Here are the choices:
Star Trek XI movie: deals with Kirk’s early days at Starfleet Academy.
- OR -
Caprica: a Battlestar Galactica prequel series which deals with the creation of the Cylons...and its aftermath.
I’m gonna choose Caprica and here’s why:
Let’s face it. Star Trek has been around, in one form (first-run) or another (reruns) for FORTY YEARS. The stories got lamer and lamer as time passed from one series to another. Hell, I never even bothered to watch the tenth movie. All I needed to know from that one was: DATA DIES. It got so bad, I could tell ten minutes into the episode how it would turn out. May I remind you that I consider myself a reasonably knowledgeable Trek fan, having seen my very first episode when I was six years old: ”Arena," so I can say with good authority that TREK. NEEDS. A. LONG. REST.
Compare that to the freshness of Doctor Who, which has finally returned after a 16-year absence. They may be reintroducing old enemies such as the Daleks and the Cybermen, but it is now to an entirely new audience. But the Beeb better be careful; after all, the Doctor has only 2 lives left (he’s on Life #10 now).
And then there’s Battlestar Galactica. Ronald D. Moore, who used to work on Star Trek during the 1990s, has breathed new life into a show which, in all fairness and respect to Glen Larson and the original cast, couldn’t have gone anywhere in its original airing from 1978 to 1979...no, the 1980 show is a nightmare!. With Caprica, we’ll soon see once again, as with Babylon 5, that all choices we make in our lives have consequences, be they good or bad.
Unfortunately for the Colonials, it’s going to be real bad. But we know that already; I just want to see HOW it got to that point where the Cylons nuked the Colonies, precipitating the search for Earth.
And so that is my choice. Patience will be a virtue in either case.
And before I forget…
HAT TIPS to tgs333 (for ST XI) and Semaj Ovured (for Caprica)