Battlestar Galactica : The Plan

First of all let me get one thing straight, this is in no way an original Battlestar Galatica story. Razor had a story that centered around a new character and told a somewhat self-contained story. This is almost the complete opposite; no relevant new characters, no truly new plot lines. This film is essentially a side story of the original two seasons. It deals with the attack on the colonies and the subsequent invasion and pursuit of Galactica from the point of view of the Cylons; not just the original 8 models but also the final five.

The main character is actually Brother Cavil, in two different forms one on Caprica and one on-board Galatica. We see that Cavil plays a crucial role in orchestrating the Cylon events on the Galactica, while his Caprica counterpart takes the role of a distant observer to the struggling band of survivors on Caprica.

What I really liked about this movie is that it kind of ties everything together. It retreads the old plot lines of the first two seasons, but knowing the revelations to take place it puts everything in a different light. It also explores the intense cruelty and duality of Cavil. Additionally, some of the plot lines that were never quite clear, begin to make sense. (How did Leobin know so much about Kara? Where Valeri's actions intentional?) There are three issue that I can foresee someone having with this. The first being, that some might feel it being a retcon of the first two seasons to connects the events of the fourth. While this might be somewhat true, I don't think it takes anything away from them, and if you liked the fourth season it adds something significant to it. The second issue is that it is a retread. We already know exactly what happens to all these characters. But I don't think that the compelling part of this is what happens so much as why it happens, and what feelings and emotions are fueling the Cylons. The third is that there are basically no space battles to be seen here. There is a great opening sequence where we get a much more in depth look at the destruction of the colonies, but for a show called Battlestar Galatica we might expect some space jockey action.

I am not a prude but I must say that after seeing the unrated DVD, there is a bit of gratuitous nudity. Not that I had a problem with it, so to say, but it felt a little out of place, like it was trying to be a little shocking. Maybe it was just trying to give us a taste of what the show would have been like on HBO, i dunno just felt a little tacked on.

Overall this is a great companion piece to the series, does not feel entirely necessary but at the same time doesn't feel like it didn't need to be in the first place.

I joined Battlestar Galactica the series after it was all finished with, and watched it through DVD's, which I find is the best way to watch series where possible. I enjoyed it all the way through but was never a raving fan of the show to the point where I could not accept any faults or criticism. Anyway, I was not really looking forward to this TVM simply because I only half-heard about it and never saw the adverts or hype that professed it to be something important or worth seeing. Although I was not told this I still did hope that the film would be worth watching but the truth is that it cannot get over the problem that it hasn't got anything new to say.

It is a shame because had this been built into the show then perhaps it would have worked better, but by coming after the series has concluded one does have to take this film as a standalone. As such it has the themes of the show, the events of the show and the narratives and the only difference is that we have some new material which acts as framing to allow a new angle to be put on the events. I say angle rather than perspective because "perspective" suggests that there is some insight or opinion to be gained from the different telling whereas angle just suggests the same thing from a different view point and that is what the film is. Watching it is a bit irritating because the new material is sporadically interesting but it never lasts long and it is not strong enough to "be" the film and as a result the film remains about the threads that we have already seen – and these are not different enough due to the new angle to be particularly worth seeing.

The cast do what they did originally (in some cases exactly the same since many are only in old footage) but I did think that Stockwell did well in his additional scenes. Other than that though there is not much else to say – the film doesn't add much and for those who have seen the series (and if you haven't why are you watching this?) the vast majority of it will be just the same material from a slightly different angle, with the new material being the same themes from a different angle. Built into the series (like Razor) then maybe this could have washed (big maybe) but as a standalone film after the fact it just feels like an accountant has done the maths and tried to work out how to keep getting the revenues that BSG brought in before it finished.

Where the people you meet are important to you only because they were already important to you Which pretty much sets it apart from the other movie versions of BSG each of which managed to both carry the story and at the same time be a self-standing movie for newbies.

The pace is slow. A fly crawling up a drape makes better progress.

If you watch the whole thing (and many will not) you will be haunted by the notion that the producers saw this as an easy payday and a chance to reuse footage from earlier episodes.

Maybe. Maybe not.

The rating I gave tells the tale. Dean Stockwell gives the performance of his life. There is a scene at the 1:40 mark involving Stockwell, a small boy, an apple and a knife. It is mesmerizing Which is more than I can say of the movie

I hate to say it, but the Galactica stable are really losing their touch.

The story is half stock footage from the series and half filler. OK, we learn some details like HOW Ellen Tigh got out alive - but we knew she did. We see some trivia, like who Caprica Six met just before the raid, but who cares? We see some familiar Cylons in unfamiliar and unexpected places, generally risking throwing off continuity.

We don't see the things I really wanted to know. I wanted to see the Cylon worlds. I wanted to see WHY the Cylons chose to attack, and why now. I want to see WHY they chose to infiltrate Earth, and why that way. I want to learn the Cylon choices and motivations and psychology.

Oddly, the costume designer was shown in the credits before the writer. I guess the writing is less important than the consulting producer and other illusory titles. Jane Epperson wrote this one, as well as being the executive producer. Ron Moore wasn't in the critical credits. Where was he? Perhaps if he'd spent more time on this than Virtuality he'd have gotten one good product.

While the visuals were good, what I feel is the now increasingly tired end of a series. How long will they keep scraping the bottom? I guess as long as they think they can make money at it.

I had mixed feelings about the concept of The Plan before I saw it: Olmos spoke a lot about The Plan at a panel at '09 Wizard World Convention in Philadelphia. He was very excited about the project and led us to believe that we would be presented an intimate look at an extended Cylon plot that ran concurrently with the series as a whole.

He did not deliver.

First, the movie is at least 40% Archive Footage (taken from Season 1 and Season 2). The scenes are woven in as helpful "reminders". These "reminders" help connect events from the show to their extended explanations in "The Plan". Truthfully, the archive footage is abrupt and unnecessary. Fans would easily be able to connect "The Plan"'s events.

The story of this movie lacks the provocative and thought-inspiring nature that BSG is so respected for. The writing is poor and the events play out in rather unspectacular way.

The only thing that saves this movie is the strong performances by Dean Cain, Tricia Helfer, and Callum Keith Rennie. Though the writing is not up to normal standards, these actors' mastery over their characters is readily apparent in this flimsy companion piece.

Overall, watch "The Plan", it's not very long and has a few interesting moments (spread far out in the film). More importantly, if you're interested in Brother Cavil, this is a great way to get some perspective on the bitter Cylon "leader." You need to disconnect your brain a little bit at some points (like seeing 7 Cylons hiding in plain sight on Galactica), and if you can, you can enjoy the bits of BSG-goodness hidden in the film.