The pilot for Caprica came out on DVD this week, and as you might imagine I was immediately out the door to get it.

Caprica is a very, very different series from Battlestar Galactica. Unlike BSG, which took place in the “emptiness of dark space,” Caprica is much more grounded… literally. There are no Viper’s dodging Raiders, no Battlestars jumping from one end of the galaxy to the other. It’s set in a world that’s very much like ours… or at least ours in about 10-20 years or so. As a matter of fact it probably could be ours, if we were a little bit more space-savvy, but that’s a different story.

The characters are very similar to you or me. Or at least they were before their lives were turned upside down by a terrorist attack (sound familiar?) The world that they inhabit is almost identical to ours… much more so than the brief glimpses in BSG were. Interstingly enough, while the architecture makes it look like Capricans do all of their shopping in the Sharper Image catalogue, the clothing looks more like a mix of contemporary styles for the women and childen… and 1950’s clothing for the men, complete with fedoras and ubiquitous cigarettes.

The acting is phenomenal, especially Eric Stoltz and Esai Morales… who I got to be a fan of after his work on the abbreviated second season of Jericho last year.

Everything I’ve heard from the writers suggests that this series will spend most of its time on the ground… although apparently we will see the other colonies at some point. But judging by the pilot, I think that the story is going to progress quickly enough that we may be hearing about the new Battlestars on the block before too long. I won’t give away any plot points, but the pilot starts out 5 or so years before the first Cylon war starts… so if the series goes on for any significant amount of time, I think we’ll eventually get to Vipers and Raiders buzzing eachother.

Over all, I thought it was a very entertaining and compelling 90 minutes and as a series it looks to be a worthy successor to BSG.