DVD review – Battlestar Galactica: The Plan
The direct-to-DVD “Battlestar Galactica: The Plan” promises to explore the “Battlestar Galactica” series from the Cylon point of view. While it’s interesting in places, ultimately it’s not likely to bring anyone new to the franchise.
In “Battlestar Galactica,” the 50,000 human survivors of an attempted genocide search space for their mythical home planet, Earth. They are pursued by Cylons, the mechanical life forms who attempted to wipe out humanity.
Edward James Olmos, who played Admiral Adama in “Battlestar,” directed “The Plan,” which merges existing footage from the series with new footage, primarily exploring the motivation of Cylon Number One (Dean Stockwell). Two versions of Number One, aka John Cavil, have very different experiences after the attack on the humans, leading them to different conclusions on the effectiveness of their plan.
If you’re hoping for vast revelations about the Cylon plan, you’ll likely be disappointed. There’s not much in the way of insight beyond what viewers got in “Battlestar Galactica” proper, and one character intimates that the plan is, in fact, not a plan.
The destruction of Caprica is shown here in much greater detail than in the original series.
Ultimately, “The Plan” requires too much foreknowledge to be a good entry point yet uses too much recycled material to be of interest to all but serious “Battlestar” watchers.
It’s good but not great, and the four seasons of “Battlestar Galactica” set the bar high.
— Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman
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I thought this was epic and a near-perfect coda to the series. I don’t think it was meant as an entrypoint; in fact, it only plays well after you’ve seen the previous 4 seasons.