Galactiguise - The Blog

My first photo removal request.

2008-08-05T14:46:00.000-07:00

I was wondering when it would happen. Got a call from Carol, the First Unit Publicist for Battlestar. Apparently Mary McDonnall isn't comfortable with photos of her with a bald cap to be posted online. I don't blame her, the photo isn't very flattering for such a beautiful and graceful lady. Luckily the photo was an easy enough thing to pull.

At the time of the interview, Bill and I were unaware that Mary was not comfortable with photos showing her with a "bald head". I had sent the completed article to Scifi to review but never heard anything back. I think the bald head photo ban is recent.

Scifi was very courteous of the whole issue. I am always glad to help Scifi out when they come calling.

Mary, rest assured that image gets locked up in the vault never to be seen again! :)

What have I been up to?

2008-08-04T12:46:00.000-07:00

Plenty. And that's an understatement.

I'm still plugging away at getting interviews typed up for the site. Contracted a few hapless souls to help with the typing. Sorry guys, I know it really sucks.

Hopefully the transition of the Blogger layout to match Future-Past.com will be completed sometime soon. Ugh... XML is cool, but boy does it take a long time to get fine tuned compared to straight CSS.

I've contributed a new header image for battlestarprops.com along with the "Name Mark" which will be used on tee shirts and other identity material.

Next project to tackle for PropWorx is a "Certificate of Authenticity" for the auction items. It will have a very Battlestar feel to the CoA.

That's it for now. I'll keep plugging away.

Holy Frak! Site Stats are skyrocketing.

2008-07-25T12:54:00.000-07:00

After being linked on Battlestar Props -- The Official BSG Props Auction Site -- my visitor stats have tripled. I never would have expected such a marked increase. Very cool.

Compare from the last two months to now. It's not even the end of the July yet.

Month - Unique visitors | Number of visits
May 2008 - 244 | 270
Jun 2008 - 260 | 295
Jul 2008 - 846 | 1089

Looks like I'll have to do some updates to the "ol' gal" sooner than anticipated.

Burnaby, BC - Friends and Filming Locations.

2008-07-22T13:44:00.001-07:00

I got some incredible offers to go up to Vancouver BC the weekend of July 18th - 20th.

Friday 18th.
My first destination on the way up to Burnaby was Centennial beach. This is where Adama and the gang land on Earth to find a big smoldering slag heap in the Mid-Season Cliff Hanger. Got there at low tide so it doesn't have the same visual effect.

I got me a hand full of Radioactive Soil!

Next on the way up to Burnaby is New Caprica - aka Richmond Sand dunes. This location is all but gone now. The entire sand dune is getting converted to a warehouse. It not worth going there as it will be a huge industrial complex in a few months. Here is the back side where a lot of the pyrotechnics scenes were set off. Stargate also filmed here a lot.

Next, I got to have a really great sit down interview with Colin Meacham (On-Set Set Dresser for BSG) for Future-Past.com. I meet up with Colin at his home and even went out and Walked his dog with him at a local park. I'll be posting his interview in a few weeks after I get it typed out.

My hotel was right across the street from "Bridge Studios." It was a weekend so little to no activity there.

I had another interview that night with two of the On-location Security Guards for BSG. They had some fantastic stories of the crazy stuff that happens at night. Including what happened with the Centennial Beach set as it was getting hit by high winds.

Saturday 19th.
The next morning my scheduled follow-up interview with Ken Hawryliw (BSG Prop Master) got postponed by NBC/Uni. The studio decided they wanted to hold off an any interviews for about a month. So, I'm rescheduled for later. Poop!

On a really good note that gave me more time to hang out with The 13th Colony. Yey! We went to Capilano Park where some scenes were shot when the Galactica crew were looking for the Tomb of Athena on Kobol.

Here is Val (president extraordinaire of The 13th Colony) and Douglas (intrepid location hunter) checking over maps and screen shots for further locations. After awhile all the trees start to look the same. Doh!

I found a really cool tree fungus that looked like Starbuck's Mandala painting.

After several hours of hiking and having a great time we decided to go to dinner at Burgoo Bistro. Yumm, Butter Chicken Curry, it was sooo good. We had some great discussions and fun conversation.

Sunday 20th.
Even more cool stuff. First thing was to head out to Library Square to get photos for the filming locations pages on Future-Past.com.

