Blood and Chrome

Blood & Chrome
Created by	David Eick and Michael Taylor
Starring
Theme music by	Bear McCreary
Statistics
Production company	NBC Universal
Number of seasons	1
Number of episodes	1 episode consisting of 10 installments (list)
Debut channel	Machinima Prime
US first-run airdates	November 9 through December 7, 2012
UK first-run airdates
DVD release
Production staff
Executive producer(s)	David Eick Michael Taylor
Producer(s)
Supervising producer(s)
Associate producer(s)
Co-producer(s)
Story editor(s)
Online Purchasing
Available at iTunes – [ Purchase]
Related Media
			@ BW Media

Blood and Chrome (also known as Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome) is a webisode series that follows the exploits of a young William "Husker" Adama (Luke Pasqualino), Coker Fasjovik (Ben Cotton), and Dr. Beka Kelly (Lili Bordán) during the First Cylon War.

Blood and Chrome is a sequel to Caprica and a prequel to the Re-imagined Series. On the condition that it performed to expectations, it would act as a "backdoor pilot" (much like the Miniseries) for a future series, to be aired either online or through the traditional television route.

The produced story is split into ten parts, each between seven to twelve minutes in length, debuting on Machinima's YouTube channel, Machinima Prime, starting Friday, November 9, 2012. Additional parts will be aired over the following four weeks.

Unlike previous installments in the Re-imagined Series universe, Ron D. Moore was not involved in this production due to his development contract with Sony Pictures. However, many of the creative personnel who worked on Blood and Chrome have worked on both the Re-imagined Series and its prequel Caprica, including Michael Taylor, Doug Drexler, Glenne Campbell, David Eick, Bradley Thompson, David Weddle, and Jonas Pate.

Production History

Blood and Chrome was officially announced on 27 July 2010 by Syfy Channel executive vice president of programming Mark Stern and Blood and Chrome's co-producer Michael Taylor. The plan called for the production of a two-hour backdoor pilot to be directed by then co-executive producer of Caprica Jonas Pate.

On 25 October 2010, LA Times Hero Complex published an interview with co-creator and producer David Eick discussing Blood and Chrome and its new characters, particularly Beka Kelly. In the interview, Eick also elaborated on the series' placement relative to Caprica and joked about Ronald D. Moore's lack of involvement in the show's creation.

On 2 February 2011, Mark Stern published a photo of a production meeting for Blood and Chrome showing David Eick and many other crew members on the set of SyFy's Eureka. As of 10 February 2011, production had commenced on the pilot on green screen stages in Vancouver, British Columbia. Principal photography wrapped at the end of February commencing an extensive post-production period that lasted until December 2011.

In a 21 July 2011 article interviewing actress Lili Bordán has suggested that Blood and Chrome could be presented in 3-D

In August 2011, uncertainty arose as to whether or not Blood and Chrome would air on SyFy or get an online distribution as originally intended for the series. Some confusion persisted as to what the issue was as it has been reported that the screenplay for the pilot was "good". The project had reached rough cut stages, and had been screened for SyFy executives. It was noted that the project was, for the most part, been filmed in front of a green screen.

In December 2011, Doug Drexler reported that a decision regarding the fate of Blood and Chrome would be made around February 2012.

On 21 March 2012, an unofficial teaser trailer for Blood and Chrome began appearing on YouTube, however NBCUniversal quickly ordered its removal. At that time, several sources revealed that the project would not be moving forward as a TV series on SyFy, but could still be viable as a webseries. It was also stated that the pilot episode could air on SyFy as a standalone television movie

Nearly eight months later on 5 November 2012, an Entertainment Weekly exclusive revealed SyFy's plans for Blood and Chrome, detailing the pilot episode's division into ten shorter episodes to be aired on Machinima's YouTube channel, Machinima Prime, beginning Friday, November 9, 2012. The additional seven to twelve minute episodes would be released in the following four weeks, with the complete pilot episode airing on SyFy in January of 2012. On 7 November 2012, Machinima Prime released a clip from Blood and Chrome featuring a short scene from the episode. An unrated, uncut Blu-ray and DVD version of the pilot episode was announced on 8 November 2012, with a 19 February 2013 release date. As announced, the Blu-ray and DVD will include deleted scenes and a behind-the-scenes documentary, “Blood & Chrome: Visual Effects”. The announcement coincided with the release of another teaser trailer featuring additional footage from Blood and Chrome.

On 9 November 2012, CGSociety published an an interview with VFX supervisor Gary Hutzel detailing the creation of Blood and Chrome and its 1,800 CGI shots. The article stated that Blood and Chrome carried a budget of $2 million.

Plot

According to co-creator and executive producer Michael Taylor, Blood and Chrome is "about a young man's [William Adama] initiation into war: both the realities of war as fought by soldiers on the ground (and in Battlestars and Vipers), and the somewhat less real version portrayed in the media."

Further, Taylor pointed out that the scope of the series "isn't confined to Galactica. Far from it. It's a story that will take us to new corners of the Battlestar world (or worlds), and yet it aims to be a very contemporary war movie in a lot of ways. I would say I'm thinking as much of Afghanistan and Iraq--the reality of [The] Hurt Locker, Sebastian Junger's Restrepo, and similar movies--as I am about about the largely implied past of Battlestar."

Blood and Chrome was also meant to feature adult situations as, according to Taylor, the series will not "[shy] away from R-rated blood and guts and sex" due to it being initially meant for online consumption. As was the case with The Plan, an unrated, uncut version of Blood and Chrome will appear on Blu-ray and DVD while the webseries and television movie versions will be edited for time and content.

Cast

• Luke Pasqualino as pilot William "Husker" Adama
• Ben Cotton as Raptor ECO Coker Fasjovik
• Mike Dopud as Viper pilot Captain Deke "Minute Man" Tornvald
• Brian Markinson as Commander Silas Nash
• Allison Warnyca as pilot Jaycie McGavin
• Lili Bordán as computer scientist Dr. Beka Kelly
• Zak Santiago as pilot Armin "High Top" Diaz
• Carmen Moore as Raptor pilot/ECO Nina Leotie
• Karen LeBlanc as Raptor pilot Jenna
• Adrian Holmes as pilot Decklan Elias
• Ty Olsson as Unknown role
• John Pyper-Ferguson as Xander Toth
• Sebastian Spence as Unknown role
• Leo Li Chiang as Osiris Marine Sergeant
• Tom Stevens as Marine Baris
• Jordan Weller as Seamus Fahey
• Jill Teed as Commander Ozar

Crew

• Written by Michael Taylor
• Story by David Eick, Bradley Thompson and David Weddle
• Directed by Jonas Pate