By Dean Robbins
‘Caprica’ offers shocking view of future
I don’t often use the word “visionary,” but it applies to “Caprica” (Friday, 8 p.m.), a “Battlestar Galactica” prequel that imagines every detail of a futuristic society not quite like our own.
The pilot is disorienting at first. That makes sense, since we’re in a place — “Caprica” — that has its own technology, customs, slang and religion. Teenager Zoe (Allesandra Torresani) and her friends hack into a “holo-band” to visit a chaotic virtual nightclub where anything goes, from drugs to group sex to sacrificial killing. A computer genius, Zoe has created a virtual-reality double and endowed her with almost-human qualities.
Zoe is part of a monotheistic cult opposed to Caprica’s prevailing polytheism, and she dies in a terrorist bombing before the first commercial. This is the first of many stunning narrative gambits, and I wouldn’t dare reveal any more. Suffice it to say that “Caprica’s” music, effects, sets, acting and staging send you somewhere you’ve never been before. The trip is both exhilarating and scary, so don’t undertake it lightly.
‘Spartacus: Blood and Sand’
Friday, 9 p.m. (Starz)
This Sam Raimi-produced series is set in ancient Rome, and you know what that means. Gladiators tussle in front of screaming mobs; evil senators in gray bangs drawl with effete British accents in torch-lit rooms; and barbarian hordes grunt through big beards. Before being sent into slavery, the series’ hero (Andy Whitfield) makes a head-scratching plea to his wife in Hollywood Roman-speak: “Keep me close to your thighs.”
The production tries to freshen up its ancient clichés with ultra-violence and cable-porn-style sex scenes. (Now we know what 1st century B.C. breast implants look like.) For all the blood hurtling toward the camera lens, however, Spartacus generates little heat.
Sorry, Mr. Raimi, but I don’t think I’ll be keeping “Spartacus” close to my thighs. CV
