Caprica Pilot
So, latxcvi and I were watching the Caprica pilot, because we like smart, issue-driven tv shows, provided they have robots, and we had watched the first couple of seasons of BSG with pleasure. (After they found the Pegasus, I think, is when it turned into an unrelenting angstfest, and I decoupled just after they left New Caprica.)
In any case, we were willing to give it a try, but not convinced this show was something we were going to love. And, hoo boy, were we right about not loving it. About an hour and ten minutes in we skimmed through the programming guide to see if something (anything) else we might want to watch together was on. Sadly, A&E, TNT, and USA were all devoid of procedurals on Friday night at 10 p.m. and Law & Order was done on NBC. D:
Then about 9:45,
So, we'll be watching next week, very grudgingly, in hopes that the things that were interesting stay interesting, and the things that aren't get shifted out of focus.
Stuff I liked
1) Lacy Rand and Sister Clarice, secret monotheist conspirators. (Although, Polly Walker, I'm not sure if bad touch Sister Clarice is exactly where you wanted to go with that interaction? I'm not 100% opposed, I'm just a little confused.
2) The Adamas are not white Caprican.
3) Cylon!Zoe has taken control of her own body.
4) The Taurons specifically call on Mars and the Academy is specifically dedicated to Athena. I didn't realize it before I saw this pilot, but the unspecificity of the polytheism on BSG was pretty … bizarre.
That was a pretty short list.
Stuff I did not like
1) All of the Taurons we know are children or actual gangsters. Not so helpful in demonstrating anti-Tauron prejudice is not firmly grounded in reality. (No, sorry. No evidence that William Adama's grandmother is a gangster, so that's … really not enough at all.)
2) All of the women we've met in the pilot are children, headmistresses, or moms. Come on, Galactica had Starbuck and Boomer off the bat, why are we moving backwards, dudes? (Wikipedia tells me the new, female Minister of Defense is a series regular, so hopefully that is better next week.)
3) Papa Graystone is a creepy creeper who is creepy. The fact that this is intentional doesn't actually make me like it any more. I think it's a hell of a lot more interesting if the Cylons and human form Cylons are created due to mistakes by good or morally indifferent people, instead of people who make my skin crawl.
4) Why is the worst FBI agent in the world investigating terrorism? What is the value in making sure that all of the witnesses hate your guts and don't want to talk to you, for reals?
5) The arguments the polytheists have against the monotheists are ringing false to me in a way that I can't put my finger on. Some of it has to do with the fact that it sounds like stuff atheists say today, but there's something else wrong about the focus. Like, their issue shouldn't be that they'd seduce us into their crazy, paranoid religious beliefs, but that their crazy, paranoid religious beliefs make them want to blow us up and steal our children and our way of life.
6) The pacing was terrible. Some of the editing was nonsensical (what did Papa Adama's sleepless despair and Uncle Adama's assassinating shenanigans have to do with the Graystones knocking boots, you guys?)
7) The set design and costuming feel absurdly contemporary. The technology (except for the holoband) doesn't feel advanced or alien. Please to be paging a galaxy a long time ago and far, far away for some advice on how not to look like here. It is distracting that anyone on that set could walk off the set in the clothes they were wearing, and the only people who'd get a second look were the grieving Taurons in black gloves.
8) I am going to be Very, Very Angry if the Tauron Civil War is always glossed over, and principally figured as The Reason Taurons Left Their Ugly Ball of Mud to Come to Beautiful Caprica. That's not why people have civil wars, so they have an excuse to be refugees.
9) Club Debauchery. Thankfully, it appears that we don't have to go back to Club Debauchery, but, Good NIGHT, that place was annoying. Not only because it was loud and full of people behaving badly, but also
a) We're hanging out in a club that has fight club, an orgy room, a killing stage, a drug den, and nobody has figured out how to skin their avatar? For serious, you guys, I've never seen an avatar system where everyone uses a standard human avatar. At the very least, there should have been skin paint, freaky contacts, and hair color changes.
b) Program!Zoe being built from a search engine doesn't work to make her a real copy of Zoe. I guess they partially addressed that with Tamara, but it just makes me cranky. There's not enough data in public records to rebuild a person.
c) Program!Zoe trying to appeal to her dad with her feelings, instead of trying to explain what sort of program she is. I hate watching people make the wrong arguments, when the right arguments are sitting right there in front of them.
10) Speaking of Program!Zoe: who transfers their copy of their daughter to a Cylon you don't actually know if it works yet, without first making a backup? Dude, why was it a surprise when she BSOD'd? I saw your Cylon shooting test! Clearly, you are Microsoft, not Apple.
