Review of Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome (2012) by Dillinger P — 02 Nov 2014

As desperately as the powers that be try to squeeze out spin off's of the remake of the ground braking and remarkable television show Battlestar Galactica, Blood and Chrome see's another outing that, although worth a Galactica fans time offers A) Very little to the overall plot and B) A LOT of lens flare.

The problem with Blood and Chrome is not that as a piece of entertainment it is weak, the problem is, that it was meant to be the beginnings of a new spin off TV show, much like Caprica, which both got cancelled, the latter managing to get 1 season out of it.

But here the pilot was butchered into Webisodes, delayed and then ultimately canned before a the release of a full hour and a half long package came to fruitation. The story follows a young William Adam, a cocky rookie, who has the best flying test results the acadamey has seen.

He is assigned to the Galatica during the first Cylon war, Cylons being man made cyborgs that eventually rebelled against the human race and tried to wipe out its exstinction for good. Here he wishes to help fight the war but is sent on what appears to be routine cargo transport mission.

It soon becomes clear however to him and his alcoholic co pilot Cocker, that the cargo they are transporting has other ideas and are sent on a dangerous mission to try and save mankind. As a pilot episode its got all the makings of an intriguing beginning to a franchise, the characters, especially Adama are treated well enough and the story is extremely faithful to the remakes, it even has little surprise nods here and there for fans of the series.

The problem lies in the fact that, as a film it just doesnt hold up. By the end, we feel like we have just scratched the surface leaving us with something that offers up only a mere glimpse into one of the lead characters lives, nothing more.

The CGI for what it is, rivals that of its source and at times really shows it up, Bear Macreary also returns to give us a pounding yet emotional score. But the content is just not enough. BSG pretty much summed up all we needed in a story when it finished almost 10 years ago.

And although the creators are trying hard and fans still have an unwaverying interest in the franchise, they still cant seem to catch a break with the extra content they try to get off the ground.