Caprica - Battlestar Galactica Prequel
Pilot Episode of the Spin-Off from the Cult TV Show
Aug 25, 2009
Set 58 years before the events shown in the Battlestar Galactica mini-series, this prequel to the acclaimed TV show intends to show how the development of the Cylons brought about Caprica’s destruction. Although designed to stand apart from its parent show there enough resonances with BSG to please fans, not least the presence of a young William Adama.
Caprica 58 Years Before the Fall
Teen computer wiz Zoe Graystone (Allesandra Torresani) has managed to create an artificial version of herself with all her memories and life experiences. She uploads her second self into a virtual nightclub using a holoband, the invention of her scientist father Daniel (Eric Stoltz). The Graystones are privileged, but Zoe is rebellious, especially towards her mother Amanda (Deadwood’s Paula Malcomson). Together with her friends Lacey (Magda Apanowicz) and Ben (Avan Jogia) she decides to leave Caprica for a new life off-world. As they are about to board the train, Lacey backs out at the last moment and stays on the platform.
Just as BSG alluded to the war on terror, Caprica presents a world filled with religious conflict. Ben belongs to an organisation called ‘The Soldiers of the One’ and carries out a suicide bombing destroying the train. This group worships a single, all-knowing, all-powerful God and follow a path they refer to as ‘The Way.’ There are also racial divisions between Capricans and Taurans, with the latter being treated with suspicion.
Caprica Shows the Origins of the Cylons
Daniel Graystone is bereft and forms a tentative friendship with Joseph Adama (Esai Morales The Shield), who lost his wife and daughter in the blast. Adama is Tauran and appears to be involved in dubious business practices. After Lacey inadvertently reveals the presence of Zoe’s virtual duplicate online, Graystone realises his daughter has accomplished something remarkable and outdone his own studies into creating artificial intelligence.
The grief-stricken Graystone wants to bring this version of Zoe into the real world, by developing a body to put her in. Adama is appalled when Graystone takes him into the virtual nightclub and introduces him to his replicate daughter. “She (Zoe) took a search engine and turned it into a way to cheat death.” Graystone believes this copy of Zoe is as good as the real thing, while Adama considers her nothing more than a backup copy. For him the dead are gone, regardless of whether or not you have a replica of them made.
Caprica’s Style – Futuristic and Retro
There were flashbacks to life on Caprica in BSG and we get to see more of the city here. It is an interesting creation, mixing the futuristic with the retro, but without making the architecture too extravagant or out of the ordinary. The men wear clothes straight out of a Film Noir, right down to the trilby hats. Caprica is also one of the few network shows in which characters are allowed to smoke cigarettes, another example of science-fiction’s ability to get away with things mainstream drama never could.
Caprica Shows Considerable Promise
Despite a difficult opening hour that requires the viewer pay attention to work out what exactly is going on, Caprica becomes more interesting as it goes on. Although designed as a show that can be watched by newcomers with no prior experience of the BSG universe, Caprica complements its parent show perfectly. It shares similar thematic concerns most notably in asking the question, what does it mean to be human? and has enough references to the original show, including an early version of a Centurion Cylon, to keep BSG fans hooked.
Caprica returns for a full season of 22 episodes in January 2010.
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