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Razor > Auf Messers Schneide

Überblick

Im Mittelpunkt dieser Geschichte steht der Pegasus-Offizier Kendra Shaw. Geschildert wird ihre Karriere an Bord des Kampfsterns von ihrem ersten Tag unter dem Kommando von Admiral Cainder Tag, an dem die Zwölf Kolonien ausgelöscht worden sind – bis zu ihrer schicksalhaften Mission zur Befreiung enführter Kolonial-Offiziere aus Zylonen-Gefangenschaft.

Zusammenfassung

Die Handlung des Fernsehfilms besteht aus vier Episoden, die miteinander verwoben sind und parallel erzählt werden:

Die Erzählstruktur des Films ist komplex und springt zwischen den einzelnen Zeitperioden hin und her. Zum besseren Verständnis sind die Ereignisse nachfolgend stattdessen in chronologischer Reihenfolge aufgeführt.

Erster Zylonenkrieg

William Adama

siehe auch: Razor Flashbacks
  • Langfassung: Am Himmel eines Eisplaneten, auf dessen Oberfläche eine zylonische Superwaffe vermutet wird, tobt eine erbitterte Schlacht zwischen kolonialen und zylonischen Streitkräften. Wütend über die Vernichtung des Kampfsterns Columbia, verfolgt Viper-Pilot William Adama zwei Jäger in die Atmosphäre. Es gelingt ihm, einen von ihnen abzuschießen, ehe er mit dem anderen kollidiert und den Schleudersitz betätigt.
  • Langfassung: Einer der zylonischen Piloten hat allerdings ebenfalls überlebt. Es kommt im freien Fall zu einem Schußwechsel und schließlich zu einem Handgemenge. Als der Zenturio sein Schwert einzusetzen versucht, zieht Adama die Reißleine seines Fallschirms. Unversehrt im Inneren eines Gebäudes gelandet, trifft er wieder auf den abgestürzten Zylonen und erschlägt ihn mit einem Rohr.
  • Adama betritt ein Labor, in dem er Hinweise auf Verstümmelungen und grausame Experimente an menschlichen Versuchsobjekten entdeckt. Mitten im Raum steht eine mit einer dickflüssigen Substanz gefüllte Wanne, den späteren Auferstehungs- bzw. Hybridentanks nicht unähnlich.
  • Als er die Flüssigkeit näher untersucht, überkommen ihn Visionen von Menschen, die bei vollem Bewußtsein von Zenturios seziert werden. Eine Hand schnellt aus dem Tank hervor und ergreift Adamas Arm. Entsetzt weicht er zurück und hört eine Stimme Pythias Prophezeiung rezitieren: "All dies ist schon einmal geschehen. All dies wird wieder geschehen."
  • Klopfgeräusche machen ihn auf eine kleine Gruppe Überlebender aufmerksam, die von den Zylonen für deren Experimente entführt worden sind. Erfolglos versucht Adama die Tür zu ihrem Gefängnis aufzustemmen. Als der Boden zu beben beginnt, drängt ihn einer der Unglückseligen, sich selbst zu retten und von ihrem Schicksal zu berichten.
  • Angesichts der Aussichtslosigkeit der Lage, flieht Adama aus dem Labor und sieht ein Basisschiff abheben und in den Wolken entschwinden. Per Funkt erstattet er der Galactica Bericht, nur um zu erfahren, dass ein Waffenstillstand ausgehandelt worden ist – der Krieg ist vorüber.

Helena Cain

Diese Begebenheit ist lediglich in der Langfassung enthalten.
  • Zur selben Zeit wird Tauron angegriffen. Das Gebäude, in dem sich die Familie der jungen Helena Cain aufhält, gerät unter schweren Beschuß zylonischer Bodentruppen. Auf der verzweifelten Flucht durch das Treppenhaus, wird der Vater von Mörsefeuer getroffen. Tödlich verwundet, bricht er zusammen und befiehlt Helena, ihre jüngere Schwester Lucy in einen Schutzbunker zu bringen.
  • Die beiden Mädchen schaffen es bis auf die Straße, doch Lucy stolpert in den Trümmern und kann den Weg nicht fortsetzen. Als sie einen Jäger über ihnen entdeckt, gerät Helena in Panik, läßt Lucy zurück und versteckt sich in einem Container. Von Zylonen umzingelt, ruft Lucy nach ihrer Schwester und verstummt plötzlich.
  • Als Helena von einem Zenturio entdeckt wird, nimmt sie ein am Boden liegendes Messer an sich, bereit, um ihr Leben zu kämpfen. Doch plötzlich verharrt er und läßt schließlich – anscheinend, nachdem er neue Instruktionen erhalten hat – von ihr ab.
  • Draußen ist es still geworden. Helena verläßt ihr Versteck und sieht die zylonischen Truppen abziehen. Abgesehen von einer Puppe, gibt es von ihrer Schwester keine Spur.
  • An jenem Tag hat Helena Cain ihre gesamte Familie verloren. [1].

