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Caprica (TV series)

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LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE

LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE

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Caprica is a science fiction drama television series. It is a spin-off prequel of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, taking place about 58 years prior to the events of Battlestar Galactica. Caprica shows how humanity first created the robotic Cylons who would later plot to destroy humans in retaliation for their enslavement.

The show debuted on January 22, 2010 on SyFy in the U.S. and Sky1 in the U.K., although an extended version of the pilot premiered exclusively on DVD and digital download on April 21, 2009.[1] The first season aired nine episodes, including the two hour pilot, before going on a mid-season hiatus. The second half of the first season began airing on October 5, 2010 on SyFy. In the UK, the second half of the season is scheduled to begin airing in January 2011

Plot

Caprica differs significantly from its parent series, due to creative and commercial demands.[2] Ronald D. Moore had strong feelings on the matter, explaining his starting point was, "...you don't try to repeat the formula," and going on to say, "...everything about Caprica was designed specifically to not repeat what we had done in Galactica."[3] Although a critical success, Galactica had a predominantly male audience, and both Moore and the network felt the "war in space" backdrop was a major deterrent to female viewers.[4] With these considerations and Caprica's storyline already focused on events taking place before the two Cylon Wars, the series has a different identity, with its own tone, content, and style. While Caprica contains references that have added significance to previous Battlestar viewers, the series is intended to be accessible to new fans, and no prior knowledge of the other series is needed.[5]

Outline

Whereas the dark, post-apocalyptic reimagined Battlestar Galactica series revolved around a final struggle for survival, Caprica is concerned with a world intoxicated by success. Ronald D. Moore states: "It's about a society that's running out of control with a wild-eyed glint in its eye."[4] The Twelve Colonies are at their peak: self-involved, oblivious, and mesmerized by the seemingly unlimited promise of technology. Framed by the conflict between the Adamas and the Graystones over the resurrection of loved ones lost in an act of terrorism, the series will explore ethical implications of advances in artificial intelligence and robotics.[6]

Set against the backdrop of a society with technology ahead of our own, Caprica is grounded in urban locales rather than in space, and focuses on corporate, political, familial, and personal intrigue, similar in approach to a Greek tragedy. With the troubled relationship between two families at its center, Moore himself has likened Caprica to the 1980s prime time soap opera Dallas, and it has been referred to as "television's first science fiction family saga."[7] Like Battlestar Galactica, Caprica will have a story arc format, according to Ronald D. Moore.[8

Details

  • Joseph Adama is the father of Battlestar commander William Adama (who is a child at the time of Caprica's events). In the act of terrorism that sets the story in motion, Joseph loses his wife and daughter.[9]
  • Ethnicity is a recurring theme in Caprica.[10] The series takes place before the Twelve Colonies are unified under one government. Relations between the diverse worlds are contentious and discrimination is pervasive.[11] Tauron ethnicity is cast as a composite of popular views of Italian and Greek,[12], and given an emphasis on vengeance and organized crime. After Joseph's sense of propriety is energized in the pilot's third act, he confesses to his son he changed his last name to hide his background. Introduced as Adams, Joseph then reclaims his surname, Adama. He is also referred to as "Yusef" by fellow Taurons in private conversations. Joseph is clearly a "Capricanized" rendition of his original Tauron name. More Tauron personal names mentioned like "Khalil" emphasizes the Other-ness of Tauron culture on a Caprican world. Appropriately,

