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Battlestar Galactica: Razor

By Bert Ehrmann

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Fort Wayne Reader

2007-11-20

To call the Sci-Fi channel’s television series Battlestar Galactica (BSG) a “modern television masterpiece” would not be an understatement. Since its debut in December, 2003, BSG has used science fiction as a guise to examine what it’s like to live on 21st century Earth.

With the last new episode of BSG having aired last March, SCI Fi channel is hopping to rekindle fan interest in the series by airing a sort of BSG “movie of the week” entitled Battlestar Galactica: Razor this Thanksgiving. BSG: Razor promises to shed light on the upcoming fourth season of the show while at the same time revealing what happened to the Battlestar Pegasus between the events of the mini-series and her eventual discovery at the middle of the second season of the series.

The overall story of BSG: Razor is intertwined between three different time periods. The first story is told through the eyes of rookie pilot William Adama (Nico Cortez) set some 40 years prior to the events of BSG. The second story is that of Admiral Cain (Michelle Forbes) and the Pegasus shortly before and after the start of the Second Cylon War. The third, and by far the most important, story takes place sometime during the events of second season of the show with Captain Lee Adama (Jamie Bember) in command of the Pegasus.

In the first story, we get to see a young William Adama about to go into battle with a classic “By Your Command” Cylon force. On his first mission Adama has his Viper shot out from under him and crash lands on an icy planet. There he learns that the true horrors of war don’t necessarily take place in the vacuum of space, they take place on the ground where flesh meets steel.

The second story flashes forward to the events surrounding the second Cylon invasion chronicled during the BSG mini-series (2003). BSG: Razor reveals another side of what this initial attack was like to the rest of the Colonial Fleet, namely the Battlestar Pegasus. (Think Pearl Harbor but with nuclear missiles.)

Thinking that they’re the last remnants of humanity, Admiral Cain and Pegasus crew set out to deliver a little payback to the enemy no matter what the cost in the lives of the crew or whatever fellow survivors they stumble across along their vengeance run.

The third story takes sometime during the second season of the series. Here, it’s several months since Cain’s death and Captain Adama is charged with finding several crew members gone missing during a scientific expedition.

Having the burden of command thrust upon him, Adama feels as if he must make some allies with the original crew of the Pegasus in order to maintain loyalty aboard his ship. He does this by naming Kendra Shaw (Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen) as the second-in-command of the Pegasus. Once an up and coming officer, Shaw was disgraced by an indiscretion under the command of Cain. The crew doesn’t much like or respect Shaw but she feels that she needs to earn back their respect at any cost.

Battlestar Galactica: Razor makes a fine addition to the mythos of BSG. Since much of the show takes place during the second season of the show, we pretty much know who’s going to be alive at the end of the movie and who isn’t. And since the Pegasus makes it to the start of the third season of the show we also know that no matter how menacing the Cylons might be, the lucky “Peggy” will survive the events of BSG: Razor.

That being said, the story of BSG: Razor is on par with the rest of the series and I was quite impressed as to the level of special effects in this movie. BSG devotees will not be disappointed in BSG: Razor.

As of now, the fourth and final season of Battlestar Galactica is scheduled to begin airing April 2008, more than a year since the end of the third. Battlestar Galactica: Razor airs at 9:00 P.M. on Saturday, November 24 on SCI Fi and the “Unrated Extended Edition” DVD of the movie hits store shelves on December 4. E-mail me at words@dangerousuniverse.com.