I was happy with the prequel web-miniseries "Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome" (2012) – it really seemed like a return to form to the immensely popular first two seasons of the TV show. I'd give it an 8 out of 10. Gone are the weird and confusing plot lines involving divine intervention and … (sigh) angels. Instead we're treated to a decent, escapist and gratifying sci-fi war-adventure story, with a few gritty horror elements thrown in to remind us that this is still Ron Moore's unique Battlestar Galactica universe. It seemed to consciously emulate "Aliens" (1986), which is a direction I think a lot of BSG fans would have been thrilled with. (I'm a little confused about whether the SyFy Channel intended this as a possible pilot for a regular TV series … it seems that way, from how it's written.)There are also nice nods to the series, its followup prequel series, "Caprica," and even the original 1970's TV show. I loved how one key actor/actress appeared to lend his/her voice to really nail a nice surprise in the finale. That's some damn fun continuity right there, and awesome fan service.It's a shaky pilot (?) in some ways. Young William Adama is a two- dimensional clone of "Starship Troopers'" Johnny Rico, though he does grow a bit by the end of the story. There are also other clichés – at one point a commander states something along the lines of "the fate of the entire war hinging on this battle!!" Ugh. Another flaw was its inclusion of actors from the series – in different roles. It was probably cool for Moore to keep it in the family and give these talented people additional high-profile work. (My personal favorite is the great, underused character actor Ty Olsson.) But it's jarring, and takes you right out of the story – sometimes you're too busy saying, "Hey! It's THAT guy!" to get immersed in the show.Still, this was cool and exciting and fun. What a shame it's (apparently) not turning into a regular series.

Rating this T.V. production on visuals (set decoration, special effects, lighting, etc.), this flick would rate a 10. Where it falls apart as a total work, however, is casting (completely wrong lead actor, English-accent challenged and mismatched in age lead actress) and, sadly, story borrowed from sources other than Battlestar Galactica (for example, reinventing Terminator elements and themes). Some snappy dialogue in the beginning, which devolves into stereotypical soap opera claptrap. And you can't even imagine how terrible the big 'love' scene is...it is to barf. Lastly, it must be said that the dialogue frequency of the word 'frack', used instead of 'fuck', or 'fracking' instead of 'fucking', is so awful as to change every mood where the word is used into the most awful depths of chalkboard nail-screesching pain or, alternately, giddy hysteria.

There are a lot of loose ends in the plot but that leaves those open to being developed later. That is part of what a plot needs to do. However, the problem here is not just a question of unanswered mysteries. The story that is intended to be contained within this "pilot" has a million holes especially regarding who and what are sent on such a supposedly important mission. There is such a huge disconnect with any realistic portrayal that one can't buy what they are selling. In fact, how they handle it are just excuses to show the kind of battle scenes and confrontations that they have in mind. No sane commanders would have acted that way. OK, if you can live with that, you will still be looking toward a series that will wallow in the the same old dark, gloomy sets, populated with the same maladjusted, borderline psychotic, substance abusing people, worn out cursing, corruption, traitorous factions lurking in the closets, etc. It would not be a thing of beauty. Throw in plot themes and background that come across as ugly dystopic social programming a la Hunger Games and its looks to be like a long swim in a cesspool. Why bother? The 2004 series broke down that way after a promising start and was sort-of rescued by some interesting ideas at the very end. I think the pool of interesting ideas is very dry now and only the cesspool is left. If you cannot agree with my criticisms above, i.e. you like that cesspool, you will still have to contend with the low standard in CGI shown in this pilot and a casting of the young Adama that gives little confidence of being able to handle the character growth that would be needed in a series. Furthermore, they would need to find some better writing as what we saw here was very tiresome and uninspired.

For what started as a web series, this is a brilliant show. A tribute to the main BSG series which was also awesome. Great acting and good CGI, I'm a huge fan of Bear McCreary and once again the music was out of this world.Hats off to Luke for playing whats starts out as a cocky young Adama and how his character changes throughout the show. My only gripe would be that Galactica didn't have as much of a part to play in Blood & Chrome. I do hope that a new series will be produced so that we can see more of Galactica in her prime (Armed to the teeth).Needs to be watched in full 1080p with a good 5.1 system to really get a mind blowing experience. Also watch the DVD/Bluray version as a lot of bits that were cut from the web version.