Undescribable Perfection

Truly Dreadful Film

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

It's ten months before Battlestar Pegasus encounters Galactica. Pegasus is docked at a station when they are attacked when the war begins. Admiral Helena Cain (Michelle Forbes) takes command and leads Pegasus into the fight. Kendra Shaw (Stephany Jacobsen) is a newly arrived officer. It also shows the other parts of season 2 of the TV series after the two Battlestars meet. Lee Adama has taken command of Pegasus with Shaw as his new XO. Admiral Adama reveals a mission from the first Cylon war which adds to the Cylon origin story.This is a side trip in the Battlestar Galactica TV series taking place in different time sections. The prequel section relies on Forbes and Jacobsen to take the lead. They take a different tact from Galactica. Tricia Helfer keeps that section interesting. I would have been happier with a simple prequel and leave the main story with the TV show. The difference between Cain and William Adama's command style is compelling on its own. It doesn't need the TV cast and its present day story. It would be a nice one hour movie.

Fans of the show might just barely get their times worth - you get to see some of the characters occasionally doing what got us to like them after all - but not an inch more. For an unsuspecting viewer however this must be utterly disappointing - tacky lines in a story that is rather ridiculous and very badly cut. The feature uses flashbacks a lot, which is not of course bad in itself. The way executed here, with phony dialogues setting them up, or not serving any purpose for the storytelling, leaves a very stale taste. The acting is not quite so bad. The regular cast delivers their usual performances; the support, especially Michelle Forbes as Admiral Cain and Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen as Kendra Shaw is doing rather fine. The writing ... well, let's just say if you know the series, there won't be any surprises in the way the story is told. For anyone who does not know the series - don't bother. There are loads of unresolved plot bits (and not the good kind that should leave you thinking or whatever) and nearly no one you can sympathize with or take an interest in. One last note on the story itself: If this is the kind of writing and story we can expect from BSGs 4th and last season (and the third season unfortunately seems to point towards that conclusion, too), people will not bother watching. I know I won't.

Sorry, how exactly is this not just two episodes back-to-back? Now, I'll grant you, the idea is not exactly novel, since the original Battlestar did it too on numerous occasions, except with the original, the 2-parters were better than average.This is just more run-of-the-mill bad film-making, bad acting and bad directing... oh and let's not forget the bad and pretentious writing.If SciFi thought they were going to save this low-rated, lowly-regarded show with this stunt, I think they've been wrong once again.Let's get rid of this show once and for all. It was bad from the beginning and no amount of PR is going to make it better.

Having just watched this, and then read some of the comments that have been posted, I suspect that there are a few subtleties that have been overlooked.While most people who have commented on this special episode have recognised the use of flashbacks to "flesh out" things we already know have occurred, the development of the back story of the "Old Cylons" did (I feel) link in with a great deal of what has been hinted at regarding the development of the Cylons, particularly their human-like forms; the ability to "see" the future; and their religion (and may I say, rather than feeling "force fed" by writers, the whole concept of machines developing a religious belief system just like my own scares the *heck* out of me! Do the Cylons *really* believe what they are saying? Is it something they collectively discovered; or did a leader get delusions somewhere and infect them all with a psychosis? Worst of all though, is the question "if the Cylons have a belief system like mine, while the humans have a "multi-god" view, then which side should *I* really be on?". But I digress!) My point is that this issue of (some) Cylons having the belief that they can see the future "because it has all happened before" has been floating around for a long time now. Also I think many people may have missed the hint from this particular episode that the "old" Cylons appear to be the link between Earth and everyone else (in the original series, *** ooh, ooh, spoilers from 30 years ago follow - frak me!*** the Cylons actually made it to Earth - though I can't recall what the outcome was, as by then they had been reduced to parodies of their former menacing selves). It also showed that the Cylons have an aspect of their past that they aren't so proud of either, and the revelation of their treatment of humans made an interesting counter-point to what we saw happening with Pegasus (in both cases, the events are set on vessels "outside" of the mainstream fleet; and in both cases it is hoped that the events can be left on the respective vessels when they are eventually destroyed).So, I don't have a problem at all with the whole "old Cylons" sub-plot, and I very much suspect that this will become very important in Series 4. And in regards to Adama *not* revealing his previous experience to anyone before, perhaps he didn't understand enough of what he saw to be able to say anything (especially since he would have been pre-occupied with rescuing the other survivors).Anyway, how about we all wait for Series 4 and see where it takes us, then see if "Razor" fits in with it or not? Oh, but I can't leave without commenting on one thing - *whose* idea was it to have the main character speak with an Aussie accent? Yes, I know, she *is* an Aussie, but that's not the point - Jamie Bamber is as English as Prince Charles, but *he* can do an American accent, so why do I have to listen to someone who sounds like *I* do? (I mean, Baltar has an English accent because he's a villain, and at least when Lucy Lawless was in it, she did her "Kiwi" accent, which has a minute trace of class about it! Yep, I can just hear those emails already!!!) So, to finish up - there was a lot of story to cover in "Razor", and while quite a bit of it had already been covered, this presented a new context to it all and was all the more thought provoking for it. I don't agree that any of the production efforts were below normal (I thought the special effects were brilliant - but may be others have forgotten that Cylon spaceships can't *really* fly around - and land it - city environments. And although I'm supposedly "grown up" at age 45, *don't* get me started on how *creepy* the Centurions are - them and the new Cybermen are the stars of my worst nightmares!) If you've read this far, thanks for staying with me! For anyone associated with making BSG, thanks for keeping me so entertained for the past few years - and giving me plenty to think about! Oh, and if you plan on sending the Cylons to Australia, please start with Sydney, then Canberra ....