Movie Monday: Caprica

I'm not going anyplace you frakking dirt eater.


Caprica is the pilot episode of a Battlestar Galactica prequel that takes place 58 year before the fall of the 12 Colonies at the hands of the dirty, sneaky Cylons.

Have I lost you yet?

It is the story of rich software industrialist Daniel Graystone (Eric Stolz) -- think Steve Jobs/Bill Gates -- and attorney Joseph Adams (Asai Morales). Their paths cross when both lose daughters in a terrorist train attack. Graystone, being a software guru already working on a cybernetic entity (the future Cylons) for the military, hopes to bring both daughters back using his expertise.

The setting is Caprica. At the start of Battlestar Galactica, it was the Capitol planet of the the unified 12 colonies. But the First Cyclon War has not taken place yet, so The Colonies are not so unified -- yet.

OK. Now I know I've lost you.

But I'm not sure that should be the case. This is not a story of space battles and shiny robots. It's a story of us 10-20 years in the future, and the issues we all deal with now and in the future -- racism, religious zealotry, a corrupt military industrial complex and, of course teen angst.

Yeah, that's right. At times, especially the first third of the movie, Caprica feels more like One Cylon Hill than Battlestar with all it's teen angst.

But my biggest complaint is the shoehorning of the Battlestar mythos into this story. You see, Joseph Adams and his son William are Tauran immigrants who "Capricanized" their original family name of Adama, to the more palatable Adams. So we get to see Admiral Bill Adama before he gets that terrible case of acne.

I'm not going to lie and say this is the best thing I've ever seen. Like the Battlestar Galactica pilot, Caprica is on the slow side and very dark. But it does what a pilot is supposed to do -- introduce us to a new world and makes us want to see more. I certainly want to see more. But I'm geek. They already have me.

• 2 beasts
• 18 breasts
• holo-fu
• holo orgies
• holo virgin sacrifices

Academy Award nomination for Alessandra Toressani for playing a character named after my puppy.

B

King Wally says check it out.

Note: Caprica is currently only available on DVD. It will not be broadcast on SciFi until fall with episodes to follow in 2010.