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Title:
Caprica
Region:
One
Media:
DVD-Video
Genre:
Science Fiction Drama
Stars:
Eric Stoltz, Esai Morales, Paula Malcomson, Polly Walker and William B. Davis
Director:
Jeffrey Reiner
Executive
Producers: Ronald D. Moore and David Eick
Feature
length: 93 minutes
Extras:
Feature Length Audio Commentary With Director Jeffrey Reiner, Executive Producer
and Writer Ronald D. Moore and Executive Producer David Eick, Deleted Scenes,
Video Blogs – What The Frak Is Caprica, The Director’s Process, The V
Club, The Birth Of A Cylon, Ghost Hunters Episode
Languages: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Subtitles For The Deaf And Hearing Impaired and French and Spanish
Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Keep Case
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Year
of DVD Release: 2009
Home
Video Distributor: Universal Studios Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
In
what may be a first for a television series release on North American Region One
DVD, Universal Studios Home Entertainment has released the uncut and unrated
pilot for the upcoming Sy Fy (I still prefer SCI FI) channel original television
dramatic series, Caprica. Caprica opens 58 years before the events
of the Battlestar Galactica miniseries pilot to a time when the Twelve
Colonies of Man are more nationalistic in nature and less unified as we got an
understanding of in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica. Like the
fractured world we came to know in that series, the world of Caprica is
very similar to our own, but in certain areas there are technologies that are
more advanced than anything we have at least publicly at the time of this
writing. A big difference one may notice almost immediately is the existence of
artificially intelligent robots in the residence of the wealthy and a more
advanced version of virtual reality that has more in common with the Cylon
ability to project upon another as seen in that series than any of the virtual
worlds that exist today. There is no technophobia and at least for most of the
pilot, there are no Cylons. However this society is decadent and a new extremist
monotheistic movement has invaded the polytheistic society of Caprica and
has attracted the young and impressionable who in turn are driven to commit a
terrible act that intertwines the lives of two families affected by the tragedy.
The Graystones and the Adamas, who up until the very end have been living under
the name Adams to hide their off world roots. It is the loss of loved ones on
both sides that will fuel one man’s desire to bring back his daughter and
ultimately use her consciousness as the springboard for a new artificially
intelligent life form and another man to crusade against the temptations of
brining his lost ones back by grappling with the moral consequences such actions
have and the ultimate price they will eventually have on much of humanity.
William
Adama at this time is only 11 years old, but this glimpse into his backstory is
sure to add greater understanding of the man we came to know in Battlestar
Galactica. Though the exact numbers may change, we know that the first Cylon
War lasted approximately 12 and a ½ years and it was subsequently followed by
forty years of peace before the fall of the Twelve Colonies. That means this
series takes place about 7 and a ½ years before the first Cylon War. We know
that the Cylons were used as slaves and as alluded to in the feature length
audio commentary with Director Jeffrey Reiner, Executive Producer and Writer
Ronald D. Moore and Executive Producer David Eick, which is the best extra
feature on this DVD, that there was a conflict prior to the first Cylon War that
led to the eventual rebellion of the Cylons against their human creators.
Therefore while Caprica is a terrestrial science fiction drama, we may
get to see more of the other eleven worlds that make up the Twelve Colonies that
we never saw in Battlestar Galactica and the possibilities of this time
period the series falls into makes it extremely interesting since judging by the
success of implementing great surprises and even jumps in time in the Battlestar
Galactica TV series, I think there is much to look forward to in this series
and we as fans and consumers have the unique opportunity to give our feedback
through various websites and newsgroups that could make the series perhaps
better than anything we might imagine even if it goes against anyone’s
expectations.
Sharp
eyes will notice a few visual cues that bring one back to the Battlestar
Galactica miniseries such as the similarity of the view in Graystone’s
home and what we remember Baltar’s was like. The use of the classic phrase
“By your command” is present too and much more to be discovered I’m sure.
In short I think the pilot for Caprica will be received in a manner that
is as divided as when the miniseries of Battlestar Galactica first aired
and much like the time between the Battlestar Galactica miniseries and
the series that followed a year later, Caprica will benefit from having
nearly a year before it officially premieres on Sy Fy in 2010.
The
video quality is a bit under whelming for a standard definition DVD with the
pilot presented in a 16 by 9 enhanced (1.78:1) aspect ratio with a well-rounded
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack. English Subtitles for the Deaf
and Hearing Impaired and French and Spanish Language Subtitles are encoded onto
the DVD as options too. Besides the detailed audio commentary track noted above,
there is a reel of deleted scenes (7:09) and a hand full of featurettes (13:08)
connected with the making of the pilot. Unrelated is the misplaced episode of Ghost
Hunters included on the DVD. The menus are standard interactive still frames
that are easy to navigate. Caprica is available on DVD-Video now at
retailers on and offline courtesy of Universal Studios Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2009 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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