When Battlestar Galactica ended in March we all knew that Caprica was coming. There is trepidation though when it comes to any spin off, sequel or prequel. We all want the exact same feeling from a sequel that we got from the original. Yet at the same time we will all scream bloody murder if the follow up is an exact copy. Rest assured Battlestar Galactica fans, Caprica is not a clone but delivers that one two punch we have all come to love and expect from Battlestar Galactica. Caprica is its own story with glimpses of its predecessor much like Ronald Moore’s Battlestar was to the original.
Universal Studios is selling the show as a great rivalry between two houses on the planet Caprica. This may come true as the series, which begins on SyFy in 2010, progresses but the pilot features none of this rivalry. The first family we learn about has little or no ties to any characters in the Battlestar Galactica series. Eric Graystone (Eric Stoltz) is the Steve Jobs of Caprica. His inventions have changed the face of the 12 Colonies and have made him a very influential and powerful man. His daughter, Zoe (Alessandra Toreson), is hellion and bends the rules of the Holoband (virtual world) her father created. It turns out that Zoe is as brilliant as her father and has found a way to copy her real world self into the virtual world.
We are then introduced to the more familiar “Adams” family. Joseph Adams (Esai Morales) is an attorney on Caprica who defends the less reputable members of its society. Adams is first seen talking to his wife a daughter and right after he tells them he’ll see them at their son’s birthday party they die in a terrorist attack. Adams, it turns out, is Admiral William Adama’s (Edward James Olmos) farther, the one that Lee Adama (Jamie Bamber) looked up to and emulated in the third season of Battlestar Galactica.
The connection between Graystone and Adams is that Zoe is killed in the same terrorist attack as the Adams women. Grief stricken, the two men find a common bond and look to one another for answers and resolution. This abruptly changes when Graystone learns of his daughter’s digital copy. The other shoe falls as Graystone’s less public persona is reveled in that he is also a weapons designer. His most recent creation is a war machine called the cybernetic life-form node. It only has one fault and that is its central processing unit. However, his competitor’s design is supposed to be ten years ahead of his own. Enter into the story again William Adams and his seedy Tauron connections.
There are of course several great potential hooks to this series. The first one being that Joseph Adams is in fact the father to William Adama, an eleven year old boy in the series. Joseph, a newly single parent, will have to raise the boy into the man we all know to be Admiral Adama. Another great insight into the Battlestar Galactica mythos is the emergence of the “one true god” philosophy on Caprica. Zoe and her friends practice this monotheistic religion in secret but its roots and teaching come from possibly a far greater source then the one we are shown. Finally, and without a doubt, the true lure comes in the form of “by your command”.
Ronald Moore and David Eick are treading on dangerous ground by going back fifty plus years and looking at the beginning of the fall of humanity. George Lucas’s own attempt to explain the how and why was not completely successful. With television’s broader scope and time frame their chance for success obviously increases. Oddly enough there are several moments at the beginning where one could think this new series could be a sci-fi version of 90210 or even Nip/Tuck. Things start to connect too easily and it seems that a phantom menace headache might loom over the series. Yet after several of the characters motivations are revealed it is clear that this new show will not fall into that same prime time soap opera genre or be so easily contrived as one Jedi’s downfall. Caprica held numerous surprises and the pilot seeded the series with enough plots lines that Ronald Moore may just redefine the genre all over again.
Now all we have to do is sit and wait for Caprica to begin. Thankfully, being a Battlestar Galactica fan, it is something that I am used to.
Here is a clip from Caprica featuring Esai Morales and William B. Davis:
I watched the Caprica Pilot Episode DVD this weekend. I thought it was pretty good in some aspects, but lacking in others. It was a decent first episode, so I'll definately give it a chance for a few more episodes. Battlestar Galactica was just non-stop intensity from start to finish, but this story is much slower paced and obviously has very few space battles that help to fuel the intensity.
Caprica also has the problem of "we already know the outcome". So it doesn't give you much to invest in other than finding out how it all happened. It just doesn't have as much at stake in those regards.
Anyways, I did enjoy the show enough to keep wanting to see some more. Esai Morales does a very good job, as expected. The rest of the characters I haven't really attached to yet, so we'll see.
I just got a hanso version last night but I haven't had a chance to watch it yet.
Any Battlestars in this one? Shouldn't the time this takes place have the 12 original Battlestar representing the 12 colonies? Or will they save that for the series? Not that i expect a Battlestar to have a big part but it would be cool to see them in their prime.
I enjoyed it more then I thought I would but will have to wait and see how the show itself pans out. I think the show will focus on more of the political and personal battles between the Greystones & Adam(a)s. I doubt that we will even see any of the eventual first Cylon war. The series will most likely end on the eve of the revolution.
We may eventually see some of the Battlestars I have a feeling that we will never see any of the cast from BSG unless they play parents or grandparents of those characters.
Yeah, I meant actual Battlestars...as in the 12 original ships to represent the 12 original colonies as described in the pilot of BSG.
You misunderstood movielord, I wasn't talking about Battlestar Galactica cast which obviously we know we won't see them if this takes place 50 years earlier.
I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. took me about 15-20 min to really get into it. then I was hooked. Just enough of the baltlestar tech and feel to really make it cool. I reallly liked the virtual internet. very cool, can't wait to have it for real.
Loved seeing the creatinon, and eventually the evolution of Centurions. Eric Stoltz did a better job than I thought he would, and I didn't see the Bill Adama thing coming, which was a nice cool surprise.
I was also surprised at the nudity, I thought this would be the a SciFi TV pilot, but the version I saw was not shy about the topless ladies. Too bad we never saw #6 or boomer in this rating of a show. mmmmmmmm
Definitly gonna watch more of this show, I give the pilot B , A- Very well done, and reminicant of BSG, but not a carbon copy
"Caprica also has the problem of "we already know the outcome" -- yeah it's called tragic irony. The series is about the downfall of the Colonial civilization while BSG was about redemption of said civilization. Ronald Moore and Co. are taking a cue from Greek Tragedies such as the Oedipus Cycle. When we already know the outcome, the catharsis comes from watching the characters making tragic mistakes and thinking about how we would fare in similar situation.
As a web developer I must beg you, throw away IE8,7,6,5,4,3,2, and 1. They are all poison.
I found this pilot to be extremely boring. But I also thought the Battlestar pilot sucked and the series turned out great so who knows? But really, it seems really bad.
Remember Boxy from the Battlestar pilot and first episode? Of course not, no one does. One of the best ideas they ever had was dropping that character like a bag of dirt and concentrating on the adults but this series is full of teenagers. It's doomed.
They killed most of the teenagers already, and the one left is Bill Adama, wanna see him grow up. AND maybe we'll see a glimpse of Rosylyn.
AND BTW, You thought the BSG pilot movie sucked???!!!!
The very first time I ever posted on a geek website, was after the last ep of the mini series! I immediately ran to my computer, and got on scifi.com to beg for more BSG
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