Caprica - Pilot (101)

[GateWorld]

CAPRICA SEASON ONE CAPRICA (PILOT) EPISODE NUMBER - 101 In the wake of a terrorist bombing in the city of Caprica, two families must deal with the loss of their loved ones: Joe Adams, a lawyer with ties to the mob, and Daniel Graystone, a wealthy scientist who believes he may have found a way to be with his deceased daughter again. VISIT THE EPISODE GUIDE >

[Jeffala]

There were lots of boobs in the DVD. More than I expected.

[The Signal]

So, the long awaited/dreaded Caprica pilot is at last here with us.

I actually really enjoyed it. It's far from BSG in just about every way from the typically sci-fi technology (whereas BSG leaned towards retro) to the almost total lack of action (which did make the couple of action oriented scenes we did get much more effective). Perhaps the biggest contrast is that BSG had families struggling to stay together, while the rest of the fleet was being brought together by their collective suffering. Caprica is almost the opposite of that. We see that society is changing, monotheism presenting a threat to the public, racism, and out of control underground youth subcultures. However, at its core, Caprica is about the Adams (Adama) and Greystone families doing their very best to stick together after a tragedy.

Whereas Galactica presented itself as "naturalistic science fiction", this is very much a step further in both directions. Though it's a character drama with a sci-fi backdrop, the science fiction elements are not so grounded. That's not only understandable but given what we already knew about the colonies before the war, it's necessary for the sake of continuity. The colonies had a great deal of technology at their disposal which they eventually sacrificed during the Cylon war to protect themselves, as was mentioned way back in the BSG mini-series. While the science bit is important for reasons I won't spoil, they bring the story to a point, and then hand it over to the characters.

The only really problem I have at this point is that the cast isn't nearly as strong as BSG's but give them time and I think they'll figure it out. In particular, grief... It's the cornerstone of the pilot and yet most of the actors didn't really sell that well enough for me. That and the nudity, it wasn't really necessary. References to the sexual activity of certain characters were far more effective than having extras writhing all over each other, waving big signs around saying "look, sexual morality is an issue here".

Other little things that worked, well there was a lot. The direction was good, the music was great (but then it's McCreary so that was always going to be true, some nice BSG reprises in there) and there was a real sense of this being a real world with real issues.

I also like that it has a finite lifespan of just 5 years from the outset (This is set 58 years before the fall, the war lasted 13 years and then there was a 40 year peace before the BSG miniseries). BSG obviously had a story that it wanted to follow but it was only towards the end that they decided when they were going to end the show - that led to S4 being geared towards answering the questions as quickly as possible which left a lot of fans feeling short change, that won't be happening with Caprica.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised. It's not BSG quality by a long shot, but it's not the utter crap a lot of people have been expecting either.

Oh, and notice the icon the sect (NOT a cult, there's a difference and it's bloody annoying when they get it wrong) used? The broken symbol of infinity? As in - "find the one true god and we can break the endless cycle"?

[pbellosom]

I'm blown away. I came into this Pilot expecting many thing, it to be good was not one of them. So now we know why the cylons came in built with monotheism then. Also the high role of religion in Caprica seems to imply to me that perhaps we may actually get an explanation about the lords of Kobol or at least more information.

I am correct in thinking it's been commissioned for a series, right?

[the fifth man]

I'm blown away. I came into this Pilot expecting many thing, it to be good was not one of them. So now we know why the cylons came in built with monotheism then. Also the high role of religion in Caprica seems to imply to me that perhaps we may actually get an explanation about the lords of Kobol or at least more information.

I am correct in thinking it's been commissioned for a series, right?

Yes you are. I believe it is supposed to start sometime early next year.

I thought the Pilot was way better than I was expecting. It is definitely different from BSG, but not in a bad way. I have a lot of hope for this show.

[entil2001]

With "Battlestar Galactica" now all but concluded (only "The Plan" remains), it's time to turn attention to the new series set in the same universe. Ostensibly a "prequel" to the more familiar series, this actually tells a particular portion of the backstory in the Galactica canon.

As per the final season of "Battlestar Galactica", artificial life is nothing new to humanity. Cylons were created on Kobol long before the 12 Colonies were founded. But all of the Kobol Cylons ultimately left to become the 13th Tribe, leaving humanity to form the 12 Colonies. Thousands of years passed, at which point the Humans of the 12 Colonies forgot many of the lessons of Kobol and began to progress towards artificial life once again. About 50-60 years before "the Fall", the first Colonial Cylons were born. These would eventually become the Centurions that rebelled in the First Cylon War, which ended when the Final Five survivors of the 13th Tribe arrived and offered the secret of resurrection in exchange for ending the war with Humanity.

