Battlestar Galactica: The Plan, the Cylon side of the story

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan is a TV film released in October 2009 that retells the Cylon attack and the first two seasons from the Cylons' side. Its leads are two copies of Cavil: one hidden in the fleet as a priest, and one on Caprica with the human resistance. It shows what the hidden Cylon agents were doing in scenes the series only hinted at, and it's built for people who have already seen the whole show. (Battlestar Galactica: The Plan)

Plot#

The attack. The Cylons struck the Twelve Colonies with a fleet of basestars and nuclear weapons, using the defence codes Number Six had got from Gaius Baltar. Agents already in place, Cavil among them, rode out the attack among the survivors. (Battlestar Galactica: The Plan; Battlestar Galactica (miniseries))

In the fleet. Cavil, posing as a priest, set about finishing the job with the agents he had. Sharon Valerii, who didn't know she was a Cylon, sabotaged Galactica's water tanks and later shot William Adama in the CIC. Cavil was furious that she didn't kill him. A Doral was sent to blow himself up on Galactica and did only minor damage. The Six known as Shelly Godfrey was sent to frame Baltar, failed, and was told to kill herself in an airlock. (Battlestar Galactica: The Plan; Battlestar Galactica, "Litmus"; Battlestar Galactica, "Six Degrees of Separation"; Battlestar Galactica, "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II")

The hardest case was a Simon working as a medic on the Cybele. He had married Giana O'Neill and become a father to her daughter. When Cavil ordered him to sabotage the ship, Simon chose to go out of an airlock himself, out of range of resurrection, rather than hurt his family. (Battlestar Galactica: The Plan)

Brother Cavil, meanwhile, let a runaway boy called John shelter in his chapel and grow attached to him, then stabbed him to death. (Battlestar Galactica: The Plan)

Leoben was in the fleet too, aboard the Gemenon Traveler, where he became fixed on Kara Thrace. He was captured, questioned by her and put out of an airlock on Roslin's orders. (Battlestar Galactica: The Plan)

On Caprica. The second Cavil joined Samuel Anders and his resistance fighters in the ruins, as a priest they could talk to. His job was to betray them. But living with the fighters changed him. When he had a clear shot at Anders and Kara, he put the rifle down. (Battlestar Galactica: The Plan)

The airlock. When the rescue mission brought the Caprica survivors to Galactica, the two Cavils came face to face and were exposed. In the brig, the Caprica Cavil told his brother the attack had been a mistake. His brother rejected that completely. The two were put out of the airlock together, and Brother Cavil promised to have the other boxed once they downloaded. (Battlestar Galactica: The Plan; Battlestar Galactica, "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I"; Battlestar Galactica, "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II")

What it reveals#

The big reveal is that the Cylon plan, as the opening titles of every episode promised, was mostly Cavil's. He drove the attack and the hunt for the fleet, and much of what looked like a grand design in the first two seasons was one angry model pushing others into missions they didn't want. (Battlestar Galactica: The Plan)

It also shows how badly the plan went. Boomer couldn't finish Adama. Simon chose his family. Shelly Godfrey's frame-up fell apart. On Caprica, Cavil's own copy turned against the idea of wiping out humanity. The film's answer to "what was the plan?" is that it kept breaking down because the Cylons kept becoming more human. (Battlestar Galactica: The Plan)

For anyone who knows the ending, the film adds weight to scenes with the Final Five. Cavil knows what they are while they themselves have no idea, because he is the one who wiped their memories and hid them among the humans. The series only explains that history in season 4. (Battlestar Galactica: The Plan; Battlestar Galactica, "No Exit")

The Plan also gives more time to characters the show used briefly. Simon's family on the Cybele and the Leoben aboard the Gemenon Traveler are new, and Shelly Godfrey's disappearance from season 1 finally gets an explanation. (Battlestar Galactica: The Plan; Battlestar Galactica, "Six Degrees of Separation")

Characters#

• Galactica Cavil: Brother Cavil, the priest in the fleet, running the agents and never wavering.
• Caprica Cavil: the copy with the resistance, who comes to think the attack was wrong.
• Number One: the model both Cavils are copies of.
• Sharon Valerii: Boomer, the sleeper agent who shoots Adama.
• Simon O'Neill: the Simon who chooses his family over his orders.
• Giana O'Neill: Simon's human wife.
• Aaron Doral: sent to die as a suicide bomber on Galactica.
• Shelly Godfrey: the Six who tries to frame Baltar.
• Leoben Conoy: hiding in the fleet and drawn to Kara.
• Samuel Anders: leader of the resistance on Caprica.
• Number Six: the Six who used Baltar to get the defence codes.

(Battlestar Galactica: The Plan)

Where it fits#

The Plan runs alongside the miniseries and the first two seasons, from the day of the attack to the two Cavils going out of the airlock just before the fleet settles on New Caprica. Most of its scenes sit around or between moments you've already seen, so it works as a companion to those episodes rather than a sequel. On the timeline it covers the Fall and the first year after. (Battlestar Galactica: The Plan; Battlestar Galactica, "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II")

Watch it last, after "Daybreak". It gives away which characters are Cylons, including the Final Five, most of whom the series only reveals at the end of season 3 and in season 4. Watching it before that spoils the show. (Battlestar Galactica: The Plan; Battlestar Galactica, "Crossroads, Part II"; Battlestar Galactica, "Sometimes a Great Notion")

It came out on DVD and Blu-ray on 27 October 2009, seven months after the finale, and reached Syfy on 10 January 2010. If you only have time for one of the two TV films, Razor matters more to the main story. (Battlestar Galactica: The Plan)