Warning: MAJOR SPOILER ALERT. If you haven’t seen it and don’t want spoilers, DO NOT READ.


Jon and I saw the two-hour pilot for the Battlestar Galactica pre-quel, Caprica last night. I’m no longer confused about why they released it to DVD rather than airing it. It’s going to need a lot of editing for nudity, sexual acts (lots of topless girl on girl action) and extreme violence (even for Galatica). I can say with a straight face that the nudity and violence were important to the story in depicting a society that is about to spiral out of control on its own. Cylons are not a factor in the decline of this civilization.

It is a bigoted society that in no way resembles the utopia that the fleeing colonists from the series describe. The government and the judicial system appear to be corrupt. This is a tale of two families, the Greystones and the Adamas and how their lives are changed by the deaths of their daughters during an act of terrorism. There is a soap opera feel to the pilot (and likely the series) with plot intrigues and relationship entanglements that should satisfy the CW crowd and the FX audience.

There are teens in Hogwarts attire contemplating the salvation of their mortal souls against endless access to topless girl on girl action. There is an earnest lawyer who, in trying to provide for his family in a racist society, has sold his soul to a mob that resembles the Russians, Maoris and Orthodox Jews. There is an earnest scientist who seems to be seeking to re-connect with his lost daughter but still manages to get a government contract to build killing machines based on stolen technology. And then, there is the Headmistress of our teen heroes’ private school.

I don’t know what this twisted sister is up to, but I think the destruction of the colonies are almost certainly connected to one of her actions. Along with all of this there was a pall of paranoia and a vague sense of doom that felt a lot like Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Events in the pilot answer some fundamental questions for me like how did the Centurions get into monotheistic religion? And how did they decide that all humanity had to go? Those answers were quite a surprise, but the answers posed even more questions. It looks like a promising series, but it is doubtful that it will line up completely with the evens that happened in BSG. I’m willing to tune in.

And I finally got to hear a Centurion say 'By Your Command.' It was all I dreamed of.