Caprica

Less action-packed than BSG, but still awash in the familiar themes of life, loss, identity, and big frakkin' robots with guns.

Caprica feels torn between soulfully mature ruminations and adolescent "accessibility" for gamers wondering where the space action went. Let's hope the pilot's spellbinding second hour points the way toward greatness.

If this prequel can maintain the quality of its initial salvo, that will likely motivate at least those viewers to beseech whatever gods they pray to that Caprica be blessed with a prolonged stay in this place called Earth.

While the technology is inventive, fear, frustration, and anguish still drive the plot. We’re back in “Battlestar’’ territory, and that feels good.

There's enough going on in Caprica to keep a sci-fi fan, or anyone who likes to settle into a good story, satisfied and even beguiled--and though it's shot too dark those watching on an upscale, big-screen TV will be treated to a visual spectacular.

Executive producer David Eick said, "We wanted to make it less about escapism and more about moral complexity and great characters." In its early episodes, Caprica certainly succeeds in achieving those goals.

Great drama is great drama. And Caprica shows all the signs of turning into another great drama.

Thankfully, Caprica can be enjoyed without any reference to the literal past or the figurative future.

Caprica is still finding itself, but it's worth your while, and if it can knit its various elements into a more coherent whole, it could get even better.

While fans of Battlestar should be happy to hear inventive use of the word "frak" again, they might be put off by Caprica feeling like Moore's own version of Dallas.

Beautifully shot and marvelously acted, Caprica is infused with all manner of intriguing bits of business....After the two-hour pilot, available on DVD last year, early episodes move with an often creaky slowness that seems at odds with its spry and comely cast.

I've since seen two more episodes, which in some ways intrigued me even more than the pilot. It's not "Battlestar Galactica", in that it swaps out the military components of that show for a bit of teen angst and soap opera intrigue, but I really like the lead performances by Eric Stoltz and Esai Morales (two actors who in previous roles often made me feel like there was something missing), and the social commentary is just as sharp here as it was on "BSG."

Friday's moody pilot unfolds at a listless pace and, occasionally, gets bogged down in its own density. But in it's favor, there are enough compelling characters and tantalizing questions to keep us engaged for the time being.

Caprica is well-crafted and good-looking, with solid acting. It's also encouraging that Syfy is willing to commit the resources to do it. Recruiting new voyagers will be the challenge.

Caprica takes itself awfully seriously, with plenty of thematic integrity but not so much intensity. So far, it’s a bit dramatically anemic.

How it all goes awry is the question that provides Caprica with its ripe potential. Unfortunately, a serious storytelling mistake in the early going has left me with doubts about whether it has the wherewithal to get there.

You’d expect the back story of how humanity nearly brings about its own destruction (in only 58 years!) to be serious, but through the three episodes sent to critics Caprica stays on that one note; it hasn’t yet developed enough humor or authentic domestic drama to move beyond the “Galactica” fan base.

Somehow the same clunky philosophizing and heartfelt confessions fall flat in Caprica. Although the second and third episodes of the prequel are a little more intriguing and less gummed up with melodrama than the pilot, the overall picture is a world apart from the dynamism and intensity of "Battlestar."