Battlestar Galactica

In the US: SyFy, 2010
In the UK: Sky One, 2010

I’m confused. This is a review of a DVD that contains an extended version of the pilot episode of Battlestar Galactica prequel Caprica, which won’t be transmitted until next year. So is it a preview or a review?

Whatever it is, let’s begin.

Science fiction is a lot of things to a lot of people. It can be space exploration, like Star Trek; it can be alternative reality fare like Eureka; it can be science extrapolation like The Six Million Dollar Man.

Battlestar Galactica is loosely credited with revitalising science fiction, taking the dull, lifeless and artificial people and situations of Star Trek and replacing them with a dark, gritty, quasi-realistic examination of the horrors of war. But BSG only really addressed one category of science-fiction.

Caprica takes away the war, combat and exploration of BSG to revitalise another vein of science fiction: what another, futuristic society might be like. More of a soap opera concerned with relationships and the nature of belief and society than with spaceships and war, Caprica isn’t really like anything you’ve seen before – although it’s probably like something you might have read.

The burning question: do we have a soul and if we do, can it be copied?

Continue reading “Review: Caprica 1×1”