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Battlestar Galactica: Razor Telefilm Recap Spoilers:
Despite efforts to filter out unreliable content, this information can be considered RUMOR and subject to change or otherwise inaccurate. Razor spoilers are dated and will not be edited after the original posting in an effort to establish a track record (good and bad), rather than revisionist history. The webmaster's comments are found in the italicized brackets.

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Razor, Part 1 & 2; November 24, 2007
11/14/07: From Chris at the Dallas screening:
The only audible reaction from the crowd was the laugh when the gold centurion got his "By your command". It was definitely like getting a fix to have new BSG after so long, and the bits with the rogue old-style Cylons and the hybrid (both in the present and in Adama's flashback) felt new in terms of advancing the plot, but it definitely felt more like a two-part episode than a movie. The storytelling trod a fine line between getting the rush of both storylines (past and present) and having the cutting back and forth be so choppy as to be confusing. For me the Pegasus backstory line was the weak part, mostly because I already knew what happened from the episodes that introduced the Pegasus (Pegasus escapes the initial attack, Cain shoots her XO, cannibalizes a civilian fleet and somehow discovers Gina is a Cylon), and there really wasn't much done beyond connecting the dots, except to introduce Kendra Shaw, but that investment didn't have any long-term payoff as she doesn't survive the movie.

In short: almost any new BSG is better than none, and no question it was good to see the characters. But I can name a few one-hour episodes (my favorite is still "Downloaded" that did more for me both in terms of compelling storytelling and in terms of advancing the overall plot.



11/13/07: From Chris at the Dallas screening:
I was one of the folks who attended the Razor screenings last night in local cinemas. As such, perhaps the plot synopsis is no longer technically a spoiler? But since it hasn't been broadcast yet...

The main story takes place during Lee Adama's first few days as commander of the Pegasus, mostly from the perspective of Kendra Shaw, who has numerous flashbacks to various key moments in her time on the Pegasus:
(1) her initial arrival, from the moment she steps on board to their eventual escape from the Cylon attack (which begins as she is on her way to find her quarters)
(2) the Pegasus's attack on the Cylon base, during which Cain shoots XO Belzer, overextends the Pegasus, and later a Six enters with a boarding party, thereby inadvertently Kendra exposes Gina
(3) the Pegasus's discovery of the civilian fleet, which they cannibalize

Screen time is fairly evenly split between the main story, which involves the Pegasus going after a rogue faction of old-style Cylons, and Kendra's flashbacks. We only see a little bit of Bill Adama's flashbacks (beginning when he finds the hybrid, as seen in a recent flashback episode), and nothing at all of the Cain flashbacks, although Young Helena Cain and other characters are still listed in the credits, and advertised as being in the DVD release. The main story ends well before the discovery of New Caprica, so there is no chronological connection to Season 4, although the Starbuck-hybrid revelation is there as promised near the end of the film.

Best moment: An old-style Cylon trio (the gold one sits behind two silver ones) is attacking a viper, and one of the silver ones acknowledges an order with a classic "By your command!"

The Pegasus flashback plot summarized:

Kendra arrives on the Pegasus, gets berated by Cain for kicks, and is on her way to find her quarters when a Cylon nuke blows up next to the Pegasus, which is docked in shipyards. Cain finds Kendra, gets her up, and gets her to make a blind jump out of there before 2 more Cylon nukes hit the Pegasus. The Pegasus isn't compromised the way other Colonial vessels were because its computer network was down for repairs at the moment of the attack. Cain is shown being rude and harsh to everyone, and making sure that anyone who isn't a rzor like her is squashed down, one way or another. Kendra slowly begins to become a razor.

Safely jumped away, the Pegasus licks its wounds. They lost 1/4 of their crew (700+). Gina (a Six) is the network administrator but doesn't have high-level access codes. Kendra is assigned to help Gina repair systems, and Gina cajoles Kendra's access code out of her. Cain invites Gina to an officer's dinner (the photo on your site) where it is quite clear they are lovers.

Cain decides to attack a Cylon base ship, but it turns out to be an ambush (we assume Gina told the Cylons everything). Belzer advises that they leave immediately, but Cain refuses and orders him to launch all vipers. He refuses and she shoots him. The ship's security is compromised (thanks Gina) and Cylons board. Kendra spots Gina running away from a boarding party; when Lt. Shaw stays back to look for Cylons, she sees a Six and shoots her. She runs back to CIC, pulls a gun on Gina, and convinces Cain by having her check the security camera in the hall where the Six lies dead. Cain has Thorne do his dirty work interrogating Gina.

Cain is interrupted by a call notifying her of the civilian fleet. She immediately gets passenger rosters and sends troops out to scavenge FTL drives, personnel, and more from all the ships. Kendra, Fisk and Marines go to one of the ships and relay the orders. The civilians refuse, and tension rises. Kendra shoots ten civilians, and the rest give up (including on all other civilian ships). Cain commends Kendra and promotes her to major.

The main story summarized:

Lee takes command of the Pegasus. Kendra Shaw listens in disgust from the locker room. Later, she is called to Lee's office and interviewed. He ends up making her XO despite her role in the civilian executions. Bill Adama tells Lee that a raptor has gone missing and assigns the Pegasus to search and rescue. Starbuck and a viper pilot called Showboat go in search of it but a bunch of Cylon raiders appear, and Lee calls them back. The Cylons catch up with them, and while Lee is distracted Kendra orders defensive fire on the Cylons which nearly kills the viper pilots. Starbuck shoots down one raider in the landing bay, and it lands on her viper. She gets out fine, but they find an old-style (1970s BSG) Cylon in the mangled raider. Adm. Adama inspects it with Roslin, Athena and others. Athena says a rogue faction of Cylons split off at the end of the first Cylon war to protect a hybrid they had made, which she likens to an evolutionary dead end. Adm. Adama recalls his encounter with this hybrid and the humans the Cylons had captured to experiment on, at the end of the first war, and declares he's going along on the mission.

Kendra suggests the Pegasus act as decoy to draw the Cylons' fire while she and Starbuck and a small team sneak aboard the base ship in a Raptor or two, and Lee approves the plan. The colonials are attacked by raiders, and in what appears to be a planned move, everyone dons spacesuits and abandons ship just before the raiders destroy the ship(s). The colonials make it to the base star on suit thrusters and board it. They find the captured Raptor crew but they're already being experimented on: one is dead, two injured. As they evacuate them, one of the team is shot by a Cylon. To keep him from being experimented on, Kendra stays back to shoot him as the Cylons grab him, but then they shoot her too, wounding her. They also discover that their nuclear bomb's remote detonator is destroyed. Starbuck grabs her and they find a quiet corner from which to radio back to the Adamas. Lee, with some coaching from his dad, orders Starbuck to get his XO and the rest of the team out of there, and stay behind to set off the bomb manually. However, when they get to the airlock and begin putting their suits on, Kendra pulls a gun on Starbuck and forces her out with the rest, so she can stay back and set off the bomb herself, as she keeps flashing back to the civilians she killed and apparently doesn't want to live anymore.

Limping around the base star lugging the bomb, Kendra hears the hybrid calling her. It's now an old man, who claims to know everything about her and basically about everyone. He utters the warning about Starbuck but finally drifts off into a senile babble. Kendra radios Lee to tell him the warning about Starbuck, but the Cylons jam most of her transmission so she finally sets the bomb off. The team returns safely to the Pegasus. The end.

Afterward there was a sneak preview of Season 4, but it was just what's already been posted several places on the net, ending with Starbuck lying on the floor screaming "We're going the wrong way!"






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