Caprica 1x08 Preview

Last night's episode was actually kind of interesting. What'd you think, ONTD?

posted by GossipGander \\ tags: sci-fi, television promo / stills

Friday night's episode of Caprica, There Is Another Sky, moved the already-intriguing show to the status of must-watch. It was simply one of the best SF representations of futuristic videogames and internet culture that I've ever seen.

Caprica was occasionally shaky in its first few weeks, but with this episode the series found its sea legs. We're learning more about the V-World that mega-entrepreneur Daniel Graystone created with his holoband technology. And in the process we find out what artificial sentience really means, and how Daniel intends to exploit it.

For the past several episodes we've focused on the fate of Daniel's daughter Zoe, killed in a terrorist attack on a train. Before she died, however, Zoe left a virtual, sentient version of herself in V-World - an avatar that Daniel locates and coercively downloads onto a chip which he sticks into one of his military cylon prototypes. Though Daniel thinks this destroyed the Zoe avatar, in fact she's still inside the cylon, biding her time until she can escape. During the brief moment when Daniel thought the Zoe avatar still existed, he created a similar avatar of Joseph Adama's daughter Tamara. While Zoe has escaped to the real world in her cyborg body, Tamara remains trapped inside V-World - her father thinks her avatar got erased somehow, and Zoe doesn't actually realize Tamara is a real person. She's completely alone in a universe that's a cross between Grand Theft Auto and the Sin City movie.



 

What's worse than being a teenage girl trapped in the body of a massive robot? Being a teenage girl trapped in the collective fantasy of a million other teenagers. And that's exactly what's happening to Tamara, as she tries to find her way home. After what is apparently weeks of wandering through dance clubs and orgy rooms, she falls in with a group of game hackers and modders who promise to get her out of V-World. If she promises to do them one little favor. You see, Tamara has a superpower in V-World: Unlike every other gamer, who accesses the place via holoband, she can't be killed when you shoot her. She just heals up and stays in the game. She's basically the perfect mod for cheating, and that's exactly what the gang - led by a very Mondo 2000-looking lady named Vesta - wants her to do.
So Tamara goes with one of the hot game modders into "New Cap City," a game that's a perfect replica of Caprica City, except lawless. Nobody knows how to win the game, and nobody can go back once they've been "derezzed" with a gun. But the hot game modder thinks the point of the game is to earn money, so he's going to use Tamara's powers to steal the avatar of the game's richest player and convert that money to points (interestingly, there's no hint that this money can be exchanged for real-world money like Lindenbucks or WOW gold - which you'd think would be the case). While Tamara gets into a shootup with the rich guy, gamer boy "steals" the code for his avatar and manages to break into the rich guy's bank and suck up gold coins. In the ensuing shootout with guards, Tamara becomes the One, like Neo in the Matrix. She discovers she can alter the code of V-World simply by willing it. Of course, she still trapped in V-World forever.

Are Tamara's powers now more awesome than Zoe's? The answer to that question is what makes this episode pure genius.
 

Daniel is about to be ousted from his company after announcing that they will be making holoband code free, no longer requiring people to pay a licensing fee for it. But he convinces the board to keep him by giving this speech, which is almost ripped from today's headlines about the music and movie industry's efforts to stay profitable in a world where everybody expects media to be free online.

 

If you think about it, the message here is both weird and chilling. If we can't sell media online, we'll just sell slaves instead. That's right, kids. All that pirating you're doing of media? It's forcing media companies to change their business models from selling content to selling sentient beings. Why doesn't the RIAA consider that?
 

In all seriousness, though, the more I think about this scene, the more loaded it is. That moment where Zoe rips her own arm off to please Daddy is horrifying and powerful. Though Daniel doesn't realize it, he's suggesting that his company sell his daughter in order to make up for the profits it has lost by giving away V-World access for free.
 

Plus we've got this scenario where Tamara controls the world of what you might call old media, while Zoe controls the new. She's inside the body of a creature who could bring the V-World into the real world. Why put on your holoband and visit a virtual wargame when you could just go to a warehouse full of humanoid cylons and act out your bloodthirsty urges on real creatures who can never disobey? And that's the future of Graystone Industries - the business that comes after the business of holoband entertainment that they've been in for over a decade.
 

