It’s with mixed feelings we receive Caprica, the prequel spin-off of the recently, and dearly, departed Battlestar Galactica. With something as beautifully self-contained as Battlestar you’re elated by a further peek into that universe. But at the same time you don’t want the experience of the original tainted by an inferior by-product. Don’t believe me? Check out any one of the numerous Babylon 5 spin-offs that barely had a hint of the magic of the original, nor did they get the support needed beyond recognition that there was a fan base to be exploited. So what fate awaits you as you place the DVD for Caprica in your video machine and press play?

Well, for one thing, expect nothing like Battlestar Galactica. It takes place in the same universe though, and deals with many of the same themes, like race, religion, class status, family and technology. Seeing a planet-side sci-fi drama set in sometime in the future (-ish) has always been of interest to me. And just as its episodic predecessor did, Caprica constructs a futuristic world that’s easy to get in to because it’s a plausible world of sensible technology that doesn’t need much explaining. There might be occasional talk about “going off-world” but it’s treated as no more implausible then travelling to Europe from North America. Caprica is our world (or Vancouver to be more precise), just a little different in the details.

One of those details is that Caprican society is on the cusp of a breakthrough in artificial intelligence thanks to the brilliant Daniel Graystone (Eric Stoltz). Graystone made his fortune on the “holoband,” a virtual reality device that’s a kind of Matrix as glasses. In the underground virtual world of the holoband, Graystone’s brilliant daughter Zoe (Alessandra Toreson) has crafted a self-aware avatar-version of herself. When Zoe’s killed in a terrorist attack, Graystone discovers the result of her programming acumens and resolves to bring his daughter back to life through his development of artificial lifeforms: Cylons.

Much of the emotional heft of the pilot falls on Stoltz, but he seemed either unable or incapable to really drawing me into his character’s inner struggle. Some of the things he does in order to bring Cylon Zoe to “life,” really seem like moral compromises, but the way Stoltz plays it, it’s just another day at the office. There’s no pause, there’s no hesitation, and I’d even say that there’s no real sense of urgency either. Also, it seems like the Graystone matriarch, Amanda (played by Paula Malcomson), is largely cut out of the second half of the pilot, which is too bad because Malcolmson really milks the grief. Just by looking at her you can see the sense of loss, and although I know this is an intended pilot for a series, it would have been nice if she caught some hint of her husband’s resurrection project.

But the Graystones only comprise half the drama. The other half is seen through Joseph Adams (Esai Morales), a Caprican attorney with ties to the Tauron crime family. Adams loses his wife and daughter to the terrorist attack, but he’s left with his son William. As the commercials reveal though, the Adams are really the Adamas, and 11-year-old Willie is destined to grow up to be Admiral Adama, commander of the Battlestar Galactica. Caught between serving his long standing patrons in the Tauron mob, and becoming a good, single father to his son, Adams’ arc is the easier of the two to identify with. Joseph Adama was referenced numerous times on Battlestar, and Morales brings a lot of gravitas and complex emotion to the part. If Graystone represents the sci-fi side of Caprica, then the Adamas give it the dramatic backbone.

Written by Battlestar’s re-imaginer Ronald D. Moore along with Remi Aubuchon, I think Caprica lays out a lot of pieces that could be fun to play with in an ongoing series. I also think that the 60 year time difference between shows gives the new series enough space to stand on its own. You almost don’t need knowledge of Battlestar to get into Caprica, but there are a couple of neat Easter Eggs as well as some wonderful musical cues by returning composer Bear McCreary to remind fans of the spun off series. Like a good pilot, it teases and leaves the door open with some intriguing possibilities, I’m concerned though that Moore might be trying to overcompensate for distance’s sake. Regardless, Caprica’s an interesting pursuit and once the kinks are worked out, it could be the rightful successor to Battlestar’s mantle as TV’s biggest mind frak.