos

Thanks to everyone for sending along their pics from the con. Follow the links to see more photos from the event.

Ragnarok 2012 attended the BSG Colonial Day Party at Dragon Con and took a huge number of pics. Tahmoh, Aaron Douglas and James Callis all showed up. The first pic is with one of the costume contest winners, one_woman_army, who has a nice pic with a smiling Tahmoh at her LJ.

See all the photos.

Hijinx has some great shots from the panels, the walk of fame and the Colonial Day party. Check out her Flicker page for more!


Samantha also attended Dragon Con and sent along this photo.

Tahmoh at the TV Guide Emmy After Party

Emmy weekend Tahmoh not only was a guest at the Official BSG convention in Burbank, but also attended several Emmy parties, including the TV Guide Emmy After Party. Thanks to Michelle for these pics!

TV Guide interviewed fellow BSG stars Jamie Bamber and James Callis at the party, visit their TV Guide profile pages to see those interviews.

More photos of Tahmoh at Dragon Con

Tremendous thanks to all the Tahmoh fans that have sent me photos of Tahmoh at Dragon Con over Labor Day weekend. Please keep sending me photos/info. Click on the thumbnails below for larger versions.

Thanks to Lindsy Sims for these great shots from the whole Con.



Thanks to Krysta for these great pics from the Saturday Panel (visit her site to see more photos of Tahmoh and Aaron Douglas, James Callis, Richard Hatch and Kate Vernon).


Thanks to Kage Alan for sending this snapshot with Aaron and Tahmoh.

Photos of Tahmoh from Timeless Destinations

Tahmoh attended Timeless Destinations in Vancouver early this August, but no photos had surfaced until now. Thanks to Jamila for finding these and a tremendous thanks to Stephanie Feldman for letting me share her terrific photos with you.

These photos are from the Make-A-Wish Charity Auction on August 5th.

To see more great photos from the event, visit Stephanie's website.

Cold Squad premieres this week on US TV

The top Canadian crime drama, Cold Squad, which ran for seven seasons (and on which the American show, Cold Case, is based), will premiere on US television this week in syndication.



Tahmoh starred as Constable Ray Chase in the series 7th and last season. It's currently unclear whether they'll be airing the shows in order or not. The show also stars Canadian actors Michael Hogan (Col. Tigh) and Matthew Bennett (Aaron Doral) from Battlestar Galactica.



Program Partners has sold the show to the top 50 US markets as late night programming. To find when it's airing near you, you'll have to check your local affiliate's schedule. For example, it's airing late Saturday night in Boston (12:35 AM) and late Friday and Saturday nights (2:30 AM) in New York City.

New York (WABC), Los Angeles (KCOP/KTTV), Chicago (WLS), as well as Houston (KPRC), Boston (WCVB), San Francisco (KBWB), Dallas (WFAA), Washington DC (WDCA/WTTG), Atlanta (WSB), Detroit (WDWB), Tampa (WFTS, WMOR), Seattle (KONG/KING), Phoenix (KNXV), Cleveland (WEWS), Minneapolis (WCCO, WFTC/KMSP), Miami (WFOR/WBFS), Orlando (WRBQ), St. Louis (KMOV), Knoxville (WATE), Columbus (WSFJ), Green Bay (WBAY), Charleston-Huntington (WSAZ), Wilkes Barre-Scranton (WNEP), Wichita (KSAS/KSCC), Lexington (WBLU), Fresno (KAIL), Rochester (WBGT), Fort Myers (WBBH/WZVN), South Bend (WSBT) and Tri Cities (WKPT).

To see more affiliates, see Program Partner's list.

Photos of Tahmoh at Dragon Con

Thanks to Michelle, here are two great pics of Tahmoh at Dragon Con last weekend. He was a surprise guest, which is why he doesn't have his own name card.

If you have any photos of Tahmoh from Dragon Con or any other event, please comment or email me!

2004 Interview with Tahmoh

Here's an older interview with Tahmoh from The Globe and Mail during the filming of the first season of BSG.

"Rookie bares all, well almost, for Cold Squad"

He wanted to get naked but they made him wear a nude-coloured sock, says actor Tahmoh Penikett about a scene from Cold Squad

by Mary Nersessian (2 October 2004)

It was not long ago that Tahmoh Penikett remembers struggling to pay for his acting classes and wondering whether he would ever make it as an actor. “You question yourself,” he says, “We face so much rejection.”

He quotes the words of Mike Myers as aptly capturing every actor's worst nightmare, “I still believe that at any time the no-talent police will come and arrest me.”

Penikett, 29, plays Officer Ray Chase in the seventh and final season of CTV's Cold Squad. This is his first lead supporting role.

The son of former Yukon premier Tony Penikett, he has been working as an actor for three years. His luck took a turn for the better when he was giving an actor friend a ride. His friend received a call from his agent about an audition and, despite tight competition even among friends in the same industry, told Penikett about it. Three tryouts later, Penikett had the part in Cold Squad. His character is a rookie who quit law school.

He says he's grateful to have work because “everyone knows in the last couple of years work has slowed down . . . obviously as an actor, our careers are so volatile, one day you've got work, the next you don't.”

