Turn and face the changes.
From what I can tell so far the Caprica pilot has maintained about 98% of the footage from the DVD's but there have been a few very interesting changes. First off, with the added time between the creation of the pilot and it's new air date there have been a number of added effects shots setting up the various locations seen in the show. I have noticed that they have added much more to Downtown Caprica City. We get to see the apartment building where the Adama's live. A number of the shots also show statutes which I believe are tributes to the Gods that the Caprican's worship. I have also noticed that color-correction has been tweaked and the coloring isn't quite as vibrant as on the DVD. This could be because of the fact that I am watching in standard definition as opposed to a higher definition DVD. I tend to think though that the slightly muted colors are actually better as it provides a more consistent tone throughout the various locations which seemed a little out of place in the DVD.
The only significant dialogue change I have noticed so far is that they have changed Zoe's approximation of the size of the human brain from 300 megabytes, in the DVD, to 100 Terabytes or 300 million times the size she mentioned in the pilot.
Ok big change here. They have re-shot the Pyramid scene as they mentioned in the commentary on the DVD. We see Daniel and Joseph in the Graystone box as opposed to just walking out of the indoor stadium floor as seen on the DVD. An establishing shot of the giant Pyramid outdoor stadium is shown. We can see a little bit of the action from the teams below playing on a grass soccer like field. Very interesting and it does quite a bit to improve the realism of the biggest sport on the richest planet in the Colonies.
Interesting note: They left Daniel's dialogue about Tamara Adama's information being only about 300 megabytes. When compared to the massive amount Zoe mentioned for her avatar it explains why Tamara's avatar deres' so quickly and is unable to adapt. Perhaps the quest for more information will be a point in the series to follow.
So that's it. Caprica is on the air and up and running. I will see you all again next week with my first review for the new series. Can't wait to see the journey we will go on.
So say we all!! By your command.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Pilot summary and Review
So we begin again.
I purchased the pilot to the TV show Caprica when it was first released in the summer of 2009. While I could have reviewed at that time I felt like it was too close to the end of its sequel Battlestar Galactica for me to review without thinking too much of Galactica. So while I will be mentioning many reminders of the older show I hope to approach Caprica with a “fresh set of eyes”.
Set 58 years before the fall of the Twelve Colonies Caprica as seen in Battlestar Galactica, Caprica is set in a time “before the fall of humanity”. It is a time of great progress for the people of the Twelve Colonies scientifically, but also a time, not unlike ours where the races and cultures of the Colonists are still at war. While it might not be an outright war fought with guns and spaceships, a cultural revolution is coming. This revolution will lead to the downfall of this great society.
We open inside a raging nightclub where every form of depravity known to man is taking place. Orgies, shootings, fighting and ritual killings are shown to us. We see two versions of Zoe, our main character, one in the rafters watching what we will learn is a virtual version of herself in the front row watching the ritual killings taking place. The crowd is manic in its support of this abomination. Chloe’s virtual Avatar disappears in what is apparently an overload in her emotional software.
We next see Zoe Graystone caught using her Virtual glasses in what is apparently an off-limits activity. She is caught in a bathroom stall by one of her school mates at Caprica’s most elite private school.
Zoe’s two friends meet up with her outside school and discuss their future plans to escape to the Planet Gemmanon. All of the planets used in Caprica are variations of famous constellations the Zodiac on Earth. Capricorn is Caprica, Gemini is Gemmanon, Taurus is Tauron, etc. The groups of three say they are leaving to escape a tortuous life of depravity under the Poly-Theistic rule of the Twelve Colonies so they can worship their belief in the One-True-God, who guides and directs them. So Say They All.
We next see Zoe’s parents, Amanda and Daniel Graystone, playing a version of tennis. To highlight that the society is more advanced than ours Daniel and Amanda are debating whether a shot was hit “in” on the court and ask Serge, their house robot, to activate the laser line sensors. A technology we do not yet possess.
We learn that Daniel Graystone has come from humble beginnings to become a type of Bill Gates in the Caprica universe when he invented the Holo-Bands Zoe was previously using. Daniel has become a multi-billionaire with this technology. While he invented them for education many children, as children often do with technology, have learned how to hack the Holo-Bands and that is how the “V-Club” of debauchery show in the open of the show has come to exist. Daniel and Amanda seem to have a loving relationship but are having a tough time with the teenage attitude of their daughter.
As Zoe is brought home a big fight breaks out between Zoe and her parents. Zoe is resentful of the technology and the money that has brought them to ruin, in her mind. Her mother is upset with the fact that Zoe seems to hate them when she has had everything at her disposal her entire life without having to work hard for anything. This leads to Zoe stating that she’ll just have to learn to marry into money like her mother and Amanda slaps Zoe at this. Zoe tells her she will regret that for the rest of her life, knowing that she will be running away to Gemmanon the next day. Or so Zoe thinks.
We next see Zoe using and infinity symbol to access a secret area of the Holo-Band, a symbol we will later learn is used by the followers of the One (God). It is there where she meets with her virtual avatar to help rebuild her software so that the Virtual Zoe can be an exact copy of herself. With the same emotions and memories.
