Now that we’ve had some time to grieve the loss of Battlestar Galactica…
SyFy is helping us move on with a DVD release of the 90 minute pilot of Caprica, the BSG prequel series that takes places 50 years before the Colonies go up in smoke.
Spoilers ahead… Read the full review!
IT’S GOOD
My first piece of advice when approaching Caprica is to let go of your expectations for another Battlestar Galactica. There will never be another BSG, even from the same creators working in the same universe. But this is not a bad thing. Caprica offers a whole new way to explore some of BSG’s favorite themes. We’ve come to expect sci-fi drama that tackles serious and complicated issues. Caprica delivers that in spades.
There’s plenty of great stuff for the writers to sink their teeth into. Caprica is a world similar to our own — technology-driven yet still warped by religious fervor, politics, and racial prejudice. It’s also on the verge of a major breakthrough thanks to genius Daniel Graystone (Eric Stoltz), who is developing the first incarnation of our beloved Toasters.
Several plot threads are covered in 90 minutes: a terrorist attack, it’s subsequent investigation, Zoe and her school friends’ involvement in a religious-nutjob-cult, Daniel’s rivalry with a competing robotics company, and Joseph Adama’s dealings with the Tauran mafia.
Coming out of the pilot, there are two main issues that I am most looking forward to seeing explored in Caprica: what is “right” and “wrong” when it comes to the development of Artificial Intelligence and other technologies; and the clash of monotheism and polytheism amongst the colonists.
NOT YOUR FATHER’S HOLODECK
Let’s put it this way, you won’t be seeing Data and Geordi La Forge roleplaying Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in this virtual construct.
Zoe Graystone and her pals hang out in a virtual reality night club they call “V Club” using a device called a Holoband. There’s some straight up crazy stuff happening there, too. Like, human-sacrifice-kind-of-crazy. And lots of sex… the DVD is delightfully uncut and unrated.
It’s in this hyper-advanced “Second Life” that Zoe has constructed a virtual doppleganger of herself — a consciousness that allows her to live on after her death. Daniel downloads Zoe’s virtual mind into one of his robot bodies and voila… we’re given one of the creepier sounding “Daddy?” lines ever emitted on screen.
TEENAGE ANGST
My chief beef with Caprica is the fact that I don’t like Zoe Graystone. Umm… I get that she’s all teenage angsty and stuff, but I couldn’t find any redeeming qualities to make me want her to come back to life after she got blown up. And oh yeah, she’s a terrorist. (Update: On second viewing, I actually liked Zoe a lot more. Guess she’s one of those characters that has to grow on you.)
OH BOY… IT’S AN ADAMA
I understand why Moore and Eick put the Adamas in Caprica — presumably to appease BSG fans and make them feel a stronger connection to the world — but it just seems superfluous. I thought my days of Adama bashing were behind me. Esai Morales plays Joseph Adama, father of William, and it looks like Bill is a chip off the old block: self righteousness + hypocrisy + workaholic + fear of A.I. = Adama.
I gotta say, I was a little surprised not to see young Bill Adama hitting the bottle… It can’t be too far off, though. I’m sure we’ll see him throwing back shots at some point in the series. Perhaps at the V Club?
I’M IN
Judging from the pilot, Caprica is going to be a very unique show — something that can totally stand on it’s own but has the power of an already established (and beloved) mythology behind it. Bring it.
I’m a little wary of the show because I’ll miss the space battles but it sounds like you think it’s pretty solid. I’ll check it out
Hey PyramidChamp,
You’ll be happy to hear your game of choice is as popular as ever in the Caprica pilot. I think you have a genuine concern when it comes to action in Caprica. I’m not sure how (or if) they will incorporate action sequences into the show. Perhaps this is where the Tauran mafia comes in?
Awesome!!!
I’m glad you are in. But I honestly don’t think I want to watch a show where I know that not too far in the future every single thing they do or create will end up destroyed, what’s the point?
I think the biggest challenge in this series is to tell a compelling story that we all know the ending to. This makes the craft of the storytelling that much harder, but can provide some really amazing results.
And I’m glad the theme and plot device of terrorism in the 00′s has become this generations modus operandi, the way the threat of Russian communism encroaching on the American way of life was in the 80′s. Thanks Al-Qaeda!!! Sheesh … I mean, I understand that the conflict of man vs. machine is really man vs. self since we fight what we create, but really, do we need terrorism in every frakkin story???
That said, I love Eric Stoltz, and I can’t wait to see this. Great review!
Solidan & Narfangirl18,
Honestly, the fact that I know that cylon technology is going to destroy the colonies in the distant future of this universe doesn’t bother me at all — because that’s not really the end of THIS story.
The events of Caprica are set so much farther in the future (50 years) that the apocalyptic ending won’t even play a factor in the drama of this series (unless the show goes 50 seasons, as RDM joked at Paleyfest).
