If you’re reading this blog, I don’t need to explain to you who Richard Hatch was. He died today, and the fan culture community is reeling with the loss of not just another icon but of a man who championed our culture, and our show in particular. He wasn’t just one of the stars of the 1978 edition of BSG as Captain Apollo, he almost single-handedly kept the fan base going in the years before the re-imagined BSG hit the airwaves in 2004. He tried to get his own version called “Second Coming” off the ground in the late 1990s but when that didn’t work, he was convinced to join the new series as Tom Zarek. It may have started as stunt casting, but it was a role that showed many of us how truly good an actor he was. To soothe my own sense of loss, it is the Tom Zarek episodes I will be re-watching.
There will be many stories shared tonight that begin with the words “I was lucky enough to meet Richard Hatch at…” and continuing to describe a fond memory. Fans loved him. He understood not just what fan culture had done for him, but what fans were. He got it. He got us.
I spoke to Richard on the phone about 10 years ago, attempting to apologize on behalf of a local group of fans that had inadvertently insulted him. He was incredibly gracious in accepting my apology and assurances that there were indeed many local fans who were eager to meet him and would love to sponsor a subsequent visit. We had a wonderful conversation about my city and it’s fan culture. We were never able to get him to make that return visit, but when I met him in Atlanta several years later he did recall the conversation. Again, he was such a gentleman.
I’m going to have to dig my old Colonial Warrior uniform out of the box. Raise a glass of ambrosia and toast a man I was lucky enough to have met.
RIP Richard Hatch (1945-2017)
#SSWA
The last week or so has been a difficult one for Battlestar Galactica fans. Hopes had been high for the Galacticon IV convention in Seattle but were disappointed in the days leading up to the event. While a much smaller convention did go ahead this past weekend, a lot of BSG fans were left with a bad taste in their mouths.
Canadian Battlestar Galactica fans really are lucky. We were the only ones who got to see Battlestar Galactica on the big screen back in 1978 before it aired as the pilot of TV show in the US. Now Cineplex is giving us the chance to see it in theatres again, as part of their 
Since ONE Battlestar Galactica costume is never enough, I embarked on a project to get myself a second BSG costume, this time from the original incarnation. I was an avid reader of Starlog magazine in the 1980s, and I remember the ad showing a little girl wearing a Colonial Warrior uniform jacket. I think I’ve wanted a jacket of my own since then.
The uniforms (jacket, tunic, pants and belt, with all pins) were ordered from 
Exact boots are tough to find. The originals were Sidi Full Bore motocross boots, painted brown. Occasionally pairs do come up for sale on ebay but the price is often very high…and quite frankly, who wants a 30 year old pair of boots someone else wore? Half of our group spent $10 a pair and got reasonable knock off boots at 
This weekend is 
Fan Expo is returning to Vancouver April 20th and 21st and once again, 13th Colony is thrilled to be playing a part! 
Is it too early to predict that 2013 will be our year? It’s been a dark time for Battlestar Galactica fans. A very long wait for the release of Blood & Chrome is now followed by more waiting to see if the downloads and DVD sales will lead to anything more. Yet with no new content on the horizon, our ragtag fleet of fans is hanging on.
If you find yourself in and around downtown Vancouver — or as we like to call it, Caprica City –this Saturday afternoon, November 24th, between 1 and 4pm, drop in at the Blenz just inside the Robson doors of the Central Library. Keep your eye open for a couple of knuckle draggers. If they’re out of uniform, listen for words like “frak,” “toaster,” “cylon” or my personal favourite, “felgercarb.” Pull up a chair and join in.
The 13th Colony 