Got to meet the Chief [Tyrol that is]

Wow, what an incredible night Thursday 22nd turned out to be.

Here is some background... I was invited to the Season 3 Finale Preview screening of Battlestar Galactica. This party was hosted by Science Fiction Museum (SFM) Seattle and the Sci-fi Channel. Only members were allowed to attend, so my wife and I made a night of it.

We get there around 7:15 and have to sign a Sci-fi channel non-disclosure form. The final episode hasn't aired yet, as the official air date is on Sunday the 25th, so they want us to keep our mouths shut about the episode. The form has the BSG logo on top and the normal legalese etc. I got a blank copy as a memento.

On the third floor of SFM there is a private screening room for us schmucks who weren't privileged enough to be VIP guest -- they got to wear neat lanyards with VIP on 'em -- and see the finale in the Sky Church hall. Two of the primary actors come out to introduce the episode. Any guesses? They are both male and they both got to kiss Grace Park. Yep, Aaron Douglas (Chief) and Tahmoh Penikett (Helo). They joke around a bit and we watch the episode. BTW, Aaron and Tahmoh said our group were more fun than the VIPs. At the end of the screening everyone erupts into thundering applause and cheers. Yes, it is that good!

After the screening we get to go down to Sky Church for a Q&A session with Aaron and Tahmoh. Both of them are very funny with the Q&A. The entirety was filmed by a crew from Sci-fi. It might show up on the website. Oh, If you ever wondered how to pronounce Tahmoh's name, it rhymes with "camo" think "Tamo" and that's how you say it.

After the Q&A Aaron and Tahmoh take a quick break at the bar and chat with guests and sign autographs. Then they film some interviews with some lucky guests to be aired on Sci-fi website. Pretty sure they will edit the heck out of them cos Tahmoh was a drunk and some of the guest comments were a bit dry and umm... let's say dorky. When I got Tahmoh's autograph and chatted with him briefly he was quite drunk. Although he thought the mini Galactica was cool.

While I was watching them film the interviews I got to chat with The Sci-fi Channels marketing director for BSG. I don't recall her name (Deborah maybe? she had straight long brown hair and a neat leather jacket). I asked her what Sci-fi's position is on fan websites based on the show. Well, low and behold she says... "Oh, we love them." and something along the lines that they really support the fans. I thought that was neat. It is so different from Lucas Film Limited's stance on fans. Also, the BSG Video toolkit is a major thing they want fans to participate in. The guy who directed the in-house cylon video on the website is a family member of one of the exec's in Sci-fi.

My wife and I were pleasantly surprised while chatting with Aaron Douglas. He is very appreciative of his fans. He signed a mini Galactica (from Comic-Con 2005) and wrote on the top of the box "I fix This -->" (he's so cool). Aaron also signed our BSG Season 1 Companion book for us. I asked him "Do you ever feel like a little kid walking into the hanger deck set, with all of those cool props and ships?" He got a real huge smile and told his publicist that he had to tell a story. Earlier she made him promises not to tell any stories. Aaron then recanted a fabulous story about a time when his son, Taylor, visited the set that put Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck) to tears. Very touching and quite funny. Another interesting, yet befuddling, thing is that while we were chatting Aaron said he had heard of my wife. His exact words were... "I know you, I know of you." He is a big Canadian sports nut and my wife was involved with Canadian sports back in the day. Totally Nuts, we were there to talk to him and he's astoundingly telling my wife about facts that really only she would know. That was crazy. Aaron is totally fun and we would love to meet him again!

Any way, it was a night long to remember!

Oh, almost forgot. There was a guy talking at Tahmoh (remember he's pretty drunk by now) and he was really excited about Cobywan's biggie Galactica model. See post here... http://www.therpf.com/index.php?showtopic=112690
Tahmoh was like... "Oh thats neat... really 22 inches long..." and then he started looking at the floor. I'm pretty sure he won't be remembering to much of that night.
I didn't get a chance to talk to the guy about the biggie G, wanted to ask him if he is a member of RPF. Oh well.

Three bananas arranged in such a way look exactly like the new Cylon raider. Who would 'ave thunk.