Richard Hatch, Battlestar’s Greatest Champion

If you’re reading this blog, I don’t need to explain to you who Richard Hatch was.  He died today, and the fan culture community is reeling with the loss of not just another icon but of a man who championed our culture, and our show in particular.  He wasn’t just one of the stars of the 1978 edition of BSG as Captain Apollo, he almost single-handedly kept the fan base going in the years before the re-imagined BSG hit the airwaves in 2004.  He tried to get his own version called “Second Coming” off the ground in the late 1990s but when that didn’t work, he was convinced to join the new series as Tom Zarek.  It may have started as stunt casting, but it was a role that showed many of us how truly good an actor he was. To soothe my own sense of loss, it is the Tom Zarek episodes I will be re-watching.

There will be many stories shared tonight that begin with the words “I was lucky enough to meet Richard Hatch at…” and continuing to describe a fond memory. Fans loved him.  He understood not just what fan culture had done for him, but what fans were.  He got it.  He got us.

I spoke to Richard on the phone about 10 years ago, attempting to apologize on behalf of a local group of fans that had inadvertently insulted him.  He was incredibly gracious in accepting my apology and assurances that there were indeed many local fans who were eager to meet him and would love to sponsor a subsequent visit.  We had a wonderful conversation about my city and it’s fan culture. We were never able to get him to make that return visit, but when I met him in Atlanta several years later he did recall the conversation.  Again, he was such a gentleman.

I’m going to have to dig my old Colonial Warrior uniform out of the box.  Raise a glass of ambrosia and toast a man I was lucky enough to have met.

RIP Richard Hatch (1945-2017)

#SSWA

See Classic BSG on the Big Screen

Canadian Battlestar Galactica fans really are lucky.  We were the only ones who got to see Battlestar Galactica on the big screen back in 1978 before it aired as the pilot of TV show in the US. Now Cineplex is giving us the chance to see it in theatres again, as part of their Great Digital Film Festival 2014.

At a number of Cineplex theatres across Canada, the classic Battlestar Galactica starring Lorne Green, Dirk Benedict and Richard Hatch will play February 2nd at 12:30pm. This will be the 2 hour pilot “Saga of a Star World” that launched the one and only season of BSG’s first incarnation.

Here in Metro Vancouver, home of 13th Colony, there will be two participating theatres, the Scotiabank Downtown and Colossus Langley.  There will be members of 13th Colony at both screenings, including a few dressed as Colonial Warriors, so come on up and say hello!

If you want to revel in the old sci-fi film goodness, other treats the same day include Tron, Flash Gordon, Planet of the Apes and Logan’s Run.  Tickets are $6, available here.  Price reductions are available if you are seeing more than one film.  Note: you have to search for the film by day, February 2nd, to bring up the proper result.

She was a good ship

We built her, and then we solemnly watched as she went up in flames.

In the summer of 2010, members of 13th Colony built a 10 foot long Viper Mark IV, mostly out of cardboard, PVC and poster stock.  It came out remarkably close to specs, made a great display model and yet fit in the back of an economy car.  Alas, as every group that builds things has discovered, storage was an issue and one winter in a shed was too much for our creation.  The next summer, we decided to give the old bird a good sendoff.  It wasn’t entirely a solemn occasion.  We had a BBQ, on the beach.  The very same beach where the Nuked Earth scenes were shot in the new BSG, and very close to the exact same firepit they used to build Kara’s funeral pyre on the same planet.  We already blogged about it here but now you can watch for yourself!  Announcing Episode #4 of the 13th Colony Video Files  – A Decommissioning Ceremony.

RIP Viper Mark IV.  She was indeed a good ship.

Fan Expo Vancouver 2013

Fan Expo is returning to Vancouver April 20th and 21st and once again, 13th Colony is thrilled to be playing a part!  Vancouver’s Battlestar Galactica Fan Club will join local chapters of the 501st Legion (Outer Rim Squadron), the Ghostbusters of BC and Can’t Stop the Serenity Vancouver to offer con-goers a glimpse into Vancouver’s fan scene.

And we’ve got another reason to celebrate! After having to cancel late last year, Michael Hogan (new BSG’s Saul Tigh) will make it up to the Vancouver fans by appearing this year.

We’ll have plenty of Battlestar Galactica (classic and reimagined) items and costumes on display. We’re out to meet and greet fellow BSG fans who might not be aware we’re here and we’re awesome!

2013: The Year of the 13th Colony

Is it too early to predict that 2013 will be our year? It’s been a dark time for Battlestar Galactica fans. A very long wait for the release of Blood & Chrome is now followed by more waiting to see if the downloads and DVD sales will lead to anything more. Yet with no new content on the horizon, our ragtag fleet of fans is hanging on.

