Battlestar Galactica Reveals The Plan

By: Dennis Rayburn
10/29/2009

I have just finished watching one of the best “reveals” I can remember. By a reveal, I'm talking about a show or program that ties up the loose ends, and answers a lot of the nagging questions you had about a series after the show's run has either finished or is approaching the end. Fans of Babylon 5 will remember a made for TV movie that was called “In the Beginning” which filled in a lot of gaps for fans of that show. The Plan does the same thing for Battlestar Galactica, but also puts an incredible exclamation point to the series.

The movie starts with two Cylons being led to Galactica's airlock to be executed, talking about the plan that the Cylons had followed. We then jump back to before the attack on the Colonies that occurred during the miniseries. The first big reveal is who Six was talking to after Baltar leaves her to go to his meeting. Who was it? I'm not telling. You'll have to buy the DVD to get that and all the other answers.

The movie was absolutely fantastic. The special effects will blow you away quicker than the fastest shooting Cylon. The story is superb with action, answers to questions, and new things that will make the pickiest Galactica fan happy. Jane Espenson, who wrote the script, has raised the bar for this kind of film to an absolutely amazing level for future films to attempt to reach. The cast was amazing. I'm not sure how much time passed between filming the final episode and the filming of this movie, but the cast was at home and absolutely right on as if it were yesterday. Edward James Olmos had told everyone at Dragon*Con in 2008 that the movie was coming, and the little bit he told us got everyone excited, but this movie exceeded my wildest expectation.

Folks who read this column regularly know that I love the extras on DVDs and these were some great ones. There is a feature that talks about Olmos going from acting to the director's chair for this film. He had directed some episodes of the series, but this is the best in this writer's opinion. There is another feature regarding the Cylons in the film, one discussing the attack on the Colonies, a special feature on the special effects that makes the film so visually pleasing, and some deleted scenes that are good, but I agree that cutting them helped the film. There is a commentary track by Espenson and Olmos that shares additional insight into the movie that is very informative and fun to hear. The only thing I fault this DVD for is the absence of my favorite extra of them all, a blooper reel!

One a scale of 1 to 10, I give this DVD a 9.5. Every Battlestar Galactica fan needs to get themselves to their favorite store and buy this movie to complete your BSG collection. It is one you will watch more than once and every time you might notice something you missed. However, I must caution parents with young children that there are a few scenes that you might not want them to see.

My congratulations to everyone connected with the show for giving us such a wonderful final story. Now that we have capped the BSG experience, we can await Caprica with increasing excitement.

So say we all!

Photos:  BN.com, autocadre.com, Galactica.com

Author: Dennis Rayburn

Dennis Rayburn is a columnist for Roddenberry.com. His column, "Two Strips of Latinum" appears every Sunday through Thursday.
Contact: drayburn@roddenberry.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/drayburn
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