If you’re not a sci-fi fan, then you’re probably not much interested in, nor have you seen, Ronald Moore’s 2004-2009 Battlestar Galactica series. And that’s a pity, because it’s not for nothing that Time Magazine has named it one of the 100 best TV shows of all time.
Superficially, the series was a remake of the 1978 ABC show of the same name. In terms of quality, the shows couldn’t be more different. Moore’s Battlestar featured intelligent, award-winning writing, and a story arc and climax that were nothing less than stunning. Set mostly in space, in claustrophobic ships and in the midst of a 
machine-versus-human war of extermination, the series smartly integrated topical themes like religion, terrorism, even abortion. It did so seamlessly, without preaching, without interrupting the story or noticeably mounting a soapbox. Like I said, the writing was that good.
But after the series ended in ’09 (and again, it ended perfectly) fans were understandably left wanting more, much more. Its cable network, SyFy (oh how I
hate that cheesy name. It was adopted from the much more conventional ‘Sci-Fi Channel’ a few months after Battlestar ended) has already tried once to comply. The prequel series Caprica was set 50-odd years prior to Battlestar, and attempted to explain the events that set the Cylon (“cybernetic lifeform node”) war in motion. It wasn’t a bad show, but it wasn’t nearly as popular as the original, and SyFy cancelled it after only five episodes.
But SyFy has continued to hear the anguished cries (probably mostly mine. I’ve been anguishly crying a lot about this). And they’ve given us more Battlestar.
Allow me to introduce Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome. Another prequel, this one is set during the height of the first Cylon war (yay, more space battles!). It will be primarily presented as a SyFy movie in early 2013.
But you don’t want to wait that long, do you? Me neither. So, I’m happy to say, Blood & Chrome will also premier as a 10-episode web series, although it’s not clear if those will be a serialization of the movie, or an adjunct. That’s okay though, because part of the Battlestar fun has always been the waiting, guessing, and anticipation.
In any case, some of that waiting is now over. The first two Blood & Chrome episodes are now available. And here they are. Enjoy!
