Caprica midseason premiere is tomorrow, Oct. 5th @10/9c on SyFy.

It's been almost eight months since we last visited Caprica and witnessed the birth of the destruction of the human race. Lives hung in the balance, power plays were executed, and betrayals were revealed in the final moments of this past March's midseason finale that had viewers wondering if we would even get a solution to said cliffhangers. SyFy had originally slated for the back nine episodes of Caprica to air next January, but possibly realized that a huge gap between episodes will stave off viewers from the already ratings challenged show. Thankfully, SyFy is giving us Caprica early and it is our duty to make sure you know where you left off and where we are headed.

What You Should Know

Corporate Takeover - Daniel Graystone (Caprica's answer to Bill Gates) stole a meta-cognitive processor chip (MCP) from rival Tomas Vergis to install in his Cybernetic Lifeform Node (aka Cylon) machines, which his company, Graystone Industries, has a contract to produce for the military. Graystone asked the local mob syndicate, the Ha'la'tha, to do the job and when they did it, they left two of Vergis's scientists dead. Vergis knows that Graystone had something to do with the theft and took action to slowly destroy everything Graystone has ever built/achieved, including his marriage.

At Wits End - Amanda Graystone spent most of the first part of the season grieving over her dead daughter Zoe and the fact that Zoe was involved with the Soldiers of the One (S.T.O.), a monotheist sect who believes in one true God. In light of the public blaming shunning the Graystones, Amanda drew into herself and began seeing visions of her dead brother around town, which revealed Amanda's past stint in a psychiatric ward. After becoming friends with Sister Clarice Willow, Amanda found some resolve, but learning from Vergis that Daniel might've been involved in murder unravels that piece of solace. She then decides to end it all by jumping off of a Caprica City bridge. Did she survive?

Dissension Amongst the Sects - Sister Clarice Willow is having issues with the radical S.T.O. member Barnabas, who thinks blowing up sections of Caprica City is the way to get people to see the path of one true God. She has her own way of doing such a task and it involves the tech Zoe created where 'souls' can be transferred to a virtual after life, which has happened with Zoe and Joseph Adama's daughter, Tamara. But Barnabas has issues with Clarice as well as he has one of Clarice's students and Zoe's best friend, Lacy, to plant a bomb on Clarice's car. The bomb goes off, but it kills one of Clarice's husbands, Nestor, instead.

Joseph's Lament - After venturing into the V-World to find his dead daughter Tamera, Joseph finally finds her with the help of a mysterious V-World guide named Emmanelle. Tamera, unfortunately, sees how the V-World is killing her father and shoots him out of the game. See, if you die in the V-World, you can never return to the game. After his link is severed forever, Joseph wakes up distraught. His secretary, Evelyn, is there to console him, but the funny thing? Evelyn was actually Emmanuelle the entire time...

Danger, Zoe Graystone! - Zoe 2.0 begs for Lacy to help get her robotic body to Gemenon, but comes across several obstacles along the way, with one being her father realizing that Zoe's avatar was still in U-87 droid. After dealing with that, Zoe 2.o uses her avatar to lure in one of Graystone's scientists, Philomon, to help her get to Gemenon. When she reveals her true nature, Philomon panics and calls security, but is killed by Zoe 2.0/U-87, who then escapes Graystone Industries with a company van and ends her chase by crashing into a police barricade.

CONTINUE TO THE NEXT PAGE!

Previously on... 'Caprica'

The two-hour TV-Movie / Would-be series, Virtuality, aired to the lowest ratings of the night and helped to pull Fox into forth place in ratings for the evening.  Despite the dismal ratings, due to Fox's very confusing strategy with the show, Virtuality delivered, at least for me, a better than average sci-fi television show, and something that I would definitely have tuned in for again, at least long enough to see where creator Ronald D. Moore would take it.  That's obviously nothing more than a pipe-dream now, and anyone else hoping to see more Virtuality is living in Wonderland.

The TV-Movie was originally a pilot shot for Fox and a contender for a fall series on the network, however last month we learned that the pilot would instead be aired as a two-hour tv-movie this summer.  This is never a good sign for a series hopeful, and usually is just a method for the network to recoup some of the expense put into making the pilot.  That might have been fine, and made a lot of sense, but then, over the past couple of weeks, the internet has been abuzz with quotes from Moore as well as co-writer Michael Taylor saying not to count the wanna-be series out just yet, and that it may still stand a chance at a midseason replacement.  Fox then did a fair job and getting word spread online of the TV-movie event happening this past weekend, however not once did they put forth any real effort on their network, in my opinion, in order to get people watching.  The result was quite predictable.

Virtuality pulled in just 1.8 million viewers and an 0.5 adult demographics rating, putting it in a tie with The Goode Family as the lowest-rated program on a major broadcast network Friday night.  If you missed Virtuality it can be viewed online, for U.S. viewers, here.

Virtuality Falls Flat In Ratings, But Delivers Decent Sci-fi

Someone’s moving to 10/9c Wednesdays on NBC, and his name is Teddy Rist. He’s all about living the life that only a billionaire playboy could, until a life-altering event involving a little boy changes his entire perspective, and turns his life around. The Philanthropist tells the ongoing story of his journey through Western Africa, slogging vaccine (and his undeniably handsome face) to afflicted villages, and managing his money a little better. What brought about this change in him? A little boy, who forced him to lay aside selfishness, and who saved him while on a routine business trip to Nigeria. As we see Teddy’s metamorphosis to Mr. Altruism begin to take place, we learn that he is mourning the loss of his young son, and saving the little boy starts to fill this hole in his heart.   The more he thinks about it, he despises the former life he led.  Schmoozing, putting on a good face for the public, and in the words of one of the characters, "getting his hands just dirty enough to go back home and tell his American friends how meaningful his life is compared to theirs"  isn't good enough anymore for Teddy.

