BSG: The Plan
Oct. 21st, 2009 06:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccatoriaSo. The Plan. I has seen it.
Basically my thoughts can be summed up like this:
What a lovely collection of deleted scenes. What a truly weird movie.
My only hope for this thing was that it not wreck anything. And basically it didn't.
THE GOOD.
So. Yeah. As far as deleted scenes go, these were nice. I enjoyed seeing what happened to Shelley - pretty much what I was expecting but as usual Helfer knocks it out of the park. It was nice to see Grace Park revisiting Boomer in this era with - in my opinion - improved acting, and I am, after thought, ultimately on the side of this retcon about her. While I do now wonder whether she had both sets of memories in Downloaded, and honestly, prefer if she doesn't and that was just a final cruel twist from Cavil, I like that we find out...well, she has agency in her own sleeper-agentness. She chose this. (Also, in a more subtle and potentially accidental retcon since it wasn't referenced in the movie, Boomer is now correct when she yells that there are eight cylons (excluding her) in the fleet to save Tyrol: Tigh, Ellen, Tyrol, Tory, Cavil, D'Anna, Tough!Six, Simon.)
I would also point to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nicole_anell's post where she points out that there is some evidence based on a propworx auction that the Six talking to Boomer about the wonderful new life she's about to embark on is Gina and that, actually, is an idea so perfect I don't have words for it. Probably the most broken and brilliant retcon in the entire thing; shame it wasn't clearer.
The stuff with Sam on Caprica was pretty nice too, although not really that...surprising? I mean, it essentially happens exactly as I'd expect it to, although there are some treats along the way, namely getting to see more of Jean Barolay and getting to see her before she became the hardest, coldest woman in the fleet. I've seen others who disliked it, but I kind of liked her calling Sam, "T". Also - I'm sure I'm the only person who didn't know this - but it was nice to get actual confirmation that she was also a pyramid star - I was never sure if she was on the team or just someone the Resistance picked up along he way, since we never saw her in The Farm. Also worth the price of admission, Cavil's backfiring backwards confession, the moment, perhaps, he could no longer hide the real reason he needed to get his parents to see things his way.
To meditate on that whole thing for a minute, since it was, essentially, the pivot of the film - the entirety of the "plot"; one Cavil learning that he was motivated by love just as much as everyone else and erradicating that impulse is impossible, with the other refusing to acknowledge he could possibly be wrong. That's it, right? The message of this film? Not religion or plot or mythology - love, dooming the Cylon plan, because they inevitably all fall in love. Because they were programmed that way by Ellen and Saul and Galen and Tory and Sam. You can't unlearn love.
Now, on the one hand, a giant positive here is the depiction of Cavil yes, as a murderous, manipulative psychopath who puppeteered most of the entire war and Cylon "plan" (and while I didn't have too much of a problem with that for reasons already discussed but largely pertaining to how amazing that made his character - a real perceptual shift in an instant - I can see why it would irk some people), we also see him as something more than one-dimensional. As a being capable of individuation and change and growth.
A potential negative here is the somewhat simplistic cliche nature with which it is possible to ineterpret his sudden revelation that "love outlasts death". OMG YOU GUYS, CAVIL'S HEART GREW THREE SIZES TOO BIG!! ADORABLE!
I choose, however, to go with a different intepretation and one I quite like. What Caprica Cavil learned was not that he should embrace love, or stop resenting it, but that fighting it was futile. I do not believe that Cavil had stopped wishing his parents had made him cold and logical, with the ability to taste cosmic phenomena. I think he could probably even still blame his parents for the fact he was motivated by a desire to be coddled and told he was best of all and loved and petted. The fact he now realises he too craves approval and love is probably right up there with prehensile paws on his Christmas List of upgrades.
But he has realised that it's futile. He understands now that it doesn't matter how many he kills, he can't make people love him more through a process of elimination. As he puts it, in an unemotional, blunt tone - no ceremonies - the Five will not stop loving humanity because he killed it - they will only love it more. He will only be further from his goal.
This isn't John Cavil having an epiphany about the wonder of love, it's John Cavil having an epiphany about the nature of reality and finally accepting, rather than raging against, it.
Which, since I'm feeling generous toward the show right now, I pretty much feel validates my enjoyment and reading of No Exit where his anti-humanist stance was, yes, a sign of his psychopathic tendencies, but also...a perspective that was presented as worthy of thought on various levels rather than strawman proof that he was irredeemable.
An argument that a Cavil who has "seen the light" and reformed from his "evil" agenda, is not some inverse of his original personality, is not puppies and love and kittens. Is still the guy who admits that the genocide of the human race was an error not because he wants to kiss and make up, but because he no longer thinks his race should be piggy-backing their destiny and future evolution onto humanity (I was sad that moment got cut in The Plan, but I recall it from the aired episode). Essentially, "redeemed" Cavil is still anti-humanist. Which is complexity that this show is worthy of.
Along the same lines, I think the scene that perhaps best sums up this plotline is the scene with PunkRock Six in her underwear delivering a drunk and note-perfect and bitchy summary of "the plan" and how it sucks and then bluntly telling Cavil what his counterpart realises and he never will - "You can't declare war on love."
Again, it's the lack of emotion - even from Six who is ALL about love (yeah, even this absolutely awesome, gum-chewing DRUNK Six is still a Six, I can't place why, but just, Tricia Helfer, man, it was always gonna clearly be a Six). She doesn't emotively plead with Cavil, as Leoben and Boomer do. She didn't act meak and vulnerable like Shelley did. She just told him straight, and swaggered out of the room, and the movie, bottle in hand.
(Speaking of, WHERE THE HELL DID SHE GO?)
