Battlestar Galactica: The Plan (2009) Online

This movie is an excellent addition to the series. In fact it only covers the events of the first 2 seasons, but now seen from the cylon perspective. It must be said though that it is quite mandatory that you saw at least those 2 seasons, otherwise you won't have a clue what it is all about.

Now the spoilers :

The movie is a combination of 2 stories, 2 perspectives, and a whole range of subplots as we've come to expect and love in the Battlestar series. The first perspective is from a brother Cavil model (the priest), on board of Galactica who runs the anti-human movement. The other perspective is from another brother Cavil, on the planet Caprica, where he infiltrates the resistance. Both brother Cavils are in essence exactly the same, but it are their different experiences that set them apart. Initially they both hate all humans (and act very much like spoiled children), but gradually things happen that make it change. One becomes better, the other becomes worse.

It is all very subtle, and only in the final conversation is everything said in more detail (though still subtle). However the full motivation behind the cylon attack on the colonies, and their sudden change of heart later (proposing the truce), is all there - some other comments here unfortunately fail to spot it and bash the whole movie as a result. The skinjobs attacked out of frustration with their limited human form and the obvious lack of acceptance as human, which caused them to hate their creators. "As long as a human lives there can be no place for cylons". Coupled with that they are also jealous of the real humans, because the cylons can never be anything else than machines. There are more reasons, but like I said it is all very subtle. It helps to think of the cylons as children without much life experience. The change of heart comes from the experiences of the individual skinjobs placed among the humans. To put it cheesy : they learn what it means to love, and that conquers all hatred. E.g. Boomer could not kill Adama because she loved him (which seemed like a plot hole at the time : if you wanted to kill Adama, just put the second bullet in his head instead of his chest. This plot hole is now "filled"). Even the stubborn Cavil who is left on the planet learns the meaning of it.

So all in all, a very good movie, that should be watched together with the series.

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.

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 was a great fan of the series and bought the DVD's as soon as they were available.

This, however, was a real let down. It was almost more like a budget saving "clip show" than a movie. There was nothing new, no revelations, no finally uncovered PLAN. It was just a rehash of everything you knew before.

It was nice to see Edward James Olmos direct again and there were some new scenes (heavily mixed with clips).

I'm certain there are some great movies that could be made based on the series. Unfortunately this was not one of them.

What a piece of crap ladies and gentlemen. I've watched and enjoyed the complete Battlestar Galactica series twice. Nine stars for the series. Zero for this sort of compilation/amalgamation/it doesn't make any sense-sation. It is badly edited, there is no plot, no plan whatsoever and it does not bring anything of value to the saga. They should be ashamed of having released this film.

So, if you want more of Galactica and you do not mind watching other characters, you rather spend your time with Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome, a chapter in the early life of Bill Adama.

In summary: Battlestar Galactica fans, stay away from this movie; people who want to know more about the Battlestar Galactica world, so sorry to tell you that you won't find in this film a tenth of the thrill and expectation that the series creates.

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.

Everything "The Plan" tells us about Battlestar Galactica we already knew from the show.

The old plan: Kill all humans.

Some people survived.

The new plan: Kill those humans.

Meanwhile, various cylon individuals feel that "love" is very powerful, and decide to sympathize with the humans. The main Cavil says, "Screw that," and goes off to try and kill more people, but that comes to no surprise.

What did we expect out of this movie, anyway? There are a couple "plans" that I can think of that could use some extra explaining.

Why did the number 1's decide to reintroduce the Final 5 back into human society before the attack on the colonies? This movie does nothing to talk about how the Final 5 fit into Cavil's so-called plan.

What about the Simon's trying to find a way for cylons to give birth? No details on that plan.

What divine right did God give the cylons? Who knows.

Which deep, social and culturally relevant topics is James Edward Olmos addressing? Not sure.

Even as an avid fan of BSG, I'm not sure why this movie is rated so high by other people. The story was not gripping, insightful, or even entirely original (like Razor). Instead, it was disconnected, droll, and underwhelming.

