The Plan

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Battlestar Galactica: The Plan* *

Written by Jane Espenson* * * * *

Directed by Edward James Olmos* * * * * * * * *

Production Start: Sep 8, 2008*

Release Date: October 27, 2009*

Television Runtime: 1 hour & 28 minutes*

DVD Extended Cut: 2 hours & 6 minutes* (38 minutes longer)

Television Runtime: 1 hour & 30 minutes*

DVD Extended Cut: 1 hour & 51 minutes* (21 minutes longer)

The movie stars:

Matthew Bennett ("Five"/"Aaron Doral"),* *

Colin Corrigan ("Nowart"),*

Aaron Douglas ("Galen Tyrol"),* * * * * * *

Alisen Down ("Jean Barolay"),*

Tricia Helfer ("Six"/"Caprica Six"/"Shelly Godfrey"),* * * *

Michael Hogan ("Saul Tigh"),* * * *

Lymari Nadal ("Giana"),* * *

Edward James Olmos ("Admiral Adama"),* * * * *

Grace Park ("Eight"/"Sharon Valeri"/"Boomer"/"Athena"),* * * *

Callum Keith Rennie ("Two"/"Leoben Conoy"),* * *

Rekha Sharma ("Tory Foster"),* *

Dean Stockwell ("One"/"Brother John Cavil"),* * * * * * * * * * *

Michael Trucco ("Samuel Anders"),* * * * * * * *

Kate Vernon ("Ellen Tigh"),* *

Maya Washington ("Sue-Shawn"),*

Rick Worthy ("Four"/"Simon").* * *

Trailer 01:

Trailer 02:

You can read the synopsis and seen 3 scenes from the movie on this site.

From a Digital Bits review of the DVD: "Directed by Edward James Olmos, The Plan could also have been called A Tale of Two Cavils. It's moral: You can't declare war on love. One of the Cavils learns this lesson... and one does not. The film begins a few weeks prior to the attack on the Colonies and ends with the air-locking of the two Cavils as seen in the Season Two episode Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II. Over the course of its 112 minutes, you essentially see a series of vignettes that reveal the events of the miniseries and the show's first two seasons from the Cylon perspective... rendering some events and characters in a fascinating new light. I don't want to give too much away, because the pleasure here is in all the little discoveries. But I will tell you that you finally get to see the destruction of the Twelve Colonies in surprisingly graphic detail. We've never really seen the raw, gritty nastiness of it until now. And speaking of graphic, be advised that there's full-on nudity in several scenes, and one surprisingly graphic sex scene as well. In terms of the characters, several benefit from the revelations herein, including obviously Brother Cavil, as well as Boomer and Leoben. But for me, the most interesting was actually a surprise - Simon becomes a much more developed character by the time The Plan has unfolded fully. I should note that it would be hard to watch this as a stand-alone film, because it feels a little choppy as its own narrative. Think of it as gap-filler for the show's first two seasons. But it becomes more involving as it goes and by the time it ends, it's really built to a fascinating, rewarding - and I would say even a bit shocking - conclusion. Having just seen Battlestar from start to finish on Blu-ray, I can tell you first-hand how well The Plan ducks and weaves its way through the series' overall narrative. I suspect that a lot of people who haven't yet gone back to revisit the show are going to be inspired to do so after watching this. Trust me, you'll have a great time with it. For me at least, Battlestar Galactica is the gift that keeps on giving. If you've never seen Battlestar before, you DEFINITELY don't want to start here. But if you love this show, and you've already seen it all... The Plan is absolutely required viewing. Enjoy!"

