Battlestar Galactica: Razor

'Battlestar Galactica: Razor" is a stand-alone full-length movie which tells the backstory of Admiral Helena Cain of the Battlestar Pegasus through the eyes of Major Kendra Shaw. The storyline references several plot lines from the episodes 'Pegasus' and 'Resurrection Ship', and fills in details that were mentioned in those episodes, including the murder of the Pegasus XO and the murder of several civilians' families. The story also examines the life of Major Shaw as she is promoted to XO of the Pegasus under Commander Lee Adama, highlighting her addictions, and her quest to atone for the atrocities she has committed.The story also explores the early efforts of the Cylons to develop human - Cylon hybrids. The scenes which portray this are quite graphic and the storyline becomes somewhat horrific. A very interesting part of the movie is how the original Cylon Centurions are used in the movie and how their difference from the present-day Cylons is explained away.The movie has incredible special effects, tense story lines (as we have become used to with BSG), and riveting performances. Overall, this movie is a excellent addition to the pantheon of Battlestar Galactica; one might argue that it is one of the finest episodes of the entire series.Performances by the usual characters are outstanding as usual, but the supporting cast is magnificent as well. If you love the Battlestar Galactica universe, you will love this movie.

As a fan of the original Battlestar Galactica, when the revamped miniseries first aired, I refused to watch. But when it was picked up for a first season, I bit the bullet and watched the miniseries. I was hooked instantly. In my opinion, Battlestar Galactica is the best television series in television history. Television was made for this series.While Battlestar Galactica is clearly science fiction (and incorporates many elements from Greek Mythology), it is the human drama that is most compelling. That is not to dismiss the dramatic element of the last (approximately) 50,000 human survivors attempting to flee the Cylons and find a new home. In fact, the interactions between humans and Cylons provide some of the best “human drama” of the series.I cannot recommend this series highly enough, but you should be aware that there is swearing, violence, and fairly graphic sex.Also, the show deteriorated significantly towards the end when the showrunners decided that the struggling remnants of mankind should indeed find Earth and realized that they should wrap up all loose ends. Unfortunately, the writers had created some conundrums they could not solve. For example, Gaius Baltar and Six were in each other’s heads. How? Why? And don’t even get me started on how Kara Thrace died but lived with no real explanation given. Nevertheless, while the ending was surprisingly unsatisfactory, the show overall remains the best.

some better then others this one explains in detail the Pegasus and her crew before joining the show for few episodes well worth the money as i never seen it on sale. Not sure if this or another of the movies their is some shower nudity so don't go off the wall. I saw reviews while back was like or get off it. Compared to what CBS has done to "Star Trek " series it is mild one reason I am reviewing this as I am fed up with just about every new show out their with writers thinking they can ram social ideas down a persons throat at the cost of a story or show . this was not one of them at it's time was cutting edge and still love it today

The fact that it was unrated probably didn't matter much. Maybe the degree of violence is more intense than the usual fare but it really doesn't matter. If you have seen the original series you know how intense it gets. And speaking of the series, although this makes a little more sense in context of the series it does stand alone. If you watch it in the proper order with the series it enhances the overall narrative of Battlestar Galactica. The Movie is intense and hard driving all the way through.

