I am – Hercules!!

Friday brings “Rebirth,” scripted by Mark Verheiden (“Crossroads Part 2,” “The Road Less Traveled,” “The Oath”), the first real episode of the “Battlestar Galactica” prequel “Caprica.”

“Caprica” from here turns into a swell series. It moves in directions I hadn’t anticipated when watching the pilot back in April. This far-off planet feels a lot like America 15 years from now, but we come to discover that it’s different in ways we never learned from “Battlestar Galactica.”

Plus? Scary robots!

Next week Patton Oswalt joins the fray as chat show host Baxter Sarno. James Marsters follows soon after.

Syfy says of “Rebirth”:

“Zoe (Alessandra Torresani) struggles with being trapped in the robot while grief and pressure mount on the Adamas and the Graystones. Joseph (Esai Morales) makes a decision that drives him to confront Daniel (Eric Stoltz), and Amanda (Paula Malcomson) makes a shocking public confession.”

The critics have seen 1.2.

Variety says:

… through its first four hours (including a two-hour premiere), "Caprica" exhibits more than enough promise to justify the mission …

Entertainment Weekly says:

… Less action-packed than BSG, but still awash in the familiar themes of life, loss, identity, and big frakkin' robots with guns. …

USA Today says:

… Clarity was never a Battlestar strong point, but the writers now seem to have adopted incomprehensibility as a virtue. It isn't. Again, if you loved all things Battlestar beyond measure, Caprica may satisfy. For all others, this is a planet best left unvisited. …

The New York Times says:

… All this high-minded stage setting could produce an intriguing drama of ideas or a talky futuristic soap opera. The goal, presumably, is to achieve both — it’s the “Battlestar Galactica” combo — but it’s going to be harder to do now that the humans have left the spaceship. Back on the surface, without the ironclad premise and heightened atmosphere of “Galactica,” “Caprica” is, almost by default, a more ordinary show.

The Los Angeles Times says:

In the midst of all its programming woes, [Syfy overlord] NBC has managed to achieve something close to the impossible -- a prequel series that should not only please all comers but may expand the demographic of science fiction fans everywhere. …

The Chicago Tribune says:

… If the show is guilty of anything in the first few episodes, it's of trying to do too much, which is preferable to a lack of ambition. …

The Washington Post says:

… not only differs from "Avatar" but improves on it. … There's enough going on in "Caprica" to keep a sci-fi fan, or anyone who likes to settle into a good story, satisfied and even beguiled -- and though it's shot too dark those watching on an upscale, big-screen TV will be treated to a visual spectacular. … Syfy is owned, as you probably know, by NBC Universal, so there's one added pleasure to be gleaned from "Caprica" -- the rare sight of NBC doing something right.

The San Francisco Chronicle says:

… superb new series … Like "BSG," what makes "Caprica" so instantly compelling is that it succeeds with a strong story in a unique setting and isn't afraid to tackle big issues - religion and race being two of the largest. …

The Newark Star Ledger says:

… grapples with many of the contemporary dilemmas that "Galactica" handled -- religious strife, terrorism, overreliance on technology -- but, in placing them in a world that looks like the one outside our window, it can be blunter about it. The holo-band nightclub where Zoe and her friends meet in secret -- an online Sodom and Gomorrah, filled with (virtual) sex, drugs and even human sacrifice -- is like every parent's worst nightmare about what his kids are up to on Facebook, Twitter and the rest of the web. And by casting all of the prominent Tauran characters immigrants with Latin actors (and the Capricans with whites), it emphasizes the race and class distinctions in a way that "Galactica" couldn't with its use of Cylons as stand-ins for Muslim extremists. …

The Boston Globe says:

… While the technology is inventive, fear, frustration, and anguish still drive the plot. We’re back in “Battlestar’’ territory, and that feels good.

9 p.m. Friday. Syfy.

$7.99 Kubrick’s Masterpiece on Blu-ray!!