And he's not against moving to the United States. “I'm definitely open to it. If you have any aspirations, you have to be open to the possibility.”

In Toronto to promote the final season of the acclaimed series, Penikett is wearing a black buttoned-down shirt and blue jeans and smells faintly of soap, as if he just stepped out of the shower.

Asked to explain what his first name signifies, he declines. He promised his grandmother he would not reveal its meaning. “I don't like telling people. I have to know them a little bit,” he says, but he does reveal that his name has Upper Tanana origins (the Upper Tanana people live in the region of the Yukon/Alaska border).

He was born and raised in Yukon, which he calls “a magical place.”

“Northerners in general have a lot more respect for the outdoors, for wildlife, for Mother Earth, because they are such a small presence in a huge vast land,” he says.

Just two days before the interview, he lost his voice after a 13-hour, “emotionally exhausting” shoot for Battlestar Galactica, when his character learned that his lover “was not who she said she was.”

He speaks in hushed tones to preserve his voice. His delivery is rhythmic, almost as if he is reading a script and timing his punchlines.

Penikett says on his first day on the set of Cold Squad he had to perform a three-page monologue. He was terrified, but he was put at ease by the camaraderie on the set.

He recounts one scene that took several takes. His character is taking a shower when Sergeant Ali McCormick walks into the shower room.

But actress Julie Stewart promptly forgot her lines upon the sight of Penikett's bare behind.

“I am pretty much naked, bare-assed,” he remembers and laughs. “She was so red, she was more embarrassed than I was.” He was naked, but for a sock.

“They had me wearing a nude-coloured sock, I'll tell you, it's a funny looking thing. I should have been naked but they wouldn't let me do that.”

First BSG Season 3 episode promotional photos

13 new photos from the first two episodes of Season 3 have been released by Sci-Fi. Thanks to Drewcypher, you can see them all for yourself. Helo features in one of them:

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA -- "Occupation/Precipice" Episode 301/302 -- Pictured: (back left) Luciana Carro as Louanne 'Kat' Katraine, (back, center) Tahmoh Penikett as Karl "Helo" Agathon; (front, l-r) Grace Park as Sharon Valerii, Edward James Olmos as Commander William Adama
See the rest.

Trapped Ashes to premiere at Toronto Film Festival

Tahmoh's horror film, Trapped Ashes, will have its world premiere as part of "Midnight Madness" during the Toronto International Film Festival this month. (Tahmoh's segment of the film, "Stanley's Girlfriend," premiered earlier this year at the Cannes Film Festival).

SCREENING TIMES:
Tuesday, September 12 11:59 PM RYERSON
Thursday, September 14 12:15 PM PARAMOUNT 4

Six strangers (including cult actor John Saxon!) are invited to tour the legendary back lot of Ultra Studios, one of Hollywood's most venerated movie companies. Before long, the party, along with their eccentric guide (beloved character actor Henry Gibson), find themselves trapped on the set of the infamous House of Horrors, used for the notorious sixties thriller Hysteria. A sinister force will only allow them to live if they recount their most terrifying stories, just like the characters in the movie…

Comprised of five vignettes by five unique filmmakers with their own twisted, perverse visions, Trapped Ashes follows the tradition of classic anthology horror films like Tales from the Crypt and Kwaidan, weaving yarns of the surreal, erotic and terrifying.

In "Stanley's Girlfriend," Monte Hellman spins a tale of two ambitious filmmakers in fifties Hollywood who become unlikely friends, until a mysterious beatnik beauty begins to date one of them - to gruesome effect.

The narrative thread tying them all together - the quandary of the captive storytellers - is directed by Joe Dante.

Trapped Ashes lays out tales of infidelity, sexual obsession, spiritual anguish, necromantic sex, dead souls, warped pregnancies and rotting nitrate film. Featuring an ethereal score by acclaimed Japanese composer Kenji Kawai (The Ring, Dark Water), Trapped Ashes unites these masters of the genre for a joyride of ghoulish delights.

To find out more, visit the Toronto Film Festival site or search this blog for "Trapped Ashes".

Video interviews with Tahmoh at the Emmys

Thanks to Logan Gawain from the excellent Battlestar Galactica Sitrep podcast/blog, for pointing out that MeeVeeTV has posted two short interview clips with Tahmoh live from the Red Carpet at the 2006 BAFTA Emmy Awards party.

Helo (Tahmoh Penikett) from Battlestar Galactica discusses what he loves about the show and the importance of the time jumps.



Tahmoh Penikett (Helo) from Battlestar Galactica talks about his favorite TV shows Deadwood and others.

The Televisionary talks to Tahmoh at the Emmy Tea Party

The Televisionary attended the BAFTA Emmy Tea Party and also had the opportunity to talk with Tahmoh:

Tempest in a Tea Cup: An Emmy Weekend Round-up

I chatted with a super-friendly Tahmoh Penikett about next season's Battlestar Galactica and he was thrilled to talk with someone who had actually seen the first five episodes of the series' third season (that would be yours truly) and had some very kind words to say about fellow BSG actor Michael Hogan (that would be Colonel Tigh), whom he hadn't really gotten to share a scene with before the upcoming season. As for what those scenes deal with, you'll have to wait until this fall.

Read the rest of his report.