Caprica (series)

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For information on the colony in the Re-imagined Series, see Caprica (RDM). For other uses, see Caprica.
Caprica
Caprica
Created by Remi Aubuchon
Starring
Theme music by
Statistics
Production company NBC Universal
Number of seasons 1
Number of episodes 20 (18 ordered and the already-shot pilot) (list)
Debut channel Sci Fi Channel
US first-run airdates USA 2010[1]
UK first-run airdates UK Spring 2009[2]
DVD release
Production staff
Executive producer(s) Ronald D. Moore
David Eick
Remi Aubuchon
Producer(s)
Supervising producer(s)
Associate producer(s)
Co-producer(s)
Story editor(s)
Online Purchasing
Available at iTunes – [ Purchase]
Related Media
@ BW Media

Caprica is a future television spin-off of the Re-imagined Series to be produced by Remi Aubuchon, Ronald D. Moore, David Eick for the Sci Fi Channel. The pilot episode is currently in post-production with two scripts for a tentative series having been ordered.

Caprica is a prequel to the Re-imagined Series that deals with the Adama and Graystone families on the planet Caprica and the invention of the Cylons in the Twelve Colonies.

Overview[edit]

The Sci Fi Channel will delve into the backstory of Battlestar Galactica with a new series that looks at the creation of the race of robots known as Cylons by the humans of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol and the eventual revolt of the Cylons against their human masters, which will lead the two races to become locked to the death in a bitter war for their respective survivals. Caprica begins over 50 years before the Ronald D. Moore-created Battlestar Galactica series.

As Battlestar Galactica is about a lot more than space battles, Caprica will be as much family drama as sci-fi tale. Remi Aubuchon (The Lyon's Den, 24) is writing the pilot script with co-writer (and executive producer) Ronald D. Moore; "Galactica" veterans Ronald D. Moore and David Eick will executive produce it. The two-hour pilot will be directed by Jeff Reiner (Friday Night Lights).[3]

Plot summary[edit]

It should be kept in mind that, while this information comes from reliable sources, the series is still in production, and some details - such as names, events and character backgrounds - may still change to a certain degree.

Caprica will take place more than fifty years before the events of the Re-imagined Series. It will follow the lives of two families, the Graystones and the Adamas[4] (the family of William Adama). When the series begins, a startling development is about to occur - the creation of the first cybernetic life-form node or "Cylon"[5].

The Graystone family includes the father Daniel and mother Amanda, a computer scientist and surgeon respectively. When their daughter Zoe dies due to the religious fanaticism of her boyfriend, Ben Stark, her father manages to resurrect her - after a fashion. Already having Zoe-A, a digital clone of her personality, he uses stolen technology to create a robotic version of his daughter, known as Zoe-R, the first step towards creating the Cylon race.

The same terrorist attack claimed the lives of Joseph Adama's wife and daughter, Tamara. Together with Daniel Graystone he works on bringing back their children, but is appalled at his partner's methods and ethics. However, as a result of this tragedy, he grows closer to his 9-year old son, William Adama. [6]

Cast and characters[edit]

Casting info concerning main characters has been revealed [7], including:

The main cast/characters will include:

Other known characters include:

Production history[edit]

Initial concept[edit]

According to an interview with IFmagazine, David Eick said that they had been contemplating a spinoff prequel series since Season 2 began and were tossing around ideas. About the same time, 24 writer Remi Aubuchon pitched a series that had a lot of similarities to the Cylon storyline. Realizing that they could not devote their full time to both Battlestar Galactica and a spinoff, Moore and Eick decided to merge with Auchubon, seeing it as an opportunity: "We took some of what we had and some of what he had ".

According to a post on the official Scifi.com messageboard by Ron Moore's wife Terry Dresbach, executive producer Remi Aubochon will be the showrunner for "Caprica", in charge of the writing staff. Ron Moore will oversee and approve the story arcs, casting, sets, and read the scripts, though Moore will probably rarely write an individual episode for Caprica.