While the V-World and cylon marketplace plotlines heated up, we also got our first real look at how much the Adama family has changed in the aftermath of the maglev bombing. Joseph has finally returned to his Tauron ways, going through a traditional funeral ceremony and tattooing for his wife and daughter. And little Willie has become disobedient and violent, preferring his uncle Sam's gangster den to school. He even beats up a kid who calls him a Tauron dirt-eater.
 

Then, just as it seems that Joseph and Willie have declared peace at the funeral, their world is disrupted by the Graystones once again. Tamara has sent her hot game modder boy to go out into the real world and find her father so she can get help. Gameboy arrives at the funeral, thinking all he has to do is ask Joseph to wake his daughter up. Instead, he finds out that Tamara is dead. And Joseph now knows his daughter is actually alive, albeit in an extremely altered, gun-toting form. She's becoming the mightiest gangster in V-World.
 

The Adamas and the Graystones are now tied together in all kinds of disturbing ways. Both families have given birth to radically new forms of life: A sentient robot, and a sentient avatar. And both are also tied together by crime. By that I mean the crime committed by Sam to get Zoe's chip, but also the crime of experimenting on humans without consent. Zoe and Tamara have both been made engineering experiments against their wills. And that is a crime that the Graystones and Adamas will be paying for throughout this series.
 

From its humble origins as a spinoff of Battlestar Galactica, Caprica has grown into a terrific show in its own right. A show that nimbly asks big questions about the nature of sentience and justice, while also spinning a terrific yarn about old-fashioned gangsters in a world of high-tech corporate warfare.

This is definitely not Battlestar Galactica anymore. It's something else. And you'll be sorry if you don't tune in to find out more.
 

posted by GossipGander \\ tags: sci-fi

Historically, science fiction has been treated like a red-headed step child by Oscar. In 1977, Star Wars broke into the Best Picture category, but its universally-accepted-as-better sequel The Empire Strikes Back got the cold shoulder from the little gold statue in 1980. Two years after that, where was Blade Runner’s nomination? Ridley Scott crafted a sweeping epic, more visually stunning than anything film goers had ever seen, but still the sci-fi staple got no love. How could the Academy shun Rutger Hauer? Since then, science fiction has remained forgotten; forgone in lieu of the nearly 150 dramas which have hogged the nominations for 30 years.

But in 2010, not one but TWO films have kicked their way out of sci-fi purgatory and into the Best Picture category, one of which stands out as the clear winner: District 9. How did a movie about mid-level manager slowly morphing into an alien find itself in the same category with An Education and Precious? Short answer: because it’s god damn awesome. District 9 defines awesome. Story? Awesome. Acting? Awesome. Visual Effects? Double Awesome. The Best Picture category is usually littered with dramas trying so hard to elicit an emotional response that it’s impossible to really sit back and enjoy a great film. Crash for example. Getting a deep or meaningful story out of that mess of blatant racism and open weeping is impossible when you're consistently too shocked by the dialogue to pay attention to the story, or too busy sitting in a puddle of your own tears and wondering why it is you're crying in the first place. Crash was actively emotional to a fault.

District 9 on the other hand is passively emotional. It doesn't so much try to punch through your chest to rip at your heart strings as it does just unfold and let you choose if and when you should let your guard down and take a few jabs. It’s impossible to not feel sympathy for the plight of Wikus Van de Merwe, whose only concern is whether or not he’ll see his wife again, but the film isn’t bogged down by endless scenes of the South African crying “woe is me” into a busted mirror in the slums of D9. Instead he’s a fighter, a man battling to regain his life and expose the MNU. You won’t find yourself bawling into your popcorn, your emotions get a work out all the same.

Yet there’s more to movies than simply emotion. District 9 is a visual feast built on photorealistic special effects being pulled off for pennies. Sure, Avatar is great to look at despite its weak and recycled story, but D9 did everything it did for $520 million less than Cameron’s Pandoran epic and the results are just as stunning as if you’d just watch those giant blue Indians fly some dragons around. Never will you look at Christopher Johnson and not be fooled into thinking there’s actually a bug-like prawn standing on set with Sharlto Copley. Every shot fired from the film’s fully imaginary, utterly exotic alien weaponry is as believable as if it were military issue. You can tell yourself that what you’re seeing isn’t real, but your eyes will never believe it.

