Battlestar Galactica - Blood & Chrome

[Darrell Lawrence]

FINALE



PARTS SEVEN & EIGHT



PARTS FIVE & SIX



PARTS THREE & FOUR



PART TWO



PART ONE

[lonewriter]

Loved it! It was frakin awesome! I didn't care for the JJ Trek style lens flares but the rest was excellent, I pre ordered the blu ray and when it comes in, I'm going to watch every episode from Caprica, Blood and Chrome and Battlestar Galactica. This also makes me want to do a new render and finish my BSG fanfic.

[Titon]

It was interesting. In my opinion this is what they should have started with in the first place. It already is leaps better than Ron's first incarnation. But it's still does not feel right. Also odd they are using laser's for the cylon ship's instead of bullit's like GINO.

The effect's are pretty cool.

EDIT: I will grow bored with the word "FRAK" very quickly. Way overboard!

[Dawg]

I watched. I didn't throw up.

Doubt I will follow it any further.

I am
Dawg

[jewels]

Ditto on the way too many uses of various forms of Frak.

I only watched one clip so I'll hold my judgement on it. Pacing seems better than most of GINO.

Still too GINO based for me with the names and nicknames.

[martok2112]

Thoroughly enjoying it, and hungry for more!

[Titon]

Julie, one thing that is interesting is the homage to the original series. I noticed the cresent on the front of Adama's viper helmet that matches somewhat to the original series. They also seemed to have modeled the helmet closely to resemble the one from G80. Of course there is always the token music at the begining of the first episode.

Frankly in my opinion if you are trying so hard to bring TOS elements into the mix why not telll the story the way it was originally planned? From what i've heard this could be a test as to how TOS material hold's up today. You can tell this was a heavy green screen production but it was also steller effects for a web based show. One thing that i did not enjoy was the len's flare effects were way to much. But that's to mask element's of the green screening. Right now it's popcorn and i like popcorn. They went overboard with Adama blowing his canopy. That was way to hotdog in space for me but it was entertaining. If the show stay's on task and becomes what DS9 did for Trek then i might enjoy it. I guess i'm changing in my old age. Keep us off planet and away from the hummer's and the tie's and i might just tune in.

[peter noble]

I enjoyed it far more than any episode I've seen of the new Galactica, but then I think they've subtly 'reimagined' or done a soft reboot of the material.

The virtual sets are better than what we saw in the new V, but there's still sometimes that look of people being placed or stamped on/in a surrounding that they can't physically touch.

Human being, by nature are incredibly tactile – they slouch, lean and fidget with things, they can't do that with greenscreen sets so there's still that unreality happening. Also, set designers/art directors are incredibly valuable, one could have told the FX guys, that while they're sets have that great whiz-bang look, they're a bit overcomplicated and sometimes less is more. The soft focus and the lens flares don't help matters either.

The reworking of the flying dustbuster is a huge improvement and the new Vipers are tweaked ones from the 2003 video game FMVs – a design that I always liked.

Luke Paqualino playing Adama is a far, far better actor than Nico Cortez and Ben Cotton as Coker is great support.

There's more of a Space: Above And Beyond vibe about this, which is rich when you consider that the new show borrowed heavily from that series.

Composer Bear McCreary continues to treat Stu Phillips with great respect and I noticed the mention of the Celestra.

3/5

[martok2112]

I agree, Don, that if they can maintain this level of pacing and story telling, B&C will probably be an overall hit with fans of many Galactica stripes.

As far as remaining "off planet" and such, I am curious, unless others here know more about the story, if they will recreate the scene (I think as shown in RAZOR) where Adama discovers just what the Cylons are doing to lead up to events in the recent series? Or, if this takes place early enough in the war where that scene would not be relevant or necessary?

[Titon]

Hey Peter, in the begining of the first episode where the cylon basestar is hanging in the sky that sure looks like a screen grab from the TOS. It looks way to detailed to be a cg model since i do not know anyone else that could have built that so accurately. But i might be mistaken. They seem to shy away from getting a heads on view of the Basestar further into the episodes during the narration.

Steve i would think that they would follow up to Razor. I only watched small parts of that ep but didn't the cylon's pull out completely when he discovered that sorta testing facility?

What it interesting is how this series looks more advanced than Moore's version. I'd be curious to see how they bridge that fact in the future if this thing get's picked up.

[peter noble]

Originally Posted by Titon

Hey Peter, in the begining of the first episode where the cylon basestar is hanging in the sky that sure looks like a screen grab from the TOS.

They did use them briefly in Razor but of the few CG ones I've seen, they aren't as detailed as the real model, apart from your STILL unfinished one >cough< and are always too thick around the rims.

It's at an odd angle to the ground and got atmospheric haze round it but I still think it's CG.

