Wow, and I thought I was done with Sci-fi Month. Yes, it’s a
return to the revamped Battlestar Galactica. Since I finished reviewing Season
3 last month, I’m nearing the end of my retrospective. Before I get to Season
4, I did have one place to stop at.
While I liked Season 3, I gotta admit that it wasn’t the
show at its best. Apparently, someone thought the same thing because it was a
year before we got Season 4. If you think waiting for Game of Thrones was
horrible, try this. Since Season 3 ended the way it did, it was decided to do a
stand-alone, made-for-TV movie. It would air on Sci-Fi and then get released a few
days later on DVD. Ron D. Moore, the show’s executive producer, was definitely for
this because it’d mean that NBC Universal would help fund the production. I
remember seeing most of this when it aired in 2007 and I just recently
re-watched it.
Instead of taking place during Season 3, Razor goes back in
time on us. We go back to Season 2 and see what happened when Lee Adama took
command of the Pegasus. We never knew how his time as commander went
since it was right before Season 2’s finale. Things are pretty much the same.
Starbuck’s still around and not too annoying, Tigh hasn’t lost his eye yet, and
Athena (Helo’s Number 8) is still a prisoner. It’s a fun time, ain’t it? So,
what happens when most of the main cast is forgotten about and the rest of the
time is saved for a new character, flashbacks, and a nod to the original show?
Something kind of cool.
SYNOPSIS
Razor takes place sometime after the episode, “The Captain’s
Hand”. Lee Adama has been given command of the Pegasus and ends up choosing
disgraced officer Kendra Shaw as his XO. He also has Kara Thrace as
the Pegasus’ CAG. Through Shaw, we end up getting flashbacks to what Admiral
Cain’s command was like. During “Pegasus”, we got hints of Cain’s harsh
decisions. Here, we end up seeing what really happened. We find out what
happened about their time during the attack of the 12 Colonies, their first XO,
and an incident involving civilians.
While Adama's flashback scene went a little long, this was really cool.
The main crutch of the story comes when the Pegasus is sent
to investigate a missing Raptor. What they find instead is a Cylon Basestar
with older versions of Cylon Raiders. We find out that these Cylons were
older models that split off from the main group. We even get a long flashback from
Admiral Adama that took place near the end of the first Cylon War. Admiral Adama orders the Pegasus to perform a
mission in destroying the Basestar and saving any survivors. It’s touch-and-go
at first, but the team is able to carry out its assignment at a tough cost.
PROS
So, what did I think of this one? I thought it was pretty
good. If you were ever wondering how Lee’s time as commander went, this is
definitely the place to go. I always wondered why we barely got anything from that
part of season 2. On the show, Lee gets promoted, and then, we go straight to
the finale. We basically skipped a month between those episodes. Thankfully,
Razor fills us in on what happened. It fills us in on a lot of other events
from the show’s past like Admiral Cain’s descent into madness and the end of
the first Cylon War. We even got hints of what the Cylons went through in creating
the new models. We also got a hint on Starbuck especially with how Season 3
ended.
Kara, meet your somewhat better-adjusted twin, Kendra.
The character work was pretty good here. If you were missing
the regular Lee and Kara, you’ll get that here. In fact, this probably has Lee
at his best. Even though she’s relegated to flashbacks, it was cool to see
Michelle Forbes reprise the role of Admiral Cain. It’s here where get into her
head and find out that she wasn’t always ruthless. We see what her decisions
end up doing to the crew and to Shaw who was played well by Stephanie Jacobson.
While she’s only around for Razor, I thought she was kinda cool. The rest of
the main cast gets sidelined for the most part except for a younger version of
Admiral Adama played by Nico Cortez. That sequence, while a little long, was
pretty cool.
Since it’s essentially a movie, we get some nice action
sequences. If you were missing any action from Season 3, you’ll get your fix
here. The Cylons’ attack on the Pegasus, Young Adama’s final mission, and the
Pegasus’ mission against the old Basestar were the standouts. It was also cool
to see the original Cylons from the 1978 series show up here. I do have a small
complaint about them, but other than that, it was cool. As usual, the music
rocked.
CONS
There aren’t many things wrong with the movie. You’re pretty
much getting what you get with the TV show. Now, I will say that Shaw does
sometimes come off like a Starbuck clone. That’s not a bad thing, but it's
noticeable. I also thought some of the flashbacks (Adama’s flashback and Cain’s
flashback to the Cylon War) did go a little too long. Lastly, and this is
really a nitpick, I wish we got to see the old-school Cylons with practical
effects. I know it would have been hard to do especially at one point, but it
would have been nice for an old-school BSG fan to see.
I wish these thing were just dudes in suits. It would have been nice to see.
………………………………………………………………
Overall, Razor was a nice appetizer for Season 4. While it
gave us the usual, it also gave us something we hadn’t seen before. Well, I
think it’s finally time to crack open that Season 4 disc set. Before I do that,
I need to go back to the Planet of the Apes franchise. I think it’s time for a
re-do of something I did years ago. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and don’t
tick off Michelle Forbes. It’s possible you won’t make it out alive.
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