In the virtual world Zoe enters a secret chamber marked with the same symbol. Her avatar asks why the people would participate in such violent activities. Zoe is obviously as brilliant a programmer as her father. Her avatar can’t understand how real people could be taking strength from such unreal yet horrible activities. Zoe states that the people will change, and that her Avatar will help bring about that change.
We next see Zoe and her friends meeting before school and on their way they leave and enter a train station, obviously on the run. This is where we also meet another family. Joseph Adams is speaking with his wife and daughter about their dinner plans on a cell phone as the two women are about to board the same train as Zoe and her friends.
At the last minute Lacy decides she can’t follow through with running away leaving Zoe and Ben to board the train. Though they are running away Zoe seems determined but Ben seems overly nervous and distracted as Zoe tells her she knew Zoe would back out but won’t tell anyone until they are off-world.
The train speeds away from the station. Zoe types out a quick message on her computer paper, a full computer on a foldable piece of paper. It states “Don’t live in regret, Mom. I forgive you.” She sends the message.
Ben out of silence then apologizes to Zoe before revealing a vest underneath his coat with a bomb on it. Stating it is God’s will, despite the protestation of Zoe Ben yells “The One True God will drive out the many” before blowing himself and the train up killing himself, Zoe and the two Adams’ we quickly met.
The blast is head and felt many blocks away by Joseph Adams on his way to court.
We next see Daniel and Amanda in mourning two weeks later.
A meeting of the Caprican government is next shown explaining about the fact that a group known as the Soldiers of the One. Joseph walks out in disgust and heads to smoke a cigarette. Realizing that he has no lighter he walks back towards the building and is met by Daniel Graystone.
Joseph explains his ritual wearing of gloves in times of mourning, a Taruonese custom that Graystone being a Caprican does not know about. They bond over the fact that they have both lost daughters and decide to have coffee together.
We next go back to the Athena Academy where the headmistress Sister Clarice Willow is consoling Lacy on her lost. Lacy is distraught about how the worlds just lost a genius and Lacy is no one special. She asks her to continue anything she knows about Zoe’s work and that might be a way for “The Gods” to reconnect Lacy with Zoe’s work.
Lacy next shows up at Zoe’s house asking if she can sit in Zoe’s room in mourning. Amanda allows her in not knowing she is going after Zoe’s Holo-Band research.
We next see Joseph and Daniel ending their coffee session with Joe stating that he has to return home to his son William. He asks Joseph if he like Pyramid. The basketball of their planet. Joe asks if he can bring his son and Daniel gives him his private number telling him he can get courtside tickets. Of course he can as Daniel owns the Caprican City Bucs.
Lacy is next seen entering the hidden room in the V-Room. She meets with Virtual Zoe who is disfigured like her real-world counterpart. She asks Lacy what has happened. Lacy doesn’t understand how the Zoe in the virtual world was hurt and the avatar explains that Zoe was working on programming that would make the avatar feel whatever her real world counterpart was feeling. Lacy is scared of this virtual version. The avatar Zoe feels like she is real. She has Zoe’s memories, feelings, remembers everything about growing up with Lacy. She knows that she is not real but she feels like a real person. As Lacy hugs avatar Zoe she is healed. Most likely by the emotions of meeting her friends.
Daniel who knows nothing of his daughter’s work finds lacy in the room on the Holo-Band and she exits quickly with no explanation. Daniel has something to work on though. He must first hack into the computer then find a way into the hidden room.
We next see Adams defending a clearly guilty member of a crime syndicate. With a wink to the judge unseen by others, the judge grants a low bail instead of locking up this dangerous man. It is here where we learn that Adams got his start by helping a Tauronese crime boss get his lackeys out of trouble in the legal system. Joseph has many regrets and will fight to get out of this agreement but had to do it to get his start in law. The Tauronese are looked down upon as poor immigrants on Caprica and have little chance on their own to prosper under the current system of government. In one of the most touching scenes later in the show Adams is shown talking to his young son William telling him to be proud of their true name Adama, not the pseudo-Anglicization Adams that they had to adopt to get ahead on Caprica.
It is here we learn that young William Adama is Commander Adama 58 years later on the Battlestar Galactica. We learn that Joseph Adams is actually Yosef Adama. He also, like many of his contemporaries is disillusioned with a belief in the Gods. Joseph believes in none.
We next see Daniel’s latest invention an autonomous battle robot. It is having great difficulty finding its targets and Daniel is greatly disappointed with its performance, while Daniel’s assistant states that there is increased competition from his rival the Vergis Corporation.
Daniel leaves and states that he will be out all afternoon, no calls! We see him next at his home hacking into Zoe’s Holo-Band. He shows up at the V-Club. Vergis then interrupts Daniel heightening the tension about the robot contract. Back into the V-Club. Way off in the crowd Daniel spots Zoe, who being dead should not be there. He chases her to the door and is kicked out of the virtual world when he touches the infinity symbol on the door.