From a ign review of the DVD: "Battlestar Galactica: The Plan is an unusual project as far as its conception goes. The Plan is certainly not a sequel story, nor could it be referred to as a traditional prequel. Instead, it takes place parallel to events we saw in the series, specifically ranging from the original miniseries until the end of Season 2 (pre-New Caprica that is). The idea with The Plan is to better understand the Cylon perspective during the attack on the human colonies in the miniseries, along with their reaction in the aftermath - events that took place over the course of a four-hour miniseries and 33 additional episodes. It's a daunting challenge to take that much of the shows history, whittle it down into an hour and 52 minute movie, and make it a cohesive story. The benefit The Plan has is hindsight - now that we know who all the Cylons are, this movie is free to show what was going on with all of them during major events of the series. Boomer's sabotage of the water supply; Leoben's obsession with Kara; the Number Six named Shelley Godfrey who messed with Baltar's mind during Season 1 - all of these milestones are expanded upon, among many other key BSG moments. The pivotal figure in the majority of these events is Brother Cavil, a.k.a. Number One. Dean Stockwell wasn't brought into Battlestar until near the end of Season 2, but his character came to be the primary Cylon villain of the series - the one most passionate about destroying the humans. Cavil has the biggest role in The Plan, as we follow the parallel courses of the first two versions of the character we met - the one on Galactica and the one who had immersed himself into Anders' resistance force on Caprica. Stockwell is absolutely terrific here. Cavil is cunning, diabolical and often sarcastic, and Stockwell plays every aspect of the character to perfection. The two Cavils begin to diverge from each other, with the one on Galactica doing his best to stick to or return to the core of the plan - which is to simply wipe out humanity. However, his counterpart on Caprica begins to get a bit of a different perspective on the humans, as he spends time in the trenches with them. I was also happy to see the material in The Plan dealing with Number Four, a.k.a. Simon. Simon was the Cylon we got the least insight into, but he actually gets quite a bit of screen time in The Plan. Like Cavil, there are two main Simons in the story, one of whom has hidden himself amongst humanity onboard Galactica in a very extreme way, which gives him a very difficult inner conflict to deal with. Worthy is very good, adding a lot of layers to this previously underutilized character. There's also some strong material for Boomer, as her struggle to come to terms with her own two identities (as seen during Season 1) is expanded upon, via some great scenes between her and Cavil - Stockwell and Park play extremely well off each other, as we see Boomer's pain being deflected by Cavil's single-mindedness. A lot of footage is directly re-used from the series. Sometimes, it's in very interesting ways, editing together footage we have already seen with something brand new that puts a different spin on those events. They use old footage of James Callis and Katee Sackhoff who did not return for The Plan. Tyrol has a couple of notable beats added to his character, though in general, the Final Five are less important to this story than one might imagine, with the exception of Anders, who gets a lot of screen time alongside Cavil. There's no doubt it adds new information and interesting things to ponder when watching the series again. I'm sure some would argue that The Plan can't stand on it's own...and that it doesn't need to. After all, it's aimed at fans of the show who would be familiar with all the events we're seeing callbacks to. Battlestar Galactica: Razor was a similar project, down to taking place in-between events we already saw on the show, but it still was able to tell its own specific story, while also adding to the overall mythology of the series - jus as so many terrific Battlestar episodes did. Technically, the movie is strong. Edward James Olmos directs and having helmed several episodes of the series, he obviously completely understands the show he was so integral to. There are also some awesome FX sequences, including a much bigger and more expansive look at the Cylon attack on the colonies that begins the Battlestar story. Jane Espenson's script has a lot of great moments, including some darkly witty lines that are a reminder of her time on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. At the same time, there are plenty of moments and scenes throughout that fans will rightfully love and the new information it delivers does encourage us all to once more go back and watch the series again - and that's certainly not a bad thing."

