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Battlestar Galactica: Blood And Chrome Blu-ray Review

“Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome” is a fine start for a potential new series.

Set during the First Cylon War, “Blood & Chrome” revolves around a young William Adama who is aiming to become a hotshot viper pilot. Unfortunately, upon arriving on Galactica, Adama’s hopes are dashed when he is assigned to team up with co-pilot Coker to transport a V.I.P. software engineer named Dr. Kelly via a Raptor dubbed the Wild Weasel. Their mission? To venture to the snow planet Djerba deep in Cylon territory. What Dr. Kelly’s objective is upon arrival, however, remains shrouded in mystery until the twist and turn filled ending.

After the SyFy channel struggled to advertise and schedule the criminally underrated Caprica, the show was lead to an undeserving and untimely demise after only one season. Thankfully, not all was lost for BSG fans as SyFy planned to resurrect the franchise with a new spin-off titled “Blood & Chrome.”

When a bootleg trailer for “Blood & Chrome” first hit the web, things appeared to be going in the right direction as fans generally fell in love with what they saw. Alas, as if on cue, SyFy sat on the project and messed things up once again by announcing that ‘Chrome’ will not become a series. Additionally, the network decided they will be releasing the pilot on multiple platforms including YouTube, SyFy and now home video. So now, at this point in time, the pilot is all fans will be seeing of ‘Chrome.’ Now, I’m sure fans want to know, is B&C even worth a time investment after all of this? The answer is yes.

For the fans that were turned off by the more dramatic and character centric “Caprica,” you will be happy to know that “Blood and Chrome” is very much in tone with the 2004 “Battlestar Galactica.” You can expect to see plenty of action here as ‘Chrome’ contains gripping space battles, a deadly encounter with a snake like creature that was experimented on by Cylons, as well showdowns between Cylon centurions and our heroic main characters in a Cylon facility. As an added bonus, ‘Chrome’ also pays tribute to fans by referencing “Caprica” as well as “Battlestar Galactica.” As for what is referenced, well…you’ll just have to see it for yourself.

If you’re worried that ‘Chrome’ sacrifices character for action, don’t be. The core group of characters (Adama, Coker, and Dr. Kelly) get plenty of screentime here and they are all interesting, layered characters. If anything, you’re just left wanting to see more of them in further adventures (especially Adama).

The one aspect that seems to be a hot button issue is the visual f/x. Some fans have been rather vocal about their distaste for the overabundance of green screen and CGI work. Personally, I don’t have  have an issue with it as the show is pretty visually stunning considering the budget limitations. Plus, you have to take into account that the BSG sets were trashed. While real sets would have been preferred, the green screen method is more cost effective.

Video/Audio:

I’m happy to say that “Blood & Chrome,” which is presented in 1.78:1 1080p, looks far better on Blu-ray than it did on YouTube and on television. The green screen work and the CGI are noticeably sharper here and the series maintains the same gritty, grainy style that the previous BSG series had.

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA audio track effortlessly balances Bear McCreary’s brilliant score, the now iconic BSG sound f/x, and the dialogue. You can’t ask for a better track

Extras:
* DVD copy, digital copy and Ultraviolet copy.
* SyFy, NBC, and Universal film trailers
* 13 deleted scenes including some green screen soundstage scenes without special f/x.
* “Blood and Chrome: Visual Effects”- Producers and other crew members talk about the green screen work, CGI, editing, etc.
* D-Box motion code ability.

Summary: “Blood & Chrome” is a very entertaining prequel to BSG. There’s clearly a lot of potential here for a series as we all know the BSG universe is rich with possibilities. I only hope that we get more episodes (whether they be on the web or on TV) in the near future.

February 17, 2013 - Posted by nicklyons1 | Blu-Ray review | Battlestar Galactica: Blood And Chrome Blu-ray Review, Battlestar Galactica: Blood And Chrome DVD, Cylons, William Adama