Battlestar Galactica Razor (2007)

It had been a few months since I watched Battlestar Galactica: Razor, so I figured I would watch it once more before finally reviewing it. I of course watched the Unrated Extended version. I wonder why they even bother releasing the regular cuts. Does anyone buy them? Anyway, I’m just a bit behind because I wanted to review it prior to the season 4 premier. There are four separate storylines told with lots of flashbacks involved.

From the Battlestar Wiki:

• William Adama’s mission at the end of the first Cylon War.
• Helena Cain’s loss of her family at the same time.
• The events on Pegasus during and shortly after the Fall of the Twelve Colonies.
• The events surrounding the Battle of the Guardian basestar, set in the time period between “The Captain’s Hand” and “Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I”.

One of the more interesting characters I noticed was the alternate Six model (Gina Inviere) that was captured aboard the Pegasus. From the perspective of Galactica’s crew, she was portrayed as a beaten and broken prisoner of war. Now aboard Pegasus we see the manipulative and violent side of her. I still feel some compassion for her, but she’s no longer a completely innocent victim. Her mission was to subvert Pegasus and she got caught.

I thought that seeing Cain’s side of the story would make me understand why she had to be so ruthless. The fact is she was under almost identical circumstances as Adama was. It has been quite a long time since I watched the opening mini-series, but from what I remember, Adama was faced with the same decision as Cain. Do we cut loose the dead weight (colonial fleet), or guard and protect them? Cain went a step further and stripped the ships she came across and left everyone that wasn’t useful for dead.

I didn’t really care for Admiral Cain’s protégé, Kendra Shaw. I got the impression she was supposed to be Starbuck’s foil, but it didn’t quite work that well. Shaw’s transfer to Pegasus and Cain’s corruption of her was a bit predictable. This was the classic story of a green recruit whose heart was turned black by the spoils of war.

Probably one of the best extra features on the DVD is the inclusion of the minisodes that show the rest of the details of William Adama’s mission at the end of the first Cylon War. These events are just touched on in Razor. I’m pretty sure they were cut because the run time would have been too long. Overall it was very interesting but I have two minor gripes.

1. Why does there always have to be a scene someone fatally injured asking if they will be OK? The other person says, “You’ll be fine -insert name here-!” Arg!!!
2. How in the world did the cylon with no parachute land in the same exact research station that Adama landed at with his parachute? I find it hard to believe.

Razor is a decent addition to the new Battlestar Galactica franchise, and I highly recommend watching it prior to viewing Season 4. I have the first episode of Season 4 recorded, but I haven’t watched it yet. I’m contemplating waiting until this Saturday to watch episode 1 and 2 back to back.