Review of Battlestar Galactica: Razor (2007) by Trinity C — 29 Nov 2007

There's always a risk when randomly inserting an expansive story into a series' existing timeline - more so with sci-fi franchises than any other. Babylon 5 proved on several occassions that such an event can either vastly improve a series or severely weaken it as a whole, BSG's Razor luckily is one that only serves to strengthen the franchise.

Firstly, this is terrible terrain for a franchise newcomer to wander into, simply too much needs explaining. For a fan however, this film provides a much needed piece of narrative padding to a series that comes dangerously close sometimes to stopping dead in its tracks momentumwise (the third season being the absolute worst offender).

Non-fans really shouldn't be approaching the film full-stop, but BSG-fans already know of the high calibre of performances on display here. Although several key performers are missing entirely (Tyrol, Tigh, Baltar, Dee, etc), they are usually at least mentioned and the overall story is crammed enough to provide every character that IS on show with a great chance to shine - particularly Michelle Forbes, reprising her brief guest role as Pegasus CO Admiral Cain with some of the greatest moral quandering I've seen in years.

A top notch entry into a predominantly brilliant franchise, I can only sincerely hope Razor is a sign of things to come.