Sci Fi Channel has given the greenlight to Caprica a prequel of Battlestar Galactica that will take shape as a two-hour backdoor pilot, and has signed Rosario Dawson to develop True Believer, the pilot for a proposed series based on a comicbook she co-created.

According to Variety, these were two of the highlights of Sci Fi Channel's upfront presentation Tuesday night at New York City's Morgan Library delivered by David Howe, president of the network.

Battlestar Galactica is concluding its 3 1/2-year run with 20 final episodes this year. Its Caprica prequel begins production in Vancouver in the spring.

True Believer focuses on a comicbook nerd who hires a down-at-heels superhero, the duo pairing up to become crime fighters.

Sci Fi's goal is keep its momentum going through a calibrated mix of scripted original series, first-run reality series, commissioned low-budget movies, reruns of series including Lost and Jericho theatrical movies and occasional miniseries.

Sci Fi said it's bringing back its stunt-reality series Scare Tactics with a new host, comedian Tracy Morgan. The network also said it's developing two more scripted pilots that could become series: The Stranded, the first project of a joint venture created last year by Sci Fi and Virgin Comics to put together comicbooks with TV potential, and Deputized, a comedy drama about an Everyman who accidentally gets special powers that he uses as a member of an intergalactic police force.

And the writer-director Nick Willing and his exec producers Robert Halmi Sr. and Jr., who created Sci Fi's runaway-hit miniseries Tin Man based loosely on "Wizard of Oz," have agreed to tackle Alice in Wonderland as the source of another potential mini. Sci Fi will call it Alice.