'Caprica' Series Sees New Life

Don't write off the prequel spinoff series to "Battlestar Galactica" just yet.

TV Week's James Hibberd says SciFi Channel executives may not be so quick to cast off "Caprica" as they consider actually moving forward to film a backdoor pilot, and follow the BSG telemovie "Razor" to almost instant DVD release.

Talk of reviving "Caprica" comes from a lot of concern from SciFi Channel executives that they'll be losing "Battlestar" showrunner Ronald D. Moore to NBC and the silver screen, and giving "Caprica" a greenlight could at least keep some of the bridges built between Moore and SciFi Channel.

"Especially if the similarly conceived standalone 'Razor' performs strongly, the thinking seems to be that a two-hour 'Caprica' pilot could justify its expense," Hibberd said. "Worse-case scenario: The pilot is aired and sold as a DVD, recouping some costs. If the pilot is strong, then the network has a new series."

Since SciFi Channel announced the possible spinoff nearly two years ago, "Caprica" has sat in development hell. Meant to take place about 40 years before the events that started the new "Battlestar Galactica" series, the show was intended to focus on the Adama clan -- led by William Adama's attorney father, Joseph -- and the early rise of the Cylons.

Some aspects of "Razor" was meant to dip back 40 years as well to the original Cylon war, aspects which will now be broadcast as "mini-sodes," but reintegrated into the telemovie on the DVD release in November.

Before the network can move on to another series, however, there is still a lot of question over whether or not SciFi Channel will split the final season of "Battlestar Galactica," but network executives have apparently admitted the reasons behind the move are financial.

"Since 'Battlestar' eats a considerable portion of the SciFi programming budget, the network might be forced to spread the resulting product across two seasons," Hibberd said.

Moore, however, is unfazed by when the episodes air.

"It doesn't affect my job either way since we're shooting it straight through," he said before Sunday's Emmy awards. "It might be better to get it all done [in the same year] for the fans so they don't have to wait."

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