Battlestar Galactica: Razor

The film takes place during Apollo's first days as commander of Pegasus and uses flashbacks to show Admiral Cain's first missions following the Cylon holocaust, as well as events during the end of the first Cylon War. A new character, Kendra Shaw, links the past and present, as she witnessed as well as participated in many of Cain's actions.

Apollo's first mission as Pegasus commander involves rescuing a science team from a squadron of early Cylons who are guarding the original hybrid, the link between the robotic and humanoid Cylon forms. This forces Admiral Adama to reflect on his own experiences during the war, which involved finding a Cylon lab where they experimented on humans.

While Razor is set in the past, relative to the conclusion of season three, Ronald D. Moore has stated that "the events set up in that story will then pay off in Season 4."^[9] He explained his rationale for involving the Pegasus, saying that "one of the story lines everyone had really liked was the Pegasus story and the character of Admiral Cain, so we decided to go with that."^[9] Moore has also said, "We'll try to reassemble most of the Pegasus cast."^[10]

The primary theme of the film is the effect of war on a person's instincts to survive. The title refers to the steel resolve needed to do what must be done for the greater good, and is symbolized by a knife passed in the film between several different characters.

The main portion of the story is set during the second season, shortly after "The Captain's Hand," after Lee Adama takes charge of Pegasus and deals with his attempts to restore order to the ship with his new executive officer, Lieutenant (later Major) Kendra Shaw, and their first mission together with the Pegasus.^[11] Because of the flashback structure of the story, the episodes fit nicely into the season two continuity, between "The Captain's Hand" and "Downloaded."

The episode includes flashbacks to the original Cylon War, complete with original series Cylons, Raiders and Basestars. References include a golden Centurion commander, and another Cylon saying "By Your Command."

Steve Bacic guest stars as Colonel Jurgen Belzen; Pegasus's original Executive Officer,^[12] who (as Jack Fisk said in an earlier episode) was shot in the head by Cain for daring to question an order. The film depicts this incident, as well as Cain's orders to shoot civilian families to coerce compliance with her effort to strip civilian ships of usable parts and crew.

Cain's hatred towards the Cylon prisoner Gina was revealed as the fallout of an intimate relationship between them and Cain's feelings of betrayal.^[13] This relationship casts new meaning on Gina's final words to Cain before killing her in Resurrection Ship Part 2, "You're not my type." What before could have been interpreted as just a witty retort is in this new context seen as Gina's final taunt of Cain about simply using her to infiltrate the ship's defenses.

Although the plot elements of Razor not told through flashbacks fit between "The Captain's Hand" and "Downloaded," numerous references in the episode foreshadow events that unfold in Season 3. During a flashback to Admiral Cain's speech aboard the Pegasus, a Tyrol clone wearing a marine uniform is shown; Chief Galen Tyrol was revealed as a Cylon at the end of the episode Crossroads.

The bulk of the references to events in Season 3 are given by a Cylon hybrid aboard an obsolete base star, who utters more coherent statements than the models aboard modern base stars:

Soon there will be four, glorious in awakening, struggling with the knowledge of their true selves, the pain of that revelation, bringing true clarity. And amidst confusion, you will find her... Enemies brought together by the apostle, enemies now joined as one. The way forward, once impenetrable, yet inevitable. And the fifth, though still in the shadow yet clawing for the light, hungry for redemption, that will only come in the howl of terrible suffering. I can see them all, the seven, now six self-described machines who believe themselves without sin. But in time, it is sin that will consume them. They will know enmity, bitterness, the wrenching, the agony of the one splintering into many. And then they will join in the promised land, gathered on the wings of an angel. Not an end, but a beginning.

"[F]our, glorious in awakening" refers to the revelation of Colonel Saul Tigh, Roslin's aid Torrey Foster, resistance fighter Samuel Anders, and Chief Galen Tyrol as humanoid Cylons. "[T]he seven, now six" refers to the Cylon models known by the beginning of Season 3, who oversaw the destruction of the twelve colonies and the occupation of New Caprica. One entire line of these seven models, Number 3 (Lucy Lawless, known as the D'Anna Biers Cylon) was deactivated because the other six concluded she was dysfunctional. On New Caprica, one of the seven (a Number 5, known as the Aaron Doral Cylon) chastises another, Caprica (a Number 6), for commiting the first act of Cylon-on-Cylon violence in history, demonstrating that the seven models believed themselves without sin. The "promised land" is presumably a reference to Earth.

The most significant revelation of Razor also comes from the hybrid: "They must not follow Kara Thrace. She will lead the human race to its end. She is the herald of the apocalypse, the harbinger of death." This dramatically impinges on Kara "Starbuck" Thrace's message that she had found Earth at the end of the episode Crossroads.

Apart from the special features on the DVD, the DVD version includes the expanded young Adama flashback seen in the Razor Flashback webisodes, scenes of Admiral Cain's childhood encounter with a Cylon and leaving her sister behind, Apollo smoking in the mess hall, a scene featuring Adama and Apollo in the restroom, and a cameo appearance of Glen A. Larson on the bridge as Major Briggs. It also features extended credits.

• Edward James Olmos - William Adama
• Mary McDonnell - Laura Roslin
• Michelle Forbes - Helena Cain
• Grace Park - Number Eight
• Katee Sackhoff - Kara "Starbuck" Thrace
• Jamie Bamber - Lee "Apollo" Adama
• Tricia Helfer - Number Six, Gina
• James Callis - Gaius Baltar
• Michael Hogan - Saul Tigh
• Fulvio Cecere - Alastair Thorne
• Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen - Kendra Shaw
• Nico Cortez - Young William Adama
• Steve Bacic - Jurgen Belzen
• Graham Beckel - Jack Fisk
• Campbell Lane - Hybrid

• In the original design of the DVD cover the Battlestar Pegasus is shown to be part of Battlestar group 75 (BSG-75), which is actually Galactica's group. Pegasus's group is BSG-62. This has since been corrected.^[14]

• In a previous attempt to relaunch Battlestar Galactica, before the current reimagining, a movie was proposed to feature the Battlestar Pegasus, by Glen A. Larson. ^[15]

• The SciFi Channel and Microsoft partnered on a special early screening of Razor in theaters two weeks before it aired on television. Screenings took place on November 12, 2007, in New York City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Seattle.^[16]

• Battlestar Galactica: Razor at IMDb
• Razor July 10, 2007 preview
• Advertisement for the July 10, 2007 preview
• Battlestar Wiki page
• Review of Battlestar Galactica: Razor