Caprica - Season 1, Volume 2 [DVD]

This is probably going to be one of the most under-estimated shows of recent years. I understand the reasons, but I also appreciate that Ronald Moore and company and company wanted to go for something which took a wider perspective than Battlestar. Whilst this means the first part of the season often appears slow, it seeks to introduce us to the various principal cultures of the 12 colonies along with their differences, desires and flaws, and this certainly pays off in the second set of episodes in this, sadly, single season show. The build to the final episode is excellent, and that episode itself is one of the best I have seen, marrying well into the larger canvas of the conflict to come. Well worth and look, and a valuable addition to the (contemporary) Galactica universe, with some solid performances and some splendid drama.

The 2nd part of Caprica season 1 is a definite improvement on the first half of the series. It is very sad to see that the execs ditched the show after it upped the anti and became a promising proposition. The plots of this season were faster paced and grittier a la BSG best moments, though there were some plot twists that didn't always make sense other than for dramatic effect.

The virtual reality and its effects on society were beginning to be explored more fully as were the political complexities of the 12 colonies. Another intelligent SF series bites the dust. So it goes......

Caprica whilst it could of been brilliant failed to match up to the brilliance of Battlestar Galactica for me.

I wasnt impressed with the lead actors, i think that they were terribly miscast but the show itself was quite solid.

Unfortunately for us just as the show started to show some promise it got cancelled, but that happens with every great sci-fi show ever, they believe that people only want to watch reality tv and the such, and so potentially great shows get cancelled before they have time to stretch their legs.

BSG was a massive disappointment for me when that got cancelled, as well as firefly, stargate universe, star trek etc etc

The premise of the show was set some 60 years before the cylon attacks on earth, and you get introduced to a scientist by the man of Daniel Greystone, who builds cylon machines for the military, but after losing his daughter to a terrorist attack he discovers she had kept a virtual avatar of herself on a computer, and sets about using that avatar, and transferring it into the body of one of his robots to enable his daughter to live on.

Yes the religious aspects were annoying but then they were annoying in bsg too, however it does serve a purpose in a very real sense.

The very interesting thing for me was the virtual heaven, whilst sister clarice was in fact a bit doolally in the head it posed a very interesting situation, if you could download your entire conciousness into a computer that was basically heaven and you could live forever, would you ? would it be you ? or just a version of you, would you be aware of it and live in whatever heaven your avatar created or would you just die and experience nothing, a very curious and interesting discussion im sure.

The biggest thing for me however is that it instantly changed how i felt about the cylons, i looked at them very differently and actually felt incredibly sorry for them, they suffer massive abuse at the hands of the humans in bsg, and since watchign this i went back and watched all 4 seasons of bsg again, and i felt very differently about the way some of the situations were handled and especially the abuse that they went through, especially the 6 on pegasus.

Overall worth the watch, if you have seen BSG then you will have some knowledge of the backstory, but if you have never seen it then i dont think it matters as its a stand alone show, however i would recommend that you go and buy Battlestar Galactica after..