Blood and Chrome is out on DVD today

Blood and Chrome has been released on DVD and Blu-ray today. You can get it on Amazon.

Here are the specs and list of extras, from Sci Fi Mafia:

Special Features
BLU-RAY/DVD SPECIAL FEATURES

• Deleted Scenes – Which like any movie are probably removed to keep the story tighter, but a lot of these are essential bits of storyline that would otherwise be missed. So interesting to watch, since they are all filmed, but not taken through CGI enhancements.
• Blood & Chrome Visual Effects Featurette – This gives you the full scope of what was involved in the CGI production of every single shot. Amazing.

Program Information
TECHNICAL INFORMATION – BLU-RAY COMBO PACK: Street Date: February 19, 2013
Layers: BD-50
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen
Rating: Not rated
Languages/Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French Sound: 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio

TECHNICAL INFORMATION – DVD:
Street Date: February 19, 2013
Layers: Dual Layer
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Rating: Not rated
Languages/Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1

From IGN's Blu-ray review:

The extras are fairly minimal, though better than they appear at a glance. The only behind-the-scenes inclusion is a featurette focused on the visual FX, but it’s actually longer than you’d expect at 23 minutes, including interviews with Eick and other producers, along with the FX team. It delves into the conception of Blood & Chrome and spotlights all the work that went into the green screen production. While a commentary or more story-oriented discussion would have been great, this at least does get into the nitty gritty of production on the project.

The only other special feature are deleted scenes, but there are actually a ton of them, running the better part of a half hour. Some are inconsequential moments, but there are several – mostly taken out from the opening portion of the movie – that would have been highly appreciated if they’d been kept in, better building who Adama and Coker are before the action begins. The vast majority of the deleted scenes were never finished, so you can see the green screen surrounding the cast, making the difference between those scenes and the finished project more impressive and notable.

The Blu-ray is the "unrated" version. While essentially the same as what is airing on TV, it features a bit more footage, including, yep, one pair of bare breasts during a co-ed shower scene onboard Galactica and a bit more harsh language.

A couple of deleted scenes:

Blood and Chrome television premiere tonight (Syfy, 8/7c)

Blood and Chrome has its television premiere tonight at 8 pm on Syfy.

The TV version will include additional footage, and the unrated cut will be available on DVD and Blu-ray on February 19. The DVD will contain about 30 minutes of deleted scenes.

From the press release:

This highly anticipated chapter in the Battlestar Galactica saga from Universal Cable Productions originally debuted as a weekly web series on YouTube’s premium channel Machinima Prime, drawing upwards of 8 million total views. On February 10, fans will get to see it for the first time in its film version entirety, including additional scenes not included in the online release. The unrated edition from Universal Studios Home Entertainment will then be available on DVD, Blu-ray and digital download on February 19th.

Caprica: Original Television Soundtrack to be released in April

The Caprica season one soundtrack is finally getting released! Bear McCreary has just made the announcement on Twitter. The soundtrack will be out in April.

The Blood and Chrome soundtrack is coming even sooner. It will be released on March 12th. B&C will have its television premiere this Sunday, February 10, from 8 to 10PM ET/PT.

Then, at long last, a multi-CD album of "#Caprica" is coming in April, featuring the songs & score from the entire series, w/ bonus demos.
— Bear McCreary (@bearmccreary) February 5, 2013

The "Caprica" CD is happening because of you guys. Passionate fans never let this go. To each of you, I offer a rowdy "So Say We All!"
— Bear McCreary (@bearmccreary) February 5, 2013

Here is the full press release from Cinemedia Promotions:

LA-LA LAND RECORDS RE-ENGAGES IN THE CYLON WARS WITH TWO NEW SOUNDTRACKS COMPOSED BY BEAR McCREARY

Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome on March 12th

Caprica: Original Television Soundtrack in April

(February 5, 2013 – Burbank, CA) La-La Land Records announces the release of two new soundtracks Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome on March 12th and Caprica: Original Television Soundtrack in April. Bear McCreary (The Walking Dead, Battlestar Galactica) composed the music for both series.

“In scoring the Battlestar Galactica prequels Caprica and Blood & Chrome, I returned to the unique combination of world and orchestral sounds that defined my previous score,” McCreary described. “But, both prequels had their own distinct approach. Caprica was interlaced with delicate chamber orchestra textures, solo harp and other-worldly source songs. Blood & Chrome is energized by heavy distorted-synthesizers and searing electric guitar performances. Listeners will hear, however, that all three series have a common musical DNA.”