Der Fall der Zwölf Kolonien

Der Fall der Scorpio-Flottenwerft

Hauptartikel: Fall der Scorpio Flottenwerft
  • Langfassung: Während Lieutenant Kendra Shaw auf ihren Transport von Caprica zur Pegasus wartet, plaudert sie ein wenig mit Frank Bruno über ihre Mutter, die Ratsabgeordnete Marta Shaw, ihren neuen Posten und ihre Karriereziele.
  • Die Pegasus befindet sich zu dreimonatigen Instandsetzungsarbeiten in der Scorpio-Flottenwerft. Während sich Raptor 179 dem Schiff nähert, bestaunt Shaw die enorme Größe dieses Mercury-Klasse-Kampfsterns.
  • Admiral Helena Cain liest in ihrem Quartier den neuesten Statusbericht, als Colonel Jurgen Belzen, ihr Erster Offizier, eintritt. Zwischen den beiden herrscht eine freundschaftliche Atmosphäre, und es entspinnt sich eine unbeschwerte Unterhaltung. Belzen erkundigt sich nach ihren Urlaubsplänen, aber sie beharrt darauf, sie könne die Pegasus momentan nicht im Stich lassen.
  • Unter Befehl, sich umgehend im CIC zu melden, erkundigt sich Shaw nach dem Weg dorthin, wird aber ignoriert. Schließlich trifft sie auf Gina Inviere – eine Sechs, getarnt als zivile Systemanalytikerin –, die ihr bereitwillig Auskunft erteilt. Shaw bemerkt, dass der Name "Inviere" Altgemenesisch für "Auferstehung" ist.
  • Als Shaw endlich im CIC eintrifft, geht Cain mit ihr hart ins Gericht, während die Umstehenden wissende Blicke austauschen. Ihre Verspätung, so Cain, ließe vermuten, dass sie entweder einen Umweg für einen Kaffee genommen oder aber sich verirrt habe. Nachdem Shaw weggetreten ist, brechen Cain und Belzen in herzliches Gelächter aus – anscheinend hat sich der Admiral einen Scherz auf Kosten des Lieutenants erlaubt.
  • Louis Hoshi eskortiert Shaw zu ihrem Quartier. Plötzlich wird das Deck von einer Explosion erschüttert. Als Shaw wieder zu sich kommt, beugt sich Admiral Cain über sie und spricht sie an, aber Shaw ist zu benommen, um zu antworten. Cain versetzt ihr eine Ohrfeige, und sofort ist sie hellwach; Hoshi hingegen ist nicht erweckbar. Die beiden Frauen machen sich auf den Weg zur Brücke.
  • Das Backbord-Flugdeck der Pegasus steht in Flammen. Zylonen-Jäger schwärmen durch die Werftanlagen und nehmen die wehrlosen Schiffe unter heftigen Beschuss.
  • Belzens Schadensbericht ist alles andere als ermutigend: Nach Einschlag mehrerer nuklearer Sprengköpfe sind DRADIS und Waffensysteme ausgefallen, immerhin funtioniert noch die Energieversorgung. Cain gibt Befehl, die Verankerungen zu lösen und den FTL-Antrieb hochzufahren.
  • Die Werft hat sich inzwischen in ein Flammenmeer verwandelt. Als Belzen weitere Kernwaffen im Anflug auf die Pegasus ortet, bleibt für die notwendigen Berechnungen keine Zeit mehr, und so ordnet Cain, trotz Shaws Einwänden, einen sofortigen blinden Sprung an, der das Schiff zwar aus der Kampfzone, aber auch ins Ungewisse führt.