From a Blu-ray.com review of the DVD: "An unexpectedly subtle powerhouse that focuses on the Cylons and their efforts to eradicate humanity. Integrating scenes from the miseries and the first two seasons, writer Jane Espenson and director Edward James Olmos systematically eliminate a variety of plot holes, weave an engrossing tale of love and loss, and provide a fresh perspective on BSG's devious skinjobs. It's simply another strong story in a long line of strong stories that have allowed Battlestar Galactica to emerge as one of the finest television series of the still-young 21st century. The film explores the twisted tale of the first humanoid model Cylon, John Cavil, and the reasons he and his brethren decided to eliminate the human race. Though almost every major BSG character makes an appearance to some degree (Mary McDonnell's President Roslin is the lone exception, but her absence, while strange, is ultimately inconsequential), this is, from the first attack on the Colonies to the final philosophical debate between a pair of Ones, Stockwell's film through and through. Likewise, while Baltar and his flesh-n-blood lot pop up from time to time (mainly in clips culled form the series' first two seasons), the other humanoid Cylons are The Plan's key secondary players. The focus on the machines is a welcome move that accomplishes a lot in very little time. The whereabouts of the Final Five is justified, the reason they're in the dark is revealed, Boomer's sleeper state is explored, and the root of the human/Cylon conflict is dissected to near-Shakespearean, dare I say, Biblical lengths. Cavil is presented as a Machiavellian mastermind; a Lucifer-like creation whose ascension to, and challenge of, the gods (or God, as Tricia Helfer's Six would emphatically declare) is as maniacal as it is tragic. His manipulation of everyone and everything in his path leaves him as lonely among his own kind as his parent model Cylons first made him feel. He doesn't realize how readily he perpetuates his own misery, nor does he seem to understand the irony of his circumstances, but his flaws make him all the more human; a characteristic the heartless skinjob would deny without hesitation. But it's precisely this sort of duality that makes him such a fascinating antagonist, so much so that Moore and Espenson's decision to place him at the forefront of the mythos is shown to be a brilliant move. He's both superior and inferior to his creators, a tantruming child with countless nuclear weapons in one hand and the entirety of the human and Cylon races in the other. His hatred of humanity seems to assure mutual destruction; his call to genocide is as insane as it is logical. To his credit, Stockwell turns in a startling performance that allows Olmos and Espenson to effortlessly pull back the proverbial curtain. His carefully mapped portrayal of two Cavils -- one on Galactica, one on Caprica with Anders -- even gives the actor and the filmmakers the opportunity to examine the conflict in Cavil's own mind. Simply put, Stockwell makes The Plan the enthralling character study it is. His supporting castmats are just as strong (especially Rick Worthy, who didn't have anywhere near this much meaty material in the series), but Stockwell carries the brunt of the film's burdens with style. The Plan is a welcome addition to the Battlestar canon that injects another batch of stirring stories into the mix at large. With potent performances, a simmering script, and an astonishing overview of the destruction of the Twelve Colonies (presented in a startling sequence sure to grace many a fan's Top Ten Battlestar Moments list) makes this flick well worth the price of admission. Battlestar junkies won't be disappointed."

From a Coming Soon Dot Net Review of the DVD: "The real star of the movie is Dean Stockwell as Brother Cavil. We see him and his copies inserted into numerous scenes from the original series. We see him on Caprica infiltrating Anders' resistance. We see him on Galactica conspiring with the various Six models. We see him in several locations with the Final Five during the Initial Cylon attack. The end result is a film that feels more like a lot of deleted scenes spliced together into a 2 hour film rather than a new story. It is also completely inaccessible to anyone other than those that watched the series. That being said, they do add a couple of new storylines. We meet a new Six model who is a brunette prostitute. We're also re-introduced to Lymari Nadal as Giana. She was in one episode of the series, but plays a major role in this film. We discover that somewhere along the way, she married Simon, one of the Cylon human models. Simon falls for Giana and her daughter and eventually comes to the conclusion that wiping out the humans is wrong. In fact, the main crisis that Cavil seems to have is all the Cylons on Galactica becoming sympathetic towards the humans. He's definitely portrayed as the devil behind the scenes as he has to re-convince them of their mission. Cavil has an especially evil scene that is one of the most poignant scenes of the film."

