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The review below is not really that spoiler-heavy, and contains little that hasn't been seen widely in reviews. I just wanted to mention this, in case you want to know absolutely nothing before seeing it. You may want to join the new Caprica tribe...
So, I and a couple of friends watched it today, the unrated version on DVD.
I have to say, I was quite impressed! It was co-written by Ron Moore, and feels very much of the same universe as BSG. It's much more "sci fi" than I was expecting; I assumed it would be drama with just hints of sci fi, but it really delves into Caprican technology deeply, which is in fact the basis for the whole show.
It is definitely another dark, disturbing, grown-up drama that's definitely not for kids.
This unrated version will not be shown on TV, but it starts right off with some very adult situations - nudity, group sex, outrageous violence, all in a virtual world, where teens go to imagine anything they want, with no rules, no boundaries.
We see the beginnings of the events that will culminate in those leading to BSG.
The show starts with the words: "Caprica - 58 years before the fall," a rather chilling reminder of what's to come.
The show concerns the lives of two men, Daniel Graystone, a scientist, and Joseph Adams, a lawyer. Joseph is an off-worlder, who has changed his name to fit in better. His real last name... Adama, of course! He has an 11-year-old son, Willie Adams (we'll know him better as William Adama). It addresses many hot-button topics: racism, religious conflict, terrorism, teenage sexuality and rebellion, the ethics of artificial intelligence, etc.
Both men lose their daughters in a terrorist attack, and are drawn together by Graystone's shocking discovery of how much of a genius his daughter was. This has huge implications for the story.
Graystone is working on creating a robot soldier, which he calls a Cybernetic Life-form Node, or (you guessed it) a "Cylon" for short. His Cylons are clumsy and slow. They need a better "brain" and he discovers that a rival company has perfected one. He sets out to acquire it, in order to hold on to a lucrative Caprican government contract to build the artificial army. But his daughter's death adds an unexpected twist to this quest, and this event begins to re-define what "alive" and "artificial" really mean. What happens next sets the stage for everything that follows. These early Cylons are just as creepy as their later counterparts!
I was very happy with this as a series premier, and I eagerly look forward to how it develops. Sci Fi has picked it up for 20 episodes, so I hope it attracts a strong following. No, there are no flashy space battles, but this is a very different kind of science fiction: dark, grown-up, realistic, with a strong emphasis on characterization, and some fine acting... not unlike a certain other show we've been discussing here.
So, I and a couple of friends watched it today, the unrated version on DVD.
I have to say, I was quite impressed! It was co-written by Ron Moore, and feels very much of the same universe as BSG. It's much more "sci fi" than I was expecting; I assumed it would be drama with just hints of sci fi, but it really delves into Caprican technology deeply, which is in fact the basis for the whole show.
It is definitely another dark, disturbing, grown-up drama that's definitely not for kids.
This unrated version will not be shown on TV, but it starts right off with some very adult situations - nudity, group sex, outrageous violence, all in a virtual world, where teens go to imagine anything they want, with no rules, no boundaries.
We see the beginnings of the events that will culminate in those leading to BSG.
The show starts with the words: "Caprica - 58 years before the fall," a rather chilling reminder of what's to come.
The show concerns the lives of two men, Daniel Graystone, a scientist, and Joseph Adams, a lawyer. Joseph is an off-worlder, who has changed his name to fit in better. His real last name... Adama, of course! He has an 11-year-old son, Willie Adams (we'll know him better as William Adama). It addresses many hot-button topics: racism, religious conflict, terrorism, teenage sexuality and rebellion, the ethics of artificial intelligence, etc.
Both men lose their daughters in a terrorist attack, and are drawn together by Graystone's shocking discovery of how much of a genius his daughter was. This has huge implications for the story.
Graystone is working on creating a robot soldier, which he calls a Cybernetic Life-form Node, or (you guessed it) a "Cylon" for short. His Cylons are clumsy and slow. They need a better "brain" and he discovers that a rival company has perfected one. He sets out to acquire it, in order to hold on to a lucrative Caprican government contract to build the artificial army. But his daughter's death adds an unexpected twist to this quest, and this event begins to re-define what "alive" and "artificial" really mean. What happens next sets the stage for everything that follows. These early Cylons are just as creepy as their later counterparts!
I was very happy with this as a series premier, and I eagerly look forward to how it develops. Sci Fi has picked it up for 20 episodes, so I hope it attracts a strong following. No, there are no flashy space battles, but this is a very different kind of science fiction: dark, grown-up, realistic, with a strong emphasis on characterization, and some fine acting... not unlike a certain other show we've been discussing here.
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