Battlestar Galactica Prequel Soon To Be Released

Caprica Provides Backstory & History for Hit SciFi Channel TV Show

Apr 12, 2009

Set more than fifty years before Battlestar Galactica (BSG), Caprica lays a cultural foundation for the cult science fiction TV series that aired from 2004-2009.

In April 2009 the SciFi Channel will release a feature-length science fiction pilot for the series Caprica that will begin airing in 2010. The series, also called Caprica, will strive to explain, or at least begin setting up, the events which led to the development of the Cylons and their ultimate betrayal of the humans in the popular Battlestar Galactica series which aired it’s final episode in early 2009.

What is Battlestar Galactica (BSG)?

In 2003 the SciFi Channel launched a re-imagined version of Battlestar Galactica, a science fiction TV show that lasted only one season in 1978. The new concept for Battlestar Galactica (referred to simply as BSG by its fans) included many plot elements and characters from the original, yet the producers used a great deal of creative license in altering genders, relations and the overall stylistic treatment of the new series.

Though Cylons were definitely the enemy in both shows, in BSG the Cylons appeared most often in human form, making it difficult to tell who was human and who was a Cylon. While the all-metal Cylons (toasters) did appear in BSG, they were subservient to their masters, the “skinjobs”, who appeared to be human. And in fact it was the internal struggle between the Cylons themselves (the skin jobs) over their own existence that proved to be the most interesting of all of the BSG series throughlines.

Not only did the humans have to worry about who among them might be a Cylon, but the Cylons began to turn on each other and debate whether they were more man or machine. It is this struggle over identity, creation and purpose that ultimately lies at the heart of BSG and is the basis for Caprica.

How Will Caprica Advance the Battlestar Galactica Story?

Ostensibly an extended pilot for the 18-episode first season of the series (expected to premiere in 2010 on the SciFi Channel), Caprica, the two hour feature-length prequel to Battlestar Galactica (BSG), is due to be released on DVD on April 21, 2009. The film will also be available for digital download at select online destinations.

Billed as television’s first science fiction family drama, Caprica tells the story of two families, the Adamas and the Graystones. Joseph Adama is a civil liberties lawyer (and the father of BSG’s Admiral William Adama). Daniel Graystone is an inventor and businessman. The two men meet after each loses a daughter in the same terrorist attack.

The conflict begins when Graystone decides to bring the girls to life again as robots. Graystone throws all the resources of his company into bringing the girls back to life. When breakthroughs in robotics move in a questionable direction, Adama opposes Graystone’s work.

Are the girls the first “Cylons”? Remi Aubuchon, a writer and co-producer of Caprica, said, “The series is about our lack of control of technology.” Clearly this is at least an oblique reference to the future Cylon betrayal and attack on mankind.

Though it definitely plays to the huge fan base generated by the popularity of Battlestar Galactica (BSG), Caprica, the pilot, should offer new viewers an exciting and thought provoking story and a “way in” to the Battlestar franchise without feeling like they’ve missed out on five years of the story. And for existing fans of the BSG series, Caprica, the feature-length science fiction movie, should answer enough questions to keep them going until Caprica, the series, premieres in 2010.

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