For those “Battlestar Galactica” fans that weren’t paying attention, the Sci-Fi channel premiered the two-hour event, “Razor,” last Saturday night. If you missed it, you can check it out on DVD when it hits the shelves on December 4th.
With Christmas approaching and the writers’ strike just now starting to affect new programming, there’s never been a better time for newbies interested in getting into “Battlestar Galactica” to finally make the plunge. The first three seasons are out on DVD and the fourth season (starting in March) will be the show’s last, so you know the creators are going to have the freedom to end the series properly.
**SPOILER ALERT**
When I first heard about “Razor,” I thought it was going to focus completely on the Pegasus crew under Admiral Cain. This provided plenty of story potential, but the creators decided to weave in two other timelines as well. The story jumped back and forth frequently between the Cain’s Pegasus and the time when Lee was in command of the ship and its crew (before the fleet settled on New Caprica). There was also a brief scene where a young William Adama made a gruesome discovery forty years earlier during the First Cylon War.
I figured that Kendra Shaw wasn’t long for the BG world considering we haven’t seen her in any subsequent episodes, so her little sacrifice at the end wasn’t all that surprising. Besides, it was a lot more effective the first time Bruce Willis did it in “Armageddon.” Regardless, her interaction with the old man (was that the hybrid?) on the ship revealed something big. He said:
“Cara Thrace will lead the human race to its end. She is the herald of the Apocalypse and the harbinger of death. They must not follow her.”
Considering Cara returned at the end of season three and promised to lead the fleet to Earth, his words are especially forboding. Of course, he’s the one that kept saying, “This has all happened before and will happen again,” so I don’t know what the point is of trying to dissuade the humans from following Cara. Kendra tried to warn Lee, but of course the Cylons scrambled the signal.
It was interesting to see the old school Cylons again. Apparently, they are only used in minor duty, and they aren’t as effective as their newer counterparts. It was also fascinating to see Gina’s backstory on the Pegasus. She went from being Cain’s lover to a rape and torture victim. It makes a little more sense now why Cain was so harsh with Gina. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
“Razor” certainly isn’t for the newbies, but it serves as a nice fix for those of us who can’t wait for the final season to begin.
