Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/5219
68 winter 2009 h+: It seems pretty clear that Caprica is intended for a somewhat different audience than was Battlestar Galactica. how would you characterize some of those differences — creatively, demographically, commercially, and otherwise? Beyond the obvious lack (at least for now) of Bg's ubiquitous, male-oriented war-in-space trappings, what other elements characterize the Caprica series? JANE ESPENSON: The show is about the brew out of which the war emerged — terrorism, crime, culture clashes, and the people who were either propelling all this stuff or got caught up in it. The main difference is that it's set in the middle of a society that (mostly) doesn't know it's on the road to destruction, while the BSG characters knew very well what their situation was. This is allowing us to take a sort of bigger scope view of a functioning world, and it's also letting us play with pop culture and throw a little bit of humor in, here and there. Demographically, it's tempting to say that it could attract more women than BSG did, but I'm not sure that those templates of what male and female viewers like really hold true anymore. Wasn't there a thing earlier this year that said most slasher movie tickets were sold to women? I think our show has lots of stuff to tempt people who want character stories as well as those who are looking for a little more action. So far, not a lot of viper dogfights, but there are other kinds of action. h+: Throughout Galactica, there ran strong, dramatically critical (and, at times, seemingly unavoidable) thematic echoes of 9/11, the subsequent War on Terror and many of their political/social repercussions. Do you see Caprica highlighting any particular issues? In the pilot alone, we've already got a pretty strong wacko-fundamentalist/decadence of Western society/what-is-wrong-with-the-kids-these-days riptide going on, don't we? Je: That's the great and wonderful thing about science fiction. It allows you to take these issues on directly and yet maintain a little distance at the same time, because you're talking about other worlds, other religions, other politics. And it's only with that distance that you can really get something like an objective take on the situation. So, yeah, we're definitely not shying away from stories about terrorism and cultural prejudice and revolution and the reach of governments and the power of the rich and the technological divide between rich and poor. Our characters are hugely invested in these issues in very personal ways; I don't think we could avoid them if we wanted to. h+: how creatively challenging or restrictive (or perhaps downright distressing) can it get, fleshing out a setting, society and cast of characters that both you and the greater chunk of your intended audience know, in a sense, to be already doomed? I mean, this isn't exactly the typical end of the halcyon days of high school TV. This is the fucking Beginning of the end with genocidal nuclear holocaust and Intragalactic exodus to Follow after the Break, isn't it? JE: Well, everyone knows about the fall of Rome, but we all still invested in the characters and events of Rome. These characters are alive now in our story, and they feel and yearn and have losses and wins and you feel for them. I feel that knowing what happens 58 years later perhaps adds poignancy, but you won't emotionally check out. We won't let you. h+: Imminent doom by our own technological hubris aside for the moment, how would you say we are doing, societally, compared to Caprica? Is the portrayed state of "The clubs"