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shapinglightDon't have a more suitable icon, so Starbuck will have to do.
I enjoyed Dexter season 1 so much I wanted to carry straight on and watch season 2, but I managed to talk myself out of that. Want to spin it out a bit. So I started watching Caprica instead. Spoilers for the first five eps behind cut, and for the end of BSG.
This really is a very odd series. First and foremost, despite Zoe Greystone being trapped in the centurion robot, and despite it being fairly clear to BSG-watchers that this technology will eventually lead to the Cylon resurrection ships, the world of Caprica just seems so different to the world of BSG. For one thing, this just doesn't look like a culture that is so advanced technologically that people routinely travel from planet to planet. It just doesn't. It just seems like a modern Western culture (specifically American) that's taken a step sidewards, futuristic more in the way of that recent Jake Gyllenhaal movie Source Code than, say, Star Trek with space ships etc, yet it's supposed to be set only 58 years before BSG.
That part of it really doesn't work at all. Possibly that, coupled with its talkiness and lack of space battles, explains why it was cancelled. Which is a pity, because I think I prefer it to BSG (jaded by the ending now, like so many other people, though ironically that ending works a bit better after having seen Caprica, because that BSG final scene of 'angels' Baltar and Six disappearing into modern day New York, seems, in retrospect like it could have been their avatars disappearing into a virtual city, like New Cap City).
The stuff about the virtual world is the most interesting part of the show so far - the episode where the avatar of Tamara Adama becomes a power in that world is the only one so far that was real, edge of the seat viewing. I find myself rather uninterested in the origins of the cult of the one god (though I did enjoy the one glimpse I've had so far of JM's character, and Polly Walker is always good to watch), because, as in BSG, I have no idea exactly what Ron D Moore is trying to say with it, and just when I think I have, he changes it (see the end of BSG again).
Aspects of the world-building are a little rocky too. I can't be the only one who finds they have that Tradition song from Fiddler on the Roof playing in their heads whenever we're shown anything Tauron-y, or possibly the theme music of The Godfather. And, while I do appreciate the writers trying to show a culture that has no hangups about homosexuality, I don't think it quite works for me because that culture looks so like ours, right down to the TV talk shows. Speaking of which, the Greystones' appearance on that talk show was one of the best scenes in the series so far, actually raising a few relevant RL points about how society handles (or more often doesn't handle) too much freedom.
Interesting show. I'm looking forward to watching the rest of it.
I enjoyed Dexter season 1 so much I wanted to carry straight on and watch season 2, but I managed to talk myself out of that. Want to spin it out a bit. So I started watching Caprica instead. Spoilers for the first five eps behind cut, and for the end of BSG.
This really is a very odd series. First and foremost, despite Zoe Greystone being trapped in the centurion robot, and despite it being fairly clear to BSG-watchers that this technology will eventually lead to the Cylon resurrection ships, the world of Caprica just seems so different to the world of BSG. For one thing, this just doesn't look like a culture that is so advanced technologically that people routinely travel from planet to planet. It just doesn't. It just seems like a modern Western culture (specifically American) that's taken a step sidewards, futuristic more in the way of that recent Jake Gyllenhaal movie Source Code than, say, Star Trek with space ships etc, yet it's supposed to be set only 58 years before BSG.
That part of it really doesn't work at all. Possibly that, coupled with its talkiness and lack of space battles, explains why it was cancelled. Which is a pity, because I think I prefer it to BSG (jaded by the ending now, like so many other people, though ironically that ending works a bit better after having seen Caprica, because that BSG final scene of 'angels' Baltar and Six disappearing into modern day New York, seems, in retrospect like it could have been their avatars disappearing into a virtual city, like New Cap City).
The stuff about the virtual world is the most interesting part of the show so far - the episode where the avatar of Tamara Adama becomes a power in that world is the only one so far that was real, edge of the seat viewing. I find myself rather uninterested in the origins of the cult of the one god (though I did enjoy the one glimpse I've had so far of JM's character, and Polly Walker is always good to watch), because, as in BSG, I have no idea exactly what Ron D Moore is trying to say with it, and just when I think I have, he changes it (see the end of BSG again).
