Battlestar Galactica: Razor

What did I think of the Battlestar Galactica TV-movie, “Razor”?

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Note: This is a review of the Extended DVD Release

This movie was a very interesting, as it was very much a TV-movie. I think it was very standalone in nature, but was able to move the rest of the series forward in a nice way. Although not a direct continuation from the season cliffhanger from the series, it still functioned as a nice way to move season 4 nicely, and really caused you to look at season 4 in a whole new light.

But this movie was also crafted to bring in new viewers as well, who might not be familiar to the series. I think it was crafted very nicely for three kinds of people: the new viewer who’s never even heard of BSG until this movie, the die-hard new BSG fan (like myself), and the die-hard BSG original series fan. I think it really appealed to all those types of people really well.

But what this movie was really about was the backstory of the Battlestar Pegasus, which made its series debut in the season 2 episode, “Pegasus.” I think it is wise before you see this episode that you watch that episode. When I first watched it, I had not seen that episode in quite a long time, so I missed some of the inside references to that episode. In fact, many of the events you will see in the movie are mentioned in that episode.

As this movie did take place during the season 2 timeline, it really took you back. If you haven’t seen season 2 in a while, you might miss some of those key things that were in the storyline. The most prominent that stood out in my mind was the state of Sharon “Boomer” Valerii. She was in chains for pretty much this whole movie.

Another cool thing about this movie is we kind of got to see the past of Battlestar Galactica with Adama’s past. I thought these scenes were very well done. It was extremely nice to see callbacks from that original series that I personally have not watched. In fact, I may not watch it until this series is done so I could compare and contrast. But, anyways, I digress. One cool callback that they did was bring the old Cylon Centurion models into this movie, which is a thing we haven’t seen on the show since the miniseries. They even said the classic line, “By your command.”

Another cool classic callback was Adama’s flightsuit. If you had seen the original Battlestar Galactica series, you would have picked up on this. But I am totally unfamiliar with that series, so it took me a while to pick up on those small little references to that series. But I still thought it was a nice little callback.

In the Adama flashback sequences, we got to see a little about Adama’s past as a pilot. I thought those scenes were very cool. For one, I thought the actor they got to play young Adama was totally spot on. I believed that this was a young Edward James Olmos, which is what you want when hiring young counterpart actors. Another thing I liked about these scenes is you got to see Adama in a whole new light. Seeing him as the young “Husker” was really cool, as we have never seen Adama pilot a Viper before. So it was neat to kind of see that side of him.

We also get a really cool minor revelation with this movie. It’s pretty minor if you look at it. But when the Galactica crew is looking at the old Cylon model, Baltar questions “Virtual-Six” about this, and why the Cylons saw fit to make themselves human, since they hated them so much. Virtual Six then tells him that they evolved to such, because humans were made in the image of God, and the Cylons being very religious, wanted the form God had chosen.

On that same note, we really got to see the evolution of the Cylons in this movie. We got to see how they evolved from the toasters of the first Cylon War to the humanoid models that we know of so well from the series. If you look closely the “old-school” Cylon models actually have a human walk to them. This can also stem from the fact that the Cylons were created by humans, and would have a humanoid aspect to them initially. But as they created new Centurions, they would have a less humanoid walk to them.

As I said before, this movie really focused on the adventures or misadventures of the crew of the Battlestar Pegasus. Theses adventures are seen through the eyes of Kendra Shaw, who was sort of Admiral Helena Cain’s protégé. I liked the character of Kendra Shaw. I really thought she jived well with the Galactica crew and would have liked to see her return of sorts to the Galactica for a small arc in season 4. But seeing as how she died, I don’t think that’s possible now.

I really enjoyed her interaction with Starbuck. They really had the same kind of mental thinking, with their no nonsense attitude. Seeing Kendra Shaw as the Pegasus XO really gave you an idea what Starbuck would be like if she was an XO on another ship. Now I doubt she would go to the great lengths that Shaw would go to in that moments. Most notably, killing one of the civilians on the Scylla.

One would question the actions of Shaw in that moment. Why would she kill that person? I think one thing that this show has been about is survival. It is about surviving and making sure humanity survives the evil of the Cylons. I think Kendra Shaw killed civilians on Scylla for the greater good, like her mentor Adm. Cain had taught her to do.

Like I said, it’s a shame that she was killed off in the final scenes of the episode when she destroyed the Cylon ship. I really enjoyed her character. I thought she had a great rapport with Starbuck and Apollo. It would’ve been nice to have seen what kind of role she would have had on Galactica had she have survived into the series and maybe into the fourth season. I think the New Zealand actress Stephanie Jacobson really stepped into that role and made it her own. I thought she did a fantastic job. Another one of the reasons why I’d want to see her character in the series.

