Battlestar Galactica : The Plan (2009)
Battlestar Galactica : The Plan
So, if you're a fan of Battlestar Galactica, you know that the Cylons were created by man, they evolved, they rebelled, and then they came back and attempted to wipe out the human race. At the start of each episode of Season 1 and Season 2, viewers are reminded of this fact and are assured that the Cylcons have a plan.
Unfortunately, The Plan movie does little to shed light on the story you probably wanted to know more about - the final five and their origins. Instead, what we get is the story of the Brothers Cavill, intercut with a collection of clips from various episodes from those early seasons.
I felt like this was a big opportunity wasted. What could have been a chance to delve deeper into the final five and their characters before the attack on Earth, is just a clip show. First I was annoyed by the amount of clips in the show, then I quickly found myself LONGING for them because they were the only time anything actually happened. And for the last half the show, I kept thinking "wow, I'd rather be rewatching these episodes rather than this mess".
There were glimmers of other ideas, of little things that could have made for a more interesting story, but since they seem determined to only show us moments that could be tied into clips from other episodes, we never got to find out more about the Cylons. We were just stuck with Cavill.
And, like the Caprica straight-to-dvd episode, the "un-aired footage" from The Plan will mostly consist of naked people. Ellen Tigh drinks in a bar where the waitresses are topless, and we have a VERY random scene in the co-ed bathroom on board BSG with lots of man butt and side boob.
For me, what makes the early seasons of BSG so great is their metaphor to what was going on in our society at the time. The terrorist attacks, the fear, choosing sides etc.. This special takes the mystery out of so many of those moments and confuses things.
I'm so happy we rented this and did not pay for it. Like the Star Wars prequels or the 7th Harry Potter book, I had a better idea for what this special could have been, and seeing what they ended up creating leaves me very disappointed. I will not be buying this on DVD for our collection because it does nothing for the story or the mythos of BSG.
Originally posted on orangerful.vox.com
Things that bugged me about The Plan: 1. Why would Boomer be the only real sleeper agent that was unaware of her Cylon-ness? 2. I didn't like that Cavill was telling Boomer what to do and she was able to flip between Cylon/Human with him. I think that all would have been pre-programmed or something. 3. I saw what they were trying to do with Cavill, to have him learn what it means to be human blah blah blah, but this was way too long. 4. I WANTED TO SEE THE CYLONS ON CAPRICA MAKING THEIR DECISION! Why the frak did they keep us with the fleet the whole time???? We've seen the show, if we're watching The Plan, we've seen the show. 5. On that same note, who the frak cares? I wanted to see Saul and Ellen and Sam and Tori and Tyrol back on Earth, surviving the original attacks, creating the Cylons... Bah such a waste. It was a glorified clip show. At least RAZOR was all new content.