[Gemini1999]

I watched both parts last night. I liked some of the visual elements, but found the "shaky-cam" style of filming very annoying (still). My biggest gripes are in terms of characterization. A know it all, breaks all the rules, so sure of himself pilot right out of the academy whining about piloting a Raptor grates on my nerves like nails on a chalkboard. Also the co-pilot who can't leave the service soon enough with a drinking problem needs some work. Can't anyone write characters any better than this? It's almost as though someone read a book on screenwriting and how to inject drama and conflict into the story and used everything but the kitchen sink. The actor playing Ens. Adama does a fair job, but somehow doesn't seem right in the role. All that being said, I've got an open mind and I'll stay tuned.

I do have one other thing - I noticed a plug for the SyFy Channel running this in February of 2013. If that's so, then why premiere it on the internet 4 months earlier? If everyone's seen it by then, why bother when you can watch it for free? Have they changed their minds and are going forward with the series or not? Feels like Caprica all over again...

[Senmut]

Eye candy.

[BST]

Reposting my response from TOK:

Originally Posted by BST

Well, it's not bad but, it was only a total of about 24 minutes. Let's see how it goes after about 100 or so minutes.

I can tell right now, though, that if there's an over-reliance on sexual innuendo, I am probably not going to like it. I view it as a short-cut filler when the writer doesn't have the creativity to properly develop characters and tell a story. Note, I said 'over reliance'. Occasional use of sexual situations can actually add to a story, just don't over do it.

Like Peter, I'll go a 3/5 on these 2 eps.

[martok2112]

Originally Posted by Titon

Hey Peter, in the begining of the first episode where the cylon basestar is hanging in the sky that sure looks like a screen grab from the TOS. It looks way to detailed to be a cg model since i do not know anyone else that could have built that so accurately. But i might be mistaken. They seem to shy away from getting a heads on view of the Basestar further into the episodes during the narration.

Steve i would think that they would follow up to Razor. I only watched small parts of that ep but didn't the cylon's pull out completely when he discovered that sorta testing facility?

What it interesting is how this series looks more advanced than Moore's version. I'd be curious to see how they bridge that fact in the future if this thing get's picked up.

Hi, Don. Yeah, when Adama found that facility in Razor, the Cylons had abruptly ended the war as Adama watched them pulling away.

[Senmut]

Agreed. Nude woman in turbowash...eye candy to attract young male viewers. Zero plot/character development.

[Titon]

I have to say that the only thing that concerns me about this thing is everyone know's how it end's. Piss poor if you ask me. I know you liked Ron's setup Steve but i cannot understand this concept. There will have to be a lot of back story telling to fix Blood and Chrome to mirror Ron's version. From what i have seen it will be difficult since this version seem's to be more technologically advanced than Moore's. Galactica's bridge for instance looks more like a command center and less of "Wing Commander". The Viper's are more in line with the Galactica's game concepts as is the raider. It looks more like the scatter raider from the game and is modeled closely to it.

My question is how will people that like Ron's version accept "change" themselves? What if this thing suddenly goes off tangent and they loose there "cannon" like we did?

Steve another question for you since i have only seen and heard bit's and pieces of the nubsg. Is it not true that in the end of the show's run the human cylon's said basically that the war is a revolving thing? That it somehow happen's over and over again? If that is true what are the odd's that blood and chrome end's differently?

[Dawg]

That's true of any prequel, though, Don. Part of the reason the Star Wars Eps 1-3 weren't up to the standards the previous movies set is because we all knew the story going in.

To be honest, I count the women in the shower as a positive for this story. Yes, it was designed for the young male viewer (and I'm not so old that I don't appreciate such things) since such behavior is still "nudge-nudge-wink-wink" in this country (and it was shown because it is still "nudge-nudge-wink-wink" in this country), but it showed a society not hung up on nudity-is-sex like we are. That's a much healthier attitude.

I still don't like these people, though.

I am
Dawg

[martok2112]

Hi, Don,

As I'd always mentioned before, I accepted the new series as a completely different take on the same entity, and any reservations I'd had about the show before the miniseries in 2003 aired were gone once the miniseries did air.

As for the show's ending: (God I hope these spoil tags work...)

Spoiler Six and Baltar are conversing in a modern Earth city, 150,000 years after the landing of the Galactica on Earth. Six says: All of this has happened before. Gaius replies: "Yes, but the question is, does it have to happen again." Six says she bets "no", stating that in mathematics and the law of averages, give a complex system long enough time to repeat itself, eventually it may do something surprising.