We next see an investigator heading into Amanda’s office. She is a highly thought of Doctor on Caprica. She hates the fact that the investigator insinuates her daughter was one of the bombers. He gives her the un-transmitted message mentioned above and states that it sounds like a last message.
Lacy returns to the house and is caught by Daniel who tries to get the answer about how to get into the club and see Zoe.
We see Joseph meeting with the mob boss who wants him to “negotiate” with the Minister of Defense. The same minister who might take away Daniel’s contract. Joseph is hesitant but must go along.
Daniel then is lead to the room by Lacy. He meets his Virtual daughter and is in complete disbelief. He knows she is not real but slowly believes in what she has to offer. That she is more than just a copy. That she has all of Zoe’s memories and feelings and beliefs. That she is Zoe. That she is an echo of the true Zoe. That the human brain is just about 300 megabytes of knowledge not much realistically. She then rattles off the many digital footprints that we leave in life and that while we can’t download a personality the footprints combined with a little software gives a complete picture of a person.
Joseph is then seen stating to his brother Sam that the mob boss can just fire him if he doesn’t like the fact that Joe doesn’t want to work for him anymore. Sam says the boss doesn’t fire people, he buries them.
We next see Daniel finally seeming to believe Zoe that she is real and asks to hold her. Zoe agrees out of emotional need and Daniel downloads her information into a hard drive. Kicks out Lacy and denies her access from the house again. Daniel might have found a way to put the missing pieces of his robot together for the defense contract, but more on that later.
We next see the investigator from Amanda’s office show up at the school to question Lacy. Lacy denies any involvement with Ben’s allegiance to the One and the bombing. Sister Willow sides with Lacy and leads the questioning to protect Lacy and specifically that they were not involved with the soldiers of the one. When asked by the investigator on where the school stands Sister Willow states that the Athenian Academy follows the path of the Gods but is tolerant of all beliefs including mono-theism. Investigator Durham acknowledges as much. When he asks if she knows how many students are mono-theistic she flatly says she cannot and will not answer that question. She states he knows a lot about monotheism and he replies “Know your enemy”. Sister Willow corrects him stating “Love your enemy”.
We next see Daniel hosting William and Joseph at the Pyramid game. Daniel and Joe adjourn to the hallway where Daniel tells him about the virtual Zoe. He posits that he might be able to recreate Joseph’s daughter as well. A touching scene is explained by Joe that there are no flowers on Tauron and that he lost his family and was orphaned to Caprica in the Tauron civil war. He stated that the most beautiful sight was those first flowers he saw when he first arrived on Caprica.
As they enter Daniel’s incredibly rich house he states that he misses tinkering in his parent’s basement restating his humble upbringing.
They enter the virtual world and meet Zoe. This is Joe’s first time with such high technology out of reach to his poor hands. Joseph is stunned and a little frightened of what he sees. He can’t understand how such a thing is possible. Daniel asks what makes a person a person? He states that in his business “What makes no difference is no difference”. Daniel then goes on to ask Joseph if he can get the processor Vergis has for him, knowing about Joseph’s mob ties. Daniel asks Joseph on his way out “Can you live with the fact that you might have been able to bringing them back and you didn’t??” He says if it doesn’t work have Daniel beat up, killed, but isn’t it worth trying?
We next see Daniel and Amanda trying to rebuild their lives. Daniel seems revitalized and Amanda is still in deep depression.
Joseph is next seen asking his brother to steal from the Vergis Corporation if he delivers the message from the mob boss he was asked about. Joseph is asked if he want to “cross that line” and he agrees. It is especially difficult because Vergis is from Tauron and a good friend of the mob boss. Joe seems to be believing in Daniel’s work.
When Joseph confronts the minister, the minister berates the lowly Tauron’s because of their race and tells them to go back under that poor rock they crawled out of or they will face severe punishment from the Caprican government. We will see how that response is received later. Joseph tells the minister goodbye and safe journey and the minister replies “I’m not going anywhere you Dirt-Eater”.
The climax begins to build as we see a shirtless Sam entering the minister’s house, displaying his Taruonese tattoo’s intercut with Daniel and Amanda making love. Sam, in the language Tauronese, tells the minister to never turn his back on those he called friends as he slits the minister’s throat. We next see Joseph crying in his house as he knows what his brother is doing.
Enter Lacy into the Sisters chambers remembering the day they first discussed following the One. She then confesses to Sister Willow that she had joined the path of the one. Lacy nervously drinks a glass of water in Willow’s office. Willow states that she too had once had a void in her soul. That she too did not know what was right or wrong. That she does not feel that way anymore. Without speaking her beliefs Sister Willow traces an infinity symbol, the symbol of the followers of the One in the outline of the water from the glass on her desk. She tells Lacy “You are not alone”. And Lacy collapses in her arms in grief and relief. Willow states that Ben did not act on orders but was fighting evil with all his heart. Willow tells Lacy that Zoe was just caught up in the wrong place and how special Zoe was to them, and stays she still is.
