Okay, now I'm really worried about Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome.

Not only did the released concept art make me cringe — depicting cylon models and technology neither mentioned or seen in the previous 80+ hours of BSG — but now they've cast some guy (Luke Pasqualino) I've never heard of as young William Adama.

No offense to Mr. Pasqualino, but why the frak are they messing with a known good thing?

Nico Cortez turned in a brilliantly nuanced and intense performance as Adama in Battlestar Galactica: Razor. He was so good that I never questioned he wasn't a young Edward James Olmos. Scores of other fans obviously felt the same way, which I thought made the casting of Adama a no-brainer: Don't mess with Bill, go with Nico.

But noooooooo.

I suppose I should be accustomed to disappointment by now with SyFy being associated with the show. The network is, after all, the one that canceled the visionary Battlestar Galactica prequel Caprica after mishandling it a dozen different ways — then blaming ratings — and deciding to fill their schedule with reality show crap and wrestling.

Which one of these guys looks like he could fill the shoes of Edward James Olmos and Bill Adama, humanity's savior from the cylons? Hint. The guy on the right has already worn the boots convincingly!

I guess we should just shut up and be satisfied that they let Battlestar finish its run and tell its story, even if some fans didn't like the ending, but I can't…

I WANT NICO!

Frankly, I have been on the fence about watching Blood and Chrome but now I have no reason to do so with this casting choice. It shatters my faith in the people helming the show on a network that has completely lost my respect.

What I fear most, though, is that Blood and Chrome will be a show with all style and no substance — in other words, nothing like BSG. And, unlike Caprica, which had both, Blood and Chrome has the potential to be a big, ugly blemish on the legacy of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica.

As a Caprica fan, though I’m loathe to put any money in SyFy’s pocket, I had to purchase the DVDs for Season 1 and 1.5. I want them for my library regardless of what SyFy does.

I just hope one day there’s a Blu-ray release. It honestly makes no sense that there’s not one considering the visual quality of the show. And yet, I can’t help but fear that the fact they didn’t even bother with Blu-ray the pilot signaled from the start SyFy’s lack of interest in supporting the show beyond its first season.

Or either they just don’t understand their audience … hmmmmm, maybe I’m on to something. What do you think?

What a lot we lost when we stopped writing letters. You can’t reread a phone call. ~ Liz Carpenter

My fellow Caprica fans, if you’ve found it difficult to find the time to sit down and write, print and mail a letter to SyFy, there’s now a more convenient way to do it.

Ryan over at Caprica Times scoped out an online service that will do the latter two steps for you at a small cost of “99¢ for the 1st page, 25¢ each additional page.” The fee is the same no matter where you are located in the world — though NJ residents do pay sales tax — so fans from those awesome 50+ countries represented on the petition can join us U.S. fans in the effort and not have to pay international postage.

What all this means is that, you just sit down and write and the service takes care of the rest, so no ink needed, no having to find an envelope, buy a stamp and go to the post office or mailbox.

I personally sent letters to all three recommended execs at a cost of $1.24 per letter, all from the comfort of my recliner. That’s a deal since I hate going to the post office — especially during the holidays.

Now, all that said, I’d like to make an appeal here that you keep letters positive and civil in nature. It’s best to avoid rants, harsh language, talk of boycotts, and other negative things. They’re already seeing enough of that on the Web outlets like Facebook, Twitter, and SyFy forums.

What they need to hear from us now is that we’re watching. They need to hear ideas on how to grow Caprica‘s audience, ideas on marketing and how they can make the show more profitable, etc. You don’t have to have a business or marketing degree, nor a background in the entertainment industry, to make suggestions. And don’t worry about your idea necessarily being something no one else has thought of, fans or otherwise. The most important thing right now is that they hear from us and know that we want to help them help Caprica.

If you need further impetus to write, then consider that historically, successful efforts to save shows have come from fans writing letters. I could speculate as to why, but I think, more than anything it’s because those fans sat down and took the time to express themselves in a method that takes more effort that tweeting or posting something on Facebook. Also, the letters are like a physical representation of fans — the more that are sent, the better chance we have of demonstrating to the network that the size of their audience exceeds what the ratings are telling them.

I appeal to you to make that effort now. Put your ideas for helping Caprica on paper (or in the WYSIWYG editor), and tell them why you watch the show and what you value in it.

If you need some inspiration on where to start, you can check out some of the ideas I sent them in my post “Dear SyFy, some ideas to help save Caprica,” and read my thoughts on why I love Caprica in the post “An open letter to SyFy regarding Caprica‘s demise.”

I do ask that you do not copy my posts directly, particularly the letter, as each letter sent needs to be unique. Your letter should express your personal thoughts on our beloved Caprica, though it is okay if our ideas for saving the show overlap. And letters don’t have to be long either. Keep in mind that we want to show them we’re here. Your letter is your representative and Caprica needs its representatives to step up to the plate and be counted.

Once you send your letter, please take a quick hop on over to Caprica Times and let others know you’ve enlisted in Caprica’s Cylon Army by leaving a comment!

And please remember, whether we’re successful persuading SyFy or not, the effort is worth making if only for the solace to be found in trying. It’s also a signal to any other networks or production companies out there, and an outcry for the science fiction genre and original sci-fi productions, which are being yanked from the airwaves at an alarming rate and being replaced with the unimaginative and uncreative.

So that’s it gang. Let’s get to writing.

So say we all?