The Other Side of the Razor

I haven't posted lately to my blog, because I've been damn busy. However, I feel guilty that I haven't posted anything about my recent Battlestar experiences. So here is the blog.


This convention was in Burbank, and was advertised as the BIG one, an advertisement that actually started a year ago when Adam Malin of Creation announced that they timed the convention so that the producers could give more content, and more actors could attend.


Well, that didn't pan out. The convention was small. Very small. But that sort of worked to our advantage. Even though small, we were pleased with the actors we got: Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck), Jamie Bamber (Apollo), Tahmoh Penikett (Helo), and Kate Vernon (Ellen Tigh, ruthlessly strangled by her own husband because...oh, never mind). And Bear McCreary, who does the music. Actually, it turned out Bear's presentation was one of the best of the convention.

I didn't know it when I bought our tickets, but Creation decided at the last minute to allow the gold ticket conventioneers to "crash" the nearby Stargate convention, and sit in on their stage presentations when nothing was going on in our hall. I made note of that for next year.

Every actor talked about the writer's strike, which affected them immediately. Only part of the season has been filmed, and there was some doubt that the last 9 episodes to the four-year series would ever be completed if the strike went on too long. But each actor found a way of filling the void. Tahmoh was going snowboarding. Jamie was intent on getting other roles in Hollywood, and was working on that with his new agent, Erin Grey. And Katee was actually pleased to be off work. "My first Thanksgiving off in 9 years!" she exclaimed, and added that she thinks they'll all be back to work by January.

It was great to see Erin Grey. She waved to the crowd when Adam introduced her. When I saw her during Jamie's autograph session, I said to her, "Not to be presumptuous, but can we assume you're now an agent?" She nodded, and added that she still works at acting jobs occasionally. As always, she was very friendly and gracious. I've seen her at conventions for maybe 15 years now, having enjoyed her work since Buck Rogers in the 25th Century as "Colonel Wilma Deering" circa 1986. I added to her, "You know, Colonel Deering was my hero," and she replied, "Mine, too."

Debbie and I enjoyed our time at the convention, but it doesn't look like we're meeting up here next November. However, we did agree that November is the perfect month in which to "do" Las Vegas, and I hope we'll meet up there in 2008.

When I got home, I received an email from Jennifer, a local whom I met at the Grand Slam in April and saw again at the Sacramento con a few months later. She invited me to their house to watch Razor, the two-hour show Battlestar produced to keep the fans satisfied until they could get back on-air.

I loved the show, particularly the storyline concerning Admiral Cain, the hardened commander played by Michelle Forbes, who played Ensign Ro in Star Trek: The Next Generation. "Razor" comes from the pocketknife Admiral Cain used to carry around, sort of a signature piece, and passed on to her new lieutenant, apparently, when Cain met her ill fate. I found the story quite compelling.

My hosts found the fact that Cain was disclosed as a lesbian (kind of tossed at the audience in just a few minutes, having a love affair with the Cylon on board, no less), and a murderous one at that, rather off-putting. And that that fact reminded them of the stereotypical Sharon Stone role played so venomously in the '80's. I can certainly see that point, and I wonder why the writers and producers decided to even bother with that add-on. Kind of a stupid decision.

So, at this point, we have no idea when Battlestar will come back on the air. Maybe March. Maybe later. Maybe never.

But in the meantime, there's the Razor DVD coming out in a few days which has about 40 minutes of added screentime. Fascinating.