Charting our Future
May 14, 2011A bunch of 13th Colonists got together today to chat about the future of our BSG Fan club. Recent news that NBC has officially passed on “17th Precinct” the latest project from Ronald D Moore starring a number of BSG alumni, means that we’ve got a long wait before any new BSG content is revealed. At this point, it looks like “BSG: Blood & Chrome” won’t arrive until some time in 2012. So, what are fans to do in the meantime? We’ve got a few ideas.
We’re going to do more location scouting. It’s a fun way to wander around and visit some parts of our city we might not otherwise visit. Included in this, of course, are more 13th Colony Video Files. Episode #4 is in editing right now, and #5 is part way through production. We’ll let you know once they are up on Youtube.
We’ve got board games to play! The 13th Colony will continue to hold regular BSG board game meetups, and I’ve heard we’ve actually finally got into the expansion sets, so lots of fun to be had there.
We have a Viper Burning to get done. Last year’s viper is still waiting to go up in flames and with it’s current guardians moving soon, we’ll put that one on the schedule sooner rather than later. We’re probably going to go back out to Centennial Beach to get the deed done, but since the park closes at dusk, we’ll schedule an event for the daytime.
We’re also considering ‘Commentary Parties’ wherein we re-watch certain episodes with the commentary track on, giving us some new insights; ‘Costuming Workshops’ for those planning ahead for Halloween or convention appearances; and may even challenge the other local clubs to a bowling challenge!
Of course, any conversation about the future of 13th Colony has to cover the prospect that the club will wrap up. If “Blood & Chrome” doesn’t air, doesn’t get good enough ratings to continue as a series, or just doesn’t work, all of those members I’ve talked to are just fine with wrapping up 13th Colony. We would much rather give it an end date than leave it to linger, wither and die eventually. It’s an option, but it’s a long way off yet.
The 13th Colony 
I think Blood & Chrome will get picked up as a series. There’s no way that SyFy wants their BSG franchise in mothballs. It put their network on the map. Caprica failed, but I don’t think it was ever the show that SyFy wanted, I think they were stuck with it because it was what Ron Moore wanted to do. It was a risk and it didn’t pay off, but at least they completed 1 full season.
I think Blood & Chrome is the BSG spinoff that SyFy really wanted. I think they want BSG to become the next Stargate or Star Trek with spinoff after spinoff. I’m not saying that I think it’s going to be any good, but I’d be really surprised if they spend a load of money on the pilot without also picking it up as a series. There’s always the chance that ratings for the pilot will be so bad that they can’t pick it up, but I think they’ll be decent enough.
The real issue I think is the amount of time this is going to take. If the pilot airs this Fall, it could still be over a year before a regular series gets off the ground.