Bad news for fans of Battlestar Galactica: the rest of Season 4 will not be shown until early 2009. At a special screening in Los Angeles Executive Producer Ron Moore said the remaining Season 4 episodes will be shown in the first quarter of next year.

Apparently the delay is due to post production work on the series, as well as production and scheduling competition from new shows and sports programs at the end of this year.

"Realistically,” Moore said, “there's no way to get back on the air faster."

"We don't have a locked in schedule yet," said NBC Universal executive Bonnie Hammer. "We just know that it's always better to leave the fans just titillated a little bit, but it will definitely be back."

This is annoying news. The midseason finale and the episodes leading up to it have been excellent. What has happened on Earth? Who is the final cylon? And most importantly, how will they wrap up the series?

I guess we’ll have to wait and see. The final episodes of Season 4 are being filmed now.

Early previews of Battlestar Galactica Season 4

Battlestar Galactica ends with Season 4

Battlestar Galactica spin-off series Caprica in 2010?

This is the best news I’ve heard all year. The satellite channel Sky One has commissioned two hour-long pilots of the classic BBC science fiction television series Blake’s 7.

"The time is ripe for a revival of a show that represents the best traditions of the genre, not to mention one of the best-loved and most successful dramas of all time," said Elaine Pyke, commissioning editor for drama at Sky One, Two and Three.

Originally created by Terry Nation, the man responsible for the Daleks in Doctor Who, Blake’s 7 ran for four years between 1978 and 1981 and had a massive cult following.

Who can forget the cynical but charming computer wizard Avon (Paul Darrow), the boxed super computer Orac, and the cowardly safe cracker Villa (Michael Keating) who was pretty much scared of everything.

Blake’s 7 had it all: space adventure, cardboard sets, crazy costumes, and plenty of great science fiction moments.

While we wait for the fourth and final season of Battlestar Galactica, due to hit US TV screens 4 April, news is out that a 2-hour pilot for a spin off series called Caprica has been green-lit by the SciFi Channel.

"I'm thrilled with the chance to expand on the Galactica world and get deeper into the origins of the story we've been telling," said Battlestar Galactica Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore. "It's also great to have a chance at doing a completely different kind of science fiction series, one that's even more character-oriented and doesn't rely on pyrotechnics."

Caprica is set 50 years before the events in Battlestar Galactica, telling the story of the creation of the Cylons and the lead up to the first Cylon war. In a world not unlike our own, two competing families, the Greystones and the Adamas (I'm guessing this is no coincidence…), are first to achieve startling breakthroughs in robotics, marrying artificial intelligence with mechanical bodies to create living robots.

The SciFi Channel has described the show as "television's first science fiction family saga."

You'll have to wait until April before Battlestar Galactica airs in the US, but in the meantime check out this comprehensive preview on YouTube courtesy of the Canadian TV show HypaSpace.

You can also watch a short but intriguing teaser trailer here, with shadows crossing the faces of the major characters as each face blends in with the next.

There's a longer official Battlestar Galactica Season 4 trailer here too.

The plot for the fourth and final season will apparently revolve around finding earth, revealing the last of the "final five" Cylons, and tying up loose ends regarding Starbuck and Baltar.

When asked whether it had been decided who the fifth Cylon would be, Ronald D. Moore, Battlestar Galactica's executive producer, said “It’s definitely been decided who that one is.” He added, “I can’t say when, but we’re certainly not waiting until the last episode to tell you who it is."

Here's a video showing the cast and crew discussing Battlestar's final season at a press conference in August 2007.