Blood and Chrome - final two episodes

Machinima has posted the last two episodes of Blood and Chrome today. You can watch them below or on YouTube. And there are a couple of updates after the clip.

Episode 9
In the aftermath of the deadly Cylon ambush, Coker (Ben Cotton) threatens Becca (Lili Bordan), forcing Adama (Luke Pasqualino) to a heated standoff.

Episode 10
Becca discovers a startling new development that will affect the future of the human race. Meanwhile, Coker’s life hangs in the balance as the team holds out hope for a rescue, and Adama has a disheartening realization about the war effort and his place in it.



If you didn't get around to reading the transcript Bear McCreary's AMA on Reddit from last Friday, here is what you've missed:

Is there any update on what's happening with the Caprica soundtrack? There's so many wonderful tracks from it that I want to listen to properly.
Hey cube1701... this is a great question. First, a little background on how I deal with albums. As you guys probably know, I put a lot of time and energy into them and make sure that they are great listening experiences, not just a collection of cues that were mixed for broadcast. This approach resulted in some great BSG albums, and a great album for the Caprica pilot.

The rest of the series was no exception. I assembled a collection of the best cues into suites, re-recorded, re-mixed and re-mastered a fantastic double disc album. It's done, and it's been done for a while.

However, Caprica's swift demise and slim ratings made it difficult to get this album released. I can't move forward on anything like that without involvement from NBC Universal and for a long time, there was little interest in working on an album for a show that was no longer on the air. (For the BSG records, we always had the promotion of the following season or DVD release to piggy-back on for album promotion).

So, the bad news is that no album has come out yet. But, the good news is that we're beginning to make some real progress now. NBC Universal is showing interest in letting me release this music.

The best thing fans can do is continue to show their support and enthusiasm for the idea. I'm confident we can make it happen, as long as the fans make it clear to the powers-that-be that they want it.

How can we show NBC Universal that we're interested? The scores for Caprica's first season (particularly the second half of the season) are some of my favorite cues you've ever written. It would make my week to see a release. :)
Trust me. You guys are helping right now. People who can help make the Caprica album a reality are watching what's happening right now. Keep it up!

I know a CD release of Caprica is tied up at the moment, but what's the word on a release of Blood & Chrome?
Plans are afoot.

Hey Bear. Is there any indication that Blood and Chrome will have a life beyond the single movie? Just hearing the BSG style of music again gives me pangs for a weekly intake. Also, say hi to Erin, Todd and Nova if you talk to Erin any time soon.
As far as I know, there are no concrete plans right now. But, it also seems that everyone is open to the idea. Fans have a say in this, though. Enough views on Machinima, enough views in February when it airs, and / or enough DVD sales when it comes out in February can all make a difference. Everybody tune in, because we're all ready to make more of these!

Tons more about Bear's work on BSG, The Walking Dead, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Defiance (coming in April), and everything else at Reddit.

Ben Cotton and Mike Dopud were on The Rush last week. They talked about Blood and Chrome, and also about season two of Arctic Air - they will both be appearing in it. Here is the clip:

Blood and Chrome - watch episodes 7 & 8

Episodes 7 and 8 of Blood and Chrome have been posted. You can watch them below or on YouTube. Two more to go.

Bear McCreary is doing a Q&A on Reddit at 6 pm EST. Head over there to ask questions.

The episodes:

Episode 7

Waylaid by a ferocious storm, Adama (Luke Pasqualino), Coker (Ben Cotton) and Becca (Lili Bordan) reluctantly follow their eccentric savior, marine recon sergeant Xander Toth (John Pyper Ferguson), to shelter in an abandoned ski lodge. Adama and Coker finally find some common ground and secrets about Becca’s mysterious mission are revealed.

Episode 8

The tentative safety of the ski lodge is abruptly shattered as Cylons breach Toth’s defenses. With Becca and Toth nowhere to be found, Adama and Coker face off against their deadly robotic pursuers. Becca makes a horrifying discovery about the Cylons’ agenda on Djerba.

Blood and Chrome - watch episodes 5 & 6

Machinima has posted two new episodes today. You can watch them below or on the Machinima Prime channel. The first episode has over 2 million views so far and episodes 2, 3, and 4 around 600,000. To watch all the episodes from start to finish, go here.

Jill Teed and Ty Olsson are back in episode 5 and John Pyper-Ferguson shows up to take the kids for a walk in episode 6. Also, there is the cython.

Watch the episode, and there is more stuff after the jump.

Adama dogfights Raiders while the Battlestar Osiris tries to hold off a Cylon Basestar.



Just a few more tidbits from this week for people who aren't on Facebook and Twitter.

