Postcard from Another Planet – Part 6

For the time being this is going to be my last ‘Postcard from Another Planet’.  Though since in Comic Book Outsiders episode 25 Steve and Pete talked about Stardust – part of which was filmed about 10 minutes walk from where I live in England I’ll probably resurrect this again in the future.

But for the time being not only is this the last, but also the best.  This is Royal Roads University, better known to everyone as ‘Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Children’ as seen in the X-Men movies.

You can see the back of the house from this movie screencap:

This is the garden where Professor Xavier’s memorial service takes place at the end of X-Men 3

And finally here’s me hanging around outside. Unfortunately they didn’t admit me as I have no discernable superpowers – but their loss!

Tags: royalroads university, x-men, x-men 3, the last stand, patrick stewart, professor xavier, canada, victoria, movie locations

Postcard from Another Planet – Part 5

I know I promised that this would be the final entry, however that was before I visited a real doozy of a place, so in fact this is going to be my penultimate postcard from another planet. This one’s pretty good as well though.

So without further ado I present you with the Chan Centre for Performing Arts at the University of British Columbia. You may know it better from Battlestar Galactica but it’s starring role has been as the 4400 Centre in the show ‘The 4400′.

You’re also especially lucky that in these posts you’ll get to see me standing outside!

1. The 4400 Centre (aka Chan Centre for Performing Arts)

The exact same building, as well as the rose gardens nearby have also been used extensively in Battlestar Galactica.

So thats it for this postcard. Last (and best) entry will follow in a few days!

-Scott

Tags: the4400, vancouver, canada, ubc, battlestar galactica, filming locations, 4400 centre, chan centre

Postcard from another planet – Part 4

Next up in our tour of movie and TV show locations from the University of British Columbia is the chemistry building.  Just a few seconds from where I’m based in the Department of Mathematics you may know this location better as ‘Kingdom Hospital’ the Stephen King inspired version of the classic Lars von Trier miniseries ‘The Kingdom’.  If you like the US version you should definitely check out the weirder, darker von Trier version.

So without further ado I present to you:

4.  Kingdom Hospital (aka the Chemistry Building)

This is the penultimate entry for my location visits so far.  I’m leaving the best for last, a star of the 4400, Battlestar Galactica and Supernatural – amongst others!

-Scott.

Tags: ubc, vancouver, canada, chemistry, kingdom hospital, stephen king

Stars of Supernatural race for soapbox superiority – and charity

On Sunday September 7th Red Bull held the first Vancouver soapbox derby. About 600 metres of a major street in Kitsilano was closed down, comprising of the pits, endzone and 500 metres of race track. Vancouver sure seems to be a city that loves it’s science-fiction with many cool themed soapboxes. However in this post I’ll concentrate on the charity race between Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles who play the brothers in that fantastic show, Supernatural.

From where I was standing I couldn’t see the first 300 metres or so of the track so the first 20 seconds or so is mostly just for the commentary, however after that you see one of the brothers zoom down quite some way ahead, and then the last placed brother manages to make up for it by crashing through the cones and nearly hitting his costar at the end. I won’t spoil by telling you who is who!

The race, and indeed the whole day, was a lot of fun, but this was certainly a highlight.

Here’s two pictures of them. One at the end of the race and another getting some slightly more modern transport back to the start line.

Tags: vancouver, canada, supernatural, Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, red bull, soapbox

Postcard from Another Planet – Part 3

Moving onto the big guns now with a real star.  This is the Koerner Library.  Architecturally interesting as it’s designed to look like an open book (with the centre being the spine).  The library has appeared both in Battlestar Galactica – this is where Helo runs from the Cylons and is also one of the buildings seen in Smallville as Kansas A&M University.

3a.  Kansas A&M (aka the Koerner Library)

3b. BSG Episode 1×11 (Colonial Day)

(this screengrab taken from http://pat.suwalski.net/film/bsg-locations/)

Tags: ubc, vancouver, canada, battlestar galactica, smallville, koerner library

Postcard from Another Planet – Part 2

Next up in my tour of sci-fi filming locations was the ‘Forest Sciences Centre’ – a huge building, reflecting the importance of forestry to the British Columbian economy.  The building manages to look both futuristic and old fashioned – sometimes both at the same time.

You might know the building from it’s frequent appearances in ‘The 4400′.  Couldn’t score any screencaps of its appearances – but there are more to come, with some impressive shots from the actual shows involved.  But in the meantime…

2.  Forest Sciences Centre – (appearing in The 4400)

Postcard from another planet – Part 1

It’s Scott here.  As you may or may not know I’m currently working at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver which, as well as being a stunning university, has been home to some of the top genre shows over the last few years.  Vancouver itself is a hotbed of movie production, with many movies and TV shows being filmed here all the time.

At the weekend I toured the campus and took photos of some of the famous building you might know masquerading as other planets in some of your favourite shows!  There are quite a few buildings and shows to take you through, so I’m going to post these as several blog entries over the next few days to spread things out a bit.

1. General Services Administration Building & War Memorial Gym (Stephen Spielberg’s Taken)

Both of these buildings were used in the filming of Stephen Spielberg’s great mini-series Taken.  It was the story spanning several generations of a family and their interactions with alien races.  It featured an all star cast and was notable for the first big show to feature child star Dakota Fanning in a starring role.  Unfortunately I’ve not been able to identify these two building from the show, despite seeing it recently so I’m not sure in exactly what capacity they appeared.

Tags: ubc, vancouver, canada, taken, stephen spielberg, movie locations, dakota fanning