Caprica Producers Talk of Shifting Gears

Perhaps worried that fans would be disappointed by their new series, the producers of Caprica, which premieres Jan. 22 on Syfy, have been talking to the media a lot lately, trying to send the message that they shouldn't expect the Battlestar spin-off to be all that much like its parent, because the creators' motivations and goals have changed since they set out to make the reimagined Battlestar seven years ago.

Talking to the Daily Beast, executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick and co-executive producer Jane Espenson talked about how the continuing theme of holding onto one's inner self would be told in new ways in a new environment--the decadent colonies 60 years before the sudden Cylon attack that destroyed them.

"It's got a very different flavor," said Moore. "It's setting out to tell a very different story... It's planet-based, instead of space-based, it's not action-adventure, it's much more centered on two families than a military environment. We wanted it to be much more about contemporary society and problems that are coming up on a social front as well as a technological front."

"The conflicts come more from the clashing of people from different cultures and representing different life-philosophies--capitalists, technocrats, mobsters, polytheists, monotheists, terrorists, federal agents," Espenson said. "It's a portrait of a culture in transition, trying to find its moral footing. It feels contemporary without being in any way a literal reflection of today's headlines."

Recent Caprica notes:

• Caprica pilot now online
• Bamber on Caprica: Meh
• Marsters joins cast of Caprica
• Review: The Plan