Caprica, the prequel spin-off series of Battlestar Galactica, will have its share of “Easter eggs” and nods to BSG along the way but will ultimately stand on its own, according to creators Ronald D. Moore and David Eick at a San Diego Comic-Con panel.

Some of these “Easter eggs” would be using some of the same scenes found in Battlestar, such as the Opera House that appeared in President Rosalin’s visions of the final five Cylons.

“We’re not trying to give you Battlestar. I think it would be a shot of pain to do that,” Moore said, adding that the show would have its own roots.

“It is like Battlestar in the sense that the answers are never what you expect them to be… but there is more potential for mass appeal because this is Rome before the fall,” said Eick. “It’s much more like our modern world.”

The show is set 58 years before the Cylons waged genocide on the human race and follows the lives of Joseph Adama (Esai Morales) and Daniel Graystone (Eric Stoltz), who helped bring the Cylons into existence as shown in the direct-to-DVD Caprica movie release in April.

Caprica will make its series premiere Friday, January 22, 2010 on the SyFy Network.