Daniel and Joseph are shown with the device stolen by the mob. Daniel states that he has completed Joseph’s daughter’s avatar and they go into the virtual world to see it. He also tells Joseph it will take some time to see if the avatar’s can be loaded into a robot body. We see Joseph meeting his daughter, Tamar’s avatar. A very touching moment as his daughter realizes that she is not real and can’t handle the fact that she is not. Joseph realizes it’s an abomination to defeat death. Daniel states that it’s just natural for her to be confused as she has just been “born”. Joseph asks what is natural. He points to his glasses, asks about all the people who have artificial organs to prolong life. Is that natural? Joseph recoils in horror as he states that it is not natural to cheat death. Only the Gods have the power to give life. Joseph runs home despite the protestations of Daniel who asks “What do you think it would be like to have William’s mother hold him in his arms again?”
We next see Zoe asking Daniel in the virtual world if he thinks the download of her personality to the robot body will work. Daniel states it will. That is what he does. She states that Caprica is not her home and that part of her doesn’t it want the download to work. Zoe tells her father about her belief in the One and that Zoe was leaving Caprica for Gemmanon. A fact Daniel didn’t know. Daniel asks her to talk about it later. Zoe asks “When will you realize that later is too late?” She states that her parents always thought they knew the answer and the Caprica and the rest of the planet is doomed because of the lack of morals and beliefs. That their arrogance was killing their daughter and that is how they lost her, not to some bomb.
Daniel is disturbed by this exact copy of his daughter and downloads a copy of her into the chip he received from Joseph. He then places the chip in a robot (eerily familiar to those who watched Battlestar) and waits for it to boot up. Instead of the lifeless yellow Eye that the robot previously had the light turns red Zoe’s consciousness begins to feel its new body. We hear Zoe’s voice say Daddy as the robot, almost like Frankenstein before it, tries to walk to him. Before it can get to him the robot collapses and the computer states that the data is lost. Daniel runs back into the virtual world and looks for Zoe’s avatar to no avail. He has lost his daughter again.
Now we have the scene of Joseph and William deciding that they will survive. That they will get past this and a new chapter has begun. To honor their lost sister and mother Joseph decides that they will live in their memory. That William is named after Joseph’s father who died in a Tauron uprising, a fact that Joseph has never shared with William. Joseph states that we are not Adams. We are proud Adama’s. A good and honorable Tauron name. I will discuss the music more later but it is very moving here as it evokes the father and son theme that William and his son Lee Adama shared on Battlestar.
We next see the test of the robot at Daniel’s factory for the Defense Ministry. The robot works flawlessly. It tracks and kills its targets as well or better than any human and without any potential loss of human life. The red light on the robot aglow the whole time. The future is plain for all to see. The robot looks up at Daniel and states in a purely robotic voice “All targets destroyed. By Your Command”. This line is taken from the original 1978 version of Battlestar Galactica and continued through the reimagining until now in Caprica. The new Minister states that she is glad to award the contract to the Graystone Corporation. She continues to say that there were accusations by the Vergis Corporation about how the technology was completed. Daniel’s assistant states that if Vergis had a case they would have sued the Graystone Corporation already or will.
The new Defense minister then asks what Daniel called the robot and Daniel states it is a “Cybernetic Life-Form Node. A CYLON.” Those who saw Battlestar know that this is the name of the destroyers of the Colonies who exact revenge on their human creators. So the beginning of both stories start here. The defense minister says “Not a bad name for a walking toaster.” A toaster is the slang derogative term of the Cylons used by the colonists in the later series. That term starts here as well.
Daniel’s assistant states “We did it”. Daniel says yes “We” did but it’s not the result he hoped for. I believe he still thinks Zoe is lost.
We next see a restricted room with a Cylon model on a table. As it hums to life and wakes up struggling with its new form looking at itself. It gets up from the table and looks at itself in the reflection of the table. We don’t hear it’s voice but we next see Lacy pick a phone from her bag. She hears Zoe’s voice on the other end of the phone. “It’s me, I’m here” the camera goes back to the room to establish the fact that it is Zoe in the Cylon body “I think I need your help.”
The End of the Pilot…..
Review: I have to say that while I am obviously very loyal to the producers of this show and very biased it still is a very strong pilot. It is very effective in establishing the combination of a post-modern yet retro feeling world. The technology they posses is very advanced compared to ours on Earth, yet the Tauron’s dress very much in the style of the 1950’s. To say the costumes borrow a bit from “Mad Men” is not out of line.
Also true to the re-imagined Battlestar series is the emotional through line. The ties of family and loyalty to that family are the ties that bind. I foresee many difficult discussions going forward with just how far you go for your family. Which leads to the giant philosophical questions both series have asked. What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to be alive? What defines us as a race of sentient beings versus our petty perceived differences? Whether those differences are race, or age, gender, sexuality or any other pigeon holes we corner ourselves into.
Another great standout to this show and Battlestar is the great score by Bear McCreary. The score naturally for a show about family on a civilized world versus a scramble of the fragments of humanity in space is much more textured and soft compared to the blazing beats of war. Yet the score still evokes great emotion even at its quietest moments. Where appropriate though the nice nods to the Battlestar score were great. When the Cylon is in action hunting its targets the drums mirror the battle scenes in that show. The moving tribute to Fathers and Sons from Battlestar was particularly moving.
