Back in space where the series belongs
A very impressive pilot (I hope it's a pilot - but a good SyFy movie in any case) for still another addition to the Battlestar Galactica franchise. Creators Michael Taylor and his co-creator David Eick have picked up the saga post-Caprica and pre the 2004-2009 Battlestar Galactica series with a new tale centering on a young Bill Adama. Pasqualino and Cotton were excellent as Adama and Coker and the action filled plot is thankfully nothing like Caprica, which was sort of boring. This time we are back in space where the series belongs, shooting Cylons.
There is still a hint of the philosophical depth in Ronald D. Moore's re-imaging of Glen A. Larson's original series but the Taylor teleplay keeps the politic and morality questions to a minimum and we get treated to a lot of good old fashioned shoot 'em ups along the way. (Taylor and Moore worked DS9 for the Trek Franchise way back when, BTW, and David Eick worked on all the recent BG series.)
My only complaint was too little time for vet character actor John Pyper-Ferguson as a sort of bad guy (no spoilers here because he usually plays a bad guy, although some of us fondly remember him as a very funny bad guy in Brisco County Jr.) If we really do get a new series, maybe he'll be back.
BG fans should be marching for a reboot based on Blood and Chrome. This universe has plenty of room for more episodes.
****UPDATED 23 March 2017****
I just watched the Blu-ray release of Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome and I've added one star as it was even better than I remembered. There is a lot of material that didn't make this, the extended cut, (included in Deleted Scenes) that is worth watching, even though this didn't become the pilot I'd hoped it would be.
There is still a hint of the philosophical depth in Ronald D. Moore's re-imaging of Glen A. Larson's original series but the Taylor teleplay keeps the politic and morality questions to a minimum and we get treated to a lot of good old fashioned shoot 'em ups along the way. (Taylor and Moore worked DS9 for the Trek Franchise way back when, BTW, and David Eick worked on all the recent BG series.)
My only complaint was too little time for vet character actor John Pyper-Ferguson as a sort of bad guy (no spoilers here because he usually plays a bad guy, although some of us fondly remember him as a very funny bad guy in Brisco County Jr.) If we really do get a new series, maybe he'll be back.
BG fans should be marching for a reboot based on Blood and Chrome. This universe has plenty of room for more episodes.
****UPDATED 23 March 2017****
I just watched the Blu-ray release of Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome and I've added one star as it was even better than I remembered. There is a lot of material that didn't make this, the extended cut, (included in Deleted Scenes) that is worth watching, even though this didn't become the pilot I'd hoped it would be.
- flatrich
- 11 feb 2013