As a quick response to some of the other comments, I have to wonder if a select few of those authors actually paid attention to the series and/or this movie. While there are definite open ends when the series ended, at least one of the authors above asked questions that were most certainly answered. (e.g. "Why did the Final Five create the humanoid Cylons?" We have that answer, give during the series. *SERIES SPOILER* It was a bargain to try and end the cycle - the Final Five reached the colonies right in the midst of the Cylon revolt. They traveled to the twelve colonies to warn them about the cycle of destruction, but it had already begun. In an attempt to salvage what was left, the Final Five convinced the centurions to leave the colonies and in return, they would provide the humanoid Cylons along with advancement to their technology, i.e. resurrection.) Any way, back on point: another reviewer put it well to say that this movie contains very little *new* plot devices. For the most part, it reuses all of the plot devices from the series, but tells them from the Cylon perspective. While I would have appreciated some more detail into the model 7 (a.k.a. Daniel) along with Kara Trace's mysterious character and the Baltar/Caprica-Six Angels, I think this movie does a fantastic job of adding to the re-imagined BSG canon. We all knew that Cavil played a significant role from his discussions with Ellen in the final episodes of the series, but this movie definitely gives him the spot light, allowing the audience to see his personalities. The Plan does a good job at filling in some minor plot holes like "what was happening with Boomer in season 1 when she kept blacking out" and it was interesting to see the orchestrating that the different Cylons performed to achieve the result of the series. The Plan starts after the Final Five had been placed on Earth, and details a bit about how they lived before the fall, and how they got onto Galactica, which was largely a missing link prior to this movie.

In my opinion, I always jump on the skeptic wagon when I begin to watch a movie or TV show that is reusing material from earlier production. I'm careful to assess the movie and how much of it is simply recycled. I was pleased with The Plan, because while it does reuse material from the series and deleted scenes, I feel they do so in a significant way and not too much. Many scenes that they did pull from the series, they included the removed portions and shot new extended versions of those scenes to fill in any continuation holes. There are shots of the Final Five saying "this has happened before" (an eerie recall to their true identities before they awoke) which are new, considering Ronald D. Moore admitted to not having selected them until later in the series.

Overall, I give this a 7 / 10 because it could have done more. There are still other questions The Plan doesn't address, but I guess that is partially why Edward James Olmos said "this probably isn't the last BSG."

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.

While the acting and direction of the sparse new footage was excellent, the point of this exercise sadly escapes me. This story answered NO questions I had; the answers it did present were either obvious or trivial. It was too confusing to draw new viewers, and too redundant to charm all but the fiercest fans. A few of the explications actually spawned new questions I did not want to have (e.g., were some 1's and 4's actually redeemable; I don't really want to think so, given the series ending). And the final (best) scenes were ruined by excising a certain key character and over-dubbing her original order. Contractual exigencies, no doubt -- a thought which was unfortunately running through my head for most of the show, preventing any willing suspension of disbelief. NBC/Universal, take note: devotees of this series are more intelligent and discriminating than this; this is not the way to milk them.

Never seen Battlestar Galactica before? Well, if you start here, you probably won't pursue it any further. And for fans of the series, like myself, I'm not even sure this is aimed at us? As another reviewer accurately pointed out - this is truly "scraping the bottom".

TP's brief synopsis is the retelling of the Cylon attack on Caprica, and the immediate panic & events that ensue, as the human race frantically tries to salvage what it can and split to avoid complete annihilation. However, the first few seasons of the 2004 incarnation convey that simple sentence brilliantly, whereas this grab-bag makes it look like a show you're better off skipping.

Personally, I didn't watch "Caprica", the studio's previous effort at post-capitalizing off the franchise. Namely since, although it may have been good, the prelude just didn't really interest me. But good or not, it was certainly better than this prison chow.

In my opinion, the BG reincarnation has been very much of a Matrix-like experience. The first several seasons rocked. Edward James Olmos was the frakking commander of the gods-damn Battlestar Galactica warship that barely slipped away from the Cylon nuclear-mega-attack, and him, along w/his ace fighter pilots Starbuck & Apollo were going to save the frakking human-race and find some place called earth! Sign me the frak up! Then, much like "The Animatrix", the film "Razor" shows up, and tells a side-story with it all. Secret government missions, a psychotic admiral, torture, some awesome revelations, and just an all around excellent stand-alone story.

And then... the later seasons. Um, well, like Matrix: Reloaded, they weren't exactly "bad", and of course plenty of fans out there were still totally on board...

And then the conclusion. Like good old "Revolutions", it was a struggle for me folks. It was as though all the stuff I cared about was over, and the focus was on - well, I'm not sure, getting to the end?

Which brings us full-circle to The Plan. Although this is based entirely on opinion (hell, it is a review), this is my take: One day I went to the studio and said, "Hi, you know - I really thought that the first several seasons of Battlestar Galactic were so freaking awesome, but after that, I just felt that the series plummeted into oblivion. Is there anything you can do with the beginning seasons to make the feel more consistent throughout?"

