posted
Just watched it. As great as it was to see some new BSG (and let me emphasize "some", since much of The Plan is recycled footage from the series shown in a new context), I can't say that it offered any earth-shaking new revelations or insight. It has its moments though, but I won't bother posting spoilers until more people have seen it.
posted
Ugh, I thought I was done buying BSG soundtracks.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
Blayne Bradley
unregistered
posted
Proof that Battlestar 1980 was terrible terrible trash.
quote: Battlestar Galactica 1980. This sequel and spinoff of the original series eliminated half the cast (including Apollo, Cassiopeia, and Baltar) without explanation. It attempted to pander to audiences with insipid plots involving a group of space children named "The Super Scouts". Good actors made complete fools of themselves - especially Lorne Greene, who was stuck talking to a child prodigy named Dr. Zee for most of the series. It features the worst episode of a science-fiction series ever made: "Spaceball" (In no way to be confused with or associated with the infinitely better movie by Mel Brooks), in which the Super Scouts have to win a baseball game. The creators were forced to write stories that could be marketed to young children and shoehorn environmental messages into each episode; and the show was broadcast in the 7:30 PM time slot, a dead zone that killed any chance for it to have success in the ratings even if it had been good enough to be worth watching. Its biggest sin? It killed off the Galactica franchise for more than 20 years before the franchise was rebooted.
I think at least one person challenged me on this a year or so ago.
IP: Logged |
posted
How is an assertion proof, Blayne? Have you watched Galactica 1980 yourself? There may have been dumb parts (as there were in the whole series), but some of it was really good.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
Blayne Bradley
unregistered
posted
quote:Originally posted by Lisa: How is an assertion proof, Blayne? Have you watched Galactica 1980 yourself? There may have been dumb parts (as there were in the whole series), but some of it was really good.
Yes, and I wish I could bleach my brain. And this was when I was 16, I've actually seen MORE of 1980 then the original due to the stupidity of having non cable channels at the time.
IP: Logged |
posted
Saw it last night. It had a few good moments; mostly it worked as nostalgia for me, reminding me of the awesomeness that was BSG.
Posts: 2911 | Registered: Aug 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
I thought it was pretty enjoyable, and I liked some of the twists they put on Cavil and especially his relationship with Boomer. Great special effects too. And apparently what they always wanted on the show was nudity.
Posts: 326 | Registered: Apr 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
How's the music overall? Is it mostly a rehash of the series, or are there a lot of new cues?
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
I really enjoyed it! One of my complaints with the final season was how the Cylon models seemed to lose a lot of their individuality once they broke up into factions. So it was great to see the Cavils and, especially, the Simons get fleshed out. The story of the Galactica Simon instantly became one of my favorites the show has ever done. Even Doral gets some great moments ("His suit was burgundy. Mine is teal" had me cracking up).
It's definitely a companion piece to the series, and should not be watched by anyone who (a) hasn't seen the entire series or (b) wasn't paying close attention. That said, as something designed explicitly to "fill in the gaps" from the first two seasons, I think it succeeds admirably. "The Plan" adds a lot of detail and depth to the world and characters, and does so in believable fashion.
One especially impressive achievement comes in light of the numerous other crappy prequels we've been subjected to over the years. Prequels by their very nature are designed to "fill in the holes" left in the original work, whether by adding backstory or answering open questions in the plot. But they almost always do so in a way that seems to somehow cheapen the original work - removing some of the mystery while replacing it with uninspired filler. "The Plan," at least for me, filled in the holes with intellect, creativity, and an attention to detail that demonstrated profound respect for (and knowledge of) the original material while adding new ideas and twists on existing scenes that deepen, and in some cases, actually improve upon what was already there.
One example in particular comes to mind. The season 1 episode "Water" begins with Boomer finding herself soaked, wearing her full flight suit, with no memory of where she was or what she had been doing. Within the episode, it's a fantastic way of drawing the viewer into her disorientation and confusion, paving the way for the fear and paranoia that drives her character later on. However, from a strict plot/ strategic perspective, this scene never really sat right with me. The whole point of a sleeper agent is that the agent has no idea he or she is working for the enemy, and there are few better ways to hint to someone that they might a Cylon than to have them wake up soaked in water literally hours before the ship's water supply is lost in a suspicious explosion. I've always wondered how Boomer's controller could be so careless - why not wait until she returns to her bunk before triggering her sleeper personality?
"The Plan" shows the few minutes leading up to that scene, and explains Boomer's situation neatly. She was originally supposed to change into dry clothes before "coming to," but at that point, her Cylon personality was already experiencing some internal conflict (which had yet to bubble over onto the sleeper personality) that left her unwilling to strip in front of Cavil, even though Eights in general aren't at al modest under normal conditions. Meanwhile, Cavil himself is becoming increasingly frustrated with his skinjob lackeys aboard Galactica, and rather than try to reason with Cylon-Boomer, as he might normally have, he loses his temper and storms off, taking the elephant figure with him. Thus leading to Boomer's sudden awakening in an apparently post-terrorist state of dress.
"The Plan" is filled with scenes like these, and by and large they are successful. On top of that, it layers a set of new, equally intriguing stories - specifically, the Tale of Two Cavils and the Shakespearean tragedy of Simon O'Neill. It's bolstered by some terrific dialogue from Jane Espenson, some of the best effects scenes in BSG's history (the destruction of the Colonies, in particular, is an incredibly powerful sequence), and excellent acting and directing all around.
My score: 9/10 if you're a hardcore BSG fan. Everyone else, go and watch the show through again, become a hardcore BSG fan, and only then watch "The Plan." Posts: 1321 | Registered: Sep 1999
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
I listened to it for about two hours at work!
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