I’ll be the first to admit that The Philanthropist was not on my top list of shows to follow this summer, but after watching the premiere, I’m practically salivating for the next episode! James Purefoy (Rome, Vanity Fair) is brilliant in his acting and portrayal of Teddy Rist. In the first five minutes, the action and adventure of Teddy’s wild ride through the jungle (sans shoes), evading rebel gunfire and snake bites (Indiana Jones, anyone?) was what got me hooked. From there, the details of his story begin to unfold as to why he’s being shot at. Voluntarily. Without his expensive Ferragamo shoes on.

We get introduced to a few other characters pretty early on. Jesse L. Martin (Law and Order, Ally McBeal) plays Philip Maidstone, Teddy’s best friend and business partner who seems to be the less impetuous, more grounded of the two. His wife, Olivia, is played by Neve Campbell (Party of Five, Scream). We find out quickly that Teddy and Olivia had a previous relationship by watching all the sideways glances and extended hand grazes that Philip quickly dissolves. (Which to be honest with you, was a little weird for me, but you can definitely the sexual tension brewing). Once Teddy has made the decision to bring vaccines to Nigeria, he’s helped along by two other cast members who I instantly fell in love with. Lindy Booth (Wolf Creek, Dawn of the Dead) plays the adorable A.J. Butterfield, Teddy’s Director of Special Projects, which turns into her immediate departure to Nigeria to assist in Teddy‘s philanthropic heroics. Teddy’s driver Dax Vahagn, played by Michael K. Williams (The Wire, Alias), is the halcyon guardian. He respects Teddy and his new life calling, and will stop at nothing to help him out. ( It's always those type of people who end up having the best jokes, too! )

I want to take a minute and commend the utterly breathtaking scenery and music in The Philanthropist. The camera angles make the show so convincing, and the music puts you right in the heart of Africa. In fact, at times, I wanted to be right there with him! It is very inspiring. I implore you to watch the season premiere on June 24th, 10/9c on NBC. Oh, and then let me know when your flight leaves for Africa.

Review: The Philanthropist

Battlestar Galactica fans who were upset at the prospect of waiting until 2010 to see the new prequel series Caprica can breathe a sigh of relief.  Universal Studios Home Entertainment announced today that the pilot episode of Caprica will be going straight to DVD in an unrated and uncut version on April 21, 2009.  The DVD will also feature deleted scenes, commentary by director Jeffrey Reiner and executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick, as well as four video blogs titled What the Frak is Caprica?; The Director's Process; The V Club; and The Birth of a Cylon.  The uncut DVD will be an hour and thirty-three minutes long.

"We wanted to give them a chance to see the pilot in its original form and experience the prequel to the BSG story while that series' finale was still ringing in their ears," Sci-fi Executive Vice President Mark Stern said.  "It also affords the creative team an unprecedented chance to get viewers feedback before production on the Caprica series begins this summer."

This will mean that the fans who purchase the DVD will end up having some say so on how the show develops.  Caprica begins shooting this summer for a release sometime in 2010.  The official synopsis of the show is:

"Set 50 years before Battlestar Galactica, Caprica follows two rival families and their patriarchs -- Daniel Graystone (Eric Stoltz,  Paula Malcomson, who plays Amanda Graystone) and Joseph Adama (Esai Morales) -- as they compete and thrive in the vibrant world of the 12 Colonies, a society recognizably close to our own. Enmeshed in the burgeoning technology of artificial intelligence and robotics that will eventually lead to the creation of the Cylons, the two houses go toe-to-toe blending action with corporate conspiracy and sexual politics."

Battlestar Galactica showrunner Ronald Moore added a bit more saying, "If Battlestar Galactica offered us a way to shatter the conventions of space opera, Caprica will be a show which will challenge the conventions of science-fiction storytelling as a whole."

The only bad news in all of this is that it will likely delay the release of the Battlestar Galactica television movie "The Plan" until sometime in the fall, at the earliest.  This is due to the fact that Glen Larson owns the movie rights to Battlestar Galactica and a straight to DVD release of a BSG telemovie could classify it as a movie instead of a television show.  Larson only has limited rights to Caprica, which is why they are able to release it straight to DVD.  The timing of the Caprica release means that fans will be able to pre-order the DVD a few weeks before the final episode of Battlestar Galactica, and will be watching it just over a month after Galactica has its series finale.  The Caprica DVD will retail for $26.98.

Battlestar Galactic's series finale is March 20.

The official Caprica DVD website

Caprica Goes Straight to DVD April 21

On January 16 Battlestar Galactica will return with a fresh string of new episodes that will complete the 4th season and the series. Probably one of the biggest questions on all of our minds is, just who is the fifth cylon? All of us, that is, except for Michael Hinman over at the SyFyPortal.com.

Hinman has mentioned several time that the identity of the fifth and final cylon has been revealed to him, but it's a secret he's taking to the grave with him, or at least until the show decides to let us know themselves. I, for one, applaud him for keeping what even he describes as one of the best kept secrets of the sci-fi universe. But in a new article posted on his site today, he does give us a glimpse into the possible identity of the last cylon. The article reveals 5 characters that are all the most likely to be the fifth cylon, and he guarantees us that one of the names he mentions in the article WILL BE that cylon (unless of course the creators and writers change their minds, or lied to him). Please remember that this article could contain major spoilers for the final episodes of the series. Follow the link below for the entire article.

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source: SyFyPortal.com

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