One thing both the music and the story do is to introduce an entirely new world to the viewer without having to know anything about what came before it. As the story of Caprica sets up Battlestar you don’t have to know that young William Adama is going to turn into the Commander of the Galactica. Yet it offers a great perspective if you do know.
Conclusion:
9/10 for the pilot. I would have like to have scene a little more about the division of the races, yet I do realize that would be asking too much from a pilot of a show. This story strongly stands on its own yet is a great setup for what is to come. There is plenty of time to flesh everything out and setup a great story in Battlestar Galactica.
Well the Frakkin time is here!!! I will probably do a quick update if there are any major changes in the pilot broadcast versus the DVD I just outlined. Obviously for broadcast TV there will be no nudity but I will note if there are any other changes.
Otherwise I will be back next week with my review of the first regular season broadcast of Caprica. The title is Rebirth.
So Say We ALL!!!!
I purchased the pilot to the TV show Caprica when it was first released in the summer of 2009. While I could have reviewed at that time I felt like it was too close to the end of its sequel Battlestar Galactica for me to review without thinking too much of Galactica. So while I will be mentioning many reminders of the older show I hope to approach Caprica with a “fresh set of eyes”.
Set 58 years before the fall of the Twelve Colonies Caprica as seen in Battlestar Galactica, Caprica is set in a time “before the fall of humanity”. It is a time of great progress for the people of the Twelve Colonies scientifically, but also a time, not unlike ours where the races and cultures of the Colonists are still at war. While it might not be an outright war fought with guns and spaceships, a cultural revolution is coming. This revolution will lead to the downfall of this great society.
We open inside a raging nightclub where every form of depravity known to man is taking place. Orgies, shootings, fighting and ritual killings are shown to us. We see two versions of Zoe, our main character, one in the rafters watching what we will learn is a virtual version of herself in the front row watching the ritual killings taking place. The crowd is manic in its support of this abomination. Chloe’s virtual Avatar disappears in what is apparently an overload in her emotional software.
We next see Zoe Graystone caught using her Virtual glasses in what is apparently an off-limits activity. She is caught in a bathroom stall by one of her school mates at Caprica’s most elite private school.
Zoe’s two friends meet up with her outside school and discuss their future plans to escape to the Planet Gemmanon. All of the planets used in Caprica are variations of famous constellations the Zodiac on Earth. Capricorn is Caprica, Gemini is Gemmanon, Taurus is Tauron, etc. The groups of three say they are leaving to escape a tortuous life of depravity under the Poly-Theistic rule of the Twelve Colonies so they can worship their belief in the One-True-God, who guides and directs them. So Say They All.
We next see Zoe’s parents, Amanda and Daniel Graystone, playing a version of tennis. To highlight that the society is more advanced than ours Daniel and Amanda are debating whether a shot was hit “in” on the court and ask Serge, their house robot, to activate the laser line sensors. A technology we do not yet possess.
We learn that Daniel Graystone has come from humble beginnings to become a type of Bill Gates in the Caprica universe when he invented the Holo-Bands Zoe was previously using. Daniel has become a multi-billionaire with this technology. While he invented them for education many children, as children often do with technology, have learned how to hack the Holo-Bands and that is how the “V-Club” of debauchery show in the open of the show has come to exist. Daniel and Amanda seem to have a loving relationship but are having a tough time with the teenage attitude of their daughter.
As Zoe is brought home a big fight breaks out between Zoe and her parents. Zoe is resentful of the technology and the money that has brought them to ruin, in her mind. Her mother is upset with the fact that Zoe seems to hate them when she has had everything at her disposal her entire life without having to work hard for anything. This leads to Zoe stating that she’ll just have to learn to marry into money like her mother and Amanda slaps Zoe at this. Zoe tells her she will regret that for the rest of her life, knowing that she will be running away to Gemmanon the next day. Or so Zoe thinks.
We next see Zoe using and infinity symbol to access a secret area of the Holo-Band, a symbol we will later learn is used by the followers of the One (God). It is there where she meets with her virtual avatar to help rebuild her software so that the Virtual Zoe can be an exact copy of herself. With the same emotions and memories.
In the virtual world Zoe enters a secret chamber marked with the same symbol. Her avatar asks why the people would participate in such violent activities. Zoe is obviously as brilliant a programmer as her father. Her avatar can’t understand how real people could be taking strength from such unreal yet horrible activities. Zoe states that the people will change, and that her Avatar will help bring about that change.
We next see Zoe and her friends meeting before school and on their way they leave and enter a train station, obviously on the run. This is where we also meet another family. Joseph Adams is speaking with his wife and daughter about their dinner plans on a cell phone as the two women are about to board the same train as Zoe and her friends.
At the last minute Lacy decides she can’t follow through with running away leaving Zoe and Ben to board the train. Though they are running away Zoe seems determined but Ben seems overly nervous and distracted as Zoe tells her she knew Zoe would back out but won’t tell anyone until they are off-world.
