Caprica (POLITICALLY INSIGHTFUL TV series) for 2009

[deep]

I for one am very pleased to read the R Moore is developing a new

POLITICALLY INSIGHTFUL SERIES

for the SCI - FI channel

SCI FI Announces Caprica

 

[deep]

link to info here

 

[Muldfeld]

Love that title!

I fear Caprica doesn't stand a chance on Sci Fi, if Ron Moore's involvement is questionable, and if it's more dramatic. Sci fi fans foolishly complain of the dramatic depth on a far more action-oriented show like BSG and it lost support due to incompetent Sci Fi/NBC Universal advertizing that failed to draw in non-sci fi fans that would have appreciated its originality. What chance does a MORE DRAMATIC show stand on a science fiction channel so ill-committed to advertizing anything more than the lowest common denominator aspects?

I wish they'd just had the decency to give BSG 5 years, so we'd have more Baltar.

Anyway, this show is probably at least a year away from airing, I'm guessing.

 

[LMP]

Anyway, this show is probably at least a year away from airing, I'm guessing.

Caprica (POLITICALLY INSIGHTFUL TV series) for 2009

Possibly.

 

[phanan]

 

[Muldfeld]

I really really hope Sci Fi orders a full season and not just the pilot. I know they've commissioned 2 more episodes or something by Michael Angelli and, I think, Michael Taylor, but I'm worried. It's going to explore all the political issues BSG does, including terrorism, but also explore the issue of identity politics, including immigration issues! ("My name's not Adams. Our family name is Adama!")

Add to that mix some fantastic casting with Eric Stoltz and the guy from Jericho as Adama; this could be awesome! Ron Moore has to be heavily involved in the writing, though. It's just not the same if he's not deeply involved.

Trailer:
YouTube - Caprica Official Promo 2009

 

[Muldfeld]

In case no one knew, Sci Fi ordered a full 20-episode season of Caprica. Yes!! This still won't make it easy to say "bye" to Baltar. I think I love him, even beyond platonic levels. He's a gorgeous creature.

 

[lazarus]

Looks like Chris Carter has some competition...

 

[U2DMfan]

Ron Moore said this show was going to be more like "Dallas" than BSG or Trek.

I'm not making that up.

 

[deep]

I did not watch Dallas

but if this is more of a drama,
with truly interesting characters and good writing, it will be better than 98% of television.

 

[melon]

I did not watch Dallas

but if this is more of a drama,
with truly interesting characters and good writing, it will be better than 98% of television.

Indeed. Can't wait!

 

[phanan]

I did not watch Dallas

but if this is more of a drama,
with truly interesting characters and good writing, it will be better than 98% of television.

 

[Muldfeld]

I did not watch Dallas

but if this is more of a drama,
with truly interesting characters and good writing, it will be better than 98% of television.

Dallas was terrible and cheesy, but that's just him underplaying it. It should be really smart but he's really screwed up now. He's said he's leaving the show after supervising the writers for the first half of the season and he's then leaving the show to be headed by Jane Espenson of Buffy fame. Idiotic and tragic. Why can't he stick with one thing at a time instead of trying to do a million things like trying to write "Virtuality" for Fox, which is gonna be dumbed down if not with the pilot they have problems with then in subsequent episodes, or trying to develop stories for a 3 movie deal for Tom Cruise, who quite frankly -- after seeing the ahistorical more-superficial-and-simplistic-than-I'd-like "Valkyrie" -- won't let him do anything to truly challenge American thinking.

He should stick with Caprica, write and direct episodes well, and during the hiatus do other stuff. Or he should bring Ira Steven Behr onboard. Jane Espenson is not going to be able to explore issues nearly as insightfully as Moore; she's more conventional with no sense of non-American views of the world, frankly.

Now that he's said it, he can't take it back because it would insult her. I love him but what a damn fool!

Here's the breaking news:
'Battlestar Galactica' veterans move on to 'Caprica' | The Watcher

 

[LMP]

When only two people in all of television know how to write political insight into their work, it's pretty slim pickings after that.

 

[Abycka]

I am totally looking forward to this, I watched all of the original BSG in the 70's when I was kid and even the 80's one with the kids But this looks interesting. I have to admit which might be blasphemy but I really did not get too much into the new BSG if this one is like Dallas or a family feud type show then I think I'll like it.

