Battlestar Galactica Razor

Review of Battlestar Galactica Razor
*draft*

Once, in the boozy midst of a rooftop barbecue on Brooklyn populated by young (and not so young) musicians and artists, there was a question posed. Had you ever invented something only to find that someone had beat you to the punch? There were several absurd ideas, some quirky bits of genius, and some just unmentionable. The question went around while we snacked on chorizo, until it came to me. Battlestar Galactica, I said. I totally invented Battlestar long before Ronald Moore came along and reinvented the genre. No one bought it, so I spouted off something about an album of recording by subway musicians and sent the question off to someone with a bright idea about toilet seats.

But no amount of dericisive laughter could deter me from knowing that Battlestar Galactica is show whose time has come, and the recent TV Movie, Battlestar Galactica Razor is as a good an argumeent as any.

In case you don't have cable, have recently woken from a coma, or have just returned from a four-year expedition in the brazillian highlands, Battlestar Galactica is a reimagining of the super-tacky 70s Star Wars knockoff. The series hems close to the original, compelete a with crypto-Mormon apocolyptic theme. Humans have emerged from a brutal war with sentient war machines of their own design. After a brief armistice, the robots reemerge, now sporting fancy organic bodies and a massive religious complex. A few well placed nukes and the entire human race has been confined to a few civillian space ships, protected by the titular Battlestar. Series creator Ronald Moore has infused the story with a post-9/11 sensibility and bush-incumbent religious fanatacism.

The series has been notorious for deft tension and bizarre plot twists, while conversely forcing fans to wait long dry periods between new episodes. Battlestar Galactica Razor comes when the future of the show seems uncertain. While tentively scheduled for April, the writer's strike threatens to push back new episodes even further In this respect, the TV movie makes for a good appetizer, but no replacement for the main course.

Essentially filling in gaps in between seasons three and four, Razor follows the trials of Kendra Shaw, the former XO of the Battlestar Pegasus, the sister ship of the Galactica. Fans of the show will remember that the Pagasus was formally commanded by Admiral Cain, a viciously effective commander who stretched her own ethical constraints in her struggle against the Cylons. In a long series of flashbacks, Kendra witnesses how Admiral Cain blurred the line between war and veangence. Cain and her loyal crew display a Cheneyesque sensibility, plundering civilian fleets, torturing enemy agents, and even executing crew members who failed to execute orders.

For fans of the show (young nerds,) Razor is full of all the things that make the series great. Though full of gritty, military inspired realism, the show has always been character driven. Even the impressively rendered CGI robots and explosions are less important than the throaty whispers that make up the dialogue.

Unfortunately for casual viewers, Razor does nothing to discourage the view that serialized dramas are simply inaccesable. The story is told through three seperate flashbacks, as well a present-tense narrative that is more than complex. Older nerds will appreciate the nod to the original series, as the clunky, boxy Cylons make an appearance, complete with a Gold Centurion model and the digitized "By Your Command." Younger nerds will appreciate the important development of Starbuck, Lee, and Adama and the promise of a future cliffhanger. The problem for those who aren't nerds, the final product seems like like an entirely inside job, a hindrance that has plagued the Sci Fi Channel efforts from Farscape to Stargate. It would be a shame for such a smart show get stuck in a the same esoteric rut.

And when I say I invented Battlestar, I mean that I always thought that the genre deserved to be taken seriously. Battlestar Galatica has consistently proven that a great story wiht good ideas can take place aboard a space shi, with as much profundity as any swords and sandals epic. Even with killer robots.

Oh, and I was in the record store the other day, and what did I see but a collection of recordings by New York City subway musicians.