As a quick response to some of the other comments, I have to wonder if a select few of those authors actually paid attention to the series and/or this movie. While there are definite open ends when the series ended, at least one of the authors above asked questions that were most certainly answered. (e.g. "Why did the Final Five create the humanoid Cylons?" We have that answer, give during the series. *SERIES SPOILER* It was a bargain to try and end the cycle - the Final Five reached the colonies right in the midst of the Cylon revolt. They traveled to the twelve colonies to warn them about the cycle of destruction, but it had already begun. In an attempt to salvage what was left, the Final Five convinced the centurions to leave the colonies and in return, they would provide the humanoid Cylons along with advancement to their technology, i.e. resurrection.) Any way, back on point: another reviewer put it well to say that this movie contains very little *new* plot devices. For the most part, it reuses all of the plot devices from the series, but tells them from the Cylon perspective. While I would have appreciated some more detail into the model 7 (a.k.a. Daniel) along with Kara Trace's mysterious character and the Baltar/Caprica-Six Angels, I think this movie does a fantastic job of adding to the re-imagined BSG canon. We all knew that Cavil played a significant role from his discussions with Ellen in the final episodes of the series, but this movie definitely gives him the spot light, allowing the audience to see his personalities. The Plan does a good job at filling in some minor plot holes like "what was happening with Boomer in season 1 when she kept blacking out" and it was interesting to see the orchestrating that the different Cylons performed to achieve the result of the series. The Plan starts after the Final Five had been placed on Earth, and details a bit about how they lived before the fall, and how they got onto Galactica, which was largely a missing link prior to this movie.
In my opinion, I always jump on the skeptic wagon when I begin to watch a movie or TV show that is reusing material from earlier production. I'm careful to assess the movie and how much of it is simply recycled. I was pleased with The Plan, because while it does reuse material from the series and deleted scenes, I feel they do so in a significant way and not too much. Many scenes that they did pull from the series, they included the removed portions and shot new extended versions of those scenes to fill in any continuation holes. There are shots of the Final Five saying "this has happened before" (an eerie recall to their true identities before they awoke) which are new, considering Ronald D. Moore admitted to not having selected them until later in the series.
Overall, I give this a 7 / 10 because it could have done more. There are still other questions The Plan doesn't address, but I guess that is partially why Edward James Olmos said "this probably isn't the last BSG."
In my opinion, I always jump on the skeptic wagon when I begin to watch a movie or TV show that is reusing material from earlier production. I'm careful to assess the movie and how much of it is simply recycled. I was pleased with The Plan, because while it does reuse material from the series and deleted scenes, I feel they do so in a significant way and not too much. Many scenes that they did pull from the series, they included the removed portions and shot new extended versions of those scenes to fill in any continuation holes. There are shots of the Final Five saying "this has happened before" (an eerie recall to their true identities before they awoke) which are new, considering Ronald D. Moore admitted to not having selected them until later in the series.
Overall, I give this a 7 / 10 because it could have done more. There are still other questions The Plan doesn't address, but I guess that is partially why Edward James Olmos said "this probably isn't the last BSG."