Caprica
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Movie Reviews of Caprica
Movie Review: Pure twenty-first century
Summary: 5 Stars
Captivating in its dialog and in its philosophical and technological undertones, this story is fascinating because of its mirror of today's world. Indeed, Caprica has much in common with the present time: there are spoiled and rebellious teenagers, women who marry into money, tobacco use, terrorist attacks, out of control technology, organized crime, religious fanatics, frenzied greed, corporate espionage, petty rivalries, racism, and pre-meditated murder. But there are differences: the predominant religion of Caprica is polytheistic, with a belief in a single god considered an aberration, even radical. But the followers of monotheism in Caprica are very similar to the ones of our world: they are dogmatic, even violent, and are fond of pointing out how the gods of polytheism do not heal the hurt of the people of Caprica.
It is the character of Zoe that is the most interesting one in this story. She makes the technology viable, and the avatars possible, instead of some teenage prank to access a virtual nightclub. The avatars are conscious of their imperfections. One of them cannot for example feel their heart beat, and another remarks that they don't "feel like a copy." They therefore possess the affective part of their real counterpart's brain, with all its vicissitudes and pleasures. It is amazing what you can experience with only 100 terabytes of information, and even more amazing that you can accept a copy, give it a hug, as Zoe's father did, and ignore the "surface details." However all copying is done with less than 100% fidelity, but this makes life more lively and more interesting.
Zoe's death from a terrorist attack sets up a series of decisions, taken both by her father and his newly found friend/criminal Joseph, that brings into Caprica machines that are self-conscious and goal-directed. To have such machines is the ambition of many of today's technology enthusiasts, who like those in Caprica, are self-absorbed and giddy with optimism about the future. No doubt in future episodes of Caprica, such machines will follow the advice of one of the characters, and "find things in life that make you cry, that make you feel." In our time there is certainly ample opportunity to find such things, both for humans and machines.
Movie Review: Science Fiction at its best, a new chapter in Battlestar history.
Summary: 5 Stars
I was so scared to watch Caprica. I adored BSG so much that I was afraid I would go into this first episode saying "that wasn't at all like my beloved BSG!" So I waited awhile to watch it, clearing my head of Bear Mcreary's amazing music (although he scores this one also, but I knew it would be so different), ridding my brain of Starbuck and Apollo, and Galactica itself. With such high expectations going in, one could easily be comparing the two and come out disappointed.
I wasn't disappointed in the slightest. No it's not the same as BSG, but it feels familiar anyway. Its true Sci-fi , true to the core of what that word means. Caprica has the same history as BSG, the same paper with the edges cut off, the same religion, races, architecture, and writers, you feel like you are visiting a place you have only ever seen in pictures. We knew Bill Adama's dad was a lawyer and Esai Morales who places Joseph Adams aka Joseph Adama inhabits those traits that made Edward James Olmos such a huge presence to be reckoned with. We know the Cylons started out as benevolent and turned malevolent but do we know how or why they even came to be? Eric Stoltz plays Daniel Greystone, whose daughter Zoe is, from the beginning, a chip off the old block, brains wise. This pilot episode sets the series up perfectly. Greystone obviously is a very rich man; he owns his own pyramid team! And he is in contract with the government of Caprica to give them a new weapon, a "thinking" weapon, and we all know once we see it how exciting it's going to be to see where it all goes.
Caprica is also about family, the loss of it and the gaining back at what cost? Does a parent's decision read as arrogance to their children, and so the child must venture out on its own to find its own answers?
This pilot felt like a combination of Frankenstein meets The Fly meets The Matrix in some ways. Creation vs. abhorration vs. technology. I am so excited to watch this show and see where it takes us, I am sure there will be many "that makes sense now!" moments and "that's new!" and "where did that come from?" I am not going to spoil the show in my review. Battlestar Galactica is over and Caprica is beginning, it is the beginning and I cannot wait!
Movie Review: On the right track
Summary: 5 Stars
I think Ron is on the right track with this series. A few tweaks may be needed though if there is intent to get a broader fan base like that which BSG achieved. My wife is not a si-fi person at all but she would never miss an episode of BSG. The characters and stories won her viewership.