Also, SIMON. Dude, finally he has a CHARACTER and a STORYLINE and it was a good one too. One that made him sympathetic and heroic and had some genuine tension since it was all new material. And fit thematically with Cavil's storyline - about realising that love outlasts death. For Simon that was a comfort that proved to be correct when his wife kept her faith in him even after knowing the truth (and WTF, self? I really liked that scene with Chief and her talking about the swan dive. Simple, new, fits perfectly. Sorta thing this movie should have been full of - we didn't need a replay of Chief's dream, the callback would have been obvious, and more powerful, without it - but more on that later). I know why they ended when they did; we started seeing the Cylon POV in S3 and later. But this storyline REALLY made me wonder what happened to Gianna on that occupied planet full of Simon copies.
I like to think she hooked up with him (maybe even the same copy; he THOUGHT he was out of resurrection range, but so did Leoben in Flesh and Bone and we know that wasn't the case), then stashed him in her compartment when they escaped and he was secretly still with the Fleet during S3 and S4.
I suppose I should mention when Cavil kills John. First off it's a shame the actor was too old or they TOTALLY should have used this to explain what happened to Boxey (though they could have recast him like they did Sue-Shaun, at least, I assume it was Sue-Shaun from the costume; she really looked nothing like the original actress). But, okay, he wouldn't have been called John. Honestly the thing that confused me was the idea that his parents were alive and didn't want him. I mean, I'm sure it happens, but it's not the kind of backstory that is...typical after a massive genocide. Parents just saying, "You know what kid, we don't really wantcha." And the idea that no one else did either? When people are probably scrambling to reassemble some sort of family unit? Though I do get that a runaway kid may not want a lovely replacement family or whatever. And I know part of the point is Cavil never asks cus he doesn't care, but for real. It bugged me.
Also, Cavil stabbing John was a genuinely suspenseful moment but I still find myself unsure of the symbolism behind the event, or the reasons for it. Because he was too close to accidentally seeing the truth? Because he was named John and Cavil hates that? Because he was an orphan who didn't want parents like Cavil? I dunno. I don't dislike it, I just...I feel I don't have a good grasp on the moment.
OH AND LEOBEN! I love Leoben; you all know that. So obviously I wanted more of him. The idea of him falling for her over the wireless is good, but what's GREAT is him realising she must be so special because he knew about the raider connection. Because of course he'd see it that way and more than that, it posits her achievement there as something miraculous inexplicable, not dumb luck and great flying skills which is pretty much what it was shown as at the time. Which fits well with my personal belief that she's half-cylon, obvs. Though his storyline raises more questions than it answers; why did he paint a mandala? Channelling Kara? And he really sees visions? I'm ambivalent about that one. On the one hand HE REALLY SEES VISIONS! It fits a little with my original interpretation of his words about the foreshadowing that preceeds every moment as suggesting that as a cylon he has an overclocked brain and thus instinctively half-predicts things based on the huge amounts of information he can process every moment, and hey, if humans can have oracles, why not Leoben? On the other hand, I'm so attached to the idea he got most of his beliefs from the Hybrid and the fact that...his disappearance in Sometimes a Great Notion - did his visions abandon him? I WANT TO KNOW! *stamps feet*
Also, much of it was very funny.
Thus concludes THE GOOD.
Now on to THE BAD.
Basically I think what was worst about this movie wasn't anything it actuall did with the story, because essentially all it does is flesh things out and none of it was truly off the wall. I think the problem is, it does not work in any way as a movie. There's too much recycled footage. It feels too disjointed. It feels like we're slowing plugging away through a season of television marking off little checkboxes and spending too long on events we already KNOW about at the expense of new stuff.
I can't help but find it lacking when I compare it structurally to Razor. Setting aside any issues of the actual plot, one thing Razor did very well was tell a self-contained story that nonetheless a) had ties back to the main story reaching back and ahead and b) firmly established where in the chronology of the series it occured.
It did a good job of using things like radio commentary about Roslin's abortion ban to act as a location and a callback to those of us who remember stuff like that but is just flavour background to more casual viewers.
Now, for the record I'm in favour of shows just running with their core audience and trusting others to pick up as it goes along, but I think The Plan manages the worst of both worlds. If you're not familiar with the storyline, the coppiness of this is going to be completely offputting and confusing. And if you are a big time fan, well, we're made to sit through stuff we know already in exchange for tiny moments that don't really change much.
Occasionally incorporating existing scenes works really well, but usually when you are also adding new material. The scene with Caprica Cavil and Simon talking about Kara and Sam in the other room is a good example. Taking the moment to show us what Shelley was doing behind the bathroom stall door was another. But mostly these moments weren't taken advantage of.
And frankly, while - as I said above - I liked Boomer's extra material well enough, and while I loved the extra info on Shelley (though I'll always be a little sad she wasn't another sleeper agent) - I would rather have lost most of this stuff in favour of more brand new stuff. That's what Razor basically trusted us with - a brand new character and two minor characters (Kendra and Gina and Cain) - to really carry the body of the narrative.
I think this movie would have improved hugely from being tightened up in this regard.
I'm not actually complaining that "The Plan" turned out to be, "Turns out 100% success rate when murdering 30 billion is hard, so lets do our best with some tricky mop-up and limited resources!" Sure, a No-Exit-like retcon could have been fun, but...I'm not crushed we didn't get it.
But what I will say is that when the eponymous "Plan" is a series of random, improvised and largely unrelated attacks except insasmuch as their overall goal of fracturing and destroying the Fleet, perhaps you shouldn't hang your plot off of that. Perhaps that should be the backdrop to some other plot.