The train speeds away from the station. Zoe types out a quick message on her computer paper, a full computer on a foldable piece of paper. It states “Don’t live in regret, Mom. I forgive you.” She sends the message.
Ben out of silence then apologizes to Zoe before revealing a vest underneath his coat with a bomb on it. Stating it is God’s will, despite the protestation of Zoe Ben yells “The One True God will drive out the many” before blowing himself and the train up killing himself, Zoe and the two Adams’ we quickly met.
The blast is head and felt many blocks away by Joseph Adams on his way to court.
We next see Daniel and Amanda in mourning two weeks later.
A meeting of the Caprican government is next shown explaining about the fact that a group known as the Soldiers of the One. Joseph walks out in disgust and heads to smoke a cigarette. Realizing that he has no lighter he walks back towards the building and is met by Daniel Graystone.
Joseph explains his ritual wearing of gloves in times of mourning, a Taruonese custom that Graystone being a Caprican does not know about. They bond over the fact that they have both lost daughters and decide to have coffee together.
We next go back to the Athena Academy where the headmistress Sister Clarice Willow is consoling Lacy on her lost. Lacy is distraught about how the worlds just lost a genius and Lacy is no one special. She asks her to continue anything she knows about Zoe’s work and that might be a way for “The Gods” to reconnect Lacy with Zoe’s work.
Lacy next shows up at Zoe’s house asking if she can sit in Zoe’s room in mourning. Amanda allows her in not knowing she is going after Zoe’s Holo-Band research.
We next see Joseph and Daniel ending their coffee session with Joe stating that he has to return home to his son William. He asks Joseph if he like Pyramid. The basketball of their planet. Joe asks if he can bring his son and Daniel gives him his private number telling him he can get courtside tickets. Of course he can as Daniel owns the Caprican City Bucs.
Lacy is next seen entering the hidden room in the V-Room. She meets with Virtual Zoe who is disfigured like her real-world counterpart. She asks Lacy what has happened. Lacy doesn’t understand how the Zoe in the virtual world was hurt and the avatar explains that Zoe was working on programming that would make the avatar feel whatever her real world counterpart was feeling. Lacy is scared of this virtual version. The avatar Zoe feels like she is real. She has Zoe’s memories, feelings, remembers everything about growing up with Lacy. She knows that she is not real but she feels like a real person. As Lacy hugs avatar Zoe she is healed. Most likely by the emotions of meeting her friends.
Daniel who knows nothing of his daughter’s work finds lacy in the room on the Holo-Band and she exits quickly with no explanation. Daniel has something to work on though. He must first hack into the computer then find a way into the hidden room.
We next see Adams defending a clearly guilty member of a crime syndicate. With a wink to the judge unseen by others, the judge grants a low bail instead of locking up this dangerous man. It is here where we learn that Adams got his start by helping a Tauronese crime boss get his lackeys out of trouble in the legal system. Joseph has many regrets and will fight to get out of this agreement but had to do it to get his start in law. The Tauronese are looked down upon as poor immigrants on Caprica and have little chance on their own to prosper under the current system of government. In one of the most touching scenes later in the show Adams is shown talking to his young son William telling him to be proud of their true name Adama, not the pseudo-Anglicization Adams that they had to adopt to get ahead on Caprica.
It is here we learn that young William Adama is Commander Adama 58 years later on the Battlestar Galactica. We learn that Joseph Adams is actually Yosef Adama. He also, like many of his contemporaries is disillusioned with a belief in the Gods. Joseph believes in none.
We next see Daniel’s latest invention an autonomous battle robot. It is having great difficulty finding its targets and Daniel is greatly disappointed with its performance, while Daniel’s assistant states that there is increased competition from his rival the Vergis Corporation.
Daniel leaves and states that he will be out all afternoon, no calls! We see him next at his home hacking into Zoe’s Holo-Band. He shows up at the V-Club. Vergis then interrupts Daniel heightening the tension about the robot contract. Back into the V-Club. Way off in the crowd Daniel spots Zoe, who being dead should not be there. He chases her to the door and is kicked out of the virtual world when he touches the infinity symbol on the door.
We next see an investigator heading into Amanda’s office. She is a highly thought of Doctor on Caprica. She hates the fact that the investigator insinuates her daughter was one of the bombers. He gives her the un-transmitted message mentioned above and states that it sounds like a last message.
Lacy returns to the house and is caught by Daniel who tries to get the answer about how to get into the club and see Zoe.
We see Joseph meeting with the mob boss who wants him to “negotiate” with the Minister of Defense. The same minister who might take away Daniel’s contract. Joseph is hesitant but must go along.
Daniel then is lead to the room by Lacy. He meets his Virtual daughter and is in complete disbelief. He knows she is not real but slowly believes in what she has to offer. That she is more than just a copy. That she has all of Zoe’s memories and feelings and beliefs. That she is Zoe. That she is an echo of the true Zoe. That the human brain is just about 300 megabytes of knowledge not much realistically. She then rattles off the many digital footprints that we leave in life and that while we can’t download a personality the footprints combined with a little software gives a complete picture of a person.