This liberates the show to find it’s own ending in the lives and conflicts of these characters in this time — what that ending is, no one knows. So for me, there’s no sense of having the show spoiled by knowing what happens in the distant future. I can’t wait to see what they do with it!
*Caprica*.
So I just watched the series premiere of Caprica and I am excited.
In the first 60 minutes there is Sex, Cylons, Human Sacrifice, Use age of the word Frak, Explosions, and the Adama’s. What else can any BSG Fan ask for? We even get to see a young William ‘Bill’ Adama. I guess we wont see him in strip clubs getting smashed anytime soon.
I honestly do not mind knowing the doomed fate of the colonies 58 years ahead of time.
*Pro A.I vs Anti A.I.*
In watching Battlestar Galactica I always used to Wonder did anyone ever once think Humans making Cylons was a bad idea. Surly there had to be one person or a group of people to say: “This idea maybe a bad one.” I think in this series we will see who some of these people / groups of people are. I also love the Pro Technology / A.I society in this universe. V.S. In Battlestar Galatica it seemed like such an Anti A.I society prior to ‘The Fall’.
*God’s vs God*
I always wanted to understand why it is the people of the colonies are so anti the idea of one god. In the Battlestar Galactica series any person who believed in one god was seen as a heretic. I hope in time we can see the point of view of the monotheistic believers and not just the polytheistic view point.
What event pushed monotheistic believers into thinking that fraking shit up was the way to go?
*Death Vs. Everlasting Life*
In Battlestar Galactica the Six’s, Sharon’s, and Leoben’s gave up resurrection.
Not only was it to ‘even out the playing field’ but there was also a message behind that point. Without death how can life have true meaning? The Cylons knew human’s valued life so highly because at some point human’s all died.
In Caprica the same question is revisited. However the question is:
What is the purpose of Ethics if life truly is everlasting?
*I Can’t Stand You Sand Eaters*
In the series Battlestar Galactica there was really no racial issues. For the most part the only major difference that was acknowledged was gender. Even with that acknowledgment the vibe of the crew and civilians came off as gender neutral.
If race is going to play a role in this series will we see the end of racism in Caprica and the rest of the colonies?
(In the series I noticed a person’s Race seems to be based on the planet a person was born on. Not by the color of the person’s skin. I find this to be creative way to deal with racism).
Great write up, Jules!
I love your point about the racial issues. I remember some conflicts between planets on BSG, but nothing like what we saw in Caprica that was so clearly a reflection of our society. I think it’d be really cool if they can find a non-saccharine way of “ending” racial prejudice on Caprica, but since drama is based on conflict, they probably will stick to the tribal mentality for some of their characters (especially the mob).
I, too, am very excited to see what the Pro A.I. versus Anti A.I. groups on Caprica have to say to eachother. This could get messy!
I believe Tigh made some racist comments in “The Woman King”, when he defended the doctor that turned out to be the BSG version of Dr Mengele.
http://www.sliceofscifi.com/2009/04/21/caprica-producer-jane-espenson-redefines-racism-in-the-bsg-universe-an-amc-interview/
Q: There’s a lot of really blatant racism in Caprica — something you got a hint of in BSG but never really saw head-on.
A: Yeah, having a common enemy does a really good job of bringing people together. We always knew that there were tensions between the residents of the various Colonies before the Cylons came along, and now we get to explore that some more. We know from real life that it seems impossible to achieve peace on one planet. Twelve planets… it seems too Utopian to think that they wouldn’t have conflicts. And I’ve always been intrigued by the fact that racism in the BSG universe is entirely cultural — not based on ethnicity — and that it exists in a world with little prejudice based on gender or orientation. Separating cultural conflict from conflict along all those other axes… it makes it starker.
I just got done re-watching Caprica and wanted to add something else to my reply.
In BSG I always wanted to know how Cylons came to have faith in a single God.
Caprica maybe have just given us that answer. How sweet is that! Could the events that lead to the First Cylon War be part of a religious rebellion?
Because religion seems to play a huge role in many of the lives of these people.
With that said.
The way the show deals with religion is so awesome and kind of fascinating to me.
Plus it’s the one topic on the BSG Universe that draws me in.
I myself don’t attend or identify with and faith based religion.
I do acknowledge that there is something that is bigger then me.
Whenever I meet people who don’t watch BSG. When asked to sum up the series I make sure to say: Cylons are monotheistic. Humans are polytheistic.
Later in the series when humans started coming out saying they had faith in one god. I felt like link between the Cylon and Human monotheistic faith was there. I just could not put my finger on it.
I am curious on how far religion affects the development of Cylons.
Without the humans knowing it.
Beautifully done, exceptionally well done plot, it`s what BSG should have been. But as I work I missed a good bit…