Caprica & Stargate Universe... why so little excitement?

[auntiehill]

^ Yeah, I feel the same way about Caprica. It's a prequel to a series that was completely wrapped up at the end. The story is over, so I can't really get too excited about going back to before it started. I can't say I even CARE about how it started.

Stargate Universe: I'm mildly interested. But only just. I LOVED SG1, but even I, a die hard fan, could see how bad the last two seasons were. There were some bright spots, but it became a pale imitation of what it once was. And Atlantis---wow. It started with promise and went steadily downhill with all the grace of a free-falling safe. The characters became two-dimensional cartoons of themselves, and the stories just repeated themselves over and over. It wasn't long before the only character I was interested in was the villain.

So...SG: Universe? I'll wait and see. I really like Robert Carlyle, so I'll give it a few episodes. But I'm not really excited about it---just curious.

 

[RoJoHen]

Caprica: Not interested. BSG pretty much said everything that had to be said about that universe, and unlike a show like Babylon 5, never dropped any nuggets that could be the groundwork for a new series. Anything else is superfluous.

SG: Universe. I'll check it out. It's Stargate after all. It's had more hits than misses in my opinion. I just hope it's not trying to be dark because it's trendy. I also hope it's not trying to betray what has come before because a few disgruntled fans made fun of it and flocked lemming-like to BSG.

I pretty much agree with all of this. BSG ended perfectly for me, and I just don't need more. It's the same reason I'm not terribly excited about "The Plan." I'll watch it because it might be good and that one at least features familiar characters. "Caprica," though, I just can't seem to care.

SG: Universe looks like it could be okay. I loved SG1 and liked Atlantis until the end, though obviously there was a difference in quality. However, with shows like these, I usually have to wait for the DVDs anyway on account of my work schedule. By then, I usually have a good idea on how the shows have been received, so I know whether I should take the time to watch them.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Caprica has an interesting premise and a fine cast. I'm genuinely looking forward to it.

SG:U has the horrible Stargate track record working against it. They hired at least one new writer/consultant who's a genuine sf novelist, so maybe that's hopeful. My hunch is that they're going to try to ape BSG without having the slightest idea what made BSG so good, so it will come off as a sad parody of BSG but even that might be worth hanging in for. It's not like there's a lot of space opera to choose from.

 

[Harvey]

I'm looking forward to Caprica, though it is with trepidation, due to Jane Espenson's role as showrunner by the end of the first season (assuming more will follow).

I'm leary of more Stargate due to the way the creative team (mostly intact on Universe) has run the show into the ground (in my opinion) during the past four years (for a total of six seasons between SG-1 and Atlantis, as well as two DVD movies that were just okay). Some recent information released about the series is positive, but I'm still waiting, given the track record, for the final result.

 

[roguephoenix]

Personaly, in my case I'm not thrilled myself... Caprica looks like a bad sci-fi soap and I'm getting an familiar and uncomfortable Voyager-like vibe from SGU. Yet I'm open to see if I'm wrong and hopeful I'll be pleasantly surprised.

Thoughts?

caprica is a scifi soap and that's what it's billed to be. more soap than scifi it what it is. if this was all my children it'll be the cortlands vs the chandlers where hayley is probably the first cylon. (lol if you get that reference >_<)

i am also getting a voyager vibe from sgu because they are lost wandering through space trying to get home. lost in space was where voyager got it's idea and now it comes to stargate.

i will still watch both of these shows and see how much i like them. i doubt i will dislike them.

 

[diankra]

Caprica? Ummhh...
"World War Two was a great story that kept me riveted throughout (even in the early seasons, before my favourite characters, the Americans, got involved, or in that last season they so obviously added on - I still think the real story ended with Hitler's defeat in Europe).
"But these prequels? Who's interested in World War One? Leave it as backplot for us to imagine! And as for this idea for another prequel about the American War of Independence? Puh-leese, I already know how it ends! They get independence, blah, blah."

I don't know whether Caprica'll work... but Galactica's ending doesn't mean you can't tell interesting stories in that world's history.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I don't get the "soap opera" charge leveled at Caprica, like that makes it something other than sci fi. It sounds like it's going to be more genuine sci fi than BSG ever was, and with science more central to its premise than we normally see from a TV series.

BSG was about politics and war, not really about the sci fi issue of "should AI's be treated as human?" because the Cylons in BSG never actually behaved as though they were anything other than humans with a big chip on their shoulder. That whole story could have been told with the Cylons just being another human Colony that got kicked around by everyone else, and kicked back. There were isolated places where Cavil and Anders said or did things that stemmed from their Cylon identity, and wouldn't have been said or done by a human, but those examples were rare.

Caprica has a chance to show us Cylons who aren't just humans called by another name - to explore how and why an AI intelligence differs fundamentally from humans'. That is what I call sci fi. Usually you don't find something like that outside of novels. Movies and TV shows are just some other genre - war, action, comedy, etc - with sci fi trappings.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

I don't get the "soap opera" charge leveled at Caprica, like that makes it something other than sci fi. It sounds like it's going to be more genuine sci fi than BSG ever was, and with science more central to its premise than we normally see from a TV series.

