To be honest with you, when I first heard about Caprica I wasn’t interested in the least.  Once I watched BSG: The Plan, I became even less interested because of how disappointed I was by that movie.  Despite all that I decided to check it out anyway…and I’m happy I did.  If your looking for a BSG replacement you will not find one here.  From what I can see so far there will be no space battles or gun fights.  According to the creators of the show this will be a Sci-Fi family drama.  So far I have watched 3 episodes (the premiere movie + episode 3) and I am digging the story.

Caprica takes place before the original Battlestar Galactica, during the time where the first Cylons were being created.  Daniel Graystone is in the process of creating the Cylons, but is having trouble with the AI.  So much trouble in fact that he is in danger of losing a military contract because of it.  In the mean while you meet his daughter Zoe, a teenager that has extraordinary programming ability.  She has created a perfect AI version of herself in a virtual world.  Another piece of key information regarding her is that she is part of a monotheistic religious group.  This is a big deal because if you have watched BSG before you know that they live in a polytheistic world.  Her boyfriend is also part of this group and this is where the problems begin.

In a nutshell, they were going to leave Caprica to go to another planet.  But instead of leaving Caprica, boyfriend decides to blow up the train that they are on in a act of religious extremism.  The explosion kills many, including Joseph Adama’s daughter and wife.  If you don’t know, Joseph Adama is Admiral William Adamas’s father.  Adama and Graystone meet and begin a friendship somewhat.

At one point Graystone finds his daughters avatar in the virtual world.  He believes he can use this AI as a framework to rebuild his daughter in the physical world.  He tells Adama that he can bring his daughter and wife back as well.  Graystone gathers information on Adama’s daughter and then builds an avatar of her.  Adama freaks out when he sees this because his daughter keeps saying that she can’t feel her heart beat.  Graystone attempts to use the AI in the Cylon, however, there is an error and it appears that both AI’s have been deleted.  Graystone takes the Cylon back to his company and does more testing to push forward with the military contract but finds that the Cylon is more reactive and is able to complete the tasks it is given with no problem.  Soon after that we find that his daughter’s avatar is still in the Cylon.

That’s a short wrap up of what happened in the premiere movie.  The next episode after that is pretty much people dealing with the bombing.  Graystone’s wife finds out that her daughter was part of the terrorist group that caused the explosion.  She is in shock and at a memorial service she tells everyone that her daughter was a terrorist.  This immediately causing anger in the crowd.  Both Graystones have to leave the area immediately as the crowd is turning violent.  More of the backlash will be seen in the next episode…which I’m watching right now.  Also, you find out that Zoe’s teacher is part of the terrorist religious group named Soldiers of the One (STO).  Her part in this hasn’t been made clear but I’m sure we will find out more about her in future episodes.

I’m going to try to continue to blog along with the show.  The purpose of my posts are not to tell you what happened, but to talk about the events, how they relate to other events, and possible implications of these events.  So far, I think it’s quite clear that Zoe’s avatar is the reason why the Cylon’s believe in one almighty god.  While I don’t think that Zoe’s avatar is copied per Cylon, some how a print of that belief must have stayed with the Cylons.  In all three episodes we see how William Adama is growing up.  While in the beginning Joseph is shying away from his Toran heritage, after the death of his wife and daughter he begins to embrace it more.  This also effects William as he is being exposed to more of the Toran ways.  He is spending more time with his uncle who is pretty much just a criminal.  His uncle is beginning to teach him the Toran ways.  I will be watching to see if there are any events that happen that will show how Admiral Adama was shaped as the person we see him as in BSG.

After I finish watching this episode and get a chance to digest it I will post my thoughts on it.