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.