BSG Fans - New Spinoff Series gets OK by SciFi

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Too bad I dumped my pay-for-TV service last month. This is one thing I'd have liked to see (but not for $65 a month, or over $15 an episode). Oh well. That's why God gave us BitTorrent.

Should be fun.

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http://tv.msn.com/tv/article.aspx?news=341958&affid=100055

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Sci Fi greenlights 'Battlestar' spinoff
Dec. 2, 2008, 3:18 PM EST
Zap2It.com

After "Battlestar Galactica" ends in 2009, fans of the series will only have to wait a year for more drama set in that universe.

Sci Fi Channel has greenlit production on the new prequel series " Caprica" for 20 hours of programming, including the two-hour pilot, it was announced Tuesday (Dec. 2).

In the world of "Caprica," set 50 years before "Battlestar," two rival families -- the Graystones and the Adamas -- grow, compete, and thrive in the vibrant world of the 12 Colonies. Politics, intrigue, sexual scheming and corporate conspiracy will deliver the drama to the series.

Esai Morales stars as Joseph Adama, rival to Eric Stoltz, who plays computer engineer Daniel Graystone. Joining them are Paula Malcolmson as a double agent/surgeon, Polly Walker as the duplicitous high priestess Clarice Willow and Alessandra Toressani as Zoe Graystone, Daniel's daughter.

As the series opens, Adama -- father of "BSG's" William Adama -- is a civil liberties lawyer who opposes the experiments to combine artificial intelligence with robotics creating the living robots known as Cylons, developed by Graystone's large computer corporation.

"'Caprica' will build on 'Battlestar Galactica's' acclaimed legacy of gripping drama and extraordinary characters," says Sci Fi President Dave Howe. "It's the beginning of a brand new epic saga that will appeal to both new viewers, totally unfamiliar with the Battlestar franchise, as well as existing loyal and passionate Battlestar fans."

Mark Stern, Executive Vice President, Original Programming for Sci Fi adds that "Caprica" won't be as dark as "Battlestar," but possesses "smart, dimensional characters who grapple with issues of love, sex and politics from a world in transition."

Production on the series will begin in Vancouver in Summer 2009 for a 2010 premiere.

[cantdrv55]

Did the BSG finale already play?

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Don't think so - if it did I didn't hear about it yet.

Just bought seasons 1, 2 & 2.5 on DVD so I've got a bunch to get caught up on at some point anyway (it'll take me months just to get through those with my current schedule anyway...)

[red-beard]

Sorry, I think it is going to Bomb. And if the production and release is as slow as it was for B*G, it will definitely not keep the fan base.

I'll probably watch it...

Still waiting for season 2 of Dresden files...

[legion]

Sounds like a lawyer/medical drama set in the BSG universe.

All of the "keep the budget" episodes, none of the cool explosions!

I'll still probably watch it and form a firm opinion then. For now, I'm skeptical.

[varmint]

After "Battlestar Galactica" ends in 2009,



they should have ended it about two episodes into the last season.

[legion]

Okay, I just watched the Caprica pilot, and it was pretty good, it actually answered many of the questions BSG left unresolved and shed some light on some things that I thought were dead-end plot lines.

[red-beard]

When was it on?

[creaturecat]

Inside scoop - producers not happy with writers. Heads may roll.

[Z-man]

Originally Posted by red-beard

When was it on?

Legion probably has the DVD, which was available earlier this year.

The series premiere of Caprica on Syfy will take place on January 22, 2010.

Also: available on DVD on Oct 27, 2009 "Battlestar Galactica - The Plan" a two hour movie - brings you to the beginning of the Cylon attacks on the Colonies from the Cylon perspective. Not sure when or if they will be airing this on Syfy.
Link to The Plan trailer.

-Z-man.

[Deschodt]

I watched the Caprica pilot, gave away the DVD shortly thereafter... I may watch the show for a few weeks because there isn't all that much on TV right now, but I think it's going to bomb too...