I guess what I think would have been better is if they'd focused in on PunkRock Six - who we baiscally saw none of and Simon more. Much as D'Anna's presence in the fleet was mentioned and then they moved on, all the things we spent far too much time with can be incorporated as backdrop to a more detailed exploration of whatever PunkRock Six was up to (we could see more of Shelley and tying up her loose ends through PunkRock Six's role in it), and what Simon's storyline got even bigger, say for instance if he was actively trying to sabotage Cavil's plans in some way or something? I don't know, anything really. But if there were confrontations between them, I mean, mentions of "Oh, yes, that suicide bombing was the Five." Cus we basically know how that's going down as soon as he gets given the Homocide(tm) Vest. Or someone asking if they can tap Leoben for something and Cavil making a face and being like, "Yeah, fucker screwed us and got airlocked," or whatever. (Actually I probably would still keep the stuff with Leoben leading up to that because it was far more tied in with the wider metaplot than most of this stuff, but I could be biased).
I'd even cut down the Boomer stuff, sadly. Cus, well...we already know it. As brilliant as some of those scenes were...we already know most of it. And perhaps it would have been harder and more horrifying if her tale were being fed to Simon by Cavil in an attempt to coerce his co-operation or something and we're left wondering how much is truth and how much is lies.
I just really think with Cavil, Simon and PunkSix you have three intriguing characters, with both Simon and Six playing "against type", and a real recipe for a tense and brilliant character drama, as we see the results of the rest of Cavil's wargames play out in the background.
But hey. I didn't get to write or direct it. Which leads segues from THE BAD into THE UGLY!
Well first off, some of the cgi was surprisingly shoddy. But eh, I can deal with that.
What I really want to talk about here (briefly) is the "edgy" graphic nudity. I don't really think I'd mind if it was the first episode or something and it was part of their way of establishing that this show is all gritty and handheld and stuff. But I dunno. It seemed like it was going out of its way to be shocking, like sensationalist but in this offhand artsy way? A bit like the Caprica pilot in places?
Plus I was horribly, HORRIBLY distracted during the already weirdly explicit love scene between Simon and Gianna because I could not stop thinking about how the actress playing Gianna is EJO's real life wife. And just...eew.
And yeah, I know, I know, I don't know EJO at all, and a lot of people whose opinions I really respect think he's a very talented actor and director and suchlike. And probably I am badly biased in my dislike of his work, but in both his acting and directorial endeavours, I really feel like someone ought to tell him to step back and stop chewing the scenery.
I wouldn't be surprised if some of this was network suggested, but equally I wouldn't be surprised if some of it was down to EJO. I don't know. I felt in places it was the directorial equivalent of the foxes scene, or vomiting on himself in an alley in a scene I still think was supposed to somehow be inspirational. o_O
Bluntly I found all the nudity kind of overkill. This ain't True Blood, people! And I really, REALLY don't need to see Cavil getting a handjob. Cus it makes me throw up a little in my mouth.
Also, you know what else is ugly? THE COMPLETE AND UTTER LACK OF LAURA ROSLIN! It was actually weird. Because they cut her from reused footage she really should have been in, like when she airlocks Leoben. Which makes me wonder if there was a contractual or financial issue regarding her invovlement?
I'm pretty sure in that final scene when the Cavils are being walked to the airlock and you see all of the Final Five, that the legs above Tory are supposed to be Laura's. Just, you know, for the record.
Although what is also both ugly and relieving is my ultimate relief at the lack of Laura and comparative lack of Tory. It meant that they couldn't dwell all over the A/R romance stuff or play that up, or, my other big fear, retroactively make Tory EVUL even "back then".
And...there's my review. I'm done now. :)
Basically my thoughts can be summed up like this:
What a lovely collection of deleted scenes. What a truly weird movie.
My only hope for this thing was that it not wreck anything. And basically it didn't.
THE GOOD.
So. Yeah. As far as deleted scenes go, these were nice. I enjoyed seeing what happened to Shelley - pretty much what I was expecting but as usual Helfer knocks it out of the park. It was nice to see Grace Park revisiting Boomer in this era with - in my opinion - improved acting, and I am, after thought, ultimately on the side of this retcon about her. While I do now wonder whether she had both sets of memories in Downloaded, and honestly, prefer if she doesn't and that was just a final cruel twist from Cavil, I like that we find out...well, she has agency in her own sleeper-agentness. She chose this. (Also, in a more subtle and potentially accidental retcon since it wasn't referenced in the movie, Boomer is now correct when she yells that there are eight cylons (excluding her) in the fleet to save Tyrol: Tigh, Ellen, Tyrol, Tory, Cavil, D'Anna, Tough!Six, Simon.)
I would also point to
nicole_anell's post where she points out that there is some evidence based on a propworx auction that the Six talking to Boomer about the wonderful new life she's about to embark on is Gina and that, actually, is an idea so perfect I don't have words for it. Probably the most broken and brilliant retcon in the entire thing; shame it wasn't clearer. The stuff with Sam on Caprica was pretty nice too, although not really that...surprising? I mean, it essentially happens exactly as I'd expect it to, although there are some treats along the way, namely getting to see more of Jean Barolay and getting to see her before she became the hardest, coldest woman in the fleet. I've seen others who disliked it, but I kind of liked her calling Sam, "T". Also - I'm sure I'm the only person who didn't know this - but it was nice to get actual confirmation that she was also a pyramid star - I was never sure if she was on the team or just someone the Resistance picked up along he way, since we never saw her in The Farm. Also worth the price of admission, Cavil's backfiring backwards confession, the moment, perhaps, he could no longer hide the real reason he needed to get his parents to see things his way.
To meditate on that whole thing for a minute, since it was, essentially, the pivot of the film - the entirety of the "plot"; one Cavil learning that he was motivated by love just as much as everyone else and erradicating that impulse is impossible, with the other refusing to acknowledge he could possibly be wrong. That's it, right? The message of this film? Not religion or plot or mythology - love, dooming the Cylon plan, because they inevitably all fall in love. Because they were programmed that way by Ellen and Saul and Galen and Tory and Sam. You can't unlearn love.
Now, on the one hand, a giant positive here is the depiction of Cavil yes, as a murderous, manipulative psychopath who puppeteered most of the entire war and Cylon "plan" (and while I didn't have too much of a problem with that for reasons already discussed but largely pertaining to how amazing that made his character - a real perceptual shift in an instant - I can see why it would irk some people), we also see him as something more than one-dimensional. As a being capable of individuation and change and growth.
A potential negative here is the somewhat simplistic cliche nature with which it is possible to ineterpret his sudden revelation that "love outlasts death". OMG YOU GUYS, CAVIL'S HEART GREW THREE SIZES TOO BIG!! ADORABLE!
I choose, however, to go with a different intepretation and one I quite like. What Caprica Cavil learned was not that he should embrace love, or stop resenting it, but that fighting it was futile. I do not believe that Cavil had stopped wishing his parents had made him cold and logical, with the ability to taste cosmic phenomena. I think he could probably even still blame his parents for the fact he was motivated by a desire to be coddled and told he was best of all and loved and petted. The fact he now realises he too craves approval and love is probably right up there with prehensile paws on his Christmas List of upgrades.
But he has realised that it's futile. He understands now that it doesn't matter how many he kills, he can't make people love him more through a process of elimination. As he puts it, in an unemotional, blunt tone - no ceremonies - the Five will not stop loving humanity because he killed it - they will only love it more. He will only be further from his goal.
This isn't John Cavil having an epiphany about the wonder of love, it's John Cavil having an epiphany about the nature of reality and finally accepting, rather than raging against, it.
Which, since I'm feeling generous toward the show right now, I pretty much feel validates my enjoyment and reading of No Exit where his anti-humanist stance was, yes, a sign of his psychopathic tendencies, but also...a perspective that was presented as worthy of thought on various levels rather than strawman proof that he was irredeemable.
An argument that a Cavil who has "seen the light" and reformed from his "evil" agenda, is not some inverse of his original personality, is not puppies and love and kittens. Is still the guy who admits that the genocide of the human race was an error not because he wants to kiss and make up, but because he no longer thinks his race should be piggy-backing their destiny and future evolution onto humanity (I was sad that moment got cut in The Plan, but I recall it from the aired episode). Essentially, "redeemed" Cavil is still anti-humanist. Which is complexity that this show is worthy of.
Along the same lines, I think the scene that perhaps best sums up this plotline is the scene with PunkRock Six in her underwear delivering a drunk and note-perfect and bitchy summary of "the plan" and how it sucks and then bluntly telling Cavil what his counterpart realises and he never will - "You can't declare war on love."
Again, it's the lack of emotion - even from Six who is ALL about love (yeah, even this absolutely awesome, gum-chewing DRUNK Six is still a Six, I can't place why, but just, Tricia Helfer, man, it was always gonna clearly be a Six). She doesn't emotively plead with Cavil, as Leoben and Boomer do. She didn't act meak and vulnerable like Shelley did. She just told him straight, and swaggered out of the room, and the movie, bottle in hand.
(Speaking of, WHERE THE HELL DID SHE GO?)
Also, SIMON. Dude, finally he has a CHARACTER and a STORYLINE and it was a good one too. One that made him sympathetic and heroic and had some genuine tension since it was all new material. And fit thematically with Cavil's storyline - about realising that love outlasts death. For Simon that was a comfort that proved to be correct when his wife kept her faith in him even after knowing the truth (and WTF, self? I really liked that scene with Chief and her talking about the swan dive. Simple, new, fits perfectly. Sorta thing this movie should have been full of - we didn't need a replay of Chief's dream, the callback would have been obvious, and more powerful, without it - but more on that later). I know why they ended when they did; we started seeing the Cylon POV in S3 and later. But this storyline REALLY made me wonder what happened to Gianna on that occupied planet full of Simon copies.
I like to think she hooked up with him (maybe even the same copy; he THOUGHT he was out of resurrection range, but so did Leoben in Flesh and Bone and we know that wasn't the case), then stashed him in her compartment when they escaped and he was secretly still with the Fleet during S3 and S4.
I suppose I should mention when Cavil kills John. First off it's a shame the actor was too old or they TOTALLY should have used this to explain what happened to Boxey (though they could have recast him like they did Sue-Shaun, at least, I assume it was Sue-Shaun from the costume; she really looked nothing like the original actress). But, okay, he wouldn't have been called John. Honestly the thing that confused me was the idea that his parents were alive and didn't want him. I mean, I'm sure it happens, but it's not the kind of backstory that is...typical after a massive genocide. Parents just saying, "You know what kid, we don't really wantcha." And the idea that no one else did either? When people are probably scrambling to reassemble some sort of family unit? Though I do get that a runaway kid may not want a lovely replacement family or whatever. And I know part of the point is Cavil never asks cus he doesn't care, but for real. It bugged me.
Also, Cavil stabbing John was a genuinely suspenseful moment but I still find myself unsure of the symbolism behind the event, or the reasons for it. Because he was too close to accidentally seeing the truth? Because he was named John and Cavil hates that? Because he was an orphan who didn't want parents like Cavil? I dunno. I don't dislike it, I just...I feel I don't have a good grasp on the moment.
