Comments on: Vancouver’s (finally) Ready for its Close-up, Mr. DeMille

By: Superhero Legacy

Superhero Legacy — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 17:20:12 +0000

In addition to the city sights of Vancouver seen in all these movies and shows, there’s also some magnificent mountain shots, especially in Stargate SG-1. I wonder what kind of economic effect all these movies have had on the city of Vancouver…

By: Colin Tait

Colin Tait — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:19:22 +0000

I’m just happy to note that we did indeed have a Shatner sighting at the end of it all…

By: Serra Tinic

Serra Tinic — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 05:03:12 +0000

Now Jonathan, you know I’m a loyal Edmonton Oilers fan. I enjoyed the dynasty years and Wayne will always be Apollo (if we follow the Zeus analogy?). But almost every public school in the country continues to teach Terry Fox’s story and holds an annual charity walk/run event. It’s the ideal Olympic spirit, fight against adversity story. Besides, it’s Hollywood North — a hologram would’ve been perfect.

By: Jonathan Gray

Jonathan Gray — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 04:34:56 +0000

oh, and Donald Sutherland was indeed a crazy pick. Why not Shatner? 😉

By: Jonathan Gray

Jonathan Gray — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 04:33:30 +0000

Serra, I’ve seen plenty of ads, but none containing Cdn celebs. Perhaps our stars have to stay closeted in the US, only allowed to out themselves in Canada itself?

Meanwhile, yes, those pics from Expo are truly amazing. I took a dinner cruise around the Inlet and English Bay last year and counted about 80-90 huge glass apartment buildings that weren’t there in 1990.

By: Jonathan Gray

Jonathan Gray — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 04:28:57 +0000

Hey, hey, hey — anyone other than Wayne would’ve been a let-down to me. I don’t think that was about international visibility. I don’t think there’s a single Canadian who more Canadians know as much about. Evidence: if it was Walter, we’d have all recognized him, no? (translation for non-Cdn readers: Walter is Wayne’s father. Or Zeus, if you will).

And lighting a flame from the grave just sounds kinda creepy to me, as much as Terry Fox rocked

By: Jonathan Gray

Jonathan Gray — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 04:21:20 +0000

Rumble in the Bronx very amusingly included several shots with Grouse Mountain and Mt. Seymour in the background, despite being set in the Bronx. And it depends what “iconic” is to the individual person, but Human Target’s second ep. had the hero going up the Grouse gondola to a supposed Quebec monastery.

As for truly fictional locales, the nearest examples I can think of: (1) SFU’s quad, as noted above, was Earth in the BSG miniseries; and (2) apparently when a new skyscraper was built, before it opened, it was plastered with Luther Corp logos and the Smallville crew filmed it and other bits of the skyline to use as establishing shots for Metropolis

By: Erin Copple Smith

Erin Copple Smith — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:14:34 +0000

Yikes, Serra–I had no idea about the Viera/NBC foibles (though sadly am not surprised). You’re right that Terry Fox is not at all well known in the states. I grew up only a couple of hours from the border, and had no idea who he was until a Canadian blogger I follow mentioned her daughter’s participation in a Terry Fox Run several years ago. I agree that the option you describe (Betty & hologram-Terry) would have made more sense from a Canadian and even global perspective than Wayne Gretzky. Alas.

Which brings me to the inclusion of Donald Sutherland as flag-bearer. Really? Donald Sutherland? I mean, I like the guy, but it seemed fairly apparent that he was included as compensation for his work on the opening ceremony voiceover. (He does, admittedly, have a wonderful voiceover voice.)

By: Serra Tinic

Serra Tinic — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:38:08 +0000

Erin, terrific observations about the significance of celebrity marketing – a vast parade of internationally recognizable stars who no longer live in Canada. Another example was the unfortunate inclusion of the lip-synching duo Nelly Furtado and Bryan Adams at the Opening Ceremony. There was much excitement here re. rumors that Betty Fox would light the Olympic cauldron next to a hologram of her late son Terry. It would have been a symbolic conclusion of his Marathon of Hope in which Terry would have ‘virtually’ made it to B.C. Let’s just say that many Canadians were underwhelmed with the final choice of Gretzky in a pick-up truck.

It may be cynical, but I assume the decision was based on the priorities of the American market and The Great One’s instant recognition value. I say this because Terry Fox is quite well known in Europe where several countries hold an annual Run for Hope (Taiwan recently organized one as well). If Meredith Vieira’s commentary that night is any indication, Terry was not well known across the border. She called him Michael and some one in NBC’s research department added the peculiar juxtaposition of photos of both Terry Fox and Michael J. Fox. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1M23YN-rQA

By: Erin Copple Smith

Erin Copple Smith — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:19:59 +0000

Serra, your points are all excellent, and your note about the (perpetually-airing) BC tourism ad reminds me of my initial reaction to the same. Namely, I was reminded yet again how much of Americans’ exposure to Canada and its inhabitants comes in the form of, “Huh. I didn’t know [fill-in-the-blank-with-a-celebrity] was Canadian.” It’s really unfortunate, because Canada is such a beautiful, fascinating, rich and diverse country–and yet so much of its identity on this side of the longest-friendly-border-in-the-world comes down to “celebrities we thought were American but are actually Canadian.”