Battlestar Galactica : RAZOR (no spoilers in OP)

Cafe Society
1

All of this has had spoilers before, and all of this will have spoilers again. … Just not, y’know, for a little while yet.

See, there’s a special BSG event tonight. If you weren’t already aware, the two-hour “Razor” movie, scheduled to air on SciFi on the Saturday after Thanksgiving (that’s 24-Nov for anyone outside the U.S. or who has trouble with calendars), is getting an advance big-screen showing in several U.S. cities. (Also, a SciFi video preview, showing minor plot spoilers plus promotional details on the event.) If you haven’t already signed up, good luck securing a spot.

This thread is for discussion of “Razor,” after tonight’s presentation. Until that happens, the thread will be spoiler free. After the showing, the first person to come back to the thread should post a message, big text, bold face: “SPOILERS START HERE,” with no other contents. Plot discussion can then begin, without spoiler boxes, in successive posts. That way, the thread is safe for everybody up to that point, and anyone who hasn’t seen the movie yet can bail out at the appropriate moment. We can then bump the thread in two weeks after the regular TV airing.

Incidentally, I’m aware that the “Razor” screener was leaked to the web, and that there’s already been a torrent of discussion and other material available for anyone who has sought it out. If you’ve already seen “Razor,” by whatever means, please hold your comments until after the official event tonight.

Once spoilers begin, here’s the standard policy for BSG threads:

Spoiler policy: If it’s been aired (which in this case means the screening tonight), or if it’s purely speculative, no need for a spoiler box. If it’s from a future episode, as revealed in interviews or other promotional material, or if it’s speculation based on same, use a spoiler box. And label the box with a general description of the spoiler so we can decide whether it’s something we want to know.

Example:

Anakin’s midichlorian count is …[spoiler]… off the meter!

and also stupid.[/spoiler]
So. First, a roll call. Who’s going tonight?

2

Incidentally, I’ve been going back and forth on whether or not it would be appropriate to discuss in this thread the flashback clips being aired during Flash Gordon. They’re available on the web, so technically anybody can see them, even if you haven’t been watching (urgh) FG, and also they’re going to be part of the “Razor” movie when it gets released on DVD in a few weeks. On the other hand, they were cut from “Razor,” and apparently are not crucial to its plot, so perhaps they should be discussed separately.

I’m open to being persuaded either way on this point. Thoughts?

3

Why doesn’t Miami ever get on the cool stuff lists? I want to save Razor for after Thanksgiving but that means I can’t be part of the SDMB discussion. I don’t know what to do now.

4

I’ve seen the Flashbacks on the SciFi channel’s website… are those scenes from the movie Razor, or are they additional material? We could discuss them here, but after you see the movie, I’d have to bow out of the thread because I don’t want to be spoiled. I will say, the actor who plays young Adama does a great job with vocal similarity to Edward James Olmos, and he also has a decent resemblance to him. Excellent casting.

Can’t wait to see a young Tigh. What other familiar faces will we be seeing?

5

I’m going!

6

I’m going. Any other PhillyDopers going to the 7pm show?

7

Well, see, that’s part of why I’m conflicted. They were originally written and produced to be part of the “Razor” movie; that’s why they have significantly higher production value than the New Caprica webisodes from between seasons two and three, which were shot on the cheap. Then they got cut for time, because “Razor” was going to run long in its timeslot on 24-November, and repurposed for promotional airing. However, they will be re-integrated into the full-length “Razor” movie when it gets released on DVD in early December.

So it’s kind of, sort of yes, sort of not, eventually yes, but not yet entirely. You see the dilemma. :slight_smile:

8

Minor liveblogging from the Philadelphia line. There’s roughly a hundred people in line outside the doors. The theater just started letting us in.

9

[SIZE=6]SPOILERS START NOW[/SIZE]

10

Well, I’m back. I was somewhat disappointed that it was basically a 2 hour standalone story, with very little advancement of the overall series plot, though I liked the original series throwbacks with the old-style Raiders and Centurians. One thing that didn’t make sense was Admiral Adama’s revelation that he found a Cylon research installation working on organic hybrids at the end of the first Cylon war, when, in the rest the series, the humans were generally blindsided by the organic and hybrid (Raiders, etc.) Cylons. It seemed to be a throwaway method of getting Admiral Adama involved in the rescue mission.

There was heavy, though expected, Microsoft shilling with somewhat surreal Zune and Xbox 360 ads. The commercial break in the middle of the showing was sucky, though. Did anyone else get a little motion sick with the camera shake during Seth Green’s interview?

Also, about 25 people were already in line for the 10pm showing when I left the theater around 8:45.

11

Well, Ron Moore FINALLY acknowledged gays exist in the BSG universe. They’re evil lesbians, but at least they don’t elicit shock.

Interesting reveal about Starbuck from the antique Hybrid. “Harbinger of the apocalypse. They must not follow her.” Very interesting. How does he know about Starbuck?

12

I hated it. I hated it so much, I don’t know if I’ll bother to watch BSG when it comes back.

Of course there are lesbians, there aren’t any ‘men’ in BSG, not any that are on Geritol. They actually give the women a penis to pass around.

The whole thing was basically on the level of fan fiction.

It’s all about this young Lt who was posted to Pegasus just before the big attack and how she is a truly horrible person, a person who shoots unarmed civilians in the head and then on a dangerous mission onto a base star, she redeems herself. Bla bla bla.

Did I like when the did the scene from Star Trek First contact where she shoots a wounded comrade rather than have him taken by the Borg, sorry Cylons? NO!

Did I have any doubt who would stay behind and set off the suitcase nuke which happened to have it’s times damaged in the fight so it had to be set off manually?

NO!

I was surprised that LT. Bitch didn’t put her hand on the glass that separated her and Kara and say, “I have been and always will be, your friend” or “I bet your vag is really tasty.”

Was I surprised that when Lee Adama started to make ha tough decision that dad would chop them right off. NO.
You know I like strong female characters. I like interesting ones, and yes I like sexy ones. Is it too much to ask that there be MALE characters I can respect that aren’t old enough to be my dad?

13

I need to think about it for a while.

Some disappointing elements, especially the “who’s going to trigger the nuke?” thing as mentioned by Zebra. Some cool stuff. A lot of meh.

I don’t think it’s going to scare me off the show, though.

Oh, and since I’m in Seattle, we were the official “corporate sponsor” location (Zune, Xbox, and Mass Effect = all produced by Microsoft), which means we had special guests Jamie Bamber (Apollo) and Stephanie Jacobsen (new character Kendra Shaw) in personal attendance at the screening. That was kind of neat.

I didn’t mind all the shilling, really, because, hey, free. Still, a bit disruptive with the thing in the middle.

Still thinking about the actual show.