Das hoffen wir alle

  • Zwei Tage nach dem Angriff auf die Scorpio-Flottenwerft, ist die Pegasus vier oder fünf Sprünge von den Kolonien entfernt. Viele Vipers und Raptors sind zerstört oder irreparabel beschädigt, mehr als ein Viertel der Crew ist tot.
  • Shaw hat ohne Unterbrechung an der Reparatur der Navigations- und Waffensysteme gearbeitet. Dabei ist sie auf eine Hintertür in der neuen CNP-Software gestoßen, die, wäre sie in Betrieb gewesen, den Zylonen Zugriff auf das gesamte Computernetzwerk des Kampfsterns gestattet hätte. Shaw empfiehlt, das Programm zu löschen.
  • Es kursieren diverse Gerüchte, und so wendet sich Cain in einer Durchsage an die Crew: Die Heimatwelten sind zerstört, die Städte in atomare Wüsten verwandelt, die Flotte vernichtet. Der Sieg eines einzelnen Schiffes gegen die zylonische Übermacht sei unrealistisch, Vergeltung aber ein erreichbares Ziel. Cains Worte treffen auf Zustimmung und werden schiffsweit mit dem wiederholten Ruf "Das hoffen wir alle!" bestätigt.
  • Im Quartier des Admirals gehen Cain, Shaw, Fisk und Belzen jüngst gesammelte Informationen über ein zylonisches Kommunikationsrelais – ihr erstes Angriffsziel – durch. Gina, die Shaw bei der Auswertung der Daten geholfen hat, tritt ein, wird von Cain herzlich begrüßt, und die fünf setzen sich zum Dinner zusammen.
  • Cain betont, dass sie, wenngleich sie einen Guerillakrieg gegen die Zylonen zu führen beabsichtigt, Schiff und Besatzung auf keinen Fall einem unnötigen Risiko aussetzen wird.
  • Shaw und Inviere arbeiten an der Firewall des Computernetzwerks. Inviere stellt fest, dass die Beschränkung ihrer eigenen Zugriffsrechte diese Aufgabe behindert. Shaw deutet an, Inviere könne ihr Verhältnis zum Admiral zur Erweiterung dieser Rechte nutzen, überläßt ihr aber schließlich ihren Zugangscode.
  • Sie unterhalten sich noch ein wenig darüber, wie Gina und der Admiral einander kennengelernt haben und dass Cain, trotz ihrer Unabhängigkeit, Bedürfnisse habe – letztlich seien sie doch alle nur Menschen...

Die Schlacht um das Kommunikationsrelais

Hauptartikel: Schlacht um das Kommunikationsrelais
  • Pegasus prepares for a hit-and-run attack on what appears to be a somewhat neglected Cylon communications relay. However, when Pegasus arrives, there are twelve Cylon Raiders guarding the relay. Despite the increased enemy presence, Cain orders Blue Squadron to advance.
  • Almost the second after the Vipers are launched, fifteen enemy squadrons of fighters jump into DRADIS range. Cain orders Pegasus's defensive fire concentrated on the incoming attack squadrons, but Shaw reports that the weapons grid won't respond to commands.
  • In spite of the odds, Cain orders Belzen to launch the reserve Vipers, but he insists that taking such an action would cost too many lives and resources. She persists in her orders, but Belzen refuses to carry them out. Cain orders Belzen to hand her his sidearm, which she uses to shoot him in the forehead, in front of the entire bridge crew. [2]
  • Cain turns to a stunned Fisk, tells him that he is now the XO and orders him to launch the reserve Vipers. Fisk, nearly petrified by what he just saw, is more than compelled to follow the order. As the last of Pegasus’s remaining squadrons launch, Cylon batteries pound the hull.
  • With the weapons grid down, Cylon Heavy Raiders easily breach Pegasus’s defensive perimeter. Centurions begin pouring into the ship through breached airlocks. Cain orders fast-response teams of Marines to engage the Centurions, and orders Shaw to Secondary Damage Control, as she fears that the Cylons will use this junction to vent all of Pegasus’s air into space.[3]
  • As Shaw heads to Secondary Damage Control, she finds Gina Inviere trying to escape the Centurions, and orders her to the CIC. As she peers around the corner, she is almost seen by a Centurion. She waits for it to leave, and as she turns the corner to go down the hallway, she sees a Number Six Cylon, following the Centurion. At first, Shaw doesn’t understand what she sees, but then it comes together – the Cylons can mimic human form, and Gina Inviere is one of them. Shaw shoots and kills the Six, leaving it dead right in front of a security camera.
  • Shaw immediately heads to the CIC to take Inviere, now also in CIC, into custody before she can do any more harm. In the CIC, she directs her weapon at Inviere, and orders the Marines to take her into custody. When Cain belays the order, Shaw states that Gina is a Cylon infiltrator and that "they can look like us". When Cain scoffs, Shaw asks Hoshi to display the security feed from Airlock 4.
  • Cain balks at the image of the dead humanoid Cylon in the form of her lover. Feeling betrayed and without any other options, she orders the guards to remove Inviere ("this thing") from the bridge. As a Cylon missile strikes Pegasus, Gina uses the moment to flip her captor around by the jaw, and gains control of his weapon, which she uses to shoot his comrade. She then snaps the Marine's neck, and trains her weapon on Cain. In a moment of hesitation, Inviere cannot bring herself to shoot Cain, and Shaw sneaks up behind her, clubbing the Cylon over the head with the butt of her rifle.

