On the recommendation of friends I’ve started watching the new Battlestar Galactica. It’s pretty good! Of course, the original 1978 series did not set the bar very high. In fact, it’s hard to imagine a less more wretched predecessor than the show that in the second season took the innovative step of switching from “people in space fighting a terrifying foe� to “people from space come to Earth to coach a children’s baseball team�.
Like so many other TV shows on a budget, the new series was filmed primarily in Vancouver. Unlike a lot of those other shows, however, the producers of Battlestar Galactica don’t mind showing off the local landmarks. Seen here are two futuristic space-people walking toward a futuristic space-building… whoops, I mean the Public Library.
VPL in Battlestar Galactica
It’s interesting to think of how many popular TV shows and movies have been filmed in Vancouver; the aspects they choose to use say a lot about the image the city presents to outsiders. I’ve seen a lot of scenes in movies using English Bay as a backdrop; that would seem to be one of Vancouver’s more attractive sights. On the other hand, remember all those dreary grey buildings in the X-Files, used to establish overtones of a faceless, depersonalizing military-industrial complex? That would be Simon Fraser University, the most depressing campus on the planet. Thanks a lot, Arthur Erickson.
