So recently fates would conspire to remind me of some books I used to love when I was younger, Dinotopia. James Gurney is a skilled and talented writer and artist, and his fictional world of man and sauropod living in (near) peace and (almost) harmony was very rich. I remember having the first two books that I read probably dozens of times, as well as a spinoff novel by Alan Dean Foster (another great writer), but apparently there were four books in the main series. I think I may have to look into picking some of them up in the future, if only to have a complete set. Also, does anyone remember the Dinotopia TV series? Not really all that great, but it was a fun diversion nonetheless. Never grow old kids.

Speaking of TV series, I also recently purchased Caprica, the pilot of the upcoming Caprica TV series, which isn't going to start until 2010. I couldn't wait that long to satisfy my Battlestar Galactica fix (Caprica is a prequel spinoff of BSG, for those who don't know) so I decided to pick it up. First, I have no idea how they plan on airing it on television, since it was very much 'unrated.' Violence and other adult content aside, the premise was quite interesting. It shows that Caprica wasn't a perfect happy place before the Cylon war, and that it was much like our world today (which ironically (ok, probably not ironically, probably planned) ties in to the end of the BSG series). The pilot also details how the first Cylon was created, and why they're oh so temperamental and full of rage and angst and hate their creators (there's seriously some irony here, and in a way it kind of kills the whole Cylon bad guy vibe).

At the end though, we're kind of left hanging. It's very much JUST a two-hour pilot, not a standalone miniseries or movie. There's little to no resolution or closure, which stinks, because now I have to wait until 2010 to see more.

So check it out if you like BSG, but otherwise you're not missing a whole lot.