It is a very impressive building up close. Lots of homeless live in and around the library, weird to see.

Everyone will recognize this next one... Chan Center for the Performing Arts.

And, right next to it of course is the Rose garden.

On the way back to downtown I stopped off at a little place to check if Roslin's doctor was in.

The Waterfall Building is a whole lot smaller in person. A little camera magic and this place looks vast.

I meet up with my good friend Troy (Background actor in BSG) for a walk around Granville Island and some delicious Gelato.

In the evening I meet up with Edwin (Background actor in BSG) and he invited me to a location shoot he was doing for a LB movie called "Message Deleted". (LB stands for Low Budget for those in the know.) Read about Edwin's time on the set.

I snapped a few shots of the principal actors. There is Deborah Kara Unger and Matthew Lillard. Matthew played "Shaggy" in the "Scooby-Doo" movies. Deborah is a local actress who has been in a ton of movies.

So that was my adventure. There is a whole lot more but if I told you what I saw I'd have to shoot the lot of ya.

Meeting Edwin in Burnaby, BC

2008-07-21T11:47:00.000-07:00

Here is Edwin, we meet up at the "White Spot," yumm.

He has a really good blog entry about our meet-up at his blog Adventures of EdRocker.

Personal Tour of White Monkey Design Inc

2008-06-14T08:51:00.000-07:00

What a great Friday 13th it was. I get the day off and nothing to do but drive up to Vancouver to tour White monkey design and then that evening watch the Mid-Season Finale for Battlestar Galactica with the Vancouver Battlestar Galactica Fan Club.

I roll up to the Peace Arch Border crossing around 12:40pm. I love the fact they remind you to use KM instead of MPH. (I did notice driving in BC that almost no one follows the speed limit.)

After a little lunch and a construction filled trip up to Vancouver I arrive at White Monkey. It's a very unassuming building. Nestled amongst an Asian food wear house and a small suburb. You would never know these guys were there. I go up to the side door and ring the buzzer. One of the workers greets me at the door. Booth Milton, White Monkey's owner, is in but is frantically on the search for two bottles of Methelene Di-Chloride that they recently purchased but no one can find. The lobby for all intessive purposes can be called that is a treasure trove of photos and props from previous productions. It's amazing to see the history on the walls.

Booth warmly greets me in the front lobby. "Come on in, let me show you around." Our first destination is the laser engraving room. It's full of old props. Lots of dentist chairs that have been converted to look sci-fi. In the back of the group of chairs is the dream chair used in "Tin Man" the miniseries. All of it's lights are still working. Right next to the engraving room is the 3D digital scanning station and break room. The scanning tech was working on cleaning up the 3D scan of a Northwest aboriginal wood carving of a Raven. Ultimately it will be rendered and animated so that it's wings will flap.

Around the corner and into another room is one of Booth's craftsmen working on one of his many Moto Guzzi motorcycles. Hey, all work and no play makes a dull boy as they say. It's great fun to see Booth shift gears and decide what to do with this bike. Apparently one of the exhaust bolts is cross threaded into the aluminum head. Of course it is seized in place and rusted. That always seems to be the case with anything old and Italian. (I should know I've worked on vintage Alfa Romeos.) They decide to leave the bolt alone and just ride the bike to enjoy it. "Smart move" I think to myself. While Booth and his employee were discussing the Guzzi I happen to notice that one entire wall of this room is filled with all of the prop moulds that they have created. It spans floor to ceiling. Some of the labels are of props for Eureka, like laser rifles and such. Directly connected to this room is the mould casting room. It's full of latex, plaster and resins.

Next in the maze of rooms is the electronics room. All of the little electric gizmos, LEDs, motors etc. are done in this room. It's full of bins of electrical stuff. The next room over is Booth's newly redecorated office. It's very peaceful and quite in there. Great for meeting with clients or to give Booth some peace -- or so they hope, Booth is constantly on the go it seems.

Off to the front entry and down the stairs into the basement. This is where all of the magic really happens. descending the narrow stairwell you are greeted by pewter masks and vintage radio equipment. At the base of the landing in every nook and cranny is "gack" -- an industry term for the stuff props are made from -- and lots of it. Old wireless units and scientific equipment with their buttons and knobs missing along with their guts prised apart and used for sci-fi bits.

