Ramp Me Up, Tigh Me Down

One of the locations we’ve known about for some time but just haven’t got to yet is what we call the Cordova Ramp. In Season One’s “Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down,” Six and Doral and walking down an empty street in Caprica City, talking about love.

Located on Cordova Street, near Thurlow, the ramp is the main access to traffic coming and going from Canada Place. I’d already learned how dangerous it is to take photos without the benefit of a film crew closing off the street, so the angle of our matching shot is a little off…but spacepug lives to keep scouting another day! More pictures from our downtown location scouting trip here.

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.

Caprica back on Location

by spacepug

I cannot tell you how pleased I was to see this empty chair in the midst of a crowd of extras and film crew today.  Caprica is back in Vancouver and was shooting today at the Central Library in Downtown Vancouver.   Polly Walker is the main reason I’m wishing January 22, 2010 would get here faster.  Not only is she an extremely talented actress (watch Rome if you are unfamiliar with her work), but she did so much with so little screen time in the Caprica pilot.  She made the character of Clarice seem sinister yet sympathetic, and absolutely fascinating.

Here’s a link to a few pictures I took of today’s shoot.  Nothing spoilery except for some costume items that give a sense of atmosphere.  Oh yeah, and some random guy in the crowd who I didn’t even notice was there until I got home and checked the pics…leave it to spacepug to miss the handsome leading man!

Since Caprica will be shooting in Vancouver for several more months, I want to make a couple of  things clear.  I will not publish shooting locations in advance.  I will not publish any photos that I believe are spoilers.  In general, I think true fans are much more careful of not spoiling something for their fellow fans since they themselves want to enjoy the show completely when it finally airs….many months from now.   What I will do is pass along whatever snippets I think will help keep fans excited and interested in what is coming.  Clear? Maybe not.  We will see…

We found Earth!

Specifically, we finally got out to Centennial Beach in Tsawwassen to see the “Earth” locations from Battlestar Galactica, including the spot where Kara found…herself, and the beach where the crew realized just how desolate a place their journey had led them to.

Spacepug's "We Found It!" look

Funny, Kara didn’t seem nearly so happy to have ended up at the same place. The beach is part of Boundary Bay park, located about 30 minutes south of Vancouver and very close to the ferry terminal for the Vancouver-Victoria run.

It’s harder to show comparison shots of the beach, since the ruins and CGI elements aren’t there as reference markers, so you’ll have to take my word for it that it is easy to tell you’re in the right place.  Well worth a field trip, it is certainly a beautiful spot.

There are more photos here.

It’s A Wrap

According to our source, filming on the BSG TV movie, “The Plan,” wrapped up in the wee hours of Wednesday morning with a complex outdoor location shoot in one of Vancouver’s suburbs, involving many extras and lots of explosions.  Going out with a bang or two, it sounds like.

Once again, we’re sorry to see it all come to an end, but will eagerly await the results!

Another Bridge to Find

A trio of hardy 13th Colonists made a long trek (6.5km each way) on foot into the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve (known to locals as the Seymour Demonstration Forest) to find yet another Battlestar Galactica shooting location from Season One.

This is a picture from the episode “Six Degrees of Separation” where Helo and Sharon hide on one of the pylons of a bridge while Centurions pass by above them.

This is a picture we took of the Spur 4 bridge, which we were directed to by one of the park rangers. (Note: showing regular people screen shots using a cool gadget like an iPod Touch makes it seem much less geeky and illicits a better response than just asking.) The railing on the bridge is different, but is obviously a recent addition.

The kicker is, the way the bridge was integrated into the scene in the show, we thought it should have a bunch of red pillars beneath it. Clearly it does not. So, we still have one more bridge to find, likely close by.

I sense more long hikes in my future.

Battlestar Switcheroo

Being sneaky, eh? While a group of 13th Colonists were out this past weekend scouting around for shooting locations in one of the parks on Vancouver’s North Shore mountains, we discovered something interesting. One of the most famous features of the North Shore mountains are “The Lions” named because when they are covered in snow, they look like two reclining lions. Our beautiful Lions Gate Bridge is named after this natural formation, as is our local CFL football team, the BC Lions.

In the world of Battlestar Galactica, it appears on Kobol and is seen as below:

In actual fact, they’ve pulled a switch on us, reversing the shot from how it appears in nature, as seen from this picture we took from the north end of Capilano Park, near the Cleveland Dam.

Ha!  Very clever, but we’re on to you…and as a result of our most recent foray into the woods, we’ve also closed in a couple more shooting locations, so stay tuned and we’ll have more pics for you in the coming weeks.

Cross One Location Off the List

I wish I could say that the title of the blog post means we’ve found another site we’ve been looking for (I’ve been too busy enjoying our late arriving summer to actually BSG location scout!) Sadly, I’m going to recommend that fans do not venture out to one of the locations we spent some effort tracking down.

In “Litmus” from Season One, Helo is on the run from the Cylons on Caprica and unbeknownst to him, he is being watched from above by his pursuers as he climbs down a fire escape and walks down a graffiti-covered alley. The actual shooting location is near the cenotaph on East Hastings Street in Vancouver. Originally, the actors playing Sharon, Six and Doral were standing on the roof of the old Woodwards building, which has been torn down to allow construction of a new building.

The construction project has turned that alley into a dead end, and with no through traffic, it has become a popular spot for drug deals, addicts shooting up and prostitution. And that’s just based on what I saw in the few minutes we were there last week. It was never the nicest place in town by any means, but it has undergone a big change, even from a year ago. There is blood, urine, broken needles and used condoms. It really is worse than the post-apocalyptic scenario you saw on TV.

Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside can be exciting, full of history and creativity. But for many it is a place of poverty, misery and violence. I thought I should caution any visiting Battlestar Galactica fans thinking of venturing down there. It is the roughest edge of our beautiful city.

The 13th is a Friendly Tribe

by spacepug

Organizing a fan club has its perks. Occasionally, you get to meet people like Dwight and Nancy. Visitors to Vancouver from the East Coast of the United States, they joined the 13^th Colony earlier this year and introduced themselves via email. Late last week, we got to meet them in person. As is our habit, the evening started with coffee. Since this is Vancouver, naturally we ended up at a sushi restaurant. In between, we took them on a short walking tour of some of the Galactica filming locations in downtown Vancouver, including the Central Library, which was prominently featured in Season One of BSG, when Helo and Sharon walk around deserted Caprica City. Incidentally, the library was also the location of the cast and crew wrap party, held a few days ago. We traded theories about where the show is headed, and bragged more than a little bit about how great it is to live here.

We hope our visitors enjoyed themselves. We certainly enjoyed having them here.

BSG on Location for the Finale

by spacepug

It’s an exciting time to be a member of the 13th Colony, but also, quite frankly, nerve-wracking. I don’t want to know how it ends until I see the last episode as it airs on TV. I know that means I have to be diligent for the next six months (or more) to avoid spoilers. Today, a friend sent pictures from today’s Battlestar Galactica location shoot. With just one more week scheduled for shooting, these pictures represent filming of the series finale.

So, I’m going to pass along a few. Spoilers are minor, but intriguing. And since people are sensitive about such things, they are hidden behind a cut.