Caprica - Galactica Prequel Is A Go(ner)!

I agree that the STO and Clarice storyline hasn't given us much payoff yet, but I don't mind being patient. BSG was similarly slow-paced in parts, and while the resolutions were not always perfect, they came eventually. I also think that because we know that the Soldiers of the One eventually carry some pretty significant impact into what becomes the Cylons and their religion, mass uprising, etc., this storyline is eventually going to become one of the core arcs. Since that's the case, and there are 40 years yet to fill, I'm fine that it's taken more than six episodes to take hold. We don't know yet how extensive the STO are, but they are still growing, and the simultaneous nefarious-yet-disorganized nature of it seems realistic to me, compared to other religious, terrorist underground organizations.

As for Vergis and his plotline, my guess is the U-85 Cylon comes into play eventually. Either Daniel uses it/her to do his dirty work, or Zoe herself opts to "get the job done." I can see Vergis and his lackeys (everyone in this show has lackeys) break into the Graystone house, take out Serge (Vergis is good with electronics, after all), and attack Amanda.

Cue Zoe in enforcer-mode.

 

Actually, I'm not sure the show is making a distinction, and that's why it's using the same word. The argument being made for Zoe and Tamara is that, if a clean break is made, the avatar is possibly able to persist without the user because it's merely another expression of the users' identity. Identity, as the Avatars have it, is factual data filtered through personality - which is, frankly, not that different from how we understand identity as humans, either. Zoe is Zoe's accumulated life experience.

An interesting idea. If you searched all my web accounts and blog entries and Facebook status updates and electronic transactions and tweets and text messages and emails and studied the facial expressions I make in photos found on picture hosting websites and...

...you'd eventually have a pretty good idea of who I was. The holoband is already a technology that is more or less built to take information and represent it as a simulation of physical reality. What Zoe did, essentially, is change where the holoband's simulators are pulling that information from. Not from my eyes and my temples, but from Google.

Another thing: I'm beginning to believe that Tamara's ability to bleed and suffer is precisely what Zoe intended her own Avatar for; just witness peoples' reactions when, for the first time, their actions have consequences. Suddenly, the reference to the Trinity makes a lot more sense - Zoe was creating a martyr, that would be broken and hurt again and again in the name of demonstrating to others what they've become. What's more, this martyr would not de-rez, and could persist and judge and punish.

This is kind of the perfect representation of a triune God for the Cylons: there's the human identity, the Creator; there's the spiritual identity, the Avatar, that can be resurrected and that takes the human identity into data form without really losing any of what makes it who and what it is; and there's the Word Made Metal, Zoe's Avatar incarnated into a Cylon body.

Just haven't figured out how Geminon fits into that, yet.

 

As the adversarial relationship between Graystone and Vergis begins to unfold, I'm looking forward to see Graystone unlock the architectural mystery of Vergis' microprocessor.

Why exactly did Zoe's avatar bond with this processor? I think Vergis himself may shed some light on this.

The tension between Graystone and Vergis will be interesting to watch, and it'll be interesting to see what STO does with the Graystone's data.

 

Just wanted to say, last night's episode started out kinda iffy, but rolled up into a ****ing ball of AWESOME.

"Zoe?"

Shivers, man, shivers.

Phil is the new Baltar. Daniel can take credit for the robot, and Tomas Vergis can take credit for the MCP. But the actual software? Looks like we have our boy, even if Zoe's google Avatar-making program got accidentally scrapped. I wonder if Zoe will respond to that, or if she will play dumb. It's interesting that the dog responds to her being in the U-87, though, because it's not really Zoe. Zoe-A is an exact copy, but it's a digital copy. I just find it interesting that the dog can sense Zoe inside of the U-87. There's no smell, or other external sign of Zoe's Avatar in there. It reminds me much of the same way that people say animals can sense a spirit long before a human would notice the supernatural phenomenon.

Likewise, I wonder how Sister Clarice feels about what she's doing? I think she is forming an emotional connection with Amanda, and sometimes it looks like what she is doing is giving her conflicting emotions. Clarice's faction of the STO seems to be aiming for resurrection tech. Comparably, this is primitive and totally different from the Final Five's organic memory-transfer method.

