Chapter 93: Crater of Needles

I just finished up watching Caprica, the spin-off to Ronald D. Moore's fantastic Battlestar Galactica re-imagining. Damn.

So Caprica was a show that dragged its feet. It had a pretty solid pilot and a solid premise. Not only would it explore how the Cylons were created by man, but how they eventually rebelled. It would explore the whole religion aspects of Galactica deeper, it was planet-bound, giving it a fresh new look, tone, and setting for this universe, it was going to bring many questions to the fold of what exactly is life...and it showed in that pilot some really interesting characters you wanted to explore.

Then after the pilot the first half of season 1 dragged its feet and muddled through some story-lines. It was a great setting, decent characters, but at first it sort of felt like it wasn't going anywhere as captivating as Galactica had been from start to finish (unlike like some generic sci-fi fans I've seen that were disappointed with the conclusion to that series, I loved it through and through). Then near the end of that Season 1.5, it found itself. I was beginning to see where it was going. It was never a bad show up until that point, but finally I was seeing plot-lines I wanted to stick with and see where they ended up.

The second half of the season was solid from its return to the small screen until its pretty damn fine conclusion. But the ratings weren't as good as Galactica's had been and the people running SyFy (NBC Universal) have not only been making shitty decisions on their broadcast network, but they changed the name of Sci-Fi Channel in order to get some non-existent new audience that wants to watch wrestling. So the less space adventure, more soap opera style slow moving Science Fiction Drama was not gonna stay around to long. Canceled. No second season.

And there's the rub. The threads weren't left dangling really, the major arc of the series was closed up in the finale. It was a solid end to a series that took too long to find its way (especially considering how it had been in development hell for a few years), and sadly the denouement gave you a hint of how the Cylons might rebel, how the fall of Caprica might come about, some other hints of possible story-lines to be explored "Next Season". But they will not come to fruition. It looked really captivating and interesting, to see where the series could have headed.

So I'm disappointed that a show I had really warmed up too is no more, especially when it was ripe for some fantastic future stories.

Beyond that I saw the new Green Hornet movie, which was entertaining enough as a comedy-action film, but having thought more and more on it, I think it really didn't live up to its potential at all. I've seen the first episode of the TV series, and I think it took itself a little more seriously, which the film should have done. Rogan maybe shouldn't have either written or been cast, and if he really wanted to play an action hero he should have gotten out of his comfort zone and done some real action. Then I went and watched this 10 minute short film from France, and everything about it was exactly what I thought the Green Hornet feature should have been. So now I think I am far more disappointed with the film than I was when I left the theater.

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