BLU-RAY REVIEW: Battlestar Galactica - Blood & Chrome

Unrated Adventure Set During First Cylon War Hits Hi-Def Home Video...

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The modern Battlestar Galactica TV series is arguably the best sci-fi action drama to ever be produced for television. Staring engaging characters brought to life by a talented cast, an impressive array of special effects, brilliant and emotional writing and a story featuring plenty of social commentary, Battlestar Galactica is no doubt one of the finest pieces of television in recent history.

Now, the drama and action continues in Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome. Previously conceived as a web series which was later edited to be the pilot to a possible on-going series (which was sadly passed over), Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome features everything that makes Battlestar Galatica great: interesting characters played by a talented cast, engaging action, impressive special effects and a story and setting that makes for great watching.

A prelude to the modern series, this 94 minute feature is set during the first Cylon War. Boot Lieutenant William "Husker" Adama, fresh from the Academy, is given his first assignment...and it's nothing less than flying a secret mission which will shape forever the way Adama understands the war with the machines. Traitors within the human contingent, robots with feelings and emotions, and frightening new organic and machine constructs which foreshadow the future series, Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome shows an interesting look back at a time before the modern series, at a time when a population of people were filled with hope and battle fervor, unaware that the war yet to be fought won't end for decades at the cost of millions of lives.

Staring Luke Pasqualino (The Borgias) as Lt. William Adama, Ben Cotton as Lieutenant Coker Fasjovik and Lili Bordán (Casino) as Dr. Beka Kelly, the film feature solid acting from an experience cast. With luck, we'll see more of the web episodes should the popularity of this home video release and the airing of the show gain popularity.

As for the film itself, both video and audio are impressive with a 1080p picture that keeps lines sharp, colors accurate and sharp. Kept in the film's 1.78:1 aspect ratio, there's no doubt this is beautiful to watch. Likewise, the audio too is impressive; DTS-HD 5.1 or Dolby Digital 5.1 with a home theater or Dolby Digital 2.0 for those with a regular TV. Audio effects fill the sound stage and ensures explosions, lasers, and the breaking, ripping and shredding of metal is everywhere.

As for special features, the disc includes a good amount of delete scenes (around 30 minutes) as well as a 20+ minute featurette, "Blood & Chrome: Visual Effects," which features producers and visual effects crew talking about the concept of the show as well as the show's impressive effects. Fans of the film will enjoy these as they expand the already insightful feature even more and provide some additional character building.

While not nearly as cerebral and thought-provoking as the modern series, there's no doubt Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome is engaging, visually impressive and fun. Hopefully, should the home video release do well, we'll see more of these characters in the future.

Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome is available now on DVD and Blu-ray wherever fine home video is sold.

Be sure to check out a sneak peek at the Deleted Scenes and Bonus Features, below!

- Jess C. Horsley

Deleted Scenes - Nuggets
http://youtu.be/FQWHD7xJczU

Deleted Scenes - Mission Prep
http://youtu.be/kUJuxGHePSw

VFX Featurette - The Idea[/b]
http://youtu.be/PoFkkJ2koUg

VFX Featurette - Pre-Viz[/b]
http://youtu.be/Bb-yAPS5s3I

If Diamond was smart, in commemoration of this historic event they would reissue a bunch of their cylon figs.

I think there's still a lot of unfulfilled demand out there for them so I'm sure they could sell a lot.

The price some of those 2007-2009 Cylon figs are going for on ebay these days is insane! :eek:

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The price some of those 2007-2009 Cylon figs are going for on ebay these days is insane!

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Then it's a good thing I bought 'em back then! I love me some Cylons. Even have my original 1979 Mattel Cylons (and the rest of the old BS gang for that matter), along with those roid-raging Cylons Trendmasters put out in the 90s :)

You're lucky you bought 'em when you did.

At the time I said "aw, I'll start getting them soon. -- Next time" but before I could, they already vanished from stores.

I actually just~ got my first Diamond Cylon last weekend (Razor's gold commander) and now I'm realizing just what an expensive venture trying to put together a Cylon fig army these days would be. :(

But this post made me wonder, what do companies do with the molds of all their figs after production is done? Just melt 'em down for scrap metal? Ship them back to the US from China and put them in storage? That wouldn't make much business sense having to pay all that storage cost for ever and ever would it?

Hmm, maybe they couldn't just crank out another run of Cylons for me anytime they wanted after all. :(:(:(

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Hmm, maybe they couldn't just crank out another run of Cylons for me anytime they wanted after all.

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Well, you have to think about licensing too. I'm pretty sure DST doesn't have the Battlestar license anymore, so in order to make more, they'd have to renew it and decide - is it worth it?

Now the rubber prototype molds I believe the companies usually hold onto. I know when I visited NECA and the Four Horsemen studios they had drawers full of old figure molds. Now the metal tooling, I'm pretty sure that stays with the manufacturer overseas. Maybe as part of the deal - like you pay so much for so many figs produced? But then companies like Hasbro, I'm sure they hold onto all metal tooling. GI Joes and such reuse quite a bit of parts. I dunno, that's a good question - I'll ask and find out.

Asked Randy at NECA about the tooling. He says:

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We warehouse them in case we need again or to keep secure and avoid bootlegging etc
They are warehoused and stored in China off site, away from the factories when not in use

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Looking at visiting their studio again this year. I think I'll do a PART 2 to How Figures Are Made (Part 1 HERE) touching up on stuff like this I missed the first go around.