Aspects of the world-building are a little rocky too. I can't be the only one who finds they have that Tradition song from Fiddler on the Roof playing in their heads whenever we're shown anything Tauron-y, or possibly the theme music of The Godfather. And, while I do appreciate the writers trying to show a culture that has no hangups about homosexuality, I don't think it quite works for me because that culture looks so like ours, right down to the TV talk shows. Speaking of which, the Greystones' appearance on that talk show was one of the best scenes in the series so far, actually raising a few relevant RL points about how society handles (or more often doesn't handle) too much freedom.
Interesting show. I'm looking forward to watching the rest of it.
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no subject
Date: 2011-06-04 05:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-04 06:36 pm (UTC)I like that too, though I do find it a bit jarring how so many of the younger characters look like they escaped from High School Musical.
I wanted to learn more about the other worlds, but sadly even the Battlestar sites don't have that much information about them. Serge (the Greystone's robotic butler) had a Twitter page where you could ask him all sorts of questions, and whoever was writing for him gave me some interesting tidbits.
I think they hadn't really worked it out themselves, to be honest. Perhaps if Caprica hadn't been cancelled we would've learned more. As it is, it's a bit of a cultural mish-mash.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-04 10:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-06 10:32 am (UTC)I'm sure a lot of stuff had been planned, but must admit I would take anything JM said about it with a large pinch of salt. I think he has a wee bit of a tendency to confabulate, bless him.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-06 07:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-07 11:28 am (UTC)
Date: 2011-06-04 05:32 pm (UTC)Zoe and Tamara are wonderful characters and, as you say, Polly Walker is always fun to watch. The character of Sam Adama is sort of breathtaking, too. Oh it all gets so much more complex, and yet sometimes manages to be boring, but the final few episodes are worth all the dry bits. I hope you love them as much as I do. *zips lips*
Re:
Date: 2011-06-04 05:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-04 10:16 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2011-06-04 06:40 pm (UTC):)
Zoe and Tamara are wonderful characters. I agree. The program relies an awful lot on the viewers finding Zoe sympathetic, which I do, though I can see why people wouldn't. As for Tamara, the ep where she was first introduced to New Cap City was just gripping. Wonderful stuff. And I agree Sam Adama is very interesting. I hope I'll love it too. I've enjoyed it so far.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-04 06:37 pm (UTC)For me the sci fi aspect worked quite well. I even found a bit different that you see a the planet bound society for once. Because yeah, spaceships and all exist but most people don't use them on a daily bases and just live pretty normal lives (aside from the robots in the cellar and the virtual reality). I agree that it's probably also what killed the series though :(.
I think the character I really fell for in this series was Lacy Rand, Zoe's friend. I really loved the quiet steel she has under the schoolgirl exterior. It's pretty rare that you find teenagers (and more so female teenagers) portrayed with so much character.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-04 06:44 pm (UTC)It could. Ironically, from what I've seen so far, the end of BSG would have probably fit Caprica quite well.
I even found a bit different that you see a the planet bound society for once
I do actually like that, just find it hard to square it with all the space battles in BSG. It seems not so much the same world in the past but a different take on the same world (the cylon's one god messing about again?).
Lacey is growing in me too. I didn't like her much in the pilot, but she has a lot of depth.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-04 08:06 pm (UTC)The 58 years thing is less of a problem for me. Everyday life changes spread slowly. A lot of old practice co-exists with modern technology right now, either because people prefer social traditions or because it spreads inconsistently across populations. I agree with you that the social changes seem the most jarring because these are the most resistant cultural elements in our present day.
I grew increasingly bored with Caprica. I liked its ideas but I failed to really connect with any of the characters. I do think, though, that the final episode manages to put across where they were headed with things that makes me wish the series as a whole had not moved so glacially.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-04 08:55 pm (UTC)It was rather reminiscent of The Matrix, back when it was still cool. I loved that shot at the end of Tamara walking through the streets of New Cap City with the gun, like she'd realised just how powerful she was there.
A lot of old practice co-exists with modern technology right now, either because people prefer social traditions or because it spreads inconsistently across populations. I agree with you that the social changes seem the most jarring because these are the most resistant cultural elements in our present day.
It wasn't the cultural aspects of what we see in Caprica that made me find the leap to BSG so jarring, it was the level of technology, or rather the emphasis on it. It just didn't seem like a society that would have invested all its technological nous on looking outwards to the stars rather than inwards to the virtual world. Perhaps because so far there isn't sufficient emphasis on that aspect. But it might change before the end, I don't know.
I agree the characters are not easy to connect with. Just as you think you're beginning to like someone, they do something to make you dislike them again.