You know what sorta sometimes ruins the whole Caprica experience for me? The ending of Battlestar Galactica. That this is supposedly the ancestry of humankind, and that some of these people are supposed to be our ancestors. Sorry, but I still can’t get over my disappointment at that reveal in BSG. However, I shouldn’t have a problem putting that behind me.
I’m liking how, in some instances, we get to see “real” (“skinjob”) Zoe standing in place where the Cylon version of her is, seeing her facial reactions and awareness of where she is and who she is looking at. I hope they continue to do this and not decide to, say, fully switch to us just seeing the human/skinjob version of Zoe all the time. Think of how confusing something like that would be to a newcomer! In any case, I like the effect.
What I wonder, though, is why Zoe is deciding not to talk to the people in the lab. Is it that she’s not ready to reveal who or what she is to them, yet?
Speaking of effects, we got a good eyeful of the Pyramid stadium in this episode, something which we only caught a peek of last week and, in the case of the original pilot movie, we didn’t see at all. There was talk of how much work and money went into those scenes, and now I’m trying to piece together why. I can only imagine that, in later episodes, perhaps there will be Cylon games played in the stadium. because, really, what’s the significance to the story if that doesn’t happen? I guess we’ll find out.
Let me quickly say one thing about Graystone’s assistants. What kind of lab employs morons of that caliber? They decide to work on a hulking piece of machinery while it’s powered and active, causing one to lose a fingertip? Daniel should be afraid of losing funding based on who he employs.
The presence of “group marriages” was a bit surprising and, actually, quite revealing. I thought that it was something quite new to see in the BSG-verse, as we hadn’t seen it before in Battlestar Galactica … but we have. Wasn’t that what we were essentially seeing with Baltar’s little “harem” in the final season of BSG? It all sort of makes sense now.
Graystone mentioned a contract for 100,000 Cylons. What happens when, inevitably, Daniel finds out his Cylon is actually very aware? Will he copy the Zoe data from this one and be able to create others, basically cloning her in the process? I’m not even sure that would be possible, as it seemed he wasn’t able to make a backup before he put it into the Cylon body and it appeared to get corrupted. If he is able to copy it, then he’s as careless as his assistants in not taking precautions.
So far the story is moving along a little slowly, but I won’t fault it for that … yet. If there’s no significant movement by the middle of this season, then I’ll probably have a thing or two to complain about. The last thing I want to see is a slew of “filler episodes” for this series, just like we saw with BSG. Some people dug them, but I had a hard time getting through some of them, to be honest.
I’m considering bringing back my old “Frakkin’ Clack” weekly column for this series. Stay tuned.
Clacked by Keith McDuffee 
on Jan 29, 2010 @ 22:00 EST5EDT
This episode is not even on yet here – but, I started to read this article anyhow, I got to the part where I could click on “the ending of BSG”, I clicked on it, read the whole thing over again, got to the part:
With that … *cue dramatic Bear McCreary music*
What do you hear?
Nothing but the rain.
Then grab your gun and bring in the cat.
Boom, boom, boom.
And now I’m feeling sentimental for BSG all over again. Why Keith? Why?
Interesting piece of music Graystone was playing. Couple that with the talk of an artists work living on….
Sister Clarice reminds me of D’Anna.
when they were flipping between showing Zoe and the cylon … her reactions to the lab monkeys were awesome!
I still can’t bring myself to watching this. My brother says it’s really good. But I know how it all ends, I don’t know if I want to watch a show where in the end everything is explained with “god” and Starbuck vanishing. Season 4 of BSG was such an extreme disappointment for me I think it would be foolish to return.
I guess I’m saving all my disappointment potential for Lost Season 6. The video Jorge Garcia linked to just reminded me of the sheer amount of questions left unanswered up until now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1PAB6Sgdp8&feature=player_embedded
I think it’s great that Caprica is already answering questions, making connections. I mean what do you expect from a show Jane Espenson is working on? But still… I don’t know…
I think a safe bet for me is to wait for the whole Season to come out on DVD so I can watch it in a row over one weekend. I never liked DS9 when it originally aired here on sunday nights and only fell in love with it when it went into our version of syndication. I think it’ll be easier for me to like Caprica when I have a couple of epsiodes to really sink into, especially when the show is currently moving slow.
