some thoughts about caprica
Nov. 19th, 2010 10:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sophiaserpentiaIt was a bit of a surprise, but then again not, that Syfy cancelled Caprica. It was one of the most complex and intelligent shows ever aired.
The way the mystical element was handled felt very frustrating. I know they don't want to tell the audience whether or not Tamara Adama's avatar was merely a simulacrum, or whether her soul truly come to inhabit it -- they trust the audience to come to our own conclusion in this regard, which in one respect is kind of refreshing, but I think -- and if there is disagreement, I welcome that as this could be a very interesting discussion -- this is the sort of thing about which an author cannot remain neutral. (I feel like there's a lot I want to say about that, but it's not articulating itself, so I'll just leave that thought there for now and move on.)
Caprica broke two cardinal rules of conventional wisdom: it had no likable characters, and it was 100% story arc with no stand-alone episodes whatsoever. The dilemma with making a show that is all-story-arc is that people who stop watching it are not replaced by new people who start watching it instead. So, how is one to visually tell a story that long and complex? We already know how to do it in print.
The way the mystical element was handled felt very frustrating. I know they don't want to tell the audience whether or not Tamara Adama's avatar was merely a simulacrum, or whether her soul truly come to inhabit it -- they trust the audience to come to our own conclusion in this regard, which in one respect is kind of refreshing, but I think -- and if there is disagreement, I welcome that as this could be a very interesting discussion -- this is the sort of thing about which an author cannot remain neutral. (I feel like there's a lot I want to say about that, but it's not articulating itself, so I'll just leave that thought there for now and move on.)
Caprica broke two cardinal rules of conventional wisdom: it had no likable characters, and it was 100% story arc with no stand-alone episodes whatsoever. The dilemma with making a show that is all-story-arc is that people who stop watching it are not replaced by new people who start watching it instead. So, how is one to visually tell a story that long and complex? We already know how to do it in print.
