Caprica / BSG: The Plan – San Diego Comic-Con Panel

Faith Salie moderated this panel and she did well.  She took control and was very proactive on the questions, getting straight to the point.  Exec producers Ronald Moore & David Eick, writer Jane Espenson were present as well as Esai Morales & actor/director of Battlestar Galactica: The Plan:  Edward James Olmos,

Faith noted that right here on stage was father and son, at the same time.  (Morales plays Joseph Adama, the father of William Adama.)

They played a preview for The Plan and we were reminded that it’s coming out on Blu-ray and DVD on October 27th.  Then we were shown a preview of Caprica which is coming out in 2010.

Caprica is set 58 years before the attack on the colonies and we watched the Adama and Graystone families as they were brought together by tragedy. We also get to see the development of the Cylons; The first autonomous Cylon and the first sentient Cylon.

They pointed out that the show is planet-based, not space based like we’ve become accustomed to with Battlestar Galactica.  They went out of their way to make Caprica approachable and stand on its own, so you didn’t have to had followed BSG to get into it.  The relationships between the two shows are diffused.

Something to keep in mind for those who have seen BSG, there are Easter Eggs throughout where you’ll have those “Ah.” moments.

Esai Morales pointed out that taking on the role of Joseph Adama is not just a job, it’s a religion and he’s about to become an action figure.

Moore’s take with Caprica is to look at our society through a different prism.  We realize the fall that society is headed towards.  Eick said that the most universal question will be, what does it mean to be human?

As far as BSG movies go, Jane Espenson said there were hopes for more than one movie, but they put together one right away and found herself retelling details from what had happened already.  Then The Plan came together.

As far as being the director of The Plan, Olmos said he was asked directly to be the director.  He went on to note that it’s an overwhelming piece of work and it’s because of the writers that it is what it is.  Moore is truly gifted.

Olmos made an interesting intersect of franchises:  He said if you’ve watched the entire show (Battlestar Galactica), the very last thing that is said, by No. 6, is “This has happened before, this will happen again.” Where Baltar responds “Maybe not.  Maybe we’ve learned.” Olmos adds, that at that moment, flash forward in time and “… slap in Blade Runner, boom!”

BSG ends around the year 2007-08, Blade Runner takes place in 2016.  They fit like a glove Olmos said.  It does sort of make sense as an alternate reality take on the BSG human evolution.

They said The Plan to BSG is like the bible to the mythos and after having seen The Plan, those of us who have seen BSG will need to watch it again.

Caprica question:  Will the nudity from the pilot movie stay in the series?  Moore said that sadly they will not, but there will be some new goodies added to the cable version to replace the pulled out ’skin’ scenes.

Trivia bit: The giant room that the virtual club (V Club) takes place in is the same place that the Opera House scenes from BSG was shot in.

The same design people from BSG are working on Caprica.

The show won’t be so visually chaotic because this is before “the fall of Rome,” so to speak and they can show the different cultures that make up the society we’ll be seeing.

There’s no equivalent to Laura Roslyn in Caprica.  It’s a collaborative society.

Moore tossed out at one point how “It’s a fracking crime that the cast was never recognized and because of the ensemble of actors from BSG, Caprica is possible.”

Grace Park showed up near the end, much to the happy surprise of everyone.

She says that she was surprised they didn’t have more on-the-edge scenes in The Plan like Caprica did because Olmos kept pushing the envelope with the actors.

Esai Morales demonstrated his Admiral Adama impersonation, and it was uncanny good.  They did get the right guy to play the dad!  His resource for playing Father of Adm. Adama, was that he had to study where the power of his character came from.

In a recent filmed scene, Esai was complimented on how he channeled Eddie.

Someone asked about if there is some sort of legal agreement about keeping stories confidential…  It was said that no there isn’t, then the joke came that “… But if you ever expect to work in show business again.” And left it at that.

Salie (the moderator) tried to get Moore to give up some inside info, but, “No.” was all we got.

The breaking information from the panel was the official air date for Caprica: Friday, January 22, 2010.

Is The Plan the last we’ll see of Battlestar Galactica?  Olmos said that his gut is this is not the last project he’ll be working on.

The first 3 questioners just won a branded Caprica PSP.

Ancient Greek is used for the Tauron language in Caprica… In case you didn’t noticed.

Moore is going to do a commentary track for Virtuality, whether they add it or not.  (He seemed to have an edge to when he said that.)

Morales called the fans of BSG the smartest intelligent fan base there is.

Morales was asked about Hispanics in space.  He replied that he noticed in the original Dune, there were no Hispanics there.  We didn’t make it.  What happened!?

Eick said for those who couldn’t get past the title of BSG, ask your friends.

SPOILER PARAGRAPH:

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Buffy fans may find something familiar in Caprica, with an angry teenage girl inside a robot.

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END SPOILER

Then, for the Caprica / Battlestar Galactica: The Plan crowd, we were shown the preview from Stargate Universe.  Syfy took serious advantage of their advertising opportunity.

We were watching a giant TV with Syfy ads, just like we were at home!

Some closing notes on the panel was generally speaking, the panel asked that we, the fans, spread the word… get people to check out Caprica.  That and Olmos kept “reminding” the crowd to buy things on Blu-ray.  He had a very focused message there throughout the session.