This is getting good. More thoughts later. (Side-note: Did anyone notice how damn old the VTOL is? And from that point of view, none of the ships appear to be truly space-capable.)

 

So, how worth watching is the show? I was a huge BSG fan, but wasn't a big fan of the DVD thing of Caprica. Should I bother with the series, or does it get better or grow on you?

 

Caprica has a totally different feel than Battlestar so don't expect a shoot 'em up action show, but having said that Caprica is excellent.

 

When one watches the pilot, the original plan before Ben blew up the MAGLEV was for the original Zoe to go some safe house on Gemenon, and somehow use her cybernetics work to influence society. This what the "current" Zoe feels, but she doesn't yet know all the specific details. She may not show it, but Zoe-A doesn't really know much about what her real purpose was, or what she is supposed to do, now that the real Zoe is dead. Going to Gemenon for an unknown purpose is not much of a plan, but it's probably pretty much the only plan she has at this point.

In addition, as a program, she may even have an instinctual pull to fulfill the purpose for which she was created (think of the programs in The Matrix, for example). It should be noted that, in this era, Gemenon is religiously tolerant of monotheism. This totally different from what we know of the Gemonese in BSG, who are ultra-conservative polytheists. If you read the background info (Serge's Tweets, The Caprican, etc.), this actually works in the context of the series.

According to those official sources, monotheism seems to have spread across Gemenon precisely because of the extreme polytheism of the Gemonese. It was a reactionary movement. In time, the government (begrudingly) came to accept them as legitimate. As such, Gemenon is where the official Monotheist church (pay attention to it being referred as a "church," rather than a "temple") is located. This also reminds me of an interesting bit from a deleted scene in BSG, where D'Anna projected herself into a church. Not a temple-like place, but a bona fide Terran church. I'd always wondered how she could have gotten that image. Now it makes more sense.

Pretty solid episode. So far, all of the Michael Nankin episodes have been good. I hope he fits in some more.

Though I'm still not sure about the Darius storyline. Could be a sign. Could be not. I'm wondering where that'll go. But Clarice seems to be growing a genuine care for her. I was wondering if she'd react in a "You weren't worth my time...I was chasing the wrong clue all this time" sorta way when she learned of Amanda's mental illness history. I doubt it'll go into the head-characters' territory, though. That said, I also loved that one bit between Amanda and Clarice: "I went crazy."

(By the way, I read on the BSG wiki that the Delphi Institute is the same place where Starbuck was held captive by the Simons.)

I'm not sure how Zoe feels about Philomon now. When alone, she does seem to care for him, but when with Lacy, she seemed completely cold. The last scene was great. I think Daniel finally figured what was different with that particular model. The revelation that the MCP never worked was quite a shock to me. Probably in the last two episodes, we'll see Daniel finally overcome his issue. Whether he'll choose to sacrifice Zoe in the process is what I'm now wondering about.

 

It started out REALLY slow, for reasons I'm a little puzzled about (resting on laurels, perhaps?). But with the 5th episode it has gotten really juicy and I'm finally at a point where I can't wait for the next episode. You had to figure at a certain point they'd get really specific in tying into the BSG universe, and they're starting to hit those beats now. Prototype vipers! What's not to like??????

 

LOVED last night's episode.

Adama's V-World gangster persona was badass and Greystone was a complete prick.

 

Good episode, slow as heck, but as always good TV.

Adama was cool and Daniel is a smart bastard (pore guy).

Zoes self centeredness is really starting to grate on me though.

 

Like the way Adama went back into Mystery with guns blazing; wonder if it was a nod to the Matrix Govt. lobby scene?. New Cap City is very cool!

 

I don't think she's so much self-centered as she is very determined and dedicated to a specific cause.

 

I think your wrong

 

That is true. Interesting show so far.

 

Hasn't that been the case since the BSG miniseries?

 

Serenity? What have i missed? i saw it in the background of the BSG miniseries...
-doodie

 

That's almost unheard of!