Entering into the basement is amazing. It's a craftsman's dream shop. There are tables of props in various stages of completion. Photos and prop schematics line the walls. There are bins and drawers full of what seem to be random stuff but the chaos seems to have an order to it. Unfortunately, I was too late to see the most recent props White Monkey had built for Battlestar and it's spin off Caprica. If I had been there in the morning I would have seen them. Not to fret, there were plenty of other props to be amazed at. To my right an octagonal case was being constructed for "Eureka." On the work bench lay the artist's renderings of the final prop. It was some sort of electronic bomb. In front of me on a table was an old pitch fork. Rusted and dried out... or so I thought. Later on I would find out it was made of rubber. I passed this pitch fork no less than 20 times and each time thought it was real.

On a table to my left was a few light weight gold tablets for "Night at the Museum 2." These were made of vacuformed styrene with a foam core. This particular props was to be carried by the the little capuchin monkey named Dexter. Hence the light weight nature of the prop. There were four tablets being prepped. Each tablet was to be covered with real gold foil. One was being prepped so that the symbols could be rotated.

In the very back of the room sat the CNC router. They were in the middle of machining one of the face plates for the "Eureka" prop. Right behind that in another room was the materials room where all of the wood and billet aluminum was stored. Round the corner and you are standing in the milling and lathe room. To the back of the is room which is situated by the front stairs is the casting room. This room is where all of the rubber or resin props get cast before they are worked on in the prop room. The only thing in there at the moment were some soft rubber swords for "Night in the Museum 2."

Back through the lathe room and hang a left spits you right back into the prop shop.

To be continued...

FRAK! Future-Past.com will be down for 24 hours!

2008-06-12T17:16:00.000-07:00

Wonderful, I go to my site this morning and what do I see...

"The domain for this Web site is currently pointing to a server scheduled for shutdown. If you are the owner of this Web site, please contact your hosting provider immediately."

Frakking hell! So I get on the horn with my ISP customer support and they neglected to re-point my DNS after switching me to a new server. Ugh, now i have to wait for my DNS to propagate and of course that will take forever. This is NOT the best time for my site to be down.

I have to go make a sacrifice to the Cylon god to get my site back.

Tickle Me Pink! Galactica Sitrep rocks!

2008-06-03T16:58:00.001-07:00

My interview with Bill Terezakis was posted about on Galactica Sitrep. That is soooo cool! Galactica Sitrep is one of the biggest and most trusted blogs out there for BSG info. It's a huge honor. ProgGrrl even comments that she likes Future-Past.com's page layout. Sweet!

I'm just too giddy.

Set Dec crew interviews in the works.

2008-06-03T09:06:00.000-07:00

Got off the phone with Jonathan Lancaster. He is in charge of Set Dec for Battlestar. He's working on answering some interview questions I sent him a few days ago. Should be a good read.

He also mentioned I should get a hold of Doug McLean (Art Director) and Chris Claridge (Construction Coordinator). Will be contacting them in just a little bit. Stay tuned...

BTW, the final episode filming will wrap next week.

...and the blood will runneth...

2008-05-27T18:29:00.000-07:00

I just finished an interview with horror film special makeup effects designer Bill Terezakis. He has done all of the special effects makeup for Battlestar Galactica from day one. All of the blood, scars, gunshot wounds, bald heads you name it and he's done it. Some of you will know his work from a a lot of slasher movies like Freddy vs Jason and Blade: Trinity while others will have seen his work on X-Files and The Last Mimzy. This guy has done a tremendous amount of TV and movie work over the years.

Have a read, Bill Terezakis Interview on my main Future-Past.com site.

About frakking time

2008-05-27T18:09:00.000-07:00

You know the one thing I really hate doing is typing. I'm a progeny of poor typing skills because I was so much better at pulling the wool over my typing teachers eyes than practicing. Anyway, I finally have my long awaited interview with Ken Hawryliw transcribed from audio file. You would never think that an hour and ten minute telephone interview would take you over three months to type. Seriously, I'm not that bad of a typist I just had a lot of other things that were getting in the way of typing.

