A "Battlestar" prequel and other stuff the Sci Fi network cooked up

Those distraught over the impending conclusion of “Battlestar Galactica” can take solace in the fact that the Sci Fi Channel has OK’d a two-hour prequel, “Caprica,” with the idea of taking it to series.

“Caprica,” about sentient paprika plants on a distant planet where they’re call caprica, set 50 years before the current series, follows two rival families – the Greystones and the Adamas – who are thriving because the Cylons haven’t been created yet. But they’re clearly on their way, as the technology is ramping up for that fateful disaster.

Sounds sorta like a sci-fi “Cane.” But can it really be “Battlestar” material if people aren’t suffering the entire time?

“Battlestar” executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick will be running this show as well; production begins in the spring.

Sci Fi announced some other TV movies that could become ongoing series, as well:

“True Believer:” Actress Rosario Dawson cooked this one up, an oddball dramedy about a comic-book nerd who hires a washed-up superhero to teach him the crime-fighting ropes.

“The Stranded:” Based on a comic book Sci Fi sponsored, it concerns five otherwise ordinary people who have been brainwashed and therefore don’t know they’re from another planet and have secret powers until aliens show up to kill them.

“Deputized:” Sort of sounds like a combination of the above two shows: A dramedy about an ordinary guy who suddenly gets stuck in an alien exoskeleton he can’t wriggle free from and so he has to become a superhero saving the universe in sundry ways.

“Alice:” A six-hour miniseries from the king of cheese, Robert Halmi, Sr., who last did “Tin Man” for Sci Fi. This one, obviously, is a ramped-up reworking of “Alice in Wonderland.”

“I’Raqiran:” An Elder seeking to rule the planet promises a 100-year-war against mystical, ululating tribes. How can he promise such an enduring battle? Is he … immortal?

Oh, wait; sorry, my bad. That last one is being developed for CNN and the Fox News Channel.