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By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
While the costumes were snazzy, Ronald D. Moore’s was Battlestar Galactica Reboot is not a show that is largely remembered for its sci-fi fashion. There was one major exception, however: the slinky red dress worn by the sultry Cylon known only as Six. It was played to perfection by Tricia Helfer, who recently wore the red dress to celebrate the ultimate fan project: Barry Armstrong’s life-size replica of the star fighter Viper flown in the show by pilots like Starbuck.
Armstrong has used his Facebook page, Baz Builds, to provide continuous updates about his Viper project. This is more than just a static replica, although that alone would still be insanely impressive. His Viper, however, has lights, sounds, and moving parts, and through a series of fun coincidences (or maybe it’s the will of the Lords of Kobol?), he ended up getting a video shout-out from Tricia Helfer, along with r red dress that has burned to thoughts Battlestar Galactica fans around the world.
Understandably, Barry Armstrong has built up quite a following on his Facebook page … as of this writing, around 10,400 people follow him, allowing them to get updates about the project and engage in some discussions extremely nervous. Armstrong is an Australian military veteran, and on December 21, he received his mail page from Mitchell Bell, a Marine who had a “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” style relationship with Galactica‘s hottest star. He wrote about how his “good Marine Brother, Freddie Joe Farnsworth worked with him Tricia Helper,” and this fellow soldier was able to put Bell in touch with Helfer.
To hear Bell tell it, the actor was “blown away by your passion for the details” on this stunning project, and that was enough for him to shoot his shot. He “humbly asked for a shout out” to Baz, which led to the video she posted to him Instagram. Tricia Helfer gave a “Merry Christmas shout out to a friend of a friend,” referring to his Viper project before entering frame wearing her iconic red dress.
If you only know the actor from his serious and menacing role as a villain on Battlestar Galacticayou might be surprised by how beautiful the video is. When she first enters the frame, she makes a cat-like mewing sound as her own. sci-fi sound effect. After that, affecting a higher-pitched voice, she tells the screen exactly what she’s doing: “Number Six in front of the Christmas tree!”
After Tricia Helfer acted cute and silly in her legendary red dress, she sheepishly said she was “trying to entertain” herself, and then referred to Baz by name. In particular, she said she hopes “Baz enjoyed his Merry Christmas shout from Mitch.” As for the rest of the fandom, they enjoyed the video for other reasons, with fans on Instagram and beyond mostly commenting on how stunning Helfer still looks and how good she still is take off that spicy little dress.
On the surface, it’s easy to look at all of this as nothing more than eye candy. After all, seeing a full-size Viper replica and Tricia Helfer in the red dress makes for one very sweet Christmas treat for us all. However, this whole series of events is very instructive for several other reasons, including the fact that it confirms how robust the Battlestar Galactica still a fandom. The Peacock reboot may be dead from Starbuck, but it’s great to know there’s still so much passion for the 2003 show that helped make Tricia Helfer famous.
Speaking of that actor, it’s impossible to see all this without realizing how graceful and outstanding she really is. Tricia Helfer didn’t have to react at all, much less make all of our heads explode by dusting off her red dress. Over two decades after Ronald D. Moore’s Battlestar Galactica Shown for the first time, Helfer proved that she still has an incredible amount of respect for the passionate fans who helped put the show on the map.
The only downside to all of this is that Barry Armstrong makes us question our lazy holidays. It feels like we’ve done nothing more than stuff our faces and catch up on the DVR, and this guy is out here building life-size replicas that would put most Hollywood prop makers to shame . Now, however, we may have the greatest incentive of all to do something meaningful with our lives: the knowledge that, if cool enough, Tricia Helfer could record sexual video just for us.
So tell us all. Or, in the spirit of the season, ho, ho, ho say it all.