Joseph is then seen stating to his brother Sam that the mob boss can just fire him if he doesn’t like the fact that Joe doesn’t want to work for him anymore. Sam says the boss doesn’t fire people, he buries them.
We next see Daniel finally seeming to believe Zoe that she is real and asks to hold her. Zoe agrees out of emotional need and Daniel downloads her information into a hard drive. Kicks out Lacy and denies her access from the house again. Daniel might have found a way to put the missing pieces of his robot together for the defense contract, but more on that later.
We next see the investigator from Amanda’s office show up at the school to question Lacy. Lacy denies any involvement with Ben’s allegiance to the One and the bombing. Sister Willow sides with Lacy and leads the questioning to protect Lacy and specifically that they were not involved with the soldiers of the one. When asked by the investigator on where the school stands Sister Willow states that the Athenian Academy follows the path of the Gods but is tolerant of all beliefs including mono-theism. Investigator Durham acknowledges as much. When he asks if she knows how many students are mono-theistic she flatly says she cannot and will not answer that question. She states he knows a lot about monotheism and he replies “Know your enemy”. Sister Willow corrects him stating “Love your enemy”.
We next see Daniel hosting William and Joseph at the Pyramid game. Daniel and Joe adjourn to the hallway where Daniel tells him about the virtual Zoe. He posits that he might be able to recreate Joseph’s daughter as well. A touching scene is explained by Joe that there are no flowers on Tauron and that he lost his family and was orphaned to Caprica in the Tauron civil war. He stated that the most beautiful sight was those first flowers he saw when he first arrived on Caprica.
As they enter Daniel’s incredibly rich house he states that he misses tinkering in his parent’s basement restating his humble upbringing.
They enter the virtual world and meet Zoe. This is Joe’s first time with such high technology out of reach to his poor hands. Joseph is stunned and a little frightened of what he sees. He can’t understand how such a thing is possible. Daniel asks what makes a person a person? He states that in his business “What makes no difference is no difference”. Daniel then goes on to ask Joseph if he can get the processor Vergis has for him, knowing about Joseph’s mob ties. Daniel asks Joseph on his way out “Can you live with the fact that you might have been able to bringing them back and you didn’t??” He says if it doesn’t work have Daniel beat up, killed, but isn’t it worth trying?
We next see Daniel and Amanda trying to rebuild their lives. Daniel seems revitalized and Amanda is still in deep depression.
Joseph is next seen asking his brother to steal from the Vergis Corporation if he delivers the message from the mob boss he was asked about. Joseph is asked if he want to “cross that line” and he agrees. It is especially difficult because Vergis is from Tauron and a good friend of the mob boss. Joe seems to be believing in Daniel’s work.
When Joseph confronts the minister, the minister berates the lowly Tauron’s because of their race and tells them to go back under that poor rock they crawled out of or they will face severe punishment from the Caprican government. We will see how that response is received later. Joseph tells the minister goodbye and safe journey and the minister replies “I’m not going anywhere you Dirt-Eater”.
The climax begins to build as we see a shirtless Sam entering the minister’s house, displaying his Taruonese tattoo’s intercut with Daniel and Amanda making love. Sam, in the language Tauronese, tells the minister to never turn his back on those he called friends as he slits the minister’s throat. We next see Joseph crying in his house as he knows what his brother is doing.
Enter Lacy into the Sisters chambers remembering the day they first discussed following the One. She then confesses to Sister Willow that she had joined the path of the one. Lacy nervously drinks a glass of water in Willow’s office. Willow states that she too had once had a void in her soul. That she too did not know what was right or wrong. That she does not feel that way anymore. Without speaking her beliefs Sister Willow traces an infinity symbol, the symbol of the followers of the One in the outline of the water from the glass on her desk. She tells Lacy “You are not alone”. And Lacy collapses in her arms in grief and relief. Willow states that Ben did not act on orders but was fighting evil with all his heart. Willow tells Lacy that Zoe was just caught up in the wrong place and how special Zoe was to them, and stays she still is.
Daniel and Joseph are shown with the device stolen by the mob. Daniel states that he has completed Joseph’s daughter’s avatar and they go into the virtual world to see it. He also tells Joseph it will take some time to see if the avatar’s can be loaded into a robot body. We see Joseph meeting his daughter, Tamar’s avatar. A very touching moment as his daughter realizes that she is not real and can’t handle the fact that she is not. Joseph realizes it’s an abomination to defeat death. Daniel states that it’s just natural for her to be confused as she has just been “born”. Joseph asks what is natural. He points to his glasses, asks about all the people who have artificial organs to prolong life. Is that natural? Joseph recoils in horror as he states that it is not natural to cheat death. Only the Gods have the power to give life. Joseph runs home despite the protestations of Daniel who asks “What do you think it would be like to have William’s mother hold him in his arms again?”
We next see Zoe asking Daniel in the virtual world if he thinks the download of her personality to the robot body will work. Daniel states it will. That is what he does. She states that Caprica is not her home and that part of her doesn’t it want the download to work. Zoe tells her father about her belief in the One and that Zoe was leaving Caprica for Gemmanon. A fact Daniel didn’t know. Daniel asks her to talk about it later. Zoe asks “When will you realize that later is too late?” She states that her parents always thought they knew the answer and the Caprica and the rest of the planet is doomed because of the lack of morals and beliefs. That their arrogance was killing their daughter and that is how they lost her, not to some bomb.