So, now the fun is to begin. Now that I have Ken's whole interview transcribed I still need to proof read and edit the frak out of it. The one thing about the spoken language is that it is very different from the written word when it comes to sentence structure. Most verbal thoughts are free flowing. Trying to form complete sentences from free form verbal communication is a daunting task. The most difficult thing is keeping the written interview true to tone and intent of the verbal counterpart without butchering the speakers colloquial nuances.

I'm estimating Ken's interview will be five full pages of formatted html code before photos are even added. There isn't anything wrong with that as the read is fascinating the whole way through. I'm just a bit whiny, it's more coding and photoshop work for me. Like I can really complain. I have a killer interview with one of my idols!

Future-Past.com site updates

2008-04-08T17:37:00.000-07:00

With the return of Battlestar Galactica Season 4 and the studio up in Vancouver putting film in the can (or maybe I should say data on the tape) I have been busy working out the look and feel of the site. I removed the entire "wardrobe" section. There is soooo much info already out there I felt no need to regurgitate it back through my Future-Past.com. Anyway, this frees me up to pursue interviews and post prop info up. Speaking of interviews. I finally have some time, and fresh batteries, to finish transcribing some of the many interviews I conducted during the writers strike. Those out there who are into the props of the show will FRAKKING shat themselves with the candid responses.

I know I keep harping about how I finally have a solid look for the site... yadda yadda yadda... It even annoys me. I can't help it I'm a continual tinkerer and mild perfectionist with OCD tendencies. Hah!

My First BSG Convention

2008-03-25T14:50:00.000-07:00

I'm generally not one to attend Sci-fi conventions of any sort. I think the last time I attended one was when I was 13 years old. So yeah, they really weren't my cup of tea. Anyway, this past weekend I had absolutely nothing to do except taxes. So in my infinite wisdom I figured that going to a Sci-fi/Fantasy convention was WAY more fun that doing my taxes. And you know what? It actually was WAY more fun. I got to see plenty of fantasy chics running around with their boobs hanging out. [Ok, quick note to cute cutlery vendors with big boobs. If you are going to sell sharp weapons and insist on wearing a black leather top that shows off the twins and the peaks probably might want to consider making sure that your customers are not holding said weapons as they may inadvertently injure themselves while you bend over the table. "Land Hooo, yar"] I also had fun with my friends to boot.

Here is our motley gang. I'm on the left. Slider, Athena and Cougar (those are our call signs - hee hee). We were the only ones who had anything to do with BSG that day. Well, except for the Mark Hamell look alike (that's a whole 'nother story). I borrowed the "Clamshell" blaster and sundry costume bits as I'm not a costumer. Sometimes it's good to pretend you are someone you are not for a few hours.

Battlestar Galactica Interview Updates

2008-02-18T10:15:00.000-08:00

I've got a few interviews waiting to go online soon. Of note the "Holy Grail" of all props related interviews has been completed and is in the process of being transcribed.

Being partnered with Galactica.tv has turned out to be a great inspiration and help. Marcel finally got Ken Hawryliw (Prop Master for BSG) to agree to and conduct an interview a few days ago. We had been working months get Ken on the horn. After a lot of back and forth asking permission from the Execs. (Thank You Lana, Harvey and Ron). Marcel conducted the phone interview with Ken. It lasted over an hour. One of Marcel's recorders even ran out of juice halfway through. Yikes! It was a very long and super insightful interview.

Needless to say, It is an honor to have this interview to post for my readers. I am working on getting the whole thing typed up and putting together photos. It may be next month before it goes on to the site. I'm pretty busy at the moment moving.

Oh, I don't want to forget to mention John Mallory from 3D Custom Foam. I had a very insightful interview with him as well just a few days prior to Ken's interview. John and his company may not have had a huge contribution to the BSG production but what they did make for the show is still rightfully important. They also helped to fix an existing set. You'll have to read about that when the interview comes out.

Lot's of work for me in the upcoming weeks, so stay tuned!

Just more updates...

2007-12-19T15:31:00.000-08:00

Had a bit of a hectic weekend with the website. My host changed something in the way it handles PHP scripting on their servers and I was getting bugging errors all over the site. Ugh! very annoying. Anyway got the bugs fixed. On the bright side it forced me to clean up some of my code. It's way more tidy now.

Been working on more interviews. Considering it's the holidays probably won't see much along those line until the next year.

