"The City:" Toronto as Anytown, North America

[Cranberry]

There's been a lot of talk about Orphan Black's setting in the episode threads, so I thought it might be fun to give "the City" its own character thread of sorts. This is the place to discuss Toronto (and other Ontario) locations we spot in the show, as well as any other touches like sightings of our colo(u)red money, license plates, ID, plane tickets to Pearson International, etc.

[Snarkette]

Thanks for starting this. I was actually thinking "Canadia: For Moose and Mounty!" but I see you got here first!

[JC65]

I'm sure lots of people recognize Toronto, even if they edit out the CN Tower, but I was only able to figure out where they were by pausing the screen when Sarah was bluffing her way into Katja's hotel to check out the letterhead on the desk clerk's computer screen.

 

On the other hand they did enough research to use the right signs when they dressed whatever building they used to be Cosima's U of MN lab building.

[Carrie Ann]

I used to work at the U of M, and I loved all those little touches. There was a flier for Leekie's lecture in S1 that they must have run by the U's Mar/Comm team because the branding was right on.

[HistoryGirl]

They certainly use Canadian money. I think in last week's episode someone pulled out cash (Cal?).  And one of the clones (I think it was Alison) had an Ontario-styled driver's licence. 

 

I will say that it's clearly an "alternate" Canada.  Yesterday's episode had Helena being released from prison because the barflies weren't going to press charges.  In Canada, the police will arrest and it's the Crown attorney who presses charges.  Individuals don't press charges.  In any case, it was a way to get Helena out of prison, accurate or not. 

[theFel]

It's funny, I caught up with this show online just before season 2 started up. When I was watching the first scene at the train station I thought I had heard in the background something about the next train to New York. And since I knew this was BBC that really confused me. And then everybody's accents were all over the place I got totally confused and thought maybe it was a British show trying to pretend they were in the US. After the episode was over I looked online and realized they were in Canada. I was, okay, that makes so much more sense. 

 

I'm not sure why they want to be so vague on the location, but they do a very good job with it.

[Taeolas]

It seems to be something Canadian productions have; that they are so used to hiding the city they can't stop it even when they are set in the city. Continuum (Vancouver), and Flashpoint and the Listener (Toronto each) are some of the few that have stepped up and embraced their filming location setin location as far as I can tell. (Maybe Rookie Blue too; but I don't watch that enough to tell). 

 

On another note, I get a bit confused over all the talk about this being a BBC show because up here it's a pure Canadian/SPACE/CTV (Bell Media) show that has little to no references to the BBC at all in it. :)

[ottoDbusdriver]

On another note, I get a bit confused over all the talk about this being a BBC show because up here it's a pure Canadian/SPACE/CTV (Bell Media) show that has little to no references to the BBC at all in it. :)

 

Probably because it airs on BBC America in the US.

[Taeolas]

Probably because it airs on BBC America in the US.

 

Oh yeah I'm aware of that. I mean I find it funny/confused to hear it that way regardless. It's probably just me. :) 

[HistoryGirl]

It seems to be something Canadian productions have; that they are so used to hiding the city they can't stop it even when they are set in the city. Continuum (Vancouver), and Flashpoint and the Listener (Toronto each) are some of the few that have stepped up and embraced their filming location setin location as far as I can tell. (Maybe Rookie Blue too; but I don't watch that enough to tell). 

 

On another note, I get a bit confused over all the talk about this being a BBC show because up here it's a pure Canadian/SPACE/CTV (Bell Media) show that has little to no references to the BBC at all in it. :)

I think OB fancies itself an "alternate reality" Toronto.  My big evidence on this is that the Go Train is always shown as being blue/white, when in reality it's green/white.  Obviously this is just a colour correction made in post, but I like to think it's a way to create an alternative Toronto.

 

Rookie Blue definitely embraces its Toronto-ness. The opening sequence is always an overhead of the city-- the CN Tower is often shown.  

[breakfastfordinner]

Brockville, where Ethan Duncan was living "within old man driving distance" of Cold River, is actually a city in Ontario. It's between Toronto and Ottawa (much closer to Ottawa).

[beedub]

FYI, the scene where Cal has his RV parked near some sailboats in winter storage, with what looks like a grain elevator in the background, is really only about 5 minutes drive along Toronto's harbourfront from the derelict ship where Helena and Tomas spent most of Season 1. I cycled past both locations this morning while on a charity bike ride.

I have to wonder if Temple Street is now stuck in a winter shooting schedule for this show. I get that when OB turned out to be a hit last spring they had to go immediately into a cycle of writing and pe-production that led to the start of shooting in late October. Given how brutal last winter was, I'm sure they'd rather not have to go through that again, but might not have the luxury of taking the winter off - not to mention the wrath of fans who'd have to wait another 4-6 months for Season 3!

[beedub]

By the dearth of posts here, I can tell this topic isn't of great interest, but I thought some of you might enjoy this tangentially-related bit of info – the location for the Dyad Institute is the recently opened Bridgepoint Hospital. While that might not seem very interesting in and of itself, what is interesting about it is that the older part of the building, where Cosima is supposed to have her lab, used to be the infamous Don Jail! Now refurbished, the hospital uses this former location as its administrative offices. The new exterior, used for Dyad establishing shots, is about the 14th photo down, and there are several details of the former jail: http://urbantoronto.ca/news/2013/05/14th-annual-doors-open-toronto-kicks-bridgepoint.

[txvoodoo]

I paused the show this week, right before the scene where Sarah's sleeping w/ Kira. There's a car out front, with Ontario plates. (And "Be Green", "Breastfeeding is not a crime" bumper stickers. :D) 

 

It's very Canadian!

[Red Fields]

I've just watched the very first ep and spent the entire time trying to figure out the setting. I noticed an Ontario license plate on the BMW that Sarah was driving. Couldn't figure out what was going on with the money or the driver's license!

[JKG]

Thought Torontonians might find this article from Reel Toronto interesting: http://torontoist.com/2014/08/reel-toronto-orphan-black-season-two/?

[Infie]

In one of the first eps there's a city scape with the CN tower clearly in frame.  Plus, Alison lives in Scarborough (part of Toronto) and Felix calls it Scarberia.

 

I don't think they're trying to hide or obscure that it's Toronto at all.

[stillshimpy]

I don't think they're trying to hide or obscure that it's Toronto at all.

 

I agree, I'm not actually all that familiar with Toronto (as in, at all), but I do know that they have their own TV industry (along with Vancouver and Montreal) and I managed to figure out that it was Toronto from some of the comments made about where Allison lives and the Canadian money.  I admit, I then had to double-check online to be sure, but I did pick it up from the show.  I thought it was more evidence of kind of a neat trend in Canadian-produced TV -- just freaking owning it "Yup, Canada. Not Montreal pretending to be Boston.  Or Vancouver trying to pass for Colorado Springs, Vancouver as Seattle for the umpteenth "it's Seacouver again" time, it's this specific Canadian city and we're proud of it." 

I just kind of dig it as a trend.  Growing up in NJ if Canada was acknowledged it always seemed to come attached to a joke about a Moose or a Mountie.  It's cool to see Canada depicted more realistically as an area with thriving metropolitan and even cosmopolitan areas.  

Anyway, since I do appreciate the "not just grizzlies and maple syrup" treatment, I noticed that it was pretty clearly a Canadian city and specifically Toronto , even though they haven't name dropped it, or gone the Continuum route by having the police department remark on the name of the city a lot.