I also have some things to say about the wonderful BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: RAZOR. Come over to my livejournal and let's talk. (Warning: super spoilery, obvs.)
This reviewer and I obviously don't see eye to eye...although I'll go with his description of BSG as "the Sylvia Plath of science fiction."
Monday, November 12, 2007
RAZOR: more commentary
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4 comments:
Razor Review (Spoilers)
First, your site is easily the best regarding BSG but it is not widely known. A pity. Obviously a lot of hard work goes into this site, I wish more got the benefit.
Now, Razor: Just what I expected. Same high-quality writing and acting - good action scenes, but nothing unexpected occurs and all the prior spoilers proved true - down to the warning about Kara.
While entertaining (and yes it fed the need for a fix caused by stupid Sci-Fi Channel creating an insanely long wait until season 4)
I'd give Razor B-.
They chose to go backwards and sideways with the story than forward. With such rich material, Razor would have worked better as a flashback episode during season 3 (they could have jettisoned a couple of useless episodes like black market, labor strike and Sagitarron epidemic shows).
BSG needs to be careful with the slow reveal and the annoyance this can cause. Enought teasing out what Kara Thrace's "special destiny" will be - bring it and be done with it already.
It was nice to see the original Hybrid and know that the new model Hybrids will be pivotal - as they should be - as the story concludes.
Did we really need to be hit over the head with "this has happened before and it will happen again" said like 5 times? Once was enough. We got it. We remember it from the first season, thank you.
Which leads this viewer to believe that the Cylon Plan must be to fracture the cycles of time somehow so they can be free of the endlessly repeating cycle since they can sense it - feel it.
The Kendra character in Razor was good - good transformational character arc - but so negative - really, couldn't two episodes have been better spent on more Cylon history from their perspective?
Michelle Forbes was great, again. Good melding of past episodes' version of events with what was in Razor. The lesbian love affair will perhaps be made more literal in the expanded "unrated" DVD? It was barely referenced in the screening of Razor I saw in Huntington Beach.
Battle scenes are good - more of the same - just different angles from the show - the large digital projection theatre screen (gads, I hate the pixelation visible in digital projection) had about 4 bad visual effects due to the technology - twice the CGI interiors of Pegasus's landing bay and some other open side of the ship looked pretty shlocky (will probably be fine on TV).
Tricia Helfer continues to get the best parts on this show and her character here, although used sparingly, is possibly the best thing about Razor.
Frankly Razor is not a memorable episode and other than the backstory of the young Adama and the early Cylons and their first Hybrid, really lent nothing meaningful to the overall story. We could have lived without Razor. We BSG fans just need our fix so this will have to suffice for now.
The real mystery is if Sci-Fi channel is stupid enough to not air BSG in prime time either on its network or the parent NBC from beginning to the end of season 4 between now and January (April?) when season 4 starts. And if we really have to wait until April for new episodes that is nearly SIX MONTHS and that is insane. And if the writers' strike (go writers!) really does cause the second half of season 4 to air in 2009 then the head of Sci-Fi Channel should be fired.
Lastly, RM and DE really must find a way of ending the story that resolves the Greek God dilemma. If they don't, they've punted.
"First, your site is easily the best regarding BSG but it is not widely known. A pity. Obviously a lot of hard work goes into this site, I wish more got the benefit."
Thanks for your support. Help us spread the word about this site... Our promotional efforts are entirely viral. ;-)
FYI, I've written a review of "Razor" for Associated Content, which can be read here.
I'd be interested in seeing what people think.
@jef: First, thanks so much for the compliment. Tell your friends! Put us on your blogroll. As Logan said, it's all viral for now. :D
"nothing unexpected occurs and all the spoilers proved true..." Just the reason I like to stay 90% unspoiled for my TV & film. I like the adventure of discovery.
"be careful with the slow reveal"..."Enough teasing out what Kara's destiny is - bring it and be done with it..."
Dunno about that jef...for myself, I am on the story journey with the BSG crew for the long haul. The ride, no matter how long, no matter how many tangents and false leads are introduced...the ride itself is the pleasure.
Though you and I don't agree about how "memorable" or not RAZOR is, let me advise you NOT TO GET SUCKED IN to these rumors about BSG on NBC. They have gotten incredibly out of hand - all because of one TV critic's mention that he personally thought it would be a good idea if NBC put it on the schedule.
And don't forget - it's not really the SciFi Channel's fault, exactly, if the WGA strike slows down production of new BSG eps so much that they push the back 10 to 2009. They may have other programming commitments for the 2nd half of 2008 already in place. It's possible, if the strike is long, that we will have to wait. Brace yourself.
And if you are PO'd about what the strike might do to our viewing schedule, definitely take the time to write to the Big Media companies that are on the other side of this strike, and let them know how you feel. SciFi Channel is a subsidiary of NBC/Universal and we have their contact address on this blog now.
@ joe: Thanks for sharing!
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