Caprica

[entelein]

I just wanted to post that I really, really like Caprica.

I think if you've never watched Battlestar Galactica, you will still enjoy it - there is some very solid sci-fi stuff going on in the series, but similar to BSG, there is also a LOT of room for some lovely human interaction that is well-written and feels very real, very down-to-Earth. The use of color is ... well, I really LOVE excellent use of color, so let's just say it's awesome, and helps to tell the story. The camera shots in general are a pleasure to watch - the series is filmed with a 3 or 4 camera method, so most of the scenes you're seeing - reaction shots, longer sequences of dialogue from different angles - so many of those are edited from the same take. There is a very organic feel and flow to each scene, as a result.

One top-down shot of a glass being lifted from a wooden table, leaving a ring behind, is one of my favorites. Once you know why that shot is significant, know that what it does narratively is just one example of how the camera work helps to tell the story.

Also, Eric Stoltz! Esai Morales! Really excellent unknowns!

And, if you *are* one of those people that has watched and generally loved BSG, there are many, many little moments that resonate and give meaning to later events in the chronology of these people. The style of Caprica is different from BSG, definitely, but there are threads running through it that give more life to what happens after Baltar and Six first meet.

I am really excited about what's to come.

Comments

[octoberdreaming.livejournal.com]

David and I just got finished watching the first part of the pilot episode, and we liked it a lot. Our stupid apartment complex removed our satellite dish last week, effectively canceling our dish network for us (bastards), so I don't have the first series episode, but I'll find it somewhere.

It really is beautifully filmed. Not only the use of color, but the use of light struck me - they gave the light such gorgeous qualities - I don't know if that's lighting, lenses, or both - sometimes it seemed as though they were building the sets out of light. The chapel in the virtual club springs to mind first of all.

I heard so much noise about how much it was going to suck, so I'm glad that it doesn't! The last part of BSG disappointed me a lot, so I didn't know what to think about Caprica, but it looks like it is going to be fascinating.

[entelein.livejournal.com]

Word!!

[chixor1.livejournal.com]

I just saw the 2 hour pilot tonight, and I am loving it so far. Makes me miss my Kara, but this more than satisfies my hunger for more of the Caprica world.

[entelein.livejournal.com]

You know what I find sort of interesting? That facially and a little bit vocally, Eric Stoltz and Jamie Bamber are a bit similar.

I really like that we get to see this shiny yet flawed Caprica - it matches up with the glimpses we saw in BSG, but now we also get to see the seamy underbelly, and the roots of its destruction. It's fascinating and tragic.

[greydruid.livejournal.com]

I wasn't planning on watching it, but you're changing my mind...

[entelein.livejournal.com]

I say give it a shot! I got the pilot on DVD through Netflix, and it was fun to watch it again with commentary and such.

[thunderclap8.livejournal.com]

huh, interesting.

I was so utterly let down and disappointed by the weak ending of BSG that I never even considered watching Caprica.

Not that I have time for another show right now, but maybe I'll archive them and catch up this summer.

[thunderclap8.livejournal.com]

also, is Ron Moore involved at all?

[entelein.livejournal.com]

Yeah, he's the show's creator.

[entelein.livejournal.com]

Perhaps the ending of Battlestar Galactica faltered (I appreciated it, for what it's worth, and was far more content to muse on the ending's meaning conceptually than perhaps I would have done with some other ending), but I mean, it's weird to me that so many people are immediately dismissive of Caprica because of it, when Caprica has never been marketed as "BSG, but like, prequel!" It just hasn't been the case.

Jane Espenson is one of the writers for Caprica (from what I understand), which is a big reason I was excited about it to begin with.

[entelein.livejournal.com]

http://www.whedon.info/Jane-Espenson-Caprica-Tv-Series.html

[thunderclap8.livejournal.com]

For me it comes down to not trusting the same creative folks to wrap up a series with any kind of satisfying (for me) conclusion. I tend to be into this kind of show less for the musing on meanings and more for the worldbuilding and consistency. (not that either option is inherently superior, or that it's impossible to like both, that's just where I come at much of sci-fi from)

I found the BSG survivors' decision of "let's throw all our tech into the sun and condemn our descendants to the bubonic plague" to be both dumb and inconsistent - since when have the survivors ever agreed on any course of action, let alone one that drastic?

Sorry, ranting off topic. The inconsistency of the ending like that just made me not trust the worldbuilding, which was much of the reason I liked BSG. So when something else is set in the same universe... I was skeptical.

so, if there's a moral to this story, it's: Thank you for telling me I was wrong in a way that actually changed my mind :)

[entelein.livejournal.com]

Maybe I need to watch the last couple eps again, but I got the impression that they took tech with them that would keep them from harming the indigenous people of Earth, and blew up any of the tech that had anything to do with the Cylon conflict and/or Hybrids, as they were a vestige of their existence that was clearly no good in this new place of peace.

I mean, what would they have done with the Galactica tech, when it was so old and busted by their standards, anyway? What did they really have at the end of it all, anyway, considering how long they'd been cast adrift? Even Roslin didn't have enough for cancer treatment at the end.

I think they collectively felt tired, as a people, of what their previous lives were, and that the context of that life had no place here in someone else's world. I think they all had their reasons, but the end result is the same: they all landed on Earth and were no longer their old selves. Why carry weapons against each other? Why present weapons to these Earth people? Why influence a resting place that was fertile all on its own with immense potential?

It's not the happiest ending, but these people had literally been through hell and succeeded at a goal they had long before given up on. To me, it felt like they had actually died and gone to a Heaven. Generally, you don't get to bring anything with you but your soul, right?

I think they knew that, and they didn't want their former trappings. They wanted peace, they wanted truth, they wanted freedom from the tyranny of their former lives. I sympathise with that, and find it fascinating and not altogether surprising or inconceivable.

[urthstripe321.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I have to admit, I had about zero interest in this, but all the positive word of mouth has finally got to me, and I've downloaded all the available episodes. Time to see if they grab me...

[entelein.livejournal.com]

It's not perfect, but I really like so much of it so much that as a whole, I am pretty happy so far.