“The Doctor’s almost as clever as I am”
It’s hard to argue that Hercules: The Legendary Journeys was ever anything other than escapist fluff. Nevertheless, it was extremely well-made escapist fluff, crafted by a cast and crew who obviously loved and cared about what they were doing. After a successful freshman year the series went into its second season with greater confidence that is evident in these 22 episodes. The slightly darker tones of the first season had been ironed out and transferred over to spin-off, Xena: Warrior Princess, leaving Hercules free to fully embrace its place as a light-hearted hour of fun for all the family. The series had found its niche and never once looked back. At least, not until the dark days of season five but that’s a story for a latter review.
“Wherever there was evil, wherever an innocent would suffer, there would be…Hercules!”
“You can’t copy a soul!”Oh, and anyone expecting colossal space battles, tense dog fights or general Starbucking will be deeply disappointed.
Being a prequel it is said that Caprica will lack any dramatic tension as we already know how this story and civilization will invariably end. Which is a rather minor and silly criticism as it can be applied to any historical drama were the outcome is common knowledge. Caesar will always be assassinated, the Titanic is going to hit that iceberg and the allies will win World War II every time. Just because we know what is going to happen does not be we cannot enjoy seeing how it happened and, crucially, why.
On the acting front no one puts in a bad performance with Paula Malcolmson, in particular, doing so much with so little as Daniel’s wife, Amanda. Defiantly looking forward to seeing more of her when the full series airs. Anything with a Deadwood alumni is automatically 27% better. But the series rest on the characters of Daniel and Joseph both brilliantly brought to life by Stoltz and Morales.
Like its parent series it takes a horrifying event, the suicide bombing of a commuter train, to bring these two very different characters together. Under normal circumstance its unlikely these two would ever have met, Daniel is the Bill Gates of his world and part of the Caprican elite, Joseph is an immigrant from Tauron and a lawyer for the local mafia. Both men have lost loved ones in the bombing and are numb inside, they spend their first meeting just hanging out, drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes, neither saying anything. They don’t needs to, each man perfectly understanding the other’s pain. It’s a small, elegant moment something they both needed.
While the acting is generally strong and the leads are exceptional some of the other characters may need some fleshing out. Zoe is your clichéd, annoying spoilt rich kid whose angry at her parents, the Tauron mafia all seemed to have majored in Mob Acting 101 and Polly Walker’s character is so underdeveloped she’s almost non-existent.
While there are many similarities and difference between Caprica and Galactica one theme remains constant between both shows, the question of what it really means to be human. Is it simply a matter of flesh and blood? Are we nothing but information on biological motherboard? Can you indeed copy a soul? Caprica ask these questions but like its predecessor doesn’t spoon feed it’s audience any easy answers. For Daniel the answer is simple, it doesn’t matter. As far as he is concerned the virtual copy of Zoe that he discovers is his daughter. The only difference is hardware, Zoe was flesh and blood while Zoe 2.0 is a glorified flash drive. Daniel’s obsession does eventually verge into Frankenstein territory but like Joseph he is simply a father desperate to connect with his child. Only his grief has blinded him to the point that he never stops to think that just because he can bring Zoe back doesn’t mean that he defiantly should.
Remember mate, all this has happened before…
Other Thoughts:
-Clearly all the explicit scenes of a sexual nature will be cut for broadcast. Unless SyFy wants to be a bit more HBO.
-Never thought I’d ever hear anyone refer to the Old Man as ‘Willy’ ;)
-The prototype Cylon, the Cybernetic Life-Form Nod, initially had a yellow eye instead of red. And the aim of an Imperial Stormtrooper.
-Joseph: “I understand, another five seconds I’m jumping off a bridge myself”
-The Tauron mafia are a lot like Russian mobsters, especially with all the tattoos.
-Joseph: “You know us Taurons, we’re nothing if not a stoic people”
-Daniel owns the Caprica Buccaneers the same Pyramid team Sam Anders would eventually play for.
-Taurons speak a different language from Capricans. This was never seen in BSG where everyone spoke the same language.
-Lacy: “Back that way are the group sex and drug dens keep going past that and you‘ll find the really gross stuff”
-The Caprica defence minister was played by X-Files alum William B. Davis (Cancer Man) who, in a nice Blade Runner nod, had some nifty Dr Tyrell style specs.
-Lacy: “Yeah right, the Porn sites were the first to licence that technology everyone knows that”
Daniel: “That’s different, that’s for adults”
Lacy: “Zoe always said you could rationalise anything”
-Joseph is an atheist and doesn’t believe in the gods. Like father like son.
-Prototype Cylon: “All targets naturalised. Program completed. By your command”
-Like their decendents everyone on Caprica smokes a lot. Ron Moore really is a bad role model for kids :)
I’m not hooked, not yet anyway. I am fascinated by most of the characters, especially Joseph and Daniel, and many of the issue raised it’s just that Caprica comes off as a little too sombre and needs to lighten up a tiny bit. But I’ll defiantly be back next year to watch the full series. Shame we have to wait a whole year to see to it. Frak!
Ratting: * * * *
