Given that I was huge fan of the reboot for Battlestar Galatica, I was very much high on the prequel series Caprica, which naturally made me go into this with overwhelmingly high expectations. Big mistake on my part. This is the first time revisiting Caprica since it's original air dates on TV and even though it plays somewhat better this time around, the problems I had with it years ago are still there. The biggest issues I had with Caprica (then and now) is the overwrought mythology of the series. Sure, it's what made Battlestar Galatica zip along at warp speed. There is a lot of exposition to get across here given that it's a prequel, but there are better ways to get that information across. The pacing for pretty much all of Season 1 is slow and laborious which harms everything they are doing and no doubt played a big factor in people not sticking with the series, even though I did.

Watching this go-round, I kept re-writing the way I would have preferred it done, writing in a way that would keep the energy and excitement running throughout the season and I feel the only way it could have been done was using a non-linear structure. Because everything is told from Point A to Point B, there are far too many scenes that are just downright boring, albeit crucial to the myth, but way too long in exposition. To be fair, there are moments during the season that would make me sit up and take notice because there were getting some of the things "right". It would remind you exactly what made BSG what it was and as soon as you think the writers have finally turned a corner, it's back to the same plodding pace. It's not until the final 3 episodes does it really coalesce into what it should have been all along. But it's the final 5 minute epilogue of what the series was intended to be that you walk away shaking your head and saying "F*ck!, if they had done it like that, the series would have made it to a second season".

Visually the series looks amazing, especially those that took place in New Cap City. And the Cylons themselves looked great too. But as great as those scenes are, it just doesn't make up for poor pacing. I own this on DVD now and I will most likely come back to it whenever I do a BSG marathon. But given the issues that I had with it, I wouldn't necessarily recommend this as a Buy. If anything, I'd give it a soft recommendation for diehard fans of BSG that need to watch anything related to that series. So, a Rent it is.

One last thing, it has been so long since this went off the air that I actually forgot that I had conversation with Magda Apanowicz who played Lacy. Totally forgot that she was in this and totally forgot getting a chance to talk with her for a bit. Series also stars Eric Stoltz, Esai Morales and Alessandra Torresani.