First, there was Patton Oswalt talking to the A.V. Club about his most memorable roles:

Caprica (2010)—“Baxter Sarno”
PO: That was very frustrating, because I got a glimpse of what the second season of Caprica was going to be, and the stuff they had planned for that show was fucking amazing.

Beyond the stuff I was going to be getting to do, what they were going to do with that world, and with its darkness, would have been so thrilling. But I love the fact that even in a show as dark as Caprica—and in a lot of ways, that show was as dark as Battlestar Galactica—[Sarno] was very aware that people want their fucking distractions. Even in a future science-fiction world like Caprica, they’re going to want their Jon Stewarts, they’re going to want their Bill O’Reillys and their Rachel Maddows and their things to get all up in arms about, their Jay Lenos and their Lettermans.

So I was playing that role, and I would talk to [series creator] Ronald D. Moore about what happens to a guy like this who is kind of aggressively shallow in a lot of ways. When he’s engineering that whole fight between Eric Stoltz and Stoltz’s rival, it’s not because [he cares] about technology and where humanity is going; it’s great fucking ratings. So what happens when the shit comes down? It reminds me of that moment in Cabaret when they’re singing “Tomorrow Belongs To Me,” and they cut to the Emcee from the Kit Kat Club just smiling and nodding in his dressing room, you’re like, “What happens to that guy when the Nazis rise to power? Why is he smiling? Why is he nodding?” That stuff is really intriguing to me.

^ You can catch Patton on Burn Notice next week (Thursday, 10/9c, USA).

There is a new interview with Doug Drexler over at Lightwave3d.com. Snippets below, more at the link.

How is the production of Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome unique?
It really is an amazing experience that’s unlike any other. It’s unprecedented for guys that we’ve brought onto the show; they don’t believe me at first when I tell them, ‘This is as close as you can get to get to making a show. You won't be some nameless guy across town in a cubicle.’ We cut our own shots in with the editor. If it doesn’t work, we do a new shot, run down the hall, put it in, and look at it together. If it doesn’t flow, if it doesn’t work... there’s no approval process... we just do it.

That’s how we are able to do so many amazing shots in so little time on Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome. In eight months, we did more than 2,000 shots with nine guys— that’s because we had unprecedented freedom.

How do other production workflows compare?
I was on all the various Star Trek television series for 17 years—including Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise—and there was a really strict approval process. You couldn’t just take a leap by putting together a sequence and saying, ‘This is what we might do here.’

The process on Battlestar Galactica was a stark contrast. We did a show called 'Razor' where the Scorpio Shipyard is attacked by the Cylons. In the script, it read: ‘A dot of light approaches the station and there’s a huge explosion’—and that’s the end of the sentence! [Digital Artist and CGI Sequence Designer] Kyle Toucher and I read that and we said, ‘No Way! This is our chance to do Pearl Harbor!’ So, Kyle laid the whole sequence out—it was awesome—and Gary sold it to Ron Moore.

io9.com has an exclusive VFX featurette that has some BTS footage from next week's ep and interviews with David Eick, Gary Hutzel, and Jonas Pate.

Here are a few things David Eick said on YouTube last week:

For the love of all things Cylon will you get Caprica up and going again?
Alas, Caprica was "one and done" -- although the story bible we drafted for a possible Season 2 was awesome. Really focused the Cylon/Colonial historical struggle in a much more accessible, American Civil War metaphor. I really felt SyFy should've given it another shot. Oh well, one day....

Will we be seeing any of the 'bigger questions' that we saw in BSG in Blood and Chrome, or will this be more combat/CG and less 'why they hate us'?
B&C will definitely deal with the "why they hate us" premise... and will definitely wrestle with larger issues attendant to the BSG theme -- what it means to be human, etc. But probably a bit less esoteric and contemplative than BSG Season 4. Closer in tone to Seasons 1 & 2.

You truly captured the feel of a sub inside the Osiris. Also Galactica's 'CIC' looks a lot different than the recent series. Did you look back to the original series for ship design?
We had the original sets scanned so that we could implement/augment in a digital space. Glad you dug the Osiris -- we were definitely going for the "Das Boot" vibe...

The ship design for the Osiris is so distinct. The antennae at the rear and the reflective shell, there's no doubt it's a stealth ship. For this and other ships where did your dev team look for inspiration?
All R&D, like BSG, rooted in naval and AF tech. Definitely erred on the side of reality wherever/whenever possible.

