Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Battlestar Galactica

Battlestar Galactica, the best show on TV, returns for its fourth and final season on Saturday, November 24 with a two-hour episode, "Razor." According to SciFi.com, "Razor,"...
which will serve as a backdrop for the events of season four of Battlestar Galactica, tells the story of Lee Adama's first mission as the commander of the battlestar Pegasus — and the harrowing tale of that ship's desperate fight for survival in the immediate aftermath of the Cylon's genocidal siege of the Twelve Colonies.

Lee Adama's new XO, Major Kendra Shaw, is plagued by memories of her service and sacrifices under Admiral Helena Cain, who was able to save her ship during the Cylon attack — but only by making Shaw and her fellow officers rationalize suicidal battle tactics and brutal war crimes against their own people.

In the crucible of war, Shaw must let her hesitation and doubts burn away, until all that remains of her is the honed edge of a living human weapon — what Colonial veterans call "a razor." But an edge so fine cuts in more than one direction. It can cleave an enemy to pieces … or it can carve away a person's soul.
As they've done other times in the show's run, SciFi is showing special webisodes that are prequels to the upcoming shows. These "Razor Flashbacks,"...
intense, roughly two-minute segments tell the story of young William "Husker" Adama's rookie Viper mission during the first Cylon war. In addition to fighting for his very survival against relentless Cylon centurions, Adama makes a terrifying discovery that will come back 40 years later to threaten him, the crew of the Pegasus and the survival of the human race.
SciFi is showing the "Razor Flashbacks" on Friday nights during episodes of Flash Gordon. They are available online immediately after broadcast. Three of the seven episodes are already online. The other four episodes will be online over the next four Friday nights.

If you're interested in the show and have never taken the plunge, or if you just need a recap, SciFi has lots of videos and other materials at their Battlestar Galactica homepage to get you caught up. Some of the videos are sort of hidden. At the BSG homepage, click on any video in the sidebar to the right. (A good video to click on is the "Razor" teaser. It's the 30-second commercial promo-ing the season premiere.) Once the video starts, you'll see a file tree to the right of the video. The first line says "Shows." The next line says "Battlestar Galactica." The third line has the name of the video that is playing. If you click on the "Battlestar Galactica file, you'll find a bunch of good videos.

"The Story So Far" is a full-length episode (around 45 minutes) that recaps the first two seasons of the show.

"Season 2 Finale" is the final five minutes of the final show of season two.

"The Resistance" is the ten webisodes that preceded season three.

Season three came in two parts. Several episodes aired, then a few months later came season 3.5. I can't find any videos on the first part of season three. You'll have to rely on episode guides here. That's a pity too, because these were some of the best episodes of the show. The humans were living on New Caprica, the Cylons invaded and occupied, and the storyline suddenly paralleled the Iraq War with humans in the Iraq role and the Cylons in the role of the... well, you can guess. The stories dealt with the ethics of suicide bombing, collaboration with the enemy, insurgency/resistance, a lot of the same things that were playing out in real life. The good news is that season 3.5 is available in the videos in full-episode and recap versions.

So there you have it, everything you need to get you ready for season four.

No comments: