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Battlestar Galactica
"Razor" Part 2
55:05-end
on the extended version Blu-ray
TV episode
Written by Michael Taylor
Directed by Félix Enríquez Alcalá
Original air date: November 24,
2007
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The Pegasus squares off against
the Guardian basestar.
Read the summary of the full
Razor telefilm at the Battlestar Wiki Site
Notes from the BSG
chronology
The story indicates it has been about 10 months since the Cylon
attack on the Colonies, but in the timeline it is more like 9
months given the timeline established in
"Downloaded" and judging by
Caprica-Valerii's pregnancy, assuming her pregnancy lasted about
9 months like a human's.
Didja Know?
Though the story is set near the end of the second season,
Razor was originally broadcast as a 2-hour TV movie at the
beginning of the fourth season; by telling a story set a bit in
the past, it is able to set the stage for a revelation about
Starbuck in the middle of Season Four. I have broken down the
study on PopApostle into two ~1 hour episodes and placed them
chronologically within Season Two.
This study is based on the unrated extended version that appears
on the Season Four Blu-ray set.
Characters appearing or mentioned in this episode
Admiral Adama
Apollo
Baltar
(mentioned only)
Chief Tyrol (mentioned only)
President Roslin
Major Shaw (dies in this episode)
Starbuck
Chief Petty Officer Laird (in flashbacks only)
Admiral Cain
(in flashbacks only, deceased)
Gina Inviere
(in flashbacks only)
Lt. Thorne
(in flashbacks only, deceased)
Colonel Fisk
(in flashbacks only, deceased)
Lucy Cain
(in flashbacks only, deceased)
David Cain (father of Helena and Lucy,
in flashbacks only, deceased; not named here, but in
"Pegasus Interlude")
Lt. Hoshi
Sergeant Erin Mathias
Medic Hudson
DaSilva (dies in this episode)
The Hybrid
(dies in this episode)
Didja Notice?
Major Shaw clearly feels guilt for her role in the massacre of
civilians aboard the Scylla under the orders of Admiral Cain
many months previous. This incident was also discussed in
"Pegasus" Part 2 and
"Resurrection Ship" Part 1.
At 59:00 on the Blu-ray, a vehicle that looks like a landram
with a bulldozer-type scoop on the front is seen in the
Pegasus hangar bay.
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The Scylla is seen for the first time at
1:02:18 on the Blu-ray. A few other ships of the
civilian fleet found by
Pegasus
are also seen. |
 |
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| Scylla |
Civilian ship |
 |
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| Rising Star-type ship |
Civilian ship |
The massacre of families aboard Scylla does not occur
quite in the way Colonel Fisk described to Colonel Tigh in
"Resurrection Ship" Part 2,
but it's still fairly close and the discrepancy could be chalked
up to Fisk's own shock at the events and a resulting distorted
memory.
At 1:12:41 on the Blu-ray, notice
that the Cylon Centurion head has the tiny eye holes above the
visor for the actors that the costumes on the original TV series
had. This was also seen in "The Lab".
The scene of the last day of the first
Cylon War at 1:13:18 on the Blu-ray seems to imply that the
Cylons took Lucy Cain with them, presumably for experimentation
as part of the humanoid Cylon program.
In a flashback, Admiral Cain refers to Shaw as a "razor". She
also used this term in
"Resurrection Ship"
Part 1 when she asked Colonel Fisk to pick some completely
loyal marines to help him assassinate Commander Adama.
The Guardian basestar seen in this episode is the same one that
young Adama saw fleeing the ice planet in
"The Lab".
The Hybrid babbles some dialog
prophetic of events to come in season three and four:
"At last they've come for me. I feel their
lives, their destinies spilling out before me. The
denial of the one true path, played out on a world not
their own, will end soon enough. Soon there will be
four, glorious in awakening. Struggling with the
knowledge of their true selves. The pain of revelation
bringing new clarity. And in the midst of confusion he
will find her, enemies brought together by impossible
longing, enemies now joined as one. The way forward, at
once unthinkable, yet inevitable. And the fifth, still
in shadow, will claw toward the light, hungering for
redemption that will only come in the howl of terrible
suffering. I can see them all. The seven, now six,
self-described machines who believe themselves without
sin. But in time, it is sin that will consume them. They
will know enmity, bitterness, the wrenching agony of the
one splintering into the many. And then they will join
the promised land, gathered on the wings of an angel.
Not an end, but a beginning."
and
"Kara Thrace will lead the human race to its end.
They must not follow her." |
As Apollo argues with his father about
whether to launch the nukes at the basestar housing the Hybrid,
he says, "You said it
yourself, Admiral, that thing...may be headed toward Earth." We,
the audience, did not hear Adama say anything about that.
At 1:35:14 on the Blu-ray, the real world constellation of Orion
is seen in space after the destruction of the Guardian basestar,
possibly suggesting the fleet is nearing the location of Earth.
Starbuck tells Apollo she has requested reassignment back to
Galactica. She also reminds him she once had her "palm
read" by a Cylon and was told she supposedly has a destiny. The
Number Two Cylon Leoben Conoy told this to her in
"Flash and Bone".
