BSG’s Final Location

Don’t worry, the 13th Colony hasn’t given up on Battlestar Galactica location scouting. In fact, we’ve been very busy over the summer and will be bringing you our findings over the next several weeks. First up is the last one. Our most recent mission was to the very last location seen in the series, the downtown modern-day New York locale where the “angels” Six and Baltar watched Ron Moore read a National Geographic magazine article about Hera. As it turns out, it’ was shot in a plaza near the corner of Hastings and Hornby in downtown Vancouver.

Over delicious hot chocolate at Mink, a chocolate cafe, we discussed what we thought of the final scene. More pictures here.

Space Channel streams the “Frakkin’ End”

It’s almost old news by now, but I thought I would post this one anyway…

As part of their coverage of the finale of Battlestar Galactica, Space Channel (Canada’s science fiction channel) did a one hour Fandom Forum, a live broadcast featuring an in-studio audience of Toronto BSG fans, and some “live hits” out to Vancouver for the 13^th Colony’s Finale Party.  The complete one hour program is now streaming online, broken into seven segments.

In my admittedly biased opinion, here are what I think are the best bits:

Part 1: 2:08 to 3:13 (intro to the Vancouver party)

Part 2: 4:30 to 6:11 (Ahem…Spacepug, aka Madame President, and the Hybrid)

(Parts 3, 4 and 5: Alas, no us.)

Part 6: 3:10 to 3:55 (RDM, MM & EJO thank the Canadian fans)

Part 6: 3:56 to 5:36 (Natasha interviews our Six, Baltar, Starbuck and Tyrol, plus the Hybrid)

Part 7: 3:45 to 4:41 (Wrap up from Vancouver)

Congratulations to everyone who participated, on both ends of the country.  Space was thrilled with the ratings for the show, and with their first ever fully live broadcast.  We’ve extended the invitation for them to come back to Vancouver for another special in conjunction with “The Plan” in November or “Caprica” next year, so keep your fingers crossed.

Cylons are Yummy

by spacepug

Would you like a Cylon Raider with a side of Algae?  How about a Mandala Burger?

As a special treat for our big “Helo’s Dollhouse” event last Friday, the folks at the LaFontana Café made up a very special menu for the 13^th Colony.   All of it was delicious and made the Battlestar fans feel a bit superior to all those Browncoats who showed up, but it was a friendly rivalry since many of us count ourselves in both camps.  They may not have made it in time for Darth Mojo’s culinary challenge, but I think everyone who got a taste will agree, it was an amazing gesture!  Thanks John!

We had 52 people out for the event, our biggest so far.  Can’t wait to see what the final five…episodes…bring us!

For more pictures, check here.

OMG! WTF? Wow….(repeat on loop)

by spacepug

The 13th Colony held it’s biggest Frak Party so far in conjunction with the premiere of Season 4.5, “Sometimes a Great Notion.” 37 of Vancouver’s Battlestar Galactica fans (OK, 36 of us and one from Pennsylvania.  Hi Pete!) decided to come together to watch the show. The picture below tells the story. A cafe full of BSG fans, all glued to the TV screen, very still and very quiet.

Honestly, it was a good time.  Who doesn’t enjoy a good punch to the gut every once and awhile, particularly when you can share it with friends… The lively debate that followed the broadcast ended with a general agreement that our list of questions grew substantially over that first hour, and that I should provide boxes of tissue at all future events.

We’ll be back to LaFontana Caffe in Burnaby for the next nine Fridays in a row. Word’s getting out, the right people are noticing our really frakkin’ cool poster, so I’m betting we might just hit 50 people by the time the Finale arrives.

The Beginning of the End

All smiles in the photo below, but inside each of us is fighting an epic battle between being incredibly excited about having new BSG to watch, and profoundly sad that the journey is almost over.  We’re ready, though.  The 13th Colony held two weeks of marathon nerd sessions called “4.0 Refreshers” in which a dozen of us sat through 5 hours  of Galactica on Sunday afternoons.  Watching the first half of the season resulted in some new revelations (Wow, Tigh did just change the baby’s diaper, didn’t he?) and new debates (Who is that final Cylon anyway?).

BSG fans are always welcome at LaFontana Caffe

For the next ten weeks, Vancouver’s Battlestar Galactica fans will be gathering at LaFontana Caffe in Burnaby on Friday nights, to watch the final episodes of the series together.  We truly are the luckiest fans, since we get the broadcast from Space Channel at 7pm local time.  So get there early, order a coffee, and share some amazing television with fellow fans.

