Battlestar Canadia

The weekly uncovering of the urban lifestyle, contemporary trends and other (Canadian) peculiarities from a totally biased and nonobjective European perspective. Infiltration, intrigues, wonder and more ...

very now and then life grants little breaks which add some colour and flavour to the ongoing daily grind. Like that huge pile of steaming dog shit, left behind on the sidewalk you just missed stepping in. The sweaty coworker who finally discovered the meaning and use of deodorant. A recipe that goes horribly wrong but turns out to be better than the original. Last week granted me with one of those...

The email from a friendly and informed coworker read (paraphrased): “FYI tomorrow the television series Battlestar Galactica (BSG) will be recording an episode two blocks away from Radical. The episode will feature a war zone and they will apply the necessary amount of explosions and other pyrotechnics. The good people of the Vancouver fire department and police will see to it nothing bad happens.”

The Cylons have a plan...

Television doesn't hold much appeal to me. Not entirely because I don't even own one (in Canada) but BSG is amongst the few precious series I follow with a passion. As such, the said email gave me that same feeling many of us used to get the night before your birthday... I didn't get much sleep due to all the anticipation and excitement.

In my head, I was already walking on the set amongst all those interesting characters the show features: Starbuck, Boomer, Six. Naturally they would be impressed by my elusive charisma and stunning appearance. It wouldn't be long before they would convince the director to take me on the show to act out the more intimate scenes.

Chantalle, however, didn't quite cooperate.

Chantalle is the producer assistant and soon-to-be-famous screenplay writer who, for the time being, guards the entrance to the set of BSG. She struck me as a genuinely interesting person. Prior to BSG, she has “done” a number of movies and series of which I only recall the Fantastic Four. And that was thanks to her somewhat funny anecdote regarding the director´s obsession to keep the appearance of a pivotal character in that movie a secret.

Chantalle, guarding and blocking the way between me and my destiny.

Despite my best attempt of sucking up to her, she wouldn't let us anywhere near the actual set. The best she could do was to show us the schedule for the day which I suspect, she is allowed to do to give the “fans” at the gates the impression they actually seen something relevant. To me, it was a piece of paper with a font so small, I could only barely make out the word “pilot”.

Kept outside in the blazing sun... No Starbuck, no Boomer, no Six. One disillusion richer.

Regardless of the shattered dream, there was no reason for disappointment. It was easy enough to take some shots of the outside of the set, which featured a crafty hole in wall and a huge yellow crane with some cameras. Also, I got some close-up shots of the stars' trucks and trailers, which are impressively white and endlessly fascinating. It turned out to be a fruitful lunch break that yielded plenty of blog material and as far as the broken dream; it's nothing Photoshop can't fix.

Dream retained; in the background the actual set.

For those boring hours, when you should be working.