Somehow I'd missed this unofficial teaser trailer for the BSG prequel "Blood & Chrome". It looks fantastic in most places (with slightly dodgy CGI sets in only a handful), although there's no way to gauge the quality of the plot, acting or writing at this stage.
The bad news, though, is that SyFy — who had upgraded the project from a 10-part webseries — has given up on it as a regular series and downgraded it back to its original format. I never saw the point in these 10-minute-per-episode "webisode" series, so this is incredibly disappointing.
However, it's hardly a surprise.
Sci-fi television has taken a complete battering on US TV over the last half-decade or so, with a myriad of high-quality shows — some bordering on staggeringly epic — left to rot in the annals of history because of "the way things are".
The way things are? How are things?
Things are that even if Joe "Sci-fi Fan" Bloggs watched his favourite shows religiously on his telly instead of downloading them online — often cited as a key factor in the lack of sci-fi TV success — it wouldn't make the blindest bit of difference… unless he's one of the 0.02% of US viewers with a Nielsen box.
The entire ratings system is a complete sham, yet it drives advertising and consequently series success. Which is… frustrating. Firefly & SGU in particular were staggeringly amazing, but this is not represented in these meaningless "viewing figures", so they get cut off. The network then develops the notion that Sci-Fi, which is expensive to produce, isn't going to make them any money in return (which, due to ratings driving advertising, is true) .. and suddenly nothing gets a decent run. Enterprise, Caprica, SG-1/SGA movies, now B&C not given the ground to grow and succeed because if the epic shows can't make it, then what chance do these good/potential shows have?
What we need is to take the Nielsen boxes away from the morons who watch "American Idol" and give them to people who watch actual TV. It's the only way. Otherwise the rest of us are simply doomed, with no chance of coming back from this TV abyss that intelligent or artistic people have fallen into. It breaks my heart but there it is.
When I win £140million in the EuroMillions I'll fund SGU and B&C myself. Must be able to get a couple of episodes out of that, right…?
