Yes, you read that headline correctly. Syfy is preparing a new Battlestar Galactica series, currently entitled Blood and Chrome, that will follow the exploits of William Adama during the Cylon War.

However, before you start to get too excited the series won’t actually be a full blown TV show airing on Syfy. Instead, it will be a web series with about 10 episodes, each around 9 minutes long. Not that I have anything against web series, in fact I kinda love them. I was just hoping for a new network show with a big budget and lots of awesome Cylon heads exploding and big space battles.

Oh well, here’s more on the show from Syfy:

According to Mark Stern, Syfy’s executive vice president of original programming and the co-head of original content for Universal Cable Productions, “Battlestar Galactica” and “Caprica” co-executive producer Michael Taylor will write the the script for the new venture.

“Blood & Chrome” is “about a young man’s initiation into war: both the realities of war as fought by soldiers on the ground (and in Battlestars and Vipers), and the somewhat less real version portrayed in the media,” according to Taylor.

“Blood & Chrome” would consist of nine or 10 episodes of nine or 10 minutes each, and it would make use of cutting-edge digital technology and special effects to depict the Cylon War. If it is greenlit to production, it will be filmed using green screens and virtual sets, not unlike Syfy’s “Sanctuary” or James Cameron’s “Avatar.” Before “Battlestar Galactica” ended, high-tech scans were made of all the show’s sets, so that the special-effects team will be able to re-create them (possibly even in 3D).

But wait, there’s more:

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Sadly, not very many of you ended up watching Ron Moore and Michael Taylor’s “back door” pilot Virtuality on Fox last Friday. The numbers were not very high at all, which pretty much ensures the show will never become a series. That’s unfortunate because the pilot was very well done and would have made quite a good series.

Well cast, well directed (by Peter Berg) with engaging characters, clever dialog, some action, suspense and a mystery plot twist at the end would have made me tune in each week to follow the continuing story of the Phaeton crew on its mission to save earth. My one major problem with the show isn’t really a problem with the show exactly, its with Fox billing it as a “TV Movie.”

This is not a movie because a movie has an ending that finishes a story and explains most of the questions raised during the story. This was a pilot that assuredly ended with the beginning of a story, which is exactly what a pilot is supposed to do. For whatever reason, Fox has consigned Virtuality to the scrap heap of discarded quality shows that never really got a chance and decided to cut its losses and air the show on Friday to see what happens.

Fortunately, you can now catch this terrific pilot on Hulu and Fox on Demand. Go watch it and enjoy it as much as I did. Then, if you do, let Fox know you would really like to see it become a series. Who knows, maybe they’ll actually listen? Although, I wouldn’t suggest holding your breath.

Be sure to check out the show on Hulu or feel free to watch it right here after the jump.

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