Having just finished watching all of Battlestar Galactica, I was curious what Ron D. Moore's next endeavour would be like. In short, this pilot wasn't like BSG, and didn't really even have the same feel. Most differences are in the camera, which isn't the shaking documentary style, but a rather more classical affair. The music's pretty laid back, although there's still good use of interesting and uncommon instruments. Both in tone, setting and general presentational feel, it reminded me a little of a random very long dragged-out episode of the show "the outer limits". I don't consider that a bad reference, but it's certainly no BSG. The air is mysterious, ominous and inquisitive, which hasn't been done in a while in scifi shows as I recall, but seeing how many "the outer limit" episodes were made, it's not that unique either. It's rather strangely interesting, but somehow less compelling than intended.
On the whole, the story of this pilot was good as a meticulous introduction, but stretched somewhat too thin for my liking. Maybe it's because I just finished the Daybreak episodes of BSG, which were so full of high speed info, both in your face and between the lines, that my head seemed to explode for a whole day after watching them. But even so, Caprica's pilot takes quite a long while to kick-start and really lets all information sink in slowly. Very gracious, but if you've seen existenz and the matrix, or even fight club, you will (too) easily follow. Nothing wrong with that, but after the hectic blood pumping style incorporated in Moore's previous work, I just suddenly feel bored for being able to keep up so easily. Feeling bored would not be a good thing I believe. I realise the show might want to delve deeper into an audience beyond the scifi crowd, or the dedicated BSG fans, but it's a fine line for those fans to be bored with science gimmicks they've seen a hundred times over, and overheating the brains of anybody upgrading from "Friends" or even "Frasier". As it is, so far so "ok", but nothing revolutionary is to be found in the plot, so it's up to characterisation to save the day. Fortunately, the two leads are good, especially Graytone, with Adama taking a bit of a back seat here. It'll be interesting to see how the two develop. I do hope the Twilight/Buffy feel surrounding the teens will be reduced somewhat. It's not very original and it probably falls flat for most adults.
The ending of the episode shows were the story can take us, which is tantalising, even though I'm not sure if it's ultimately worth the effort depending on the future pacing. So, the cylons, or cybernetic life-form nodes, yes yes, some seriously creative retrospect acronym creation went on here, is this what we all came for, or just a bait? Well, time will tell. How did the cylon centurions start their existence, how might they have achieved the monotheistic beliefs and rebellious nature that would ultimately bring about the first human- cylon war? If you want answers to these questions, stick around for possible revelations. I probably will, lured in as I am, but here's to hoping the presentation will become a little more exciting.
On the whole, the story of this pilot was good as a meticulous introduction, but stretched somewhat too thin for my liking. Maybe it's because I just finished the Daybreak episodes of BSG, which were so full of high speed info, both in your face and between the lines, that my head seemed to explode for a whole day after watching them. But even so, Caprica's pilot takes quite a long while to kick-start and really lets all information sink in slowly. Very gracious, but if you've seen existenz and the matrix, or even fight club, you will (too) easily follow. Nothing wrong with that, but after the hectic blood pumping style incorporated in Moore's previous work, I just suddenly feel bored for being able to keep up so easily. Feeling bored would not be a good thing I believe. I realise the show might want to delve deeper into an audience beyond the scifi crowd, or the dedicated BSG fans, but it's a fine line for those fans to be bored with science gimmicks they've seen a hundred times over, and overheating the brains of anybody upgrading from "Friends" or even "Frasier". As it is, so far so "ok", but nothing revolutionary is to be found in the plot, so it's up to characterisation to save the day. Fortunately, the two leads are good, especially Graytone, with Adama taking a bit of a back seat here. It'll be interesting to see how the two develop. I do hope the Twilight/Buffy feel surrounding the teens will be reduced somewhat. It's not very original and it probably falls flat for most adults.
The ending of the episode shows were the story can take us, which is tantalising, even though I'm not sure if it's ultimately worth the effort depending on the future pacing. So, the cylons, or cybernetic life-form nodes, yes yes, some seriously creative retrospect acronym creation went on here, is this what we all came for, or just a bait? Well, time will tell. How did the cylon centurions start their existence, how might they have achieved the monotheistic beliefs and rebellious nature that would ultimately bring about the first human- cylon war? If you want answers to these questions, stick around for possible revelations. I probably will, lured in as I am, but here's to hoping the presentation will become a little more exciting.