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 Jennifer 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 tomorrow night on SyFy for the first time.
Source: After Elton
(Image courtesy of SyFy)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
