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Copyright © 2009 Flaming Dog Media, LLC. All rights reserved. |
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"Caprica" |
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April 27, 2009 The pilot episode for CAPRICA, the prequel series for BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, set fifty-eight years before the fall of the Twelve Colonies , shows the seeds of what would be the fall of humanity through the actions of two families, the Graystones and the Adamas. The opening shows Zoe Graystone, the young daughter of Eric Stoltz’s Daniel, at the V Club, a virtual world used by Caprican teenagers. In the club, there’s sex, drugs, murder, and human sacrifice. There’s also a virtual duplicate of Zoe. After getting caught at her religious school using the holoband to be at the V Club, an argument with her parents leads to child abuse, and the prophetic statement, “You will regret that for the rest of your life.” Zoe and her friends, Ben & Lacy, have a plan to run away. Turns out, they are monotheists, believing in one true god, and have decided to leave for another one of the colonies, where their beliefs will be welcome. Unknown to Zoe, her friend Lacy has chickened out and her friend Ben has decided instead to be a suicide bomber, destroying the train that they are on, along with the wife & teenage daughter of Esai Morales’s Joseph Adams. And thus, the two fathers, Daniel and Joseph, meet at a government briefing about the terrorist act. And share a smoke outside the building. While Daniel is a rich mogul on Caprica, Joseph is a Tauron orphan that grew up to be a mob lawyer. As the bond between the two men grows, Daniel learns about the virtual duplicate of his daughter. Using technology stolen from a competitor, thanks to asking Joseph for a favor through his connection to organized crime, Daniel attempts to download his “daughter” into the robotic soldier he’s developing for the military. The investigation into the bombing implicates Zoe, thanks to a message she attempted to send her mother, Amanda, shortly before Ben blew the train up. And an encounter with a virtual copy of his own daughter makes Joseph decide to hold his remaining family, his mother-in-law and son William, together and make a new start, which begins when he tells his son that their family name is really Adama. The DVD has trailers for the complete series release of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA on DVD, a teaser for WAREHOUSE 13, a new series from the SciFi Channel, and the CAPRICA series, using clips and dialogue from the pilot before it even gets to the main menu. There are four video blogs. ‘What the Frak is Caprica?’ is a talking heads description from the executive producers and actors about the new series. ‘The Director’s Process’ is about how Jeffrey Reiner brought his multi-camera experience from NBC’s FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS to film the CAPRICA pilot. ‘The V Club’ is a behind the scenes look at the scenes filmed for the virtual club scenes. And ‘The Birth of a Cylon’ is Jeffrey Reiner showing a camera crew around Daniel Graystones lab, where the first Caprican Cylon is built. There are deleted scenes, which would have had more development for the relationship between Sister Clarice and the students, Zoe, Ben & Lacy and a look at Joseph’s family life, including his brother telling him that Zoe Graystone was responsible for the explosion that killed Joseph’s wife and daughter. The last CAPRICA bonus feature is a commentary track with Jeffrey Reiner (director), Ronald D Moore (executive producer/writer) and David Eick (executive producer). There’s some interesting information in the commentary. There was originally a subplot showing that Daniel’s wife was having an affair, but it was cut because it made the character too unsympathetic, and there was a lack of chemistry with the actor cast as her lover. Jeffrey Reiner was able to use his experience directing young actors on FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS with the young actors & actresses on CAPRICA. The V Club is the same Vancouver theater where they filmed the Opera House on BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. Jeffrey Reiner wishes he could have gone back and done close ups of the Graystone’s robotic butler. Ronald Moore says “notion” way too much. And I wish that David Eick had said “frak” instead of “fuck” at least once. Also included on the DVD is an episode of GHOST HUNTERS, which I haven’t watched, since I don’t have any interest in that series. Overall, I thought the pilot episode was pretty interesting. I think that Esai Morales as Joseph Adama will be the one to watch, he will definitely be the moral center for the story being told, and the scene with him and his daughter being reunited in a virtual world was the best of the whole show. The version on DVD is different from whatever version airs on SciFi in 2010, simply because of the nudity in the V Club. Tom Sharp
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