SyFy NOT moving forward with 'Galactica' prequel 'Blood & Chrome'

  After the more cerebral Caprica failed to light up ratings at the Syfy Channel, the cable net –still perhaps stung by criticism of the metaphysical conclusion to the rebooted Battlestar Galactica – ordered another, more action-packed prequel TV series set during the tenth year of the first war with the Cylons and followed a young William Adama and was called Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome. That was October of 2010. Because the show was using virtual sets, which also included other CGI effects as well, it led to an extensive post-production which meant the pilot was not finished until November of 2011. But despite the delay, it seems, fans kept the flame alive and continued to inquire when the cable net was going to finally air the movie and then series.  According to Deadline, back in January at the TCA’s, the “Syfy president (of) original programming Mark Stern was quoted as saying that he the network brass were ‘trying to figure out the economics right now’ and that he hoped those would be figured out.” Then, over the weekend at WonderCon in Anaheim, an unauthorized trailer for the series was shown. On Monday, it hit the web and went viral (100,000 views in 24 hours, according to Deadline), but there has been much attempt to have it taken down. Now, word has come that Syfy will not move forward with the series, but it still may end up as digital one. “Though the vision for “Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome” has evolved over the course of the past year, our enthusiasm for this ambitious project has not waned,” Stern said in a statement today. “We are actively pursuing it as was originally intended: a groundbreaking digital series that will launch to audiences beyond the scope of a television screen. The 90-minute pilot movie will air on Syfy in its entirety at a future date.”

Deadline also reports that Syfy needed to address the issue suddenly are months of obfuscation due to the release of the trailer which was shown on a panel at WonderCon that featured Kevin Grazier, the scientific adviser for the cable net’s Battlestar Galactica series. “The problem was that this was not an official trailer but a demo reel not intended for public consumption and thus not put through the process of clearing music and other rights. It is still unclear how the video made its way to WonderCon, but NBCUniversal today moved swiftly to take down the multiple copies that had popped up on YouTube.”

With SyFy out of contention for a series, Universal Cable Productions may still shop the project to other networks. But like recently cancelled Terra Nova and potential interest from Netflix to continue the series, the “economics” of producing a science fiction show on basic cables smaller budgets (as compared to the broadcast network), significantly makes their future more doubtful.