In an interview in Dreamwatch Magazine in May 2006, Remi Aubuchon said that he originally pitched a series which was an "allegorical story about slavery with robots", when approached by Moore and Eick. Aubuchon stated that William Adama will be 11 years old when the series begins. Aubuchon described the new show by saying, "This is a very human story about how our own hubris can lead us to disaster". He goes on to say that Caprica is meant to stand on its own from BSG: while still addressing backstory issues from Battlestar, it will not be required to have watched it to enjoy Caprica. However, "certain elements have been embedded into the first few episodes of season 3" of Battlestar Galactica, which might refer to things which will be further fleshed-out in the prequel series.

On November 6, 2006, the Sci Fi Pulse website reported that Ron D. Moore updated Dreamwatch magazine regarding the new series:

"It's actually a prequel, and this would be a one hour pilot not a mini – series. It takes place 50 years before the events of Battlestar Galactica and it's essentially about the creation of the Cylons.
"It's a very different show; it's not action – adventure and it's not even in space. It takes place on the Planet (sic) Caprica and it’s more of a family drama, with political and corporate intrigue. We're well into the writing of it actually; we're doing re-writes on the script right now and Sci Fi has been very happy so far. At the moment, we're just waiting to see if they greenlight it or not. Generally, there’s always a two step process: there's ordering the pilot and then there's ordering the series, but because we're not designing it as a mini – series, I don't know that anybody would even see the pilot if they chose not to go to series with it.
"Tonally, it will be very different," promises Moore. “This is Caprica before the fall. It's a decadent world, but also a world that's going at a very fast pace. It's a prosperous society that hasn’t experienced the devastation of the first Cylon war yet, so this culture has really not been taken down a peg, and their hubris is getting the better of them. It's a go – go society that's teetering on the brink, so it’s not that apocalyptic survival scenario of Galactica. The whole thing is tonally very different." [17]

Development hell[edit]

Since April 26, 2006, Caprica was in "development hell" (major rewrites and resubmissions to network executives), until it was seriously considered during the WGA strike of 2007-08. On March 24, 2007, Moore discussed the status of Caprica with Salon.com's Laura Miller:

"It's possible [that the series will still happen]. It's been in development at SciFi for a while and they haven't picked it up. And I don't know if they're going to pick it up at this point. There's talk of doing it as a TV movie and seeing how that works, as a back-door pilot, much as we did with the "Galactica" Miniseries. Right now there's nothing telling me that they're going to move on it anytime soon, so I'm starting to feel that it's going to remain on the development shelf.
"It was a different kind of show. Instead of an action-adventure sci-fi piece, it was more of a prime-time soap, a sci-fi "Dallas." It was about a family, the Adamas, and a company, and it was about the creation of the cylons (sic) 50 years ago. It was not going to be space-based, but set entirely on the planet of Caprica. But it would have sci-fi touches, and it would deal with issues like artificial intelligence and the various schemings and backbitings that you get in the traditional soap opera."[18]

New life[edit]

On September 18, 2007, it was reported that with the end of Battlestar Galactica around the corner and Moore poised to leave Sci Fi for NBC, Sci Fi executives were considering green-lighting the 2-hour pilot for production as a means of keeping Moore with the channel. Contingent on the performance of "Razor", it was reported that Caprica might also see a release in the form of a direct-to-DVD movie that is simultaneously premiered on television [19]. Furthermore, with the writer's strike (the first since 1988), networks scrambled to stockpile finished scripts for various productions, and thus Caprica became a front runner for production because its script had already been completed before said strike.[20]

In March of 2008, it was announced by the SciFi Channel during a news conference that Caprica will get a two-hour pilot episode[21], the filming for which ended June 19th.[16][22]

Series pickup[edit]

On December 2, 2008, SciFi Channel officially announced that Caprica is picked up for a 20 episode first season. According to the press release, production is slated to begin in the summer of 2009 and the series is expected to begin airing in 2010. The reason for the delay is attributed to the fact that they are attempting to regroup the core staff that worked on the pilot and Battlestar Galactica, as these persons have since found work on other projects.[23]

Analysis[edit]

In the finale of Battlestar Galactica, our Earth was discovered 150,000 years before the present day. Therefore, unlike most science fiction series, Caprica is a tale of our ancestors rather than our descendants.

