When in Rome…

…try to blend in, even if you’re a Cylon! If all else fails, pretend you’re a tourist.  This one has his back to the Forum and the Colosseum, as seen from Palantine Hill.  Our little guys sure do get around…

Battlestar @ the Sci-Fi Museum

Seattle’s Sci-Fi Museum has some wonderful Battlestar Galactica memorabilia on hand for fans to take a close look at. All of the items are from the original series, including a costume of Cylon Centurion Vulpa from the episode “Gun on Ice Planet Zero,” one of the Muffit II costumes and pictures of Evolution the chimpanzee, who played the robotic pet, as well as an Ovion costume from the original movie. In another corner of the exhibit, a video screen plays promotional clips from the new series.

The Sci-Fi Museum is a slice of geek heaven. Most of the major items come from the collection of Seattle billionaire Paul Allen, but several sci-fi celebrities and even fans have contributed to the collection. Many of the items on display are replicas rather than original costumes or props. Some originals are also in poor condition but the overall effect is very interesting. If anything, many of the display cabinets are too densely packed. The displays cover a broad range of literature and media sci-fi, but it is clearly only scratching the surface. They’ve done a very good job of adapting a basic concrete bunker into an interesting thematic space, much more so than the Experience Music Project that occupies the other half of the building. And judging from the crowd on the sci-fi side and the relative emptiness of the EMP, perhaps the Sci-Fi Museum could expand in the future.

It was definitely worth the visit, but note that presenting your AAA or BCAA card will save you $4 off the admission price.

Delphi Museum of the Colonies

We found it!

We finally got out to the location used at the end of Season One of Battlestar Galactica for the Delphi Museum of the Colonies, where Starbuck retrieved the Arrow of Apollo.  Members of the 13th Colony spent part of yesterday afternoon wandering around the campus of Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC. Luckily for us, a couple of our cohorts are alumni and they led us right to the spot on the north side of the campus.

We also found several spots around the campus which stood in for Caprica before the Cylon attack, including where Six met the ill-fated baby, where Roslin saw Six and Baltar together, and where Helo shot Sharon after finding out she was a Cylon.

That means we can put a checkmark beside the last location we had on our list and probably marks an end to our Location Scouting for the summer.

It’s been a blast. The 13th Colony has been up and running for half a year now, and even though it seems like the show is in limbo right now and then will be winding down next year, as a fan club we are just getting into high gear.

Even Cylons Support a Good Cause

Today, all across Canada, and even in many places around the world, people ran to raise money for cancer research. They did so in the name of Terry Fox, someone many consider to be among the greatest Canadians who ever lived.

As a teenager, Terry lost a leg to cancer. He decided more needed to be done to fund research into the deadly disease and he started the “Marathon of Hope.” He set out in April 1980 to run across Canada, doing the equivalent of a marathon every day. Prosthetic limb technology was not as advanced then, and his distinctive hop was probably a sign not just of the tremendous effort it took, but of the significant discomfort each step must have caused him. Terry never finished his run. His cancer returned, and he was forced to stop running outside of Thunder Bay in September of the same year. Sadly, the next year cancer took his life. He was just 22 years old.

But that is when the running really started. His journey inspired millions of people, not just in this country but around the world. The annual Terry Fox run attracts thousands of people to join in the effort to raise money for cancer research. To date, more than 400 million dollars has been raised in his name.

Caprica Scouting Mission #3

We’re at it again! Members of the 13th Colony will be heading out this weekend to explore another location in Greater Vancouver where several scenes from Battlestar Galactica were shot. Simon Fraser University is located on the top of Burnaby Mountain. Its distinctive buildings, designed by architect Arthur Erickson, have been featured prominently in many science fiction shows shot here, including Stargate: SG1 and Sliders. Interestingly, Erickson was also the architect who designed the Walter Koerner Library at UBC, which we featured in our report of the previous Scouting Mission.

Of course, what we noticed was that it was the setting for the scene from the BSG miniseries where Caprica Six admires the baby in the carriage before the attacks and….well, let’s just say it doesn’t end well. It is also where Laura Roslin remembered seeing Baltar and Six together. It was also where Helo shot Sharon after the attacks, after first learning she was a Cylon. Of course, we are also still looking for the location of the “Delphic Museum of the Colonies” where Starbuck retrieved the Arrow of Apollo but we have it on good authority we will find it this time.

So, we’ll take our mini Cylon friends with us again, and we promise to report back. With yet more pictures.

One Emmy win for BSG but keep your fingers crossed

Battlestar Galactica has won a well-deserved Emmy for Outstanding Visual Effects for that spectacular jump into the atmosphere sequence from Exodus, Pt. 2.  The award was given as part of the Creative Arts Emmys, given in recognition of technical achievements.

The primetime Emmy awards airs September 16th on Fox, and Galactica is nominated in both the  writing and directing categories.

What Earth will they find?

We’re all wondering what the Colonial fleet will find if and when they get to Earth at the end of Season Four of Battlestar Galactica.  I think they will reach Earth in the last episode and find the Cylons already here. The biggest question mark in my mind is “when” they will arrive: ancient past, recent past, now or future? Can’t wait to find out.

They wouldn’t, would they?

If the rumours coming out of Dragon*Con in Atlanta this past weekend are true, the SciFi Channel intends to torture Battlestar Galactica fans by drawing out the last season of the series over two years, starting with the first half in January 2008 and the second half in January 2009. That comes after they will already have made the fans wait for months knowing that when Season Four finally does start, it will be the final season.

If the rumour is true, then the SciFi Channel is manipulating BSG fans in a cruel manner.

If the rumour is false, but originates with the SciFi Channel, it is still a blatant manipulation of the fans so they will be grateful for getting all 22 episodes in just one calendar year.

I hope the rumour is just plain false, or a misunderstanding. I think the producers overestimate the ardour of their fans. Clubs like The 13th Colony will not be able to maintain enthusiasm for a show whose swan song is playing out like a melodramatic stage death scene where the victim hangs on for one too many last gasps.