Caprica pilot

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"Caprica pilot" An episode of the Caprica Series
Special Episode
Writer(s)	Remi Aubuchon Ronald D. Moore
Story by
Director	Jeffrey Reiner
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)
Production No.
Nielsen Rating
US airdate	January 22, 2010
CAN airdate
UK airdate	Spring 2009
DVD release	21 April 2009
Population	{{{population}}} survivors
Additional Info	Series pilot
Full Credits
Episode Chronology
		Next
	Caprica pilot	Rebirth
Related Information
[[IMDB:tt{{{imdb}}}|IMDb entry]]
Listing of props for this episode
Related Media
			@ BW Media
Promotional Materials
Online Purchasing
Amazon: Standard Definition | High Definition
iTunes: USA

This episode is the two-hour pilot for the Caprica TV series, the spin-off of the Re-imagined Series produced by Remi Aubuchon, Ronald D. Moore, David Eick for the Syfy Channel.

Overview

In the wake of the tragedy experienced by the Adama and Graystone families, a scientific breakthrough is about to occur—the invention of the Cylons.

Plot summary

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Caprica, 58 Years Before the Fall

• Young people are engaged in group sex, fist fights, shootings, wild dancing, all to the beat of loud party music--this is the V-Club. From a balcony, Zoe Graystone watches a girl below, next to the stage. The girl appears to be a perfect copy of Zoe. Ben Stark and Lacy Rand join Zoe on the balcony and deplore the hedonism and depravity happening around them, but promise that she, the girl below, will change it all.
• On the dance floor, the music grows subdued. A muscled man displays a knife to the audience, and a dancer emerges on stage, her face shifting from human to monster and back in the strobe lights. While this is happening, another girl is dragged to the stage, to the sound of the audience chanting "Kill, kill, kill!" The muscled man brings the knife down and kills the girl, all to cheering from the audience. At that moment, the copy of Zoe looks and terrified and suddenly vanishes.
• On the balcony, Ben promises Zoe that eventually the copy will be perfect, because Zoe is perfect. They kiss while Lacy stares.
• In the real world, Zoe continues to immerse herself in the V-Club experience via a Holoband, until another girl opens the bathroom stall and discovers her.
• Outside the Athenian Academy, Zoe, Ben, and Lacy meet again and talk about running away to Gemenon. They finish by pledging themselves to the "one true god."

Two Families Ripped Apart

• On the grounds of their waterfront home, Daniel and Amanda Graystone play tennis until they are interrupted by a call from the Academy about Zoe.
• In the kitchen, the three Graystones fight about Zoe's behavior, Daniel's "dirty science," and life in the Graystone family. Tensions escalate until a comment about marrying into money pushes Amanda over the edge, and she slaps Zoe.
• Zoe retreats to her room and the privacy of the Holoband. She hurries to a secret room in the V-Cluband meets her copy. The two sit and talk about the horror of the human sacrifice, and how the audience knew what they were doing and drew strength from the experience. Zoe promises that her copy will help to change these attitudes among people, both here and on the outside.
• Amanda wordlessly drops Zoe off in front of the Academy. The instant Amanda drives away, Zoe and her two friends leave, heading for a maglev subway station.
• In front of the three of them on an escalator, Shannon Adama and her daughter Tamara talk with Joseph Adama (who is walking through another part of Caprica City), demanding that he come home in time to be at Willie's birthday party. Depsite a court appointment, Joseph promises to be there.
• At the last moment, Lacy backs out, despite promises of a new family and a new life on Gemenon. She watches the maglev leave the station.
• On the train, Tamara tells her mother about someone she was forced to deal with for insulting her Tauron heritage. While this is happening, Zoe types out a message on computer paper forgiving her mother, then sends it.
• She looks at Ben, who seems very nervous and distracted. He apologizes, stands up, and opens his jacket to reveal a bomb strapped to his torso. He announces, "The one true god shall drive out the many," and detonates the bomb. The train is consumed in the fireball. The sound of the explosion is heard by Joseph. He and the pedestrians around him are frozen by the sight of smoke rising into the street.

Daniel Graystone manages to resurrect Zoe- after a fashion. Daniel and Joseph Adama meet under conditions of mutual grief. Graystone, already having Zoe-A, a digital clone of her memories and personality which was created by his brilliant daughter Zoe in life, plans to steal a break through CPU chip from one of his business competitors. To obtain it he convinces Joseph Adams to use his organized crime contacts, which is done, possibly with Adams's acquiescence to murder to acquire it. Graystone, with the chip and a pre existing military robot prototype, intends to create a robotic version of his daughter, known as Zoe-R, which, unknown to him, is the first step toward creating the Cylon race. Adams, despite lingering reservations works with Graystone to see his own dead daughter again and "Tamara" is recreated in Virtual Reality, much like Zoe-A. Adams meets her in virtual reality but unlike Zoe-A she is terrified and confused. Tamara then realizes she cannot feel her heart beat, to their mutual horror. As his "daughter" goes into hysterics, Adams breaks the connection and is appalled at his partner's methods and ethics and, as he views, the immorality of the creation and renounces it.

However, as a result the tragedy of losing his daughter, he grows closer to his 11-year old son, William Adams. He also has a new found pride in his actual Tauron family name and reclaims the name of "Adama" for him and his son.

