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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #96 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-12-26
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English, Italian
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 103 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The revival of Battlestar Galactica has proven not just to be a roaring success with viewers, but one of the most critically-acclaimed science-fiction series too. Battlestar Galactica: Razor’s place is as an introduction to the events that take place in the fourth season of the show. Yet it’s also a terrific feature-length TV movie in its own right.

The story of Battlestar Galactica: Razor actually focuses quite a lot on a different Battlestar, the Pegasus. Throughout the movie, we see it under the command of the love-to-hate Admiral Helena Cain, while we also follow Lieutenant Kendra Shaw under her tutelage, and Lee Adama’s first mission in charge of the Pegasus.

Naturally too, Battlestar Galactica: Razor isn’t shy of Cylons, as we see them in the infancy of their attack on humankind. And all of these ingredients make for some interesting back story to the main show, and a great one-off piece of entertainment too. It doesn’t pull its punches when it comes to the action sequences, and there’s some worthwhile character work in there too.

While clearly intended as an appetite-whetter for the fourth season of Battlestar Galactica, Razor nonetheless has enough in the tank to more than hold its own. It proves to be yet another example as to why Battlestar is the show that’s been topping science fiction fans’ favourites lists for some time. --Jon Foster

DVD Description
Battlestar Galactica: Razor is a special 2-hour movie event made for TV broadcast. The DVD will contain an extended version of the broadcast that includes all-new characters and more action and visual effects than any previous episode in the popular series, as well as behind-the-scenes interviews with the series creators. An indispensable backdrop to the events that will take place in the Fourth Season of BSG, Razor is a must-own for fans of the series.

Battlestar Galactica: Razor takes you on an edge-of-your-seat adventure with an epic untold story of Lieutenant Kendra Shaw and the other Battlestar, Pegasus. Battlestar Galactica: Razor tells the story of Lee Adama’s first mission as commander of the Battlestar Pegasus and reveals the story of how Admiral Cain served her ship during the original Cylon attack on the Colonies.

Synopsis
Those craving an extra dose of the gritty and smart sci-fi of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA will be pleased by this TV movie addition to the show's canon. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA - RAZOR prepares the audience for the fourth series of the show, featuring Lee Adama's (Jamie Bamber) first experiences leading the battlestar Pegasus. But RAZOR also takes viewers back to the Pegasus commanded by Admiral Helena Cain (Michelle Forbes, STAR TREK - THE NEXT GENERATION). In her three-episode stint, Cain quickly became one of the Peabody-award-winning show's most hated villains--and best characters--thanks to her brutal brand of leadership. Here Cain takes Kendra Shaw (Stephanie Chaves-Jacobson) under her wing just as the Cylons are beginning their genocidal attack against humanity. Later as Lee Adama's XO, Shaw must step up to her new role as she faces the demons of her past. RAZOR also reveals more about the mystery of the Cylon-human hybrid.

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Customer Reviews

By your command
Okay people, newsflash. This film is included in the Season 4 boxset. Which was slightly galling to discover, though Amazon's price was very reasonable, but I now have two copies of this, when I only need one...

First things first. Old school cylons. They're still CGI, sadly, but the appearance of the Centurions just reminds you how great that design is. And they say by your command, which is ace. There's a fab mid-air battle between a Centurion and a young Bill Adama, which also is ace.

Okay, so what about the rest of the film. The story uses an officer who served on the Pegasus as its POV character, allowing the writers to flashback to when Admiral Cain was still alive and therefore give the excellent Michelle Forbes more work. The film gives some of the back story to how the Pegasus escaped the fate of the rest of the Battlestars and how they came to cage a No. 6 cylon. While this fills in the gaps, I think that we've already had this ground covered just fine by Season Two of the show, so it doesn't work quite as well for me, as the other parts of the film.

