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| | Battlestar Galactica: The Plan | | | Music Style : | | General | | Record Label : | | Universal Studios | | Release Date : | | 2009-10-27 | | Store Price : | | $26.98 | | Artistopia's Price: $15.99 | | Usually ships in 24 hours | | |
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Customer Reviews of This Album/CD |
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 Dean Stockwell is Great--SPOILER ALERT
Submitted on: 2009-11-24 |
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When the series began, I was a voracious fan. When it ended, I was glad. "The Plan" doesn't add much to the series, and while there is some action, there is also much of the soul-searching that dragged the series into the abyss of sentimentality. Lots of this movie is rehashed from the first season, with some new footage focusing on Dean Stockwell's character, Number One. But the movie also doesn't jibe with the series. At the beginning of the film, we see Stockwell and other cylons walking among the as-yet-unresurrected Final Five before the strike on Caprica. In the series, though, they did not know who the final five were, not at first. They sought to discover their identity just as eagerly as the humans did.
Stockwell, Olmos, and McDonnell were what was best in this series. It's good to see Stockwell get center stage here. |
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 SAME OLD REHASH SUMMARY OF BG PAST FOUR SEASONS
Submitted on: 2009-11-24 |
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| Although I enjoyed this movie more than CAPRICA it still left a bad taste in my mouth primarily because the movie was simply a crafty editing of alot of old clips mixed in with a few new ones. It was a mere attempt to make some further profit by using many original scenes that we have seen blended with some new clips. It was okay to watch once especially for the great CGI effects of the cylon base stars mounting their attack on the twelve colonies. Other than that the ending was simply too abrupt and not any of a real surprise. By a used copy if you want to complete your BG DVD collection so as to save a few bucks. |
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 Inspires mixed feelings for a BSG follower
Submitted on: 2009-11-23 |
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"The Plan" is not for people new to Battlestar Galactica (BSG). If you've followed the series, then it is going to inspire mixed feelings. Overall, I liked it, but I can see how others may not.
This is the BSG story from the Cylon perspective. A few characters get inserted into the old timeline, a lot of footage is recycled, depth is added to the saga, and the story of how Ellen Tigh escaped the nuclear attack is revealled.
It would be easy to accuse the makers of BSG of milking the cash cow, but I think the back-story in "The Plan" is along the lines of "Razor". You can watch and follow the series as broadcast, but the extended episodes and movies fill in blanks and enrich the epic. The politicking and behind the scenes stories of events that appeared in the series put those events in a whole new light, and enrich the understanding of the Cylon approach and outlook.
A good addition to BSG.
E. M. Van Court |
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 Kluge
Submitted on: 2009-11-22 |
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kluge
Definition:
Something not built according a design or plan, but assembled from whatever is available to 'make do.'
(from Wikipedia):
Kludge
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A kludge (or kluge) is a workaround, a quick-and-dirty solution, a clumsy or inelegant, yet effective, solution to a problem, typically using parts that are cobbled together. This term is diversely used in fields such as computer science, aerospace engineering, Internet slang, and evolutionary neuroscience.
The Plan is a perfect example of a Kluge. Worse yet, it changes characters and relationships from the series, and even changes the story line. The idea here was that there was not democracy and voting among the Cylons, they were all controlled to one degree or another by Brother Cavil, who knew who the final five were from the beginning. This may attempt to be an "effective solution" to a 4-5 year series with many plot holes and inconsistencies, but it ends up feeling "quick and dirty". If you have to change the story to try to tie it together, then better off leaving the questions unanswered. |
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 Not a boring clip show
Submitted on: 2009-11-20 |
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The Film
First off, this is NOT a clip show. If these reviewers even bothered to watch the movie, they would know that the majority of the film (at LEAST 75%) is entirely new footage. They only use old footage to provide the context to understand when the events are occuring. And the reused footage is often from different camera angles, and not exactly what was seen before. The integration of new and old footage is so well done that it gets hard to tell them apart. The visual effect shots are all entirely new (and absolutely stunning). The acting remains fantastic. There are entirely new music tracks, as well as a couple old familiar ones that are sometimes remixed and used at appropriate places in the time line of the story.
Secondly, this film is not really for newcomers to BSG. It might make limited sense to a newcomer, but there is no way you'd get the same appreciation for it, since this is the LAST installment of Battlestar, and spoils the entire preceding series.
For those who have seen BSG, the film itself is not pointless, and not just a reliving of earlier days on Galactica. It has it's own narrative and a plot. It's mainly a study of the motivations of the Cylons, as led by Cahvil, and how their plan (kill all humans) fell apart because of obsession and love. We already knew that they had hated the colonials enough to purge them from the universe, but not enough of an understanding of what precipitated the Cylon Civil War, and why they would ever ally with the Colonials, or why the Occupation wasn't just a wholesale slaughter of humans.
The only real faults of the film was it's pacing, which at first is too quick, and then it becomes too slow. And then there was too much that was glossed over, scenes that felt underplayed, and events that I couldn't help feel like should have been in the film (Olympic Carrier anyone?). And it only covered the time line of the first two seasons, still leaving a lot to be inferred. With so much left out and rushed through, I feel that it might have worked better, and have been more clear to it's purpose as a longer piece. Although there may yet be another BSG movie, since EJO has strongly alluded to that possibility.
Overall I find it a satisfying addition and enhancement of the story.
The Product
The packaging on this one is fine. I saw a lot of people have package issues with the full series box set, but that is not the case here. And in fact I was impressed the seal was surprisingly easy to remove (I've had many bad experiences with these on other DVDs). The disc has some rather nice extras. Unfortunately EJO and Espenson aren't nearly as good as Moore when it comes to commentary, yet they still share some interesting insights on their work.
Rating
Normally I'd give it 4 stars, since the film has it's faults. But I'm giving it 5 to offset the morons who say it's a clipshow, when it's not, and give it only one star on that basis alone, neglecting all it's good stuff. Sure it aint perfect, but I wouldn't have even reviewed this (I'm lazy) if it didn't irk me so badly how some people are bashing it. |
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