Battlestar Galactica: Razor was an oasis for BSG fans--when the double-length episode aired in November 2007, it was the only new material broadcast during the 12-month gap between seasons 3 and 4. But although it sets up some events in season 4, chronologically Razor is a prequel taking place within season 2, when Galactica had unexpectedly met up with a fellow Battlestar, Pegasus. The central character is new, Kendra Shaw (Stephanie Jacobsen), who becomes the XO after Lee Adama (Jamie Bamber) takes command of the Pegasus. Shaw's promotion is controversial among Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff) and others because Shaw learned the trade under the previous commander of the Pegasus, Admiral Cain (Michelle Forbes), who lived by her own wartime rules. The central conflict in Razor involves the Pegasus trying to rescue a Raptor crew from the Cylons. During the mission Shaw flashes back to 10 months earlier, and her experiences in the immediate aftermath of the Cylons' wipeout of Caprica influence how she handles this mission and its implications of a new Cylon-human hybrid. Razor is a riveting adventure, full of the top writing, great acting, and dark end-of-humanity vision that makes Battlestar Galactica the best show on television (that is, when it's actually on). Fans will also enjoy the appearance of old-school Cylons, and the revelation that Gaius is not the only one who fell for the wiles of Number 6 (Tricia Helfer).

THE EXTENDED EDITION IS THE ONLY ONE TO WATCH

I went to the theatre on a free pass and watched this before it went to sci-fi. Being a sick fan of BSG got the DVD the day it was released. Now that I watched it must say that the extended version is the way to go.
There are a few key flash backs - esp. for the Character Cain that gives you more insight into the actions that take place in the movie. Makes it easier to understand how Cain became such a tough customer when it came to dealing with Cylons.
Overall - good piece of TV. While it does suffer for the one thing that drives me nuts when it comes to SCI-Fi = lack of additional funds to make some of the human vs. cyclon battles truly epic. Sci-Fi should cease flushing their money down the drain when it comes to their stupid Sat Night cheapo flicks and invest in quality programs like BSG. This "mini-movie" could have been even bigger and better in its production and where the story goes.
That being said - the "guerilla" style film making that Moore, the director, and rest of the great production and acting crew really scores a solid B +. Bear's haunting score over the end credits is beautiful and I can not wait for him to add it to the season 4 CD - check out the rest of his music for some great soundtrack pieces.
Worth a view - not as great as the miniseries or the 1st 2 seasons but still much better TV than you get almost anywhere on the old "idiot box".
So Say We All!

Not the Best of Present day Galactica story

I have watched the movie and i must say that i was not overly excited about it.

The punch of the movie is spoiled from the get go because you already know what is going to happen to some of the characters in the film.

The author(s) and director were trying to redeem Admiral cain the movie by revealing what had happened to her since the initial cylon attack and why she did most of the things she did as explained when she first appeared in the season.To me the main idea was to use a Cain wanna be scapegoat (Shaw) to redeem Cain but she ends up being really unlikeable like Cain or even worse because of the storyline.

The movie has it's good moments nonetheless but it falls flat and has no real tension to it. The pegasus characters still stay unmemorable and you really do not feel any pity for them at all even though the intent was to shed some light on their clouded past.

A lot of the shows from the series are way better than this movie.
We will have to wait for season 4 to get he real deal on the next adventures of the people we came to adore in the TV series.

Oh My Gods! They Got the Quality Back Up; Better Than Most of Season 3

Just finished watching the entire DVD, 'extras' and all, and I was moderately impressed. It's not quite up to par with the best of the new Galactica (the Miniseries, '33', 'Home', 'Scar'), but it's a lot better than most of the terribly mediocre Season 3, which gives me hope.

Before I go on, let me say that the above point is important because Galactica has been in a downward quality spiral ever since they switched from 13 episode seasons to 20 episode seasons. As showrunner Ronald Moore said once, when you have so much less time, it's harder to make each episode special, and that's exactly what happened when the new production schedule started to catch up to Galactica late in Season 2.

Thus we had such memorably mediocre episodes as "Black Market" and "Sacrifice", and BSG fans started to wonder what the heck had happened, when such a great show had seemingly become so hit-or-miss from episode to episode.

Season 3 unfortunately confirmed our worst fears. BSG's creators worried that putting everyone on a planet (New Caprica) would be a leap too far, but really, the idea was fine. It was the EXECUTION of that idea that was lacking. Honestly, if it wasn't for the uber-cool way they got off New Caprica (burning Battlestars and such), it would have been a total wash.

