Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome, the second prequel to the
Syfy Channel’s original reboot of the late 1970’s show Battlestar Galactica, will debut on the cable network on February
10. It will be released on VOD, Blu-ray and DVD on February 19. This show was originally
planned as a series, set around the beginning of the Cylon war, before they
vanished for a century that would eventually be depicted in Ron Moore’s reboot of
Glen Larson’s original series. It was designed as a more action-packed drama than
the more cerebral Caprica, the first
prequel, was. But in March of 2012, Syfy decided not to move forward with the
show beyond the pilot –while it was designed as a cost-effective show with
virtual sets and other cost-saving factors, but they claimed the post-production
lead-time and expenses actually made the series not financially viable for
always cost-conscious cable net and their parent company, NBC/Universal. Though they promised it would eventually air
on the cable channel, it languished in some dark, dusty corner of the network
before finally debuting online with aide from the YouTube channel Machinima
Prime as a series of 10-12 minute chapters; there it garnered some 8 million
views. For fans, who watched the online version, they may want to tune in, as this
broadcast version will actually have scenes that not aired in the online
version.
It had been guessed that the
reason Paramount pulled G.I. Joe:
Retaliation from the release schedule last May –almost six weeks before its
release- was because the film was in trouble. Paramount said it was just to do
a 3D conversion –which do extremely well in foreign markets- and maybe a few
reshoots to tighten the film up. As the weeks went on, more rumors surfaced
that not only was Retaliation more
than troubled, it needed to have Channing Tatum –who was in the first film and
who’s character is the catalyst for the titled (thus, Paramount revealing
secret plot of the movie) sequel was returning to film additional scenes. But according to producer Lorenzo di
Bonaventura, he told the press at the TCA’s that more Tatum was not the reason.
“No, it’s not,” Di Bonaventura says. “That is a complete rumor. I don’t know
where that started. Literally, Channing shot for - if I have it wrong, I’m off
by an hour - four hours, five hours? So it wasn’t really about that at all.”
And he says the current cut is not that much different from the one they
planned last summer. “It’s not much different,” Di Bonaventura says.
“Literally, we shot for three extra days. We just added sort of explanation in
what we did afterwards.” Still, historically, when a film is delayed, it
usually means the films narrative is in trouble. And while these type of films
are seen as more escapism than having any sort of internal logic, American
audiences are beginning to see that they are, at times, being lured not for the
joy of a film experience, but just to make sure they score as much money as
they can before the viewer’s catch on. As for the 3D, again, the oversea market
does not care how bad a film is here. They’ll see any American made film.
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