Back in 2008, with the transmission of Battlestar Galactica's fourth season delayed and its full run interrupted by a nine-month-long break due to the Writer's Strike, the Sci-Fi Channel saw fit to deliver us an extra treat, namely a TV movie delving deeper into the show's backstory.Razor takes place at the end of the second season, shortly after the events of the episode The Captain's Hand. Lee Adama is now commander of the battlestar Pegasus, but as an outsider he finds himself not entirely trusted by his new crew. Lee decides to appoint a former favourite of Admiral Cain's, Lt. Kendra Shaw, to the position of XO, in an attempt to 'build bridges' with his new subordinates. Interestingly, the plot doesn't dwell on this idea. We know the fate of the Pegasus and Lee's command of her from other episodes and seeing him do a 'winning the respect of the crew' plotline would have been redundant. Instead we see much of the story through Kendra's eyes. Lengthy flashbacks take us back to the day of the original Cylon attack on the Colonies and we see Kendra rising through the ranks and observing Cain's gradual moral erosion as the tensions of command take hold. A present day storyline, which is little more than a subplot, sees the Pegasus crew stumble across a bunch of obsolete Cylons from the First Cylon War and have to eliminate them.Razor straddles two stools. On the one hand, it is a balls-to-the-wall action story with huge, epic CGI battle sequences and lots of emotional intensity which is designed to appeal to newcomers as well as established fans. On the other, it features a lot of fan-pleasing asides and references to the original series. This is a somewhat odd idea (going for newbies and hardcore fans at the same time) but just about works, with the new character of Kendra providing a worthwhile 'in' to this story and universe for new viewers but at the same time allowing established fans to see stuff they've wanted to see since the series began. Kudos for the writers for managing not to make a total hash of this.The TV movie lives or dies on the performance of actress Stephanie Chaves-Jacobson as Kendra Shaw and thankfully she delivers a competent performance. She tended to mumble a fair bit, however, which resulted in much rewinding of scenes to make out what she was saying. The actress has a great rapport with Katee Sackhoff and Michelle Forbes, and in these scenes she is extremely good. The other actors are as trusty and reliable as ever, although some have very little screen-time (Athena and Tigh get a single scene each, President Roslin three short scenes and Dr. Baltar only briefly appears thanks to an extended scene only available on the DVD).Overall, Razor (****) is an enjoyable slice of Battlestar Galactica. Some elements misfire a bit (the "By your command," moment, although amusing, totally breaks the fourth wall) and the resolution's dependence on yet more BSG mysticism is mildly exasperating, but overall the TV movie fulfils its remit of being both entertaining and restoring faith in the show after a patchy third year. I do think Razor works better if viewed chronologically (i.e., after The Captain's Hand in Season 2) than between Season 3 and 4 as originally aired, at which point it does feel a little more redundant.The DVD edition is extended over the TV cut by some 15 minutes and features a lengthy flashback to the First Cylon War (complete with another huge battle sequence) as well as other new scenes, plus a writer and producer's commentary.

Okay people, newsflash. This film is included in the Season 4 boxset. Which was slightly galling to discover, though Amazon's price was very reasonable, but I now have two copies of this, when I only need one...First things first. Old school cylons. They're still CGI, sadly, but the appearance of the Centurions just reminds you how great that design is. And they say by your command, which is ace. There's a fab mid-air battle between a Centurion and a young Bill Adama, which also is ace.Okay, so what about the rest of the film. The story uses an officer who served on the Pegasus as its POV character, allowing the writers to flashback to when Admiral Cain was still alive and therefore give the excellent Michelle Forbes more work. The film gives some of the back story to how the Pegasus escaped the fate of the rest of the Battlestars and how they came to cage a No. 6 cylon. While this fills in the gaps, I think that we've already had this ground covered just fine by Season Two of the show, so it doesn't work quite as well for me, as the other parts of the film.The other parts of the film involve a Cylon god, a hybrid from the period when Cylons were evolving from just machines to the flesh jobs that characterise the reboot series. Some of this is set at the end of the first Cylon war, when Bill Adama was still young. As I mentioned earlier, this involves some lovely action set pieces. It made me look forward to Caprica. The rest is set while Lee Adama is in charge of the Pegasus and involves a mission to rescue people kidnapped by the Cylon god. It's bonkersly sci-fi, like the episode in season 3 where Baltar is living on a base ship, and very good for it. It also features a couple of hints of where the show is going in the fourth season.Also included are Razor webisodes.Overall though this is as usual pretty topnotch stuff. It feels odd to take a step back when the show is currently heading for new waters, but the little additions to the mythology and the old school cylons make up for it.

The Best Science Fiction series ever! That's what I think. When I first heard they were re-doing the show, I couldn't wait... a minute. This series ended years ago, this is Amazon tapping me on the shoulder and saying, Hey, you forgot to rate this one al those years ago.' Well, if you don't have it yet, get it, and the rest of them. You will not be disappointed by your purchase... see, 2007... that's what... 7 years ago!

Having seen much of the original(Lorne Greene) series in which the Pegasus featured under the Command of Admiral Kane, who incidently in the original series was male. I found this a bit confusing since it seemed that the current Admiral Kane was the daughter of the previous commander and she is as much a loose cannon as he was even to the point of commiting murder of civlians to get what she wanted. the continual leep backs in time didn't help matters either. That aside there was still plenty of action against the Cylons which is what the film is all about

This is a great addition to the Battlestar Galactica universe. Set after Lee is promoted to captain of the Pegasus, the story jumps back to events as the Cylon war hit and Pegasus was caught in the middle. We're taken right into the action as Cain has to try and make quick decisions to save her crew. It's great to see the Admiral battle survival and we get to see how she becomes the woman that finally arrives at Galactica.Meanwhile, there's another story thread running in the present that allows us to see our favourite characters; Adama, Lee, Starbuck etc.If you haven't seen it already, I'd definitely recommend it.