 

[Muldfeld]

I am totally looking forward to this, I watched all of the original BSG in the 70's when I was kid and even the 80's one with the kids But this looks interesting. I have to admit which might be blasphemy but I really did not get too much into the new BSG if this one is like Dallas or a family feud type show then I think I'll like it.

I had to buy the DVD sets. A friend at the time showed me the 2nd part of the miniseries, but I was so confused that I didn't like it. It's only when I got the set and watched it from the very start that caught all the nuances and absolutely loved it.

 

[Muldfeld]

I'm worried about Caprica, folks. With Ron Moore bailing out, even the writing staff looks grim.

http://io9.com/5143700/jane-espenson-talks-bsg-caprica-buffy-and-dollhouse

Only Michael Taylor and newbie Ryan Motteshead (in addition to new Buffy-alum showrunner Jane Espenson taking over...sigh; expect lots of out of context jokes from her) are from the BSG staff.

A lot of the others are from "Friday Night Lights" which I've never really seen, but a clip I saw with the red-headed woman who looked totally fake looked really cheesy and the main actor, who has been in so many shows as the simple nice guy pisses me off; he was on this awful show called "Late Edition".

Anyway, a lot of those same writers wrote for the atrocious new Knight Rider. One of them wrote the screenplay to "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider"; I've never seen it, but it always looked atrocious to me -- maybe even worse than "Mr. and Mrs. Smith". At least Ron Moore only had a story-writing credit (he did the outline for the first 2/3rds of the story) on "Mission Impossible 2" and had no say in the dialogue and tone of the scenes when Tom Cruise went with another writer....

This could be amazing, but is quickly being fouled up, it looks to me.

I guess there's also some female writer from "Pushing Daisies", which looked way too self-consciously wierd to me, but maybe she's good.

The thing is that Mark Verheiden wrote one episode, so that should be awesome; he's the unsung hero of BSG, but after that and Michael Taylor, I'm really worried.

I just don't think Jane has the chops and these Knight Writers look very suspect to me.

This is sad, especially for the political angle.

 

[Muldfeld]

Extended version of the pilot for Caprica on DVD late April. The show premieres in 2010.

 

[Muldfeld]

Hey, folks, well a lot has happened. Ron Moore is very much removed from the show, it seems, although he's staying aboard as exec producer, but the fact that he's not doing any press at all is revealing about the degree of his involvement. He's also not rewriting stuff. He HAS directed the first new episode of the series, after the pilot, which will be recut and have new footage not in the official DVD cut when it airs on January 22, 2010.

I'm also worried that some former producer for "Desperate Housewives" has taken charge of breaking the stories. Yikes.

Here are some video interviews of a press conference; Esai Morales is my favorite in terms of really caring enough about the questions to give full answers; Polly Walker is my least favorite, acting more silly and superficial. The guy moderating things is Mark Stern, Senior Vice President of Programming on SyFy (formerly Sci Fi). He's a pretty neat network guy because he strongly supported Ronald D. Moore's commentary on suicide bombing and insurgency under occupation in "Occupation"/"Precipice".

THERE ARE A FEW SPOILERS scattered around and I immediate turned my sound down for several seconds when I'd start to hear something.

YOU SHOULDN'T WATCH IT IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE PILOT DVD.

Part 1:
YouTube - SyFy Press Tour Caprica 1/5

Part 2:
YouTube - SyFy Press Tour Caprica 2/5
Part 3:
YouTube - SyFy Press Tour Caprica 3/5
Part 4:
YouTube - SyFy Press Tour Caprica 4/5
Part 5:
YouTube - SyFy Press Tour Caprica 5/5

There's also this latest piece,
The Watcher: Exclusive first look: 'Battlestar' prequel 'Caprica' retools, reduces and readies itself for January debut

explaining that they're only airing 8 new eps through March, and then taking a months-long break and airing the final 9 eps later in 2010. I guess we're in for more of that crap where they split the season into 2 DVD sets.

 

[Muldfeld]

When I wrote above that Polly Walker was my least favorite, I meant Paula Malcolmson, who makes silly and trite statements.

 

[deep]

I am just going to wait for the series to view on T V.

I will be happy if I enjoyed it as much as I did the first couple of season's of BSG.

I tried that new Prisoner on AMC, did not work for me.

At least AMC hit strong with both Madmen and Breaking Bad.

 

[Muldfeld]

I am just going to wait for the series to view on T V.

I will be happy if I enjoyed it as much as I did the first couple of season's of BSG.

I tried that new Prisoner on AMC, did not work for me.