Visual Cues[edit]

  • The shape of the Greystone office building's tower is pentagonal, capped with two concentric pentagons -- the same pattern that was marked on original-series Cylon Raiders.
  • The monotheistic movement on Caprica uses an "infinity" symbol to represent itself.

References[edit]

  1. Although an airdate for the series has yet to be announced, the 2 hour pilot episode was released in advance on the series premier on 21 April 2009.
  2. Aylott, Chris, "Sky1 secures exclusive UK rights to Battlestar Galactica prequel CAPRICA", 6 August 2008. Retrieved on 9 August 2008.
  3. Official Press Release: "SCIFI GIVES 'CAPRICA' THE GREENLIGHT". 18 March 2008. Available exclusively on BattlestarPegasus.com.
  4. "Adams" is the Caprican surname adopted by the Adamas, since Adama is a Tauron name. The name is changed due to anti-Tauron prejudices on Caprica at the time.
  5. According to Bradley Thompson, a character coins the term, explaining that it is, "A cybernetic life-form node, a Cylon."
  6. eOnline! Exclusive! Caprica Pilot Preview (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). (Apr 1, 2008).
  7. Caprica casting info (backup available on Archive.org) (in English).
  8. 8.0 8.1 Comingsoon.net: Stoltz and Toressani Join Battlestar Prequel (backup available on Archive.org) (in English).
  9. Deadwood's Malcomson Signs On For Caprica (backup available on Archive.org) (in English).
  10. Jericho' Actor Finds Way To 'Caprica' (backup available on Archive.org) (in English).
  11. Could 'Caprica' Star Be Overbooked? (backup available on Archive.org) (in English).
  12. 12.0 12.1 Zacharias, Yvonne (12 June 2008). Canada.com: Battlestar Galactica spinoff filming in town (backup available on Archive.org) (in ). Retrieved on 22 June 2008.
  13. News & Notes (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). (May 28, 2008).
  14. The Watcher: Talking 'Battlestar Galactica's' finale, 'Caprica' and the 'Battlestar' TV movie with Ron Moore
  15. 15.00 15.01 15.02 15.03 15.04 15.05 15.06 15.07 15.08 15.09 15.10 This information comes from the Caprica entry on IMDb. It may or may not be accurate, as IMDb has no apparent fact checking facilities. We provide this information as a service to fans who may be looking for it, and we make no claim as to either its accuracy or unverifiable lack thereof.
  16. 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 The Province: Now shooting: movie writer glen schaefer on five productions shooting around b.C. (backup available on Archive.org) (in ). (22 June 2008). Retrieved on 22 June 2008.
  17. Cullen, Ian M., "Ron D. Moore Gives Progress Report For Caprica", Sci Fi Pulse, 6 November 2006. Retrieved on 10 November 2006. (written in English)
  18. Miller, Laura, "The man behind "Battlestar Galactica"", Salon.com, 24 March 2007, p. 3. Retrieved on 25 April 2007.
  19. Sci Fi Executives Weigh 'Battlestar Galactica' Options (backup available on Archive.org) . (September 18, 2007). Retrieved on September 18, 2007.
  20. SciFi Channel Stockpiling For Writers Strike (backup available on Archive.org) . (September 20, 2007).
  21. http://www.syfyportal.com/news424829.html
  22. Craig Takeuchi, R. Paul Dhillon, and Sean Minogue (26 June 2008). It's a B.C. summer of stars and film shoots (backup available on Archive.org) (in ). Retrieved on 26 June 2008.
  23. Rosenblatt, Michelle, "Official Press Release: 'Battlestar Galactica' Prequel Gets 20 Episode Order", NBC-Universal, 2 Decmeber 2008. Retrieved on 2 December 2008.