Caprica was really doomed from the start. I call it the Titanic syndrome. We know the ship is going to sink, we know that Leo is going to die, we know it because it’s based on a historical event. So why in the world do I want to watch the movie when I know the ending and that ending is really really depressing? Bottom line, I don’t. That said, it was one of the biggest grossing movies of all time so what the hell do I know. Though I think that was because it was a real historical event, so people wanted to watch. Caprica wasn’t a real historical event so there’s no burning desire to see how the 12 colonies fell.

Its hard to watch Caprica and not think, boy, everyone in this show is going to die. All the kids, all the people, every last one of them, except Adama the younger. None of the characters have any hope of survival and that is simply a depressing reality of this show.

Caprica had other major issues with it as well. I felt like the characters depth just wasn’t there. Graystone lost his daughter and seemed to care more about going to a Pyramid sports game than anything else. Which is fine, honestly, any top level CEO may act the same way, but it’s hard to relate to that type of personality. In Battlestar the characters were vulnerable, real, deep and we could relate to them. You could cut the tension with a knife and that is what made it so powerful. In Caprica it’s some gangsters and some CEO execs and some religious fanatics. Big flippin deal. If I want to see that dance I can watch CNN or CSPAN.

It is cool, however, how we learn where the Cylons get their ideas for a single God. Both cool and depressing honestly. The entire cylon race are all fanatics whose beliefs are those created by other fanatics. And really, whoever this God is he kinda sucks. Billions killed just so he could create a hybrid human cylon? What a dick.

Where I think Caprica is going is all the monotheists will eventually die and get uploaded into Centurions, then get telencephalic inhibitors put into them by the human Cylons and turned into slaves. Ha. Now there’s some irony right? Plan the destruction of all the polytheists only to be turned into slaves by your own creations.

Now I’m all for creating a new show in the Battlestar universe but honestly, Caprica wasn’t it. BSG went outside the box when they did the reboot of the franchise. Why can’t we see that level of out of the box thinking now? Lets see a fourteenth colony, lets see another Battlestar to have survived, or fuck it, lets see the Centurions that left Earth come back in 2050 and want to raise some hell. Lets take it to the next level. No matter what they do, they better keep it gritty and real. Stargate Universe feels much more like BSG than Caprica does.

Disagree? Ask yourself if BSG didn’t exist, and Caprica was the first show, would you watch it? Of course! Because you don’t know what’s going to happen. But, since you do ultimately know, why care?

Last night Warehouse 13 ended its season with HG Wells trying to create an ice age and Myka leaving the group because she misjudged HG. It was also revealed to us, causing much shock for me, that the warehouses are alive. Yes, alive. And these warehouses have been hanging around throughout most of recorded history. Probably for unrecorded history too. And if that wasn’t enough, somehow a human being becomes mentally locked to a warehouse, kinda like Pilot and Moya from Farscape, and knows everything there is to know about the warehouse they are locked or linked into. Whew. Those are some mighty fine revelations I must say.

First off, lets start back to front. Myka leaving the show is totally in character and I think it was a good move. I’m sure they will find a way to bring her back, Joanne Kelly, the actress who plays Myka, is a solid actress and does well on the show. I do hope her departure is not permanent. Still, even if it is, it’s what Myka would have done. Although, she didn’t so much misjudge HG Wells intentions, I mean she wasn’t a bad guy that was out for herself or to profit or anything, she just totally misjudged how much HG was broken and in pain from her daughters death. HG never was really a bad guy per se, though she did try to kill the lawyer dude, she was just fed up with modern day humans. Who can really blame her on that point.

The big reveal to me was this idea that these warehouses are all living organisms and not just buildings filled with artifacts. That’s just weird. I mean, do they get born? Do they just appear? Are they turned into sentient beings because of all the artifacts? Are they somehow creating all these artifacts when they are born and some escape? Do all the artifacts from past warehouses get added to the new warehouse when it comes online? Is Claudia being setup to be the guardian of warehouse 14? Will the SyFy channel change the name of the show when that happens? Questions, questions questions and not an answer in sight.

I do hope the writers have planned something out here really well. It’s starting to get just a bit weird with living buildings, psionic connections to them and not to mention the artifacts themselves, what powers them after all?

Overall I liked the episode and the show itself. I think that the writers need to think up some pretty convincing explanations for this world they have created or risk going the way of the dodo. Then again, most shows like this only have a shelf life of 3-5 years on average. We already have two out of Warehouse 13 and i’m sure we’ll get a third. I just hope it doesn’t get canned before we learn just a little bit more about the way the world works.

