BSG: Blood and Chrome
Battlestar Galactica, the re-imagined series, is by my estimation one of the best written series to ever grace the small screen. From the very first episode it aimed high both stylistically and thematically. It was unafraid to delve deeply into the cultural and spiritual questions plaguing a post 9/11 America and addressed the weight of war to a society thrust into conflict. It was wicked smart and it was this intelligence that endeared it to critics and audiences alike.
On the ratings side however, it was a roller coaster. As Dave Howe, president of the Sci-Fi (SyFy) channel, put it “Battlestar was a spectacular flagship show for us – the level of critical acclaim around that show was pretty unprecedented for any cable network. But ultimately, it didn’t bring in as many viewers as it had the potential to because it was on a network called Sci-Fi and it was set in space.” To further complicate things, the show came with the heavy price tag of almost $1 Million per episode during its first season. This is the legacy of BSG: a show with critical acclaim, mediocre ratings, and high costs hard to justify to a television industry averse to risk taking and stuck in the ice age of Nielsen audience measurement.
Which brings us to Battlestar Galactica Blood and Chrome, the second prequel to the BSG universe and a show frustrated by its predecessor’s legacy. B&C follows William Adama as he leaves flight academy and joins the fleet. He walks into combat as a cocky almost untamable young man. In the two hours here presented, on the Machinima Youtube channel and in February on SyFy, Adama learns that all is not what it seems and ideals can quickly be used against you or exploited as a weakness.
Adama joins the ranks of Galactica as its newest hotshot pilot. He expects that glowing recommendations will lead to complicated combat misisons, but instead he is given a “milk 
run” to deliver cargo. He and his co-pilot, Coker, are surprised that the cargo is actually a person, Dr. Becca Lee, and the mission is not as simple as initially described. Adama and company must deliver Dr. Lee to a moon deep in Cylon controlled space where she is to conduct activities that will deal a huge blow to the Cylons. I will not spoil the plot details here, but I will say that in BSG fashion the surprises keep coming.
Thematically, it doesn’t strive for the depth of BSG’s pilot or even Caprica’s. Nor does it try to present a complicated web of characters. It has a simple through line and delivers high-octane action. It also gives us a glimpse of what it could have been had this been picked up by the network as a series. Adama’s relationship with his father, presented here through a voice over, only scratches the surface. But it points decisively at a potential exploration of Adama’s perceptions of war and peace. This young man, Adama, walks into battle with a list of heroes he wishes to emulate and a set of expectations about what he will accomplish. These are slowly torn down throughout the episode 
and at the end Adama is presented with some unadulterated truths about heroism and war. Galactica’s admiral says to him “Truth is the people support this war with their money and they will stop if we stop giving them hope. So let them have their heroes, let them have their unblemished victories, while you and I fight the real war.”
I do not believe that Adama fully buys into it, but he realizes that the road ahead will be full of difficult choices that blur the line between good and evil, hero and coward and that he will have to define himself somewhere in that muck. Unfortunately for us, it is a road we will not get to see despite the obvious potential the storyline and this franchise present.
Blood and Chrome on Machinima, it will air in full on SyFy
Sometimes a Good Notion 