Massacre aboard the Scylla

  • The victory at the communications relay is bittersweet. Over eight hundred of Pegasus’s original crew are now dead [4], over 90 Vipers are either destroyed or out of commission, and the deck crew doesn't have the resources to repair all remaining ones.
  • As Cain and Shaw discuss the battle, Gina Inviere looks on from her cell. Shaw blames herself for the high cost of the battle, for giving Inviere her access codes, which she used to take down the weapons grid.
  • The hatch opens, and Lieutenant Alastair Thorne salutes Admiral Cain. Cain orders him to use whatever means he can conjure to retrieve information from Inviere, including torture and rape. As Thorne enters Inviere’s cell, Cain is called to the CIC.
  • As Cain enters the CIC, Fisk is elated to inform the admiral that a convoy of 15 civilian ships has been detected. Fisk and Shaw are thrilled at the discovery, but the mood quickly turns sour when they realize Cain has other things on her mind. Cain orders Fisk to prepare teams of Marines and engineers to board each ship. They will take what they need, including spare parts and people, and leave the ships without FTL drives to fend for themselves.
  • Fisk and Shaw come aboard the Scylla, where they find a relieved welcoming party. Peter Laird is the first to welcome them aboard. Excitement quickly turns to confusion however, when they hand Laird a list of Admiral Cain’s orders. Laird is shocked to learn that Cain wants to take their FTL drives. Laird informs the welcoming party, and they suddenly become an angry mob. Shaw informs them that they will use force if necessary, but Laird persistently refuses.
  • As the mob inches closer to the boarding party, Fisk reports to Cain of the escalating situation. In an act that surprises even him, she orders him to shoot the families of any selectee that doesn’t comply with the orders.
  • Fisk and the Marines are wary of the order, but they line up a couple of the families despite their reservations, hoping that showing the mob their resolve will force them to comply. The angry mob suddenly becomes violent – they throw whatever they can at the boarding party.
  • At that very moment, Shaw pulls out her sidearm, and shoots a woman in the front in the head. The Marines follow suit, and before very long, the deck of the Scylla is painted with the blood of the dead. Shaw’s gaze drifts to her sidearm, still smoking from the shot, and then up to Laird, who is too stunned to move.
  • In the aftermath, Shaw cannot bring her eyes to look upon the dead. Fisk comforts her by telling her that the entire fleet heard about what happened and there should be no more resistance. As her party leaves the Scylla, she can’t help but look back.
  • For her actions aboard the Scylla, Cain promotes Shaw to captain. It is small comfort to Shaw, who is still anguished by what she has done. Seeing her vulnerability, Cain tells Shaw that the war is forcing them all to do things that they may not like, even hate, because if they don’t, then they may not live to simply become human again. By putting aside her fear, her reservations, even her revulsion to complete the mission, Shaw has become Cain’s "razor".

