View Single Post
Old July 28th, 2004, 04:32 PM   #1
Rowan
On Vacation...
 
Rowan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: BC Canada
Posts: 9,330

Default Battlestar Galactica Comic con Report

Reposted in it's entirety from Sci Fi Message Boards curtesy of Metabolik

metabolick


I attended to zoo that was CC on Friday just to see the people from the new BSG and I was not disappointed. I will give just a general rundown of what happened and a few observations.

Richard Hatch spoke to the crowd for 1 1/2 hours. I had never seen him before and was impressed by his grace, dedication, and warmth. He also answered questions, showed trailers for his Magellan project and his "Second Coming" trailer for his idea of a BSG remake.

He talked about how he came to the point in his life where he decided to put so much time and money into the remake project and how he finally came to the realization that it just wasn't going to happen at this point in time. He described what he thinks went wrong with TOS (mainly that it wasn't given a second season to flesh out the characters, etc). Then he talked about his feelings when the miniseries came along and how he overcame them enough to take a role in the new eps. He really wants to see the new series succeed and he is encouraged that Ron Moore seems to be addressing the very issues that he had wanted TOS to address.

He had nothing but praise for the cast and crew of the new series. He was surprised to find such a spirit of family on the set, a rarity in the business, and described how he was made to feel welcome. He reiterated the story about Jamie Bamber that he told in the recent interview (Jamie: "My character is Lee Adama. I don't think of myself as Apollo. You are Apollo." He also told a sweet story about Katee. Before he even knew who she was she graciously allowed him to get in front of her in line at the airport, never hinting at her own identity. And Grace Park was the first one to approach him and welcome him at the first script reading. It was great to hear all these things.

I understand that Richard later signed autographs but I didn't make it to the designated area for that.

Then the people from the new series did a panel: Ron Moore, David Eick, James Callis, Tricia Helfer, Grace Park, and the incomparable Aaron Douglas. They answered questions for an hour. Let me tell you, each of these people look even better in person than they do on screen! They also showed some very short clips of footage from some of the new episodes. They went by quite quickly with almost no dialogue, but it looks great!

After this I made my way down to the organized chaos of the biggest dealers' room I've ever seen and found the SciFi Channel booth. Fortunately, I had picked up an autograph ticket before the panels. That was a good thing because by now they had run out. I waited in line for about an hour before the BSG people showed up to start signing. I was standing in line right in front of a monitor which was showing the miniseries and I could see that little bits of scenes were cut from the version that aired. I hope and expect that these will be on the DVD.

Finally, the signing began. They had publicity pics to sign and give out. I approached the narrow table where the folks were seated and was able to speak briefly with each one and even get some photos. What a wonderful experience. And Aaron looked like he was having waaayyy too much fun! I think they signed for an hour or so.

But at
5pm there was to be a drawing at the SciFi booth for some free goodies. So I went back there at 5 and who do you think was drawing the numbers? Aaron! He also stayed and did some extra signing for people who had missed out earlier. What a guy! He definitely went above and beyond the call of duty, and I applaud him. Aaron, you rock!

I hope someone will give a more complete report of what was said in the Q&A sessions and panels. I had a great time meeting the BSG people and I hope they do more conventions. (And next time they'd better bring Jamie Bamber- something I mentioned to Ron Moore ) If they do, I'm there! I any of you have a chance to see the BSG folks at another convention I encourage you to do so.


I wasn't taking notes and my memory isn't the best, but I'll try to think of some of the answers they gave and post them here later.

The crowd was definitely supportive but not boisterously so. I think the people who don't like the new series either left after Richard Hatch or just kept quiet. I heard or saw no hecklers or troublemakers.

As for the clips- like I said, they lasted just a few minutes and went by very fast. A short segment from a scene with either no dialogue or very little. Sorry I can't remember more. Highlight the space below if you want to read some very mild spoilers.

Spoiler
They emphasized how tired all the Galactica crew members are- Starbuck shaking her head in the viper cockpit to keep herself awake, a very stubbled and worn looking Lee. A shot of several of the crew (Starbuck was one) in what looked like SWAT team gear. Lee who had obviously been beaten up standing in front of Cmdr. Adama. Number Six wearing a slinky white dress. More card playing.
Rowan is offline   Reply With Quote