TV News: Is 'Sanctuary' Doomed? + News on BSG's Spin-Off, 'Blood and Chrome'

Here's some TV news or updates on the concerns of fans and whether Sanctuary is returning for a fifth season or not to Syfy.  And fans finally get a whiff of development news on the Battlestar Galactica (BSG) spin-off, titled Blood and Chrome!

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Sanctuary News -


(I swear, the two on the right look like they're asking... "Do we have a job next season?"  While Amanda Tapping and Robin Dunne are looking at their new jobs off, stage left.)

In the continuing mystery of whether Syfy's Sanctuary is coming back or not, Cinema Static's bud/cohort, Tim, was scouring the internet when he came across in interesting bit and fired me off a link that addresses a wee bit of new information on the situation with the show's renewal or lack there of.

As you know, I have addressed some observations on why I think Sanctuary may be getting canceled.  In a nutshell, the major players from the show, from showrunners to starring cast, seem busy working on other things.  (That's not a foregone conclusion they're gone.  They just might be making extra dough on the side.)

In an article over at TV Wise Co UK, they addressed how Sanctuary being renewed, could be dependent on the BSG spin-off, Blood and Chrome. (More on that in a bit...)

That dependency being on what market, domestic or overseas, tests out and gives Blood & Chrome the thumbs up.  If the international market looks promising for this BSG spin-off, then according to TV Wise's sources, there's a good chance Sanctuary is coming back for a fifth season.  (Though it could be its last.)

But the bottom line, for my money, TV Line's source says there's been no news on a Sanctuary renewal/return.  And that in this case, no news is probably bad news, because in years past, we've heard about renewals in the January time-frame of the year, and so far, we have heard nada! 

But that is just my opinion, and I could be wrong!
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Blood and Chrome Development News -


Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome, is another prequel to the wildly dark and popular Ronald D. Moore series/reimagining of Battlestar Galactica.

Blood and Chrome takes place between the eras of Caprica and BSG, and will follow the adventures of a young William Adama during the first Cylon War.

Blood and Chrome is being brought to us by David Eick (Caprica, BSG, Bionic Woman, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys) with Luke Pasqualino (Skins, The Borgias) cast as the young William Adama.  Ben Cotton (Hellcats, Harper's Island, SGA, ) was set to play Coker Fasjovik & Lili Bordán (Silent Witness) will play Dr. Becca Kelly.  These are the three primary characters.


Another early concept art piece:


Blood and Chrome has become an extensively CGI peppered series that is being shot on green screen, but that and the VFX work was delivered to Syfy last October!

Syfy execs like the rough cut, but the cost of production is, as always, an issue.

And that no decision, as of yet, has been officially made on whether the series will be produced to be a web series or TV series.

And that if Blood and Chrome is picked up, could in fact, impact Sanctuary's survival, due to costs.  (Much like Fox's Terra Nova being threatened by the acceptance of new shows like Touch and a few others.)

Below:  The early press release on Blood and Chrome, then, a bit of historical observations on Syfy and how it tried to capitalize on the brooding TV genre:

Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome press release:

Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome takes place in the 10th year of the first Cylon war. As the battle between humans and their creation, the sentient robotic Cylons, rages across the 12 colonial worlds, a young, talented fighter pilot, William Adama (Luke Pasqualino), finds himself assigned to one of the most powerful Battlestars in the Colonial fleet: the Galactica. Full of ambition and in pursuit of the intense action that the Cylon war promises, Adama quickly find himself at odds with Coker (Ben Cotton), the battle-weary officer to whom he reports. With 47 days left in his tour of duty, Coker desires an end to battle just as much as Adama craves the start of it. Though they clash at first, the two men forge an unlikely bond when a routine mission turns dangerous and becomes a pivotal one for the desperate fleet.
Joining Pasqualino and Cotton in the cast is Lili Bordan, who will play Dr. Beka Kelly, a Ph.D. who worked for Graystone Industries that created the Cylon robots. Currently assigned to a secret military mission, Beka and Adama quickly establish a rapport.
From the award-winning producers of Battlestar Galactica, this new action-packed chapter of the BSG canon was written by Michael Taylor form a story by David Eick, Taylor and Bradley Thompson & David Weddle and directed by Jonas Pate. David Eick, Jonas Pate and Michael Taylor will serve as executive producers.
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On Syfy's Pursuit of Darkness and Happiness

Since the BSG series, Syfy has tried to capitalize on that moody, broody and depressing feel by going with a prequel called Caprica, which was about the early days of the BSG world when the Cylon chip that helped it all become reality, was created.  It was a great series, but too esoteric for most fans with way too many sub-plots to make it easily digestible.  That and not enough action.  Then it was doomed when it was moved to Mondays with a few other shows.

Then Syfy tried to darken up the Stargate franchise and brought Stargate Universe (SGU) to the tube, replacing Stargate Atlantis (SGA).  "They" said SGA was canceled because it cost too much, but then SGU came along, looking like it cost as much or more than, to produce.  It wasn't doing too horribly in the ratings.  It was still trying to get traction even though franchise fans fled because of how the tone of the show was changed & BSG fans weren't Stargate fans, thus pulling the umbrella of doom over everything.  Then SGU was moved to Mondays... and... well, Monday doomed this show too!

(Back then, Mondays was like Syfy's garage closet where you put things to be forgotten so you can move on and clutter the house with new things.)

So they never quite caught that happy medium where folks loved the dark and despair of Moore's BSG since.  But you can't blame them for trying.  Then they found themselves outsourcing and redoing Being Human, and that hit a sweet spot and now they also are giving the hot and sultry Lost Girl a try too.

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And that's where we stand, wondering about Sanctuary, BSG Blood and Chrome and other core sci-fi genre programming on the Syfy network!  Here's hoping it all works out because if the sci-fi shows keep failing in the ratings, then Syfy will continue it's spiral into the world of reality TV!  Now that's good for them, but leaves core sci-fi fans out in the cold.  But then again, what's new? 

"So say we all!"









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