The real triumph of District 9 is its ability to be culturally relevant without beating you to death with its ideals. Neill Blomkamp made a film that obviously mirrors his native South Africa’s Apartheid struggles, but never do you feel like you’re gagging on the corollaries. Movies don’t need to leave their audience feeling assaulted when they walk out of the theater in order for there to be an underlying message, and D9 does a perfect job walking that tight rope between subtlety and offensive over-zealousness.

If you need a poster child for what an Oscar film should be, you’ll find it in District 9. With a unique story, spotless acting, and cultural weight, it pushes the envelope visually by raising the bar for all effects driven films that don’t have $550 million dollars to blow on whatever they want. It defines what film making should be, and deserves to take every statue it’s nominated for. We’ve had 30 years of period dramas, epic dramas, based on a true story dramas, war dramas, gangster dramas, and disability dramas. But movies are more than just girls in corsets or guys with Tommy Guns. Isn’t it time science fiction earned a real place at the Oscars?

Source

posted by GossipGander \\ tags: sci-fi

Admiral Ackbar Ignites Backlash at Ole Miss

 

Admiral Ackbar is causing a serious disturbance in the force at Ole Miss -- where several Rebel fans are threatening to abandon the school if the alien leader becomes the new mascot.



The masterminds behind the Admiral Ackbar mascot campaign tell TMZ they've been contacted by angry students, threatening to transfer if the legendary rebel shot caller is voted to become the new face of Ole Miss.

The group has even received complaints from the parents of current students and prospective students -- with some even threatening to "never send their kids to Ole Miss" if the Admiral wins out.

As we previously reported, the school recently voted to bring in a new mascot to replace the old, controversial rebel mascot ... and Ackbar has emerged as an early favorite.

Still no word on when an official decision will be made.


SOURCE

posted by GossipGander \\ tags: sci-fi

TRON: LEGACY TRAILER PREMIERE EVENT, PLUS NEW FILM STILL

Apparently Disney is holding an exclusive limited event this Saturday (27 February) in five cities around the world: New York, Los Angeles, London, Toronto and Sydney.


Tickets will be released on the Pit Cell website at 4:00pm eastern time on Thursday.
NOTE: YOU NEED TO BE REGISTERED ON FLYNN LIVES IN ORDER TO RESERVE TICKETS

The event is likely an early premiere of the Tron: Legacy two and a half minute movie trailer, which will be attached to Alice in Wonderland next week. Notice that all the events are scheduled at IMAX Theatres. The last time 42 Entertainment (the company running the viral) did this it was to premiere the opening bank robbery scene from The Dark Knight. So while unlikely, there is the possibility that they will be showing more than a trailer.

JUST KIDDING

CLICK FOR LARGER




SIGH OKAY I'M SORRY I TRICKED YOU SO HERE'S A PICTURE OF GARRETT HEDLUND I FOUND ON GOOGLE AS AN APOLOGY


SOURCE

posted by GossipGander \\ tags: sci-fi

HOLLYWOOD — “I want to be the poster girl for engineers and computer nerds,” says actress Alessandra Torresani, and she’s off to a good start. That’s her with the apple in the ubiquitous billboard (pictured below) for new science fiction series Caprica, which debuts Friday at 9 p.m. on Syfy.

In the compelling Battlestar Galactica prequel, set on the planet Caprica 58 years before BSG’s journey begins, Torresani plays the feisty, 16-year-old daughter of billionaire computer genius Daniel Graystone, maker of the world’s first Cylon.

Following Battestar Galactica’s groundbreaking achievements, Caprica is trafficking in high expectations. Happily, the show lives up to the hype.

Assembling a sturdy cast of veteran actors yoked to a complex storyline that mixes soap opera-style family dysfunction with heady excursions into technology and religion, Caprica co-creator Ronald D. Moore and his team hurl a wild card into the mix with the casting of Torresani, whose memories are downloaded into her father’s Cylon prototype in the show’s pilot episode. Torresani’s gutsy presence kicks the show into intense gear while introducing a fresh talent ready for fanboy consumption.


