I’ve seen Battlestar Galactica: Razor twice now, and I finally feel free to say that which I was scared of after the first viewing. Yes, it is an entertaining two hour film, filling in details which probably did not need to be filled in, but telling a pretty entertaining story at the time. Perhaps the moments humanising Admiral Cain would have been more useful in a lesser show, but even in the episodes she turns up in the show was even handed enough not to mark her out as a complete monster. The film barely softens her, but instead decides to show how one bad decision can turn you into an unwavering tyrant. Not needed, but good work.
The retro Cylons were however an example of fan wank over plot. Good fan wank, and almost certainly allowing the final season of the show to shoehorn some whole new unheard of bits of the Cylon plan (a plan which, truth be told, looks like its being made up every week). Also fan wank was Starbuck’s A-Team homage, and on the second viewing, a tiny Hitch-Hikers Guide To The Galaxy nod with our gold suited astronauts drifting in empty space much like the BBC credit sequence with similar music. But all this is just the Easter eggs in a solid two hour telemovie. One which my parents, non-watchers of the show, picked up with little trouble.
None of which is my problem. The problem is the title. Razor. It is supposed to be a metaphor. Cain explains this in one of the more clunky scenes, that to successfully run a ship in wartime you have to make yourself into a razor. Not only is the metaphor a bit weak* but whilst explaining it she is clearly demonstrating the use of a well crafted fold up pocket knife. A knife is different to a razor. And thus the whole premise shakes. And Battlestar Galatica: Knife would have been just as adequate a title.
*Attributes of razors. Sharp. Used primarily for hair cutting (old school Cylons have no hair). Sometimes for DIY and building work. Go blunt quickly. Sold in multipacks, with multiple blades as so called safety razors. Not much there to play with even in a symbolic way in CIC.