It’s been a long time coming but the prequel to ‘Battlestar Galactica,’ ‘Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome,’ is finally going to air on the Syfy channel on February 10th at 9PM EST.
The pilot was actually filmed in 2011 and for the next year and a half, the fate of the episode seemed to be up in the air. Would it be seen on television as a two hour movie or would it be seen online? It wasn’t until November of last year that a final decision was made. ‘Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome’ would air online as a 10 part web series, then as a 2 hour television pilot and finally be released on DVD, Blu-ray and VOD.
The web series debuted in November 2012 on the Machinima Prime YouTube channel where it has garnered over 8 million views to date. While the 2 hour movie that will air on the Syfy channel is essentially the webisodes formatted all together, Syfy does promise their version will have additional scenes not included in the online release. This is the version that will be available on DVD/Blu-ray which will be on shelves February 19th.
‘Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome’ is set during the first Cylon war and centers on the young William Adama (Luke Pasqualo). Here’s a synopsis of the pilot:
Blood & Chrome takes place in the midst of the first Cylon war. As the battle between humans and their creation, the sentient robotic Cylons, rages across the 12 colonial worlds, gifted fighter pilot, William Adama finds himself assigned to one of the most powerful battlestars in the Colonial fleet: the Galactica. Full of ambition and hungry for action, Adama quickly finds himself at odds with his co-pilot, the battle-weary officer Coker. With only 47 days left in his tour of duty, Coker desires an end to battle as much as Adama craves its onset.
Reception for the web series was very favorable. After all, it was based on a story written by ‘Battlestar Galactica’s’ producers David Eick, Michael Taylor, Bradley Thompson and David Weddle. While rumors swirled that the pilot was meant as a launching point for a potential series, Eick has said in interviews that ‘Blood and Chrome’ has always meant to be an online project.
Unfortunately, this is as far as the project will go in terms of getting to series as Syfy had passed on giving it a green light. At least we still get to see the first episode!
If you haven’t seen the web version of the pilot, they are still available to watch at the following links: Episodes 1 & 2, 3 & 4, 5 & 6, 7 & 8 and 9 & 10. Just in case you’d rather wait until February 10th for the movie to air, I’ve included a clip to give you an idea on how awesome the 2 hours will be.
Are you excited that ‘Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome’ will finally air on Syfy?