To explain the craft of acting like a Cylon, Torresani hit the ground running at a cafe in Studio City, California, showing up in a black tank top and tight gray jeans with shades propped on her jet-black bangs. Over a glass of iced tea and a vegetarian panini, the 22-year-old actress power-chatted about her zany coming-of-age gigs, her excitement about doing a show that appeals to introverted geeks, and her own computer genius of a father — a Silicon Valley inventor who created a computer chip used by IBM.
Wired.com: Were you a fan of Battlestar Galactica before getting cast for Caprica?

Alessandra Torresani: I wasn’t really into sci-fi. When they asked me to read for Caprica, I’d had a tough day. I said no. Then I got the audition scenes and I went, “Holy shit. I’m doing this!”

Wired.com: To help save the planet, Zoe downloads all her own memories into a virtual replica that will eventually become the first Cybnernetic Lifeform Node, aka Cylon. What’s the secret to playing a Cylon so she doesn’t seem too human?

Torresani: You have to totally zen out. Unlike natural Zoe, Zoe A is like a child. I see her as a newborn baby. She has no idea what’s going on. She has the memories that were put in her, so she knows how to talk and remembers her father and everything, but there’s no emotional connection.

Wired.com: So you’re flipping back and forth between the flesh-and-blood character and her virtual creation.

Torresani: I go from playing this know-it-all to this girl who doesn’t understand what the hell is going on around her. Everyone else has an avatar, but they take the holo-band off and go back to their normal lives but Zoe is stuck. She put her trust in this girl who died, but she does not know why, or how she died. It’s all just so confusing. Than when dad puts Zoe A into the robot and she falls apart halfway into it — he fucked it up, really.

Wired.com: And then you sort of inhabit a robot. Kind of weird to play as an actress, right?

Torresani: Originally we were going to take mime lessons, but I’m a dancer so I totally understand the movement of a robot. It needs to be very rough, very fast.

Wired.com: You grew up an only child in Palo Alto, California, where your dad ran startup tech companies and your mom worked as a CEO. You’ve taken a different route.

Torresani: I came out singing and dancing. Here’s my parents staring at their computers, figuring out math equations and running multimillion-dollar companies — they didn’t know where the hell I came from. Sometimes I think I’m adopted. I use my mathematics and everything but in a different way.

Wired.com: You got a big break hosting a TV show in San Francisco when you were 8 years old, right?

Torresani: On the WB network, in between cartoons they had 20-minute segments, and I interviewed everybody from the mayor to John Waters. I could quote every line from Serial Mom. He couldn’t understand how this 8-year-old knew about Pink Flamingos and Divine. I was a very special child. I did stand-up comedy. I did it all. My family didn’t understand. “Aren’t you tired?” I’m like, “No.” I’m like insomniac, I hardly sleep, I’m always on the move. We did that for two years — got bit by the camera bug and had to keep doing it.

Wired.com: So you moved to Los Angeles with your folks, made a bunch of pilots that never got picked up, did guest spots on sitcoms like Malcolm in the Middle, then, finally, here comes Caprica. From Star Wars‘ Princess Leia and Star Trek: Voyager’s Jeri Ryan to Tricia Helfer, the Cylon who came before you, sci-fi has a long tradition of heroines who have attracted a massive fanboy following. If Caprica takes off, are you prepared to deal with all that geek love?

Torresani: Everybody’s like, “These fans from the conventions are so strange,” but I’ve been to three now and I think they’re wonderful. They’re so smart, they’re so intellectual, they actually have real questions, not like, “Oh you’re so hot, would you ever be with me please?” No, they have real, intelligent questions. They know more about the show than I do, which can be really awkward.

Wired.com: So you’re psyched.

Torresani: Never in a million years did I think I’d be on a show that appealed to intelligent genius computer guys. I’m serious! Growing up, that’s how my mom and dad were. My dad could be beyond brilliant but totally introverted. If we’re talking about computers, he’s on. Otherwise, he’s a total recluse — he stays in the house and won’t leave, and I’m like that. If I’m not working, I’m locked up in my room.


