Click above for the Sci-Fi Channel's trailer for Caprica, the Battlestar Galactica prequel spin-off, which looks to be going straight to series.
The Wikipedia synopsis has this to say about the show:
"Caprica shows the Twelve Colonies at peace and living in a society close to our own but stylistically reminiscent of the 1950s, when a startling breakthrough in robotics brings to life the age-old dream of marrying artificial intelligence with mechanical bodies."
"Joseph Adama, a renowned civil liberties lawyer and father of future Battlestar commander William Adama, becomes an opponent of the experiments undertaken by the Graystones, owners of the computer giant spearheading the development of what would become the Cylons."
Now, I don't believe in hating something before I've seen it. I really hope Caprica will be a wonderful slice of sci-fi that somehow provides an interesting foundation to BSG. But, I get the feeling this is a shameless cash-in opportunity for Sci-Fi. I don't think we need a prequel to BSG, particularly one that's explaining a back-story nobody's that interested in.
I mean, at least with the Star Wars prequels fans were keen to learn how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader. Is anyone interested in seeing the birth of Cylons on Caprica? Isn't it enough to just know people created them? I just don't see the attraction of this project. It also seems to screw-up BSG's mythology -- as I always thought the man-made Cylons were the metal toaster variety and they evolved themselves into humanoid models much later. Or have I missed something?
That said, Caprica does have Ronald D. Moore's blessing (he's a co-creator), so maybe it'll develop a family history to BSG that I don't even realize I'll enjoy yet. Still, nothing in this trailer gets me excited. It looks like a humdrum variation of I, Robot to me. It'll inherit BSG's loyal fanbase for awhile, but does it have anything to capture imaginations? The last show that needlessly filled in the blanks to a prolific show's history was Star Trek: Enterprise... and we all know what happened to that.
I'm just not feeling this one -- likewise the second BSG TVM planned to air before the last-half of season 4 next year. The Razor TVM was fun, but totally unnecessary, so I don't understand why we need a Cylon-centric episode showing an old storyline from the perspective of the enemy. It just seems like they're squeezing every drop from BSG while they can.
