4/5 Thoughtful Sci-Fi ... It's been a long time...
  by Tim Warneka (Cleveland, OH USA)
Disclaimer: I'm a sci-fi fan, but I've never watched Battlestar Galactica (O.k., I'm old enough to have grown up watching the original series with Lorne Greene. I've just never watched the new one.)

I took a chance and pulled this movie off the shelves at the local library. It's been a long time since I've seen a decent sci-fi movie, and I was pleasantly surprised. This was a wonderful, thought-provoking story that combines issues like the ancient philosophical question of the Ship of Theseus (google it), Frankenstein and others. Interesting videography, and fascinating depiction of parental grief ... watch especially how the two genders grieve. (Side note: this would be an excellent film to show in an college-level class (ethics or family psychology/sociology or gender studies).

I gave this four stars instead of 5 for two reasons: (1) I thought the adult characters were more well-developed than the teen-agers, whom I find myself not really caring about. The story should have either focused more on the adults, or developed the teens more. (2) Several of the cast (especially Esai Morales, who I think is usually a solid actor) had a tendency to swallow their words, making some dialog difficult to understand.

If you're looking for a good, solid, thought-provoking sci-movie, I highly recommend Caprica.

2/5 Review from a female fan.
  by Melissa J. Newman (Elizabeth, NJ United States)
The producers of this show specifically say that they want the show to appeal more to women, so they took out the action fighting scenes and put in more drama. Okay, I really like the story line of Battlestar Gallactica, so not a problem. But the club scene? How exactly is that going to attract women? Lots of topless women; Group sex; drugs; virgin sacrifices; Pornography at its best.

If the producers had enough guts to actually rate this movie, it would be NC-17. But they also admit that this was not the version they showed on TV, so why not release two version. One of this NR / NC-17 and one for TV viewing.

If this is the tone of the series, I will not watch it unless I can obtain a modified / cleaned up version. The storyline may be good, but I am not going to sit through an NC-17 TV show, nor expose my family to it.

Note to Battlestar Gallactica producers - the main reason why Battlestar Gallactica was a success is that it required thinking. Your target audience, Sci-Fi geeks (men and women) like a show that have intelligence; shows that have more than a single episode story line; shows that have a puzzle to solve -- not just a "who shot JR"? Yes, it makes it more difficult for people to flip to the show and get into the show without getting lost, but it also makes the show worth watching. That is HuLu and Amazon downloads are for.

Tone down the Male Teenage stuff or at least provide two release (one targeted towards adults and one targeted towards teenage boys).

5/5 A worthy "prequel" to BSG
  by C. ANZIULEWICZ (Spring Hill, WV USA)
FIRST OFF: I followed "Battlestar Galactica" religiously from beginning to end, and I still think it's one of the greatest sci-fi TV series ever created (if not THE greatest), and at my age that's saying something. But some things I had heard about "Caprica" didn't seem to bode quite as well: That it was more melodramatic, kind of like "Dallas" in outer space.

Well NOT TO WORRY, because "Caprica" is an extremely worthy successor/prequel to BSG. It is different, make no mistake about that, but I found it absolutely haunting for one reason more than anything: It portrays a human civilization on the cusp of a Technological Singularity. Sure, there have been plenty of movies and TV shows that have explored the concept of machine intelligence, but to the best of my knowledge there has never been an attempt to portray the Technological Singularity (look it up on Wikipedia if you like) in the terms that futurists like Ray Kurzweil and Vernor Vinge have envisioned it. "Capica" is noteworthy for scratching the surface.

4/5 Very interesting
  by ge in kazoo (kazoo)
This movie could stand alone bot for those battle star galatica followers it answers the cylons religious leanings towards mono theism./ Also shows how far grief will drive a parent. Has scene of what happens when the young becomes disillusioned with popular culture and look for more.

5/5 The Battlestar Galactica back story
  by E. M. Van Court (Honolulu, Hawai'i, USA)
Challenge: to write the review that this deserves, without spoilers... "Caprica" is set fifty years or so prior to the events of "Battlestar Galactica". It's the story of the first Cylon, Admiral Adama as a boy, his father Joe Adams, the monotheist resistance to the sanctioned polytheism, and the other groups, people, things, and events that led to the Cylon attack that annihilated the Colonies.

"Caprica" deals with issues of loss, ambition, parent/child relations, rebellion, and the unintended consequences of technology in a science fiction setting. Conspicuous by its absence from "Caprica" are military issues, but they have been dealt with at length in BSG. The closest thing would be the relationship of research to the military, but this is approached from the corporate end rather than the uniformed end.

I enjoy it greatly. "Caprica" is a complex tale, with several threads being addressed on several levels each. After watching it once, I immediately wanted to watch it again to pick up on cues and hints throughout the flick. For something made for TV, it is surprisingly good, and though part of the BSG universe, has elements that were never addressed before, and stands alone well.

E.M. Van Court