Wired.com: Now, at age 22, you’re being seen everywhere on these racy Caprica posters. Were you comfortable doing the shoot?

Torresani: I’m a free spirit. I was walking around topless in a thong for the whole photo shoot. They had a closed set and I’m like, “Oh, hi, come on in!” I was the child who would leave school and take her clothes off the second I got into the house. I made my mom buy me lingerie when I was 5 years old. I was a sicko. My mother must have been mortified.

Wired.com: You’ve always been interested in attention?

Torresani: When I was 6, my dad had this huge business meeting, millionaire Asian businessmen came over to our house. I dressed up in this sexy bra, this big fur hat, the red lips, the fake eye lashes. I had my mom go, “Would you please join us in the living room?” and there I was laying on top of the baby grand piano and my 6-year-old neighbor Thomas started playing “Hello Dolly” and I started singing and lifting my legs, doing these kicks. Then I’d go around and sit on the men’s laps. Let me tell you, my dad closed every deal because of that — these men were fascinated that this little girl came out of this guy and this woman. It was the funniest thing.

Wired.com: If you weren’t really into sci-fi as a kid, who were your favorite entertainers growing up?

Torresani: I love Howard Stern, Pee-wee Herman, John Waters — people who are so out of the box that people either love them or hate them. I don’t want everybody to love me. I want them to sometimes despise me or think I’m crazy, think I’m insane. Not like Lindsay, “Oooh, I’m going to drunk-drive.” No. I want smart reactions.

Wired.com: Caprica co-creator Ronald D. Moore has become a master at provoking strong responses with his stories. What’s it like to have him as your boss?

Torresani: If you don’t understand something in the script, he’ll pause and think about it for a minute and you go, “Oh God, he’s judging us, this is the stupidest question.” But he listens so well, and then he gives you this elaborate, detailed answer. Most writers don’t have time to deal with your bullshit, but he really is this soft-spoken genius and a great father, which is all expressed in his writing. He’s like a god.

Wired.com: Speaking of gods, religion plays a pretty major role in Caprica, just like in Battlestar Galactica. Your character, Zoe, is into the idea of one god, whereas the Caprica mainstream believes in many gods. What did you bring to the table as far as your own belief system?

Torresani: OK: I’m very witchy. I believe that everything you put out into the universe happens. A lot of people think that’s a joke, so that’s how I take Zoe’s point of view: “Oh, I believe in one true God.” Some people think I’m nuts, and some people agree with me. So that’s how I relate to that issue.

Wired.com: Friday nights is a tough slot for TV, but you’re optimistic about Caprica?

Torresani: I feel like this is going to start a huge trend: Sci-fi is coming back to bite everyone in the ass and say, “Hey, I’m here.”

So what do you think ONTD? Can this chick become the break-out geek hottie of the year? While I don't think she always takes great pictures, I think she's kinda hot and was awesome in the Caprica pilot. I think I could be persuaded to fangirl her, so long as she doesn't do another Tyler Shields photoshoot. And massive points for already knowing her audience!

Source

posted by GossipGander \\ tags: sci-fi

Ending abruptly on a cliffhanger, the British sci-fi series Primeval looked like it was as dead as the dinosaurs because producer ITV was too strapped to pay for a fourth season of the visual-effects-intensive series.

But series creator Adrian Hodges managed to secure financing elsewhere, and international networks airing the show—including BBC America—are contributing the budget for a fourth season. (Possible spoilers ahead!) That means we get to learn the fate of the characters, who were last seen in the past.

"Obviously there's a question of, at the end of the last season, three major characters were stuck in the past," Hodges told us. "So a lot of the first two episodes is going to be about how some of them at least get back."

The upcoming new season of Primeval will explore the other side of time travel: So far, the characters have only gone backward, where dinosaurs chase them. "There will be an aspect of the future in it, which is new for us," Hodges said.

Here's where it gets really interesting: There probably aren't dinosaurs in the future, but Hodges could take inspiration from other future-based sci-fi stories to bring new creatures to Primeval.

"Well, if you think of the future predators from other series, we're going to have a kind of variation on that idea," Hodges said. "There may also be some human intervention from the future as well."

