Truth be told I was going to hold off on the review for a few more days until we neared the air date on November 24th. But as fate would have it the internet is also a viscious she-devil and over the last couple weeks I have seen files pop up around. If you're patient enough you can wait until the 24th, then buy it on DVD a couple days later. I didn't want to reveal too much about Razor so if you find it a bit scant on details it is because I didn't want to ruin it for you. We also have the two latest Razorettes and in the next two weeks we will have the last two which you will be able to watch right here at Twitch. For now, enjoy...
When the fleet begins a search and rescue mission for a missing Raptor they stumble upon a research vessel dating back to the first Cylon War. The crews of Galactica and Pegasus learn from Admiral Adama that this research vessel was part of the Cylon’s research into their next stage of evolution, experimenting with human and machines, creating a new hybrid. This research vessel had been traveling through space since the first Cylon War and Pegasus is commissioned to rescue her Raptor pilots and destroy this ship.
The movie starts with flashbacks to the Pegasus arc to familiarize ourselves with it again and concludes with the normal season opening credits, assuming they mean for Razor to fit into the series full story and not be a standalone. Razor stands as a visual chronicle of everything we heard about during the Pegasus story arc in Season 2. I don’t know if I would call it a movie as much as I would call it a mega-sode.
The story of Razor runs through a couple time lines. We are on board with officer Kendra Shaw on Pegasus right before the Cylon attack starting the 2nd Cylon War, commanded by Admiral Helena Cain, therein lies the visual chronicle. We also follow the story arc from Season 2; we then see Shaw and Pegasus under the command of Lee ‘Apollo’ Adama. This new story fits in nicely with the overall series story. Haunted by ghosts of her past and learning to serve under Pegasus’ new commander we learn how Cain pushed Shaw and the rest of her crew beyond moral conviction, becoming Razors, extension of her own will, so they could survive so when the war was over they could become human again. Ah, who is the machine now?
The last 10 minutes – Out of respect for BSG fans, our readers, and SciFi I’m not going to tell you what happens in the last ten minutes of this mega-sode. I understand that others have felt it necessary to do so and if you want to be a killjoy then by all means go and read their summaries. What happens in the last 10 minutes creates new perspective heading into Season 3 and as all good television does throws out the bait and hook and will leave us floating along until the New Year.
Visual effects and production values are always top notch. The full on battles between Cylons and Humans are very impressive as well. I am so glad that they brought back the old school Cylons as well. What a treat. We’re talking old school Cylon raiders, with three Cylons in each ship, wreaking havoc in the universe baby. Dang, it was great reminiscing on those old saucers.
The last few Razorettes that have been airing each week will make reappearance in this mega-sode as they are directly related to this story.
And, if you happen to live in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Dallas and Seattle there will be FREE screenings of Razor in local cinemas called BattlestarEvent. Seating is extremely limited and likely already taken by now. But you never know.
Thanks for the great review Mack! Eagerly waiting for the Nov. 24th broadcast and DVD release. Aussie actress Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen who plays Kendra Shaw is definitely a cutie (Chinese-Norweigan mix) and I hope her role here gets her more notice and work in other TV series like Katee Sackhoff who is currently appears in "Bionic Woman". I also hope we get to see more of the old school Cylons in Season 4.