'Caprica' is not 'Battlestar Galactica'

PASADENA, Calif. — You don't need to be a "Battlestar Galactica" fan to enjoy its prequel, "Caprica."

As a matter of fact, you don't need to have seen a single episode of "Galactica" to be up to speed on the new show. It's a prequel, after all.

Hey, I'm a huge "Galactica" fan, and I sort of envy anyone who can watch "Caprica" first and then watch "Galactica" on DVD.

"Certainly, new viewers who never watched 'Battlestar' will find that there's virtually no tether to 'Battlestar Galactica' from a storytelling standpoint whatsoever," said executive producer David Eick. "There are the occasional Easter eggs and nods and acknowledgments for the 'Battlestar' faithful to enjoy or maybe deepen some of their appreciation for it, but I think legitimately the show stands on its own."

He's right in both cases.

Those little nods to the other show are great fun for "Galactica" fans, but if you miss them it doesn't hurt your viewing experience one iota.

The most obvious tie to "Galactica" is the presence of young Willie Adama (Sina Najafi), who will one day grow up to be the battlestar commander who saves what's left of humanity. But, again, if you don't know that it doesn't matter.

The "Caprica" pilot, which airs Friday at 7 and 9 p.m. on Syfy, is the same "Caprica" that was released on DVD last year. With a bit of editing, mostly to get the nudity out.

Just as "Galactica" was never an outer-space show despite the fact that it was set mostly in outer space, neither is "Caprica" a strictly sci-fi series despite the fact that it's set on another planet where space travel is a fact of life and robots are in every home.

" 'Caprica,' like 'Battlestar,' doesn't treat the genre as the toy department," said Eick. "We really do take it seriously, and we really do try to involve depth of character, realism, grounded-terrestrial naturalism to a science fiction world."

Their premise is that "science fiction was not just fun and games. We wanted to go sort of the opposite direction of George Lucas, if you will. We wanted to make it less about escapism and more about moral complexity ... and great characters."

Mission accomplished.

"Galactica" was about the end of the human civilization on the Twelve Colonies; "Caprica" is about that civilization at its height. And at the beginning of its end.