I like the little touch of the Universal logo being integrated into the start of the movie. I also like that the opening titles were not seen, unlike in Razor. However, Razor this ain't. That was a great movie. This is only okay. It's interesting that they use the Final Five for voiceover of the usual pre-cap sequence. Unfortunately, the constant reminders of who the Final Five are (and ultimately the closing use of audio from "No Exit") make this movie impossible to be viewed early on. Razor could still be watched after "The Captain's Hand" and nothing would be lost. But even though this movie is set around the time of "Lay Down Your Burdens" as a framing device, it cannot be watched there unless you have already seen the whole series. Or, I suppose it could be watched there, but it would spoil things astronomically. That's kind of a shame.
The overhead shot of the Final Five in the resurrection tanks reminded me of the sleeper pod opening of Alien.
The one big redeeming factor of this movie is Dean Stockwell, who essentially carries the whole movie. If you are a Dean Stockwell fan, it is worth watching for his performance. But I fear that this movie will not play well in isolation as there is very little internal plot, and the sequence of time jumps so quickly that no real context is given if you haven't already watched the series.
For some reason, there is nudity in this movie. I don't know if this is just Eddie Olmos indulging himself or what. The series at times implied nudity and danced around it for television (such as the naked Sharons). I think there's a point at which including some peeks during scenes like that isn't too bad. But why are there topless bartenders? Those seem just thrown in purely to be salacious. Nudity in the sex scene is one thing, but I don't get the gratuitous boobies. I wonder how that will be cut around for the television airing. There was also nudity in the locker room which reminded me of that bit in RoboCop where the guys and girls dress together and it's no big deal.
For me, truly the greatest thing about this movie's existence, and the only real reason to watch it, is that for once in BSG history we finally get to see the attack on all 12 colonies. Or on most of them anyway. One of my biggest complaints about the miniseries was that it was so focused on Caprica. It's great to see all of the destruction that was rampant throughout the system. I don't really like that the base stars are hinged in the middle and can spin around to make these points. That seemed thrown in just to look cool. It was also good to see the pyramid team and what they were doing at the time. We were told about it way back in season 2, but it's different to see it. I don't really like that Simon is the team doctor though. That seems unnecessary. Also, the little badges that the team have on their shirts remind me of Star Trek insignia.
So... this plan that the title speaks of is just Cavil's plan? We are told that the plan was the destruction of all humanity, but that didn't happen. I'm curious why it didn't happen, really. It was a total nuclear barrage! Why wouldn't they have attacked even harder? Why not keep nuking the place? I get that the fleet survived because they didn't have networked computers. I'll buy that. But looking at it this way, if the Cylon plan was to completely annihilate humanity, why are people still alive on Caprica? It makes the survival of Helo and the pyramid team (and the women in the farms) seem really silly. And the existence of the farms isn't really explained. If the plan was to kill them all, why are they experimenting with them? How long has this been going on? At least on the old show, when the colonies were destroyed, they were destroyed. All that was left was the fleet. Keeping that Caprica story was maybe one of the biggest mistakes for the series in its first season because it undermines the Cylon threat.
But anyway, the "plan" we've been told about at the start of every episode was NOT this plan! No matter how much they try to double-talk it, we were told that "they HAVE a plan"; that's have, not had. But really this isn't a plan of a "they" but of a "he", Brother Cavil. It is HIS plan we are watching unfold, and it is confined to the fleet. It has nothing to do with the Cylons who are chasing them nor with the stuff going on on Caprica. They try to tie in Caprica by putting a Cavil with the pyramid team, but his schemes there are really more confined to trying to extract apology from Anders, and he has little to do with the broader machinations on the planet. It turns out this plan we've been told of all along was really just Cavil wanting to make his "parents" feel sorry for making him so human.
What about the transponder things from the miniseries that led to the suspicion of Cylons in the fleet? Why is this not touched on? That seemed to be a major part of the Cylon plan (rather than the Cavil plan), and it is completely ignored. I like the bits where we go into the episodes, like "33", but why ignore the Olympic Carrier incident? This would have been a perfect opportunity to answer whether or not there were Cylons on board.
I give this thing some credit for answering certain lingering questions and for trying to integrate well with previous episodes. Some of this works very well, like Cavil's rescue of Ellen Tigh. I also like the explanation about Shelley Godfrey. We learn that the suicide bombing was Cavil's idea (why, I'm still not sure. If he wanted to do REAL damage, wouldn't he have sent the guy down to the engine room with the suicide vest?), but I like that it's pointed out that the bombing was a failure. When it aired I thought "so they blew up an empty hallway; big deal." Some other elements just don't entirely work. I don't really buy that certain elements like that bombing were plotted so early as they were here. Also, the Leoban story doesn't integrate as well as it should. I don't understand why the order is never given to blow up any of the other ships in the fleet. The movie seems too focused on Galactica, and not on the other Cylons we know are milling about on other ships.
I do like the Simon in the fleet and his relationship. It's an interesting dynamic that plays into the themes the show explored about Cylon/human relationships. The internal Cylon tension between destruction and love is played out in microcosm here. But again, why is he on the Galactica?
Even with all of the Cylons we see here, do we get to the total of 8 in the fleet that Sharon gave us back in season 2? I don't think so. But there are a few more Sixes met here. Also, reference is made to D'Anna, but her work seems to be unrelated to everything else. I guess they couldn't get Lucy Lawless for the movie.
I hate the Sharon stuff, which to me is the biggest failure of this movie. Watching the first season, she doesn't know for sure that she is a Cylon, she only suspects it. But here, we are told that she DOES know. How do they reconcile that fact? They have it so she only remembers who she is when holding a magical elephant figurine! Does this seem stupid to anybody else?
I do like that we learn what became of all the human corpses. Back in "Kobol's Last Gleaming" or thereabouts Kara asked why there are no bodies in the streets. Here we see that they have been gathered and incinerated by the Cylons. What is not made clear is... why? What good is this? Were they ever planning to use these planets, or did they just want to kill all the humans? It's an explanation, but it still betrays an underlying unanswered question.
The later half of the movie doesn't play as well because events jump even more, and it becomes difficult to keep track of after awhile. It's also curious to me that there is no mention at all made of the Pegasus. It might have been interesting to see Gina in the start of the movie and her assignment on Pegasus. Maybe they tried to not step on anything Razor had already done.
There's a weird little subplot with an orphan boy who keeps trying to hang around with Cavil. His name is John. Is he meant to represent Cavil's "younger self", the human self that he avoids? When Cavil killed him, it made me realize that there was a lost opportunity to explain what happened to Boxey. I know the actor is probably all grown up now, but they had a real chance here to explain his sudden absence.
I'm confused about Tyrol's dream. Was he having that dream before the conversation where Simon's wife talks about jumping off the rail? The editing made that unclear to me.
Ultimately, this movie is disappointing because we know where it's all going and in the grand scheme of things it doesn't add anything big. It fills in a few little gaps, and those are appreciated, but it really doesn't stand well on it's own. A good job is done editing together old and new footage, at times using alternate takes and angles from original episodes, and it's nearly seamless. But it just makes me realize what a shame it was that the series was so slapdash from the beginning, and that it could not be entirely explained. It's a good try, but unlike Razor, I don't feel the need to see it again any time soon. But maybe if I ever feel like watching seasons one and two again (which is doubtful), I'll intersperse it with The Plan.
Favorite line: "His jacket was burgundy. This is teal."
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