Review of "Caprica" Pilot

[flowrs4ophelia]

I watched Caprica a few days ago and wrote up some thoughts about it but have been withholding my comments until it's officially released so I can join the party with everyone else. It started out kind of meh but by the end I loved it and even got kind of teared up in some parts. As promised it's something very new and different that definitely doesn't depend on the viewer being familiar with the world in order to enjoy/understand it, but it also had plenty of things I could geek out about as a BSG fan.



— It was a little weird to me just how advanced the technology is at this time and it made it difficult to see this as the same Caprica we know, but I guess it makes sense that after the Cylon war they would have pulled back with the technology.

— It's really cool hearing the Tauron language and seeing the stuff with the gangs, and all the racial tension in general. It's so ironic to think that Adama was a name you'd have trouble being accepted and successful with in those days, because we know it as the name of a very well-known and privileged family.

— I already like both the main characters. I can't even say why but I really like Daniel even though his motivations for what he's doing seem partly questionable and irresponsible. He would rather just fix what's happened than live with regrets about it. His not-exactly-warm relationship with his daughter seems to sort of foreshadow how he and humanity in general will be irresponsible with their creations with the Centurions. He was neglectful and she rebelled against her parents by becoming a monotheist.

One of my only disappointments so far is actually that Joseph is too likable. He doesn't seem at all like the Joseph Adama we heard described a lot in BSG who just lived like he wanted to with no moral compass and probably alienated his son this way, and seeing someone like that as a really humanized and sympathetic character would have been interesting. But of course this can be explained by the fact that this is a younger Joseph than the famous lawyer of later years, and maybe we'll see him start to change a lot far into...2011 or something. LOL.

— I definitely see what Bear meant now when he said in his blog that the score for "Daybreak" was inspired a little by the style of the kind of work he'd already started for Caprica. The music is gorgeous and refreshingly different, but I like how he's still using some ethnic sounds like in the statement of what must be Joseph's theme in the scene when he talks about the first time he saw flowers. And I freaked out a little when the Adama family theme from BSG came in during the scene at the end with him and William.

— So awesome to actually see a Pyramid stadium. Though I would have liked to see just a few seconds of how exactly professional Pyramid is played. It's hilarious that the C-Bucs still sucked even fifty-eight years ago.

— Surely they could have come up with a better explanation for how you could create an avatar of a dead person than by searching for school records and e-mails. Maybe they're just trying to emphasize the disturbingness of the idea that people aren't special snowflakes that can't be duplicated by suggesting that the whole of what we are can be determined just by processing all the shallow technological information our lives are filled with. But it's just...hard to buy.

— All the parts with the Centurion were definitely fun. "By your command." Heee. I like how it wasn't until the end that Daniel first said the word "Cylon." And it was animated very well to make it a little creepy. Even when the Centurion's just standing still looking around after shooting all the Roombas you can tell there's something ticking in that head.

— I'm wondering now, though not doubting yet, how they're going to prolong this for a few seasons. Maybe we'll see more of lawyer!Adama at his job if he works on cases that are somehow relevant to the story. Somewhere far down the road might he change his mind about bringing back his own daughter, or is this series going to focus on just Cylon-Zoe? And hopefully they have a plan to give Amanda Graystone more of a storyline.

Comments

[ninety6tears.livejournal.com]

I really didn't expect to be so into Daniel and pretty ambivalent about Joseph Adama. One of the things that's gonna make the Adama family storyline really difficult from the get-go is that we already know Bill and his father are never going to see completely eye-to-eye. So at some point things are just going to have to get worse.

[rayruz.livejournal.com]

Hey, sorry, this seems random I've seen you around a few times and thought I'd come check out your journal. I really liked the Caprica pilot and I'm really intrigued by the racial tensions... and I totally didn't think about Amanda because I have to admit I kinda ship Joseph/Daniel *dies in a corner somewhere* But I now have this freakish desire to see her be even crazier than Daniel.

[flowrs4ophelia.livejournal.com]

Hi there! :D

Yeah, I think the show will need more storylines eventually, but I admit I'm the most interested in Daniel and Joseph and hope their relationship stays interesting. I think I might even have some pseudo-shippy interest in them, too. Hehe.

[rayruz.livejournal.com]

I wonder if there is a connection between Daniel Greystone and Daniel Number 7. I want to know this alot.

Mind if I friend you?

[flowrs4ophelia.livejournal.com]

Not at all! I'll add you back. :)