This Is Why ‘Battlestar Galactica’s Spin-Off ‘Caprica’ Failed

Fifteen years in the past, Ronald D. Moore and David Eick modified the science fiction TV panorama with their reboot of Battlestar Galactica. A far cry from the campy however fondly-remembered Seventies TV collection from which it sprang, Galactica was an enormous hit with each audiences and critics. Nonetheless, as soon as the present ended, its spinoff, Caprica, aired one poorly-received season on SyFy and sank with out a hint. In a brand new oral historical past of Galactica for SlashFilm.com, Eick explains why: “Ron’s involvement vacillated so there was much less consistency and fewer reliability and, as we shored up his absence, I do not assume the folks we had in place to do this have been the precise folks, to be completely frank. And I believe there have been possibly some questionable casting choices with that one.”

Eick goes on to clarify that within the absence of Moore, who had handed off management of the collection to embark on numerous different initiatives, the group struggled to seize his distinctive writing fashion. “I believe there have been folks making an attempt to emulate when Ron would get actually hippie-dippy metaphysical with Battlestar, after which generally it’d get a bit wobbly. When you do not have his high-wire act means — which is, for example, profitable extra usually than it is not — and also you’re making an attempt to emulate it, it could grow to be mush actually fast. Similar to, ‘What are you speaking about right here?’ So we bumped into that buzzsaw.” Throughout Caprica‘s manufacturing, Moore was concerned with numerous initiatives that by no means got here to fruition, though he has been significantly extra profitable lately with Outlander and For All Mankind.

What Is ‘Caprica’ About?

Set 58 years earlier than Battlestar Galactica, Caprica was set on the planet of the identical identify, the capital planet of the Twelve Colonies from which Battlestar‘s crew hailed. The collection kicks off when a terrorist assault shatters the peace on Caprica; a pair, the Graystones (Eric Stoltz and Paula Malcolmson) inadvertently spell the Twelve Colonies’ eventual doom after they try to resurrect their daughter, Zoe (Alessandra Torresani) utilizing her digital avatar and a prototype robotic physique known as a “Cylon”.

They achieve this with the assistance of crime-connected lawyer Joseph Adama (Esai Morales), the daddy of Galactica most important character William Adama (Edward James Olmos). In the meantime, Zoe could have been extra related to the monotheistic terrorist cult than anybody realizes, due to the headmistress of her college, Sister Clarice Willow (Polly Walker). Nearer to the interconnected plotlines of a primetime cleaning soap than the tense intrigue of Galactica, Caprica suffered from low rankings and important indifference when it first aired in 2010, and was canceled after airing fourteen episodes; its remaining 5 episodes have been burned off in a marathon the next yr.

Regardless of the failure of Caprica and one other Battlestar prequel venture, Blood and Chrome, there are plans to revive Battlestar Galactica in some type. Simon Kinberg has a Galactica film in improvement, and Sam Esmail is slated to provide a TV collection; the 2 initiatives are set to dovetail right into a shared cinematic universe.

Keep tuned to Collider for future updates. Caprica is on the market to hire or purchase on Prime Video, as is Battlestar Galactica.

Watch on Prime Video