This was a better stand-alone series than it was a prequel.
I thought the first two seasons of Battlestar Galactica were great, and I was immensely pleased with the shift presented in Caprica. Instead of an action-packed, space-warring, post-apocalyptic survival series; we are given a stylish business and crime science fiction drama. That vision was excellently conceived and adequately executed. The plot was interesting, and the subplots contributed to a pleasantly complicated picture.
It all fell apart, however, in the areas where they tried to hard to connect it to Battlestar Galactica. They didn't need to make the "Adams" family that particular family. They did it for the connection to Battlestar Galactica, and it actually undermines (or replaces) what we knew of them in BSG. We didn't need to see the first use of every BSG phrase - Cylon (okay maybe that one was permissible), Toaster, and Skin Job (this one, in fact, shouldn't have been around until BSG). The final episode was the worst in this regard. It gives a contradictory account to many of the factual (and major) elements of BSG. The origins of _______ are contradicted, and the whole god thing (which was, admittedly, bewildering in BSG) is undermined and redirected in the final episode. I'm sure they were hoping for a full second season, but I think we were spared a disaster when the show was canceled. Had they kept going, they looked on track to make everything worse.
I thought the first two seasons of Battlestar Galactica were great, and I was immensely pleased with the shift presented in Caprica. Instead of an action-packed, space-warring, post-apocalyptic survival series; we are given a stylish business and crime science fiction drama. That vision was excellently conceived and adequately executed. The plot was interesting, and the subplots contributed to a pleasantly complicated picture.
It all fell apart, however, in the areas where they tried to hard to connect it to Battlestar Galactica. They didn't need to make the "Adams" family that particular family. They did it for the connection to Battlestar Galactica, and it actually undermines (or replaces) what we knew of them in BSG. We didn't need to see the first use of every BSG phrase - Cylon (okay maybe that one was permissible), Toaster, and Skin Job (this one, in fact, shouldn't have been around until BSG). The final episode was the worst in this regard. It gives a contradictory account to many of the factual (and major) elements of BSG. The origins of _______ are contradicted, and the whole god thing (which was, admittedly, bewildering in BSG) is undermined and redirected in the final episode. I'm sure they were hoping for a full second season, but I think we were spared a disaster when the show was canceled. Had they kept going, they looked on track to make everything worse.