The Cylons were created by Man.
They rebelled.
There are many copies.
And they have…A PLAN.
These words scrolled across our television screens throughout the run of the series Battlestar Galactica. Now, following the amazing ending of the series, the team behind the show has released a new Direct to DVD (and Blu-ray) movie entitled The Plan. This film, directed by series star Edward James Olmos, was intended to show the Cylon's point of view during the destruction of the colonies and provide new insight into the series. Unfortunately for us fans, The Plan feels more like a glorified clip show with very little revelation than the show that we have seen thrive and encapsulate our attention for years.
Beware of Spoilers. There are many Spoilers…
I must say that I have watched this series several times over and I am a proud supporter of this show. In order to get a good feel for this movie, I had a friend who wasn't a diehard fan watch this new film with me…and we came to the same conclusion: The plan for The Plan was poorly conceived. We have known for a long time that the Cylon's plan was to kill all the humans, but it always seemed like there was a lot more to it. Instead of starting off the film at the end of the first Cylon War, or even a significant amount of time prior to the destruction of most of humanity, the movie starts a mere two weeks before the events of the original miniseries. We learn that every one of the Cylons knew who the final 5 were…which leads to more questions but no answers. We also see that each of the Final Five Cylons had an accompanying Cylon agent nearby…but little comes of this information. We get to see more of Anders and his Pyramid team on Caprica and how they went from an athletic team to standing against the Cylons, but again, with very little on the side of new or worthwhile information. We also get to see how the Cylons were blending in with the fleet, and each of the known Cylons get small bits of character background…but again, everything feels a little too forced.
When it comes down to it, the film is called The Plan, and the title alone seems to indicate that we would finally learn what the plan was…but we are clearly told that the plan was to kill humanity, and that the rest was improvised… So the opening sequence should have read "And they HAD…a plan". Because of these facts (which are laid out very early on) the movie is boring and feels repetitive and redundant. One would expect that a movie taking place before and during the onslaught of the colonies would have given us new concepts or new answers that didn't come with the end of the show, but we really don't get anything important. There are some great opportunities for answers (including who gave Adama the note stating that there are 12 Cylons) that get passed over and instead we just get some boring interactions with the Cylons behind the scenes.
The other important thing to note about this new entry in the BSG Universe is that there is a decent amount of unrated, over the top, just thrown in for kicks nudity. This feels extremely out of place considering it wasn't in the series and is another example of how forced this project feels. You will know what I mean when you see a specific zoom-in crotch-shot that makes you say "what the frak was that?"
Special Features:
Bluray Exclusives:
-Battlestar Galactica Trivia Challenge
-BD Live
-From Admiral to Director: Edward James Olmos and The Plan
-The Cylons of The Plan
-The Cylon Attack
-Visual Effects: The Magic Behind The Plan
-1080p Video
-5.1 DTS English Audio
Standard Definition Features:
-Deleted Scenes
-Commentary with Director/Actor Edward James Olmos and Executive Producer/Writer Jane Espenson
Overall:
Visually the film looks great and they do a fantastic job cutting in new footage with the original footage from seasons one and two…but this show built its fanbase on a strong story, intriguing characters, and stunning twists…and those are three things that were missing from this project. The last time they did a stand-alone movie, they produced the film Razor, which took place early in the series and still created an entirely new story, with strong acting, and equally amazing content while fitting into the previously established canon of the series. While that story featured standout moments and ended up being an amazing contribution to the series as a whole, this film does not come close.
It pains me to write this, but ComicsOnline gives Battlestar Galactica: The Plan 2 out of 5 stars…which aren't really stars, but actually Cylons pretending to be stars.
