BSG Fans - Caprica - Seen it? What did you think?

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Permalink Reply by Terril on July 1, 2009 at 6:09am

It was a pretty strong pilot, in this TV snob's humble opinion. Ronald D. Moore said that early on he had decided to make BSG an allegory for America and its impact on the rest of the world, and it seems as though that continues in Caprica. It definitely gave off a 1930's-New-York-plus-VR-and-robots vibe. It was also much racier than Galactica ever dared to be (b00bz for the win!).

One of the core components of the Galactica story was that through the abuse of technology we were the architects of our own demise. Since Caprica is the planet where the Cylons were developed, and it was the nexus of the Cylon attempt to exterminate humanity, it would be impossible to tell the story of Caprica without getting in to that again.

I think that there is still plenty of good storytelling to be mined from such a premise. A quick look around our daily lives reveals that technology is infiltrating even the most minute and mundane corners of our life. Everyone of your book puchases, movie rentals, video games played, and Facebook updates are meticulously stored in a database somewhere. Individually these are mundane records kept to provide you with services better tailored to your tastes. It's not hard to imagine however that in the aggregate, they can be easily compiled to create a detailed profile of who you are, what you like and where to find you. It will be a while before sci-fi writers exhaust that well.

You had asked if I thought that Moore and Eick were challenging us to examine our views on terrorism. I would answer with a resounding "Yes!" I always felt that BSG was at its best on New Caprica, with all the clandestine workings of the resistance, the interplay between Gaeta and Baltar, and the jaw-dropping exodus from the planet. Those episodes gave us a great sense of perspective on the war in Iraq. Acts that we were accustomed to viewing as senseless terrorism were being portrayed as heroic sacrifices in the name of freedom. Instead of condemning or approving those acts, it served to remind us that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.

I'm hoping that Moore and Eick give the "one Cylon God" storyline a well-deserved rest. I know that they are setting up major storylines with fringe radicals, but it can wear thin quickly. During BSG there were more than a few times that I rolled my eyes when Baltar started droning on and on over the shortwave. Plus, I had more than a few issues with the BSG finale.

When it comes to what I hope the series will explore, I hope they broaden their scope from BSG. I like my heroes flawed and tragic, not raving religious looneys. In short, I'd like to see the fall of Caprica blamed on the greed and shortcomings of everyday men rather than because of the acts of some fringe group of robo-jihadists.

I'm also eagerly awaiting The Plan. I'd like to see what the Cylons had in mind at the beginning.

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Permalink Reply by J Derek on July 2, 2009 at 5:15am

I found myself only semi-interested through the first half. Which can often happen with back stories anyway. While I think it's great to see some of the very beginnings of all this, It would seem to be more intriguing to cover the dawn of the skin jobs. I wonder if we'll see that at some point. I certainly hope.

I already see one potential "hole." The transfer of the conscious. This apparently took place between Zoe and her avatar with no explanation behind the technology. May not be an issue to some. But is to me. Maybe they will clear it up later.

All your religious implications are almost blatant. As important as it seems to be to the underlying story, I'd rather see it downplayed in the future too.

I'll be watching in the future.

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