TV Eye
'Battle' Prep
By Belinda Acosta, Fri., Jan. 22, 2010
When the rebooted Battlestar Galactica first set sail, I missed the boat. "TV Eye" readers who were Battlestar fans would write from time to time, nudging, nagging, imploring me to check it out. I always meant to. But as with many things, before I knew it, another year had gone by and Battlestar was eventually moved to the list of those series I intend to watch on DVD some long weekend in the future. That long weekend may come sooner than I think. Having watched the two-hour pilot episode of Caprica, the prequel series to Battlestar that premieres this week, not only am I enormously curious about Caprica and its layered world, I'm enormously curious to know if Battlestar fans will like or loathe Caprica, if they'll think it's worthy.
This is what I like – no, make that, adore – about this new series. First and foremost, you can come to it cold. You don't have to have seen every, or even any, episode of Battlestar to appreciate it, though I suspect, as with other cult series, longtime fans are rewarded for their allegiance with references that may pass unnoticed to us Battlestar virgins.
Caprica is a show with tradition, nuance, and a thoughtfully conceived backstory, as well as a clear path to where it's heading (I get the distinct impression the creators of Caprica are working from an authentic and exhaustive series bible – no pulling ideas from thin air here). But what I most like about Caprica is that it has a strong moral compass. I may not always agree with it or even take it as seriously as the series and its characters do, but it always piques my curiosity and imagination. It's a bag of marbles to me: simple, elegant, and worth examining closely, again and again.
Set in the future, but 58 years prior to when Battlestar takes place, Caprica has a feel that is at once familiar but not quite of this world. (Being shot in Canada helps.) The robotic butlers, computerized houses, and those darn kids, deeply wired into the technology the adults believe they have a firm grip on, also reminds us that we're not exactly in the present, but not so very far from this future, either.
Eric Stoltz and Esai Morales star in the series. Stoltz plays Daniel Graystone, a famous computer engineering genius whose corporation is pioneering the development of artificial intelligence. Morales stars as Joseph Adama, a powerful criminal defense attorney and William Adama's father. (William will grow up to be Edward James Olmos' Adm. Adama in Battlestar Galactica.) William clearly has serious daddy issues, but it's not his story we're immediately drawn to. Like Joseph Adama, Graystone is a father, too. His headstrong teenage daughter Zoe (Alessandra Torresani) is acting out, creating hair-pulling tension at home with his wife, Amanda (Paula Malcomson). He takes it in stride, treating it as textbook teenage behavior, but Zoe's rebelliousness extends beyond her adolescent foot-stomping. It isn't until her untimely death that he discovers that among other things, his daughter is also a computer genius. Zoe has tinkered with virtual reality technology and advanced it beyond his imagination to create a perfect avatar. When tragedy also strikes the Adama family, Graystone and Adama's paths cross. Recognizing the pain the other feels, they eventually embark on a journey that will change the course of mankind. And this is ultimately what makes Caprica so satisfying. Steeped in human emotion, it takes flight when it manages to approach loftier subjects: What is faith? What is the soul? What does it mean to be alive? What drives the will to live? What does it mean to die? Doing so without chest-beating melodrama is a definite plus.
Individually, Stoltz and Morales are strong. Together, they are fascinating. Their stoic male silence is so rich and full and painfully real, I almost wish no one else were in the series. That wish vanishes with the appearance of Polly Walker (Rome), as the headmistress of the school Zoe and her friends attend. As the surviving friend following Zoe's death, Lacy (Magda Apanowicz) is appropriately shell-shocked and troubled. Lacy pales in every way to Zoe, but like this well-conceived series, there is only room for her to grow.
Caprica premieres Friday, Jan. 22, at 8pm on the SyFy network.
As always, stay tuned.
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E-mail Belinda Acosta at tveye@austinchronicle.com.
