Ron Moore has done the improbable and made a spin-off prequel series to Battlestar Galactica that is truly engaging and may possibly rival the genius of his epic space saga. Caprica dives full force into mature themes including but not limited to religion, the nature of life, the military industrial complex, terrorism, racism, hubris, longing, and loss. On a side note, it also prominently features paper that put all current and near future e-readers to shame (Apple I'm calling you out).
While I know I will write about much of what makes this series worth watching I thought I'd focus this post on one key issue. This series makes the argument that in the universe of Caprica there is enough data floating around in the ether about any particular person to accurately recreate a personality after death. It's a bold thought but not one that is too hard to believe.
How much information do we put out on our Facebook profiles? How hard is it to map a persons DNA? How often do we tweet thoughts that would formerly have been trapped in our heads? What does Google, your cable company, or your Netflix Que know about you that your loved ones do not? Now fast forward 10, 15, 20 years and think to yourself if it's possible to recreate a personality with all that data.
Daniel Graystone may be Frankenstein but his monster isn't only his creation. In fact, who is to say that his monster is even a monster at all. Sure the Cylon's eventually attempt to destroy all of humanity, but I've got to wonder how they were pushed to that point.
I can't wait to see how this series plays out. I hope it has a long and successful life that continues down the path that Battlestar charted. And as an added bonus, Caprica is a much better name for a show to convince your non-scifi loving friends to check out than Battlestar Galactica ever was!
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