Can Caprica "Franchise" Battlestar Galactica?

Part 1

This has all happened before. And it will all happen again. That’s not just the mythology behind Battlestar Galactica, it’s what the newly christened Syfy hopes will take place where prequel Caprica is concerned.

Faced with a hole in its lineup larger than the one Boomer created when she jumped near the ship, the cable channel took a predictable step toward filling it. No show garnered more buzz, earned more pop culture resonance and became more identifiable as Sci Fi Channel programming than BSG.

I’d have been more surprised if they hadn’t looked at Ron Moore and said, “So, what else ya got, Galactically-speaking?” But it’s not just as easy as telling fans there’s a BSG prequel on, add water, instant profit. The first question fans have a right to ask is gee, couldn’t you have just greenlit another season or two of the original show?

Following up one of the most acclaimed series in the genre’s history would be a Herculean task for any show. A prequel to BSG may have it harder than most. The comparisons will be inevitable. And how many times can you remember one of the best shows ever being replaced by a show of equal or superior quality? Sadly, that’s even true with spinoffs. For every Cheers that has given us a quality show such as Frasier, there has been a Friends giving birth to the train wreck that was Joey.

Prequels are often a mixed bag as well. Star Wars has certainly made billions more through its first three episodes, the Clone Wars cartoon, etc. But few  Star Wars fans think the newer films are better than the originals in anything beyond special effects. Doing a prequel offers notoriously nitpicky fandom ample opportunities to poke plot holes in things they feel couldn’t have logically happened that way.

Another problem with prequels is that it’s a lot harder to sell people on a story we already know the ending to. We’ve learned the final fate (at least in the show’s current timeline) of the human and Cylon cultures. Again, it’s akin to following Anakin Skywalker’s journey. It’s not as if Lucas could do a last minute riff and say -  you know what? Obi Wan was really Vader the whole time. Thanks for your $10, now show yourselves out.

Sure, if Caprica goes three or four seasons there will have to be some shocking revelation. Something that tells us how the humans and Cylons began their final, fatal for many prominent characters dance.

But who are we kidding? Right now, Syfy and Ron Moore have our undivided attention to see if they can pull this off. They have earned that much. In the next installment of this article, we’ll look at how other sci-fi series have spun off and avoided franchise fatigue (or not.)

SCI FI Channel Photo: Jeff Weddell