Daniel is disturbed by this exact copy of his daughter and downloads a copy of her into the chip he received from Joseph. He then places the chip in a robot (eerily familiar to those who watched Battlestar) and waits for it to boot up. Instead of the lifeless yellow Eye that the robot previously had the light turns red Zoe’s consciousness begins to feel its new body. We hear Zoe’s voice say Daddy as the robot, almost like Frankenstein before it, tries to walk to him. Before it can get to him the robot collapses and the computer states that the data is lost. Daniel runs back into the virtual world and looks for Zoe’s avatar to no avail. He has lost his daughter again.
Now we have the scene of Joseph and William deciding that they will survive. That they will get past this and a new chapter has begun. To honor their lost sister and mother Joseph decides that they will live in their memory. That William is named after Joseph’s father who died in a Tauron uprising, a fact that Joseph has never shared with William. Joseph states that we are not Adams. We are proud Adama’s. A good and honorable Tauron name. I will discuss the music more later but it is very moving here as it evokes the father and son theme that William and his son Lee Adama shared on Battlestar.
We next see the test of the robot at Daniel’s factory for the Defense Ministry. The robot works flawlessly. It tracks and kills its targets as well or better than any human and without any potential loss of human life. The red light on the robot aglow the whole time. The future is plain for all to see. The robot looks up at Daniel and states in a purely robotic voice “All targets destroyed. By Your Command”. This line is taken from the original 1978 version of Battlestar Galactica and continued through the reimagining until now in Caprica. The new Minister states that she is glad to award the contract to the Graystone Corporation. She continues to say that there were accusations by the Vergis Corporation about how the technology was completed. Daniel’s assistant states that if Vergis had a case they would have sued the Graystone Corporation already or will.
The new Defense minister then asks what Daniel called the robot and Daniel states it is a “Cybernetic Life-Form Node. A CYLON.” Those who saw Battlestar know that this is the name of the destroyers of the Colonies who exact revenge on their human creators. So the beginning of both stories start here. The defense minister says “Not a bad name for a walking toaster.” A toaster is the slang derogative term of the Cylons used by the colonists in the later series. That term starts here as well.
Daniel’s assistant states “We did it”. Daniel says yes “We” did but it’s not the result he hoped for. I believe he still thinks Zoe is lost.
We next see a restricted room with a Cylon model on a table. As it hums to life and wakes up struggling with its new form looking at itself. It gets up from the table and looks at itself in the reflection of the table. We don’t hear it’s voice but we next see Lacy pick a phone from her bag. She hears Zoe’s voice on the other end of the phone. “It’s me, I’m here” the camera goes back to the room to establish the fact that it is Zoe in the Cylon body “I think I need your help.”
The End of the Pilot…..
Review: I have to say that while I am obviously very loyal to the producers of this show and very biased it still is a very strong pilot. It is very effective in establishing the combination of a post-modern yet retro feeling world. The technology they posses is very advanced compared to ours on Earth, yet the Tauron’s dress very much in the style of the 1950’s. To say the costumes borrow a bit from “Mad Men” is not out of line.
Also true to the re-imagined Battlestar series is the emotional through line. The ties of family and loyalty to that family are the ties that bind. I foresee many difficult discussions going forward with just how far you go for your family. Which leads to the giant philosophical questions both series have asked. What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to be alive? What defines us as a race of sentient beings versus our petty perceived differences? Whether those differences are race, or age, gender, sexuality or any other pigeon holes we corner ourselves into.
Another great standout to this show and Battlestar is the great score by Bear McCreary. The score naturally for a show about family on a civilized world versus a scramble of the fragments of humanity in space is much more textured and soft compared to the blazing beats of war. Yet the score still evokes great emotion even at its quietest moments. Where appropriate though the nice nods to the Battlestar score were great. When the Cylon is in action hunting its targets the drums mirror the battle scenes in that show. The moving tribute to Fathers and Sons from Battlestar was particularly moving.
One thing both the music and the story do is to introduce an entirely new world to the viewer without having to know anything about what came before it. As the story of Caprica sets up Battlestar you don’t have to know that young William Adama is going to turn into the Commander of the Galactica. Yet it offers a great perspective if you do know.
Conclusion:
9/10 for the pilot. I would have like to have scene a little more about the division of the races, yet I do realize that would be asking too much from a pilot of a show. This story strongly stands on its own yet is a great setup for what is to come. There is plenty of time to flesh everything out and setup a great story in Battlestar Galactica.
Well the Frakkin time is here!!! I will probably do a quick update if there are any major changes in the pilot broadcast versus the DVD I just outlined. Obviously for broadcast TV there will be no nudity but I will note if there are any other changes.
Otherwise I will be back next week with my review of the first regular season broadcast of Caprica. The title is Rebirth.
So Say We ALL!!!!
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