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I finally got around to watching the Caprica pilot last night, so here are some thoughts on it. Folks smoke a lot on Caprica. The story centers on the Graystone family and the Adams (Adama) family as they cope with the terrorist bombing of a train that killed the Graystone daughter, Zoe, and the Adama wife and daughter, Tamara. Caprica, however, is clearly much more complicated than what is evident on the surface. Joseph Adama, a Tauron, is mixed up with what seems like a crime syndicate. He's also having problems connecting with his young son, William (Willy), who we knows grows up to be Admiral Bill Adama in Battlestar Galactica. Daniel Graystone is also trying to cope with the loss of his daughter and becomes obsessed with trying to bring a virtual clone of herself that she created before her death into the real world. Daniel happens to be the head (I assume) of some major technology company that invented the virtuality technology that Zoe used to create her clone as well as a robotics developer currently struggling to get a military contract to produce a cybernetic soldier. The plan, it seems, is to create a cybernetic body for the virtual personality.

Other subjects touched on in the pilot include some racial/social tensions between the various tribes and social classes. Religious tensions between the greater polytheistic society and the burgeoning monotheistic believers currently living mostly underground but striving for acceptance. Questions of terrorism. I am sure there will be issues of life and what constitutes a sentient being. I definitely think there's a lot of meat there, all wrapped inside a retro-futuristic candy shell that reminds us this is all science fiction. In particular, I enjoy the fairly minor touches that lend credibility to the series. I like the application of the household robots. I particularly enjoy the presentation of the city as a place of both older buildings and newer, high-tech looking skyscrapers. It's always bugged me when a "future" city contains nothing but futuristic looking buildings. Cities grow organically; new "futuristic" buildings only get built when the older buildings are torn down. There's no case where an entire city would be all new unless it's built all at once out of nothing (like Dubai, I suppose). So it was cool seeing the old courthouse and diner and schoolhouse and such, mixed with the futuristic maglev train and corporate headquarters building and the skyscrapers and so on. They also smoke a lot.

So yes, I am looking forward to the rest of the series. The only thing that actually bothers me is that I don't know where this series is going. Unlike BSG that had a pre-defined endpoint, Caprica is an almost entirely unknown quantity and that is both exciting and frustrating.

4/5