Review - Battlestar Galactica: The Plan [Spoilers]

'The Plan' serves not as a standalone movie as 'Razor' was, but as half retcon and half detail filler. Before people start going crazy and saying how it's not a retcon since it was "planned" from the beginning, just rewatch the series. The producers obviously made stuff up as they went along which actually worked quite well in the end. The movie jumps around from scenario to scenario never really pushing a narrative and instead illuminating certain events of the series with information on what the Cylons were doing.

My expectations were not high when I heard the idea for the movie, but when I saw the trailers and read quotes from Edward James Olmos, I began to warm to the idea, though I was never ecastatic about it. Unless there was something truly revolutionary about the movie, there was no way a retelling of the the miniseries and first 2 seasons could be better than an original story.

In a sense I was right. There were no major revelations, no event that made me want to watch the entire series again (more than I normally would), and certainly wasn't the Battlestar Galactica we've learned to be amazed by, but it was interesting to see everything from the perspectives of the Cylons.

Interspersed through the movie are old scenes from the miniseries and the first two seasons. I'm not sure how much new footage was shoot, but there was an awful lots of old footage. It was a little funny seeing how people became much older instantly though the problem could not be avoided. The quality of the the old footage, especially from the miniseries is noticeably  different than the rest of the movie, but since I'm not an expert on editing, I have no clue what they could have done.

Cavil is the main character of 'The Plan' as he inserts himself, much like Jacob did in the season 5 finale of Lost, into everyone's lives. He becomes essential the main villain of Battlestar Galactica, and not Cylons. We get a very sympathetic views of the other models, while Cavil is portrayed as even more of a bastard. Dean Stockwell does a wonderful job as a deceitful manipulator, constantly up to tricks and no good.

We got to see more of Number Four (Simon) possibly than the in whole series. On one of the ships, he has a wife and daughter, and is reluctant to embrace his Cylon side. Cavil pushes him to destroy the ship they are on and Simon clearly does not want to do anything. He loves his wife and even asks Cavil to save his wife. Cavil tells him that if they survive, it would be worse since they would know Simon was a Cylon. Eventually, Simon airlocks himself, and is discovered to be a Cylon anyways. Who would have known? Even life as a Cylon sucked.

We see Cavil manipulate Five into putting on the suicide vest and see him actually detonate it. Leoben develops his Kara obsession while listening to communications in the fleet. It's really creepy as he sits there with this radio thing just listening to her talk.

The story of Anders is probably the biggest change. When the attack happens, he is scared and isn't seen as the leader yet. He even admits later to Cavil that he wanted to run away. He and is group attack the Cylons and we see him take charge. The writers could have spent much more time developing Anders's story which I thought could have been made into an entire movie.

There are a couple scenes in the beginning with Ellen Tigh sitting with Cavil in a bar in Picon. After the attack, Cavil takes her onto a medical ship where she is brought into the fleet. Totally random, but Kate Vernon did a good job.

Boomer gets quite a bit of attention as Cavil manipulates her into sabotaging the ship and ultimately shooting Adama. Cavil is able to control her with an wooden elephant which turns on her innate Cylon. When he takes it away, Boomer turns back into a human and remembers nothing of what transpired.

Cavil has a small story of his own unrelated to the other characters. There is a boy hanging around where he lives. To show the cruelty of Cavil, he stabs the boy in cold blood. There's a Six we've never really seen before that mocks how everyone is failing, and is in bed with Cavil most of the time.

For parental warning, there is nudity and a sex scene in the movie. That's probably going to be cut out on TV or censored in some way. Like the nudity in Caprica and the excessive drinking in the series finale, it was unnecessary, other than to show how degenerate the colonies are.

The final 30 minutes was where things get interesting and felt like Battlestar Galactica. There is a sharp divide between the Cavil that was with Anders and the one on the Galactica. The Anders Cavil has a change of heart after seeing Kara interact with Anders after her return. He has a rifle trained perfectly on her head, and yet there is some part of humanity that exists in the deepest recesses in this otherwise horrible machine that made him hold back. When he comes back to the Galactica and is caught as a Cylon, he tells the Galactica Cavil that they should not have annihilated the humans. Galactica Cavil tells him he's crazy and even threatens to have him boxed. As the two Cavils are sent flying into the vacuum of space, the Galactica Cavil gives one last incredible monologue explaining why Cylons are better than humans.

Overall, I wasn't impressed or disappointed. The acting was great and the tone was great. The pacing was good, expect it was very choppy. With so many different storylines going on, I was able to keep track of what was going on, but with so much going on, everything felt like it could have been more. I really liked seeing the other colonies and their destruction which are most of the pictures I've included. The architecture of each are different and I would love to get an interactive look at each planet.

Score: 8.7/10

How does the BSG finale influence your perception of the series as a whole?

With the complete series boxset (way overpriced) and the season 4.5 DVD coming out next week I was thinking about the whole series and how I view the series after knowing what happens in the series finale. From an objective standpoint, the finale and the whole fourth season frankly does not make much sense. Everything the survivors have done are actually in the hands of a god that works in mysterious ways. There's random, benevolent angels that had previously seemed useless or just plain batty. In fact, they are the ones who saved humanity. Kara Thrace? She used to be the hotshot pilot, but now she's some kind of divine being sent down to guide humans to a home. I don't know what Ronald Moore was thinking, but it seemed like he wanted something grand, something out of control of the puny mortals, but it's clear from the miniseries and the first few seasons, that was never the intent of the show.

As much as I like shows with a solid, understandable plot, not once did I think the draw of BSG was just the storyline. When I think of shows, the first thing I think about are the characters, and BSG does not disappoint. There is a vast array of complex characters that continually develop and the acting is top-notch. From President Roslin, the Adamas, Starbuck, the Agathons, BSG is one of the few shows that has such a wide variety of cast that it explores with depth.

Now I'll admit that the fourth season does take the wild turn that people like, except this one was out of the blue, and didn't really fit with the whole theme of the story. Yes there are enough huge plotholes for the Galactica and all the Raptors and Vipers to fly through, but I never minded. As clear as day, The X-Files is my all-time favorite show, yet the whole alien storyline has no beginning, middle, or end. Instead it is piece of information pilled on top of more information. There is 9 seasons of build-up and no conclusion other than the rare resolution to some issue. I continue to watch Lost even though there are lots of things that won't be explained. 

Not everyone can be a J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5), so I'm fine with whatever Ron Moore, Chris Carter, or J.J. Abrams throws at me. I don't expect a TV show with 22 episode seasons to have a perfect storyline or even a well-envisioned one. A few story arcs with continuity is fine with me. I won't fault BSG for a finale about divine intervention, but the rest of the show was amazing and much better than the original, and that's all I can ask for.