The other parts of the film involve a Cylon god, a hybrid from the period when Cylons were evolving from just machines to the flesh jobs that characterise the reboot series. Some of this is set at the end of the first Cylon war, when Bill Adama was still young. As I mentioned earlier, this involves some lovely action set pieces. It made me look forward to Caprica. The rest is set while Lee Adama is in charge of the Pegasus and involves a mission to rescue people kidnapped by the Cylon god. It's bonkersly sci-fi, like the episode in season 3 where Baltar is living on a base ship, and very good for it. It also features a couple of hints of where the show is going in the fourth season.

Also included are Razor webisodes.

Overall though this is as usual pretty topnotch stuff. It feels odd to take a step back when the show is currently heading for new waters, but the little additions to the mythology and the old school cylons make up for it.

R1
I bought this while in America last christmas and although it cost me $19.99 plus tax I thought it was one of the best episodes so far, given that so far almost all of the series has been brilliant. What got me is the fact you have two different versions the televised and extended versions of which dont change to much but do open the story a bit more to get a better feel of what happend and gives it a greater depth. All in all very enjoyable. I am the type of person who enjoys action and battles but have enjoyed the drama and depth of this whole series, it does not dissapoint and neither does RAZOR totally enjoyable.

Solid addition to the series
Back in 2008, with the transmission of Battlestar Galactica's fourth season delayed and its full run interrupted by a nine-month-long break due to the Writer's Strike, the Sci-Fi Channel saw fit to deliver us an extra treat, namely a TV movie delving deeper into the show's backstory.

Razor takes place at the end of the second season, shortly after the events of the episode The Captain's Hand. Lee Adama is now commander of the battlestar Pegasus, but as an outsider he finds himself not entirely trusted by his new crew. Lee decides to appoint a former favourite of Admiral Cain's, Lt. Kendra Shaw, to the position of XO, in an attempt to 'build bridges' with his new subordinates. Interestingly, the plot doesn't dwell on this idea. We know the fate of the Pegasus and Lee's command of her from other episodes and seeing him do a 'winning the respect of the crew' plotline would have been redundant. Instead we see much of the story through Kendra's eyes. Lengthy flashbacks take us back to the day of the original Cylon attack on the Colonies and we see Kendra rising through the ranks and observing Cain's gradual moral erosion as the tensions of command take hold. A present day storyline, which is little more than a subplot, sees the Pegasus crew stumble across a bunch of obsolete Cylons from the First Cylon War and have to eliminate them.

Razor straddles two stools. On the one hand, it is a balls-to-the-wall action story with huge, epic CGI battle sequences and lots of emotional intensity which is designed to appeal to newcomers as well as established fans. On the other, it features a lot of fan-pleasing asides and references to the original series. This is a somewhat odd idea (going for newbies and hardcore fans at the same time) but just about works, with the new character of Kendra providing a worthwhile 'in' to this story and universe for new viewers but at the same time allowing established fans to see stuff they've wanted to see since the series began. Kudos for the writers for managing not to make a total hash of this.

The TV movie lives or dies on the performance of actress Stephanie Chaves-Jacobson as Kendra Shaw and thankfully she delivers a competent performance. She tended to mumble a fair bit, however, which resulted in much rewinding of scenes to make out what she was saying. The actress has a great rapport with Katee Sackhoff and Michelle Forbes, and in these scenes she is extremely good. The other actors are as trusty and reliable as ever, although some have very little screen-time (Athena and Tigh get a single scene each, President Roslin three short scenes and Dr. Baltar only briefly appears thanks to an extended scene only available on the DVD).

Overall, Razor (****) is an enjoyable slice of Battlestar Galactica. Some elements misfire a bit (the "By your command," moment, although amusing, totally breaks the fourth wall) and the resolution's dependence on yet more BSG mysticism is mildly exasperating, but overall the TV movie fulfils its remit of being both entertaining and restoring faith in the show after a patchy third year. I do think Razor works better if viewed chronologically (i.e., after The Captain's Hand in Season 2) than between Season 3 and 4 as originally aired, at which point it does feel a little more redundant.

The DVD edition is extended over the TV cut by some 15 minutes and features a lengthy flashback to the First Cylon War (complete with another huge battle sequence) as well as other new scenes, plus a writer and producer's commentary.