OH AND LEOBEN! I love Leoben; you all know that. So obviously I wanted more of him. The idea of him falling for her over the wireless is good, but what's GREAT is him realising she must be so special because he knew about the raider connection. Because of course he'd see it that way and more than that, it posits her achievement there as something miraculous inexplicable, not dumb luck and great flying skills which is pretty much what it was shown as at the time. Which fits well with my personal belief that she's half-cylon, obvs. Though his storyline raises more questions than it answers; why did he paint a mandala? Channelling Kara? And he really sees visions? I'm ambivalent about that one. On the one hand HE REALLY SEES VISIONS! It fits a little with my original interpretation of his words about the foreshadowing that preceeds every moment as suggesting that as a cylon he has an overclocked brain and thus instinctively half-predicts things based on the huge amounts of information he can process every moment, and hey, if humans can have oracles, why not Leoben? On the other hand, I'm so attached to the idea he got most of his beliefs from the Hybrid and the fact that...his disappearance in Sometimes a Great Notion - did his visions abandon him? I WANT TO KNOW! *stamps feet*
Also, much of it was very funny.
Thus concludes THE GOOD.
Now on to THE BAD.
Basically I think what was worst about this movie wasn't anything it actuall did with the story, because essentially all it does is flesh things out and none of it was truly off the wall. I think the problem is, it does not work in any way as a movie. There's too much recycled footage. It feels too disjointed. It feels like we're slowing plugging away through a season of television marking off little checkboxes and spending too long on events we already KNOW about at the expense of new stuff.
I can't help but find it lacking when I compare it structurally to Razor. Setting aside any issues of the actual plot, one thing Razor did very well was tell a self-contained story that nonetheless a) had ties back to the main story reaching back and ahead and b) firmly established where in the chronology of the series it occured.
It did a good job of using things like radio commentary about Roslin's abortion ban to act as a location and a callback to those of us who remember stuff like that but is just flavour background to more casual viewers.
Now, for the record I'm in favour of shows just running with their core audience and trusting others to pick up as it goes along, but I think The Plan manages the worst of both worlds. If you're not familiar with the storyline, the coppiness of this is going to be completely offputting and confusing. And if you are a big time fan, well, we're made to sit through stuff we know already in exchange for tiny moments that don't really change much.
Occasionally incorporating existing scenes works really well, but usually when you are also adding new material. The scene with Caprica Cavil and Simon talking about Kara and Sam in the other room is a good example. Taking the moment to show us what Shelley was doing behind the bathroom stall door was another. But mostly these moments weren't taken advantage of.
And frankly, while - as I said above - I liked Boomer's extra material well enough, and while I loved the extra info on Shelley (though I'll always be a little sad she wasn't another sleeper agent) - I would rather have lost most of this stuff in favour of more brand new stuff. That's what Razor basically trusted us with - a brand new character and two minor characters (Kendra and Gina and Cain) - to really carry the body of the narrative.
I think this movie would have improved hugely from being tightened up in this regard.
I'm not actually complaining that "The Plan" turned out to be, "Turns out 100% success rate when murdering 30 billion is hard, so lets do our best with some tricky mop-up and limited resources!" Sure, a No-Exit-like retcon could have been fun, but...I'm not crushed we didn't get it.
But what I will say is that when the eponymous "Plan" is a series of random, improvised and largely unrelated attacks except insasmuch as their overall goal of fracturing and destroying the Fleet, perhaps you shouldn't hang your plot off of that. Perhaps that should be the backdrop to some other plot.
I guess what I think would have been better is if they'd focused in on PunkRock Six - who we baiscally saw none of and Simon more. Much as D'Anna's presence in the fleet was mentioned and then they moved on, all the things we spent far too much time with can be incorporated as backdrop to a more detailed exploration of whatever PunkRock Six was up to (we could see more of Shelley and tying up her loose ends through PunkRock Six's role in it), and what Simon's storyline got even bigger, say for instance if he was actively trying to sabotage Cavil's plans in some way or something? I don't know, anything really. But if there were confrontations between them, I mean, mentions of "Oh, yes, that suicide bombing was the Five." Cus we basically know how that's going down as soon as he gets given the Homocide(tm) Vest. Or someone asking if they can tap Leoben for something and Cavil making a face and being like, "Yeah, fucker screwed us and got airlocked," or whatever. (Actually I probably would still keep the stuff with Leoben leading up to that because it was far more tied in with the wider metaplot than most of this stuff, but I could be biased).
I'd even cut down the Boomer stuff, sadly. Cus, well...we already know it. As brilliant as some of those scenes were...we already know most of it. And perhaps it would have been harder and more horrifying if her tale were being fed to Simon by Cavil in an attempt to coerce his co-operation or something and we're left wondering how much is truth and how much is lies.
I just really think with Cavil, Simon and PunkSix you have three intriguing characters, with both Simon and Six playing "against type", and a real recipe for a tense and brilliant character drama, as we see the results of the rest of Cavil's wargames play out in the background.
But hey. I didn't get to write or direct it. Which leads segues from THE BAD into THE UGLY!
Well first off, some of the cgi was surprisingly shoddy. But eh, I can deal with that.
What I really want to talk about here (briefly) is the "edgy" graphic nudity. I don't really think I'd mind if it was the first episode or something and it was part of their way of establishing that this show is all gritty and handheld and stuff. But I dunno. It seemed like it was going out of its way to be shocking, like sensationalist but in this offhand artsy way? A bit like the Caprica pilot in places?
Plus I was horribly, HORRIBLY distracted during the already weirdly explicit love scene between Simon and Gianna because I could not stop thinking about how the actress playing Gianna is EJO's real life wife. And just...eew.
And yeah, I know, I know, I don't know EJO at all, and a lot of people whose opinions I really respect think he's a very talented actor and director and suchlike. And probably I am badly biased in my dislike of his work, but in both his acting and directorial endeavours, I really feel like someone ought to tell him to step back and stop chewing the scenery.
I wouldn't be surprised if some of this was network suggested, but equally I wouldn't be surprised if some of it was down to EJO. I don't know. I felt in places it was the directorial equivalent of the foxes scene, or vomiting on himself in an alley in a scene I still think was supposed to somehow be inspirational. o_O
Bluntly I found all the nudity kind of overkill. This ain't True Blood, people! And I really, REALLY don't need to see Cavil getting a handjob. Cus it makes me throw up a little in my mouth.
Also, you know what else is ugly? THE COMPLETE AND UTTER LACK OF LAURA ROSLIN! It was actually weird. Because they cut her from reused footage she really should have been in, like when she airlocks Leoben. Which makes me wonder if there was a contractual or financial issue regarding her invovlement?
I'm pretty sure in that final scene when the Cavils are being walked to the airlock and you see all of the Final Five, that the legs above Tory are supposed to be Laura's. Just, you know, for the record.
Although what is also both ugly and relieving is my ultimate relief at the lack of Laura and comparative lack of Tory. It meant that they couldn't dwell all over the A/R romance stuff or play that up, or, my other big fear, retroactively make Tory EVUL even "back then".
And...there's my review. I'm done now. :)
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no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 08:18 pm (UTC)I was genuinely shocked when Cavil stabbed the little boy. Totally didn't see that coming, although I knew something would happen. Which means that there really wasn't enough set up for that specific murder. Was it a mercy killing? Was a temper tantrum? Was it completely cold and impersonal? Jealousy of some sort that the boy shared his name? I want to know these things.
Sort of unrelated, I finally (just now) figured out who that kid was. He played the young Sam Winchester in s1 of Supernatural!
no subject
Date: 2009-10-24 09:05 pm (UTC)Simon's story was great, and I liked the relationship between Gianna and Tyrol too. Mainly, I think because I really didn't feel it was terribly "shippy". He kissed her sure, but...there was something else going on there. That was looking for connection and finding it unexpectedly and being grateful. Not the start of a relationship. (Though Gianna sure knows how to pick them Cylons...)
As to Punk!Six, I definitely want to know what was up with her. Cavil definitely mentioned that a Two was some government minister's Yoga instructor (!!!) and one of the Sixes was a prostitute, though I wasn't sure if he was generally referring to the bredth of infiltration he achieved prior to the attacks or to the people he currently had to work with. I think the latter though because (a) that seems a likely background for Punk!Six if slightly unimaginative and (b) it means that Leoben WAS A YOGA INSTRUCTOR.
The killing of the boy thing I think I would have understood better if he killed him because he'd discovered their secret or something. I think in theory the fact he didn't could render it even more interesting, but...something about the setup didn't quite gel for me. :(
Also HEE that you recognised the young actor, though not watching SPN, I'm afraid that doesn't mean much to me.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 10:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-24 09:11 pm (UTC)I think the reason they stopped then was that in S3 we started to actually get the cylon perspective much more, though ironically as I said above, I would have loved to see Gianna's reaction to the occupation of New Caprica...
no subject
Date: 2009-10-25 10:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 11:51 pm (UTC)I got that too. It just increased my love of the Cylons and how they're almost simple...and yet not. Each model in their own way can be simplified to a point where they look cliche, but the show rarely diminishes them to that. And that complexity is why the main theme of "The Plan" (and BSG in general?) didn't make me roll my eyes; it's not "true love conquers all", it's "love is unavoidable", which is so much more interesting.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-24 09:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-22 04:33 am (UTC)I agree, it's a cool idea, but the hair is throwing me. Didn't she have Tricia's naturally long hair? That makes me think it's a random Six, but why have a random Six? I'm so confused!
Love dooming the Cylon plan and the lack of love dooming poor Liam are both products of Jane Espenson. She seems hung up on the whole love thing. And while the importance of love has always been a part of the BSG mythology, for both the humans and the Cylons, she's much more heavy handed with it and making it, imho, too much of a focal point of the story. Ron should share the blame though since, as the show's creator, it's his job to tell her she's perhaps diverging to far from, well, the plan.
I'm torn on Gianna being such a prominent character. I appreciate that, because of her, Simon got an interesting backstory. On the other hand, I kept thinking she had such a prominent role because the actress is married to EJO. And this is on top of Hot Dog making it to the end of the series. Gee, maybe if a certain actor had been more demanding Nurse Ishay could have been one of the Five. ;p
First off it's a shame the actor was too old or they TOTALLY should have used this to explain what happened to Boxey
I THOUGHT THE EXACT SAME THING! And it not only could have explained what happened to Boxey, I might have cared about the his death. I was strangely unmoved by the murder of John. It was partly because the role was so underdeveloped and we never really got to know him, but also because his death was used to reinforce how evil Cavil was and, after trying to annihilate humanity and succeeding in killing 30 billion people, did we need any more proof?
Plus, as you said, it was odd that we were supposed to accept John's parents didn't want him. It would have worked better if they established only one of his parents survived and was too traumatized to care for him. I could believe that would happen.
I didn't think about how Kara being half Cylon helped her connect with the raider. ;) WHY DID YOU BLOW SUCH AN AWESOME OPPORTUNITY, RON! :(
Much like Leoben's ending, his beginning is confusing. It did seem like they were establishing he had visions, which would help to explain how he knew so much about Kara in 'Flesh and Bone'. But why Leoben? What made him so special? And was it the entire line or just the one copy? And if just one copy, why just the one copy? Was he chosen by God? Was Athena, too, chosen by God since she was the only Cylon to give birth? Again, I AM SO CONFUSED!
