Caprica trailer boosts Galactica link

The new promotional trailer for Caprica has debuted in the United States, embedded above.

The footage shows an enhanced focus on the virtual world introduced in the feature-length pilot, released on DVD last year to impressive sales. Curiously, however, it also features a link to the original series through the oft-repeated and vaguely irritating line “All of this has happened before…”

It’s an odd choice to have this in the trailer, given Syfy’s strenuous attempts to disassociate Caprica from Battlestar Galactica in various interviews that the cast have given recently. “I think viewers will find – certainly new viewers who never watched Battlestar will find that there’s virtually no tether to Battlestar Galactica from a storytelling standpoint whatsoever,” said executive producer David Eick during a panel held on the set last year, attended by SciFiNow. If the footage above is any indication, that statement appears to be facetious at best.

Despite being positive about Caprica, and very impressed by the pilot, this was always one of our concerns regarding the show’s marketing. It’s trying to appeal to the audience that would have been turned off by the space opera-esque qualities of Battlestar, but in doing so, it risks becoming a classic case of identity crisis. Hopefully that won’t be the way of this show, but with Syfy’s recent rebranding to boot as well, we suspect that the (very peculiar) desperation to escape the perceived stigma of the sci-fi label might end up being a disaster for the show.

Either way, we’ll be tuning in to see how Caprica fares, and we’re very excited about it.