January 7, 2010 | A Few Random and Spoilerless CAPRICA Factoids

While up in Vancouver in December 2009, yours truly took an hour or so to visit the sets of Caprica. There are a few pieces of information that I know about the series that I’d like to impart on my readers. Nothing here betrays any confidentiality agreements that I had signed, nor does it spoil anything about what’s happening in the series, so if you’re looking for spoilers… You’re not going to get any.

Sadly, I was not able to take pictures, as that was part of the deal. (Same could be said for the Universe sets that I visited when up there. Destiny‘s sets are truly magnificent, even if it wasn’t fully lit up when I and a few others went to visit it.) With that in mind, I give you a brief insight into the world of Caprica.

Graystone's Living Room (Courtesy of UGO)

While not Galactica‘s CIC, the Graystone mansion is magnificent. Pictures of it can be seen on various science fiction news websites, from Syfy’s Digital Press Tour last year. It is a recreation of the original house that was used in the pilot, and is indistinguishable from it; a testament to the construction and set decoration team on Caprica. The thing has two levels to it (upstairs and downstairs) and you could literally live there, with the minor exception that the “basement”—where Daniel’s lab-office can be found—isn’t really down below the main level at all. Furthermore, I’m not sure where the bathroom is, but I know what’s in their walk-in closets! The view of the water and mountain range from the massive living room windows is tremendous… and a fake backdrop that is, itself, completely impressive in its detail.

All the major standing sets, including the Graystone house, are housed only in one stage. I had visited this stage once before when working on the Battlestar auctions, but at the time it had the Café Diem and other minor locales from another Syfy show, Eureka.

The show uses more CGI than one would assume, and there’s a section of Caprica‘s main stage set aside for that (V-Club and other locales that you’ll see are mainly shot here). Much in the same way that Stage I—I believe it was “I,” I’m not sure though until I review my pictures and notes—that housed Galactica‘s Hangar Deck also had a section for CGI, where they would place the Raptor or Vipers when shots needed to be done.

Serge, the phallic one-eyed Caprican droid, is completely CGI.

The show uses CGI in ways you did not expect either. A notable instance that took me aback was being told that Serge, the gray and white Apple-esque phallic rolling droid at the Graystone house, is a complete CGI construct. I had assumed that they had a full-size electronic version, like they have a full-size electronic version of the U-87 Cylon prototype. Of course, I know now that this is not the case: the production uses a cardboard stand-in when they need a visual marker for the actors and digital effects team, which is the same thing they did for the Centurions in BSG. (They also have a cardboard stand-in for the U-87 for the CGI sequences.)

I would say more, but most of what I’ve seen is stuff that hasn’t been aired yet, so I’ll keep that to myself until the time is right.

Look for Caprica to begin airing on January 22nd. It’s not Battlestar, but this piece of “blue-sky” science fiction should prove interesting… and it does pose this question: Does BSG have the ability to become its own little science fiction franchise or not?