  • One of the show's main driving points is religious belief. Colonial culture is partially influenced by the accepted religious beliefs in Polytheism, or accepted belief that there are multiple gods, drawing from Ancient Greek, Ancient Roman. Monotheism (the belief in a singular god) is regarded as disruptive, opinionated, and potentially hostile. The planet Gemenon is thought - at least on Caprica - to be the home world of the monotheists. Colonial culture shows acceptance with regards to homosexuality, polygamy and adoption by gay couples. Drugs have been legalized before the events in the pilot. In the various storylines that currently intertwine with each other, there is a sense of justice and retailiation, with no one character seemingly to be "honest" or "virtuious", with each contributing character having a dark side and not being ashamed of it.
  • The production design refers to 1950s America to reinforce the sense of viewing the past.[9]
  • The script for the two hour pilot concluded with Daniel Graystone coining the term "Cylon": "A cybernetic lifeform node, a Cylon."[13]
  • Caprica's tagline is: "The future of humanity begins with a choice."[14] Originally, for the pilot it was: "The battle for humanity has a beginning."[15] Previously, it was reported as: "The end of humanity has a beginning."[9]
  • Esai Morales on William Adama: "Young Adama is going to have quite the evolution. He gets involved in some very tricky things for a young man his age. It's going to be interesting how he gets out of it."[16]
  • The tone of the series will not be as dark as in the pilot. Series producer Jane Espenson states: "The pilot centered on a very dark moment, this terrorist attack. When we rejoin the show, everyone will still be reeling from [the tragedy], but they'll be beginning, almost subconsciously, to slip back into the patterns of life in which you might catch yourself laughing, making a dark joke at your own behalf, or noticing the absurdities of life again. Caprica is set in an interesting world with technological wonders that are going to be amazing to watch, too. So expect some fun, some funny, and some dazzle."[11]
  • A key plot detail is the passage of a virtual avatar from a simulated world into the real world by installing the avatar software into a "meta-cognitive processor" which is inserted into a robot.[17] The avatar represents the personality of Daniel Graystone's daughter, Zoe, who ends up being the first Colonial Cylon.[18]

Pilot

The Twelve Colonies are at peace, 58 years before the rebooted series,[19][20] when an act of religious fanaticism brings together Joseph Adama, a lawyer with ties to the criminal underworld, and wealthy technologist Daniel Graystone, both of whom lose family members. Grief stricken by the loss of his daughter and fueled by obsession, Daniel sets out to bring her back, using his considerable wealth and sprawling technology corporation. Offered the chance of his own daughter being restored, Joseph wrestles with the notion until he comes face to face with its reality.[9]

On April 21, 2009, an uncut and unrated extended version of the pilot was released as a download from online digital media stores and as a complete DVD with commentary, deleted scenes, and video blogs.[1]

Episodes

Main article: List of Caprica episodes

Production

Genesis

Ideas about a prequel series to Battlestar Galactica originated during production of its second season. Series developer Ronald D. Moore and production partner David Eick speculated about a phase of the Battlestar Galactica universe prior to the Cylons, naïve and self absorbed, leading to the fall. Unable to dedicate serious time to the notion, it remained in the concept stage of development. Then, in early 2006, screenwriter Remi Aubuchon, unaware of the ideas about a Battlestar Galactica prequel, proposed a film about artificial intelligence to Universal Pictures.[21] Though Universal Pictures turned down the project as a movie, Universal Television executives felt Moore and Eick might be interested in Aubuchon's take on the subject and arranged a meeting. Merging the existing thoughts for a Battlestar Galactica prequel with those Aubuchon brought to the table, a general outline for a series and production set up emerged.

While the Sci-Fi Channel management was enthusiastic, it was engaged in a plotting struggle with Moore about Battlestar Galactica. The show that had brought Sci-Fi acclaim and increased its public standing, was not pulling in the Nielsen ratings that the network wanted. Though widely lauded by critics, Sci-Fi was convinced its long storylines kept new viewers from joining, and pressured Moore into retooling the second half of the third season to consist mostly of standalone episodes. The measure backfired, garnering negative criticism from fans and press alike, and Moore revealed in the Season 3 finale podcast that the network grudgingly admitted that standalone episodes simply do not work with a story-arc format.[22] Still, with the proposed prequel series to have a story-arc-heavy format like its predecessor, the network was reluctant to greenlight the project, and as a result, Caprica got stuck in "development hell".