Made little tweak to the title formatting. Placed all of the page titles on a black banner. Surprisingly this really makes the page pop better.

I'm finally getting around to adding all of the "OLD" content I've just been sitting on for months now. I got new DVD player software for my PC and it is super easy to get screen grabs now. I've been fighting with my last software and was just too discouraged to make screen caps of the props I needed. The software is by AVS media. Not only is it free, the software is compact and allows for frame-by-frame advancement. Gone are the days of "almost" getting the perfect screen grab.

More to come after the new year!

Support the WGA strike!

2007-11-27T09:19:00.000-08:00

The Writers Guild of America strike is going into week two. I'm doing my part by spreading the word to other fan communities and posting a link to www.fans4writers.com on the homepage.

This is such a worthy cause. It's our time to show support for the men and women who work behind-the-scenes of our favorite TV shows.

To get more info on Fans 4 Writers please visit their website and show your support.

An exciting couple of weeks

2007-11-27T09:02:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a whirl wind couple of weeks I've had. Finally got my interviews with "Kat" Myers and Troy Rudolph posted to the website. You can read their exclusive interviews here. Two very cool guys. Very down to earth and the nicest people you could have the pleasure of meeting. I am truly honored to get to know them.

Oh I forgot, to mention where I meet Troy. We happen to post on a forum together. He's been providing some info on what the costumes are like and the such. He's an avid costumer in his spare time so he is into the details of how the wardrobe department created the uniforms and such. Well, long story short. I just asked if he'd like to be interviewed, simple enough, and it goes from there.

So I've finally got the home page dialed in. This part of the website has been haunting me from the start. I had such tremendous success with the look of the clipboard on the interior pages I just decided to carry it to the home page. Um... Duh... should have done that from the beginning. Oh well, you live and learn. Not only did I do that but I also fixed the "cut corners" look of the clipboard. After reviewing photos of some actual clipboards from the set, I realized I had cut too much off the corners. I was an easy fix to get it into proportion.

Oh, I've got a few more interviews in the works. They are dependent on the interviewees schedules. So, keep an eye out for those in the near future.

So, much more work in the near future. Getting a secret stash of behind-the-scenes photos soon, so I'll be pretty busy deciphering them and writing content for the site.

Ron Moore Joins the WGA Strike Picket Line.

2007-11-08T17:02:00.000-08:00

Good for him! It's fantastic to see a former writer standing with his fellow union members. I have even more respect for Mr. Moore! Not sure how this will effect the last 10 episodes of BSG, but hopefully they will get made.

Here is the story on IGN
Battlestar Galactica Producer Talks Strike

This is a great photo of Ron!

I got to get me one of those signs...

The Galactica Information Junkie

2007-11-04T16:01:00.000-08:00

The site is finally panning out. I'm getting relevant content onto the site and I actually have a super juicy interview to post soon.

My varied interests bring me to some obscure and fascinating web sites. I've been lurking at the Scifi Meshes 3D graphics website and ran across a footnote article on how to build a VFX shot. Basically the VFX Consultant for BSG seasons two and three wrote a "how-to" article about the 3D program LightWave 9. I read through his article and was instantly intrigued. He gave tiny hints that he had buckets of info to share. Naturally you develop this instinct from trying to sell cars to people. (my day job is working at a car dealership) Anyway, there are certain phrases and inflection in sentence structure that can give you clues into a persons approachability to share info. For example: I learned that the studio publicist that I was conversing with deemed me unwelcome. I could read between the lines from her well chosen very short responses. Shot responses mean "I'm busy leave me alone." We are all guilty of that in email to our friends and such. So you know what I'm talking about.

Anyway I send a really nice hello letter to Kelly Myers (he goes by Kat) and ask him if he would mind doing an interview. To my surprise he agreed. up to this point I've got the email equivalent of a "blank stare" from the crew I've asked. Oh, on a side note, Kelly is distantly related to famous Canadian actor Mike Myers, Groovy Baby, Groovy!

Kat has a lot of great behind-the-scenes info. Most of it really cool and some of it truly juicy. Too bad for you that the juicy bits will be kept for his book. I share no secrets -- *wink, wink*.

My interview with Kelly "Kat" Myers will be published on my site in the next few days. And, I might... read that... "might" share some of the juicy bits after the show is over.