BSG was about politics and war, not really about the sci fi issue of "should AI's be treated as human?" because the Cylons in BSG never actually behaved as though they were anything other than humans with a big chip on their shoulder. That whole story could have been told with the Cylons just being another human Colony that got kicked around by everyone else, and kicked back. There were isolated places where Cavil and Anders said or did things that stemmed from their Cylon identity, and wouldn't have been said or done by a human, but those examples were rare.

Caprica has a chance to show us Cylons who aren't just humans called by another name - to explore how and why an AI intelligence differs fundamentally from humans'. That is what I call sci fi. Usually you don't find something like that outside of novels. Movies and TV shows are just some other genre - war, action, comedy, etc - with sci fi trappings.

QFT. Excellent post. I'm quite excited for Caprica for precisely this reason, especially what I bolded. People are seeing the teenage girl in the previews who's playing Zoe and they're automatically assuming "soap." Her presence doesn't make this One Tree Hill or Gossip Girl of the colonies.

 

[Jax]

I have virtually ZERO excitment for Caprica because I don't even know whats the show is about really, seems more like a melodrama than a SCI FI show.

SG-Universe well am pissed about SG-A getting the boot when it had one more season left in it. At first the show premise sounded worrying and 90120 potshots seem justified and we've all seen how TREK went with having the same people at the helm for too long a period of time. The more I've seen and read about the show has eased some fears but I think this is a bad time to make a 3rd show and franchise fatigue will kill it after 4 seasons and so far 2 shows 2 cannings so I would like for a change to have a SG show end with a proper SERIES FINALE.

 

[Trek4Ever]

Strange as it sounds to me even though I don't think I'll regularly watch both shows I think I look forward more to Universe than Caprica, at least as far as seeing the pilot.
I don't consider myself a fan of Stargate and the premise for Universe has that Voyager vibe but its premise sounds more interesting than Caprica's.
Frankly I found the Caprica clips as dull and like the typical yawner dramas that populate network TV. What I also find discouraging is that Ron Moore will leave the show midway in the first season.
As for Universe the two trailers don't show much and I already see that they're deviating from the "we're on our own" premise by the RDA cameos and the idea of switching minds/bodies with people on Earth. Then again I'm not surprised given its the same creative team that gave us the lackluster Atlantis.
Yet I'm a sucker for the lone ship lost in the cosmos story so I'm willing to at least check out a couple of episodes of Universe. And for Caprica I'll see how the pilot goes.

 

[FreezeC77]

Honestly Caprica pisses me off. It's like someone wanted to a futuristic cyberpunk type show, but they didn't have the balls to be original about it and tied it into Battlestar Galactica to try and be safer and get better ratings.

If Caprica wasn't at all related to BSG and instead was just a sci-fi show set in our near future dealing with issues and stuff I'd be into it. The finale of BSG closed their universe and I don't like prequels much because you run into things which you know can't be changed because of what is to come. I think I posted something about that in the Wolverine origins thread.

As for Stargate Universe... I hated the concept when it was announced, I will probably check it out and see if I like any of the characters, but I feel like they're really milking the Stargate franchise.

 

[miraclefan]

Because both shows sound boring? and there both going in the same direction as ''STAR TREK'' was not to long ago? old, boring, stale & worse yet PREDICTABLE?

 

[TheMasterOfOrion]

Stargate jumptheshark...or maybe its bonedthefish now that tv guide put a ™ after shark and bought out the site
Stargate was a good show with great potential as good as Trek but it died, I'm not sure when it died...the departure of Jack, the clunky start to Atlantis and poor cast changes like Ford Weir...but its gone and Universe sounds like Stargate 90210

Battlestar is just shit, its rep is inflated by hardcore RDM fanatics
It had a really good first season
but the writers and producers made a dogs dinner of the series as they lost interest and moved on to the next Virtuality, Bionic whatever

 

[Hermiod]

I am interested in both, of course, but I can't imagine either will stay on the air for very long.

Give me a few years and I doubt I'll be watching much TV at all.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

BSG may have ended in complete finality or whatever but it's not like they answered all the questions by any mean. I take it you guys won't be watching The Plan either since the BSG story is over and done?

As to Stargate Universe, I have to laugh at the notion of dark and Stargate going together but we'll see. My problem with it is like Enterprise before it is that it's trying to start over but with the old guard in place so I suspect that after a few episodes it will be business as usual.

 

[Agent Richard07]

I have to laugh at the notion of dark and Stargate going together but we'll see.

The 1994 movie had a more serious tone that you could call "dark".

 

[Hermiod]

Why does Stargate have to be "dark" or just plain copy Battlestar Galactica in order to be successful ?

What's so bad about making a Science Fiction show for a family audience ?

 

[Starbreaker]

Caprica doesn't interest me, but I will check out the SGU premiere. No guarantees after that though.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

The fact that the Stargate "franchise" burned itself out with the later seasons of SG-1 - forget Atlantis - is enough to discourage anyone about yet another spin-off.

That said, the latest interview with the producers is pretty intriguing.

As for Caprica - nuBSG is a unique show. People are either seeing some of what they liked about it in the early previews for Caprica or they aren't, and that affects their enthusiasm for it. So far, I see nothing that entices me to watch the pilot.

 

[Bisz]

SGU: I will watch it and I'm hoping its good but I'm not really excited about it.

Caprica: I hated the end of BSG, I hated where they took the show and as people have already said, the damned thing is OVER, nothing more to tell. That said, I will tune in and check it out.