They told me they had a plan.

Don't come looking for any kinds of answers here. The plan is nothing more than some cut scenes and clumsy looking additions that never really make for a really coherent whole. One possible general reason the movie falls down is that it tries to tell both stories (human & cylon) and really expects no previous knowledge of the series from the viewer. Even the effects feel weaker than in the series - perhaps as there are more of them.

If you want to add a bit of depth to the BSG world, watch the pilot of Caprica. That was much cooler and at least teased with the possibility of shedding some light onto the one-true-god nonsense of the Cylons. If you haven't seen the series, don't start here. You'll only think it's all rubbish. Watching the miniseries gives a fine (albeit a bit over long) start to the series, while the series is at its best from the second half of 1st season to the end of second season. Go there to see some fun and surprising scifi/drama.

Maybe a rating of 1 is excessive. But that's relative to the idea of the show and to the execution of the first couple of seasons that truly shined.

*EDIT* Original rating: 1 Corrected rating: 3 -- i did this simply to give the movie some credit, 'cause the performances are what they were in the series... and as I am huge BSG fan. My issues are with the promise and delivery (i.e. lack-of) the movie. *EDIT*

Yuck.

Okay, the review rules won't let me use just one word, so I will elaborate. After a brilliant original series, I found the follow up very disappointing. It was boring, confusing and it did not add anything to the original. It came across as a weak attempt to gain more mileage from BSG, without spending any serious thought or time on the writing. It lacked the edge, tension and quality of the original. Even though I am a huge BSG fan, I turned this OFF before it was over!!! I also agree with one of the reviewers that mentioned that anyone who has not seen the first several seasons of BSG will be totally lost. My daughter attempted to watch it with me (she had not seen the original) and she bailed even before I did.

It's been already said by others here but this film is terrible. I'm a big fan of the series, everything up until the last 7 or so episodes following the mutiny storyline. This film is a waste of fans' time and would be completely incomprehensible to new audiences. It's basically providing unnecessary exposition covering moments we already inferred must have taken place in some form but in the clumsiest of fashions in order to fit it into this cobbled together mess of a film. It's also trying to provide post hoc spackle to the plot holes created by the fact that the writers promised a plan but because of procrastination, never actually thought one up. So it's trying desperately to reconcile the first two seasons with the revelations of the final season.

Basically, it's a lot of recycled footage from the first two seasons separated by moments we never saw around them that are all the same thing, Cavil telling other Cylons to do the things we already know they do from having watched the show. Why did Doral blow himself up in season 1? Because Cavil told him to? Why did that 6 emerge to try and discredit Baltar in season 1? Because Cavil told her to because, as we already knew, Baltar's Cylon detector was a threat? The only answers here are to the questions we already knew the answers to. What a waste! As someone already said here, the plan is simply kill the humans. Then when some survived, the new plan was kill the surviving humans. Genius. Hard to believe such a complex plan could fail. It's sad because during the first two seasons, the Cylons were incredibly menacing. Eventually, the writers knew they had to demystify them and they did, only their choices for the Cylons were never as interesting as the audience could imagine. And in this film, it gets worse because the once menacing Cylons are exposed to be nothing but failures who couldn't do anything right.

At least Razor was a self-contained film that expanded upon the world of the series and offered new and interesting insights into characters like Admiral Cain. This film on the other hand is pure crap.

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

As someone who enjoys Battlestar Galactica a good deal, I wanted to like The Plan. But other than the decent looking sets and costumes and the better than average acting I didn't care overall for the movie. The writing is not as clever and often doesn't flow very naturally, while the story is not only dull with a lot of it being clumsily incorporated stock footage and overlong filler but with the fact that I didn't get anything new from it I just didn't see the point. The characters are not as interesting either, in fact I found their personalities bland and underdeveloped on the whole.

Overall, not absolutely terrible but pointless and nothing interesting or new. 4/10 Bethany Cox

For three seasons, the new Battlestar Galactica show was amazing. Something new and fairly original, well-produced, great characters, cool sci-fi. Just as we think there's an actual story going on here, however, the fourth season starts sinking itself into ridiculous artsy silliness. Plan? What plan? Where's the motivation? Who the frak are the final five (who should more properly be called the First Five), really? I mean, their origin? They created the other seven? How? When? Why? No explanations. And then Number Six and Baltar turn out to be some kind of immortal ANGELS. And then the surviving people of the colonies continue the cycle by attempting to break it. What's the point? Continuous repetition? How's that interesting in any way? The end of the fourth season was the ultimate sci-fi let-down. It could have ended in so many different and better ways. The whole prophecy dimension ("all this has happened before") could have been somehow connected to the old BG show. But they totally botched it. Descended the whole thing into religious hodgepodge. Frakked it.

