Caprica: The Pilot: The Review

I’m a couple of weeks late in getting to it, but I finally watched the unrated extended pilot for Caprica, which is currently available on DVD in anticipation of the full series, which will air sometime next year. Having done so, I have to say that. . . well, it’s okay. Not really good, but not by any means a disaster. That’s the short version. Here’s the long, which will have the occasional spoiler:

Caprica is, of course, a prequel to the new Battlestar Galactica, which completed its run not long ago. I think that connection, though, is best ignored. There are names (Adama, Caprica), design elements (the missing corners on paper), and concepts (Artificial intelligence, Mono- vs. Poly-theism) in common between the two shows, but keeping Battlestar in mind while watching Caprica is, at the very least, distracting. I know that little Willy Adams eventually grows up to be Edward James Olmos, and that made it hard to think of him as an 11-year-old – which in turn prevented me from buying into his scenes entirely. I know that the Cylons that rebelled fifteen years later or so only seemed to have rudimentary intelligence and communication capabilities, so the fact that the prototype has a human-level mind seems to be a problem. These complaints aren’t really fair, though, because neither really has anything to do with what’s going on in the show itself. So I’ll try to put Battlestar out of my mind.

Even ignoring Battlestar Galactica, though, Caprica is still a mixed bag. First, the good – the adult cast is quite solid, particularly the two leads: Eric Stoltz is, as usual, fantastic, and while Esai Morales couldn’t quite match him, he still brought a kind of essential humanity to the role that added a lot to the show as a whole. Bear McCreary’s music helped to develop more of a mood than some of the other elements of the show really deserved. The production design and cinematography were very effective, with the simple shift between the greys and blues of Caprican society and the warmer colors of the Taurons. The story is built on some interesting and weighty ideas relating to the nature of consciousness and identity – I particularly liked virtual Tamara’s pain and horror as she started to figure out that she didn’t exist. All in all, there’s a lot to like here. Unfortunately. . . .

. . .there’s also plenty to dislike. As good as the adults were, the teenage actors nearly sunk the whole thing with their belief that shrill and dramatic are the same thing. This is particularly problematic because the show was heavily front-loaded with their scenes, which could cause viewers to check out prematurely. The effects were pretty hit and miss – little things like the electronic paper were pretty good, but big things were more problematic, with the train explosion looking particularly embarrassing. The prototype Cylon was about on par with those from Battlestar, which is to say, not all that good, but good enough not to be a distraction. And those weighty ideas I was so keen on? Nothing is actually done with any of them. They’re just laid out there, touched upon, and cast aside. Of course, this is just a pilot, and there may be a lot more thematic exploration of these things over the course of the series.

Speaking of which, that leads to the question that ultimately determines the effectiveness of any pilot – do I want to watch the series? The answer is yes, provisionally. There’s enough decent groundwork here to build a good program on, and pilots are typically much, much worse than the series that follow (the only two exceptions that come to mind are Firefly and Battlestar). That’s the beauty of shooting a pilot - you get the chance to step back and reconceive problematic elements before starting up the series proper. With that in mind, here are some changes that will keep me watching:

1. Ditch the teenagers. Or at least minimize them. I’m sure Zoe will stick around, considering that she is now the first Cylon, but her friend could be booted, especially if my next suggestion is heeded:

2. Downplay the religious strife. As much as I love Polly “Atia” Walker, I’m already bored with her school for monotheistic terrorists. I’m not suggesting they ignore religion completely – it’s a key component of any culture and adds depth to the world they’re building – but I’d be happier if it became more of a tertiary element.

3. Lighten up! I actually have pretty high hopes for this one, since Jane Espenson will be taking over as showrunner about halfway through the season. She was responsible for Intervention, which is by far the funniest episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as an amusing episode or two of Firefly and Angel. A lot of people complain about Battlestar Galactica being completely joyless, but I think it had a decent undercurrent of humor that was missing from Caprica. Yes, I understand that it’s a story about two guys whose families just got blown up, so things will necessarily be a little somber. But it will get old without a little bit of contrast. I don’t need actual comedy routines, just a few lighter touches, like the funny, halting walk that Joseph Adama had during his first visit to the virtual world. More of that, please.

4. On a similar note, MORE ROBOT BUTLER!!!!

5. Less Willy Adama. I know I said it’s not fair to be distracted by his future Edward James Olmos-ness, but I can’t help it.

As I indicated above, I only really expect to see change number 3, but who knows? Maybe I’ll get lucky. At any rate, I’ll leave you with a couple of random comments/observations:

--Zoe, from some angles, looks a lot like Zooey Deschanel. She also kind of sounds like her. Given her name, I was consistently amused by this.

--I do like the fact that the first Cylon is a rebellious teenage girl, since they revealed on Battlestar Galactica that the Cylon genocide against humanity was caused by what amounts to a petulant child with severe mommy and daddy issues. See? It does all tie together.

--Several early scenes in the pilot featured a decent amount of nudity and sexual content, which will certainly be cut from the Sci-Fi Channel (oops, I mean Syfy) airing. I think it’s very interesting that they went ahead and shot this footage anyway, especially since it wasn’t just random cutaways – there were shots that included both bare breasts and principal cast members. This suggests to me that we’re reaching the tipping point where producers are beginning to view the DVD release as the primary home of a program, with the actual television airing serving as a sort of promotional necessity. This is a very good thing.