Hi David! Do you think that there is still a market for multi season space operas like bsg in tv? Can platforms like youtube & itunes provide new possibilites for the genre?
Always a market for great scifi as long as creators and distributors are gutsy enough to allow it to be metaphorical/allegorical. When they get too soft/escapist, they tend to have shorter half-life. Works great in movies but doesn't have the "legs" for TV unless there's real depth.

For us Caprica fans, will any of the loose ends from that show be tied up in this series?
We don't address the world of "Caprica" in B&C except in offhand moments... but if there are future B&C episodes (beyond the first 10), we'll definitely get into William Adama's youth, family and culture.

Hi David. Whats the word on a tv series after the Blood and Chrome movie airs? Are you guys waiting to see how many views this minishow gets before committing?
This was always designed for online, the "digital space." That said, all our futures are tied to current success!

Will any of the human cylons be making an appearance or will it just be toasters and I'm assuming the hybrid if you were to show the end of the war?
B&C will definitely investigate the "evolutionary" nature of Cylon tech... how their process of going from rivets and metal to soft, Tricia Helfer-flesh did not happen overnight... there were several experiments in between...

And another Blood and Chrome featurette from Wired that also has some BTS footage and interviews with Michael Taylor, David Eick, Gary Hutzel, Jonas Pate, Luke Pasqualino, Lili Bordan and Ben Cotton:

Blood and Chrome - watch episodes 3 & 4

Machinima has posted episodes 3 and 4 of Blood and Chrome. You can watch them below or on the Machinima Prime YouTube Channel. Episode 1 has had 1,773,800 views so far and episode 2, only 517,234. Some high-traffic sites didn't embed both episodes last week, so if you haven't seen ep 2, you should probably catch up first.

And a slight correction: Machinima has released the full schedule for the show, and the final two episodes will be posted on December 7, not November 30, which makes more sense since they are being released in pairs.

David Eick will be answering questions about the show on YouTube any minute now, so if you have an account, you can head over there.

Nerdist has a new interview with Eick. Here is a snippet that probably isn't a surprise to the conspiracists among us (the part about those plans for a B&C TV show not being what they were cracked up to be):

N: What challenges were there in cutting the show down to smaller, webisode-sized segments?
DE: I think that question unfortunately comes from a misinformed place. People have developed a belief that we developed this pilot for SyFy Channel and they passed on it, but then said, “Let’s put it online.” It was actually the opposite. We developed this as an online project, but then SyFy read the script and said, “Let’s keep our options open.”

As the production started coming together, we decided to go back to the original plan because there was a real opportunity to blow the wheels off of the level of quality you would expect from a web-based production. So, when people come to me saying that SyFy passed on Blood & Chrome, I’m like, “What the f@$# are you talking about?” They didn’t pass on it; we simply went back to our original plan of action. It was always going to be a ten-part story and a one hundred minute movie that you could divide into ten-minute bite-sized morsels. We embedded natural cliffhangers and segues within the episodes that lend themselves well to serialization. This has been a part of the plan since the get-go.

When we were thinking about how to crack the digital marketplace with the Battlestar franchise, I just thought about Raiders of the Lost Ark and the world where that came from with these movie serials that you would go and see each week, they would end on a cliffhanger, then you would come back and see the next little installment the following week. You might be able to build something like that if you rushed mission design; military missions are made up of many smaller missions.

And Spoiler TV has the transcript of the conference call he did with Luke Pasqualino last week. A lengthy read, but well worth it. Here is an interesting snippet:

There are a number of little Easter-egging nods to the Battlestar faithful that anyone watching the DVDs or seeing this online will be able to recognize. But I think one of the things that will be less resistance to is to think about, do we [get] Esai Morales who played William Adama's father, to reprise his role in some capacity in a future episode? Do we show some of that conflict and strain between father and son and some of the uniquely kind of contradictory impulses that a mob lifestyle and military lifestyle sort of present?

That's all really rich storytelling—top soil for us—to pursue if we get the chance to go forward.

The new old faces making an appearance in the new episodes are Jill Teed (Col. Patel on Caprica, Sgt. Hadrian on BSG) and Ty Olsson (Capt. Kelly on BSG).

The episodes:

Episode 3

Reeling from the discovery of the ruins of Battlestar Archeron, Adama (Luke Pasqualino) and Coker’s (Ben Cotton) small Raptor is nearly outmatched when they engage with three enemy Raiders. More secrets are revealed when the crew makes a shocking discovery deep in Cylon space.

Episode 4

Adama and Coker prepare for a dangerous mission above the Cylon occupied planet Djerba. Coker reunites with an old friend (Sebastian Spence) and reveals startling news.