Frik and Frak have had a little trouble agreeing on how to do their Christmas cards this year.  Frik thinks “By Your Command” isn’t a cheery enough greeting, and Frak can’t figure out how to sign his name with his cannons and not obliterate the whole card in the process.  Now we know the real reason Battlestar Galactica never had a Christmas episode.

Happy Holidays to BSG fans around the globe.

If Cylons and Humans can live together, perhaps in 2010 we can move one step closer to Peace on Earth. ~ spacepug

by spacepug

Checked out another excellent article by Maureen Ryan over at the Chicago Tribune about the upcoming BSG prequel series, Caprica, and my jaw dropped open in shock.

If you thought going from SciFi to SyFy was a bad marketing move, get a load of the new poster for Caprica. Wow, not only have they produced a completely unoriginal image (echoes of Dollhouse, Terminator, how many others?), they’ve sexualized an underage girl and made a mockery of their own claim that the show will be serious drama. All with one poster. WTF were they thinking?

Honestly, now I’m worried. Not at all because they have cut the series order by one episode, but because the marketing department’s move is, in my opinion, a huge misstep. Caprica is going to be a tough sell, period. It’s a drama with just enough sci-fi to make mainstream viewers nervous, and probably not enough sci-fi to guarantee the dedicated geek following. Why shoot yourself in the foot so early? Perhaps they’ll come up with a better game plan before January 22nd.

Agree or disagree? Comment below.

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.

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.

Apologies to AJ & Teddy, but here at 13th Colony, we consider Nat to be “one of us.”

Space Channel’s Natasha Eloi (seen above at the 13th Colony’s Frakkin End Party earlier this year) is in a fierce competition with her fellow Inner Space hosts to see who can sign up the most followers on Twitter. Her tag is EloiNation.

Michael Hogan (Colonel Saul Tigh on BSG) is going to be on “Dollhouse” this week. It’s not surprising to see Hogan return to our TV screens, but there is something that makes this role a key point in the actor’s career, and it floored me when I heard it.

Canadians are familiar with Hogan, certainly. He’s been a recognizable figure on TV here for decades. But as he revealed at Dragon*Con last month, he has only just now got his first US work permit, his first LA manager, and his first LA audition. Which he nailed and got the part. Dollhouse. Think about that when you watch his performance on Friday night. Fans of BSG have known he’s a brilliant actor for a long time. Isn’t it about time he got the chance to prove it to the rest of the world?

*Special thanks to Paul, Esther and Laura for letting me hang out with them in line for the McDonnell/Hogan panel at Dragon*Con and then sit in the front row. Great to meet you!

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.

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

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…

…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!