I just read that what was supposed to be a series of webisodes, Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome, has been upgraded to be a pilot for a possible tv series. Awesome news!
I love everthing about this so far, except that it might decrese the already slim chances of Caprica sticking around longer.
Bring back the Viper action!!!
Here’s an alternate source of data for those of us who can’t stand Knowles’s site:
http://www.tvsquad.com/2010/10/22/syfy-adama-blood-and-chrome/
I’m watching every episode, and I’m hoping for it to get good, but… it’s not working. Caprica’s best chance for sticking around is to become compelling.
Anyone catching the retcons, btw? Note Zoe’s reference to ‘scanning’ in the most recent episode, it’s clear that they’re distancing themselves from the ridiculous premise established in the pilot regarding the instantiation of the two AIs.
Haha! I don’t really agree but I like the wording. Not to get things off topic, but what is ‘scanning’ a reference too?
Hmm - don;t get me wrong–I’ll wacthj
but woul dreally liek to see a miniseries or series on Kobol and on Earth (Cylon Earth that is)
EDIT - Also wasn’t William Adamas first battle the last battle of the war?
Originally, they described the process of making the avatars from having a computer download their debit card records, bus passes, Spacebook updates, etc. That was the explanation for how the Adama girl got made. I get the feeling that they’ll quietly move away from that as the series progresses. Maybe they’ll retcon some CAT scan of the Adama girl in or something.
love this idea much more than the reality that is caprica.
Zoe’s laundry list for rolling her own AI in the pilot included “CAT scans” and “synaptic records.” The first of course is familiar medical imaging. The second is an invasive procedure involving insertion of microscopic probes that measure electrochemical activity within single brain cells - synapses. I don’t believe this is ever performed on living people as it is a destructive process. If the “scan” from last episode refers to synaptic records, Caprica has a futuristic science fiction non-invasive version (like a CAT scan) that doesn’t require leaving needle tracks in a brain. The technology able to measure every synapse in a human simultaneously would be far, far future tech. But it would effectively take a snap shot, frozen in time, of all that you are. That is if you subscribe to the materialist view of the mind body problem, you are your brain and nothing more. Kind of seems to be what Caprica is saying huh? Subversive.
This does seem to be the secret sauce in making an avatar, since Daniel mentions it then afterwards changes his attitude towards Zoe-A. He no longer thinks she is a simple VR toy.
[i]
"It’s possible she found a way to translate synaptic records into usable data.
That’s what she told me."[/i] - Daniel, Zoe-A, Caprica pilot
This bit is acceptable hard SF to me.
/offtopic
I admit to being sometimes bored with Caprica, but not completely. It still has elements of scifi and mystery that I really like. I appreciate what they’re trying to do with that show and I hope it continues.
But I’m getting excited about Blood and Chrome, because on the surface it sounds like a return to space-based drama that I really miss. We all miss 'splosions, don’t we? 
I wonder if they’ll bring in a younger Tigh, or did Adama not meet Tight till after the war?
I’ll chime in with a little Caprica love, but also admit that one of the main reasons I’m watching is to see the start of the war. And that it’s taking a little long getting there. Blood & Chrome would put us right into the fight. It would be a good jump, right in the middle of the timeline between Caprica & BSG.
If nothing else, I hope there’s another BSG show on there to further establish the franchise. Caprica’s got a waning audience, and the cylons deserve to be on the tellie.
Originally, they described the process of making the avatars from having a computer download their debit card records, bus passes, Spacebook updates, etc. That was the explanation for how the Adama girl got made. I get the feeling that they’ll quietly move away from that as the series progresses. Maybe they’ll retcon some CAT scan of the Adama girl in or something.
Ah, got it. I don’t think that is necessarily an inconsistent though as ThPrime said. There are pleny of ways to get a reference of someone in the Caprica universe besides ‘scanning’.
Well, the problem with the method they originally described is that it’s based on the idea that you can always mathematically derive source data from a hash, when in fact hash matching is a one way algorithm.
If you generate a 16 bit CRC for a 20 megabyte file, you end up with a 16 bit piece of data. If you generate a 16 bit CRC for a 1 gigabyte file, you also get a 16 bit piece of data. Can you use that 16 bits to recreate the original gigabyte? No. Then why would the producers of Caprica expect us to buy off on the idea that you can turn a credit card record into a personality?
Hecks bells, I do things all the time for weird reasons that even I, the doer, am not 100% clear on. Each action I perform is built on potentially hundreds (if not thousands) of layers of motivation, memory, genetics, and more with which I’m unfamiliar. Can you take a snarky facebook posting and determine from it that I have a hazy memory of playing catch with my dad and associate it with the smell of jasmine or something, and that I was thinking of a Douglas Adams book and had just had a meeting with my kids’ principal and it was raining etc etc etc just from that? No? Ok, how many credit card receipts do you need to add before you can make this connection? Library records? There’s a point where the ability to extrapolate runs into serious limitations.
And this brings us to the unveiling of the verb ‘scanning’ in the episode. I betcha they’ll be gradually moving away from Greystone’s “We can use your credit report to make a copy of you LOL” speak in the pilot and towards something based on some type of brain scan. Or something.
heyheyhey…language! Family type forum!
Don’t want BKitty getting upset… 
At the risk of completely derailing this thread…
And this brings us to the unveiling of the verb ‘scanning’ in the episode. I betcha they’ll be gradually moving away from Greystone’s “We can use your credit report to make a copy of you LOL” speak in the pilot and towards something based on some type of brain scan. Or something.
One of the things mentioned by avatar Zoe in the pilot as a source of information was medical records. For all we know the “scanner” that they use in Daniel’s lab for the holoband avatars (which we are told is what stores who sell the holoband use) is the same device that they use for medical imaging on Caprica. I see what you are saying though.
I believe that the green lighting of “Blood & Chrome” is the death knell for Caprica, and I’m really unhappy about this turn of events.
I enjoy Caprica. A lot. I like the way it’s setting up. I’m engaged with most of the characters by now. I believe it to be very fertile storytelling ground. I feel as though the writing has found it’s footing, and the acting is as good as BSG. I know I’m in the minority here, but I don’t mind a series that moves at a slower pace. This is, after all, backstory that hasn’t been told yet. I want to savor it, like a good meal or a fine wine.
None of that will likely matter. Syfy (ugggh) isn’t likely going to support TWO BSG spinoffs, and I think we know which one isn’t going to make it. It didn’t even have a chance to survive. 10 episodes, then a LONG break, then they MOVE the time slot… so typical. And if you listen to Katee Sackoff, the production costs for BSG were SIGNIFICANTLY LESS than comparable original, written series, so I’m at a loss as to why the quick trigger finger on something like Caprica (or Firefly, or (insert quality programming canceled way too quickly here)).
It’s getting to the point where it’s unlikely we’ll see a five year run of any original, written, fictional series, no matter how good it is.
Sigh. Sorry for the rant, but it’s depressing.
I’m very sorry to see Caprica cancelled. Shows are no longer given time to develop. It wasn’t great, but it was interesting.
I’m excited about ‘Blood and Chrome’ (great name). Yes bring on the Viper and space battles and flawed heroes.
(Gods I miss BSG!!)
I’m reading “Blood and Steel” out there on the internet as the name. Not sure which is correct.
Well there’s an entry up on IMDB for Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome now. So since their Pro site has a link I’d say that’s the name.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1704292/
Also article with Eick talking about the show: