5 Reasons You Should Be Watching ‘Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome’

The Cylons are back, and William Adama is there to blow them to space bits, again, in ‘Battlestar Galactia: Blood & Chrome,’ the prequel series to Syfy’s ‘Battlestar Galactica.’

‘Blood & Chrome,’ which follows a young Adama on his inaugural mission during the First Cylon War, is slated to air as a two-hour movie on Syfy in 2013. But fans are getting an early taste on the web; Syfy and Machinima are rolling out the prequel on YouTube as a 10-episode online series.

We’ve seen the first four episodes, and we’re happy to report – they didn’t frak this one up. ‘Blood & Chrome’ moves a lot faster and tells a much more focused story than the original Syfy series did, but it looks and feels like ‘BSG.’ It’s dark, exciting and fun, and we think you should check it out. Like, now.

Here are 5 reasons you should be watching ‘Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome.’

It’s Fast Paced and Fun

Syfy’s first shot at a ‘BSG’ prequel series, ‘Caprica,’ was a deep and challenging show that explored complex themes of identity, loss, community and spirituality. It moved at a slow pace, but it was a bold and unique experiment for the franchise. Sadly, ‘Caprica’ was probably too dark, ambitious and dense to become a hit. The ratings were terrible and Syfy cancelled it before the first season was over. ‘Blood & Chrome’ flips the template by ramping up the pace, front-loading the story with action, and allowing the deeper themes of the ‘BSG’ universe to simmer in the background. It makes for a pretty fun and exciting show that should keep ‘BSG’ fans happy, even if it doesn’t feel as deep or moving as the original series.

There’ A Good Story Here

‘Blood & Chrome’ isn’t just all action all the time. This is a focused, engaging and bloody war story/coming of age tale laced with elements of espionage, odd couple dynamics and romance. Series creators Michael Taylor and David Eick, who also helped pen some of the best episodes of ‘BSG’ and ‘Caprica,’ have written a tight, focused story that feels connected to the broader ‘Battlestar’ universe without feeling like its only job is to keep the franchise alive. ‘Blood & Chrome’ may borrow ‘BSG’s dark and gritty look and tone, but it has its own story to tell.

It Looks Great

‘Blood & Chrome’ largely uses digital reconstructions of the original ‘BSG’ sets and CGI visuals in favor of practical sets and effects. Surprisingly, it looks great. We’ve seen other shows do completely digital sets before, like Syfy’s ‘Sanctuary,’ and it often looks cheap and artless, but that’s not the case here. Here’s hoping the show still looks great once we’re watching it on a high-def TV screen instead of a computer monitor streaming YouTube.

It’s Action Packed

This prequel kicks off with an invigorating space battle, and the action keeps coming. Again, it’s not all action all the time, but there are more than enough digitally enhanced space shoot ‘em ups to keep action fans happy in the series’ first four episodes. We hope to see some old school hand-to-robot-hand action in the next few episodes.

The Actors Are More Than Just Pretty Faces

British actor Luke Pasqualino exudes enough depth and cocky assurance to win us over as a young William Adama, even if he looks nothing like Edward James Olmos, who famously played the role on ‘BSG.’ ‘Blood & Chrome’ is loaded with talented faces genre TV fans will recognize, like Mike Dopud (‘Stargate Universe’), Jill Teed (‘Smallville’) and John Pyper-Ferguson (‘Alphas’). The show’s other two leads, Ben Cotton as “Coker” and Lili Bordan as Dr. Becca Kelly, are more than up to the task of tempering Pasqualino’s brash young hero with more nuanced and mature portrayals of people caught up in the hell of war.

Episodes 4 and 5 arrive online November 23. Check out the first episode of 'Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome' below: