Battlestar Galactica ended its run last spring, but the show had one more hurrah: a made-for-Sci-Fi TV movie, The Plan, depicting the events from the miniseries and first two seasons from the perspective of the Cylon agents within the Rag Tag Fleet of survivors. Although the air date was postponed until 2010, the uncut DVD was released last week.

For those who aren’t familiar with BSG, real quick now: the Cylons were created by the human settlers on the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. The Cylons developed sentient thought, and rebelled against their captors. There was a war, and it ended when the Cylons left to create their own society. Forty years later, they came back and launched a nuclear holocaust. Fifty thousand people — out of fifty or sixty billion — survived, and, in a fleet led by the last surviving Battlestar, the Galactica, made their way into the depth of space looking for the 13th Colony: Earth, all while being pursued by the Cylon forces.

During the series’ opening credits, a tag would explain all of this, and then explain that the Cylons “have a plan.”

And if you’re reading this on a viewer, this is the point where you should worry about getting spoilers for The Plan. If you’re reading this on my blog, click at your own risk.

Except they didn’t. Ron Moore inserted that tag because it seemed to fit, not because he actually had any concept of the Cylons “having a plan.” During The Plan, a Simon model remarks to Cavil, “This is all improv!”

The Plan opens with the annihilation of the 12 Colonies. Basestars appear in orbit over each colony. Battlestars fall out of orbit. Hundreds of nuclear missiles fly. Cities are obliterated. Survivors scramble to escape the colonies and make their way into space. The plot focuses on two of the human-like Cylons, Model One: Cavil. Cavil A infiltrates Anders’ Pyramid resistance fighters in the mountains around Caprica City, where he learns that the Cylon attack was a dreadful mistake. Cavil B is on the colonies at the time of the attack, but finds himself evacuated into the Fleet. Locating other Cylons, he begins to organize an effort to bring down the fleet from within, including giving instructions to a sleeper agent who is also a member of Galactica‘s flight crew: Boomer.

I was worried that The Plan would be a glorified clip show, but while it does incorporate footage from the first seasons, I learned listening to the audio commentary (from Edward James Olmos, who played Commander Adama, and also directed; and Jane Espenson, who wrote for BSG during the 3rd and 4th seasons, scripted the movie, and wrote for Buffy) that when the script called for an already filmed scene, Olmos often went back to the original reels (or whatever they’re called now) to re-edit scenes, so that they’re presented differently.

There are missed opportunities: one subplot is of a boy on Galactica who tries to befriend Cavil B, and winds up with a knife in his side. The boy is named John, and is a metaphor for the love that Cavil B is missing out on (the same love that Cavil A recognizes as evidence of the Cylons’ mistake). However! Remember Boxey? He was in the miniseries, and then an episode or two of the first season, and then he disappeared. Yeah, I know the actor who played him is now far too old to play him again, but … still, total missed opportunity for Cavil B to kill Boxey.

Also, there’s a surprising amount of nudity. I mean, I realize that for an unrated DVD cut, they can get away with a lot more — and who is going to object to a lot of naked breasts? Not me — but it still seemed somewhat out of place. Ironically, the commentary during the unisex bathroom scene skipped over the boobs and focused on the penis — to prevent women from complaining, Olmos made sure to have a male actor’s* penis visible. And then he and Espenson spend like five minutes talking about how shy the actor was and blah-blah-blah. More boobs!

Lastly, if you have the DVD, there’s a pretty neat easter egg: from the Bonus Feature screen, highlight the Admiral to Director feature, and hit the right arrow. A Battlestar logo will appear to the left. Select it, and enjoy.

*As opposed to a female actor’s penis. Ew.