Caprica, Put Up Or Shut Up!
Fans of Battlestar Galactica eagerly awaited last year’s debut of the prequel series Caprica. Fans of Battlestar—like fans of most sci-fi media including books, magazines, and TV shows—tend to be quite demographically diverse but the most loyal fans are generally those who refer to themselves as “geeks.” The viewer loyalty of staple sci-fi TV franchises such as Star Trek, Stargate, and now Battlestar Galactica reduces the financial risks of producing such shows (which tend to be expensive) because unlike shows of other genres, these come with built-in audiences from day one. That is why a show like Caprica is so rare.
Why is Caprica rare? Because rather than start from the typical sci-fi comfort zone by spending large sums of cash on special effects in its premiere episode in order to provide epic space battles with big explosions and really cool ships, robots, lasers, and gadgets, they chose instead to focus on plot and character development. That comprises both what is great about Caprica and what is wrong with Caprica. How can that be? Take the fragment, “chose instead to focus on plot” and insert the word ‘solely’ between the words ‘focus’ and ‘on.’ Nine episodes into the season, I am still waiting for the real story line to get started. Don’t get me wrong, what they have created so far would fit-in perfectly between 90210 and Melrose Place but it makes for some lousy sci-fi.
That is what is sad for me. On its own merits, this show is actually presenting a very compelling drama. If the goal of the producers is to create another drama series where traditional viewers should simply overlook all of the alien references and be happy with the social aspects of a riveting political drama AND sci-fi viewers should overlook the lack of substantive sci-fi elements and be content simply knowing in the back of your mind that sci-fi is implied in the character’s universe even if we don’t get to see it, then to the producers I say, mission accomplished. This leaves me with two questions: First, who is the actual target audience of this show? Second, will sci-fi viewers continue to be loyal to a show that takes their viewership for granted? It is understandable that the producers want to draw in a more demographically diverse crowd but have they calculated how far they can push their core audience before losing them? I am about as geeky as they come and live for sci-fi…but I am losing interest in Caprica—FAST!
So, will we get anything more than drama? Or more likely, will writers stick to their guns and tell us fans that if we are too unsophisticated to appreciate the art of their creation that they refuse to sink to our level? They should remember the fate of the Star Trek franchise in the late 90′s. As they watched their ratings plummet ever farther, one focus group after another revealed that in addition to a compelling story, the action is what fans talk about at work or school the following week. Trek writers consistently said they were not interested in writing stories like that because they wanted to remain true to their artistic principles and to Gene Roddenberry’s vision. That’s fine, but don’t take that stance and still claim that you don’t understand why your ratings are tanking. Their ratings sank so low that they were compelled to take a break for years in order to reset. It was Internet-based fan sites that eventually revived the franchise. To sci-fi writers I say, remember that your fan-base includes more 12-year old computer nerds than Rhodes Scholars and Nobel Prize Winners. Failure to remember this will likely result in the demise of whatever franchise you represent.
Aside from this obvious criticism, the show has excelled in terms of production quality. The cinematography is outstanding. The positional nature of the audio track adds quite a lot for audiophiles who watch the show in surround. You can hear the sound for scene elements occurring off-screen in the proper relational position to viewer perspective. The special effects including environmental CGI are so well integrated into the world depicted on-screen, that it often does not occur to the viewer that what they are seeing is not real. Almost everything in the series so far is believable. In fact, I would go so far as to say that it is too believable. A sci-fi show should push the envelope at least a little. The show could do with a bit more wow factor.
As for the story elements, the corporate entities we have become familiar with seem very familiar. You could substitute the story’s Graystone Industries with the corporate name of any of a dozen Wall Street-traded companies of today. Again, while this is good, it may be a little bit too good. The Mos Eisly cafe in Star Wars is not remembered because it was just like any other cafe. It was remembered because the feel of the cafe was misleadingly familiar until the alien influence became obvious and light sabers and laser-bolts started flying. Is it the familiarity that we remember or is it the light saber-wielding Obi-Wan Kenobi and the disemboweling of poor Greedo? Caprica will NOT be memorable because it is just like any other drama. If it is to be remembered at all, what will it be remembered for? I wonder if the writers have asked themselves that question.
Another story element is the dead girl trapped inside the Matrix. This was interesting for about 2 episodes. NEXT!
The next element is the dead girl trapped inside the robot. This is actually the most interesting thing so far, probably because it is really the only visual tie-in with Battlestar Galactica. The robot is of course a Cylon and the promise of seeing the origin of the Cylons is why we are here isn’t it? That is the payoff of the series. It was quite compelling for a few episodes but my interest in this subplot is waning because it seems that the writers are milking it for all it is worth. It feels like what writers do when they stretch a novel into a trilogy. They need to move the story along.
A very interesting aspect of the story is the religious cult, “Soldiers of the One.” There are tons of compelling ways to integrate religious themes into a story, especially if trying to insert elements that relate to our world. Once again, they are spoon-feeding the audience tiny bits, which do not seem to move the story forward appreciably from week to week.
Given the extremely slow development of the storyline one can only assume that either the writers intend to tell the entire story in one season or they are assuming that they will be around long enough to tell an excessively long and convoluted version of the story. The current pace of the story would seem to indicate that they believe they have all the time in the world. As a person who has watched the workings of Hollywood for decades, methinks they presume too much. As with every sci-fi series that starts with even a small modicum of promise (as discussed here), I wish it well. Nine episodes in however, I cannot say that I am all that optimistic about the show’s future. Bummer.
Update:
Think I was kidding about the workings of Hollywood? Check out the ratings for Caprica. When they start breaking down the ratings into categories like they do here to give a positive spin you know you are in trouble. A show with strong ratings has good numbers of viewers from week to week. When they look for silver linings by telling you there was a bump this week or that week in the 18-49 demo (demographic), there could be any number of reasons for the bump that do not translate into an upward trend. It’s a trend that would be meaningful. If you look at the total number of viewers in the right column there is not an upward pattern. Pulling a specific demo out of these haphazard numbers is an act of desperation.
The only possible salvation for this show, assuming the production staff will fund and complete part 2 of the season, would be some bold moves geared 100% toward fan-base satisfaction. First, let’s have some damn action! Second, a couple of new characters portrayed by actors with some major street cred in sci-fi like Brent Spiner or Levar Burton. Maybe the god versions of Baltar and the six could drop in to redirect things accordingly. We’d love some Tricia Helfer dudes! Third, did I mention we could use some action? Any changes would have to begin with the next episode rather than wasting time like they did the last nine weeks. In any case if the series continues as is, consider it DOA. Of that I am certain.