Present events

  • Newly-promoted Commander Lee Adama is formally appointed commander of Pegasus by Laura Roslin in front of the ship's crew. In his speech he promises to change things on the battlestar and announces Kara Thrace's appointment as acting CAG.
  • Shaw follows the speech on the wireless set, but eventually switches it off. She walks to a jar, takes out a syringe and injects herself with a drug. She is still troubled about what happened on the Scylla.
  • Next, she is summoned to Adama's office, who reads her service file and points out that she received glowing reports from Cain, but increasingly negatives ones from Fisk and Garner, who eventually assigned her to kitchen duty because of "persistent insubordinate behavior". After listening to Shaw's candid opinions about him and his predecessors, Adama offers her the job of executive officer; he intends to give the crew back its pride, and as an outsider he needs someone to uphold Cain's legacy.
  • During a firearms drill, she shows competence but also how hard she is on the crew. William Adama comments that his son found an XO meaner than Saul Tigh.
  • The Admiral gives Commander Adama his first mission: a search and rescue for two pilots and a civilian science team in an overdue Raptor.
  • At their destination, Starbuck and Showboat conduct a Viper patrol and suddenly encounter enemy fighters of an unfamiliar configuration. Although able to identify them as Cylons, Starbuck doesn't realize that they are in fact Raiders like the ones used in the first Cylon War.
  • Pegasus establishes a defensive perimeter and orders the Vipers to return prior to an FTL jump. When the navigational computer malfunctions and the Raiders close, Shaw orders to the vessel's offensive flight pod batteries turned on the incoming targets, placing Starbuck and Showboat inside the battlestar's close-in firing solution. Struggling their way through the barrage, a Raider follows them into the flight pod, which Starbuck shoots down once inside the landing bay. On the hangar deck, she angrily confronts Shaw over her decision to open fire, but Adama defends his XO.
  • Pegasus returns to the Fleet, and Admiral Adama, Roslin and Tigh inspect the downed Raider on the hangar deck. Sharon Valerii recalls the "Guardians", a group of original Centurion models that escaped being scrapped by the humanoid Cylons. The Guardians guard the first Hybrid, created by the Cylons as a first attempt at an organic model and eventually abandoned as an evolutionary dead end. This causes Adama to remember the events on the ice planet on the last day of the Cylon War, finally realizing the significance of what he saw over 40 years ago.
  • After examining the Raider's navigational data, Admiral Adama believes that the Raptor crew was captured by the Guardians and orders his son to jump to a possible base of theirs. For the duration of the operation, he transfers his flag to Pegasus, but assures Lee that it will be his mission.
  • Shaw drafts an attack plan for Pegasus to draw Cylon forces away while a Raptor, piloted by Thrace and carrying a strike team, jumps to the Cylon base. Before signing off on the plan, Lee Adama confronts Shaw over the incident on the Scylla. She just replies that she is Cain's legacy - a razor - and that Cain wouldn't have hesitated to execute the plan.
  • Before the battle Shaw is about to take another shot of the drug and when she is caught by Thrace, who is looking for a bottle of ambrosia. The two stalemate and agree to keep each other's secrets, and realize that they are more alike than they thought.
  • Vorlage:RazorDVD
  • The mission doesn't go as planned when the strike team's Raptor is pursued by two Raiders. They simulate an engine malfunction, emergency blow the side hatch and sling themselves out of the flat-spinning Raptor before it is destroyed by the Cylons, escaping undetected. Using EVA thrusters, they make their way to the Guardian basestar.
  • Thrace, Shaw, Mathias, Dasilva and Hudson find the missing Raptor crew, whom the Cylons mutilate in a manner similar to what William Adama saw in the first Cylon War. As they free the survivors, two Centurions attack, wound Dasilva and begin to drag him away. Unwilling to let him suffer same treatment as the Raptor crew, Shaw shoots Dasilva, but in turn is shot in the abdomen.
  • While under cover from the firefight, Mathias reports to Pegasus that the detonator for the nuclear warhead, which they plan to use to destroy the basestar, is damaged.
  • Pegasus loses wireless contact with the boarding team and Lee Adama orders a nuclear ship to ship missile to be armed and readied. Thrace herself considers the "mission outcome doubtful". Assuming that the team is dead, Commander Adama orders the launch of the missile, but is overridden by his father, who wants to give the team a chance.
  • After reestablishing contact and learning that an evacuation Raptor is on the way, Shaw orders Mathias to rig a manual detonator for the nuke, determined to complete the mission. While Lee is reluctant to sacrifice someone to detonate the warhead, his father believes that the Cylons would easily shoot down a missile, but leaves the final decision to Lee. He orders Thrace to get the team to safety, but to stay behind and detonate the nuke manually.
  • The team prepares to suit up and leave, when Shaw forces Thrace to hand over the warhead at gunpoint and remains on the baseship. Walking through the hallways, she finds the Cylon Hybrid, who knows her name, saying that he has been waiting for her for a long time. He tells her that the Centurions worship him as god, and observes Shaw's desire to be forgiven for what she has become. The Hybrid also delivers a warning about Thrace: she will lead the human race to its end, she is the herald of the apocalypse and the harbinger of death, and she must not be followed.
  • Shaw tries to relay this to Pegasus, but her transmission is blocked by Cylon jamming shortly after the start, and the warning is not heard. She then detonates the nuke, killing herself and destroying the basestar.
  • Later, the Adamas discuss the battle and its outcome, the admiral noting Thrace's recommendation of Shaw for a posthumous commendation. Reviewing the logs, Admiral Adama doesn't find fault in either Cain's or Shaw's decisions, but Commander Adama vehemently disagrees, citing the Scylla. The admiral replies that he never had to face similar circumstances, and that he had people like Lee, Roslin and Tigh to counsel and challenge him and keep him from making extreme and questionable decisions. He comforts Lee, telling him that his decision to launch the nuclear missile and sacrifice the strike team wasn't wrong, just necessary from Lee's perspective at the time.
  • Outside Adama's quarters, Lee meets Thrace, who now has Cain's knife given to her by Shaw. She is unsure if Shaw sacrificed herself as atonement or if she just "had it coming." Thrace tells him that she requested reassignment back to Galactica because she thinks Lee would keep trying to get her killed. When asked if she might deserve that, she jokingly replies that she has a destiny and plans to live to keep it.


Notes

General

Production

  • Michael Taylor noted that the original opening for "Razor" was inspired by Apocalypse Now, but this was later cut [5].
  • A scene with Alastair Thorne torturing Gina while Cain looks on was filmed but removed as "it played a little too much like an outtake from Spartacus."[5] Part of it can still be seen in the recap at the beginning of the movie.
  • According to composer Bear McCreary, no specific soundtrack release for "Razor" is currently planned. However, the best tracks will be included on the Season 4 soundtrack [6].
  • According to Gary Hutzel, the Fall of the Scorpion Fleet Shipyards was written so that "we would see it in bits and pieces. For the most part, it centered on the fact that they had to jump out of there before two nuclear missiles hit them." As for the blind jump, the impetus for it was to be filmed only from the point-of-view of the CIC personnel, who saw the two incoming warheads on DRADIS, which prompted the jump. However, Felix Alcala wanted the scene to be something out of Pearl Harbor, thus the shots showing the destruction of the shipyards were added in.[7]
  • Universal Home Entertainment financed part of "Razor" for DVD-only effects and other material for the show which is proprietary, which is why such effects sequences are on the DVD or used in promotional material.[7]
  • Furthermore, the special effects shots were done in house without using a third-party source: over 184 shots were done, 120 of them being full CGI. Many new ships had to be developed specifically for "Razor", in addition to the Original Series-inspired Centurions.[8]