I think the problem is, it does not work in any way as a movie. There's too much recycled footage. It feels too disjointed. It feels like we're slowing plugging away through a season of television marking off little checkboxes and spending too long on events we already KNOW about at the expense of new stuff.
WORD. 'The Plan' was simply a bunch of deleted scenes strung together, mostly telling us stuff we already knew or had assumed. I was waiting for one big shocking/stunning moment and it never came. 'Razor' worked as film because it had a self contained story and a focus.
I found the sex and nudity off putting. Eddie directing his wife in such a graphic sex seen was extremely creepy. And while the pilots had communal bathrooms and living quarters and would obviously not have a problem seeing each other naked, would they prance around that way? It's a pain to rewind an AVI file, but I swear a male and female pilot were standing inches from each other and close to having parts bumping. I don't find it realistic at all. Not that I dwell on the shower situation, but I've assumed that as soon as they were done they wrapped themselves in a towel. Why would anyone walk around naked like that?
no subject
Date: 2009-10-24 09:33 pm (UTC)Love dooming the Cylon plan and the lack of love dooming poor Liam are both products of Jane Espenson.
WHUT LIAM IS STILL ALIVE! *sticks fingers in ears and starts singing*
Ahem. :p
But yeah, I see your point. Then again, I also feel kind of sorry for her since she essentially had to write a script with no plot, and while perhaps she took it to extremes in Deadlock, "magic love" was kind of entrenched in the cylon mythology since Hera showed up all magically conceived and stuff. *waves hands aroung vaguely* I have no idea what I'm even saying at this point...
As to Gianna, I understand your ambivalence because I share it, though I also kind of resent it. I like the character and the storyline and think the actress did an okay job, and yet because I have some issues with the way EJO has presented himself in interviews, etc., it becomes this fourth-wall-breaking distraction where I'm constantly thinking...is this just cus she's his wife?
I THOUGHT THE EXACT SAME THING!
YAY! I'm not crazy! Boxey could also have been a way in which we find out about how Boomer is cracking up. Hell, Cavil could start having BOXEY smuggling the elephant or something. And Boxey starting to feel more and more resented and unloved as Boomer and Chief both lose it and break up an stuff. Or something.
But yeah, John's murder...I actually like the way it was shot - it was understated. But I don't feel I cared as much as I should. It was shocking in one way but not another. I think [Bad username or site: selenak</i @ livejournal.com] offers an interesting interpretation, but I also like
I didn't think about how Kara being half Cylon helped her connect with the raider. ;) WHY DID YOU BLOW SUCH AN AWESOME OPPORTUNITY, RON! :(
SUCH A PERFECT RETCON, PEOPLE! Though to be honest, I mostly only noticed it as a cylony-type thing when I was making that vidlet about Scar/Kara/Sam so I had vidding!help.
Again, I AM SO CONFUSED!
I would try to help, but I might only make it worse... ;) Though I'm pretty sure it must have been all of Leoben's line since some deleted scenes end up proving that not every copy of Leoben Kara spoke to about destiny and stuff was the same one. Another deleted scenes that references memory sharing suggested to me that the Leoben's might share all their memories with each other by default. But that's another thing I guess we'll never get more on. :( Poor lost Leoben.
but I swear a male and female pilot were standing inches from each other and close to having parts bumping.
I swear I saw a male and female pilot standing close together and the woman was plucking the man's eyebrows. Now, I'm not saying maybe he didn't wanna get those things under control, but they have MIRRORS RIGHT THERE. Do it your damn self, sir!
As to EJO directing his wife in graphic sex scenes, I'm sorry, whut? I APPEAR TO HAVE BLEACHED THAT FROM MY BRAIN.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-22 05:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-24 09:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-23 04:00 pm (UTC)How can I get hold of The Plan? Was it already on TV and I missed it *again*? *cry*
I'm so glad to hear Simon gets to do and be something. And that Boomer is better.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-24 10:03 pm (UTC)The Plan isn't officially out until the 27th October when it's released on DVD (it'll air on TV eventually but I don't remember when...) But it's, ahem, leaked ont the internet as usual. I sent you an LJ PM with details. ;)
Simon DOES get to do something! And something heroic (if tragic) too! He has like, an actual storyline, with emotional depth and everything! *dances* And there's a second Simon who also gets something of a storyline, not as much of one, but be does bring wicked one liners to the party.
part 1
Date: 2009-10-23 04:44 pm (UTC)What a lovely collection of deleted scenes. What a truly weird movie.
I didn't find any of The Plan especially surprising or enlightening, just totally enjoyable. Moment to moment, there was enough epicness to outweigh any parts I actively disliked. At the same time, the whole way it was structured was almost embarrassing. I love your comment about how, you know, they might've done better not to hang the main plot on a series of unrelated events, and carry the narrative on the back of so much stuff we've literally seen before.
I mean, I think they were riding on the selling point of "we'll go back and ~answer questions~ from another POV" just to justify the existence of this thing, but that's where the problem started. (I only disagree on the point that "Razor" succeeded that much more where this one failed, 'cause I'm the patron saint of "y'all are giving Razor too much credit." Heh.) It's just weird to see so many little things done right and also feel let down by the wasted potential. I had ridiculously low expectations for this movie which it COMPLETELY EXCEEDED, but why not expect more?
On a happier note -- your summary of Cavil's epiphany is brilliant and dead-on and should be read by, like, everyone. *applauds*
This ain't True Blood, people!