At least AMC hit strong with both Madmen and Breaking Bad.

Me neither. It was way too confusing. Also, I missed the start and was sleepy throughout. Jim Caviezel isn't that good an actor; I noticed that his coughing just wasn't convincing at first and then realized he just wasn't that interesting to watch. Ian McKellan is amazing, though.

Not to be a downer, but I seriously doubt Caprica will be as good as the first 2 seasons of BSG; I think we should stick with it for a while, but those seasons were only so good because Ron Moore wrote or rewrote every episode from scratch.

If this is half as good, we'll be lucky. Even the pilot, as written by Ron Moore, wasn't as great as the BSG miniseries, whose characters were so well thought out. I'm also sure that Michael Rymer is essential to quality BSG; he was always able to augment Ron Moore's stuff, rearranging the story and completely rewriting scenes with the actors if necessary, adding lots of texture and realism. You can just feel his absence in the pilot, which should have more texture; it's still good, though.

Anyway, the DVD barely has anything over the TV running time and the TV version will have new footage to replace the nudity of the DVD version, so I can't wait to see the pilot on January 22, 2010, either!

 

[deep]

I'd be happy with half as good.

 

[solemole]

YouTube - Battlestar Rhapsody

 

[Muldfeld]

So, what did folks think of the pilot?

Today is the last episode written by Mark Verheiden for the BSG universe and the last episode, I think, in which Ron Moore has heavily participated, since, I think, he has directed this one and only this one.

I can't wait!

Friday at 9pm Eastern

 

[Muldfeld]

In case you missed the 2-hour pilot, Syfy is reairing it before the new episode at 7pm Eastern to be followed by the first post-pilot episode at 9 pm Eastern.

 

[dazzledbylight]

I HATE that's it''s on Cable


i can't afford Cable b/c of all the Art & Craft supplies ( I love & create for decades and hope to re-bring some it it back into income again) I buy and the small amount of DVD's/CD's and modest amount of dinners/lunchs I have with or without friends/family.


I hope that my new move and budget after a few months of settling in, and after going through a NYC Summer paying a solo electric bill again with A/C in the sumer will tell me IF i can afford some Net Service so AT LEAST i'll be able to catch some of the episodes on the Net..... like through ........... HULU?

I'll be able to catch a few when i'm house-siting for my sib on the right broadcast days---like I did fir BG!

 

[Muldfeld]

I HATE that's it''s on Cable


i can't afford Cable b/c of all the Art & Craft supplies ( I love & create for decades and hope to re-bring some it it back into income again) I buy and the small amount of DVD's/CD's and modest amount of dinners/lunchs I have with or without friends/family.


I hope that my new move and budget after a few months of settling in, and after going through a NYC Summer paying a solo electric bill again with A/C in the sumer will tell me IF i can afford some Net Service so AT LEAST i'll be able to catch some of the episodes on the Net..... like through ........... HULU?

I'll be able to catch a few when i'm house-siting for my sib on the right broadcast days---like I did fir BG!

I'm sure it'll be on itunes (It definitely is!) or Hulu or something. I'm sorry you can't afford basic cable. In Canada, we can't survive without cable because Canadian TV is so bad (except "Kids in the Hall") and even our Canadian channels require cable to watch them properly.

I know they were showing the pilot online for free.

 

[deep]

In case you missed the 2-hour pilot, Syfy is reairing it before the new episode at 7pm Eastern to be followed by the first post-pilot episode at 9 pm Eastern.

I have actually watched the 2 hour pilot a couple of times.

I am liking it pretty much.

So, the 9 year old boy is Adama, Olmos in the Battlestar series.
Are there any Greystroke descendants form Caprica that make it to Battlestar?

Is the Greystroke daughter, the queen Cylon? The one?

 

[Muldfeld]

I have actually watched the 2 hour pilot a couple of times.

I am liking it pretty much.

So, the 9 year old boy is Adama, Olmos in the Battlestar series.
Are there any Greystroke descendants form Caprica that make it to Battlestar?

Is the Greystroke daughter, the queen Cylon? The one?

No, there are no Graystones, but you never know. "Caprica" could eventually reveal that he did have descendants. The TV version updated some of the special effects to add the exteriors to scenes, which looked really nice. Also, the scene in which the cylon collapses to the ground was improved to be less overtly emotional-looking.

Frak! Canada's Space screwed me over. I thought it was gonna air at 9pm, but it's 10 pm in Canada. What a waste of my time!