For the episodes themselves, one on Warehouse 13 and the other on Eureka, they were pretty good. I liked the whole computer upgrade slant and the bringing in of veteran actor Rene Auberjonois. I also liked the Eureka episode with the time slips and the sexual tension of Fargo and Claudia. That said, though both episodes were good in and of themselves, was a crossover really the best thing?

One of the biggest issues with the whole SciFi / Fantasy genre is that they are often lumped together in a big ole ugly soup of fiction. Want to get a book? Go to the scifi/fantasy section. Most of the time that is exactly where the merge of these two end. It is very difficult to crossover Scifi and Fantasy. Has it been done? Sure it has but when it has it’s mostly a Fantasy with Scifi elements. Why? Simple, fantasy is just that, pure fantasy. You can’t write a good solid SciFi book, show, episode, whatever and then suddenly throw in Cthulhu. It just doesn’t really work. Science Fiction is all about where science may go one day. It’s all theoretically possible. Sure there are assumptions and big leaps you have to make, if you read one of the early Asimov books he puts in a disclaimer that it was written with an older scientific understanding of some principle and some leeway should be granted to the story. With fantasy, you can just make it up, no underlining science necessary.

And that is what my issue is with the crossover. Eureka is all about a futuristic, really freakin cool future, where science has grown so far it becomes magical. Warehouse 13 is all about physical objects having super powers because they were, I dunno, surrounding somebody of historical significance. Don’t get me wrong, I like Warehouse 13, a lot actually, but it’s a fantasy show. Very reminiscent of Friday the 13th (the show not the movie), where a group of people go around and find artifacts that have power because of a deal with the devil. That really is just it. Where does the power come from of these artifacts?

If any self respecting scientist, Fargo for instance, was put into Warehouse 13 he’d shit a solid gold brick. Something in the universe has to be generating the power that these artifacts are manifesting. Now, this really isn’t a point that we really get into while watching Warehouse 13 alone by itself, but when you add in a show like Eureka, the believability goes down and we start wondering, why didn’t Fargo freak out?

Yes, I know, i’m going way too far into this, but I’m a geek, its my job.

Again, all in all I liked the crossover, I liked both series episodes of the crossover. But on the bigger stage, that now in the back of my mind these two worlds are merged into one, it makes both worlds a bit less believable. I’ll still watch them both of course, they are good shows, but they (SyFy) better chill out with this crossover bullshit. Next thing you know they’ll be going to valley in Tremors the Series and fighting the worm things. That’ll be the straw that breaks the Targ’s back.

First, Eureka did something that I have always quite liked. They extended the romance between Lupo and Zane. This has always been a neat twist, which I believe was mastered in Farscape between Erin and Crichton. I mean lets face it, Farscape really rocked that plot twist. How best to extend a romance on a TV show? Make two of one of the love birds, have the girl fall in love with one, that one dies, the other is reunited but has to start all over from scratch. Brilliant.  Eureka didn’t do quite as good a job as that but still it wasn’t bad. Send Lupo to an alternate reality where they hate each other and poof instant romance reboot. So on that score I give them a thumbs up.

Second, Baltar. What’s he doing there? Is he just being thrown in because he’s one of SyFy’s greats? I don’t mind him being on the show but just not sure what exactly he’s contributing so far. He pops in occasionally, gives some stupid sage advice and disappears to smoke cigarettes and bang chicks. Wow, it really is Baltar…

Next, what’s up with the whole Jack’s love interest thing? Can we say being dragged on a bit too long? Just get it over with already. First he’s all about Allison, and then Tess, and then he has Tess, kicks her out, for what? I don’t get it, maybe he’s gay. Still, I’ve just about had enough of Jack’s love life.

And why did they feel the need to replace the robot sheriff? Was there some contract dispute or another job offer behind the scenes? Poor move. Not that I have anything against the new Andy, but the old one was doing just fine. And this one, though it’s only been one episode, feels a little forced for the actor.

Henry’s life seems to have improved but, eh, so what. Now he has a wife that’s just like he is. He basically married himself. Nice going Henry. It’s kinda funny at times but overall doesn’t add much to the story for me.

Allison’s son doesn’t have Autism anymore. Neat.

Fargo seems to be the real changer here. It is fun to watch Fargo, who is a sweet character and a little jumpy, be forced to act like a asshole. We all knew that he had that in him of course, but to see it brought to life is funny. Having him bumble through things and ask Allison how to do them is also funny but it can get old after awhile.