And now BG: The Plan. Their final chance of supplying some explanations. And what do we get? The Big Mysterious Plan was simply to kill all the humans. Until they changed their minds and wanted a truce. We hear nothing about why they wanted to kill the humans in the first place, nothing substantial about the First Five, nothing about what they wanted to do after the humans were dead, nothing about why they let a lot of human-looking Cylons infiltrate the humans, nothing about frakkin' nothing. Another incredible disappointment. With another murder of a child. What the frak?!

It's all totally ruined. The producers should be ashamed.

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.

Why the cylons tried to kill all humans is gradually made clear in this movie. Why it failed as well. The original plan was replaced by a new plan and at the end by another one.

Why kill them all? Because the humans made the first (metal) cylons and they made them wrong and therefore the new (flesh) cylons are bad as well.

Why did it fail? Because the cylons were to cocky and thought they could kill them all easily. But some humans are smarter that he cylons expected them to be. And a lot other humans were just plain lucky.

The original plan: kill all humans. The new plan: kill all that are left over. The last one: try to occupy our own bits of the universe.

I like this movie because it connects with several strange bits in the series. The cylons are machines, but they are advanced machines, with advanced and complex brains, they have emotions, longings, moods. And as with any advanced brain, it thinks for itself, it learns, it views opposing sides of any issue. Many of the cylons that live along humans see that the differences are very small. That the way the cylons love and hate and think and plan are not very different from the human way.

I think this movie shows the importance of the matter of perspective. When you're a machine that is designed to live among humans, and actually live for quite a while among humans, you will become more and more human and less and less machine.

The promise that many answers would be answered in this movie is not proved, many are not answered at all. I wanted to see discussions in the cylon worlds about why and how to kill all humans. I wanted to see the cylon worlds, period. I wanted to see meetings of all cylon types. I wanted to see how the flesh cylons were made. I hope that is done in a future movie.

This movie is a nice story. Don't watch it with too high expectations. Don't believe the promises, watch and think for your own. Enjoy the stock footage, enjoy the acting, the special & visual effects, the fights, and enjoy Dean Stockwell. And hope for another movie.

While I agree with some of the other commenters that The Plan in some ways does not hold up two well in terms of plot. While it does, as it claims to do, answer quite a number of open ended questions form the show, the majority of those questions are relatively unimportant or are things that the audience could deduce on its own(for example, it isn't a big revelation that in the Miniseries when Baltar's Six turns around and says "its about time, I wondered when you'd get here" she is talking to a Cavil, it could easily be assumed, even without watching the rest of the show, that she is talking to one of the other Cylons.) However, as a psychological study of the Cylons, their personalities, motivations, and why they are trying to destroy humanity The Plan is utterly fantastic. While the movie centers around two of the Cavils and gives quite a bit of insight into their determination to destroy humanity the psychologies of two Simons, the Leoben who torments Starbuck, Boomer while she is a sleeper agent, Several Six's, Anders, and to some degree Tyrol as well, is dealt with extremely well. While the 'plan' of the Cylons really is quite simple you get quite a bit more incite into the Cylons themselves as a result, and why they continually fail to destroy humanity.

The acting here is superb, all around, although special mention must be given to Dean Stockwell for his brilliant portrayal of the two Cavil's on which the plot hinges. The visuals, as always with this series, are also fantastic as is Edward James Olmos's direction.

While this piece is not necessary to the understanding of Battlestar Galactica the psychological aspects that this movie introduces gives the show, especially some of the events in the first two seasons(although it is relevant to later events as well) a lot more depth to them and it serves as a good companion to the series and I would heartily recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the series.

Disgraceful, money grabbing garbage.

They obviously wanted to try to make some easy cash, without putting any decent effort in.

So disappointing. A poorly hobbled together garbage dump.

I loved BSG until this "movie".

What constitutes a movie? Clippings from the TV series cutting room floor, hastily thrown together with some string and sticky tape to hold it together..

If you haven't seen the full BSG series, this will be even more difficult to follow than for seasoned vets..

