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I remember how nervous I was as we pulled up into the desolate sand dunes in Richmond, a city just outside of Vancouver, B.C.

I checked the map twice, trying to make sure that I wasn't being punk'd or anything like that, but it still seemed the most unlikely place for "Battlestar Galactica" to be filming.

It was the first couple days of May 2006, and production was already under way on the third season of the popular SciFi Channel series. And thanks to having my name attached to a site called Airlock Alpha, I had been invited to the location shoot where scenes from an episode late in the season were being filmed.

I turned to my friend who had traveled up to British Columbia with me from Seattle with a quizzical look on my face. "I really think we're lost."

But he kept driving along the dirt road until we found a group of trailers, as if someone thought how nice it would be to have a trailer park in the middle of dirt. If you're ever out looking for filming locations, if you ever find a bunch of trailers, then you know you've hit the jackpot.

So more excited than ever, I jump out of the car, camera in hand, expecting some grand reception or something. I mean, come on! I'm Michael Hinman, and I flew across the country and then drove two hours through a pesky Canadian border control so that I could stand in this very spot. But it was almost a ghost town.

"Maybe they aren't filming today," my friend said, always the optimist.

If these were any old trailers, I would start knocking on doors. But these weren't. What if Mary McDonnell answered in curlers and a robe? Even worse, what if James Callis answered in curlers and a robe?

It was something that I didn't want to discover, so while we waited for somebody, anybody, to show up, I decided to explore a little bit. I mean, I run a news Web site that covers this show, so I had to know what kind of strange planet these guys were going to that they needed to be in a bunch of sand dunes by the time we got to the eighth episode of the season.

So, I walked past some of the trailers on the perimeter of this camp stop, and my jaw hit the ground. Down the sandy hill, about 1,000 feet away, was one of my favorite science-fiction cities of all time. I call it "heaven," but you might know it better as New Caprica City.

I was in so much shock, I didn't even question to myself at first why we would still be on New Caprica so late in the season when all reports had then ragtag fleet off the planet by no later than the fourth episode.

Barely able to say a word, I motioned to my friend, asking him to give me the camera, but before he could, a large back SUV -- similar to what Jack Bauer might be hauled away in if he were ever captured on "24" -- skidded to a stop, and a man with long wavy hair rolled down the window.

I almost panicked and ran, but he stopped me with a "G'day! Are you Michael Hinman?" I nodded. "Well, hop in! Let's go down to the set!"

My friend and I headed to the back seat of the SUV not knowing what to expect. I didn't know who this guy was, but he knew who I was, and that had to count for something. But as I opened the door, and climbed in, I notice that the long-haired man wasn't alone. In the passenger seat, in full Colonial uniform and a script in his lap, was the one, the only Edward James Olmos. You know, Adm. William Adama. Husker. Mr. Bad-Ass-Don't-Ever-Screw-With-Me.

He smiled as we climbed in and shook our hands. "I never have guests on the set," Olmos said. "But I can make an exception." The long-haired man put the SUV in gear, and we were on our way.

"I know you are a reporter," Olmos continued, "but you can not write about anything you see here. Is that OK?"

I believe the last part of the question was rhetorical, as I don't believe anyone ever answered negatively, and lived to tell about it. But loosening the collar on my neck, I squeaked out a "Yes, sir." Olmos smirked as if I just kicked his dog. "Everyone calls me Eddie."

When we get to the New Caprica City set, it was a mad dash from one end of the makeshift city to the other. We were making our way by the tents that were supposed to be homes for our galant fleet, and every once in a while I could peek inside and see camera equipment and other props being stored in some of them.

We're walking along the metal walkways and such, the same ones the characters of my favorite television show walked on, and not too far where an army of CGI Toasters marched just a few months before. One of the other crew joins us, saying hello to Olmos, er, Eddie, and tells us that we should've been there on Friday because they had explosions and everything, and practically "tore the city up."

When we get to the end of the set, I notice a large building in the background that looked half constructed. I was not sure if it was coming down or going up, but the camera crew wanted to make sure it didn't end up in the shot at all.

