Battlestar Galactica 2004 Season 4
Battlestar Galactica 2004 Season 3
SPOILERS TOTAL. You've been warned.
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40X: Razor 2007 November 24
(First watched 2007-11-24) Unfortunately, I have to say that was pretty disappointing. It tried to straddle a few lines, and I don't think came out the best for it.
First, the movie/episode line. I was expecting it to be somewhat more standalone. However, it was presented just like a regular episode of the series. No special intro sequence or credits or anything like that, just a small bit of fancy RAZOR text. So it's not like something I'd want to pull out and watch as its own thing. Movies also tend to be structured somewhat differently than TV series, but here not so much the case.
Then, the past/present line. I hadn't been paying much attention to the details of this project, but I knew it was about the Pegasus. My assumption was that it would essentially be a movie dealing with the Pegasus's doings from Cylon attack until they met up with Galactica. Not the case. Instead, only half of it dealt with that, and most of the major events weren't a surprise, as we'd already learned them through the grapevine in creepier fashion back in season 2. It feels like there's a lot more they could've done in this regard, showing us things we hadn't even imagined.
The "present" was problematic, too. Having to slip into established continuity, it couldn't get into the continuing storyline which is such an important part of Galactica. Only about half of the core cast was present: some were major characters (Adama, Adama, Thrace, Six), a few were barely there (Roslin, Athena-to-be), and the rest weren't around. No Baltar, no Tyrol, no Helo, no Tigh. Other than the Kendra Shaw character, the present goings-on didn't have a great connection to the Pegasus flashbacks. It's not like Pegasus had learned something about this odd Cylon presence and they were following up on it, it was just... something they ran into. So they had to learn of, deal with, and come to resolution about this in half the screen time, or about the space of one regular episode. The different Cylon designs were neat, and I'm sure bigger fun to fans of the old series, but they didn't amount to much for the continuing story; obviously, since it doesn't matter that they go without mentioning them throughout the rest of season 2 and 3. Only very near the end, when cut off from contact from everyone else, do we find out some interesting stuff that matters in the long run.
I'm also not sure I get the motivation of Kendra. For most of the "present" time, it seems she's been hardened by her time under Cain and not repentant of the hard actions they took. However, at the end when someone has to die she forcibly takes Starbuck's place with a "You know why" as explanation. Are we then supposed to take it that she's SO repentant she wishes to die? Though in the meantime she's been acting hard and giving her new commanding officers trouble for not living up to Cain?
On a lesser note, I'm also not sure why they made the connection to Admiral Adama's days at the end of the first Cylon war. Athena-to-be said the Cylons had multiple attempts at hybridizing and turning biological going on, so why was Adama so sure this one had something to do with the particular lab he'd seen so long ago. "I saw what they were doing, we can't let them do that again!" How are you so sure about that, Bill?
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(First watched 2008-04-05) This was definitely a comedown episode. Not that it was bad, but the previous (non-Razor) episode had everything coming to a head in the last few minutes, and this episode dealt with returning things back to something that could continue on.
Probably the biggest thing I wasn't expecting was that after Starbuck's wise-sounding words to Lee in the last episode... she's really as much in the dark as anyone else as to what happened to her! A new Viper, but identical in style and markings to the old one... is this Starbuck a copy? But if she was and the Viper is supposed to be an analog, shouldn't her health and body be "like new" too? Her short conversation with Anders about Cylonhood was a bit chilling, considering the situation.
Gaius is in a really weird position, too. On the one hand, he kinda thinks the people who have latched onto him are nuts. On the other hand, they want to have sex with him and/or at least not kill him like so many other people do. Then there's that kid who didn't die. Pure coincidence, or someone/something trying to make Gaius think as much of himself what his "followers" do?
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(First watched 2008-04-12) Gee, Gaius, two for two this season.
His reaction upon seeing not-him was classic.
So... Cylon coup of sorts. I wonder what this will all mean? The shot-up folks' models becoming lower-class? Further independent actions by the unleashed raiders and centurions? And Boomer's on the wrong side of this fight.
This "secret Cylon club" thing is interesting, but I'm not quite sure what they're really doing. But, neither do they.
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