I loved the new BSG, I think it is one of the best TV shows ever made. I was expecting this to contribute something new and was disappointed. Don't expect a plot, and don't expect any significant revelations. Certainly don't expect it to live up to the hype of "telling the story of two powerful Cylon leaders", or telling the story "from the point of view of all the Cylons". That's just rubbish.

Over the last 10 or so episodes of BSG, we saw a few episodes which involved reviewing events to give us a reminder of what had gone before, and to put things into a new perspective by revealing more background of key characters in days leading up to the attack on the colonies, or more information on the role they played afterwards.

Essentially, that is all "The Plan" is. I'm convinced it was something which was probably intended to be part of season 4 but for some reason was omitted. It centres around Brother Cavil and reveals that he had more influence over events on Galactica than we were previously aware of, and likewise his counterpart on occupied Caprica did the same. That, in a nutshell, is it. Most of the other Cylons barely get a look-in.

Oh, and as for the Cylons' "Plan", don't expect to learn all about that, unless "the plan" was finding ways to mop up because the original attack didn't wipe all the humans out.

To be honest I don't feel my BSG experience was lacking by not seeing this as part of Season 4. I say this because now, having seen it, I feel it contributes little, if anything, to the show. At times it feels like a series of out-takes edited together and nothing more. I've watched it once and now I'm going to sell it, that's how much it matters.

In a way, I envy those who have never watched Battlestar Gallactica (BSG) but decided to see this one. Me, who have followed the show through out the years, now feel the sudden urge to watch them again.

With every story ever told, having more then one side to it, so does the BSG one. All though you might not agree with their view on things, it is interesting to see it.

Now being a fan, I found a lot of "aha" moments through out the film, moments a viewer, new to the story might not see at all.

If you have seen anything from the BSG show, even if it is just a short clip or stray episode and found it interesting, watching this movie will sure be time well spent.

The attack on the Colonies was great and the movie started with locations we have never seen and characters we didn't know that much about. Helen in a bar, Tory in a car, Anders in pyramid camp. But then the movie started relying on footage from the miniseries and first season and The Plan went downhill. They set up all these things and then they just forget all about them.

The interesting thing about this movie is that they really didn't show us ANYTHING groundbreaking, revealing or surprising. I expect to see the story of the Olympic Carrier, more of Helen on the hospital ship, and definitely more of Tory! They show her surviving a nuke blast and that's about it. How did she get on Galactica? Why wasn't Cavill with her like he was with the rest of the Final Five? Hell, even that promised revelation of how Shelley Godfree (spelling?) got off the ship was total BS. So she went out of the air lock. Yawn. Really didn't see that coming... And they try to explain her disappearance by making up yet another Six model, the which I call Slut Six. But what's her story then? How did she get on and off Galactica? What happened to her? This was supposed to be about the Cylons yet I don't know anything about the Cylons! My biggest problem with this movie was all the reused footage. I mean, I get why they used some of it. To establish where and when in the story we are. To show us which moments were influenced by what. But half the movie? They recycle half the movie?! I thought Edward James Olmos would do a better job directing. They could have at least shown us more about the Resistance and Anders. How did their group become so big, for example? And I remember when Anders showed up on the show he told Kara they liberated a school and used it as their HQ. Well show us that action for frak's sake! Before Kara left them Sam told her they would look for more farms and destroy them. Well show us that! Why are you showing me scenes from The Farm that I already watched twice before? Instead of a movie that was supposed to fill in the gaps and give us a different viewpoint we get two or three Cavill copies stepping in and out of old reused scenes from the show. When they said it would be the war from their side, I expected more stuff inside their world. Where were the baseships, heavy raiders, the Colony, resurrection ships and stuff like that? Why didn't they show us more of the world we've seen in the episode Downloaded? THAT was a story from the Cylon POV. Not this.

Basically, there were only two things I liked. The beginning and the very end. I loved the twist where Cavill stabbed the child. One would expect that a child would turn him over to being more human, not Kara and Sam hugging in the forest. So that was sort of fun. And the shots of the two of them floating through the fleet was awesome.

I had trouble following the thread of the film, and I've watched all BSG episodes religiously, so there is no chance in hell anyone else than a BSG fan could want to watch it. But then again it didn't provide any answers, just a feel good humanization of the cylon skinjobs, which felt stretched anyway.

Bottom line: a futile exercise, especially after we've seen the horrible ending of the series.

If this would have been released before the end of the fourth season, it would have made some sense, but like this... it was just a waste of time.