From a Latino Review Dot Com review of the DVD: "We were never told the details of the Cylons' ultimate plan to annihilate humanity when the series began. They made a dramatic reappearance after vanishing for forty years and with the destruction of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, nearly wiped out the human race. Now with this new film all is revealed. The story opens 281 days after the destruction of the colonies during the season two episode 'Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II' where Brother John Cavil (Dean Stockwell) has just been exposed as a Cylon by another model of himself. This is the story of two Cavils: Fleet Cavil, who has infiltrated the surviving fleet as a Minster, hoping to break it from the inside, and Caprica Cavil, who gets involved with a group of resistance fighters led by Sam Anders (Michael Trucco) and begins to question whether the Cylon attack was justified. Flashing back to two days before the attack we finally get to see the destruction in full detail (thanks in part to an increased visual effects budget). Yet Battlestar Galactica is not about visual effects, but rather character and story. Graduating from supporting player to central character, Dean Stockwell puts in some brilliant work playing not one, but two versions of the same model. When revealed to be one of the Final Five in Season Four, Ellen Tigh (Kate Vernon) described him as a spoiled child, yet he is something far worse. Cavil yearns for mankind's destruction because they created the Cylons and though they are near perfect machines they are still limited. The Final Five are their creators as well yet no matter what they do as long as man survives they love them more. We get to see exactly what each of the five were doing when the bombs dropped and how Cavil infiltrated the fleet and was responsible for many of the dilemmas throughout Season One. Not only is there more than one Cavil, but as always multiple versions of Number Six (Tricia Helfer) including a raven haired one who is a bit of a floozy and ends up sharing his bed. It was Cavil who enlisted Number Six 'Shelly Godfrey' to accuse Dr. Gaius Baltar (James Callis) of being a traitor in the episode 'Six Degrees of Separation' in order to discredit him and put a stop to his construction of a Cylon detector. Another version of Number Four 'Simon' (Rick Worthy) is also introduced, only he is a medic aboard Galactica. With a human wife (who works as a mechanic with Chief Tyrol) and adopted daughter, he's quite content with his human family and tries to buy as much time as he can, knowing Cavil's efforts will inevitably kill them all. While there are an evil Cavil and a sympathetic Simon aboard Galactica, the reverse exists on Caprica. After being 'rescued' by Anders and his team when they assault a Cylon detail loading human bodies, Caprica Cavil begins to bond emotionally with these people. Another version of Simon is a part of the group and though they both attempt sabotage from within, Cavil is having second thoughts. Meanwhile about Galactica, we're provided with insight into what really made Sharon 'Boomer' Valeri (Grace Park) tick. Though she is a sleeper agent, who becomes aware of her mission and nature when given a special 'trigger' by Cavil, she too is questioning her role in his grand scheme, not realizing that he sees her as his pet project. It was indeed Boomer who sabotaged the water tanks in episode two 'Water' yet it was also her who found a new resource by episode's end. With many of their attempts at sabotage failing, Cavil grows frustrated and fears the possibility that his people are subconsciously screwing up their mission because they are all having second thoughts. Boomer only feels happy when she succumbs to her human programming, Simon wants to have a human family and even Leoben (Callum Keith Rennie) believes Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace has a destiny that will affect them all. The movie is definitely not for those unfamiliar with the show, because it feels like small missing pieces of a larger work that have been strung together. Many of the major cast members have not returned, (Mary McDonnell's President Roslin is no where to be found) but footage of them from the series has been incorporated into the story. There is more than one occasion of deja vu and small touches that force you to think back to how they fit into the story and make you want to watch the entire series again. It's also bolder and much grander than any individual episode including some of the most ambitious f/x images in the series beginning with the very first shot. I'm just sad that this is the final nail in the coffin of a dearly departed series that changed episodic television."