Story

  • As Kendra Shaw scrubs through the wireless bands, she happens upon a Talk Wireless broadcast where the wireless personality notes Laura Roslin's cancer remission, going on to infer that there was speculation on how the remission was brought about. Another snippet mentions Roslin's "recent" ban of abortion.
  • The Guardian basestar appears to be an evolutionary gap in between the older Cylon War-era basestar and the newer starfish type basestar.
  • The flashback of a young William Adama finding a Cylon lab during the war is part of the fifth, sixth, and seventh episodes of the "Razor" web-episodes.
  • According to Caprica-Valerii, the Hybrids were created as a means to grow out of their mechanical roots and into biological ones. The Cylons considered the hybrids a failure and, after creating enough of them to control their baseships, the project was abandoned.
  • At the end of "The Captain's Hand" Apollo jokes that he's glad Starbuck will not be his CAG, and Starbuck confirms that she has to be Galactica's CAG. Something must have changed by the time Apollo took command because "Razor" begins with him announcing Starbuck as his acting CAG. At the end of "Razor" Thrace asks to be re-assigned to Galactica.
  • Despite being a major, Kendra Shaw wears a colonel's uniform with white/red trim when she becomes the XO of Pegasus. As shown on Doctor Cottle earlier, a major's uniform only has a grey trim.
  • When Pegasus jumps away from the Scorpion Fleet Yards, the vacuum created from the jump appears to suck in the surrounding flames and smoke of battle. This effect has been seen before in "Exodus, Part II" following Galactica's intra-atmosphere jump.
  • The events on the Scylla do not play out exactly as Colonel Fisk describes them to Colonel Tigh in "Resurrection Ship, Part I". In the earlier episode, he mentions two families being lined up against the wall and shot, which does not happen.

Unrated DVD

  • In the DVD version, Virtual Six appears and reveals why the Cylons achieved human form, claiming that since their God created humanity in his image, the Cylons wanted to do the same, regardless of how much they themselves loathed humanity.
  • Young William Adama says the word "cocksucker" in reference to the Cylon he pursues as he breaks away from Columbia (e.g. "This cocksucker's mine."). The dialogue is re-dubbed in the Razor Flashbacks to "This frakker's mine."
  • Shootings are more graphically violent than Battlestar Galactica normally shows on television. When Cain shoots Belzen in the head, a large amount of blood splatters on the glass wall behind him. Usually only the entry wound is shown and the camera avoids the area behind the head, such as when Number Six is shot in "Precipice" and Three in "Hero". A similarly graphic scene where a Marine is wounded by Centurions on the guardian basestar is missing from the television version but included in the unrated DVD.
  • The DVD version includes an additional monologue by the first Hybrid when the strike team arrives at the basestar. It is intercut with footage of the team making its way through the ship. This is a reference to the revelation of four of the Final Five Cylons during "Crossroads, Part II". The Hybrid also talks about the seven other Cylon models and demonstrates knowledge of Number Three's boxing, an event over a year in the future at the time of his speech. See Noteworthy Dialogue
  • The main feature does not include all of the Razor Flashbacks, namely Episodes 1, 2 and and the Galactica scenes of Episode 7. However, all seven flashbacks are included as separate special features on the DVD.
  • Two deleted scenes are contained on the DVD. One with Lee Adama at the Caprica Transfer Station waiting for a flight to Galactica's decommissioning, in which he talks about his dissatisfaction with his father's expectations of him. The other is a flashback to the aftermath of the episode "33". Starbuck and Apollo review their Vipers' gun camera footage. While Adama is convinced that he sees someone in the windows of the Olympic Carrier, Starbuck tells him that sometimes people might need to be left behind to save others.

Analysis

Story

  • According to Admiral Cain, a razor is someone who can set aside all fear, hesitation, revulsion and natural inhibition in battle (see noteworthy dialogue).
    • When Cain recruits Jack Fisk to assassinate Commander Adama, she tells him that he needs to pick Marines who are "completely reliable. Completely loyal. Razors." (Resurrection Ship, Part I).
    • This bears a passing semblance to a poem by Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto: "I am still the sword/Of my Emperor/I will not be sheathed/Until I die." Admiral Yamamoto knew about America, Americans and their potential from his time as a student at Harvard and as a naval attaché in Washington, DC. Despite misgivings about declaring war on America, he served his Emperor and planned the attack on Pearl Harbor.
    • A razor is a physically present symbol throughout the episode in the form of a folding knife, which Cain found as child when her home colony was attacked by the Cylons. She used it to overcome her fear of a Centurion and kept it over the decades. After Cain's death, the blade passes to Kendra Shaw and eventually to Kara Thrace. It appears several times in the episode, and is used by Cain to explain the concept of becoming a razor to Shaw.
  • The woman shot by Shaw could have been Peter Laird's wife, given the pan shot from his expression as he looks at the bodies, to the dead woman's face. His evasiveness when asked about the rumors circulating about the Scylla in the episode "Pegasus" would support this. His reaction to the woman's execution, however, can be taken one of two ways. He was either a man in complete shock of witnessing his wife's death or a man who was horrified from what he didn't believe was possible of Colonial military. Laird never mentions a wife explicitly, but Fisk implies he had family aboard the Scylla (Pegasus).

