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Episode Studies by Clayton Barr
enik1138 at popapostle dot com
Battlestar Galactica: Razor (Part 2)

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

 

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.

landram with scoop 

 

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.
Scylla civilian ship
Scylla Civilian ship
civilian ship civilian ship
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.

Orion constellation

 

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".

 

Memorable Dialog


two sides of the same coin.mp3

that thing may be headed toward Earth.mp3
Kara Thrace will lead the human race to its end.mp3
again...again...again.mp3

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