So, it pays to be an Information Junkie. My head is about to explode from all of the cool stuff I just learned in the last 15 minutes.

Workity-work and being shot down.

2007-10-29T10:36:00.000-07:00

Ok, so not much has been going on with either site for a while. Mostly cos I've been busy with other things. Like the family business and trying to line up interviews. Sheesh, it's like pulling teeth to get the crew to talk to you for an interview. I do know that the entire crew is on overdrive at the moment, and most of them are overworked. So, taking time to answer annoying fan questions might not be a priority on their list. I'm guessing rest would be numero uno!

Oh, bit of bad news. I've been informed that the BSG set is officially closed to the press for visits until they quit filming. Makes sense, don't want season 4 spoilers leaking out. Maybe I can visit after they finish filming. Shoot, I don't want to know even one spoiler for season 4.

Do have some good news... Got some great hi-res digital photos of the set to pluck info from.

Times they are a changin'

2007-09-06T18:09:00.000-07:00

I finally got fed up with the rather bland intro page for the site. It was neat but really had nothing to do with what the site is about.

The new layout is a screen cap of a Camera Sync Slate aka Clapper Board from one of the BSG episodes. I embellished the text on the slate a bit. :)

Moved the graphical navigation from the bottom to the left hand side. Moved the text to the very bottom of the image and removed the cream footer bar. Oh, I also changed all of the navigation titles to make navigating less confusing.

Gettin' my ducks in row, starting Battlestar Galactica interviews

2007-08-24T15:27:00.000-07:00

What a lucky break. I got in touch with the founder of Galactica.tv, his name is Marcel. (Galacatica.tv is an online magazine dedicated to interviewing the cast and crew of the original and new BSG series.) He's been helping me with getting up to speed to conduct interviews. I have conducted interviews in the past, but that was like twelve years ago when I was going to college to become a Radio DJ or news reporter. huh, how my career path has changed. Anyhow, I dug out a lot of my old sound equipment I still had and was pleasantly surprised it all still worked. It's nothing fancy, mind you, cos it's an old tape recorder. Not a mini-cassette but a genuine cassette tape. Why shell out $80 on a digital recorder that will probably confuse the heck out of me -- I have trouble enough using an ipod -- when the ol' cassette recorder works brilliant. Not only that, but I can plug it into my computer and rip it straight to my hard disc. The only drawback I have found with the tape recorder is that the mic is so sensitive it picks up the sound of the cassette tape motor. Never noticed that motor noise back in the day. I guess I just put up with it. It's not a big deal anyhow as my sound editing software can cut out the background hiss.

So, where was I going with this. Oh yeah, interviewing... recording device, check!
list of people to interview, check! Just working down my list...

You never realize how much preparation goes into conducting a proper interview. When I did it back in college for the news and radio you just kind of got as many sound bites as you could about whatever was going on at the time. It was all very contrived and shallow. Conducting a genuine sit down interview where you really want to get into someone's head is a whole different color duck. You need to take their feelings into account, you are talking with a person not just fishing for 30 second sound bites. You need to arrange your questions so that you don't confuse the interviewee or yourself. There is a real purpose in the thought process of coming up with questions.

Quack...

Getting content up

2007-08-09T12:54:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I've finally got some time to start adding content to the site. For now I am just adding the basic foundation of each page as a starting point. I have about 30+ pages worth of content to add, along with editing and formatting all of the associated photos. I've got my work cut out for me, that's for sure.

Check the Progress...

Temporarily Stalled

2007-06-26T15:53:00.000-07:00

Humf, I'm stalled on the website right now. I had my son visiting for the summer and that really zapped the energy and time away from me to get anything posted to the site.

Also, I've decided to get a little more professional with the organization of the website. Make it less fan-boy and more like an archive. The changes are subtle but for me it's going to a quantum undertaking cos of the way the content will be presented. Well, it's quantum in my head anyway.

I'm considering dropping the direct links to the costume sites. My goal is for people to use this site as a resource. Honestly, I didn't want to duplicate content but if I'm changing my site objective it's not such a bad thing. Ugh, my lazy ass will have to do more coding. Oh, well.

The quest for an interview.