From the Big Picture Big Sound Dot Com review of the DVD: "Each week, the series Battlestar Galactica opened with the following words across the screen: 'The Cylons were built by man. They rebelled. There are many copies. And they have... a plan.' That brief summation set up the central story for four seasons. There was just one little problem: The series ended months ago and despite many loose ends neatly knotted, we still weren't told what 'the plan' was. Until now. A coda to Battlestar Galactica's four-year run, the new direct-to-video movie The Plan finally details exactly what the Cylons' intent was (in short, the extermination of the life form known as 'human'), why they failed, and how they came up with a new one. The Plan covers roughly ten months of mankind's exodus, familiar to fans except this time told from the Cylons' point of view, taking into account the revelations of the final season. In fact, it assumes that the viewer is already familiar with all of BSG's many jaw-dropping secrets, including the closely guarded identities of all 12 human-mimicking Cylon models. At times, the movie is quite ambitious, with vast depictions of the destruction and occupation of the 12 colonies, along with lots of other skirmishes and mayhem. Under the direction of star Edward James Olmos, it overflows with nuance and subtlety, the kind of character-driven drama we would expect when an actor takes the reins. Those folks who can't get enough BSG will surely appreciate The Plan's expanded back-story on key moments from the series, and the new insights they provide."

From Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Review: "For fans of "Battlestar Galactica," any opportunity to re-visit this show's universe will probably be welcome, but "The Plan," a direct-to-DVD release that goes on sale Tuesday, is less a stand-alone movie than it is a series of vignettes that tell stories from the first two years of the series from the Cylon point of view. Written by "BSG" veteran Jane Espenson and directed by series star Edward James Olmos, "The Plan" attempts to tell the stories of two versions of the Cylon named Cavil (Dean Stockwell), one who hates humans and another who learns to live with them. Those divergent views set the stage for later seasons of "BSG," but the focus here is on "the plan" mentioned in the opening credits of the show in its early seasons and then dropped when it became clear the Cylons no longer had a plan or agreed on what the plan should be. Turns out the initial Cylon plan was simple: Exterminate humanity in the attack on the Colonies. When some humans escaped, the plan was botched. "The Plan" returns to the pre-attack era of peace and then revels in showing viewers the destruction, answering a few previously raised but unanswered questions along the way. It won't make much sense to non-fans, and even die-hards who haven't watched early seasons of the show in recent years will likely scratch their heads at points. Many scenes in "The Plan" rely on clips from previously broadcast episodes, which works to the film's advantage in one way: Just about all the series regulars, except for President Roslin (Mary McDonnell), are seen in "The Plan," even if they were not in new scenes shot for the film, which also includes brief male and female nudity. Putting the focus on Cavil works to this movie's advantage. He's an outrageous character and Stockwell plays the wily, sarcastic Cylon with gusto, especially when he has to say lines like, "They call this a suicide vest but I think it undersells the homicide that comes along with it.". "You're going to have to go back and watch the whole series again," Olmos, who is prone to hyperbole, says of The Plan in an interview. This time he's not exaggerating. To make sense of "The Plan," forgetful fans may be inspired to re-watch the series. When the series is as good as "BSG" was, that's not an altogether bad thing."

From Sci-Fi's press release: "Starting before the events of the miniseries, our story focuses on familiar characters including Cylon Number One, known as Cavil, Resistance Leader Sam T. Anders and Chief Galen Tyrol. In the beginning, the Cylons had a plan, but it didn't account for one thing: survivors. During the chaotic aftermath of the destruction, two powerful Cylon agents struggle with plots and priorities on the human ships that got away, and among the resistance fighters who were left behind."

Jane Espenson had this to say: "The events of The Plan are the events that you've seen...in the show, from the miniseries to almost the end of season two. So it's that chunk of time, but sort of seen with the Cylon perspective. So you're going to see a lot of stuff that was going on that you weren't aware of at the time: on Caprica, in the fleet. That was when the Cylons, as depicted in the original show, were very mysterious, enemies that would come out of the darkness and retreat. And this is...what were they really doing all that time: What was the the internal stuff. A lot of loose ends are tied up, a lot of questions are asked that you don't even know that you have. If you had a copy right now, you might feel that you could go ahead and watch it, because it's about stuff that already happened. But it's very much designed to be watched after the run of the series, because it definitely relies on stuff you don't learn until much later... We made tons of changes in the preproduction phase and ended up with a really tight script that we filmed sort of as they were demolishing the sets out from under us. And we ended up with something that I think is so much better than our highest hopes had been for what this movie could be. It really sort of caps off the show."

