The Plan Airs Sunday

SyFy airs The Plan Sunday the 10th, so if you haven't seen it on DVD yet, check it out.

An excellent review of The Plan by Ben Scarlato for the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. And Nicole Anell provides an entertaining view of the film on Live Journal.

Imagine if The Plan had Dollhouse style credits:


And when you visit SyFy's site, and you are an iPhone or iPod touch user, be sure to download the free Cylon Bobble app.

Katee Sackhoff on Olmos Directing The Plan

From the set of 24 Katee Sackhoff talked to The TV Addict about Edward James Olmos directing The Plan:


Bear McCreary details the music of The Plan on his blog.

In other very big Bear news, Bear's BSG music is finally showing up on iTunes, along with video content:

Best of all, there is (and will be even more) exclusive iTunes content available. First up, the world premiere music video and single of “Apocalypse (Theme from ‘The Plan’)” performed live by the Battlestar Galactica Orchestra in concert are now on iTunes.

This video captures all the energy and intensity of our live performances this summer. If you missed the shows, this is the next best thing.

Also, Mojo reviews the recent Stu Philips birthday tribute concert, that Bear contributed to. And check out Mojo revealing how to find the secret special BSG easter egg on the The Plan DVD and Blu-ray. Without revealing what the easter egg is, lets just say that if you watched the original BSG, I think you'll dig it.

Oh, and check out this out too, it's hilarious.

The Plan Interviews

The Plan: Reviewed

Following up on the post below, reviews are coming in for Battlestar Galactica: The Plan. Bill Hunt, editor of The Digital Bits gives the film a B+ and highly recommends the Blu-Ray release. Ron Henriques for The Latino Review notes:

We were never actually told the details of the Cylons' ultimate plan to annihilate humanity when the series began. The made a dramatic reappearance after vanishing for forty years and with the destruction of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, nearly wiped out the human race. Now with this new film all is revealed. The story opens 281 days after the destruction of the colonies during the season one episode 'Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II' where Brother John Cavil (Dean Stockwell) has just been exposed as a Cylon by another model of himself. This is the story of two Cavil's: Fleet Cavil, who has infiltrated the surviving fleet as a minister, hoping to break it from the inside and Caprica Cavil, who gets involved with a group of resistance fighters led by Sam Anders (Michael Trucco) and begins to question whether the Cylon attack was justified. Flashing back two days before the attack we finally get to see the destruction in full detail (thanks in part to an increased visual effects budget).

Yet Battlestar Galactica is not about visual effects, but rather character and story. Graduating from supporting player to central character, Dean Stockwell puts in some brilliant work playing not one, but two versions of the same model. When revealed to be one of the final five in season four, Ellen Tigh (Kate Vernon) described him as a spoiled child, yet he is something far worse. Cavil yearns for mankind's destruction because they created the Cylons and though they are near perfect machines they are still limited. The final five are their creators as well yet no matter what they do as long as man survives they will love them more. We get to see exactly what each of the five were doing when the bombs dropped and how Cavil infiltrated the fleet and was responsible for many of the dilemmas throughout season one.

...If you are a fan of this series, both the blu-ray and dvd are highly recommended. This film will no doubt be edited down for length (and a surprising amount of sex and nudity) when it is broadcast next year so if you decide to wait, you may find yourself missing out.

Other reviews from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Eric Goldman for IGN, Chris Chiarella for Big Picture Sound, Kenneth Brown for Blu-ray.com, and Scott Chitwood for Coming Soon.net.

Check out stills from The Plan, here and here.

Win a copy of The Plan.

Also, you can win Dinner with the Admiral, just sign up at UGO for a chance to dine with Edward James Olmos.

Last Blast Till Caprica

I just saw BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: THE PLAN, and truly enjoyed it.

There will be much more to say after the DVD and BluRay hit stores on October 27, but for now let me leave it at this: Anyone who ever felt intrigued by Cavil, Boomer, all the various *real* Sixes, and the other "minor" cylon models, will find plenty to enjoy in this film. Anders gets a surprising amount of screentime. There is a very enlightening moment with Leoben. As I hoped, we get a few memorable doses of this new Six. The Cavils -- and really, the cylons in general -- get the coda I always thought they deserved. It was big frakkin' fun to see great moments from seasons one and two woven in. Gods I didn't realize how much I missed you, BSG.


The whole film is cleverly reverse-engineered to keep asking that first question from the miniseries: "Are You Alive? Prove it."

ETA: warning - readers are posting spoilers in the comments on this post.

