By GustavoLeao / 08:19, 20 April 2009 / General Genre/SciFi

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CAPRICA (2009)

Released by Universal Home Entertainment

Reviewed for TrekWeb.com by Bill Williams

1 disc, MSRP $26.98

Running time: 93 minutes

ISBN # 025192019753

Date of release: April 21, 2009

Introduction:

It just seems hard to believe that after five years BATTLESTAR GALACTICA is now over (with the exception of the forthcoming TV movie "The Plan"). After getting through an exhausting journey of life and death and reaching the end, it seemed like we couldn't get enough of this series. While BSG fans were anticipating the end of an epic adventure, executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick were hard at work in crafting the beginning of the GALACTICA story. When word got out that the duo had begun working on a prequel series entitled CAPRICA, fans immediately jumped on the bandwagon and began wondering what the series would be about.

Given the green light by SyFy Channel and NBC/Universal Studios, CAPRICA has begun production of its regular episodic installments to appear in the fall of 2010. However, in an unprecedented move, Universal Home Video has released the original pilot film of CAPRICA directly to DVD and digital download format, giving BSG fans further opportunity to experience the beginning of this latest chapter a full year and a half before the series premiere.

Set nearly sixty years before the events of the BSG miniseries, CAPRICA focuses on two families - the Graystones, whose interests lay in the scientific, technological, and medical fields; and the Adams, one of the wealthiest families in Caprica City. Daniel Graystone (Eric Stoltz) is a brilliant scientist who looks to gain the support of Caprica's government by providing them with a cybernetic combat unit. His sixteen-year-old daughter Zoe (Alessandra Torresani), a student at an exclusive prep school, is caught up in the world of cyber punk cafes through a Holoband, technology created by her father that can send anyone into a virtual reality of their own design. On the other side of the spectrum is Joseph Adams (Esai Morales), a former peasant farmer turned lawyer from Tauron who has relocated his family to Caprica.

When a terrorist attack led by the Soldiers of the One kills numerous civilians, among them Zoe Graystone and Joseph Adams' wife and daughter, the tragedy brings Adams and Graystone together. Through their friendship Adams learns of Graystone's plans to steal a piece of critical technology that he intends to use in bringing back Zoe to life in the form of a cybernetic life form node (which we know will develop into the Cylons).

I had felt both excitement and concern about CAPRICA, and the one question that kept coming back to my mind is, "Is CAPRICA a worthy predecessor to BATTLESTAR GALACTICA?" After watching CAPRICA I've got some extremely mixed concerns about this series. At times the virtual underworld seems like something right out of THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS or GOSSIP GIRL. The plot mechanics involving Graystone and Adams - who by the film's end has reverted back to his original home world name of Adama - are right out of DALLAS. The photography and slow development of the telefilm is very different from the you-are-there style conveyed throughout GALACTICA.

That's not to say that CAPRICA doesn't work. While the film is a complete turnaround from what we've been used to, it does have quite the underlying subtext that parallels our times today. We see the groundwork laid out before us that will develop into the GALACTICA we all know. And yes, there's even little William Adama in the movie, a far cry from the battle-hardened admiral we all know and love.

Is this to say that CAPRICA succeeds? Not on all levels. I could have done without all of the excessive nudity and sex that crops up throughout the film. But this is going to take some getting used to when the series premieres next year. How long the fans will give CAPRICA, I don't know.

The DVD Presentation:

Universal Home Entertainment has presented the original pilot film of CAPRICA in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen format similar to GALACTICA, in a rich Dolby Digital 5.1 sound mix that immerses you into the world of Caprica and the lives of the Adams and Graystone families. Visuals are crisp and sharp, with rich colors and stark black-and-whites throughout the film. Optional English SDH, Spanish, and French subtitles are included. The DVD menu options are very basic, with separate menus for the main screen, chapter search, sound, and bonus features, reflecting the equally sparse and stark nature of the film itself.

The Extras:

The pilot DVD of CAPRICA also contains a nice collection of extra features to further the experience and guide you through the creation of this newest installment. First off, we have a feature length audio commentary with Ronald D. Moore, David Eick, and director Jeffrey Reiner, who provide their thoughts on the development of the pilot film and its ties with BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. As before, Moore and Eick have a great amount to say about why they developed CAPRICA and all the ties to today's times and the GALACTICA we have come to know and love.

We are also given seven minutes of deleted and/or extended scenes cut from the pilot film, all presented in widescreen format and in Dolby 2.0 surround sound. All of these cut scenes convey further plot interests in the story, particularly in the entire arc pertaining to the Soldiers of the One. A couple of cut scenes are trimmed simply because they're not needed for exposition; rather let the plot in the final cut of the film reveal those twists and surprises.

We also have four video blogs on the development of CAPRICA. First off is "What the Frak is CAPRICA?" (3:45), which briefly explores the concept of the series and its place in the GALACTICA mythology. In "The Director's Vision" (3:10), we see how Reiner uses a minimalist vision in getting the shots he needs for the pilot film. Next, "The V Club" (3:35) explores the virtual-reality teen hangout and its implications for Zoe Graystone and the other cast members. Finally, in "The Birth of a Cylon" (3:10), Reiner takes viewers on a tour of the laboratory set that shows the long-unanswered development of the first Cylons.

But that's not all. We are also given a bonus episode of GHOST HUNTERS, "Hometown Haunts", from the SciFi Channel, which I feel was a complete waste of time. This was simply thrown onto the disc to tie viewers in to other SyFy Channel programs. The disc is rounded out with a trailer gallery at the start of the disc, featuring trailers for the forthcoming complete BATTLESTAR GALACTICA series on DVD and Blu-ray (which will be released July 28^th, along with BSG Season 4.5), teasers for the forthcoming CAPRICA and WAREHOUSE 13 series on SyFy, the Blu-ray premiere of THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS trilogy, and an anti-smoking spot. You can opt to view the trailers before the DVD begins or just simply skip through the trailer gallery to get to the main menu.

Final Thoughts:

If BATTLESTAR GALACTICA was ambitious in reinventing a classic series, then CAPRICA is just as ambitious in starting the saga down to Earth, so to speak. It's certainly different from what fans have experienced over the past five years, but it's also startlingly familiar to today's society. It's a very thought-provoking first installment, to say the least. Whether the rest of the series will show improvement, all we can do is wait and see.

Rating: 3½ stars out of 5

Bill Williams is TrekWeb Media Reviewer