And this: "We worked very fast to put together this Rubik's Cube, this very complicated puzzle-script that had to fit together in this timeline that we'd already set out. Everything had to fit together within the framework we'd already set out. There was a lot of flipping through the scripts, then watching the episodes and trying to make sure that when someone walked out of a door in one series, they'd be in the same mood when they came through the other side in The Plan."

Edward James Olmos had this to say: "The Plan is literally what the Cylons had in mind and why they did what they did. At the beginning of every show they have, "The Cylons were created by man.". We created them to help, and they ended up creating themselves. Some of them don't know that they are Cylons and they have a plan. So this is the plan."

And this: "First of all, in the most simple way, it deals with some of the questions as to how things happened and why things happened, so that's just the basic fundamental premise. Who left the note that said there are twelve models? Simple things, where you go, 'Oh my god, it was this person!'. Something as basic as that to understanding the psychology of the Cylon's whole demise, the fact of why it was impossible for it to turn out any other way. And you never would guess that something so simple would have such a profound effect on why the Cylon annihilation of the human species did not occur. And it's really emotionally beautiful in that respect."

And this: "When Battlestar fans see 'The Plan', They're all going to have to go back and watch the entire series again."

And this: "It's a different formula, a different understanding in the way that the story is told. It's a very, very strong piece, and I hope that people who don't know the show at all can see this and be exposed to situations, and...learn what they mean when they go through the show. And that will completely throw them into understanding the Cylon world. So when you go back and see the episodes, if you've never seen the show before, it'll drive you to see the miniseries and episodes and to follow through from the miniseries through to the 78 or 79 hours of the series."

And this: "I gotta tell you, not to give anything away, it is exactly what you think it is. You see the complete opposite of the first 281 days of what we went through, seen through the eyes of the Cylons, and it is breathtaking. (the 281 day mark of the series takes place in "35 2x20 Lay Down Your Burdens, Part 2" when the Cylons evacuate Caprica) It's fantastic. It's not fun, but I will say that you sit there gasping. Basically, you will go back to see the series again. I couldn't have imagined this kind of situation happening at the end of a show, where you would actually start at the beginning. That's a masterful piece of understanding Ron Moore. Genius. Because after you see The Plan, you'll want to go back and view the whole series again. The Plan is 2 hours and 6 minutes long the way you're going to have on the DVD. When you see it aired, it's going to be 88 minutes. I have to tell you right now, Dean Stockwell is a brilliant artist. He does a magnificent job of leading The Plan. The Plan is exactly that. It was how they planned to do what they did and what happened. It was monumental. All I can tell you is it's an extraordinary look at the Cylons, how they masterminded what they did."

And this: "What their plan was, I think that's a big surprise; finding out what the plan was and how it was structured and how close they were to completing it. Cavil is definitely the person who masterminded the entire event."

SyFy boss Mark Stern had this to say: "It's going to sidestep to the series overall in the way that Razor was, so it's backtracking to another part of the story. It's really how it all came together. It's a bit of Cavil's story and how we get to that place. It jumps into various pieces, but there is a lot in the before time, before we get to the attack, so it really fills out the larger mythology."

Ron Moore had this to say: "'The Plan' will really be going back and looking at events from the first couple of years, but doing them from the Cylon point of view. 'The Plan' is sort of a companion piece to the series, and it's really kind of a show for those who love the show already."

And this: "There are definitely surprises. If you loved Battlestar Galactica you're probably going to be really intrigued by The Plan because it's going to have all of these little breadcrumbs and throwaway lines and indicators and suggestions from other episodes. You've seen the show. You've watched the finale. You know how the story ends. Ok, here's like an additional slant on some things that you didn't know about. I supervised and gave suggestions and follow-ups and I tried to keep the story and the concepts within the Battlestar world, but I really let Jane run with it. I mean it's really her piece and Olmos' piece. I was very happy to sort of let them take the reins on this one."

