I finally had a chance to watch Caprica this week. I knew coming in that it would be more dramatic than Battlestar Galactica. BSG introduced us to the military and political elements of the world created by Ron Moore, now Caprica gives us a more day to day look at what life on the colonies might have been like.
Like BSG, Caprica’s setting is meant to be familiar but just different enough from our world that we notice yet not so different that it becomes alien to us. I found the plot very compelling. If you have a chance to create an exact image of a loved one who has died, would you? The obvious answer is no, but Caprica shows us how some people would be tempted to say yes when they come face to face with that copy of their loves one. I thought this question was very well handled in the show and really enjoyed it. As much as I liked the spaceships in BSG (the extras on the DVD promise spaceships in Caprica too) I always felt the real tension in was character driven. These shows do not give us a world of black and white choices, only different shades of gray and where those paths lead. For this reason alone I think the series will be well worth watching.
Caprica answered a question I had from BSG. At the end of season 1, Baltar sees the opera House for the first time. “I know this place” he mutters, “You should”, answered Six. Nothing ever came from that enigmatic dialog for the remainder of BSG! In Caprica, the V Club was filmed in the same theater that was used for the Opera House in BSG. Assuming that was intentional by the producers, it seems that Baltar visited the V Club when he was younger and recognized it. That gives us a little insight into his character.
When I picked up Capica, I also ordered Season 4 of BSG which I started this past week. At the end of Razor we see one of the first Hybrids created by the Cylons. The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that that Hybrid is actually Daniel Graystone. In Caprica we see the birth of the first self aware Cylon with Zoe. Since she started life as a human, I assume she wants to build a human body that she can return to. That explains why the Cylons would be experimenting along those lines. If Daniel died, Zoe might use Cylon technology to keep him alive, even if it’s in a diminished state.
Finally, I now think that an avatar of Daniel Graystone may have been used to create the seventh Cylon model in BSG - just like Daniel used an avatar to create Zoe. Ellen’s description of Daniel fits the description of Daniel Graystone. It also explains why John would be so threatened by him to discontinue the line completely.
Has anybody else seen Caprica yet? What was your take on the show?
Caprica was way better than I expected. I figured it would be a lame soap opera prequel, but it actually looked like it might work on its own.
How exact are they in this show? Do they have personalities? The same personality as the original?
In that scenario, I’d create the duplicate without hesitation.
Zoe’s duplicate seemed to be a perfect copy of her. Adama’s daughter’s duplicate was very disturbing.
It was pretty much exact. Zoe had worked on her avatar before she died and was purposely trying to create one that felt and acted exactly like her. When her Dad, Daniel, saw the copy he was skeptical, but the more he talked to her the more she was able to convince him that she was a perfect copy.
When Joseph Adama and Daniel Graystone tried to recreate Joseph’s daughter they had a far sparser pool to draw from so her avatar lacks a large part of her personality.
Right. Zoe had been able to go into the program while alive and fine turn her’s.
Joe Adama’s girl was fabricated by a computer based on available data. It was messed up, as it should be. Like looking at a scared outline of a loved one.
Messed up.
I just also caught this over the weekend, and might even say this shows more promise in the pilot than BSG’s pilot did. I will be very curious to see where they ultimately plug this into the original series. Conceptually, a 16 year old girl trapped in a Centurion warrior is a bit scary - I have to wonder how they’ll devolve into a warrior mentality instead of painting all the colonies in Unicorns and rainbows 
FWIW, Ronald Moore has stated unequivocally on his blog that there is no connection between Daniel Greystone of Caprica and the never seen humanoid Cylon Daniel that Ellen Tigh & Cavil talked about in “No Exit”. IIRC he even apologized for using the same name. Of course, he may be lying…