The details for all ten episode viewing parties (part of our “13 Weeks of BSG” series) are over at our Meetup site.  Since we are expecting big crowds for the premiere and the finale, please join up and RSVP, or email the organizer to let us know you’re dropping in.

Announcing: 13 Weeks of BSG

Since this is our last chance to show how dedicated the 13^th Colony is to Battlestar Galactica, we’ve decided to go all out to give our favourite show a frakkin’ good send-off!

Since we call ourselves the 13th Colony, we just had to do….13 Weeks of BSG!

We’re having viewing parties each and every week from the first weekend in January 2009 and continuing through the end of March. We’ll start with two 4.0 Refresher sessions, then settle in for ten Friday nights to watch the final ten episodes, and finish it off with a “cry over your coffee” post-mortem session after the dust has cleared.

Our location for all 13 events is the LaFontana Caffe in Burnaby, a cool coffee place with plenty of seats and one very big screen. The owner is a 13^th Colonist, and he’s happy to have us over to watch with him. Since there’s no cover charge or event fee, we’re asking that everyone who shows up orders off the menu, to make sure it is worthwhile for them to have us there.

Of course, those of us in Vancouver are the luckiest of all, since we get to see the BSG broadcast on Space Channel at 7pm PST. We gather one hour early to fuel up, strap in and enjoy the ride!

If you would like to join us, please visit our Meetup site here for more details and to RSVP. (Click on the picture above for a view of our frakkin’ awesome poster, designed by Ryan Madden.)

A Caprican Halloween

At some point in Battlestar Galactica’s timeline, were Caprican children frightened into bed by tales of Cylon bogeymen hiding in the shadows on All Hallows Eve?  Did a proud Pikon child dress up as a Colonial warrior to go out Trick or Treating?  We will likely not see a Halloween themed episode of Galactica… ever, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to give up the chance to dress up like our favourite characters!

The 13^th Colony is hosting a BSG themed Halloween party at a local café.  We’re taking over the place on a Saturday night, and so far it looks like we’ll have both Colonials and Cylons in attendance.  It’s a costume party, so naturally there will be a costume contest with a variety of prizes to be won.  There’s a big screen TV, so we’re going to show what we think are the scariest BSG episodes.

If you want to join us, head over to the Meetup event page or the Facebook event page and RSVP.

Coffee with the President

by spacepug

A dozen 13th Colonists took advantage of the Victoria Day long weekend in Canada and met up for an event we called Coffee with the President. To get us in an appropriately BSG mood, we chose Starbucks as the location. Of course, the version of President Roslin we had in attendance was only two inches tall and made of plastic, but we were still pretty excited to have her with us!

Unfortunately, Laura remained tight-lipped about the shooting location for her dream sequence from “Flesh & Bone” where she runs through the woods and meets up with Leoben, before he gets sucked away through the trees. After a few forays into North Vancouver’s mountains, we think we’re close to finding the location in Capilano Park. We just need to find a section of the trail with more ferns…However, armed with maps and a photo-loaded iPod, we’re heading out again this weekend. Who knows what we’ll find?

Wish us luck!

Our 1st Anniversary Party

Fittingly perhaps, we had thirteen members of The 13th Colony show up for our Coffee & Cake & Cylons event on the weekend.
There was much discussion about Razor and the so-called “Last Supper” photo, as well as speculation as to who the Final Cylon must be…and when Space Channel will actually air Season Four here in Canada. We’ve also come up with a list of ideas for the 2008 Scouting Missions, which will follow in a later post. For now, I’ll leave you with more of our photographic shenanigans…this one is called “The Joy of Cake.”

Immediately after this photo was taken, Frik fell over onto the icing.

Coffee & Cake & Cylons

Today is the first anniversary of The 13th Colony. Granted, on that first day when I finally screwed up my courage to start the club, I was it’s only member. But one year later, we have 95 members in 5 countries. We’ve held 14 events, including three “location scouting missions.” We’ve had more coffee than I can count.  I knew when I started this club that there had to be more Battlestar Galactica fans in Vancouver than just me. Turns out I was right! But I also suspect there are even more out there….looking for us!

So, here’s your chance!  In honour of our first birthday, we’re doing it again…on Saturday, January 26th at 1pm, a bunch of us are meeting for coffee & cake to celebrate, and of course, we’re bringing along our mini-cylon friends.  Click here for the details.