Kate Vernon had this to say: "You'll definitely have a few ah ha moments. But there's a big chunk of what's been happening on the show that this movie will show the moments right before. You'll get a big piece of the puzzle from 'The Plan'. It'll just slide right into focus. The movie will open up the show for fans in a big way, because there's a giant piece missing and this will show you the bigger picture."

Grace Park had this to say: "It does offer the Cylon perspective. We go back in time and get to revisit some of the same scenarios that we've experienced, but with added information. We'll have a newer understanding. There's a lot more nudity! It was interesting filming it. It actually confused me, because with the added perspective of the Cylons, we're realizing some things and getting new information we didn't have before. And part of that, because I'm playing a Cylon, there was some stuff that certainly threw me and kind still throws me off. Because a lot of times things weren't explained and you'd make it up and you'd get an explanation four years later and you're like, 'That doesn't match what I was doing...' but you sort of make it work in your head. There's a recount of some of the major things that have happened, with this new information about the plan and really following the Cylons, but also the humans as well. We're going to be enmeshed with a lot of the same incidents and catastrophes and administrative decision making. This is the right time to watch it, at the end."

And this: "Yeah, there's going to be a T & A version. Though maybe I should say T, C & A, because it's not just girls this time..."

And this: "What we did was we took scenes that we already shot that you're going to recognize and then either add another angle, or add some dialogue. So if someone whispered something in someone's ear, which you never heard, we're actually adding that dialogue. So it's going to inform things on many different levels. So it's tricky. The important thing was I always wanted to differentiate Boomer from Athena, and doing some of the flashbacks (in "77 4x20 Daybreak, Part II"), when Tigh and Adama are saying 'You're washed up,' we all know who Boomer is now, but having to go back and remember that she wasn't always that way and to kind of go back to her innocence. Her at the beginning was different than Athena at the beginning; Athena was way more knowing, and she was, like, lying right off the top because she didn't care. Whenever they go back they always want to make something kind of interesting, and put a new piece there. Oh, I almost said it out loud! They had this little piece that was a little prop which would help you sort of see the mechanism how Boomer went in and out of her sleeper mode, and since it was never discussed before or revealed to us, I had my own thing all made up, and then when that started happening, that's when it really screwed it up. I think that was more confusing, to make that make sense after all of the stuff that I put on top already."

And this: "You'll see most of your favorite characters in there, but it's going to be from a different point of view. It was fun, but it did throw me a little bit because every time the writers go back into the past they want to reveal something new. It's like, 'Oh my gosh, that's totally not how I had it in my head.' "

And this: "There is more than the obvious, which is what was the Cylon perspective, if they had a plan, what their plan was, what it entailed. I think besides that, The Plan shows probably how alike or unlike humans they really are."

And this: "The Plan is really revisiting some well known, important events between the Cylons and the humans but from the other perspective. Almost like who shot JFK but from the perspective of the shooter. You'll be going back and watching the same incidents unfold but from around a different corner. It's going to be cool."

Michael Trucco had this to say: "The Plan doesn't extend beyond what we saw in the finale. Where Caprica is a true prequel (58 years before the beginning of Battlestar Galactica), The Plan actually picks up the story between Seasons 1 & 2 ("14 1x13 Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part 2" & "15 2x01 Scattered"). It's actually a prequel to the entrance of Anders ("18 2x04 Resistance"), my character, and Cavil ("34 2x20 Lay Down Your Burdens, Part 1"), Dean Stockwell's character. The movie is told from that perspective. But the thrust of it is what happened before Season 2, when suddenly on this planet, Caprica, Starbuck finds this guy Anders and his band of resistance fighters, former teammates of the Caprica Buccaneers. Then, later in the season, we find this mysterious Brother Cavil, and this movie is going to answer questions about the moments before that, where we came from and how we came to get integrated into the story. It's going to weave its way in through storylines that we've already seen, and it's going to make you want to go back and go, "Oh! I want to watch that episode in Season 2 again. Wait, Cavil was standing there the whole time?" We're going to use footage from stuff that's already been shot, but then they'll integrate it with a shot that will tie in the fact that Cavil was just around the corner hiding behind a tree in the forest, long before we even met him. They even had to rebuild sets that we had long since destroyed. From Season 2, we had exteriors we shot on the forest, and they recreated these sets that we had shot a year and a half or 2 years earlier, and here we are back on the same set. They hired almost virtually the same background actors; they got a lot of the same day-player actors; we're all wearing the same thing. We cut our hair back to what it was like then, and it was like being in a time machine; it was amazing."

