Battlestar Galactica - Razor (DVD)

Being a battlestar Galactica fan since I was on diapers, watching it on my mom´s lap back when it first aired in 1978, this series always fascinated me. When "Empire Strikes Back" opened up on teathers, i even thought it was all in the same universe. Later on i saw the episodes on the reruns and i always thought it fun, serious, with the solemn Stu Phillips soundtrack, in fact the pride of my Galactica collection is this somewhat rare soundtrack CD which i treasure. Always loved the detailed models of motherships, the little fighter ships (the Vipers), the Cylons, and the Erich Von Däniken implications that the Gods were astronauts, heh, i even visited some temples in Colombia to check out the work of the space Gods personally. :)

When Galactica resurfaced by the hands of Star Trek´s Deep Space Nine´s writer Ron Moore, I was suspicious, then hopeful, then jubilant! It couldn´t be cooler, in all ways, with all the handicams, the amazing battles, hyperspace jumps and drama. Hah, this is an adult, realistic Galactica. (Even with the inexcusable identical Earth-like gadgets like pens and microphones, after all, this is supposed to be an ALIEN human culture).

I was satisfied enough to own the new Battlestar Galactica miniseries and the small Battlestar Pegasus miniature, and was so overloaded with work, and chasing animes that i got distracted and didn´t follow recent developments in the second and third season. Then, in BSG foruns, i learned about this mid-season special, entitled Battlestar Galactica: RAZOR. "Ah, Novelty" I thought, and soon i grabbed my copy, certain that i would be watching this decade´s "The Best of Both Worlds", the famous Star Trek: The Next Generation episode that raised the bar (and the stakes) in sci fi drama on TV.

I was right, and that doesn´t makes me happy.

SPOILER´S AHEAD.

This episode tells (mostly) the story of the Pegasus (Galactica´s sister ship) before they met, and traced parallels between their ship and the Galactica (just like that LOST episode, in which they have shown the story of other survivors in the other side of the island, and how they dealt with the same problems).


In short: In the Galactica, under the Command of ADAMA, they were somewhat good and civilized, and treated the war refugees with the utmost respect and care.In the Pegasus, under the Command of a battle twisted Admiral Cain, they scavenged the war refugees ship, sacrificed them in order to keep fighting the war, and that makes them "Razors", sharp warriors willing to do anything to win a war. Of course, the episode was loaded with post 11-9 references, but the way it was depicted, and the passionate "the end justified the means" speech, even if it was condemned, it seems wasn´t condemned enough, or if it was, it was a little too late, or in too ambiguous ways. "Hey, the Cylons are much worse". Right.

OF course this was to just to show how good Adama´s group is, compared to them...of course this is great writing...of course it touches real life events...but my stomach just can´t keep up with it, just by thinking how many Admiral Cains are out there, not only in the armies, but in companies, in everyday life. By the end of it I was utterly depressed, and suddenly the Battlestar Pegasus model over my printer just looked a little TOO dark.