Does 'Caprica' Even Have A Chance As A Series?

SciFi Channel took an awful long time in deciding whether or not to fund production of "Caprica," a proposed prequel spinoff of "Battlestar Galactica" that would stay more planet-side, and make rare excursions into space.

But the combination of writers strike, continued critical interest in "Battlestar," and a desire to keep executive producer Ronald D. Moore as active with the network as possible, finally put the wheels in motion to get "Caprica" going as a telemovie and backdoor pilot. But some involved with the pre-production are worried that the show won't be given a chance.

The biggest problem facing the telemovie is that the script wasn't designed to be just a one-off, self-contained story, a source told SyFy Portal. It was meant to be the first episode in a highly serialized drama which requires a lot of setup.

"When they did 'Battlestar,' they were given a miniseries that set it all up, and if they had never done a series, you could be happy with that one product," the source said. "But 'Caprica' is not the same. We're not getting anywhere near the time we need to tell this story in a single production, and I'm worried that fans will watch it and say, 'And?'"

The telemovie, based on a script that Moore says was written more than two year ago, establishes the two core families of the series. Daniel Graystone is a wealthy inventor who becomes known as the creator of the Cylons who loses his daughter in a terrorist bombing. Joseph Adama, the patriarch of the family that includes William Adama from the current "Battlestar" series, loses both his wife and his daughter in the same explosion, a tragedy that brings the two families together ... at least initially.

"It's a great story, but we [leave] off right in the middle of the story," the source said. "There's really nothing wrong with that, if there was a continuation the next week, but it could be months if not longer before any episodes continue the story. It's just not self-contained."

In recent years, SciFi Channel has moved more toward backdoor pilots instead of direct series orders in order to gauge audience interest before investing resources into a new show. There have been some exceptions, including "Stargate: Atlantis" and "Eureka," but other backdoor pilots have failed including "The Lost Room."

Talk about this story