Battlestar Galactica - Razor

[Chilli]

On later today for you transatlantic folk.

So .. any good?

 

[Alluveal]

Recorded it last night. Watching it sometime today. Will let you know. I'll be happy to see Admiral Cain again, though.

 

[Alluveal]

Ok, I watched it.

First off, this kind of experience is why I got hooked on Galactica in the first place. Awesome storyline. Amazing acting. Kudos bigtime. I'm excited about Galactica again. I knew it would take a lot to get me back to the height of my uber nerdy-fangirlness. We have success.

I'll wait for a few more people to post before I go into details. Suffice to say, it rocked. I've watched it twice.

 

[admiraldave]

I have to admit, it was cool to see the old-school Cylons in action.

Aside from that ... I wasn't unhappy, but wasn't really impressed either. Razor didn't really bring much new to the table, it merely went through events we already knew about. It did it pretty well, though.

 

[Alluveal]

The old cylons were awesome.

 

[Sindatur]

On later today for you transatlantic folk.

So .. any good?

I really enjoyed it. In the regular episodes featuring the Pegasus we got to know what the ship was like, but, we didn't really have any details, nor know how they ended up with a Six on board. This filled in the details nicely, and it was great seeing Adm Caine again. I liked the hair better, but, it was distracting for her hair to be completely different than it was in the regular episodes. Classic Cylons were awesome to see, and I really enjoyed Apollo's XO as the connector between the "present" and 10 months prior flashbacks.

 

[Alluveal]

I was blown away by the actress portraying Kendra Shaw. Awesome character, but disappointing that she's gone and won't be in the next season.

 

[dkone]

The old Cylons were awesome to see, particularly the old Raiders.

What I feel the story failed to do is bring any real depth to the character of Admiral Caine. We all know she is a ruthless leader without boundaries, but I did not glean any sense of why she was like that. Even the revelation of her romantic life only added lateral information. Maybe that was just beyond the scope of the story they were trying to tell.

Aside from that, I enjoyed the show. And I'm more interested than ever in what's going to happen in the next season.

 

[Alluveal]

dkone, you have a point there. Though I got some insight, I didn't get enough. I have a feeling it would take more than 2 hours to do properly. I think if we saw more how the original attack effected her (the loss, etc) we might have had a little more empathy.

I did think her relationship with Gina-6 really brought some interesting dimension to the story.

 

[darth_librarian]

Sounds great, the UK transmission is next week on Sky, with the DVD out on Dec 26th. Will be struggling not to obtain it by other means beforehand...

 

[dkone]

I have a feeling it would take more than 2 hours to do properly. I think if we saw more how the original attack effected her (the loss, etc) we might have had a little more empathy.

I agree that they didn't have time to really explore the character of Caine. And her relationship with Gina-6 is only part of the story. What she did to her XO, she did before she learned about Gina-6.

 

[Recoil]

I agree about them speeding up the pace a bit. It seemed like only a few days or weeks after she was all joking around with her XO on the treadmill that he was blowing his head off. I get being pissed and stressed cause of the holocaust, and having her carpet-munching friend turn out to be a Cylon can make anyone a little nuts, but that seemed to be so extreme so fast. The rest...was believable. But the pretty much set up the fact that she shot her XO during Season 2, so they had to show it.

Other than that it was pretty neat I thought. Liked seeing the old school cylons and their ships. Not sure I was totally into the whole hybrid thing, but they planted a decent seed about Starbuck for Season 4.

Also, best part about the Telemovie? The actress who played Kendra Shaw. For that matter, the character Kendra Shaw. She was the best character in the show, one of the best in the series. Obviously she wont be around anymore, but it was short and sweet. I did find it odd though, that she would try to radio back to Pegasus about what the hybrid said about Starbuck....why would she even consider believing it? I wouldn't. I still dont.

Lastly, I really don't get why it was called Razor. Yea, I heard Cain's little speech. But it made about ZERO sense to me, and seemed pretty forced.

 

[jnk5y]

I think Caine killing her XO made perfect sense for her character. It lays the groundwork for her orders to shoot the family members of those that didn't cooperate. For her when the military is at war the needs of the military outweigh the needs of the people. Thus disobeying the military in a time of war is treasonous and is punishable by death (her XO made that mistake). Since BG has had some episodes dealing with current events like torture then this movie might parallel our giving up of civil liberties in order to help our protectors (police, cia) but to our own detriment. Also when people used to go against the war in Iraq they were labeled traitors.

I know it's a stretch but it seems semi plausible .

 

[Capt. Neville]

I dunno, Caine's shooting her XO just seems to remind me of the Evil Overlord List #37:

If my trusted lieutenant tells me my Legions of Terror are losing a battle, I will believe him. After all, he's my trusted lieutenant.

There's downsides to thinking that you're always right...

Edit: or #17:

When I employ people as advisors, I will occasionally listen to their advice.

--mcn

 

[jnk5y]

Taking your XOs advice under advisement is one thing but if he refuses to follow orders that is insubordination and for Caine in a time of war not something that is allowed.

 

[Capt. Neville]

I guess it's a fine line. He was refusing to follow orders because *she* was refusing to take, or even listen, to his advice, and--as he pointed out--she stated previously that it was the exact type of action she *wasn't* going to take.

So I guess my point is: where do you draw the line? If her order had been for every member of the crew to shoot themselves in the head at that point, would it still have been wrong for someone to stand up and say "no, that's not right"?

(Disclaimer: I'm not in the armed services, so I have no direct point of reference. It just seems to me somewhat illogical to say that you should never, ever, ever question the orders. Like they say, never say never :~)

--mcn

 

[Sindatur]

I guess it's a fine line. He was refusing to follow orders because *she* was refusing to take, or even listen, to his advice, and--as he pointed out--she stated previously that it was the exact type of action she *wasn't* going to take.

So I guess my point is: where do you draw the line? If her order had been for every member of the crew to shoot themselves in the head at that point, would it still have been wrong for someone to stand up and say "no, that's not right"?

(Disclaimer: I'm not in the armed services, so I have no direct point of reference. It just seems to me somewhat illogical to say that you should never, ever, ever question the orders. Like they say, never say never :~)

--mcn

It's fine to question as order in a "Have you considered this..." kinda way, once. However, once they tell you your leeway for questioning is at an end it becomes insubordination.

 

[dkone]

As a former enlisted member of the Navy Reserves, there are such things as "unlawful orders" that you do not have to obey and may even be punished for obeying. The rules for officers are a little different and I'm not as clear on them. But one thing I am clear on, Caine had no right to shoot her XO. She had every right to relieve him of duty and charge him with a violation of military law. And if a court martial found him guilty of treason in time of war, then he could have been executed. But she could not just shoot him on the spot.

As for the XO, the may be some provisions for a second in command to relieve his superior if she unfit for command, but I'm not sure how that would work.

And this is only based on what I know for the US Navy, the fictional Colonial Fleet.

 

[colonyearth]

I thought it was excellent! I have not lost my interest in the series, in fact it continues to grow. I personally can't wait until the 4th and final season. Sadly, it will be the end. I'm very curious where it will end and how. RM has stated there will be no more after S4...ever. I know, it sounds familiar doesn't it?

Those who felt it lost something in S3, keep watching...it hasn't lost anything, but it did need to slow down for some character development and a 2nd act in order to build to its finale.

I have complete faith in RM!

CE