One Paragraph Review: Caprica

I grabbed the 2-hour pilot/premier of the new series Caprica on DVD because Ronald D. Moore and David Eick's "Battlestar Galactica" was one of three TV series that I've really loved in the last ten or so years (the other two being The West Wing and The Wire). Being doubtful that they could re-capture the many things that made BSG so great, I actually had fairly low expectations. Luckily, however, I didn't give Moore and Eick enough credit - Caprica's pilot is great. Though it's thematically pretty dark - a tragedy being the catalyst for the show's major plot arcs - Caprica is packed with complex content, deep characters and distinctive style. Caprica City is at once a familiar town and foreign civiliation, and its polytheistic, futuristic populace is simultaneously alien and human. Of course, as a piece unto itself, the Caprica pilot lacks a measure of closure. However, as a springboard for a new series, the Caprica pilot is packed with quality writing, powerful characters, themes upon themes and loads of promise.