Afterward not heeding Adama's fears, Graystone attempts to download Zoe-A into one of his prototype U-87 Cyber Combat Units robotic Cylon forms. It seems to be a failure with the download data becoming corrupted and lost forever. Graystone goes into Virtual reality to find Zoe-A but to his renewed grief, she is gone. Later however Zoe-R awakens in her mechanical body and calmly calls her best friend Lacy Rand for help.

Notes

• In the script, Joseph Adama insists that Daniel Graystone delete the Tamara avatar. This does not happen in the aired pilot.
• In the stadium scene, the shot where fans are throwing food and drinks at the Caprica Buccaneers contains a small goof. If you look at the stadium rafters, a Canadian and an American flag can be seen. The stadium scenes were shot at General Motors Place in downtown Vancouver, home rink of the Vancouver Canucks. Also of note, the Buccaneers team colors of blue, green, and white are the colors of the current Canucks uniforms.
• For whatever reason, Sina Najafi isn't wearing blue contact lenses in at least the pilot, thus meaning that William Adama now has dark brown eyes instead of the blue eyes Olmos' character has.

Questions

• Will Zoe's consciousness in the U-87 emerge more frequently or less frequently as time goes on?
• How long will it take for the U-87 to go into mass production and enter military service as the Cylon Centurion Model 0005?
  • Also, why is the production model designated the 0005, instead of remaining the U-87?
• Will the murder of Defense Minister Chambers lead to greater discrimination and reprisals against Taurons?
• Will Tamara Adama's avatar be downloaded into a Cylon, or will Graystone actually comply with Joseph Adama's wishes and delete it, considering that Adama personally knows the Guatrau?
  • On that note, did Graystone create an avatar for Shannon Adama as well? If so, how will Joseph, Sam, and William react?
• Why did Joseph and Sam Adama go to such great lengths to keep their family's past a secret from William and Tamara? Could it have something to do with how their father, William the First, died?
• Where did Ben Stark obtain the G-4?
• Will Joseph Adama invest in a holoband for himself and William, or does he consider the entire network, and possibly networks in general, to be abominations? Is this the origin of William's phobia about integrated computer networks as depicted on Battlestar Galactica?
• If there isn't a single flower on the entire surface of Tauron, what kind of crops do they grow?
• Why did Zoe and Ben decide to go to Gemenon to escape religious persecution?
• Is there an enclave of the Soldiers of the One on Gemenon?
• Will holoband technology be banned along with artificial intelligence due to the Cylon War, or will it still exist at the time of the Fall?

Noteworthy Dialogue

• Joseph discussing his family past with Willie:

Joseph Adama: I want you to know who you are. We come from a long, proud line of Tauron peasants who knew how to work the land and still stand proud. You're named after your grandfather. Did I ever tell you that?

Willie Adama: Nope.

Joseph Adama: William. He was killed during the Tauron uprising. Our last name isn't Adams. I changed it after I arrived here on Caprica. Our family name is Adama. Adama. And it's a good, honorable Tauron name.

• The Cylon prototype after having destroyed all targets during an exercise:

Cylon prototype: All targets neutralized. Program completed by your command.

• After having watched the live-fire demonstration of Graystone Enterprise's military robot:

Joan Leyte: What'd you call it?

Daniel Graystone: A cybernetic life-form node. A Cylon, Minister.

Joan Leyte : Hmm. Cylon. Interesting.

Guest cast

• Sasha Roiz as Sam Adams
• Brian Markinson as Jordan Duram
• William B. Davis as Minister of Defense Val Chambers
• Sina Najafi as William Adams
• Jorge Montesi as The Guatrau
• Hiro Kanagawa as Cyrus Xander
• Genevieve Buechner as Tamara Adams
• Anna Galvin as Shannon Adams
• Katie Keating as Prefect Caston
• Veena Sood as Minister of Defense Joan Leyte
• Karen Austin as Ruth
• Nancy Kerr as Prosecutor
• Terence Kelly as Mayor
• Angela Moore as Judge
• Josh Byer as Defendant
• Vicky Lambert as Hecate
• Jim Thomson as Voice of Serge
• Jared Keeso as Rod Jenkins
• Kathryn Schellenberg as Dancer
• Maiko Miyauchi as Dancer
• Daina Ashbee as Dancer
• Adrienne Chan as Dancer
• Salma Allam as Dancer
• Kirsten Wicklund as Dancer
• Shawn Stewart as Dancer
• Donald Sales as Dancer
• Paul Becker as Dancer
• Cara Long as V-Club Patron
• Jay Devery as V-Club Patron
• Keita Parker as V-Club Patron
• Chelsea Darden as V-Club Patron
• Megan Sehn as V-Club Patron
• Chantal Ayre as V-Club Patron
• Michelle Andrew as V-Club Patron
• Eva Hartkopf as V-Club Patron
• Uncredited as Sean

Prior to the release of the pilot, many names were given in the cast. Of those not confirmed in the credits are the following and if they do appear, would be categorized uncredited:

• Edwina Cheer as Bikini Girl
• Ildiko Ferenczi as Bikini Girl
• Marci T. House as Woman
• Nathalie Marrable as Burlesque Dancer
• Charlie Robson as Avatar

Though referred to throughout the episode, Tomas Vergis does not appear in the final feature, nor in the deleted scenes, yet had been listed as one point being portrayed by Roger R. Cross. Michelle Andrew is credited in the pilot, but as "V-Club Patron" and not as "Lap Dancer".