Lots of SciFi shows do this type of plot of course, one of the first was Star Trek. Send your characters into an alternate world and watch as they have to unravel events and situations that are at the same time familiar but also alien. It works for an episode or two but for an entire series change? Even just a season of it feels like it could get out of hand. This is the first I think we’ve seen this plot twist on this scale. Of course, Eureka did it once before with Henry but it was pretty mild compared to this. For me, i’m not yet sure if it’s working. It’s fun right now, but either we’ll forget it happened or they will be forced to decide to switch back to the real, though now alternate, time line. Allison won’t like that for sure.

The Plan was really just a recap of what happened from a Cylon perspective. How they kidnapped their five progenitors and imprisoned them in the colonies. How they were kept alive and somehow all made it to the Galactica fleet. It started and ended with two Cavil’s, 1 models, walking up to a launch tube about to be spaced. From there, it takes a tour of how both of them got to that place. What The Plan actually turns out to be is a huge psychology experiment to discover how the same person can be changed and have two totally opposed viewpoints all by going through different events.

Cavil alpha, calling him number 1 is confusing since his model is 1, started on Galactic. I choose to call him alpha as he was the one who eventually wins out and boxes Cavil beta. Cavil alpha spends his time on Galactica organizing the other Cylons there. Most notably it is he who is the driving force behind Boomer’s multiple personalities. It is Cavil alpha that directed Boomer to blow up the water supply, try to expose Baltar as a traitor, and try to blow up the fleet.

Through his time on Galactic his opinion of humans that they should be destroyed is solidified. It’s interesting that his opinion is locked in not by his observing of humans but by his inability to kill them. As each of his attempts fail, killing of Adama, blowing up of ships in the fleet, he becomes more and more convinced that they need to be destroyed. It’s his own failing that drives him of course, not that the humans are doing anything bad. I should say, his failing and that of his subordinates.

As it turns out, all of his Cylon underlings are actually failing on purpose. They are beginning to see Humans in a different light. The number two, Leoben, is falling in love with Starbuck. Boomer is claiming she is happier when she thinks she is human. Simon, the number four, is head over heals in love with his human wife and adopted child and even commits suicide instead of following Cavil’s orders. All this infuriates Cavil. He clearly hates how his own kind is revering the parasites that are humans. This only serves to convince him that the humans should be killed lest his own people change their minds, something he can’t stand.

I’ve always wondered where the hatred cylons had for humans came from. I can only imagine it was from the destruction of the 13th colony. Though we never found out who destroyed the 13th colony we have to assume it was humans. The final five brought the story with them and Cavil hated humanity for it. My guess anyway.

Cavil beta had an entirely different experience. He was not surrounded by other cylons, only one model four. His time was spent mostly on Caprica with one of his ‘fathers’, Sam, one of the survivors of the 13th colony holocaust. He tries again and again to convince Sam that humans don’t deserve love. That the Cylons should be forgiven for their action; at which Sam nearly punches him. His journey leads him to realize that the capacity of love can cross racial barriers and that a cylon, Sam, can actually love humans. Cavil beta learns that humans aren’t the evil demons he thought they were.

When the two Cavil’s come back together it’s of little shock that insanity wins out over reason. Cavil alpha believes Cavil beta is flawed now and should be boxed on returning to their resurrection ship. Cavil alpha’s opinion was formed from watching his own kind resist his notion of killing all humans. Cavil beta’s opinion was reached by watching his “father” love humans even after they destroyed the 13th colony. Cavil alpha goes on to continue his destruction of humans as best he can and eventually commits suicide on the Galacitc bridge, a point that I always thought was out of character.

The deeper plot lines of The Plan were perfectly constructed. Watching both Cavil’s come to different conclusions was brilliant. Seeing the old girl, Galactica, again was of course wonderful.  Seeing Caprica city before the fall was great and it makes you want to watch Caprica the series more than ever, which is the point of The Plan.

On a scale of 1-10 I’d have to give The Plan a 9. There weren’t any slow points, the plot was solid, and the nostalgia was euphoric. The only down side was not explaining more about the final 5 or about Daniel, model number 7. Though I suppose The Plan wasn’t about “The Past” but rather how they are going to kill all of humanity. I suppose that begs the question, is The Past an upcoming movie about the Cylon 13th colony?? Lets only hope.

First of all, lets get some things right out in the open. The acting and cinematography were top notch. Eric Stolz is Eric Stolz after all. When you add that big of a name to a show it’s going to do well just with his talent. Esai Morales is no slouch either. As the pilot began I thought he was being a bit stoic with the death of his daughter and wife but that’s exactly what his character was supposed to do. He did it so well it was eerie to watch. Paula Malcomson rounds out the top three. If you don’t know her it’s only because you never watched Deadwood, which must mean you who Sweragin is, and I pity you for it. Suffice to say Malcomson has proved her talents in the past and is a great addition to the cast. The only other actor of significant note that I saw was mother of Caesar in HBO’s Rome. Polly Walker, who was fantastic in Rome, looks to be playing another villain as one of the leaders of a monotheistic religious movement.

