So, this weekend brought our first new Battlestar Galactica in (unbelievably) eight months. And (worse) our only one for another four. It was definitely great to have it back even for a short time, but I have to say it felt like only a "very good" installment, and not an "excellent" installment like so many have been.I think that for me it fell short because it covered a lot of ground we were already well aware of, because of all the material centered on Cain in command of the Pegasus. Don't get me wrong, it was fun to see Michelle Forbes again. It was nice to see return appearances from many of the Pegasus characters who are no longer alive, or haven't been seen since the second season. Sort of a greatest hits album.
But also kind of like a greatest hits album recorded by a cover band. We already heard the tale of how Cain executed her X.O. right there on the bridge (and it was far more chilling to hear Fisk tell it to Tigh than it was to see it). We already heard the tale of Laird being forcibly conscripted off the civilian ship after watching fellow passengers be killed. We already saw the results of the torture of the Cylon Gina. And so forth. Shocho hates prequels, and this is a very vivid example of why. Not only did we know the end destination in this case, but we knew a lot of the steps on the journey.
Fortunately, the rest of the two-hour episode was more compelling. The flashback material of Admiral Adama's mission at the close of the first Cylon war, and all of the material surrounding Lee Adama's early command of the Pegasus (pre-fat suit) was interesting stuff. Seeing "classic model" Cylons was just a big "squee!!!" moment. I mean, there was the gold one as the leader, and they said "by your command," and all that fun nostalgia that made the original Galactica series so much better in your mind than it actually was.
Still, with all the balls thrown in the air at the close of season three, this episode was rather frustrating in its inability (by its very time frame) to address any of those issues. We'll have to wait many more months to learn anything of the Cylon sleeper agents that have been with us from the beginning, or of Starbuck's mysterious journey to Earth and back. (Though I suppose the hybrid did give that brief, tantalizing hint that it will in fact prove to be a very bad thing for our heroes.)
As I said, it really wasn't a "bad" episode, by any means. But it couldn't really live up to the burden of being the one and only installment of the show in a year-long period.
5 comments:
Silly though it was, I screamed when I saw the "Guardian" old-style Cylon ships, and the moment in the cabin with the two Toasters was cute.
The Hybrid did make the story tantalizing, and Shaw's character had a nice arc.
It's not so much a prequel as a flashback episode, since it fit in so well with regular continuity. But I would have rather seen something all-new, for sure.
I was watching a lot of the action around Major british-accent hottie Shaw, and thinking "hmm, don't remember her in 'future' episodes, so she probably won't survive this movie." another problem with prequels. I did like Admiral Adama's bit about history being written in their logbooks though.
the whole point of the story for the audience is about the Hybrid's warning about Starbuck. but isn't it odd that he would have told Shaw, then jammed the transmission when she tried to tell everybody? Isn't he in control of the jamming devices?
the mole
So these are new episodes? That include some previous footage plus brand new flashback scenes?
Sandy,
Razor was a single two-hour episode of new material. It was basically all-new footage except for a few clips right at the beginning (which would have been the normal "previously on," had they not been trying to make the whole thing play like a movie). It's just that the story happened to weave in with some established history on the show that fans are already familiar with.
We've gotten so these days all we do is wait to watch series after they come out on DVD. I guess I'll queue Razor up in Netflix and we can watch it before season 3.
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