We watched Caprica together but she checked out after the first virtual world sequence was presented. I think it was a combination of two things:
1. As a non-tech person, it wasn't obvious enough that this was a virtual construct comprised of Avatars. She is not 100% clear on the concept or more so what the motivations are to engage socially in this way. For her it might have been better to present some background and primer material about virtual worlds and how/why they are important.
2. Without the technology primer, all she saw was the chaos,hedonism and violence of the club scene which only gave her reason to check out of the broader story arc.
For me I was fine with it and was instead, looking for all of the other indicators of trans-humanism the story is presenting. I like the character development going on and it makes sense that the military potential for AI and robotics (and the $$$$ behind it) is a driving force but it would be good to tap more deeply into the character designing all of this technology and to explore his motivations and insights more deeply.
I think the series has super potential but requires refinement. I know budgets are tight but I also think that there would be a lot of technologies already in existence in their world that led up to the creation of smart as/smarter than robots that should be made more evident. like smart home technologies and other every day gadgets and infrastructure changes surrounding this civilization.
Movie Review: Hi-tech, futuristic theme
Summary: 5 Stars
Just to make it clear to anyone that didn't realize this is a pilot and not a movie. There is no real ending here. The ending is the set-up to the start of the series.
The story is set in the future when technology is much more advanced. An act of religious fanaticism brings together Joseph Adama, a lawyer with ties to the underworld, and wealthy technologist Daniel Graystone, both of whom lose family members. A teenage boy strapped a bomb to his chest and entered a subway car wearing a baggy trench coat. He exploded the bomb, killing many people including Joseph Adama and Daniel Graystone's daughters.
Grief-stricken by the loss of his daughter and fueled by obsession, Daniel Graystone sets out to bring his daughter Zoey back using his considerable wealth which he acquired from his technology corporation. In this pursuit, he needs an energy source that Joseph Adama can provide so he offers Mr. Adama the chance to bring his daughter back as well.
To make the plot more clear, Daniel Graystone's daughter, Zoey, had created a holographic technology where she could put on what looked like futuristic 3-D glasses, then enter a password from the holographic image that appeared. She then had access to a holographic world as an avatar. This holographic world looked like a nightclub with different rooms. Each room had a different theme. One room was a sex room, another was a dance room, and another was a fight room where someone would be killed.
Mr. Graystone, found a way to upload his daughter's memories from her avatar program into a robot's body using the energy source that Joseph Adama obtained. The pilot ended with Zoey, now a large robot, calling her girlfriend on a telephone and telling her that she's alive.
Movie Review: what is sci-fi ?
Summary: 5 Stars
What is a sci-fi movie? or series? The first question we need to answer before moving further.
Is it some laser guns shooting around with some robots with AI ?
Or is it a visionary look on the future of mankind, with it's society, its politics, with its people and how they react to this world & interact with each other.
If you are looking for some laser guns, don't even consider buying it. You'll probably find this dull, slow moving sci-fi movie with limited action.
If you are thinking that the re-birth of Battlestar galactica in 2003 was at its best at its first two seasons and then got worse, don't buy this one.
Laser guns and massive space wars are the show scene of a sci-fi production. I agree.. But the depth of a sci-fi comes from the world that it's built on. With every detail, with every twist..
I think that's the reason why, the laser gun sci-fi movies are not remembered, but we still watch Blade Runner after 27 years.
And Ronald Moore did it again. It's one of the best sci-fi pilot episodes I've seen.
I was a true fan of Battlestar Galactica in early 80s. And one of the first followers, when the pilot episodes were released in 2003. I think the second series had a slow take off, but especially by the end of season two, it started to shape up as a true sci-fi epic.
If you also think so, buy Caprica. You will love it.
My wish is to see Caprica story for 2-3 seasons, and I'm sure Ronald Moore will keep on creating a fantastic sci-fi world for us with all its depth.
But I think, after Caprica, the real goal should be to give the "first battlestar" a chance of rebirth !