Hotel information for the Auction in January

OK everyone, here is the info on the hotel for the Battlestar Galactica Auction at the Pasadena Convention Center. The host hotel is the Sheraton Pasadena (on the site of the Convention Center). the back up is the Hilton Hotel, one block away. The Sheraton has a $ 125 Battlestar Auction rate.

However, I went to Hotwire.com as I always do. Through Hotwire I usually stay at the Hilton there for $ 93 a night…a great rate in L.A. Well, I just booked 14 rooms at the Sheraton for $ 100 a night including all taxes and fees. The posted rate was $ 89-93 a night. So here is what you do:

1) Go to www.hotwire.com

2) Enter the dates you want, and list “Pasadena, CA” as the city.

3) You will see a 3.5 star hotel listed at either $ 89 or $ 93 a night. THAT is the Sheraton (Hotwire never tells you till you book). Now, if it changes it may be the Hilton. But that is only a block away! (CA is sunny in the winter, so don’t worry about the walk, it will be beautiful most likely).

4) Now if money is no object, call the Sheraton at (626) 449-4000 and ask for the Battlestar Rate (if they can’t find it, tell them Tricia arranged it). The official rate is $ 125 a night.

We will also be showing the first new episode of the second half of Season 4 that night on a big screen.

War Room chalkboard

Accompanying the map in the large lightbox written about yesterday, we focus on the pilot chalkboard adorning the wall of Galactica’s war room.

As you can see, there are five squadrons listed on the board: Primus, Vigilantes, Demons, Prowlers and Raptors. The first four are Viper squadrons on Galactica, while the last squadron—as would be expected—are Raptors. Under each squadron, you will see the tail number of the craft assigned to the squadron in question, as well as its pilot. Raptors, on the other hand, list both the Raptor’s pilot and ECO.

War Room lightbox map from “The Hand of God”

In the war room during the Battle for the Tylium Asteroid in Season 1’s “The Hand of God“, the large light box contains a star map for System J23R7. Not only does it sport a mandala-like item—which, coincidentally has no bearing on Starbuck’s whole “destiny” thing, since that was essentially concocted for “The Eye of Jupiter“, “Rapture” and “Maelstrom“—but it’s also big: 54″ by 48″.

Here’s the actual artwork for this item in crisp, clear detail.

Colonial One Captain pin

As seen in the Miniseries, the captain of Colonial One—then called Colonial Heavy 798—wears a pin on his uniform. The pin looks similar to the senior flight wings worn by Commander Adama and Colonel Tigh.

In fact, if you were to say that the pin is just a modified version of the senior flight pin, you would be right. In fact, it is made out of two different pins: the pin for a Master Chief Petty Officer (the green one) affixed to the top of the flight wings. The other noticeable difference with these flight wings are that the wings have two black lines over each wing.

New Caprica Police Academy graduation certificate

In the ending scenes of the third season opener, “Occupation“, Tucker “Duck” Clellan and James “Jammer” Lyman are about to become full-fledged members of the New Caprica Police force set up by the Cylon Occupation Authority. As they are handed their diplomas at the graduation ceremony, Clellan detonates his suicide bomb. In the following scenes, half-burnt and distressed diplomas can be seen floating around landing on the dead bodies at the ceremony, thus ending the episode.

As usual, we are the first to show you what those diplomas look like in crystal-clear detail.

Crashdown’s notepad

After crashing on Kobol, Lieutenant Alex “Crashdown” Quartararo finds himself in charge of the survivors of Raptor 1. As he and the survivors attempt to survive their pursuers, they discover that the Cylons later abandon their pursuit in favor of setting up anti-aircraft batteries, which can be used to take down any ship attempting to rescue them.

As a result, Crashdown decides to attack these emplacements, so that any rescue attempt from Galactica can be successful. In planning it, he uses a technique taught during basic training called the “five-’graph order”, which he outlines on a notepad and presents to the survivors, who will be the ones executing his attack plan.

Despite the by-the-book planning, the attack does not end well, particularly when Crashdown has to threaten people at gunpoint so that it may be executed.