TVSquad

Leoben, that tricky toaster, was right: All of this has happened before, and all of it is happening again.

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan retells major events from the first two years of the celebrated sci-fi series through the eyes of the Cylons. It weaves together recycled scenes from the series with new footage to reveal a first-hand account of the Cylon agenda, or "plan."

The result is a film that feels incomplete, episodic and disjointed. It plays less like a movie and largely like a disk full of high quality bonus material. Most of what happens here feels irrelevant to the series -- almost like it was tacked on to the BSG mythos to satisfy completists and hardcore fans. Still, it's worth watching to see Dean Stockwell carry the film with a fearless performance as the scheming and duplicitous Brother Cavil. The veteran character actor takes center stage in The Plan, and your enjoyment of the film will rest largely on how much you like, or dislike, Cavil and his major role in the series.

We already know about the in-development reboot of Alien Nation at Syfy. What I somehow missed in all the hoopla about that is that Syfy is also in talks with creator Don Bellisario about a possible relaunch of Quantum Leap. Or a sequel or, really, whatever Bellisario would be interested in. Syfy is looking for a great time travel show, and other than Doctor Who, was there ever a better executed one than Quantum Leap?

Hell, with Scott Bakula all over our television screens on Chuck and The New Adventures of Old Christine among other appearances, and Dean Stockwell already familiar to SyFy's core fan-base, why not just go ahead and do a continuation of the original series with Sam's daughter in the lead role, or something like that?

Someone was pointing their camcorder at their television screen at some point and managed to catch a brief of the upcoming Battlestar Galactica prequel TV movie The Plan, which delves into the entire Cylon plan that was the premise of the whole series.

It appears to be a brief scene between Dean Stockwell's Cavil character and Kate Vernon's Ellen Tigh in which Cavil is discussing the concept of resurrection.

While I appreciate being able to see the clip, I wonder who had their video camera aimed at the television at just the right moment this past Friday night? We're far past the age of Kinoscope. Hadn't they ever heard of DVRs? I'm sure better quality copies will be available soon, if not already.

Seeing the clip does make me yearn for more Battlestar Galactica episodes, even if some found the series' ending to be disappointing. It's a pity that we have to wait until November.

Good news everyone. It seems that this whole movie thing is working out quite nicely for the folks over at Sci Fi. Executive VP of original programming for Sci Fi, Mark Stern, now also counts himself as co-head of the newly formed Universal Cable Productions. Why should we care? Because at the end of the day that means a little more Battlestar Galactica.

The success of Razor is a big part of this. Stern describes it as doing "phenomenally well in the international and DVD market." It's led to a whole new way of financing and creating entertainment for the network. The new Battlestar project will air after the series completes its run next year. Edward James Olmos is on board to direct, and he'll have a script by Jane Espenson to work with. Both nice choices. Casting is still up in the air at the moment. So far, Michael Trucco (Anders), Aaron Douglas (Tyrol), and Dean Stockwell (Cavil) are confirmed.

The story is prequel-esque. It goes back to just after the Cylon destruction of human home worlds. We'll follow the Cylons as they deal with human survivors, aboard ships as well as on planets. There is also a hint that the movie will focus specifically on two of the Cylon agents.