Like X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the Caprica pilot has been leaked a week before it comes out on DVD & digital download (April 21). We were allowed to discuss the Wolverine leak, so I figure the same precedent applies to Caprica. Let’s just not discuss how to go about obtaining the leaked version.
This version is definitely rated R, and you won’t be seeing it broadcast unedited when it eventually airs on Syfy, whenever that is. The R part is for some easily edited-out scenes containing lots of gratuitous girl nudity, girl-girl nudity, and if I’m not mistaken, about a millisecond’s worth of boy-boy nudity.
Going by bits and pieces I’ve read about it, it definitely sounds like a series I’d want to watch. Hopefully they won’t make the same choices that turned me off Battlestar Galactica.
Which choices were those? Caprica strikes me as an adult drama, and not an action adventure show. In comparison with BSG, Caprica makes BSG look positively two dimensional. Most of what we saw was life on Galactica, with little snippets of other ships and post-bombed out Caprica. Even short flashbacks to pre-bombing Caprica were two dimensional compared to the world of Caprica 18 years prior to the first Cylon war. Caprica has a rich 50s aesthetic style smoothly blended with a high-tech society where it’s easy to believe they could build Cylons, whereas BSG looked sort of 70s, and I kept wondering how those people could ever have built space ships.
It was mentioned – in the BSG miniseries – that the Colonies had wilfully regressed from their former, high tech level after the Cylon War. Specifically because their high tech had tried to kill them. And was very good at hacking into other high tech and making that kill them.
The retro look on BSG was deliberate, to explain how they’d once built Cylons and the aftereffects of that. Not a discontinuity in their tech.
I acquired the DVD through nefarious means. (Don’t worry, I plan to buy it when it’s released anyway.)
I am happy to report that it contains some gratuitous noodity and liberal use of the word “frak.”
We get to meet young Bill Adama and his father, a scummy mob lawyer who is ashamed of his roots and changed their name to the more Caprican Adams.
The movie also sets up the competing motivations for developing artificial intelligence and the robot body for it to go in, the probable origin of the Cylon’s monotheistic beliefs, and other interesting plot threads.
Eric Stoltz does a good job playing a billionaire nerd who goes kinda loopy.
Very, very good. I’m looking forward to more background info on the Colonies; which was severly lacking in BSG, especially what the other 11 are like. It looks like in addition to a 50s aesthetic style (like the men’s hats) we’ll get 50s style casual racism too. Was it just me or were all the Taurons played by Hispanic actors? It was a little weird since on BSG race didn’t appear to be connected to Colonial origin. Where they speaking a wholly fictional language or is a real langauge subbing for Tauronese (like English is used for Caprican)?
I’m interested too. Joseph said there were no flowers on Tauron. None whatsoever. What must it be like there?
I’m curious about the language too. Taurons are definitely looked down upon (dirt eaters, born liars.). As far as ethnicity, they seem a mix of Latino and Italian. Maybe we’ll see more later.
Did anyone else get a Bladerunner vibe from the Defense Minister’s glasses?
Mabye the tribe that settled Tauron didn’t seed it with flowers when they terraformed (kobolformed?) it. Did you also notice that the Caprica Buccaneers were all male and there weren’t any women in the lockerroom? Anders had female teammates (which makes sense since everything in BSG was coed). The nudity & sex was unexpectedly graphic (would it kill them to give us one male butt for every pair of breasts :rolleyes:). I wonder if it’s just a pilot thing or if RDM’s actually going to make more risque versions of the episodes for DVD & overseas viewers. Stargate: SG1’s pilot had full frontal nudity and we never saw anything close again (granted it was originally on Showtime).
Hahaha. BSG Spoiler: And the good news is the girls are right about their God, but the bad news is it’s Old Testament God! run!
I thought it was very good. It got better and better toward the end. That was a uniquely creepy scene with Adama’s daughter. I look forward to the series, mostly the AI/morality theme approached from a different angle than BSG. I found Zoe kind of irritating (and/or the actress). I’m kinda hoping she isn’t needed much for the series, if you know what I mean.
BSG Spoiler: I gotta say it takes a little of the fizzle out of it knowing that any mystery = God did it! (Zoe’s breakthrough)
Deus ex Machina, however you spell it pretty well sucks.
I don’t think I’ll watch it, knowing they end up living a neolithic life while the Cylons occupy the colony planets. I still have BSG episodes on the DVR; don’t know whether to erase them, or burn them to DVD and put them in a box with the other seasons.
I haven’t seen this yet, but there was some racism in BSG. Colonyism? Whichever.
The Geminese were shown to be generally black. Another group (or was it the same?) had the one doctor trying to euthanize them in the much-maligned “The Woman King” episode of BSG.
Haven’t seen it yet, but I imagine the leak will be more positive for this than for Wolverine given that it’s a more fully finished version and made for TV. I’d rather watch it on a couch than at my desk so i’ll wait til Tuesday (or Wednesday - payday!).
I guess this makes sense given the DVD release, but I’m surprised anyway. I figured there’d be more scenes like the BSG DVDs since they don’t have to worry about broadcast length but I hadn’t considered the opportunity to include more mature content. Have any of the BSG DVDs included more mature content?
Anyone want to spoil the context of the boy-boy nudity for me?
There are some scenes that take place in a hedonistic underground club where you can experience whatever decadent form of sex & violence you want. The sex and nudity occurs in one of these clubs.
I don’t want to go into too much more detail until more people get a chance to watch, but I’ll be a little disappointed if the only instance of same-sex anything is in the context of an amoral Sodom & Gomorrah.
I like it - and I think they’re setting up an interesting plot arc, as Zoe loses her humanity and becomes the force behind the First Cylon War. First she lost her body, now she’s lost her self-image as a (virtual) human … what’s next?
What’s it supposed to be about anyway? I got the impression from the trailer it was a sort of mix of Capulet vs Montague style family rivalry drama and Ghost in the Shell ethical implications of technology sci-fi (or SyFy…WTF?). Which means it could either actually be pretty cool or it could suck moose cock.
Well, it was pretty good, but a bit weird. I think it can make a good show, but only time will tell. When does is premiere? January 2010?
I think this could prove to be a cool show, but I’m worried it’s going to spin into a family drama. BSG was quality sci-fi and excellent characters interacting, not just drama.
A few questions:
1.** How did Greystone create an accurate avatar for Joe Adama’s daughter?** He didn’t have access to her, only things that were in databases. It couldn’t have been able to create her personality and personal memories, yet it seemed to.
How old is Bill Adama in BSG? He’s 11 here, right? So he’s 69 years old at the time of the fall and about 72 by the end? He only seemed about 55-60 tops.
3.** Is Zoe the start of monotheism in the Cylons?** I thought the final five introduced monotheism to the Cylons.
It was a little weird since on BSG race didn’t appear to be connected to Colonial origin. Where they speaking a wholly fictional language or is a real langauge subbing for Tauronese (like English is used for Caprican)?
Stargate: SG1’s pilot had full frontal nudity and we never saw anything close again (granted it was originally on Showtime).