2007-06-26T15:27:00.001-07:00

Ok, so one of my major goals for the website is to get an interview with the Production Department for BSG before they quit filming up in BC. (Filming will be going on till March of 2008) Richard Hudolin is the number one main honcho on my list. I've seen the BSG featurette interviews he's done for Sci-Fi Channel and added to the DVDs. Very insightful, but I have so many questions that go beyond the little snippets you see on the featurette.

After a little calling around I ended up getting in touch with Carol, the Unit Publicist for BSG. She was very nice on the phone. But hopes be dashed, Carol said the production dept is too busy to conduct interviews right now. Which totally makes sense considering they are in the middle of some major filming as of this writing. On a bright note, Carol said I should call her back around September/November. The production will begin to start slowing down by then. (And, NO I will not share my contact info with you, so DO NOT ask!)

Hmmm, wonder if BSG has a series archivist?

My new BSG prop website.

2007-06-04T11:31:00.000-07:00

Oh, how I have been busy. Almost every free moment after work has been taken by my feeble attempts to complete my new website. It's a work in progress, so check it out Future-Past Parts, The Props of Battlestar Galactica.

At least I'm getting my prop site up and running right on the heels of BSG calling it quits. Season four will be the conclusion of BSG. Sad news, but at least it's on the producers terms. Hopefully, I can get a visit to the set to document some props before they finish filming.

One of these days I'll actually have enough time to work on my families websites as well. Ugh, so much coding to do and so little time.

"C" is for cookie, and cookie is for ME!

Got to meet the Chief [Tyrol that is]

2007-03-28T17:11:00.000-07:00

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.

The Pegasus Exploded and So Did BSG BLOG!

2006-08-14T18:41:00.000-07:00

Frak! My Favorite Battlestar Galactica blog just called it quits. I'm just as scared and confused as when Chief Tyrol beat the frak out of Cally.

I'll have to find another blog to escape my insane reality. Oh hey, I could just post more crap on here. Yeah... that will work. Whew! that was a close one, this close to going completely insane.

Galactica Tchotchkes!

2006-06-04T15:22:00.000-07:00

So, remember how I complained about no merchandise for BSG. Well, it's here. Not a deluge of it but enough for the hungry masses like myself to drool and kick little eight year olds in the isle at your annoying neighborhood toy pusher... uh, I mean store.

It's a little weird knowing such a dark series as BSG now has little diecast vehicles and also action figures on the way. Hmmm, I suppose the demographics don't lie. Most of us who watch BSG are in our 30's, and have a stack of porn... No, wait, I mean comic books stacked in the closet. So, we will also go out and buy the associated tchotchke for BSG as well. I'm not immune to the buying frenzy. I spent a couple "C" notes on Comic-con exclusive pewter versions of the ships. And, true to my word, I didn't attend the convention but alas used eBay the next week and purchased all three for less than the airline ticket and hotel room, for the weekend, to get these blasted things. As my friend Jayson says... "Work it!"

My wife will be furious when I buy enough Viper MKII's and Cylon Raiders from Hasbro to cover the floor in dramatic dog fighting action vignette.

Ewwww, I stepped in fresh warm cat vomit. Frak!!!

tchotchkes, pronounced as "choch-keys"
is defined as a cheap showy trinket.

There... now you know.

Return of My Childhood Favorite!

2005-04-14T15:23:00.000-07:00

I am totally enthralled with the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica series. Ron Moore has done a super awesome job of reworking the series. I can't wait for the Season 1 DVD to be released in the states.

Side note: I have been a Star Wars fan for just as long, yet BSG has always had a nice cozy place in my heart. It's such the underdog when it comes to SciFi. That's what makes it so appealing. Everyone can jump on the Star Wars bandwagon and buy up all of the crappy merchandising, where as it is harder to do with BSG due to the lack of merchandising. I feel it makes the series pure and less cluttered. You get to focus on the story and characters instead of which action figure you want to get next. Granted, I wouldn't mind having a 12-inch action figure of Number-6, but what hot blooded SciFi snob wouldn't.

BTW: I'm a SciFi snob... Not a SciFi geek or dork. Just a plain ol' snob. A complete S.O.B. stick my nose up at you SciFi fan. Meaning I don't wear costumes, I don't write fan fiction, I don't buy 200 action figures then encase them in plastic and hang 'em on my wall, and I don't go to conventions unless there is a damn well good reason to. My SciFi friends hate me. :)