caprica - the pilot

Finally the pilot to Caprica is here. Is it any good? Yes, it is. I would even call it very good. It's kind of a strange mix of Strange Days, the Terminator, Frankenstein and the Godfather. The strangest thing is that it actually work. The main characters of Caprica are Joseph Adama, Will Adamas father, and Daniel Graystone. Daniel Graystone is the man who invents the Cylons. Just as in Battlestar Galactica one of the storylines is about religion. Daniel Graystones daughter Zoe joins a fanatic religious cult that believes in "the One True God". Does it sound familiar? The pilot is well written and has some good acting. I really like Eric Stoltz as Daniel Graystone and Alessandra Toressani as his daughter. I also loved to see William B. Davis, the Cigarette Smoking Man on The X-Files, as the Secretary of Defense wearing something that really did look like Dr. Eldon Tyrell's glasses from Blade Runner. Nice!

fringe - the pilot

I've just watched the pilot for J J Abrams latest project - Fringe. It was an excellent pilot. The show is kind of a mix of the X-files, Altered States (you know, weird experiments that includes isolation tanks and psychoactive drugs) and the idea of the "Singularity" which is promoted by futurists like Raymond Kurzweil. The Singularity is a major technological shift and in Fringe it's symbolized by "the Pattern" and the powerful corporation Massive Dynamics. In the center of the show we have the beautiful and smart FBI agent (!!) Olivia Dunham, the dysfunctional Frankenstein like genius Dr. Walter Bishop and his sceptic but very clever son Peter. I'm sure that it come as no surprise that Peter also is a high school drop-out and a misfit. As a mirror to the crazy genious of Dr Walter Bishop there's the mysterious leader of Massive Dynamics, Dr William Bell, who also happens to be Walters former colleague. The cast is excellent, especially the main characters, and the script is witty and manages to avoid the X-files clone trap. The visual style feels fresh. It's a lot like J J Abrams take of Mission Impossible with some new stylish extras. Sometimes I even felt like I watched a live action version of Metal Gear Solid. This pilot really did its job. I'm now looking forward to this series and to get some more info about "the Pattern". The only thing I have to do is to wait until August 26 (or was it September??) to see what will happen. Hopefully it will make the wait for LOST season 5 a lot easier.

"Excellent, let's make some LSD!"

"Is that a cow?"