Unnamed cities of Caprica

From Battlestar Wiki, the free, open content Battlestar Galactica encyclopedia and episode guide
Revision as of 18:40, 27 June 2006 by Homeworld (talk | contribs) (Added the trivia section)

While they are stranded on the devastated colony world of Caprica after the Cylon attack, Helo and Boomer run across two as-of-yet unnamed cities in their quest to get to the Delphi military installation and commandeer a craft there to escape the occupied planet and find the fleet. Their explorations of the two cities brought them to many deserted neighborhoods and locales, all while the two were trying to escape from the invading Cylons.

First Unnamed City

Outside Caprica City was a region where two cities spared by the Cylons were found. When the first city was located by Helo and Boomer in the episode Bastille Day, several differences distinguished this city from others on the planet. Unlike Caprica City, this new city did not have the futuristic metallic skyscrapers and glittering office towers (although a few such buildings can be seen behind a tall green office office in the background). Instead, the buildings looked much like they do in present-day North America. Also, this city had paved roads, a throwback to the colonial era before airborne traffic. This is in contrast to Caprica City, whose roads (if there ever had been any) had been torn up to make way for pleasant gardens and walkways. Also, the city was remarkably well preserved. Not even a single window was cracked from the shockwaves.

Plaza

In Bastille Day, Helo and Boomer were searching in this city for a possible survivor, given away by a broadcast signal. The pair were first seen wandering in a terraced plaza in front of a large cylindrical public structure. As they meandered between the cast-iron lamposts, Helo called "HELLO!" in a loud voice and commented that he hates cities because "no one ever stops to help you."

Tiled Pathway

After leaving the plaza, the two were seen walking down a paved path leading between two towering office complexes. Here, Boomer asked where the citizens were when the bombs fell. Helo responded by saying "in their beds, at their desks, anywhere." This comment is followed by Boomer seeing a rat-gnawed corpse propped up against the glass entryway to one of the towers. All the while, the two were being watched by Number Six and Aron Dorla, who were perched on the rooftop of a civilian transfer bridge connecting the two office towers.

Restaurant

The signal led Helo and Boomer to a restaurant on a side street. Here, they found a fully stocked fallout shelter, but no survivor. It was just a military-band braodcast signal being sent out by a radio. Boomer and Helo set up camp here, but the Cylons soon raided the establishment while Helo was cooking breakfast. Boomer was kidnapped and the shelter was ravaged, and there was extensive collateral damage to the restaurant from the attack.

Downtown

In the episode Litmus, Helo was squatting on the garbage-strewn rooftop of a low-rise building in what appeared to be the central city (evidenced by large numbers of skyscrapers and office towers). Across the street on a higher structure with an antenna, Six, Doral and kidnapped Boomer were watching Helo. Surrounding both groups were lower, older stone buildings, more modern apartment blocks and large cubical or geometrical commercial buildings.

Warehouse

This abandonned establishment was located on the ground floor of the building occuptied by Six, Doral and Boomer. The interior was dingy and bereft of any kind of cargo, with only greasy steel beams and missing floor panels to provide variety. Helo entered this bat and Cylon infested building to rescue Boomer. Outside the warehouse were two alleys, one a paved garbage-strewn wreck with several power transformers and telephone lines. The other alley was dirt and led between a building and fenced lot towards a skyscraper topped with a flag pole.

Second Unnamed City

Not much of this city was seen in the episode Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down, except for a few peeks through manhole covers and the ending sequence.

Sewers

Helo and Boomer spend their time in this unnamed city dashing through the leaky sewer tunnels and catacombs, desperatley trying to escape a Cylon detachment ordered to search for them. Occasionally, the two peeked through a manhole cover in an attempt to decipher the situation on the surface. Each time, they found Cylon Centurions marching through the tree-lined plazas and streets and Cylon Raiders flying low, skimming the tops of cubical buildings. The sewers Helo and Boomer used as a means of escape were dimly lit, almost completely dark, with arched passageways and puddles of water on the floors.

Bridge Interchange

At the very end of Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down, Six and Doral were seen in what appeared to be the city's riverfront downtown. They walk out of the forest of modern glass and cinderblock towers and onto a bridge, talking about how their troops searched every room of every building and the two humans still escaped. The bridge is actually a three-lane highway. The left and right lanes remained level, but the middle lane sunk towards a subterranean intersection with a tunnel, where several Centurions were awaiting the arrival of the two Biocyclons. The street lights in this scene provdied a good indication of the city's history. In the midst of the buildings, the bulbs hung down from elaborate 19th-century style cast-iron poles. On the bridge, tall cast-iron lamp posts rise up from the stone-carved balustrade. This old style of street light, and the paved streets, evidenced a city that was built relatively early after settlement of the Twelve Colonies.

Trivia

The scenes of the first unnamed city in Bastille Day were filmed in Burnaby, a suburb of Vancouver in Canada. In Litmus, filming of the first unnamed city was moved to downtown Vancouver itself. The second unnamed city was filmed entirely in Vancouver. In the background of the rooftop scenes in Litmus, a church steeple can be seen poking up between two modern office blocks. This is interesting, considering that the Colonial faith is the equivalent of Greek mythology and is not even close to Christianity. The cylindrical building facing the plaza in Bastille Day is actually the Vancouver Public Library. In the rooftop scenes of Litmus, one of the buildings filmed is the Harbour Center Tower in Vancouver, given away by its distinctive revolving rooftop restaurant.