It’s hard to understate the importance of Battlestar Galactica to science fiction. It’s equally hard for people who don’t like science fiction to understand why Galactica was so damn important.
Galactica’s 4-season, 6 year run ended a few months ago—much to the dismay of its fans and pretty much every TV critic ever. Its premise wasn’t original; it’s a remake of a high-camp suck-fest of the same name from the 70s. It suffered from the same problems that plague any sci-fi show: plot gaps you could pilot a starship through, indecipherable techno-babble (though Galactica managed it better than most), and improbable and cheesy futuristic flights of fancy (in the future, people don’t say fuck; they say frack—or fracking, motherfracking, let’s frack, etc.).
But Battlestar was special—not because the writing, directing, and acting were better than most sci fi (though they were). It was special because of its scope. It was about religion, politics, and how they intertwine. It was about mysticism and rationalism and how they conflict. It was about fate and myth and how we deal with both. It was about sex and love and what we’re capable of when we’re backed into a corner.
Of course, it was also about sexy, alien robots and giant explosions in space. That’s the way it goes when you watch space operas. And, so, for people who don’t like space operas, it was a bit of a dud.
Goodbye Battlestar Galactica, hello Caprica.
Caprica, which premiered in January, is a prequel that is set 50-odd years before Galactica. There aren’t fights in space; humanity isn’t at war with robots. And instead of a rusty old spaceship, the show is set on the sprawling urban planet of Caprica, the most important of the feuding Twelve Colonies.
And where the mash-ups of space opera are old hat, the hodge-podge mise-en-scene of Caprica is built-from-scratch and uncannily brilliant. The cars and clothing seem straight out of a Dashiell Hammett novel, the architecture is modernist, the technology is out of a futurist’s wet dream.
We’re treated to a thinly veiled Jewish Mob circa 1900s New York contrasted with an artificial reality world in which your avatar can have crazy sex, engage in ritual human sacrifice, and generally par-tay. It’s The Yiddish Policeman’s Union crossed with Warren Ellis.
And if you thought Galactica had scope, Caprica’s thematic range will blow your fracking mind. The central question: how do the characters (Jewish mobsters and WASPy technology developers) deal with culture driven mad by its own runaway success? Some become monotheistic terrorists (in the future, nearly everyone worships the classical Greek gods); some try to develop robotic killing machines (the birth of the cylons); some lose themselves in artificial reality; some become mob enforcers—trying desperately to hold on to the last vestiges of their heritage.
It’s science fiction that’s good in the way science fiction should be good. It’s relevant without being allegorical (there is a Jon Stewart stand-in, but that’s mostly funny), prescient without being preachy, and, most importantly entertaining without being stupid.
Considering how fast our own culture is moving (faster than a late-model Toyota), considering how fracked-up our body politic is, considering how our histories and traditions are being swept up in the rising tide of technological advancement, Caprica has the potential for greatness.
You can watch Caprica Fridays at 9:00 PM on SyFy or for free on Hulu. There have only been four episodes, so you have no excuse not to start watching.
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