Then we got a bunch of mostly filler episodes (anyone remember 'The Woman King'? Bad, huh?), and then, FINALLY, a good story arc in the middle of the season with the 'Eye of Jupiter' two-parter. Then back to bunch of mostly filler/bad episodes, until the courtroom season finale, which was a lot less cool and a lot more forced/contrived than we'd like to remember (Galactica REALLY needs to get away from the idea that one of the 'Big Three'- Apollo, Starbuck, Adama- has to be front and center in EVERY subplot. Apollo as a lawyer in a key trial is even more silly/out of place than Starbuck as a sniper/SWAT team member, as she has been at times. If you need a central marine character for some episodes, make one. New characters are good.

What's next, Adama elbowing Doc Codell aside to perform open-heart surgery? Yeesh.)

Then there was Starbuck coming back from the dead, which was great, except that we kinda all saw it coming, and we, sadly, didn't care that much when she died in the first place, because the character had been allowed to degenerate so much since her glory days in Seasons 1 and 2.

Whew! Sorry about all that, but it helps put my comments on 'Razor' into context.

For example, if you've had to suffer through the crappy, childish, unsympathetic dud of a Starbuck that was Season 3 Kara Thrace (and we all have), then watching 'Razor' will be a revelation. "Ohhh-hhh!", you'll go. "That's the OLD Kara, the one I actually LIKED! Why the FRAK did they stop writing her like that?!?".

There's also a certain increase in the passion and energy level in general. I dunno, it's hard to put one's finger on it, but watching most of Season 3, you get the feeling sometimes that everyone was sort of going through the motions... the writers, directors, producers, some of the actors, the crew, the entire food chain from top to bottom in general, not because they're bad at what they do (on the contrary, they're some of the best), but because they were being pushed along at an unreasonable pace, and just had to get the damn episode DONE.

For what it's worth, this was a huge problem on the original Battlestar Galactica as well, with, in some cases, actors having to read lines off of cue cards. I doubt things got quite THAT bad with the new series, but you can definitely feel the energy/sharpness difference between Season 3 and S1/early-mid S2.

Doesn't hurt that Michelle Forbes is back as Cain, and as good as ever. The backstory on her and her rationale for what she does and how she does it is important, as it was too easy to see Cain as simply an over-zealous nutjob before, in the Season 2 Pegasus two-parter (and I think it says a lot about Michelle Forbes' ability that we mostly DIDN'T dismiss her as such back then, even without backstory, but it was close).

You can actually understand why Kendra Shaw becomes her protege. Cain is strong, and there is no doubt, remorse, or second-guessing in her world. So when the Apocalypse hits and your entire civilization has been wiped out, who's more charismatic, and who are you more likely to follow... a strong, decisive leader, a 'razor', even if they have huge flaws; or someone who's merely human and let's you see it?

We'd all LIKE to believe that we'd still choose the latter, but I have my doubts. There are parallels to 9/11 and a certain President I could name.

Of course, if there is a flaw in 'Razor' (aside from the slightly confusing back-and-forth jumps in time between plotlines, as others have mentioned), it's that we aren't given quite backstory ENOUGH on Cain and the Pegasus' travails to fully come to see why she does some of the things she does. Her attack and pyrrhic victory over a Cylon base doesn't make much sense and needed a better explanation, as did her stripping of the civilian fleet for spare parts, food, fuel, and skilled personnel. Yeah, I suppose I can fill in the blanks on my own, but a couple of brief scenes along those lines would've made a big difference, and I sense I'm far from alone on this.

And it would've helped 'Razor' actually EARN it's ending, where Adama basically says if he had had to walk a mile in Cain's moccasins, perhaps he would've done the things she did. It's a nice try, but it doesn't quite ring true, for the reasons I mention above.

Another, though more minor, disappointment is that the extent of Cain and Gina's personal relationship is only touched on very briefly. There should've been at least one scene between the two of them as (no other way to put it) lovers, so that the extent of Gina's betrayal and Cain's horrifyingly brutal reaction would've had more power behind it.

I'm making it sound like I don't like 'Razor', but actually I do. It's great to see Kara and Cain chew up the scenery like there's no tomorrow, the special effects budget was given a BIG boost (and boy does it show), the return of the original series Cylon centurions and raiders was a nice touch, and there's just more energy, grittiness, passion, and sharpness all around.

THIS is the Galactica I've been missing since late Season 2, and if I'm pointing out weaknesses, its only out of frustration due to the fact that they were so CLOSE to knocking it out of the park on this one. This one's more like a solid ground-rule double.

In the end, 4 stars out of 5 (didn't help that the DVD extras were so skimpy). I'm really REALLY hoping Season 4 is 5 stars... Ronnie D, don't get distracted by your other projects, the show needs you to have a tight hand on the rudder for Galactica to truly go out with the bang it deserves.

So say we all.