In the aftermath of the series' temporary cancellation, lead actor Jason Flemyng moved on to other projects. He has agreed to return for up to three episodes, but Hodges is working on ways to advance the story without Flemyng.

"We're going to move it on pretty fast," Hodges said. "Jason won't necessarily come back at the beginning of the season. We're going to hold back his reappearance, but that will be shooting from March. We have the first five episodes written, so we're shooting in March."

Hodges envisions 13 episodes for Primeval's fourth season. BBC America aired the first two seasons of the show as Volume 1.

yay !

posted by GossipGander \\ tags: sci-fi

Sasha Roiz as Sam Adama

Caprica, just like Battlestar Galactica, is hardly all about interplanetary wars and robots. Contrary to impressions about sci-fi, Caprica, says critics, is also an intense character- and emotion-driven drama, which raises a lot of debates regarding culture, religion, and technology.

When creator Ronald Moore laid out his vision for Caprica, says executive producer and writer [Jane] Espenson, he just mentioned matter-of-factly, that one of the characters - Sam Adama (Sasha Roiz) - is gay.

Adds Moore, "He wasn't going to be guiding us on a day to day basis, but he really wanted to be involved in laying out the arc for the first half of the season, establishing some important things about the characters. He's the one who said, 'Let's put Clarice in this group marriage,' and he also just said, 'Oh, and by the way, Sam's gay.'"

Espenson said she was "thrilled" because the fact that there have been no outright gay character on the franchise seemed like "an omission," adding that it just hadn't worked out with Battlestar.

But since Caprica is set in a world way into the future, Espenson tried to stay from the word "gay" because the concept of homosexuality should be alien to them, or at least different from the way our 21st century world views it. And that, in effect, makes their culture more advanced in terms of acceptance.

"Why do you have to have a different word for who they fall in love with? Having a different word for a same-sex relationship struck me as something this culture wouldn't have thought of since those relationships were just considered on a par and unremarkable."

While the pilot has already been made available on the SyFy website and via DVD's last year, Caprica kicks off [tonight] on SyFy for the first time.

Source.

Caprica premieres tonight at 9pm on Syfy.

posted by GossipGander \\ tags: gay / lesbian / rights, sci-fi

In a move seemingly out of the most boring fan fiction ever, Darth Vader and French Daft Punk have teamed up, not to conquer the universe...but to sell footwear.

In a commercial for Adidas' upcoming Star Wars-inspired Original Line, Sith Lord Darth Vader and robotic house music legends Daft Punk descend on a street full of revelers to sell the the universe's finest clodhoppers. For some reason, they are flanked by their presumed bounty hunters, David Beckham and Snoop Dogg.

Why does a dream team-up like this have to happen under totally crass circumstances? This is like buying a ticket to Chewbacca Meets Freddie Mercury: 3D and belatedly discovering it's a 90-minute advertisement for Fig Newtons.


SOURCE: http://io9.com/5449498/real+life-fan+fic-alert-darth-vader--daft-punk-team-up-to-hawk-adidas

posted by GossipGander \\ tags: celebrity endorsements, sci-fi

Back in March, Warner Bros announced that it will bring Stephen King's landmark horror novel "It" to the big screen. The novel is set in 1958 and 1985, though the feature version will be set in the present day.

Collider has now caught up with producer Dan Lin, who revealed that the studio is still moving forward with the project and he expected to get his hands on the script within the next few days. "'It' is probably the next script that I'm expecting actually over Christmas," he said, adding: "Dave Kajganich (Invasion) is writing it."

Kajganich previously revealed that the film will be R-rated and that the studio doesn't want any sequels. "[This] means we can really honor the book and engage with the traumas that these characters endure," he said. "I will have to kill a few darlings to make that happen."

The story follows a group of kids called the Losers Club that encounter a creature called It, which preys on children and whose favorite form is that of a sadistic clown called Pennywise. When the creature resurfaces, the kids are called upon to regroup again, this time as adults, even though they have no memory of the first battle.

Source
I love the book so much, and I can't wait for the remake. I hope it's closer to the book. As long as they leave out a certain part between Beverly and the boys in the sewer, anyway.

posted by GossipGander \\ tags: books / authors, sci-fi