Tricia Helfer's red dress was one of several hundred items from "Battlestar Galactica" sold at auction
'Battlestar' Puts Sci-Fi on Sale The props and costumes of 'Battlestar Galactica' hit the auction block for charity By Dave Lake MSN TV
Like the rest of us hopeless "Battlestar Galactica" devotees, simply paying respects to one of TV's all-time best shows each Friday night at 10 p.m. just isn't enough sometimes. You want to feel even closer to your beloved series -- touch it, squeeze it, wear it. Well you're in luck, or at least you could have been if you'd taken part in the "Battlestar Galactica" prop and costume auction that happened recently in Pasadena, Calif., where hundreds of props, costumes, drawings and "Battlestar"-related gear was auctioned off, with a percentage of the proceeds going to charity.
Though the floor of the Pasadena Convention Center itself was sparsely populated for the two-day auction, fans flocked to the Internet, where courtesy of the Auction Network, interested parties could bid on the sale's several hundred items from the comfort of their own laptops. Starting at just a few hundred dollars and going all the way up to tens of thousands, there was something for "Battlestar" fans of every income level. The least expensive items were things like concept art, costume sketches, and foam core models of sets, with costumes, set pieces and spaceships making up the higher-priced items.
A collection of name plates from various Galactica pilots "I don't have anything that I took or kept from 'Battlestar Galactica,'"Michael Hogan, who plays Colonel Saul Tigh on the series, told me during an interview on the convention center floor. He said the crew often joked about items disappearing from a scene ending up on eBay, but with the exception of his dog tags -- a gift to him from the props department -- the actor didn't leave the show with any souvenirs.
Amongst the items to fetch the highest prices at auction were the "duty blues" uniforms worn by the various officers aboard Galactica. It was a piece of wardrobe that many of the cast members spent much of the series sporting. The uniform worn by Admiral Adama fetched $10,000, while outfits worn by Starbuck, Apollo and Tigh fetched similar amounts.
"The duty blues are one of my favorite wardrobes of all-time because they're comfortable," Hogan said. "As an actor you have to go back to your [trailer] and change wardrobe all the time. 'Battlestar Galactica' was a gift -- I had one outfit except for the ceremonial uniform. But those blues were what I wore all the way through." But of all the wardrobe pieces Hogan wore over the course of the series, there's one that remains the most iconic. "I suppose the eye patch would be the thing," he said. "But I don't want to have anything to do with it, you know. It was not really that fun to wear." Head Six's backless red dress (left) and Admiral Adama's duty blues commanded high prices When asked by organizers to pull out a special item to be sold for a charity of his choice, the actor settled on Tigh's liquor bottle. "That has been my most reliable friend," the Canadian actor told me, "My most consistent friend, who never let me down during the whole five years of shooting 'Battletar Galactica.'"
Other items to hit a five-figure price tag at auction included Starbuck's flight suit which was sold with accompanying flight boots and rank pins, Head Six's backless red dress, worn by Tricia Helfer in the mini-series, which was sold for $13,000 to a British prop shop and a painting of the Cylon War that hung over Admiral Adama's sofa which sold for $17,000.
Though the total money raised during the auction hasn't been released, the Auction Network website reports the unofficial total for the first day's sales at just shy of $500,000, a portion of which will be donated to the United Way. In addition, six of the show's actors selected items to be auctioned off for a charity of their choosing. And though most series don't have the kind of rabid fanbase to support a prop and costume auction at their conclusion, "Battlestar" is the rare exception. "Grey's Anatomy" is a popular show, but wouldn't fetch the same kind of prices for it's memoribilia. Patrick Dempsey may be a talented actor, but do you really need to own McDreamy's lab coat?
Despite the large sum of money earned from the sale, even one-of-a-kind items from a beloved sci-fi series aren't immune to a sagging economy however. A pair of the show's most impressive -- and most expensive -- items, full-size spaceships used in the series, weren't sold because bidders couldn't meet the $30,000 reserve set for each of them. Now that's frakking crazy.
Alongside each of the final episodes, new items will be auctioned off each Friday on eBay with a final live auction being held in May.
Which piece of "Battlestar Galactica" memorabilia would you most want to own? Write us at heymsn@microsoft.com and let us know.