Battlestar Galactica: Razor

The first feature-length Battlestar Galactica movie based on the Sci-Fi Channel series is, unfortunately, a letdown. Unlike many, I loved every last second of the 3rd season. I think that the episodes set on New Caprica at the beginning of the season were the most compelling that the series has ever done. Sure, the season sagged a little bit in the middle (largely due to the creators spending a huge chunk of their production budget on those first episodes), but it picked up the pace again with the last 3 episodes (though the cliffhanger was a very cheap Lost-ish "What a twist!!!"-type moment).

Razor is not meant to bridge the gap between season 3 and the upcoming 4th, but instead takes us back to around the last few episodes of the second season. Lee Adama has just been given command of the Battlestar Pegasus after a string of failed commanders. He hires a no-nonsense, stern young Lieutenant Kendra Shaw as his second-in-command. They are sent on a rescue mission to find some missing scientists, and discover a strange Cylon command ship, along with a squad of the old, 70's-style Cylons. Through the course of the film Lt. Shaw has flashbacks to her first days on the Pegasus, where she was taken under the wing of the strict, borderline-psychotic Admiral Kane. These flashbacks are supposed to have some kind of relevance to the present-day storyline, but mostly just distract from it. Most of the events shown in the flashbacks have already been revealed previously in the series via dialog, so the audience (I'm assuming, probably correctly, that the people who watch this movie are the same people who watch the series, and will know what I'm taking about) already knows what's going to happen. Hey look, Admiral Kane is shooting her XO......just like that guy said she did 25 episodes ago. And there's the Pegasus stealing valuable parts from civilian ships........just like that guy said they did. It all adds up to a giant pile of "yeah, we know."

The present-day story, on the other hand, is interesting. A little more background in the politics of the Cylons gets revealed (including the existence of the early-model Cylons, who apparently don't get along with the newer ones), and we get a glimpse into the early development stages of the human-looking Cylons. But the story demands more breathing room than it's given, and the end result feels incredibly rushed. The film is also hindered by a weak lead in the form of Kendra Shaw. She is a leaden, impenetrable character. The audience never has a clue what she's thinking or why. Surrounded by lively characters like Lee Adama, Admiral Kane and Starbuck, Shaw is grossly outmatched and is a bore on screen.

The DVD version will contain extra footage, which may help with the uneven pacing and awkward intercutting of the two storylines, but the version that will air on the Sci-Fi Channel in two weeks may be worth skipping for the time being.