DVD MOVIE REVIEW: Battlestar Galactica: “The Plan” (2009)

If you’ve ever wondered why it is that I always end up with the short straw around here, and end up reviewing the RDM Galactica, a show I’ve loved and been betrayed by, well, so have I. It’s not particularly germane to the review itself, but as this is probably my last opportunity to explain, the bottom line is this: As an 11 year old, I was obsessive about the original Galactica. I dreaded the remake, and hated the pilot for reasons that I still think are valid. Our Own Republibot 2.0, however, raved about the series every week during its first season, and cajoled me to watch it. I hated it, but to its credit, I hated it a bit less every week, and by “Kobol’s Last Gleaming, part 1” I loved the show. I was as obsessive about it as I was about the original up through the middle of Season 3, when, as most people will agree, the show began to drift creatively. Of course by then, I was invested in it, and followed it dutifully through the next 30 to 35 episodes (shown randomly over seemingly a decade of airtime), even though it was apparent they were putting less and less in to it, and I was getting less and less out of it.

Still, I soldiered on: They had a plan, they’d redeem themselves. I’ve seen this happen before: Babylon 5 seriously lost its footing in Season 5, but did manage to pull itself out in the end, even if it took half a year to get there. BSG would do likewise, right? Right? And Krusty’s gonna’ come and smite our enemies, right? Right? Right, Lise?

Well, it turns out that my faith was misplaced, and all that “God” stuff (Which was kind of fascinating in the early stages) ended up being just the grandest Deus Ex Machina ending in the long and completely inglorious history of television. But of course by then I was stuck reviewing the show because of my raving love for it during it’s middle sequence, and because my fellow Republibots refused to do it.

In the end, however, I don’t blame society: I blame R2.

Again, that’s got nothing to do with the review itself, but I thank you for letting me vent. Now, on to the matter at hand:

PLAY BY PLAY

We start out with The Brothers Cavil (Played by Dean Stockwell and Dean Stockwell) about to get executed via a Galactica Launch Tube ( “Lay Down Your Burdens, Part 2” the Season 2 Finale). We then flash back to Caprica, ten months earlier, a few days before the fall. The Cavils are plotting the final attack, and reveal that they’re doing all this because (A) Humans are a threat and even if they weren’t, Cavil just hates ‘em, and (B) Cavil wants an apology from his creators, the Final Five. He’s stranded them sans their real memories in various places on the Colonies so that they might learn of our depravity, and once they’re destroyed, they’ll repent of their love of humanity, and admit Cavil was right all along. One Cavil decides to head back to the Colonies to talk to Ellen Tigh in the moments leading up to the end. We also see the infamous scene of #6 and