Tricia Helfer had this to say: "It answers big things, like what the Cylons' plan was, but also little things. There's an episode in the beginning ("08 1x07 Six Degrees of Separation") with one of the Sixes, Shelly Godfrey, and fans were like, how'd she disappear and get off the ship? Well, this will show you how. And a lot of it is from Brother Cavil's and Sam Anders' perspective."

And this: "There will certainly be a lot more explicit action on the DVD. And I refuse to have a body double, so you will see a little bit of skin from me as the Six character. There's also a new character you'll see in some very intense sex scenes."

The above youtube interview seems to suggest that a possible connection between Daniel Graystone & Cylon Model #7 Daniel might be referenced in this movie - or possibly on Caprica. This connection to Caprica was first mentioned by Ron Moore in his podcast commentary for "72 4x16 No Exit" - but maybe it will turn up in The Plan as well, which would rock!

Here is a sneak peek of a scene from The Plan between Ellen & Cavil, apparently set during the events of "02 1x01 33"; further explaining how Ellen survived The Fall and setting up her first appearance (in "10 1x09 Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down":

It's reported that the movie will be released on DVD shortly after airing, just as previous tv movie "Razor" did before it. Edward James Olmos also said in an interview, that the DVD would most likely include an extended director's cut of the feature. We know from this later Edward James Olmos interview, that the DVD will indeed have an extended cut with the aired version running 88 minutes, and the DVD version running 126 minutes.

Edward James Olmos has directed other episodes. These episodes include Season 1's "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down" (which introduced Ellen Tigh), Season 3's "Taking a Break From All Your Worries", Season 4's "Escape Velocity" and "Islanded in a Stream of Stars".

Jane Espenson (former Buffy writer) wrote Season 3's "The Passage" & "Dirty Hands"; Season 4's "Escape Velocity", "The Hub" "The Face of the Enemy" webisodes and "Deadlock".

The movie was filmed after the series was completed, and around the same time "The Face of the Enemy" webisodes were also filmed.

It would be nice to see Jean Barolay & Sue-Shaun again as presently, both characters are deceased. Sue-Shawn was killed by Kara Thrace (at Sue-Shawn's request) in Season 2's "The Farm". While Jean Barolay was killed by an unnamed Cylon model Six which Jean had previously murdered on New Caprica; Jean's death happened in the 4th Season episode: "Faith".

Nowart was a mostly background character seen in random episodes since late Season 3 (he was first seen in #50 3x14 "The Woman King". It was said that his role would be expanded to some degree by the end of the series - and it was, though not as much as I expected. Still, seeing him at an earlier point in the series would be interesting, and possibly a nice setup for his later appearances.

Lymari Nadal's character Giana, appeared in the original miniseries. She was the Caprican who escaped along with Boomer and Baltar when Helo was left behind. She was heard asking about her husband who served in the Colonial Fleet near Gemenon. She hasn't been seen since. Nadal is also Edward James Olmos's real life wife.

The Chicago Tribune reported that Saul Tigh and Tory Foster, though they both appear, will only be seen in a limited capacity.

Almost all of the cast is made up of Cylon characters, with the exception of Three/D'Anna Biers. I'm wondering if Lucy Lawless's character of Three might not show up in some old footage or something to complete the set? The cut footage from "Downloaded" featuring D'Anna & Gina Inviere trying to kidnap Hera would be perfect!

There's a page set up for the film on the Battlestar Wiki, though much of the information I learned about the film is not represented there.

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