Characters

  • In stark contrast to her demeanor by the time of the rendezvous with Galactica, Helena Cain is visibly more relaxed with her crew: She is stern when necessary, but also enjoys several moments of levity with subordinates and cultivates personable relations with her staff. She regards Jurgen Belzen as a personal friend (as described later by Fisk to Tigh); she initiates Shaw to Pegasus by chewing her out in the CIC and shares a humored look with her XO afterwards; the atmosphere at the dinner is very informal. She briefly talks to and comforts crewmen in the corridors, and expresses strong emotions and sheds tears as she surveys the ship's casualties. All these point to the war and especially Gina's betrayal as reasons for her push over the edge to become a "razor" and the narrowing of her perspective to pure vengeance.
  • Although she may have sacrificed herself in atonement, Kendra Shaw ended her life as a razor, casting aside fear and self-preservation to stay behind and die to complete her mission, echoing Admiral Cain's observation that "sometimes we have to leave people behind so that we can go on, so that we can continue to fight. Sometimes you have do things that we never thought we were capable of ..." When she arrives on Pegasus, she is regarded as an opportunist, but in the end she is quite the opposite.
  • Kendra Shaw's death marks the final transition from Cain's legacy to Admiral Adama's. Shaw was the last of Cain's inner circle. She was one of the officers who had Cain's utmost respect and trust. Her death signifies the complete replacement of Pegasus's original leadership and opens up the merging of the two battlestar crews.
  • Admiral Cain suggests that Kendra Shaw used her mother's connections to secure an upwardly-mobile assignment on Pegasus — an ironic criticism, since then-Commander William Adama mentions to President Roslin how well-connected Cain is, helping her jump over half the commanders list for promotion to admiral (Pegasus).
  • Both Shaw and Thrace have been noticed and mentored by Admiral Cain. In this respect, the friction between the two takes on aspects of sibling rivalry.
  • Based on the restored scenes on the "Razor" DVD, Admiral Cain's past plays a huge role in how she approached the second Cylon War. As a child, Cain abandoned her little sister in order to hide from Centurions. Though this scene of a young Cain is mixed in Cain's speech of the need to leave some behind in order to go on fighting, it implies a sense of guilt on Cain's part for having abandoned her sister to the Cylons. Her entire rationale in actively fighting the Cylons and not running portrays a need for her to take a stand and fight. She had a need to stop running.
  • Also in the DVD version, the knife that Cain carries is revealed to have a deeper meaning to Cain than simply a weapon. The knife was an impromptu weapon Cain discovered while she was attempting to hide from the Centurions. When she is finally discovered, she makes her last stand with this same knife. In the end, it becomes the only object that she still carried, and what she eventually became, a last resort weapon.
  • The actions of the younger Cain and Adama during the final events of the first Cylon War both contrast and parallel. Adama continued to pursue and attack the Cylons; Cain was told to run and hide from the Cylons, but when she was cornered by a Centurion, she picked up the knife and made as best a last stand as she could. Adama witnessed the escape of the First Hybrid's ship, feeling the responsibility of the lost lives that he could not save; Cain witnessed the withdrawal of Centurion forces, anguished by her responsibility for leaving her little sister behind.

