Slashdot Mirror
BSG Prequel Series Caprica Canceled
Kethinov writes "The sci-fi TV series Caprica, a prequel spinoff from Battlestar Galactica, was just canceled by the Syfy channel. In response to the cancellation and the recent theme of many similar good sci-fi shows getting canceled over the last few years, I've written an editorial arguing that Caprica's cancellation reflects the decreasing sustainability of the cable TV business model. A better, more modern business model could have saved Caprica from cancellation. If this model is adopted in the future, it could save many other similar niche genre shows from the same fate down the road." Another perspective here might be that a boring, ponderous show got yoinked because nobody watched it. Just sayin'.
Knowing how Caprica is going to end killed all interest for me.
What hurt Caprica even more (having just seen some of the season 1.5 episodes) is that information needed to watch an episode is found in earlier episodes of the season. In other words, it is very much a serial where the whole season tells the story and not just one part. The problem with a series of that nature is that it sort of pushes away new viewers who don't have access to the first episode.
I thought the series was extremely well done, but it was very dark and in some ways very disturbing as well. Much of the first half-season dealt with virtual reality and MMORPGs in a way that I have never seen dealt with by a major media outlet before. The show's producers "get" what it is like to play in an MMORPG and if you want to see what one might be like in a couple hundred years, Caprica has a very good example of one that Zoe Greystone plays in. Then again, it also captures the MMORPG experience by having a bunch of kids playing around in a virtual environment where the parents don't know what the heck their kids are up to other than "playing with computers".
The second half-season deals more with the "STO", which is an Al-Queida-like terrorist organization which foreshadows the rise of the Cylons and goes into depth of how that organization is put together. Again, this is something that is certainly part of the backstory of Battlestar Galactica and being brought forward, but isn't easy for people to watch or the complex interplay between religions, where most normal "colonists" are polytheistic and the terrorist organization uses a monotheistic approach that echos Islam but isn't quite that either. Many people don't want to have religion crammed down their throats in this fashion, especially when it might be pointing out that their own religion could be just as corrupted.