That was a long list, but I am pretty sure I have forgotten some stuff. Anyway, Caprica is totally on probation, but I will be seeing if it works for me.
Original post at Dreamwidth. Read (
) comments or reply there using Open ID.
In any case, we were willing to give it a try, but not convinced this show was something we were going to love. And, hoo boy, were we right about not loving it. About an hour and ten minutes in we skimmed through the programming guide to see if something (anything) else we might want to watch together was on. Sadly, A&E, TNT, and USA were all devoid of procedurals on Friday night at 10 p.m. and Law & Order was done on NBC. D:
Then about 9:45,
Click to viewSo, we'll be watching next week, very grudgingly, in hopes that the things that were interesting stay interesting, and the things that aren't get shifted out of focus.
Stuff I liked
1) Lacy Rand and Sister Clarice, secret monotheist conspirators. (Although, Polly Walker, I'm not sure if bad touch Sister Clarice is exactly where you wanted to go with that interaction? I'm not 100% opposed, I'm just a little confused.
2) The Adamas are not white Caprican.
3) Cylon!Zoe has taken control of her own body.
4) The Taurons specifically call on Mars and the Academy is specifically dedicated to Athena. I didn't realize it before I saw this pilot, but the unspecificity of the polytheism on BSG was pretty … bizarre.
That was a pretty short list.
Stuff I did not like
1) All of the Taurons we know are children or actual gangsters. Not so helpful in demonstrating anti-Tauron prejudice is not firmly grounded in reality. (No, sorry. No evidence that William Adama's grandmother is a gangster, so that's … really not enough at all.)
2) All of the women we've met in the pilot are children, headmistresses, or moms. Come on, Galactica had Starbuck and Boomer off the bat, why are we moving backwards, dudes? (Wikipedia tells me the new, female Minister of Defense is a series regular, so hopefully that is better next week.)
3) Papa Graystone is a creepy creeper who is creepy. The fact that this is intentional doesn't actually make me like it any more. I think it's a hell of a lot more interesting if the Cylons and human form Cylons are created due to mistakes by good or morally indifferent people, instead of people who make my skin crawl.
4) Why is the worst FBI agent in the world investigating terrorism? What is the value in making sure that all of the witnesses hate your guts and don't want to talk to you, for reals?
5) The arguments the polytheists have against the monotheists are ringing false to me in a way that I can't put my finger on. Some of it has to do with the fact that it sounds like stuff atheists say today, but there's something else wrong about the focus. Like, their issue shouldn't be that they'd seduce us into their crazy, paranoid religious beliefs, but that their crazy, paranoid religious beliefs make them want to blow us up and steal our children and our way of life.
6) The pacing was terrible. Some of the editing was nonsensical (what did Papa Adama's sleepless despair and Uncle Adama's assassinating shenanigans have to do with the Graystones knocking boots, you guys?)
7) The set design and costuming feel absurdly contemporary. The technology (except for the holoband) doesn't feel advanced or alien. Please to be paging a galaxy a long time ago and far, far away for some advice on how not to look like here. It is distracting that anyone on that set could walk off the set in the clothes they were wearing, and the only people who'd get a second look were the grieving Taurons in black gloves.
8) I am going to be Very, Very Angry if the Tauron Civil War is always glossed over, and principally figured as The Reason Taurons Left Their Ugly Ball of Mud to Come to Beautiful Caprica. That's not why people have civil wars, so they have an excuse to be refugees.
9) Club Debauchery. Thankfully, it appears that we don't have to go back to Club Debauchery, but, Good NIGHT, that place was annoying. Not only because it was loud and full of people behaving badly, but also
a) We're hanging out in a club that has fight club, an orgy room, a killing stage, a drug den, and nobody has figured out how to skin their avatar? For serious, you guys, I've never seen an avatar system where everyone uses a standard human avatar. At the very least, there should have been skin paint, freaky contacts, and hair color changes.
b) Program!Zoe being built from a search engine doesn't work to make her a real copy of Zoe. I guess they partially addressed that with Tamara, but it just makes me cranky. There's not enough data in public records to rebuild a person.
c) Program!Zoe trying to appeal to her dad with her feelings, instead of trying to explain what sort of program she is. I hate watching people make the wrong arguments, when the right arguments are sitting right there in front of them.
10) Speaking of Program!Zoe: who transfers their copy of their daughter to a Cylon you don't actually know if it works yet, without first making a backup? Dude, why was it a surprise when she BSOD'd? I saw your Cylon shooting test! Clearly, you are Microsoft, not Apple.
That was a long list, but I am pretty sure I have forgotten some stuff. Anyway, Caprica is totally on probation, but I will be seeing if it works for me.
Original post at Dreamwidth. Read (
) comments or reply there using Open ID.