With Eick and Moore's announcement that Battlestar Galactica was going to end with its fourth season, and after a drawn out pre-development cycle, on March 18, 2008, the Sci-Fi Channel announced that Caprica had been picked up as a two-hour backdoor pilot event, indicating a possible commitment to a series, contingent on ratings.[23][24] On July 20, of the same year, Sci-Fi announced it was considering picking up Caprica directly as a weekly series, and would make the pilot an extended season premiere.[20] Finally, on December 2, Sci-Fi gave the go-ahead to expand the project into a full series. Production was expected to resume in July 2009[25] for an anticipated series premiere in early 2010.[6][dated info]

Company and crew

Universal Media Studios developed the show, in conjunction with Aubuchon and the executive producers of Battlestar Galactica, Moore and Eick. Aubuchon co-created the show and worked on the pilot, then left to become executive producer of Persons Unknown. The pilot was directed by Friday Night Lights veteran Jeffrey Reiner.[26] Battlestar Galactica's Jane Espenson, Michael Taylor, and Ryan Mottesheard,[25] Pushing Daisies' Kath Lingenfelter, and Friday Night Lights Patrick Massett and John Zinman have joined the writing staff.[11] Moore ran the writers room initially,[25] but handed off to Espenson, who expanded into executive-production and was Caprica's showrunner[11] until November 15, 2009 when it was announced that Kevin Murphy, who had joined as co executive producer in October, would assume the role.[27]

Cast

Eric Stoltz received the script while filming a movie, and he left it in his hotel room for several days without reading it. When it was stolen by a maid who had been paid off by a Battlestar fan, he realized how passionate the fandom was, and knew he had to read it.[28] Paula Malcomson originally tested for the role of Sister Clarice Willow; however, Jeffrey Reiner felt she would make a great Amanda Graystone.[28] On April 28, 2009, Sasha Roiz's role was expanded to full series regular.[29] Caprica has seven main cast members:[30]Main cast

Recurring cast

Location

The show is shot in and around Vancouver, British Columbia.[34] In the pilot, most of the buildings seen in the background are the real constructs from the city, although several shots are augmented using CG imagery. Many of the external scenes were filmed in the Yaletown area of the city, including one distinctive shot of the old railway turntable next to the Roundhouse at Davie and Pacific. The city's library is also featured in one shot (when Daniel and Joseph meet for the first time),[34] just as it was in season one of Battlestar Galactica when Helo and Boomer were exploring a deserted city on Caprica.

Vancouver's SkyTrain and one of its stations feature in the sequence prior to the terrorist explosion. The production chose to keep the same font and sign style used by the real SkyTrain, but with rebadged signs featuring the name "Caprica City". Several structures found in the financial district of Dubai, U.A.E.. have been digitally added to the images of Caprica City to enhance its futuristic look, including the one of the Emirates Towers, the Khalifa Tower and the Dubai Metro.[dubious – discuss]

The exterior shots of the school attended by Zoe Graystone, Lacy Rand, and several other characters, were filmed outside the Vancouver School of Theology, on the campus of the University of British Columbia.

When Daniel takes Joseph and William to the Pyramid sports match, the colours of Caprica's team (the Buccaneers) are identical with those of Vancouver's real life hockey team, the Canucks. Navy and green stripes adorn the walls outside the team dressing room, suggesting that the scenes were filmed at Rogers Arena.

One of the encounters between Daniel Graystone and Tomas Vergis was filmed in the University of British Columbia's Museum of Anthropology. The sculpture "The Raven and the First Men" was in the background. (http://www.moa.ubc.ca/exhibits/index.php)

There has been significant filming going on at Central City Shopping Centre in Surrey, BC and much of the Simon Fraser University Surrey Campus has been transformed to represent various locations in Caprica. For instance, the mezzanine and registrar's office at SFU Surrey was recently transformed into the Caprica Inter-colonial Space Port.

Music

Main article: Music of CapricaBear McCreary has been tasked to compose for the new series.[25] McCreary's work on Caprica is almost entirely orchestral. As on Battlestar Galactica, character themes are used extensively; however, world ethnic influences play a much smaller role.[35] The full ethnic percussion ensemble, including taikos, frame drums, dumbeks, chang changs, tsuzumis and other instruments, was brought in, although used much more sparingly than on Battlestar. The "Tauron Theme" draws inspiration from Russian folk music.[35]

In addition, Todd Fancey, best known as a long time member of the popular indie band New Pornographers, composed "V-Club," a rhythm-intensive track that serves as the theme music for club scenes in the series. This theme was featured prominently in the first preview clip for the new series.

The soundtrack for the Caprica pilot was released on June 16, 2009, by La-La Land Records. It contains 18 tracks.

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