"Caprica" is the story of how those first Cylons emerged. Considering that this pilot is set about 58 years before the beginning of "Battlestar Galactica", there's very little in the way of direct overlap. The series centers on two families: the Greystones and the Adamas. The pilot is essentially the story of how Daniel Greystone and Joseph Adama (William's oft-mentioned father) end up creating the first Cylon out of a shared tragedy.

The Cylons are the most obvious connection to the mother series, but there are a number of other touchstones throughout the story that harken to future events. Those undertones are there right from the beginning. Greystone is apparently a computer genius, and has managed to create virtual-reality technology. This has, in short order, spawned an underground set of "virtual clubs", where teens and other young people engage in group sex, drug use, and ultraviolence.

This unrated version of the pilot can easily be cut for broadcast purposes, but it might lose something in the translation. As it is, the club scenes are just barely enough to communicate the extent and popularity of the clubs among disaffected teens (and as with the real world, that is quite the substantial population). They could have gone a lot further, because the point is to deliver a message: this is what lies beneath the civilized veneer.

This ties, however indirectly, into William Adama's speech in the "Battlestar Galactica" mini-series. He asks the crucial question: is Humanity worthy of survival? It's not just a question of who is being judged, but who has decided to do the judging. In this case, that would be the Cylons, and they begin as a digital copy of Daniel Greystone's daughter Zoe.

This is more important than the technological aspects of her transition to Cylon. Zoe is member of a monotheistic terrorist organization, and she sees the behavior in the virtual clubs as the disgusting product of the stagnant polytheistic Colonial society. Her virtual copy retains that moral judgment of Human society, and therefore retains her desire to change things. In essence, this not only explains the genesis of Cylon monotheism, but also serves to explain why their particular brand of monotheism would lead them to revolt and, eventually, genocide.

The amoral aspects of Colonial society are not confined to the teenagers, of course. The adults are just as bad, if not worse. Greystone himself ignores any number of warnings that his plan to "resurrect" Zoe is a Very Bad Idea, but that's just the beginning. He convinces Joseph Adama to help him use an organized crime syndicate to steal a component for the experiment, for example.

Adama's connection to organized crime seems like a bit of a cliche at first. However, upon closer inspection, it feels more like history transplanted into the future. The discrimination against the Taurons is similar to the prejudice shown against the Sagittarons, which always felt like any of several historical examples of anti-immigrant prejudice in American history. The parallels aren't hard to recognize, so it makes sense that the usual solution of organized crime would result. And the practice of changing names to blend into a new society continues today. All of these elements provide a hook for dealing with social prejudice issues.

What makes it all interesting is how it's all presented. It looks very much like the world that was always shown in those short flashbacks to the Colonies in "Battlestar Galactica". More importantly, there are tons of little visual reminders that this is the same universe. That said, the only blatant connection is the proto-Cylon technology. Everything else is just a slightly more modern world than our own.

The pilot itself could have been re-edited to be a stand-alone film if necessary. It's so self-contained in so many ways that I'm still not sure how this is going to evolve into a series. I have some faith in the writing staff, of course, but it's going to be a long wait until the series hits the air in 2010.

While the acting is top-notch, even in terms of the teenage characters, the pacing, especially at the beginning, is sometimes distressingly slow and ponderous. The same was true for the "Battlestar Galactica" mini-series, however, so it's not necessarily a sign of bad things to come. And it is definitely the kind of material that gains on reflection. Small things that initially escape notice creep back into awareness after the fact. I can only imagine that repeated viewings will draw out more tidbits to ponder.

[knowles2]

I have just watch some of caprica, just skip through for now will rewatch at a later date. It was alright but I really do not see where they going to get four seasons worth of story from, in fact I do not see more than five to six episodes or may be one season if they move us into the first cylon war era but four to fives season will make the entire series feel drag out, it was showing signs being drag out in the pilot, so it only going to get worst.

The opening scenes were awrsome and really show what would probably happen in such a virtual environment in real life, when they are built in the next 30 years, teenagers life will certainly be more interesting.

The whole transplanting conscious thing just opens up whole load of plot holes in Bsg, you know this one human scientist could figure it out and somehow and entire cylon civilisation cannot, I mean come on.
Then you got the changing control panels from english to caprica back to English back to caprice I mean comeon either leave it all in English meaning you have to make sure it all make sense with in the context of what is shown screen or keep it all in the alien language but make sure it the same through out the series, both requires work, the mixing the two up just makes them look lazy.


Why some of the shots and cgi was awesome, some were just terrible, especially the shooting range scene is one example of just terrible, the cylon waking up on the table was one example of brilliance. As for the skin shown at the beginning there know way to cut that out with out removing the feeling of how evil these people, by the I am not say lesbian sex is evil,( it is in fact as far from evil as you can get) can be in a environment where they can get away with anything and do anything they want, stripping that from the opening sequence and strip away the essence of the struggle for the one true god and why in there view the religion needs changing.That what I got from watching about 20 minutes of it. S
o may be I just missed what going to make the grounder story and more in depth and give us seasons worth of story because at the moment I am not. I will temporarily stop using craprica, at least until the first episodes are aired through.

