Zoe Graystone

Zoe Graystone is a fictional character portrayed by Alessandra Torresani^[1] in the Caprica television series. The character becomes the first Cylon created by Daniel Graystone. She is one of the primary characters in the series.

It was later stated by showrunner Kevin Murphy that Zoe eventually became the basis for the Number Sixes.^[2]

Development

An interviewer asked Alessandra Torresani, "Alessandra, do you see all these different versions of Zoe as different facets of the same character, or do you see them all as separate people?" The actress replied, "No, I see them as the same blank palette, and they all have different colors to them. The original Zoe will always only be the original Zoe, the avatar will only be the avatar, and so forth. They're all the same basis, but they're all very different, in their own way....The avatar is based on the Zoe original....They're all equally the same. It's hard to play the avatar when I'm in the robot because that's very weird. No one sees me except for my best friend, so it's hard to play that. You can't imagine being in a room and everyone talking about you, but no one knows that you're there when you're actually really there. When does that ever happen in life? So, that's not hard, but it's weird. It's definitely something different that I've never acted before....She is human, though. She has emotions and a personality. She's not just this droid that walks around....The original Zoe is relatable because she's a teenage brat who is fighting for her own voice to be heard. The avatar is not that easily relatable. It's like a newborn child that's discovering things for the first time. And then, the robot is not relatable to anyone. The only way it would be relatable was if you were living this fake, superficial life and inside you feel like a completely different person. I guess that's somewhat relatable, but it's hard to relate to a 15-year-old girl stuck in a robot's body, when no one knows she's there."^[3]

Character biography

Initial Background

Zoe is the daughter of Daniel Graystone and Amanda Graystone. She lives in Caprica City with her parents. Attending Athena Academy with her friend and classmate Lacy Rand, she developed a romantic relationship with Ben Stark.

Soldier of the One

After spending time in the V-Club her boyfriend Ben Stark convinces her that there is only one true god, and that she should join the Soldiers of the One. It is during this time that she starts work on a self-aware avatar of herself. Zoe, Ben, and Lacy try to transport the avatar Zoe to Gemenon. Lacy becomes frightened and refuses to go. After boarding the train with Joseph Adama's wife and child, Ben tells Zoe that the One True God's will is for him to blow up the train. Zoe, Ben, and Adama's wife and child are killed in the explosion.

The First Cylon

After Zoe dies, her friend Lacy goes to the Graystone house to try to find avatar Zoe. Using Zoe's Holoband, she returns to the V-Club room where avatar Zoe is stored. She finds avatar Zoe covered in blood, claiming that she felt Zoe die. The avatar knows that she is not a real person, but claims that she feels like one. Lacy is caught leaving the V-Club by Zoe's dad. Daniel uses Lacy to unknowingly help him capture Zoe's avatar. After being captured, the avatar is downloaded into a prototype robot body U-87 by Daniel, thus becoming the first Caprican Cylon.

Multiple versions

• Original Zoe: The human teenaged daughter of Daniel and Amanda Graystone, Zoe was highly skilled in computer technology like her father. "Zoe Original is the 15-year-old girl that's a brat, that's just a spoiled, rich brat that's rebelling against her family, but she believes in the One True God." -Actor Alessandra Torresani^[4]

• Zoe-A: Created by the original Zoe as a digital replica of herself. The avatar was made using all the computer data about the original Zoe's life using a sophisticated search engine. The original Zoe also managed to upload her real life experiences via a biofeedback program which gives the avatar a much more authentic personality and self-awareness. When the real Zoe died, the avatar "experienced" her death. After the V-world is created for her, the Zoe avatar gains power as one of the Avenging Angels to rid corruption, and after the STO and Church deaths and apotheosis she calls herself God of the virtual Heaven, which she rends into a volcanic Hell.^[6]

• Zoe-R: the U-87 prototype robot created by Daniel Graystone; technically, the same character as Zoe-A, just in a physical body. This version of Zoe is the first of the colonial Cylons.^[6]

• Messenger Zoe: both the original Zoe and the Avatar Zoe occasionally interact with a strange, calm being that appears in Zoe's own form. It has been confirmed that this being is a "messenger", one of the mysterious spectral apparitions seen by Gaius Baltar and Caprica Six in Battlestar Galactica.^[7][8]

References

External links

• Zoe Graystone at Battlestar Wiki
• Official show website
• Jevon Phillips, "'Caprica' countdown: Talking to Alessandra Torresani about the birth of the Cylons," Los Angeles Times (January 13, 2010).