2025/01/21
Caprica turned 15 on January 22nd, 2025. As you all know, it is a spin-off from the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, created by Ronald D. Moore. Like with Star Trek: Enterprise, Battlestar Galactica also went back instead of forward in time, Caprica shows the start of what eventually will become Battlestar Galactica. Usually I am not so fond when shows do that, go back in time. Caprica only ran one season, but the season was split in two parts with each 9 episodes.
When I first watched Caprica, I must admit, I really wasn’t that impressed, in fact I really disliked the pilot episode. I really had to get used to that V-world business, really didn’t attract me one bit at first. I did watch the other 8 episodes, it got better after the pilot but at that point I still wasn’t very impressed.
Then the show went into a long hiatus, the midseason finale aired on March 26th, 2010, while part two, starting with episode 10, aired on October 5th, 2010. So it was off the air for about 7 months. I decided, because I was not impressed with the first part of the show, I wasn’t going to watch the second part of the show.
But online I found multiple messages that the second part actually was good, much better than the first 9 episodes from earlier that year. By that time it was too late for me to jump in, so I decided to wait for the physical release. Because I had a Blu-ray player, I wanted it on Blu-ray. But that took two years, the first country that released it on Blu-ray, was France. So I purchased a copy via Amazon.fr. It had English audio and subtitles so it didn’t bother me the cover was in French.
I can only say that what I read about the second part of season one, was correct! A big improvement indeed over part one. But first part was somehow also better then I remembered, but part two was definitely stronger. I think if the first part had been of the same quality, we probably would have had a second season, but of course that is conjecture. Another thing probably would have helped with their chances for a renewal, if there wasn’t such a long hiatus between the first and second part. Seven months! You see that with other shows too, people tend to forget, or perhaps have other interests when they have much to choose from nowadays with so many channels, networks and streaming services.
Well I wrote it in my rewatch blog of 2021 also, although they are completely different, I thought that in terms of storytelling quality, part two of Caprica could measure up to the first two seasons of Battlestar Galactica. And these two seasons definitely are my favorite BSG seasons! Earlier, in my Galactica 1980 Anniversary blog, I compared Galactica 1980 with Crusade in terms that both shows would not have existed had their parent shows not been created or not been so successful. This of course also is the case for Caprica. But with an important distinction, especially when you look at the second part of the first season, this show’s first season is much stronger than both Galactica 1980 and Crusade.
Soundtrack Bear McCreary:
The music is done by Bear McCreary (BSG, Eureka, Human Target, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles), the soundtrack for the Caprica pilot was released on June 16, 2009, by La-La Land Records, and contains 18 tracks. On July 30, 2013, La-La Land Records released a follow-up compilation of music from across the first (and only) season of the show. Unfortunately they now both are out of print.
Final Word:
Well, in my rewatch blog I wrote a final word I would like to repeat here: “Well at the end the day Caprica is very much worthy for rewatching! It is a rich universe with some fantastic actors portraying these characters with conviction. Of course, because it's a prequel to BSG, it enriches your knowledge of this universe. Granted, it starts up slow but the second part of season one I believe can match up in quality to the first 2 seasons of Battlestar Galactica.” So a rewatch is definitely recommended, it really holds up well. Happy 15th Anniversary Caprica!
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