AHAHAHAHA I thought the same thing! And I agree that it would've been slightly less uncomfortable if this were the *first* episode of a new thing, and it was like "This is what we do! We have women's breasts casually hanging out in the background, because we're edgy!" But no, Porno Battlestar is just NOT RIGHT and it will distract the hell out of me in scenes where I should not be distractred. Like, for example, the emotional climax of Simon's storyline.
I'm pretty sure in that final scene when the Cavils are being walked to the airlock and you see all of the Final Five, that the legs above Tory are supposed to be Laura's.
I did notice that!!! *g* You know, I can't say I would've loved to see more Laura, because almost every time they showed a random clip of Baltar, I was like O_o and I couldn't get past the fact that it was old footage and felt *weird*. However, it also bothered me that she was excised from two scenes (both involving airlocks!) that we know she was in, and that does make me wonder if there was a contractual issue going on.
Re: part 1
Date: 2009-10-24 09:52 pm (UTC)As to the Razor comparison, I wasn't actually referencing its success in anything other than a purely structural fashion. While I don't agree with them all, I certainly see where your criticisms of the story itself come from and even think the reasons I don't share those opinions might be down to me giving the show far too much credit; bluntly, there's a lot that's valid to criticise. However, one thing I do think it did much, much better than The Plan was have a plot that nonetheless tied into past events in the series. If it had followed the format of The Plan then we would have had to sit through loads of scenes about what Thorne and Cain and Gina were doing during Pegasus - Resurrection Ship II; likewise had The Plan followed Razor's model, we would have maybe spent nearly all our time on the Cybele with Gianna or something? I hope that makes sense? I'm not saying Razor was a masterpiece of plot or anything just that, well, it had one.
On a happier note - YAYCAVIL! :D
Porno Battlestar is just NOT RIGHT and it will distract the hell out of me in scenes where I should not be distractred. Like, for example, the emotional climax of Simon's storyline.
OMGS YES THIS. Except I totally move we rename it Porno Battlestar, especially during eras where Adama has that godawful 70s pornstache.
that does make me wonder if there was a contractual issue going on.
Yeah, cus for example Lee doesn't have anything to do in it at all, and that's fine because it's not his story; this isn't Laura's story so it would have been weird to shoehorn her in. But in clips where she actually WAS, and where she was doing something really, really important to boot, the way they cut around her when they weren't doing that with anyone else really suggests there was something else going on there. I mean, I'm sure it was all very civil, etc., but there must have been a budgeting or contractual issue or something, otherwise it just doesn't make sense. I believe The Plan was filmed on a different contract or something? So maybe that's part of it? WE SHALL PROBABLY NEVER KNOW.
part 2/2
Date: 2009-10-23 04:56 pm (UTC)I don't know what it says about me (or Battlestar), but it seems from reading others' reactions that I was one of the few people who ALWAYS thought Cavil would end up murdering that kid, pretty much from the first minute he was onscreen, and especially right before it happened. (Which I thought was a pretty cool climax against the other Cavil's revelation of not shooting Kara.) At the start I assumed there'd be more of a reason for it -- that he would witness something and Cavil would kill him because OH NOES CYLONS ARE RUTHLESS. But I think it's better that it happens for almost no reason and people are taking it a bunch of different ways.
(Also, I see what you're saying about him being uncared-for by his parents and who does that? But (a) some families are terrible in a way mass tragedy doesn't fix, (b) I thought they did imply that he could've gone somewhere to get adopted and he was reluctant or scared to, and most importantly (c) HE IS TINY JOHN CAVIL SO OF COURSE HIS PARENTS DON'T LOVE HIM ENOUGH. Of course.)
Anyway, as for why -- I still need to watch it again, but my take was that it was a final lashing-out of his impotence. Cavil could tolerate having this little human shadow-self around for most of the movie, because it was a given they'd all die anyway. When it became more and more obvious that they failed and that last genocidal clean-up work would never happen, he just needed to kill something. And it would be the most symbolic person but also most convenient and trusting and *there* person. (I thought of it in total contrast with Caprica-Six's mercy-killing the baby in the miniseries, whose death was inevitable in her eyes. Cavil was pissed off at how not inevitable little John's death was, and at least he could do something about that specifically.)
What worked about it thematically for me (as much as The Plan had an actual theme) is that it was a total act of futility. And I wonder if he saw that. That moment where he dismissively shoves the body aside and still looks unhappy, I just thought "Right, good on you for killing an eight-year-old. That solved everything, right?"
Re: part 2/2
Date: 2009-10-24 10:00 pm (UTC)But if somehow that pointlessness can, um, become the point, then I have a better handle on it.
(Though I also like
As to his backstory, I completely get that having a fucked up family isn't gonna change because of an apocalypse, and if that's true then it makes a lot of sense that if he's used to being rejected and having to fend for himself he's going to be distrustful of a Happy Adoption Place where he'll probably just see it as losing his freedom and being under the sway of (potentially untrustworthy/dangerous) adults again.
It's not so much that his backstory is unbelievable as the decision to give him that backstory without any further elaboration is somewhat distracting in the context of an apocalypse. Narratively (as opposed to in reality where fucked up shit just happens), if it weren't the apocalypse, then fine, that's just this kid's backstory. But since it is, and since this is a story, it's a giant flashing light of "Huh, that's weird, I wonder what the details of that are..." And we never find out. Which fair enough, neither of the Johns are going to want to talk about it.
But I still kind of feel that without a throwaway line at least to explain a bit more, it was more distracting than the parallel of an abandoned, bitter child was successful? Maybe? Or something?
But...I do feel better about it now I feel I have a better handle on Cavil killing him in the end:
"Right, good on you for killing an eight-year-old. That solved everything, right?"
Indeed.