Amid the daily outpouring of video-game-inspired dramas on the Machinima YouTube channel, a new series on Friday has name recognition that extends beyond the gaming world: “Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome.â€
This latest “Galactica†product is situated in time between the two previous Syfy television series. William Adama, the franchise's central character, who was a middle-aged commander in “Battlestar Galactica†and a young boy in its prequel, “Caprica,†here is a young-buck pilot fresh out of the academy. For “Galactica†fans - Galacticans? Galaxians? Galactites? - it's enough to say that “Blood and Chrome†takes place during the First Cylon War.
Two of 10 episodes have been posted, and in comparison with their predecessor series they're awfully whiz-bang. The first episode, especially, is a succession of space-opera cliches begi nning with a “Star Wars†shootout (proving that no one has really improved on George Lucas in that area) and moving to a session of “Top Gun†posturing before arriving at some “Star Trek†slow-motion spaceship worship. The second episode, in which Adama (Luke Pasqualino of the British “Skinsâ€) embarks on his maiden mission ferrying a mysterious and attractive scientist, is an improvement, if only because the brash-newcomer cliches are slightly less generic.
“Blood & Chrome†isn't really a series, at least not yet - the 10 short episodes are installments in a movie scheduled to be shown on Syfy in February. Putting it in front of Machinima's 5 million subscribers - as well as anyone else with an Internet connection - could be a smart marketing move, though you have to wonder whether there will be anyone left in February who still wants to see it. Machinima is an appropriate home, though: with its sparse cast, serviceable writing and heavy reliance on computer animation, “Blood and Chrome†looks a lot like the channel's other live-action video-game shows.
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