I may be a little biased, but Battlestar Galactica has to be one of the best multiseason sci-fi shows ever.

I’m sure there are plenty of hardcore Star Trek, Stargate and Babylon 5 fans out there that would care to passionately debate this, but for a show that addressed contemporary issues and metaphysical questions in an intelligent way without having to resort to rubber suit aliens has to be a winner in my eyes.

And it still managed to have amazing action sequences and a great soundtrack. Despite a slightly unsatisfactory final episode, the series came to a logical conclusion without suffering the fate of so many other great sci-fi series – the network axe.

When Ron Moore announced they were going to make a prequel, about the origins of the Cylons the excitement in the geek world was palpable. Unfortunately, that energy and excitement waned fairly quickly when Caprica eventually aired.

For most BG fans the lack of the gritty, claustrophobic drama that made Galactica so great made Caprica a non-starter. It just wasn’t their beloved Battlestar Galactica.

Caprica was set on the eponymous planet at a time of peace and great technological advances, but as with all great civilisations at their peak throughout history, its downfall was inevitable and cracks were already starting to appear as a major terrorist attack killed the children of some very influential members of Caprican society, including the daughter of inventor and industrialist Daniel Graystone, who was researching artificial and biological intelligence.

His daughter, Zoe, a clever hacker in her own right, stored her essence as computer memory that was inadvertently stored in one of the military robots her father was developing, while at the same time she was inhabiting an alternative virtual cyberworld like a highly advanced Second Life. Tied in with this was the story of Adama and his family roots in what is the equivalent of a mafia family.

This combination of family drama, virtual realities and the conflicts between polytheism and monotheism proved just a bit to cerebral for people used to the visceral action of Battlestar Galactica and the show was eventually cancelled. It was a different beast from a different era of the same universe. Where BG was West Wing in space, Caprica was more like Mad Men (with a dash of Sopranos) in space - complete with neurotic wives and sharp suits.

The second part of the series is out on DVD from July 4 and builds up closer to the development of the first Cylon, and all sorts of other shenanigans. The DVD set also includes lots of extra features exploring the mythologies and history of Caprica.

While its world and storytelling are different to BG it is still great sci-fi that is worth embracing.

Caprica is out on DVD on July 4 and can be ordered from Play and all good retailers.

We have four copies of Caprica Part 2 on DVD to give away. To enter the competition, click on the link below.