This movie also did a wonderful job of humanizing a character that perhaps some people didn’t like, Admiral Helena Cain. In the Pegasus episodes (Pegasus and the Resurrection Ship two-parter), which are some of my favorite of the series, Cain may have been colored as heartless to kind of counterpart the caring nature of Adama’s command. But I think we really got to see more of Cain’s human side a little bit in this movie that we might not have seen in those initial Pegasus episodes.

One thing that humanized Cain a bit was her interaction with Gina, the Cylon spy. Now the producers have insinuated that Cain has a lesbian relationship with Ms. Gina. I really didn’t see that until I watched the commentary. I always sensed there was a closeness between them. Like very dear friends. I never sensed a “same-sex” connection. I really hope Battlestar doesn’t go this route in the future. I really loved Gina and Cain’s interaction nonetheless.

Another thing that we got to see humanize Cain a little bit was her relationship with Kendra Shaw. I can almost imagine Cain saw Kendra as the daughter she never had. From what we know of, Cain never really had a daughter of her own so it was nice to see Cain and Kendra kind of interact in this way. I think Kendra definitely saw Cain a s a mother-figure for her, because as far as we know she didn’t really have any parents. I think this gives Kendra a good way to interact with Kara. I really loved Kara and Kendra’s interaction, as they finally see eye-to-eye as there have been many things they didn’t see eye-to-eye on. Like I said earlier, the characters of Kendra Shaw and Kara Thrace are very similar. That’s why it would’ve been interesting to see her character kind of translate to the actual series, in relation to Starbuck.

Another thing that humanized Cain were her touching flashbacks from the first Cylon War, when she was forced to leave her sister behind. You could definitely see shadows of the Holocaust in those scenes. You definitely saw that Cain was forced to grow up really fast and kind of step up to the Cylons. Then, the Cylons spared her. I often wondered why the Cylon spared her after seeing her right there. Were they not worth their time? Or did that specific Cylon centurion just think that young Helena’s time was not yet.

I think it was really nice to see Admiral Cain again. I loved Michelle Forbes’ character in this movie and in the Pegasus episodes. I thought she did an out-of-the-park job at nailing down every little nuance of her character. It was really nice to revisit that character in this fashion, and it is a shame we won’t be able to revisit that character at all. But hey I may be wrong.

This movie really got to see lots of things that kind of paid off many of the things we saw in season 3. In season 3, we got to see the Cylon kind of opened up before our eyes a bit. Some things that we saw in that season were the Basestar, and the Hybrid. It was nice to see those elements kind of come back into this movie, as this movie kind of set up things in season 4.

One thing regarding the Hybrid that is interesting is almost everything he sees and says are clues to season 4, and the future of the series. You have to really listen closely for these hidden messages as to what kind of clues they bring for the final season of the show, but it’s actually quite juicy if you start thinking about it. There are references to the four newly revealed Cylons, and the fifth one to be revealed, and many other things that kind of blow over your head on first viewing but on subsequent viewings are actually quite interesting.

The utterance of the Hybrid that does not blow over your head is the interesting new revelation about Kara Thrace. The Hybrid calls her “the herald of the apocalypse, the harbinger of death” and that she will “lead the human race to its end.” This is very interesting and causes much confusion for all the fans of the show who have been watching from the first episode. Throughout many episodes in this season, we have been alluding to Kara’s special destiny. Is this a clue to what it could be?

I also think that it is very interesting as it kind of goes against everything that we saw at the end of season 3. At the end of season 3, Kara mysteriously returned to Galactica, after presumably having been to Earth and promises she is going to take them there. Now the Hybrid is saying that Kara will lead the human race to its end? I’m confused just talking about it. But I think it will be very interesting drama when the show returns in a month.

In conclusion, I would like to say that I really loved this movie. I thought at its core it was very much standalone movie and felt at times like an elongated episode. In fact, I fought the urge not o call it an episode, as it was a TV-movie. I thought it was done very well. I think other great sci-fi shows should do these kind of endeavors in the future, especially the shows that were on strike and meant to make a great comeback and maybe kind of get people excited about their new seasons in the fall. Heroes, I’m talking to you.

But like I said, it was at its core, very standalone, but at the same time, gave us a great launching point for season 4 to jump onto when it returns. I must confess I have been watching this movie quite a bit since I got it, as it is tiding me over until the fourth and final season begins in a month. It’ll be very exciting to see that open up. I’m totally stoked for it to return.

Great movie. Had some great characters that were new and also some great characters from past episodes that we hadn’t seen in a while due to them being killed off when the Pegasus was destroyed in the opening episodes of season 3, and in key moments of season 2. I hope Battlestar Galactica makes another effort like this, in order to deepen the mythos of the show. I know I’d watch it.

RATING: 9/10

This entry was posted on 15. April 2008 at 19:27 and is filed under Battlestar Galactica Reviews, Tv Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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