[Pharaoh Atem]

saw it and i loved it. great to see established materiel "frak" "gods" and stuff we know and love but in a new environment. i wanted to tell bill all the great adventures that lay ahead for him.

I loved Daniel really really good character and seeing the original centurions was cool but it looked much more realistic then it ever was in BSG

overall 9/10

[Chev's Ron]

I expected it to be good, but in the end, it turned out to be great!

From the first scene in the club, Zoe's "soul" feeling what happened to her other half, and until the end where she gets up off of the table and contacts her friend, every minuite was worth it.

The actors chosen to play Joseph Adama, Daniel Greystone, Zoe and The Headmistress at the school were the strongest Actors IMO. (As a side note, I was thrilled to see little William Adama. I wonder if he will ever realize his sister was/almost became the second Cylon. ((And if William's sister will reappear in the series, last time I checked, she was still alone in a dark room wondering what in the hell she is. The way the Virtural world is shown, the "avatars" don't shut down when the system isn't being used.))

So, will Dr. Daniel Frankenstein, erm, I mean Daniel Greystone, be killed by one of his own creation? Will Zoe escape and cause a panic, or be responcible for causing the centurions to rebel? I can't wait till the series airs so these questions can be answered.

While I'm at it, I think that i'll admit that I am not opposed to the usage nudity in this, and liked the way it was used, however/unfortunatly I think that this will be the last time we see it, I can't see scifi allowing boobie nudity on the Caprica series, and the cost of editing it to be shown on Television but saving the unedited part for the DVD will not be worth the effort IMO. Also, I don't know if we will be revisiting the club, as Zoe's conciousness is no longer there, so neither her nor her friend has any reason to return there.

Finally, if the Caprica series is ever cancelled by Scifi, I hope that they can end the series at the start of the First Cylon War.

Todah Raba Mr. Ron Moore for giving us another kick a** show!

[knowles2]

So, will Dr. Daniel Frankenstein, erm, I mean Daniel Greystone, be killed by one of his own creation? Will Zoe escape and cause a panic, or be responcible for causing the centurions to rebel? I can't wait till the series airs so these questions can be answered.
!

Come on now that otimistic, I mean Ron more and questions being answer. Have you not seen the final of BSG. I would not get my hopes up to high.

[Ishay]

i was pleasantly surprised i wasn't expecting to enjoy this to much due to the fact that i've only seen season and a half of bsg. the CGI of the cylon was cool. and the train blowing up,.

[Skydiver]

it was absolutely chilling to see and hear the cylons and know what a monsterous thing greystone had created, and have him NOT know it.

was it stellar? nah. but it was a good set up. I don't think this can carry out for 4-5 20 episode seasons, but 4-5 13 episode ones might work.

this, however, won't be an action packed thrill a minute. it'll be a lot of interpersonal stuff, a lot of emotional revelations and likely appear to a different audience than the first one

[AeronPeryton]

I was worried that Caprica was going to end up like Kings. Not enough alt reality scifi and too much teen angst. I was so wrong.

I was not expecting nudity. Definitely not within the first 30 seconds. Definitely not throughout the movie. I can only hope the pilot sets a standard for minimum amount of boobs per episode.

But damn, the music the filming style, the focus, the lighting, the dialog. It felt like BSG with a new skin. It gave substance and familiarity to something I haven't gotten to know yet, that takes some effort. When the Cylon said "By Your Command" I got goosebumps. Also interesting to see that those "backpacks" are actually racks of hard drives, at least that's what it looked like to me. The closeups on the CG model were phenomenal, that level of detail had better hold throughout the series. But even if it doesn't I think I'm going to be just happy as a clam with the suedo-BSG fix.

Ron Moore has so much BSG in his blood now it's a second sense to him. I don't expect the series to disappoint me at all. I just hope they don't waste any time giving the Colonial military some screen. Maybe we'll see some old Mark Is flying around.

[HAL2100]

I saw it last night and really liked it. I especially liked how they laid the groundwork for the later mythology revealed in the events of BS:G - such as the Centurion's belief in one true God. I also liked the idea that the downfall of the Colonies was due in part to one man's obsession with his dead daughter - as in his refusal to accept it.

Did anyone else get the significance of Zoe being named Zoe?

[Skydiver]

it's not just Greystone's obsession with zoe, but to win or be the 'best' or 'first'

he could have stopped it but just had to take that one step more and militarize the cylons

and i couldn't catch it, what did cylon stand for?

cybernetic
life form

something???