Everyone greeted Eddie by first name, it didn't matter what their position was on the crew or if they even had a speaking role, Eddie was genuinely happy to see them all, and they in turn had a lot of admiration for him. I guess you could say I wasn't surprised, but it was still unexpected, as everyone felt at ease with him.

As the cameras set up, I noticed that Jamie Bamber was around, as was a long-haired Katee Sackhoff, locking arms with a very handsome Michael Trucco, who plays her husband Anders in the series. Eddie finally dropped the bomb to my friend and I that they were actually filming a flashback scene that morning, and even if I did break my word and write about it, it wouldn't do much good, because it wasn't really revealing any new informatoin that we didn't know already.

You should remember the scene. It appeared at the end of "Unfinished Business" back in December when, after a crazy night of sex and alcohol, Lee (Bamber) finds out from his father that Kara (Sackhoff) got hitched early that morning.

It was fascinating, by the way, to see this episode play out when it finally aired because the whole sequence couldn't have been longer than 90 seconds, yet it takes a lot of people (and a lot of time) to put it together. And everyone had input in what was happening, including Eddie, who would help give some direction to extras on the set to make their movements and activities in the background more real, and even Eddie himself had an additional action of where he bought a loaf of bread from one of the vendors -- something that didn't make the final cut, but if you watch the flashback scene, you will see him eating while he's talking to Apollo.

The very first time I saw Edward James Olmos was probably the first time a lot of people saw him. He played the coolest teacher on the planet (well at least for me, who was just 13 years old at the time) Jaime Escalante in the critically acclaimed "Stand and Deliver." I loved that teacher, and I would never forget that whenever I would see Eddie in later projects, including an amazing guest appearance on the NBC series "The West Wing."

In my time, the number of people (and even Presidents of the United States) I have met is vast, almost to the point where I don't even flinch. But Eddie was different. He didn't command respect, but you gave it to him anyway, because you know he deserves it. Eddie is a man who takes his craft very seriously, and the projects he chooses are ones that have to be groundbreaking. When Eddie was first attached to "Battlestar Galactica," they thought the old man was getting senile. But to me, Adama is a character almost as amazing as Jaime Escalante. Adama is also a leader, he also inspires, and he also gets unconditional respect and admiration.

And what's even better, it's not just Adama who gets all of that. It's Edward James Olmos, too.

SyBits

By the way, if you love Edward James Olmos as much as the legion of BSG fans do, check out his official fan club Web site, run by the very beautiful and very talented Mary Ann. You can find it at www.edwardjamesolmos.net.

My recounting of the best set visit of my life took up a lot of space, so because of that, there's not a lot of room for letters this week. But please send them, and I will try to answer a bunch next week.

If you plan on being in Central Florida this Memorial Day weekend, I really hope you will come out and attend Oasis 20, the annual literary convention held by the Orlando Science Fiction Society. For the first year, I will be one of the guests (although the featured guests are much more deserving people, very popular authors in the world of science-fiction). It's a smaller convention, and the cost is just $35 for the entire weekend, so visit www.oasfis.org to get all the details, and make sure you come up and say hello to me!

While talking about Oasis, I did want to let our Florida readers know that for the first time since 2001, I will not be a guest at Necronomicon in Tampa. The Stone Hill sci-fi group is a wonderful group of people, and I really enjoy their convention. Because of tighter schedules (and I assume, a tighter budget), they decided to cut all their media guests they have every year, and concentrate solely on literary guests.

I think some of that might stem from the fact that the media guests garnered larger crowds for their panels, but I definitely respect their decision.

Just so you know, Airlock Alpha has staff writers spread out in different parts of the United States, and even different parts of the world. If you have a convention where you need someone from the genre media to attend, never hesitate to contact us, and we'll see if we can get someone from our staff, or hell, maybe even me there, although I have a very limited available schedule. If you do want to bring one of us in, just drop me an e-mail at mhinman@airlockalpha.com and we'll talk about what we can do!

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Have a great week, and don't be a stranger!

Michael Hinman, named Time magazine's Person of the Year in 2006, is the founder and site coordinator for Airlock Alpha, writing out of Tampa, Fla. He can be reached at mhinman@airlockalpha.com

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