Razor, not so sharp

[NOTE: Spoilers are in here. If you don’t mind, then read the whole thing, but you’ve been warned. If you have it Tivo’ed and haven’t watched yet, don’t blame me…]

I’ve been waiting for this mini-movie since the season 3 finale of Battlestar: Galactica almost 6 months ago. I think that may have colored my perceptions a bit, as I ended up feeling a little let down after it was over.

If I take a step back and look at it objectively, if this were a 2 part episode in a normal season I probably would have been very happy with it. It had a fair bit of action, some interesting plot twists and surprises, well acted, well directed, visually appealing and it gave some insight into the story of Battlestar Pegasus, which up until now had been mostly hearsay from some of the characters.

[click the link below to continue]

The basic plot is a flashback to a point somewhere in Season 2, at a point after Admiral Cain and Fisk (don’t remember his rank) have been killed and Commander Lee Adama (son of Admiral William Adama) has been given command of the Pegasus, but before they found New Caprica and the ensuing “Resistance” plotline. A Raptor has gone missing, apparently captured by some *old* Cylons, who were apparently some “lost” sect and had apparently been running experiments on humans, apparently trying to create some sort of hybrid. A rescue attempt is made. During this plot Lt. Kendra Shaw (new XO for Adama aboard the Pegasus) flashes back to her time with Admiral Cain during the initial Cylon attack on the colonies and the events immediately afterwards.

So what didn’t I like? Well. It all seemed a bit… contrived.

Really, the Pegasus story could have stood on its own and made a GREAT mini-movie. Heck, it probably would have been a great MOVIE period. As it was, the plot in the current time (which is in itself a flashback) just seemed a vehicle to be able to show you the flashbacks. It was a rather weak plot and, coming from me, that says alot. Supposedly the “old” Cylons were making experiments on humans to create a Human/Cylon hybrid. Well, isn’t that what the rest of the Cylons were doing? Why is this group different from the rest? And at the end, during one of the great battle scenes (FX was top-notch) the Cylons ridiculously left the basestar almost completely undefended in order to chase away the Pegasus. How did they ever stand toe-to-toe with the humans the first time around with such an incompetent strategy?

And of course, in the climax at the end, “someone” has to stay behind and detonate the bomb. So your choice is either A) Starbuck (who we know doesn’t die yet since this is in the past), B) Shaw or C) some random character who doesn’t even have a name. Clearly, Shaw gets to bite the proverbial bullet. She should have gone out like that guy in Terminator 2 who with his last breath drops the trigger for a bomb and takes out a whole floor. Instead she aimlessly wanders throughout the Cylon ship (you have no sense of how far, or how long) where she finds an old guy in a tub. After a brief conversation in which he tells her Starbuck is bad, she triggers the explosive. What happened to Cylons that were following them? Did they give up? Were they destroyed? Were there any more?

On the positive side, I am really glad they showed what happened with the Pegasus during the initial Cylon attack and immediately afterwards. I just wish they had focused on that instead of trying to tie it into the present (the present flashback I mean). I think there was a lot of story left to tell, and focusing on characters we already knew would help involve me more.

On the whole it was a good two hours of entertainment. As long as you don’t think of the fact that you’ve been waiting since Spring to see it, and you will have to continue to wait until next Spring to see the final Season 4 of Battlestar: Galactica.