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SF in Vancouver

^Thanks for that link. They used Simon Francis University in the new Battlestar Galactica miniseries as well.
 
^Of course, a lot of those things were Czech productions and would therefore obviously be filmed in their capital city.

I didn't know the Dune mini was filmed in Prague.

Lots of Stephan Cannell tv series from the 80's were filmed in Vancouver.

21 JUMP STREET
WISEGUY
THE COMMISH
STINGRAY
COBRA

Wasn't Stingray some British Anderson puppet series?

^Thanks for that link. They used Simon Francis University in the new Battlestar Galactica miniseries as well.

Simon Fraser University


Here some more links:

http://students.sfu.ca/filming/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Fraser_University#Appearances_in_popular_culture
http://pat.suwalski.net/film/bsg-locations/
http://www.thescifiworld.net/zocalo_d_vancouver2006_01.htm
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/movies/251525_hollywoodnorthact3.html
and to a lesser degree: http://forum.gateworld.net/showthread.php?t=25871&page=5
 
Wasn't Stingray some British Anderson puppet series?

There were two very different Stingray tv shows. Yes, there was British puppet series in the 60's I think.

I was speaking of STINGRAY starring Nick Mancuso. He was a mysterious stranger who drove a 1965 black Stingray. No one knew his real name, they just called him "Ray" and he helped people not for money, but on the condition that one day he would return to ask them a favor and they would have to do it no matter what it was. It ran two seasons 85 to 86, and was way a head of its time, as Ray was a martial artist and computer hacker genius, master of disguise, etc. After Wiseguy, it is my favorite Cannel produced/created show.


Also, MacGyver filmed in Vancouver for a couple of seasons.
 
Is it not cheaper to film there now?

If it wasn't cheaper to film there, why film there to begin with? They always claim it's "Seattle" anyway. (When they're not hilariously trying to pass the place off as San Francisco.) :rommie: Why not just film in Seattle?

Cheap production in Vancouver is the reason why most sci fi things seem to happen in the Pacific Northwest nowadays. I think it's a travesty and sci fi things should occur most often in New Mexico and Nevada, like they do in real life! :p

seems like more films are filmed in Prague now

Cheaper yet! But for TV, remember there's a value to having production happen in the same time zone as LA, where the writers are based.
 
My wife gave me a book which points out all the locales in Vancover where each episode of the X-Files was shot. One of the things I liked about watching the show with her was that, being from the area, she was able to point out various landmarks and neighborhoods on any given episode ("Look, its Gastown". "Isn't that Grouse Mountain?").
 
At least a portion of "Babylon 5 The Lost Tales: Voices in the Dark" was shot there in Vancouver.

Beautiful city, btw.
 
I can always tell when its filmed in Canada because it has that rainy look in most episodes and ofcourse the pine trees.

Well, Vancouver and the coast. Most of Canada is quite dry, except for the snow in the winters...including Kelowna, actually.

Chris Nolan's Insomnia, with Al Pacino and Robin Williams, was filmed on Vancouver Island. A town an hour away from where I grew up, Port Alberni, was passed off as Anchorage, Alaska.

A lot of westerns that Hollywood makes nowadays are filmed in Alberta, because of the close proximity of the Rocky Mountains, foothills and very flat prairies.

It's also probably quite a bit cheaper to make movies up here again, as the our dollar is back to being around .8 to the American one. Last year it was par, even worth more occasionally, so our film industry was starting to get a bit worried.
 
Well, Vancouver and the coast. Most of Canada is quite dry, except for the snow in the winters...including Kelowna, actually.

Usually there were episodes where it was looked like it rained alot. Here as you can see in a season 1 episode of the X-files its dry
devil121auq7.jpg
 
Capilano damn and the trails around it are where the forest scenes for many shows are shot. I go there often and you can literally recognize trails, trees, and rocks seen on BSG (specifically the scenes from Kobol and Caprica).
 
Of course, with higher-def TV becoming the norm it's becoming much harder to disguise the fact that it's raining all the time in Vancouver. fuzzy puddles in the background will become just that.

Mark <--- love the city!
 
Usually there were episodes where it was looked like it rained alot. Here as you can see in a season 1 episode of the X-files its dry
devil121auq7.jpg

Heh, yeah, that's definitely BC's west coast, on a rare sunny day...well, that's a bit of a stereotype. It goes for long stretches of no rain. Like 3 or 4 weeks, even!

No, my point was more that there's a big difference between saying you can tell a movie was shot in Canada because it's wet and rainy, and saying it's shot in Vancouver. The climate, and even vegetation shown in that still, is pretty specific to the west coast. I know, I know, I'm basically splitting hairs...I guess I still have a bit of Vancouver Island pride left in me, though.
 
This is another one of those issues that ought to be addressed along with the whole issue of outsourcing.

At this point there is little reason to keep filming in Vancouver other than they have the facilities. Its gotten a tad annoying anyway since Canada apparently has only 5 actors since they all end up on these shows at one point or another. Add to that the fact that the locations are so over used that the illusion is broken on several series.

Its funny because some of these series cannot even reasonably be called American shows anymore. Earth:Final Conflict (by the end it didn't even have any American cast members) was a Canadian show that got aired in the US. Can Stargate even be considered an American show either?

Just once the production companies out to break out of the mold and simply have a show set...gasp....in VANCOUVER.
 
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