Okay, I finally saw Battlestar Galactica: The Plan tonight on its SyFy airdate and was pleasantly surprised. It is about the best cut-and-paste I've ever seen. Making Cavil the focus and the brilliance of actor Dean Stockwell is was gave it heft. My troubles with the overall story - particularly Ellen as the 5th hidden Cylon and the entire Oedipal nonsense to the Cavil-Ellen relationship (oh, and let's not forget model 7, the unseen Daniel) are well-documented on this site in post after post, but The Plan could not address those - being locked 
in as it was by the previous episodes.This would have made a wonderful side-story during one of the long let's-sell-DVDs-to-the-scifi-nerds endlessly long hiatuses USA/SciFi exec Bonnie Hammer imposed upon BSG fans. Certainly it was miles better than the dumb and
useless Razor miniseries. I was disappointed, however, that in The Plan there was no Roslin (oh, an extra's leg in one shot), no DeAnna (okay file footage in one shot), and that again it was so gritty and literal. Thankfully Ellen was hardly a presence. I knew I'd end up watching it eventually, and think the editors deserve awards for poring over all that footage of earlier eps to get their paste clips. Olmos did a terrific job with the direction - lot's of good reaction shots - especially when Cavil knifes the little boy. The whole idea that love is his real enemy was, er, not so good. Certainly there were problems - Cavil has his own little area of the Galactica complete with Hooker-Six and they regularly have little coffee klatches with a Simon, Doral and a Leoben ... hmmm
7 comments:
Before I comment further...
KATE VERNON ON HEROES??
NO WONDER I QUIT WATCHING THIS...
Sorry for the rant, radii.
yeah, last week's was so good then this week's was pretty lame. They just need to kill off the fat mindreader, the cello chick, and that annoying father from Dynasty. I think this will be the last year of Heroes, or maybe they'll go one more then it's done.
- radii
I dunno radii...help me out here.
I tried watching the Plan and found it lost so much of that special BSG "je ne sais quoi" that usually kept me 100% riveted to the screen.
Twas bad timing IMHO to retread things already perceived and otherwise digested...showing old episode clips to refresh scenarios that basically explain that the Cylons were almost real humans...that the Cavils were upset with this nexus.
Well whoop de do.
So I, - growing impatient with being unentertained - flipped over to several channels I surf that night and even did PBS and Fox, then back to The Plan...then off and running again. For two frackin hours.
Maybe it's me and I suddenly had a change in syfy taste (doubtful) but nothing kept my attention there: seemed to be basically a retread of the Cylon's developing "feelings" and becoming more human than Cavil wants or even expects.
We got that a long time ago...did we not?
But tell me before I watch it again in its entirety:
Were there any angels or Godhead metaphors shown or explained?
THAT would get me interested.
And Cavil bedding seemingly EVERY warm body and making out with Grace Park...overdone and unnecessary. Bet he had fun though. Hooker Six still looked awesome even in that dark Brother’s crib.
BTW,
Thanks for the spoiler about the kid getting knifed...I didn’t know…he was annoying and I wasn't surprised in the least when I read it up above...but I bet when I do see it in its entirety that the killing of the boy will have nothing over the timing and subtle cruelty of Caprica Six complimenting the mother of the baby then snapping it's neck off-camera with that barely audible 'crack.' Too good for words, that.
Upon careful reflection, I DO blame my disaffection for the Plan on the new syfy name and logo after all!
I guess I will have to stick with “Legend of the Seeker” until “Caprica” starts up with new episodes…
Sorry to rant again radii but you will understand.
Yes, Potiphar I understand ... I also understand that I went easy on The Plan because I missed the show and it exceeded my expectations when I expected it to just be terrible.
You are right, no godhead or angels (thankfully) were referenced that I caught in The Plan ... and it did diminish the Caprica Six POV when she finally meets the secret person after Baltar walks off at that Vancouver office park with the pond (it was Cavil she met - ho-hum)
The kid getting knifed is almost as good as the baby-neck-snap moment, but only because Dean Stockwell is such a damn fine actor - but kudos to Espensen for writing it
You are correct that it was a lot of plot regurgitation, but I grew mesmerized at how they cut-and-paste it together - pretty seamless ... it was like seeing an amazing Photoshopped image that you can hardly tell is a fake - I was entertained much more by the way they did things than what they were doing. I found myself noticing how they lit the shot of Caprica Cavil clandestinely meeting with White Forest Six, and why the atmospheres, sizes, terrains, and architecture of the various colony worlds looked so much the same. Wow, 12 planets in one star system that have the right geology and atmospheres to sustain human life - that was worth exploring and the BSG series never did.
I hated Carprica so won't be watching that, unless they bring Cylon #7 Daniel into it and he's played by either Eddie Izzard or that little weird white-haired kid from Malcom In The Middle
So radii, I did indeed watch the Plan in it's entirety this time, and it was exactly as you described.
My fav Number Six is...ta-da - the Hooker Six!
Cavil sure got all the action we didn't see in the entire series...I didn't like the way he was wedged in on Caprica with the rebels though...
Best sexist line for me...Hooker Six to the really tired old Cavil whilst grabbing his package in her sexiest purring voice:
"I'll make you hummmmmmm"
Best line they Didn't use:
"Now, get thee to an airlock!"
Hey, just a thought:
The only other actor who could possibly play Cavil/#1 would be...
Robert Knepper!
I think he would be awesome!
I'll keep you posted on CAPRICA...could bomb; could have possibilities...
BTW, the two Cavils holding hands at the end and their pre-airlockopening discussion...what did you think of that radii?
Hand-holding Cavils ... I'd be interested to know if that was written or improvised by the director on-set ... it was a nice moment and only an actor of Stockwell's range could properly bring it the gravitas it had ... I think it is overall a weak aspect of this version of BSG, however, that we are shown these different incarnations of the various models with no explanation other than their individual experiences as to why they would have divergent views. It begged more explanation. I had hoped The Plan - as seen from the Cylon perspective - would take us into their minds, specifically what they mentally experienced when they interfaced with the Base Ships' panels since they could download the experiences of other members of their model line. It brings up the whole Nature vs. Nurture argument and it would have provided another layer of subtext to their motives.
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