As for the look of the bridge on the Galactica, and the tech appearance, in some areas, I kinda liken it to Enterprise in the Star Trek mythos. Remember, one of the big problems facing Enterprise's production at the time was "How do we make this technology look older than TOS Trek, and yet keep it from looking hokey, because we have cell phones now that look cooler than the communicators of TOS Trek." I imagine that trying to do retro tech to something that is clearly established in the far-future for any sci-fi show is a tall order to fill, although in new Galactica's case, the timeline is....well...see the spoilers above.

Regarding the look of the bridge, and the ship interiors themselves, my estimation is that if we who saw the show/miniseries remember, Galactica was about to be decommissioned and become a museum ship. She was on her way back to her final resting place, she may likely have had a lot of her gear stripped and stowed elsewhere, maintaining just enough for navigational purposes and other non-combat purposes. If you saw the mini, remember, she was stripped of all ammunition as well, and only seemed to have a couple of squadrons of Vipers on board, largely for the decommissioning ceremony. One of those squadrons was the old Mk II Vipers. When the new Cylon attack came, the Galactica had to make do with what she had, and rearm at Ragnar Anchorage.

[Darrell Lawrence]

For Don -

Doug Drexler says:

The raiders are quite close to the original, and the basestar is a hybrid of the original and the reboot.

Part 3 tomorrow, folks.

[Titon]

I figured as much on the basestar. It looks different and truthfully i only know of the accurate one that i have 3/4 done in cg.

I will shoot a render of the scatter raider from the game i have when i get home tonight to show how close they are.

[peter noble]

On his Facebook page, Doug Drexler seems to be in denial about the origins of the design of the Mk III Viper which is clearly the one from the cinematics from the 2003 videogame produced by Eden FX.

The strange thing is, that the producers of the mini series saw that design (by Pierre Drolet, I think) and asked for it to be simplified so they could make full-size versions of it for the mini-series.

Now it's gone the other way and the Drolet design is back although with more surface detail and the odd tweak, so it's obviously been sitting on someone's computer for a few years.

[Darrell Lawrence]

Peter, did you notice who it was that brought the design thing up?

[Darrell Lawrence]

Thread edited! Parts 3 and 4 added to top post!

[Titon]

Not to shabby....like the Basestar. I see they took another DeSanto concept with the launching of the raiders to look like bat's. Although Tom's design had the Raiders detach from the hull.

This thing is a hell of a lot more likeable than NuBsg. To bad it ultimately leads to that train wreck.

[martok2112]

Digging the hell out of this!

[peter noble]

While this week's release of 'Sweat & Grime' was as enjoyable as last week's, there's some ludicrous 'goosing' of the drama, the most shameless example being the bit where the Vipers are going to fire at the Weasel and Kelly has to scramble to find the codeword, written on a piece of paper!

Duh, something that important and supposedly secret, didn't she memorise it? False drama at it's worst.

I had an eye-rolling moment when somehow the Archeron's drives were still pumping away even though the thing looked like it had the frack blown out of it, but in this instance, it made for a very exciting action sequence.

There was a bit of a Monty python moment aboard the sweaty and grimy Osiris (God knows why they're cooped up in that small room, behind it seem to be more open areas, maybe they're so intent on reinforcing the submarine vibe come what may) where they're all looking at the ice planet intel on holobands – all those people wearing those goggles – very Monty Python. Why couldn't they just put the info on a screen?

This segment features Mike Dopud, Ty Olson, Sebastian Spence, Brian Markinson, Leo Li Chiang, and Jill Teed, actors who have all played other roles in NuG, which maybe a bit off-putting to some.

3/5

[BST]

Repost from TOK:

This is really getting quite good although I wish that they'd get rid of that shaky cam crap. I don't know what genius thinks that it's a good technique but, for me, I have no use for it.
Without the shaky cam, the ep got a 4/5 from me; factoring in the shaky cam, it goes down to 3.5/5.

Looking forward to Eps 5 & 6.

[Darrell Lawrence]

Parts Five and Six inserted into the first post.

[peter noble]

This week's releases were a game of two halves for me.

I thought part five was the best of the series so far. The sacrifice of the crew of the Osiris was a great courageous moment and it was a good contrast with Kirby retreating from the fight.

I love the Wesel and her twin Gatling guns, which is strange because I think the Raptor is a lousy design. I was sorry to see her go but I thought the crash sequence animation wasn't up to snuff.

This brings me up to this week's gripe – the CG, some of it is really good, the whole atmospheric dogfight was really good but the crash of the Osiris and the aforementioned Weasel crash-landing were too cartoony. I also thought the greenscreen snow planet looked as artificial as the the planet that had the Gun On Ice Planet Zero in the classic series.

The only thing I can say about part six is that it was saved by John Pyper-Ferguson as the sergeant. It was just kind of 'meh!' At least the 'Cython' wasn't too ridiculous!

Part five 4.5, part six 2.5/5.