Battlestar Galactica is over. But there's so much of the story untold.

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan is really, for the most part unneccessary.The story is told. From armageddon through exodus to finale, what more could be said? Well, on basis of the long awaited and anticpated "The Plan", quite a lot.

It's always said that History is written by the victors. Telling the story from one side never tells the full story. "The Plan" instead shows the story not from the human perspective, but from the Cylon perspective. Which is an interesting twist - not unlike remaking "Star Wars" from the perspective of Darth Vader.I'd buy that for a dollar.

The Plan , weaves together new flashback footage along with archive material, to piece together a different perspective on what we already know. Despite it ending somewhere in the middle of season three, there's no way you can watch this until after the end of the entire series. Plotlines and revelations would be spoiled, as the questions would already be answered, the drama spoiled.

With a series as labyrinthe and layered as BG, its not just the story itself, but how it is told. How the deceptions peel back to reveal the truth. A lot of questions are answered, and a lot of backstory explained. Thats not to Say that "The Plan" is a needless, pointless exercise. Far from it.

 Whilst incidental to the main story, it makes things clearer. much clearer. the motivations. the methods. However, to propel it forward with some narrative thrust, there is some retconning in it which doesn't always sit comfortable. Why is there a new ship in the fleet we've never seen before? Like, ever? Is that a precursor to something major we've never seen before? or a damp unfulfilled squib? is it a herring... or is it a something else? And what about all these characters we've never seen before? Where have they all be hiding? And what are they up to? And how will it all end?

Much like last seasons "Razor", "The Plan" takes something familiar, and shows it in a new perspective and light. And it also has a shedload of money shots. Like a fleet of basestars materializing above a planet and the subsequent apocalypse. The survivors hidden in plain sight.

Make no mistake, its big. it's tense. its vital for fans. but it also feels a lot like an appendix. "The Plan" answers a lot of questions, raises a lot more, but like a lot of prequels/ sidequels, loses its narrative because we already know how the story ends.Fascinating, but something you need to have watched the entire four seasons for to make any real sense.

Similarly, there is a fair amount of nudity that seems to exist solely to titllate, and is a distraction from the story in hand. the new footage and the old stock footage is seamless and excellently intergrated, almost as if it could have been shot all alogn anyway. It tells the same story in a completely different light, and as such is extremly successful.

Though alienating to newcomers, with good perfromances and well written, the most annoying thing is the lack of distribution. You'd think Universal would want to exploit the window of opportunity, but instead by releasing it in the US way in advance of everywhere else, it means anyone can go on a file sharing site and get it way before release in the rest of the world. For a ongoing franchise so dependent upon people buying copies of the DVD, thats as if they are tryign to sink the ship before it floats.

"The Plan" - BSG fans need it. To everyone else it will confuse. But TV doesn't get much better than this. it makes Dr Who looks like what it always was - a kids show watched by adults. Rather than Sci-fi for grown up. Recommended.

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