Screaming Penguin

So, it took me a few days to get around to watching it, but I got to Caprica this weekend. If you don't know, Caprica is a prequel series, set 58 years before Battlestar Galactica. Ron Moore and David Eick promised something completely different. They both delivered, and failed magnificently on this promise. Caprica is the "space show with no space." Unlike the ship-bound BSG, Caprica is set entirely on the planet of Caprica and follows Grandpa Adama and the Greystones, the rich and overachieving family who were responsible for the creation of the Cylons (the second time). I was really afraid the show would be too soap-y, but it is most definitely not. Starting with this early-release pilot, RDM begins pummeling the viewer about the head and shoulders with a barrage of themes about everything from teen-angst to terrorism, and does it so deftly, you have to stop and breathe to notice it. For all the producers talked about it being completely different, Caprica FEELS like BSG. Yes, they have lost the ships, the cramped interiors, the cinema verite camera work. Still, a combination of lighting -- sconces are all the rage in the future still -- the HD cameras and filters used, and the balance of Sci Fi and Modernism feels very familiar. Where BSG used a typical sci fi set accented with 50s-2ks technology to ground it, Caprica looks very much like modern world with sparse but notable sci fi touches. It is, perhaps, the most realistic vision of the "future" (or distant past, if you will) we have ever seen. Still, this balance feels very "Battlestar." Also, having the same special effects team sets a lot of the crossover tone. The effects surrounding a terrorist attack early in the episode feel so much like the remarkable visual style that BSG established, it is hard to miss. Once again, they have managed to put together a fantastic cast. Eric Stoltz is one of those people who I have always said needs to work more, and he is as well cast as Mary McDonnell in the original. Esai Morales (who played the military guy in Jericho) has nearly as much raw charisma as Olmos. Even the teenagers are markedly non-annoying, as kids in these shows often are. BTW, no matter what iTunes says, this is not TV-14. The iTMS and DVD are "Rated R" and there is a lot that you might not want your kids to see. If they must, wait for the TV premiere this fall. There has been some discussion of the sex and violence in Caprica, and they are there. Indeed, they go to one of the overarching themes of the show. At the same time, they are mostly tangential and establishing. This is not a "sex and violence" show. All in all, 5.0 on our scale of 5.2. I watched it three times this weekend and it was as good each and every time. Compared to the mediocrity that was the original BSG miniseries, this was absolutely amazing. Was it "33" amazing? Not quite, but close.