I’m really enjoying it. So happy to have the frak back in my life. The setting is also quite enjoyable. The mix between post modern, the future, the past….the cars they drive are incredible, the houses they live in range from old world grandma’s house to a futuristic behemoth with every technical advantage. I also love the clothing that the men wear, the suits, the hats, even the leather jacket uncle bad guy was wearing. Very pleasant to watch overall.
The story doesn’t seem slow to me. In this, the second episode, already Mrs. Greystone made a huge mistake by taking the stand to talk about her daughter and the terrorists. That SHOULD take the series into a completely different direction than I would have expected, even if I have no idea what direction that will be.
Zoe/Cylon is fun to watch. I can’t remember from BSG – when and how were the skin jobs introduced? I know they were few. Were we missing a number? If so, I will assume Zoe to be the missing skin job.
I don’t get the bigamy. That its occurring in the One God group of people seems counter-intuitive to what I would expect from the movement and belief in one God. Looking forward to seeing what God actually means to them, as I am not feeling it is not at all what I expected when watching BSG.
Looking forward to the next episode, even if only for the visual beauty they have created on Caprica.
As a whole right now the show is boring and moves way too slowly, however it’s full of details. I love the gay mob guy, it just fit perfectly, didn’t stay on that matter just no one cared. The group marriages was interesting.
I don’t think you should try to draw any parallels between the “skinjob” Cylons and the image of the “Zoe” avatar that we are shown now and then when the prototype U-87 Cyber Combat Unit is on the screen. The producers are simply trying to show us that the avatar of Zoe is resident in the prototype, and how it relates and reacts to its surroundings and treatment. There is no longer any actual physical representation of Zoe Graystone.
I’m still a bit on the fence. I don’t share the (in one case baseless) negativity of some of my friends here, but I haven’t embraced Caprica completely yet.
Going back to the original pilot script, there has been at least one major change, having to do with Amanda, and I’m curious as to why (or if they’d just delayed that storyline, why?)?
The interchanging image of Zoe the avatar and Zoe the machine were a bit creepy, from my perspective.
Sister Clarice was my favorite part about the pilot script, but most of her work was cut out of the aired version, and we’re just now getting to see more of her … But what we’re seeing isn’t really where I want to go (And Polly Walker needs to be a redhead. It’s just plain weird to see her otherwise).
As far as the finale of BSG goes, I don’t know what to tell my friends here. While I certainly didn’t hate the ending like others did (Not saying I liked it, either), but I won’t let the average (or otherwise) ending what was a brilliant piece of TV for me (BSG, not Caprica).
“The interchanging image of Zoe the avatar and Zoe the machine were a bit creepy, from my perspective.”
Dorv-
I have a theory about that. The interchanging image makes me feel for her. In the long run I think the payoff will be HUGE from that feeling. We know she’s sentient, so we want her to at least not be abused now right? What happens when the cylons are extremely abused by this perverse society? What might the audience feel that Zoe and her fellow cylons are justified in doing to achieve freedom from tyranny?
I can’t wait to see it played out!
Speaking of Amanda. At first I thought her way premature (and incorrect) admission of Zoe’s involvement in the bombing was unrealistic. Then I thought to myself – Amanda is angry at herself over her poor relationship with her daughter, she may unconciously desire punishment of some kind as penance. Why not make that grand admission to the world? Being totally unhinged by a childs death makes perfect sense.
Oh and are we to assume that it’s Daniel Graystone in the tub in RAZOR? Kind of a daughter not wanting to lose her Daddy to death situation and plugs him in?
Since we see Zoe and the CyLoN switch places in the title sequence, I think it’s safe to say we’re not going to switch to either all-avatar or all-robot.
Zoe told Lacey not to tell anyone because she only has power and autonomy if people don’t know she’s inside. If they did, they’d lock her body down and take away her access to the phone and the computers.
I’m assuming the Pyramid scenes will contain the action/special effects we lose by not having the series set in space.
The group marriages are a pool of husbands and wives, with communal financial and childrearing arrangements. I don’t think they’re strictly analogous to Baltar’s harem, as none of the other males among his followers seemed to be sleeping with his women, and he couldn’t care less about children.
I really appreciated all the bits and pieces of various Earth cultures that they’re fitting together to make the Taurons.
Number seven was the missing one. Daniel. Probably named after their creator Daniel Graystone. Cavil had that model permanently deactivated due to jealousy.