Miscellaneous

  • Given the overall survivor count and the tally of 49,579 during the credits, "Razor" takes place between "The Captain's Hand" and "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I". Captions also place the flashback portions 10 months prior to the present events. However this timespan is closer to 9 months.
    • This is also the only time during Lee Adama's command of Pegasus that the episode can fit, since Starbuck leaves for Caprica in "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I". See also Timeline - Season 2 (RDM)
    • Adama's selection of Shaw as his XO likely takes place very shortly after him taking command of Pegasus, but other parts of the episode might take place slightly later.
    • Sharon Agathon's appearance may indicate that this episode takes place before "Downloaded", however this cannot be confirmed by any visual evidence as her appearance is brief and all camera shots are seemingly aimed to avoid shooting her belly. However, it can be reasonably surmised that because she is still cooperating with the Colonials that Hera's birth and her subsequent faked death haven't occurred yet.
    • The survivor count of 49,579 is the same as the episodes "Downloaded" and the beginning of "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I," which means the death of Shaw, the Raptor crew and the SAR marine are never counted.
    • "Razor" establishes the destruction of the colonies happening 10 months earlier, although "Downloaded," which presumably takes place shortly after, places the destruction at 9 months prior. "The Plan" establishes the beginning of "Lay Down Your Burdens" as 280 days after the fall.
  • Regarding the casualties suffered by Pegasus during the Battle of the Communications Relay, Shaw's report that Pegasus suffered over 800 dead likely refers to the total casualty rate since the Cylon attack. Since Pegasus already suffered over 700 losses fleeing the Scorpion shipyards, adding 800 to this figure would mean that almost half the crew were killed. Considering that Pegasus's crew is approximately 1,750 when she encounters Galactica, such a high death rate seems unlikely.
    • The numbers are consistent, however, with casualty figures reported during "Pegasus," which established that 700 were killed during the attack on the shipyard, and 800 were killed during the attempt to board the ship.
  • Given that an evac Raptor successfully retrieves the assault team by docking or at least flying close to the Guardian basestar without incident, it seems that the Guardian basestar itself appears to be unarmed and totally reliant on its Raiders for defense, unlike the standard Cylon basestar.
  • A curious technical gaffe appears to occur as the smoke from the various fires in the shipyard travel upward. Unless the flames (which would appear as a globular "blossom" shape without gravity) jet upward, the smoke, with the lack of convection (heat rising upward as lighter gases against gravity), would expand in all directions opposite the flames or venting, not "up" relative to the battlestar or flames.
  • The Galactica-type battlestar at the shipyard appears to be the same size, if not larger than Pegasus. This is a contradiction of Admiral Cain's statement, that Pegasus is twice the size of Galactica. While she does not refer to the ship's length, this seems to be a scaling error in the visual effects.

Questions

  • How does the Hybrid know Kendra Shaw?
  • Is the Hybrid's warning that Kara Thrace is the harbinger of death true? (Possible answer) Does it say this to ensure that the eternal cycle continues per Pythian prophecy? (Possible answer)
  • What does the First Hybrid mean when he says that Kara Thrace will lead the human race to their end (Answer)
  • Who becomes Pegasus's CAG after Thrace steps down?
  • Whose decision was it to scrap the old Centurions? (Answer) Did they resist?
  • When the first Hybrid says "My children believe I am a god", to whom is he referring? The old model Cylons? The organic models?
  • What does the first Hybrid mean when he says his existence will "begin again in ways uncertain"?
    • Does this statement imply that the first Hybrid is capable of downloading, or does it refer to an unending cycle or the afterlife?
  • Are all of the Guardians on the basestar when it is destroyed, or did they build other bases in the decades before?
  • Is the first Hybrid one of the humans captured on the Diana?
  • Is the first Hybrid as it originally appeared, or has it physically aged? Was it created in that stage of adult maturity?
  • If the Hybrid experiment was abandoned after others were created to control the basestars, do the Cylons only have a limited number of them?
  • Did the Cylons abduct humans, such as Lucy Cain on Tauron, for further experimentation after abandoning their facilities on the ice planet?
  • If Saul Tigh fought in the first Cylon War, how was he created, since the Cylons had yet to create humanoid Cylons by the time of the armistice? (Answer)
  • Were the captives from the ice planet rescued? How much did the Colonials know about the experiments which took place there?
  • If Adama's Viper was destroyed during the last day of the Cylon War, how was Galen Tyrol able to present it to the Admiral in the Miniseries?
  • Why did the Centurions withdraw from the First War? (Answer)

Official Statements

See: Razor/Official Statements

Noteworthy Dialogue

See: Razor/Noteworthy Dialogue

Guest Stars

External Links

References

  1. Ryan, Maureen (20 November 2007). 'Battlestar Galactica: Razor' cuts to the heart of the matter. Aufgefunden am 22 November 2007.
  2. This event is recalled by Jack Fisk to Saul Tigh months later, over drinks, in the Season 2 episode "Pegasus."
  3. This tactic is reminiscent of a similar tactic attempted by the Cylons in the episode "Valley of Darkness."
  4. Kendra Shaw reports "at least 816 dead, 121 injured" after the attack on the com relay. Earlier, Colonel Belzen reports the loss of over 700 people in the attack on the shipyards. Given Pegasus's crew complement of approximately 1,750 when she encounters Galactica, adding both numbers would mean that almost half of the crew died. Battlestar Wiki assumes that Shaw is relating the casualties of both battles.
  5. 5,0 5,1 Ryan, Maureen (16 November 2007). Answers to your 'Razor' questions and clues about 'Battlestar Galactica's' final season. Aufgefunden am 16 November 2007.
  6. Bear McCreary's blog.
  7. 7,0 7,1 Bennett, Tara DiLullo (26 November 2007). Raising the VFX Bar In-House on Battlestar Galactica: Razor. Aufgefunden am 30 November 2007.
  8. Bennett, Tara DiLullo (26 November 2007). Raising the VFX Bar In-House on Battlestar Galactica: Razor. Aufgefunden am 30 November 2007.