Yes, there’s going to be a new Battlestar Galactica spin-off.

(from Deadline)

After launching prequel Caprica, which is now airing the second part of its first season while awaiting word on a second-season pickup, the cable network has greenlighted a two-hour pilot for Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome or BGBC how it will probably be known in the Battlestar fan universe.

And here’s the network’s description of the show:

Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome takes place in the 10th year of the first Cylon war. As the battle between humans and their creation, a sentient robotic race, rages across the 12 colonial worlds, a brash rookie viper pilot enters the fray. Ensign William Adama, barely in his 20’s and a recent Academy graduate, finds himself assigned to the newest battlestar in the Colonial fleet… the Galactica. The talented but hot-headed risk-taker soon finds himself leading a dangerous top secret mission that, if successful, will turn the tide of the decade long war in favor of the desperate fleet. “The ‘Galactica’ universe as re-imagined by Ron Moore and David Eick is rich with possibilities and backstory,” said SyFy’s Mark Stern. “We jumped at the chance to revisit the William Adama character and explore this exciting chapter in the BSG narrative which falls between the events of the original series and the prequel, ‘Caprica,’ currently airing on Syfy.”

“While maintaining the themes of politics, social propaganda, and the timeless question:  what does it mean to be human? – ‘Blood & Chrome’ will also return us to the authentic, relentless depiction of combat and the agony and ecstasy of human-Cylon war, which was the hallmark of ‘Battlestar Galactica’s’ early seasons,” said Eick. Michael Taylor wrote the teleplay from a story by Eick, Taylor and Bradley Thompson & David Weddle.

Now, apart from the fact that the title seems derivative of Spartacus: Blood & Sand (which makes a hell of a lot more sense), do we really need another BSG spin-off? Is the BSG universe – its whole essence determined by one catastrophic event – really that full of possibilities? Is it wise to attempt adding more twists and turns to a backstory that’s already full of holes and contradictions? It’s one thing to go back to a setting that was planned in detail, but BSG was written on the fly, and though it undeniably has its strengths, it already has enough trouble standing up to repeated viewing.

With Caprica being a show so thoroughly uninspiring and lacking in likeable characters that we can’t bring ourselves to watch more of it even though it features some of our favourite actors, and The Plan deserving some kind of award for most incoherent prequel of all time, what are we going to get out of Spartacus: Robots & Humans?

I don’t mean to be cynical. For all its absurd flaws, Battlestar Galactica had moments of grace and power that I am glad to have experienced. But some stories are over when they’re over. There should never have been a Crusade to follow Babylon 5, and perhaps Battlestar Galactica should just be left alone.

Unless someone wants to reimagine the last episode. That would be spiffy.