BSG: The Plan Box Art

UGO provides the box art for the DVD and Blu-ray release of Battlestar Galactica: The Plan:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


From Universal Studios Home Entertainment:

Experience the Fight for Humanity's Survival
Through the Eyes of the Cylons for the First Time Ever In

Battlestar Galactica:
The Plan

Premieres Exclusively on Blu-ray Hi-Def,
DVD and Digital Download October 27, 2009



UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif., July 17 - Television's most thrilling science fiction adventure makes a stunning turnabout when Battlestar Galactica: The Plan debuts on Blu-ray Hi-Def and DVD on October 27, 2009 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment. For the first time ever, fans can experience the uncut and uncensored story of humanity's futuristic fight for survival through the eyes of their deadly adversaries, the Cylons. This never-before-seen perspective of the Cylon plan reunites the series' original television cast, including Emmy Award winner Edward James Olmos (Stand and Deliver), Dean Stockwell (JAG), Tricia Helfer (Burn Notice), Grace Park (The Cleaner) and Callum Keith Rennie (Californication). Ronald D. Moore and David Eick return as executive producers.

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan's executive producer and writer Jane Espenson added, "Edward James Olmos was our director on the movie, and he did an amazing job. He also shot some great footage that we are not able to show on TV, so I'm thrilled that viewers can experience it uncut as our director envisioned it."

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan includes the uncensored 90-minute feature and revealing bonus features that take viewers onto the set of the most unexpected twist ever in the intergalactic saga's history. Interactive features available exclusively on Blu-ray Hi-Def include the new Battlestar Galactica Trivia Game, as well as Universal's acclaimed U-CONTROL and BD-LIVE experience. With Blu-ray Hi-Def, viewers can enjoy Battlestar Galactica: The Plan's stunning visuals with perfect picture and the purest digital sound available.

During four spellbinding seasons on the SCI FI Channel (now Syfy), Battlestar Galactica's vivid reimagining of the classic television series earned a legion of devoted fans, as well as unfettered critical acclaim, and Emmy Awards for Outstanding Special Visual Effects in 2007 and 2008 and a Peabody Award in 2008. Battlestar Galactica: The Plan is priced at $39.98 SRP on Blu-ray Hi-Def and $26.98 SRP on DVD.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: THE PLAN - BONUS FEATURES
Battlestar Galactica: The Plan on Blu-ray Hi-Def and DVD takes viewers deeper into the acclaimed space drama with exclusive bonus features, including:

* EXCLUSIVE TO Blu-ray Hi-Def:
o BD-LIVE: Access the BD-Live Center through your Internet-connected player to download more exclusive content, the latest trailers and more!
+ MY SCENES: Bookmark your favorite scenes from the movie.
+ BATTLESTAR GALACTICA TRIVIA: All-new trivia game.

* BONUS FEATURES (BLU-RAY HI-DEF and DVD):
o DELETED SCENES
o FROM ADMIRAL TO DIRECTOR: EDWARD JAMES OLMOS AND THE PLAN - A day-in-the-life with director and actor Edward James Olmos, as he tackles the most ambitious Battlestar Galactica production to date.
o THE CYLONS OF THE PLAN - Features interviews with the actors who play the film's key Cylons, including Dean Stockwell, Tricia Helfer, Grace Park, Michael Trucco, Rick Worthy and Michael Bennett.
o THE CYLON ATTACK - This featurette takes viewers behind the scenes for the planning and execution of one of Battlestar Galactica: The Plan's major action sequences.
o BEHIND THE PLAN - An in-depth look at some stunning visual effects and the role post-production plays in bringing the world of Battlestar Galactica to life.
o FILMMAKER COMMENTARY



SYNOPSIS
Battlestar Galactica: The Plan: The Cylons began as humanity's robot servants. They rebelled, and evolved, and now they look like us. Their plan is simple: destroy the race that enslaved them. But when their devastating attack leaves human survivors, the Cylons have to improvise. Battlestar Galactica: The Plan tells the story of two powerful Cylon leaders, working separately, and their determination to finish the task.

An inspired, visually stunning reimagining of the 1978 series of the same name, Battlestar Galactica captured the imaginations of a new generation of fans with its gritty realism, compelling storylines and commanding performances. The show garnered numerous awards, including two Emmys and the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award and was recognized by the American Film Institute (AFI) as one of the most outstanding television programs of the year for two years running. In March 2009, Battlestar Galactica's impassioned explorations of today's hot-button issues, including politics, terrorism, treatment of prisoners and religion, even inspired the United Nations to host a special panel to discuss the questions it has raised. The series is from Universal Cable Productions and is executive produced by Ronald D. Moore and David Eick.


BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: THE PLAN
Blu-ray Hi-Def
Street Date: October 27, 2009
Copyright: 2009 Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Price: $39.98
Running Time: 90 Minutes

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: THE PLAN
DVD
Street Date: October 27, 2009
Copyright: 2009 Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Price: $26.98
Running Time: 90 Minutes

Comic-Con 2009

The beautiful madness of The Geek Prom, aka San Diego Comic-Con, began last night.

There is a ton of stuff going on that we BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and CAPRICA fans will enjoy hearing about soon enough...not to mention a ton of other things in film and television both. I'm sure a lot of fans who attend will leave their thoughts, photos, videos and love over at the siffy forums and the livejournal community.

A great frakkin tee shirt spotted at Comic Con Wednesday afternoon by own-the-sky

Our first look at Lucy Lawless rocking a red toga in her new TV series SPARTACUS: BLOOD AND SAND

Digital Bits review of BSG: THE COMPLETE SERIES

Since this box set (and the BSG Season 4.5 box) are coming out Tuesday July 28th, there will be tons of reviews out there.

But I don't think anyone will give us TrueFans a better rundown of the extras and features of BSG: THE COMPLETE SERIES than Bill Hunt at The Digital Bits. This guy is just a big a fan as we are, and he knows exactly which fan extras we have been fed over the years, and which ones did and didn't make the cut for this huge box.

Bill is reviewing the Bluray, not the DVD, but much of what he says also can be applied to the DVD release. According to the press release earlier this summer, the Bluray is 4077 hours of content and the DVD is 4066 hours total.

A few quotes from Bill's review -

All the series' episodes, the Miniseries and the Razor 2-hour film are included on 20 BD-50 discs, along with over 70 hours with of bonus content. Note that virtually all of the extras from the previous DVDs are in standard 480p here, as they were before (generally presented in 16x9 widescreen). A few of the new featurettes (mostly on Season Four) are in full 1080p. It appears that the first disc of each season starts with the same, newly-shot HD video introduction by Ron Moore himself. He welcomes you to the set, and tells you why he thinks high-def is the way to really fully experience the series. In terms of the special features, most (but not quite all) of the previous DVD extras have carried over here, and there's new material as well. I'll note what's missing and what's new for Blu-ray as we go...

...Unfortunately, the 10-part Face of the Enemy webisode series is missing here for some unknown reason (possibly disc space). We've checked with Universal and the studio IS aware that people want it, so we're told that it will be made available on disc at some point in the future. We'll keep you up to date on this. Sadly, also missing is The Making of Battlestar Galactica: Razor featurette that was available exclusively on a Best Buy DVD bonus disc - that's a real shame because it's pretty great. So if you have that bonus disc, don't get rid of it.

A few other items are missing from the box set as a whole, though they were never available on DVD, including additional Sci-Fi.com blogs and some of the exclusive writer's room and "frak party" podcast commentaries. Also not here are most of the "recap" TV specials (Battlestar Galactica: The Story So Far, Battlestar Galactica: Revisited and Battlestar Galactica: The Phenomenon) and the two finale specials (Battlestar Galactica: The Top 10 Things You Need to Know and Battlestar Galactica: The Last Frakkin' Special). That's a bummer - especially The Last Frakkin' Special, which included a lot of great behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the cast and crew on the end of the series. It would be great if Universal gathered all those specials up (including the two Lowdown specials that launched the series) along with The Face of the Enemy webisodes and released them on bonus disc of some sort (mail-in perhaps, or a BD-Live online reward?) to accompany this box set. Yeah, I know... unlikely. But still a good idea. A featurette on the show's special effects work (and team) would have been cool too, but what are you going to do? I do have to give the studio a LOT of credit for the new bonus content included for Blu-ray - ESPECIALLY the new deleted scenes and extended episodes. Even if you've seen the entire series as broadcast, the three extended episodes from Season Four essentially include more than an hour of new Battlestar that you haven't seen yet. That's a real treat - like rollin' the hard six!

...Among the new featurettes on Season Four, there are few standouts. The Journey Ends: The Arrival is a retrospective look back at the finale and the series as a whole, featuring the interview comments of many of the show's cast and crew. Evolution of a Cue and The Musicians Behind Daybreak cover the work of composer Bear McCreary - the latter is a very nice glimpse at the recording of the finale score with a full orchestra. The 5-part A Look Back covers a number of interesting aspects of the series, including Moore's original show "manifesto" (that convinced Olmos to join the cast), Richard Hatch's perspective on having been involved with BOTH Battlestar series, and the stylistic contributions of director Michael Rymer among other things. And for those of you eagerly awaiting the DVD and Blu-ray release of Battlestar Galactica: The Plan, which will complete the series later this year (and will be broadcast on the newly rebranded SyFy in November), the ...And They Have a Plan featurette gives you a nice little taste of it.

