Post Dragon-Con Post

Wonder why it’s been a month and no report about Dragon*Con from Frik or Frak?

Frakked

‘Nuff said. Recovery continues. Truly, a real report will follow soon….from Spacepug. Frik will never be the same, I’m afraid.

Meetup with 13th Colony @ Dragon*Con

There will be a gaggle (a horde?) of 13th Colonists attending Dragon*Con this year, from Canada, the US and overseas.  So, we’re going to schedule our very first non-Vancouver Meetup:

Friday, September4th at 7pm at the Consuite (Room 226 Hyatt) is where we will gather, and then possibly move to an alternate location for food and/or drinks.  We ought to be easy to spot…look for some shiny 13 stickers prominently displayed and we guarantee a lively conversation about Battlestar Galactica.  For the steely eyed amongst you….Frik and Frak, our mini-mate mascots, will also be in attendance.

We’re really looking forward to meeting 13th Colonists, our blog readers, and just BSG fans, from all over!  Look forward to meeting you…So Say We All!

Spacepug

We Are Coming, We Are Coming…

…to Atlanta!  Several members of the 13th Colony will be on hand for this year’s Dragon*Con in Atlanta.  We’re not just coming from Vancouver, but places across the globe, including bloggers spacepug and gem, as well as our excellent reviewer millari.

If you’re a reader of this blog and plan to attend, let us know in the comments below.  We’ll be pretty easy to spot thanks to the spiffy new stickers Frik and Frak are showing off below!  If you see us around the con, come up and say  “hello.”  The best part of these last couple of years running this blog has been meeting fellow BSG fans from all over the world, both virtually and in person, and this is just another great occasion to do so.

And what a great year for BSG fans to gather at Dragon*Con.  Guests this year include:  Alessandro Juliani (Gaeta), Dirk Benedict (Starbuck, for the original fans), Edward James Olmos (Adama), Kandyse McClure (Dualla), Kate Vernon (Ellen), Luciana Carro (Kat), Mary McDonnell (Roslin), Michael Trucco (Anders) and Richard Hatch (Zarek, Apollo).  Also attending (just not “officially”) will be Aaron Douglas (Tyrol).

Hope to see you there!

Starting Rumours

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, eh?

President Laura Roslin and VP Tom Zarek recently spotted in the wee hours of the morning in front of one of the Las Vegas strip’s famous landmarks.

What do you think they’ve been up to?

(Honestly, traveling with BSG mini-mates has got to be way more fun than garden gnomes!)

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.

In Search of the One True God

Frak travels far and wide in search of the One True God!

Actually, Frak recently accompanied Spacepug into Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal, Quebec. Frak didn’t say if the experience brought him any closer in his search for the Cylon god, but then again he doesn’t say much. Spacepug however, found herself reluctant for the first time to photograph a Cylon in public. Sacrilege? Not sure, tried to be discreet and took the shot anyway. With religion and the debate between monotheism and polytheism becoming so prominent on BSG these days, figured it was called for.

BSG Shooting Locations – Downtown Vancouver

One of the earliest decisions made by the members of The 13th Colony was to seek out the publicly accessible shooting locations in and around Vancouver. Last summer, we did a series of Scouting Missions around town. We even got a write-up over at wired.com Since then, I’ve had requests from many people who are planning vacations to Vancouver this year and want to re-create what we’ve done. So, over the next several weeks, I’ll be making regular blog posts on how to get where we’ve been and what we’ve got planned for this year.

Since visitors to Vancouver often end up in the downtown area to see the tourist sights and it also just happens to be full of many familiar backdrops from Season One of BSG, we’ll start there.

At the start of Bastille Day you get to see one of Vancouver’s most famous landmarks, the Central Library. The view is from the corner of Homer and Robson in downtown Vancouver. It is also a damn fine library and surrounded by many of Vancouver’s fine coffee establishments, so well worth your time.

Later on, when Helo is on his own in Litmus, being watched from above by Sharon, Six and Doral, he goes down a fire escape into a graffiti covered alleyway. This alley is located north of the Pub 340 at 340 Cambie Street. Currently, the area is under construction and you might not be able to get to that actual doorway. We got close, and we blogged about it. Alas, the old Woodwards building with its familiar W sign, where the Cylons were standing, is gone now.

Later on, Sharon and Helo hide out in a restaurant to take a rest, and that is The Alibi Room at 157 Alexander Street. Note that the storefront was quite compressed in the shot used for the show so it looks a bit different in reality.

The ramp where Six and Doral talk in Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down is on Cordova between Thurlow and Burrard.

The Orpheum Theatre is one of Vancouver’s finest theatres, dating back more than 80 years. The interior of which is where Six led Baltar to see “their” baby, where D’Anna saw the Final Five and where Roslin, Sharon and Six all shared a vision at the end of Season Three. Theatre tours are available in the summer and we are certainly planning to take in one of those this year.

Below is a map showing the relative proximity of all of these locations. Have fun!

A Cylon in Paradise

Why did the Cylon go to the Yucatan?

Because rain and snow are so hard on the joints….

*This winter interlude is brought to you by the traveling members of The 13th Colony.

We’re not the only ones!

Nice to know we are not the only ones who feel the urge to photograph our Battlestar Galactica toys in various locations! Check here for the latest of David Eick’s video blogs, which follows two sci-fi lovebirds who met online through the BSG community, got married and got a tour of the set.  Sure enough, they haul out a Cylon mini-mate and a viper and photograph them on one of the sound stages.  Wonderful!

For your viewing pleasure, at right are Frik and Frak getting ready for the weekend’s Razor Frak Party.  The coffee had to inspected thoroughly.  It passed.