First off, there are some photos of the display on the Resin Illuminati (where I posted a blow by blow account of the making of the Viper) – http://www.resinilluminati.com/showthread.php?t=6691&page=12

Secondly, since I organized the event, I figure I may as well share some insight into the home movies issue (because the issue came up in a couple of other places as well). Dennis Muren (along with Doug Smith) shot those home movies more than 30 years ago, pretty much for fun. In fact a good portion of the movies consist of the crew clowning around and mugging for camera. I wound up editing it down from about 18min to 9min to keep the focus on the FX work.

The problem with getting photos/home movies/etc from people is that they are personal items. It’s not like a costume or a script. This is stuff that they took a photo of (or a movie) for their own personal use. This gets around copyright issues fairly easily, but again, some of the guys think it’s creepy that we fans want to look through their photo albums. As for sharing, some are OK with it – they realize there is an interest in an art form that isn’t widely practiced any more. But others wonder if the other people in the photos – the crew members with a beer in their hand, or clowning around with each other, would be OK with those images being publicly displayed. Not all of the original series crew shares our enthusiasm for the show (boy, have I found that out…..).

Whatever their motivation may be, when I solicit materials for one of these shows (and I’ve done about a dozen of them with other titles), I take the line that since they aren’t my toys, I don’t get to set the rules. So if someone says that I can go ahead and run a reel of footage at the Aero, but please don’t spread it around, I will honor that request. Which is the case of the BSG home movies we screened on Saturday. I specifically asked the crowd not to videotape them off the screen so I wouldn’t be in an uncomfortable position the next time I want to plan a neat event. As odd as it may seem, I’ve found that this open access (or worse – selling for profit) attitude in the past has led to closed doors in the present. I know there is some good material out there that no one has seen, but the “keeper” of said material has been ripped off, bothered, etc. so much in the past that he now doesn’t bother to share. Churlish? Yes. Disappointing? Certainly. But unfortunately a fact. And something I don’t particularly want to exacerbate.

As for letting the stuff rot away – I totally agree that shouldn’t happen. Far too much valuable research material from films past have already been tossed aside. And, with the work that the VES and some other private collectors are doing, we are trying to see to it that what is out there is somehow cataloged so it can be used in the future. Unfortunately, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the info available on the internet. Like many things in life, it’s a balancing act.

The upside to all this is that everyone who attended had a good time and it is likely there will be another Galactica VFX themed event soon that will give people another chance to come out and revel in their geek-dom. (Mojo certainly seemed to be in his element).

Regards,

Gene

Dripping with cheese, but what fun. That day was my birthday and my wife came along too. Got to see two colleagues of mine too – Pat McClung and Doug Knapp – the camera operator on the show.

The models were cool – I know all but one were reproductions, but cool to see anyway. The home movies were really a treat, and, for me, brought back memories of my days doing motion control miniatures.

At GALACTICA.TV we’re always trying to set up things like this too (we helped organize Galacticruise last year) and are ever searching and investigating in finding new stories (even now). There’s still so much cool stuff out there if only fans would share some more. Hey, I hear the big fans who have spend thousands of $ to obtain this material, but so have I. I’m sharing more and more on GALACTICA.TV if only to not make go lost (why keep all to yourself, die and your wife throwing it in the trash since she doesn’t see the significance, huh? ;)) and to keep the flame alive.

I hope someone who attended this will write some nice report and will put up these home videos. I’d really love to see them (or publish them for all fans to see if I had them).

Keep your eyes peeled for some cool new stuff on GALACTICA.TV soon again too. Again, many, many hours of investigating work (and another small fortune spend to obtain some stuff) …all done for the love and glory of this series (and its fans!)

http://www.resinilluminati.com/showpost.php?p=124503&postcount=158

You’ll need a region code free player though or the little red fox wizard tool ;)

The Galactica 1980 movie seems to be available on VHS only.