The casting of Caprica was done well and the filming is also superb. Clearly SyFy knows that BSG was a monster hit and spared no expense in making Caprica, at least so far. And they would be right in doing so. If even a half the BSG fans come on to watch Caprica then it’ll be a big success for SyFy. Ahh, gone are the days of Tremors the series and I for one rejoice.

But the premiere of Caprica wasn’t all rosy for me. In the first two hours we learn where the cylons got their monotheistic beliefs from. We learn where they get their consciousness from. We even saw a glimpse of “all this has happened before and will happen again” spiel from BSG. I was left after the pilot thinking, what happens now? This then feeds into my dislike of prequels in general. We know what’s going to happen, be it in the next scene or 54 years in the future. Sure it’s neat seeing Adama as a boy and you get some good insight to his past. One thing of note there, boy does Adama’s life suck. He lost his mother, sister, son, two wives and ended up alone on a mountain in Ireland or wherever it was. Ireland before Guinness was invented, which really made it suck.

We’ll have intrigue of course, great acting, great scripts etc etc. But we know where it all leads. There’s no surprise or mystery that filled Battle Star Galactica. And really, wasn’t that what drove the show? We all wanted to see the 13th colony. We all wanted to see Earth if the 13th colony wasn’t it. We all wanted to know how the hell Starbuck survived, which was kinda a let down anyway. That’s what had us tuning in every week, to see how this reboot of a classic panned out.

Caprica is on new ground. Telling the story of how the events which led to BSG unraveled.  The biggest issue is there’s not a lot more to tell. We created Cylons, who merged with humanoid Cylons from the 13th colony, who blew up the 12 colonies. Got it. I for one hope Ron Moore throws in some twists here and there. Something unexpected like hints that the 12 colonies weren’t the only colonies. Hell, maybe even throw in some aliens, or at least take us on a tour of the other 11 colonies.

I’ll still watch every episode of course. It is just cool that we are looking at Caprica before the fall. And perhaps that’s what they are banking on. The fact that all the geeky fans will tune in, even though we all know the plot and what’s going to happen, just because we are geeks and loved BSG. Yep, you have us over a barrel Ron Moore. You got our attention now please do something unexpected.

I just want to know, will I ever see departed loved ones? Will I ever meet the likes of Einstein or Lincoln? Will I myself survive death and haunt my own house when some jerk moves in and paints it all some dreary gray?

One possible answer is coming from TAPS. They have accumulated some evidence that begs further scrutiny. One such piece of evidence, however, seems to make me think these guys are not legit. It is a raging question by the way, are the boys (and girls) of TAPS, The Atlantic Paranormal Society, full of bubcus or actually finding ghosts.

Once, they, TAPS, visited an old abandoned prison. This was the episode where one of these brave souls, and a cameraman if I remember correctly, ran down a hallway screaming that a hand moved in front of their face. At first look, to me, that is solid proof that 1. they aren’t faking and 2. that guy is a bit of a pansy. If they were faking something, why stage some elaborate fake run down the hall and scream scene? That’s a bit childish.

But then, they did provide some evidence that made me go hmmm. On one of the upper walk ways of this prison, they captured a figure moving closer to the camera and then receding from it into the darkness. I thought, when I first saw this, ‘holy shit’. It was a really interesting piece of film footage, honestly. They used to have links to it on their website, but now I don’t see them. Interestingly enough about this piece of footage, Grant said on the show, “it looks like some one’s pants leg” and wasn’t convinced it was anything.

Well, I looked at the footage, and looked, and looked. I realized something. The dust was was moving awfully fast. In fact, as I looked, it seemed as if the footage was being sped up. As if it was on fast foward. The more I looked the more I thought, yep, this is a fake.

Whether or not it was, we’ll never know. TAPS will always say it was genuine of course. To fake something like that though, it would take a lot of work. Bear Grills couldn’t get away with staging a lousy horse roping fiasco after all. For the plumbers to produce the footage they did from the prison and have had faked it would be an amazing feat. Still, it looked sped up to me and that something hanging was rocking back and forth at an odd rate of speed.

Final verdict? UNKNOWN. If it’s a real piece of evidence, it’s startling. If it’s a faked piece of evidence, it’s well done. All we can do is watch more episodes, which we will, and look for this instances where it’s blatantly faked, or absolutely real, either way, someone is going to scream “I TOLD YOU SO!”.