...One other packaging note: Accessible via a clear plastic lid inset into the top of the case, is an empty space containing a toaster! Well... a replica Cylon Centurion figure at any rate - a nice touch. The figure itself is very nicely detailed and highly articulated too. Personally, I'm thinking about taking the figure out and setting him on my office shelf, then using the empty space to store other discs - the series' soundtrack CDs (from La La Land Records), those bonus DVDs I need to keep, and even DVD-R recordings of the missing content in paper sleeves. (What, like I wasn't going to record that stuff, knowing that it probably wouldn't be on the DVD/BD?! Yes... I am THAT much of a fan.)

So say we all, Bill!


READ IN FULL OVER AT DIGITAL BITS

EJO on The Plan

Edward James Olmos spoke to Collider at the recent Saturn Awards presentations.

New trailer for BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: THE PLAN

LA Times blog The Hero Complex had the honor of premiering online the new trailer that was shown earlier this month in LA. Naturally it got premiered on a Friday Night -- embrace the death slot, knuckledraggers.


This is such fun:

 

I'm very much looking forward to finding out more about this particular version of Number Six...

New clips from THE PLAN

Last night BATTLESTAR GALACTICA fans were treated to two different sneak peaks at the upcoming telefilm THE PLAN, which promises to revisit the events of the BSG timeline from the cylon perspective.

SciFi previewed a new clip of Cavil talking to Ellen last night on air, and we at the Sitrep are not against aiming the frakkin' Flipcam at the TeeVee now and then for your pleasure:



ETA Sunday: SciFi has posted the official clip now:



Meanwhile, at the World Science Festival panel last night in New York City another exclusive clip, of Cavil with Boomer, was screened for the audience. Uberfangrrl and friend of the blog prolix_allie was nice enough to write up a description of it for us. In honor of our more spirginal readers, we are putting that info in the comment section of this post.

For a bit more footage of THE PLAN, here's the trailer released a few months ago:

Dave Howe talks CAPRICA, THE PLAN, and Comic Con

Chicago Tribune writer Maureen Ryan is interviewing Sci Fi (SyFy?) exec Dave Howe today and has twittered a few important factoids:

Sci Fi prez Dave Howe says debut of Caprica, BSG prequel series, is likely to be in January. (tweet)

Sci Fi panels at Comic-Con: Stargate Universe, Caprica, Warehouse 13, Sanctuary, Eureka. BSG movie The Plan "likely" to be there too. (tweet)

The Plan, BSG film, airs in Nov. Also, there *may* be a Battlestar theatrical film in 3-5 years. Not for sure, but possible, sez Dave Howe. (tweet)

Two Comic Con panels? Huzzah! As for a BSG movie, my excitement over that will depend on what sort of movie we are talkin' about. To be continued.

Keep an eye out for a full feature by Ryan over on her site The Watcher...

I'm getting that tingly feeling again...must be time for Comic Con rumors!

RDM playing nice in the halls of Comic Con 2008...

First bits and pieces of Comic Con 2009 panel info, both rumored and officially announced, have begun to trickle onto the blogosphere this past week for some of the TV and film projects. I'll be tracking a lot of both over on FanGrrl Magnet if you are curious.

But to the question that you dear readers most want here at Sitrep...what about BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and CAPRICA?

Nothing has been announced by Sci Fi/NBCU yet, but Seat42F says all nets and studios have had their Comic Con meetings and made their decisions. I've been poking some sources hoping for more info. It's a bit soon to do a CAPRICA panel, given production is starting next month, the cast and crew will be busy, and there wouldn't be any new footage in time for the Con.

My money is on a panel for THE PLAN, which airs this September November on SciFi.

Watch this space...



[Speaking of cons and plans, did you know Ron Moore is the announced Guest Of Honor at this year's London MCM Expo? And that Olmos recently said this about THE PLAN?]

Auction Reports

Reports indicate that the BSG props auction was a great event. Check out photos from the events here and here.

Michael Trucco and Kate Vernon attended the event and spoke about working on The Plan.

See also, the Battlestar Blog.

The Plan

Promo trailer for The Plan.

ETA: EJO discussed The Plan with TV Guide along with Mary McDonnell.