I was never a huge fan of Sci-Fi’s remake of Battlestar Galctica, but I did watch it and I did come to like most of the characters. The spin-off series, Caprica, about the worlds before Cyclons never made much sense. Why should anyone care that some idiot billionaire make the Cyclons? And how did it make any sense that his daughter’s soul was the cause of all their problems?
Battlestar Galactica:Blood and Chrome was a damned good pilot. It had a lot of action, a lot of foreshadowing, and I have no problem with following around a young William Adama as he kills Cyclons and flirts with pretty women.
This was a show that was better looking and more exciting than both of the other series. Could we have a show that features a secret mission every week? Maybe not, but certainly you could toss one out there once in a while.
A story set before the Cyclons completely destroy the Twelve Colonies would allow such things as new ships, new supplies, and new characters to be added as needed. There was a sever limit of resources when all of humankind lived on a Rag Tag Fleet-parts of which were blown out of the sky on a regular basis. The story would also have a built in time limit as well, since we know a peace treaty is coming and that our hero will move up the ranks and leave the exciting world of being a fighting pilot.
There were a few times when the writing could have used a little work. The co-ed shower scene was lifted straight from Starship Troopers and the Cyclons felt a lot more like Terminators than Cyclons. I’ve also pretty much seen as many ice planets as I ever care to see. And the whole story was basically a WWII John Wayne movie. But these are really minor gripes that didn’t effect my enjoyment of the show.
The story was familiar, but I didn’t have a problem with that, it’s a pilot and you have to start somewhere. We have our hero, Lieutenant William ‘Husker’ Adama, fresh out of training and teamed up with a co-pilot who is two months away from going home. Already we know that things will not go well for the short timer. They are given a boring mission and at the last minute get a mysterious passenger-who gives them not so boring orders once they are out of radio range of the Galactica. Secret mission away.
The special effects were pretty good and it was nice to see the Galactica and other ships in pristine shape while the Cyclons were flying the same ships they flew in the Original Series. As with Star Trek and Middle Earth, I have no problem spending some more time in the land of Frak and Gods Dammit.
One of the problems with watching failed pilots is that you know they are dead in the water, no mater how much you liked them. I liked the WB’s Lost In Space pilot from a few years back and I liked Space’s Borealis pilot from just a few weeks ago. I also liked Battlestar Gallicta:Blood and Chrome. But I guess Syfy needed to keep all it’s time slots open for wrestling and ghost hunting.
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