Battlestar Galactica: O Plano

This film retells the events of the first two seasons of Battlestar Galactica but with one crucial difference; it is told from the Cylon perspective. As such it contains crucial plot points that anybody watching the original series wouldn't discover till a few seasons in... that is the main reason not to watch this before finishing the series. The other is that it will seem very rushed; events that took place over an episode or more may be covered in a few minutes and much of the plot advancement is skipped altogether. Similarly no time is spent explaining who characters are.

The story starts as two Cylon 'Number One' models are about to be executed; each of them has very different views about what should have been done to humanity. We then jump back to just before the attack on the colonies. The events that follow are shown from the perspectives of various key Cylon characters, some of whom believe themselves to be human. It becomes clear that it was expected that the attack would completely exterminate humanity; the Cylons certainly didn't expect to have to exist within human society as they do and it is clear that some of them are developing unexpected feelings.

I rather enjoyed this; probably because it is quite a while since I've watched the series so it provided many reminders of great episodes... perhaps because a fair amount of the material was reused. Seeing the events from the Cylon point of view was interesting as was seeing how living amongst people for an extended period showed that they weren't as different from their creators as they would like o believe. The acting was solid; most notable from Dean Stockwell who was great as Number One, AKA Brother Cavell; he dominated every scene he was in. I didn't expect any surprises but the story managed to provide some. These including a genuinely shocking moment where a child is killed. Not all surprises were good; there was some gratuitous nudity which appeared to be there just because the makers were free from restrictions which applied in the broadcast series... I have nothing against nudity in film/TV but it shouldn't be quite as gratuitous! Overall this isn't a must see but BSG fans wanting to see the characters again should enjoy it.

After a very disappointing final episode of the series that answered and revealed naught, the plan finally digs deeper into the motivations and questions that a created construct has about it's creator and what it means to develop into an evolved human prototype. From my estimation the plan is both the beginning and the definitive ending of this exotic and brutally honest space opera. It brings full circle the entire series. The fact that it is pieced together like an elaborate jigsaw puzzle is apropos in my mind.

The eternal recurrence, that this has all happened before, this is a complex morality tale that both satisfies and justifies many unanswered questions that I had, it places its brand upon the entire series and I can now breath a sigh of relief that this was truly one of the best dramas in television. No longer a hurried, convenient open exit, the end is now the beginning and so we must continue to wonder and to speculate on what the idea of humanity really means.

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 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.

Whilst 'The Plan' well made and not terrible, we find out a couple of new things but the idea and story isn't nearly as good as it should be. The script fails to ignite and there is understandably a lot of reused footage. The acting is good, especially from Dean Stockwell who really holds the story together. The special effects are good but there are no big battles, the score is subtle most of the time, occasionally the camera is a bit to unsteady but that is just a personal thing. Editing is OK, not really exciting. I didn't hate any part of it but it didn't excite me at all either. A bit disappointing really.

Really I would say that this film is for Battlestar Gallactica completists. Hopefully Battlestar will do a film explaining all the stuff they didn't bother to explain about Star Buck but somehow I doubt that will happen.