Yes Galactica was a smart Scifi show but 50% of the attraction for me (besides the characters) was the space stuff : vipers, capital ship battles, etc... none of which will be on Caprica... The most memorable scene for me was the Galactica entering the atmosphere on new caprica and jumping at the last moment... WOW... On the new show, at most we'll see an early cylon with a little girl's brain pattern stored inside, ugh...

But let's give it a chance... Sort of enjoying "Defying gravity" for now, that means that show won't be renewed for sure ;-)

[legion]

Not all Sci-Fi has to be in space. I'm exited about the new movie "Surrogates" as well.




SPOILERS!!!!









I did like the idea of how the first Cylon came together. The software from the dead daughter with the hardware the father was working on plus the stolen processor. It also makes me wonder if all of the "toasters" really had the mind of a sixteen year old girl who joined a monotheistic cult.

It kind of makes me re-evaluate some of the scenes in BSG. Remember the scene where Baltar asks the toaster if he (or maybe she) had been told of the Cylon God? It also sheds some light on to the possible origins of Baltar's cult. Clearly, monotheism had been known to humans before there were cylons (and least in this iteration of the cycle).

[Heel n Toe]

Can someone tell me why it's now Syfy?

I really don't like that... it's like just one more instance of the dumbing down of society or something... just bothers me. Thru instead of through. Lite instead of light.

Wait... no reason I can't Google it myself...

One big advantage of the name change, the executives say, is that Sci Fi is vague — so generic, in fact, that it could not be trademarked. Syfy, with its unusual spelling, can be, which is also why diapers are called Luvs, an online video Web site is called Joost and a toothpaste is called Gleem.

“We couldn’t own Sci Fi; it’s a genre,” said Bonnie Hammer, the former president of Sci Fi who became the president of NBC Universal Cable Entertainment and Universal Cable Productions. “But we can own Syfy.”

Another benefit of the new name is that it is not “throwing the baby away with the bath water,” she added, because it is similar enough to the Sci Fi brand to convey continuity to “the fan-boys and -girls who love the genre.”

Ms. Hammer and her successor as Sci Fi president, Dave Howe, said they had sat through many meetings over the years at which a name change was debated.

The principal reason the idea kept coming up, Mr. Howe said, was a belief “the Sci Fi name is limiting.”

“If you ask people their default perceptions of Sci Fi, they list space, aliens and the future,” he added. “That didn’t capture the full landscape of fantasy entertainment: the paranormal, the supernatural, action and adventure, superheroes.”

That became more important as Sci Fi expanded its program offerings into those realms, Mr. Howe said, with series like “Destination Truth” and “Ghost Hunters.”
More here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/16/business/media/16adcol.html?_r=1

I still don't like it.

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by red-beard

Sorry, I think it is going to Bomb. And if the production and release is as slow as it was for B*G, it will definitely not keep the fan base.

I'll probably watch it...

Still waiting for season 2 of Dresden files...

Lawyers in space...

[Icemaster]

Originally Posted by Deschodt

Yes Galactica was a smart Scifi show but 50% of the attraction for me (besides the characters) was the space stuff : vipers, capital ship battles, etc... none of which will be on Caprica... The most memorable scene for me was the Galactica entering the atmosphere on new caprica and jumping at the last moment... WOW... On the new show, at most we'll see an early cylon with a little girl's brain pattern stored inside, ugh...

Agreed.

My wife rented Caprica last weekend. I couldnt watch any more and left the room when they stopped showing boobs.

[Schumi]

So, I was going to actually sit down and start watching Battlestar from the beginning... but since the Caprica movie is a prequel, should I watch it first? Would it spoil things, or make them more interesting?

[legion]

It would spoil things, IMO.

[slakjaw]

I watched the Caprica DVD (netflix has it)

I dunno it might be OK.

To be honest, I hate the sci fi channel. Seems like most of what they produce is targeted for those guys who while waiting in line to see star wars, will reenact sword fights and what not from previous movies. Those guys are hard core man. Too hard core for me!

[creaturecat]

2 Week shooting hiatus. No suitable script.

[red-beard]

That is not encouraging.