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I'll preface this entire column by stating that I really, really liked Battlestar Galactica: The Plan. I say this because the reviews have, in general, been of the good-not-great variety, most of them grading it in the B range. I say this also because I have issues with the very concept of the project itself. Nevertheless, I rate it a bit higher than the consensus. I don't want my negative words to be misunderstood. Battlestar Galactica: The Plan is awesome! All qualifications out of the way, let's get to it.

I've never had much of a qualm with the opening text of the first two seasons of Battlestar Galactica. You see, the intro proclaims of the cylons that "they have a plan." Well, I've always assumed that this plan pretty much boils down to killing all the humans. Many fans, on the other hand, complain that this much-heralded plan never gets much explanation within the context of the show. In an effort to resolve this oversight, mythology show writer extraordinaire Jane Espenson and director/actor Edward James Olmos gives us this two-hour addendum to those first two seasons, retelling the saga from the cylon point of view. Now we know all of the ins and outs of their master scheme. Thing is, if you strip away the details of the story, you discover that their plan does, in fact, boil down to killing all the humans.

I've never really been a fan of these appendices to stories. I'm talking things like Stephen King's comic book telling of his Dark Tower hero Roland's back story in comic book form, The X-Files answering questions about the conspiracy in the movie, Richard Kelly telling entire acts of his Southland Tales narrative in comics before concluding the tale in a movie, and, yes, even Tolkien's acclaimed appendices to his Lord of the Rings masterpiece. I don't really have anything against them, but if the information within them is really all that important to the story, shouldn't they be contained within the actual narrative? If it's not of vital importance, as in King and Tolkien's case, then it exists as an accent to the story. It's fun, it enriches and enhances the tale, but it's still just window dressing. In the case of Southland Tales and The X-Files, you need to jump between media to get the whole story, and that's just a cheat to me. Luckily, in the case of The Plan, it falls in to the former category.

Yet, it really does serve no purpose other than to accent what we already know. Yes, we discover details, such as who Six talks to on Caprica in the mini, what the deal is with the suicide bomber Doral, where the Six that accuses Baltar of treason goes, and, for that matter, Anders' story of survival on post-apocalyptic Caprica, but these are all things that we can either surmise, or are of little consequence. Really, I wasn't asking myself any of these questions, and the answers I found watching The Plan are nothing too shocking. They're pretty much what I'd assumed all along.

So if these revelations don't provide greater insight, or new interpretations, to the main narrative, then what's the justification for The Plan to exist in the first place? For one thing, as I address above, it sure is a lot of fun, but that's a pretty thin justification. Entertainment for entertainment's sake is fine, don't misunderstand me, but it's never been the mold of Battlestar Galactica. It's always been about the characters, and about the philosophy. I think this is where we see the value in The Plan. In particular, the cylon who seems to have been the puppet master in their so-called plan, Cavil gets quite the star treatment. If the cylons are humanity's (and the Final Five's) children, then he's the abandoned child. His drive towards genocide stems from a child-like petulance, a drive not evident in all of the cylons. Some of the Sixes, Leoben, Cavil, even Simon aren't completely sold on his destructive impulses. For whatever reason, they consent to his demands, but we see the seeds of the upcoming truce with the humans and eventual cylon civil war of the later seasons planting themselves within the cylon rank and file.

On that note, we already knew quite a bit about the Sixes' and Leobens' characters, but Simon has always been the overlooked cylon. We discover that a Simon has a wife and adopted child within the fleet. His affection for his family causes him to question Cavil's call for destruction. Yes, he will download into a new Simon body, but his family will die forever. Having a personal stake in the matter gives him a lightening rod with which to empathize with the human plight. His actions in The Plan in response to Cavil resonate all the way to his taking sides in the fourth season cylon civil war.

It's these character beats that, for me, prove the value of The Plan as an accessory to the Galactica mythology. It elevates it beyond a mere intellectual exercise in plot hole filling, or a fun-filled spectacle of visual effects and explosions. So, while the lack of necessity of the entire project troubles me, I had one hell of a lot of fun watching The Plan. It nags at me, but I can't help but love the damned thing. I guess that's all that matters, right? I can analyze and interpret all I want, but when you strip away all of my academic posturing, you're left with a very happy viewer. So I'm glad Espenson and Olmos indulged in this project. What a great ride.