In Vancouver, 13th Colony is starting the year off with a bang. We’ve got some BSG fans visiting from the USA and plan to show them some West Coast Cylon hospitality. On January 11th we’re hosting a Frak Party at our old hangout, La Fontana, to view Blood & Chrome in its entirety on a big HD screen. February will no doubt see us all truck off to our local DVD retailers to buy the DVD. April brings Fan Expo back to town, and we’ve got our fingers crossed that Michael Hogan will return after having to cancel last year. May will have a bunch of us looking south for the Galacticon III party in Texas.

Honestly, has anyone told the BSG fans there is no more show? Maybe that doesn’t matter. We are the survivors and we keep the dream alive.

Colonial Coffee at Caprica City Hall?

Blood & Chrome has got BSG fans talking all over the internet.  Now, at least a few nuggets are going to get together in person to share the enthusiasm for a new slice of our favourite show, Battlestar Galactica.

If you find yourself in and around downtown Vancouver — or as we like to call it, Caprica City –this Saturday afternoon, November 24th, between 1 and 4pm, drop in at the Blenz just inside the Robson doors of the Central Library.  Keep your eye open for a couple of knuckle draggers.  If they’re out of uniform, listen for words like “frak,” “toaster,” “cylon” or my personal favourite, “felgercarb.”  Pull up a chair and join in.

We’re working on a full-on Frak Party to celebrate the complete story of Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome sometime in January, so stay tuned for more details.

BSG’s Back Baby!

Once again, Fridays will bring us new Battlestar Galactica!  How long has it been since we could say that?  Since March 2009.

It’s been a long wait, and I’m hoping not too long. As anyone who reads this blog may have noticed, we haven’t been as active recently.  We are without question one of the largest BSG fan clubs in the world, and yet we’ve barely hung on through this long break.  We’ve been holding out for the one more morsel of our favourite show…and it’s suddenly here.

In a few days we will have a new dose of our favourite epic drama, albeit a much smaller dose, and in a different medium.  On Friday, November 9^th, Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome will make its debut online.  On Youtube, exclusively on a channel called Machinima Prime, previously known mostly for video game content.

The trailer looks good, but with all the fast cuts it’s hard to tell. I see lots of action, but not a lot of character.  To succeed, I believe it will need both.

I have hope.  But it is mixed with a dose of caution brought on by a long wait and the bad taste from “the Plan” that still lingers when I think about it.

Glad Fridays are back to being BSG days.  So Say We All!

The 13th Colony is Throwing a Party

Feel like your planet has been nuked by technology you created and the entire human race is on its last legs, finding new ways to both argue and get along in the vast black distances between stars?  Bummer.  Want to party anyway?

13^th Colony-Vancouver’s Battlestar Galactica Fan Club, is hosting a room party at VCON, our homegrown sci-fi convention, on the night of Saturday, September 29^th.  VCON 37’s theme this year is Post Apocalypse, and BSG definitely fits in with that category.  The con is taking place at the Sheraton Guildford in Surrey.  The exact location for the party will be posted around the convention on the day of the party.  We will have snacks and drinks in the theme of BSG, and promise only that everything we find will taste better than algae!

Merry Frakkin’ Xmas to All!

13th Colony's 2011 Christmas Card

BSG Exhibit AND Jane Espenson? Frak Yeah!

A very special event is coming to a city very near to us….in conjunction with Geek Girl Con in Seattle the weekend of October 8th and 9th, BSG and Caprica writer Jane Espenson will be appearing at the Science Fiction Museum  for a 90 minute talk.  What better time to arrange a trip down to the Museum to see that BSG Exhibit we’ve been talking about for so long!  And, to top it off, the folks at the Sci-Fi Museum have given the 13th Colony our very own portal to buy discounted tickets:

For tickets to the Sci-Fi Museum (and Experience Music Project), follow this link for tickets at $15 rather than the regular $18 at the door:

https://estore.empsfm.org/store/index.asp?code=13th%20Colony%20BSG

For tickets to the Jane Espenson event called “Oral History Live! with Jane Espenson” follow this link:

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/192821

**Note, if you are a Geek Girl Con pass holder, use the code MEMBERS ROCK in the discount section to get a half price ticket for Jane’s talk – $5 rather than $10.

**Note, the Jane Espenson talk is extra, not included with your EMP/SFM admission ticket

Jane Espenson, and a bunch of other cool guests, are appearing on a Whedonistas panel later in the day as part of Geek Girl Con.  If you are interested in the convention, check it out here:  http://www.geekgirlcon.com/   My husband and I will be attending the convention, so I hope to see you there!

PS>..and yes, GEEK GUYS are also very welcome!!