David Eick: On Caprica

"Caprica, like Battlestar, doesn't treat the genre as the toy department.

We really do take it seriously, and we really do try to involve depth of character, realism, grounded-terrestrial naturalism to a science fiction world.

And that sort of came from what we always admired about, you know, the greats and the classics from [Isaac] Asimov to [Robert] Heinlein to Philip K. Dick.

This idea, that science fiction was not just fun and games.

We wanted to go sort of the opposite direction of George Lucas, if you will.

We wanted  to make it less about escapism and more about moral complexity... and great characters."

 

-David Eick, SciFiNow #38, p.9-

Now, now this writer must admit he enjoys a good, quality toy.

The few toys that are out there for Ronald D. Moore's Battlestar Galactica are excellent. For example, the die-cast creations for the various ship designs by Hasbro for Moore's reimagined series are downright wonderful. Some model kits are good too. So any inspiration to generate ships from both the classic and new shows are always welcomed. Having said that, it's clear the toys serve a series and not the other way around. At least that's how it should be.



The omission of cool toys for Caprica is understandable. It's not that kind of science fiction. It's about possibilities for a potential future like Gattaca (1997) or Code 46 (2003) or Never Let Me Go (2010). Ships are not part of the vision or aesthetic here. It's about the people who inhabit those worlds rather than outer space.

In keeping with the theme of toys, one reason that speaks to my dislike for Star Wars, at this point, is that the films almost feel designed for toys first. That's not true, but we have toys and lots of them long before the films arrive. I get it. I respect it. It's business. I just prefer the art before commerce when it comes to the science fiction as an experience. These same rules apply to the comic book films.



Nevertheless, regarding Eick's final statement, it struck me not only as a statement regarding both Battlestar Galactica and Caprica, the former which seemed to have both in my estimation, but one that echoed the shift within the Stargate franchise away from escapism as evidenced in the more interesting moral complexities of Stargate Universe.