In the Razor Flashbacks webisodes, we get to see William Adama as a young man, and these are FRIGHTENINGLY GOOD WEBISODES. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Battlestar Galactica.
Well, holy shit. That was a lot better than I expected from a set of webisodes. Not only do they make me SUPER EXCITED for Razor, but I realized that my entire theory of what the Cylons are up to is completely wrong.
(For the sake of this review, I’ll be treating the twenty minutes of webisode time as one single episode.)
I was worried about the entire idea of watching Admiral Adama back when he was just a viper pilot, but Nico Cortez, who plays Billy Adama in these webisodes, not only looks like Lee Adama, but he’s able to mimic the way that Edward James Olmos talks when he’s in character as William Adama. Of course, seeing Adama in bed with anyone who is not Laura Roslin, even in the past when he hasn’t met her yet, sends me into an irrational rage. YOU’RE WITH THE WRONG WOMAN GOSH.
Truthfully, though, I never expected to see anything of the First Cylon War. These webisodes are surprisingly familiar, too; it’s clear that this is just in the past, but the humans are facing the same enemy. It’s weird to think about fighting the Cylons in the Twelve Colonies because I’m so used to it happening at random, spread out across the vastness of space. But there are similar things happening here during the First Cylon War: the same sense of eternal futility bleeds out into the crew. There seems to be no end at sight, and I’m sure I’d think the same thing after having been at war for twelve years. The present-time fleet has been fleeing for…maybe a year and a half? Something like that? There aren’t any dates, now that I think about it. Regardless, the first episode of the Razor Flashbacks establishes this reality as soon as possible.
And this all distinctly Battlestar Galactica as well. The second episode reminds us how brutal this show can be when Adama discovers that the woman he was just having sex with earlier in the day has returned from her mission badly injured. See, I didn’t expect this in a webisode. I have to commend whomever on the crew did Jaycie McGavin’s makeup for her face wound because SWEET CHRIST THAT IS DISGUSTING. But this is war against an enemy that is seemingly endless and invincible. The casualties at this point are nowhere near what they’d be during the human genocide 40 years later, but I also think it’s easy to imagine just how horrific this must be after so many years of being at war. And I also get the sense that Adama, quick to be furious here, hasn’t had that much experience in the war itself, or at least not twelve years worth of it.
It’s so clear after the third episode exactly why Adama always gravitated towards Starbuck. His Viper piloting is remarkably similar to her techniques: it’s controlled recklessness. On top of that, after the battlestar Columbia is shockingly destroyed, it sets Adama off just like it would if this were Starbuck. We’ve seen over three seasons how Starbuck (usually successfully) keeps her emotions close at hand, taking chances whenever she feels the need to react strongly or in an unorthodox manner. Here, we watch Adama, angered by the destruction of the Columbia, follow after two Cylon Raiders into the ice planet’s atmosphere. His sense of dedication overpowers his orders to ignore the ship and, very much like Starbuck in “Act of Contrition,” it causes him to collide with another Raider and have to eject down to the ground.
And this all good and entertaining, and I was rather enjoying these webisodes. Right? It’s neat to see Obama LOL ADAMA forty-one years in the past, to get these chunks of his history and get a new perspective on the man we see in the present. I like when characters get a full backstory, too! Plus, who doesn’t want to see William Adama fall to an ice planet while wrestling with a Cylon Centurion? NOBODY. And it’s even extra fantastic that we get to see the early model of a Centurion, too!
AND THEN ADAMA HAS A PIPE AND HE IS BEATING A CYLON AND HE IS NOT STOPPING AND THERE IS OIL ALL OVER HIS FACE AND THIS IS A LOT LIKE THAT SCENE IN THE MINISERIES AND JESUS GODDAMN CHRIST WHAT IS GOING ON.
Oh, I thought these would just be small scenes to prepare me for Razor? YEAH. I WAS UNPREPARED FOR ALL OF THESE. Oh god, does that mean Razor is even worse than this?
But y’all….episode five. I CAN’T. I JUST CAN’T. Oh my god, the humans were wrong. I WAS WRONG. Adama finds evidence of human torture, of machines that look a lot like resurrection tanks. THEY WERE MAKING THESE FORTY YEARS BEFORE THE SECOND CYLON WAR????? WHAT THE HOLY FUCK. Oh my god, this explains more than I can even handle. Does this fill in the gap for the Final Five Cylons? Is this the critical piece of information to explain how it is at all possible for those four characters to have been Cylons this entire time?
Things are made even more bewildering when that voice out of NOWHERE says, “All this has happened before and will happen again.” OH GODDAMN IT, WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? Is this a literal statement? I mean, I have to take it as truth because every bit of Pythian prophecy has come true of the last three seasons, so now I want to know how this is all so cyclical. When the fleet finds Earth (I AM ASSUMING THEY ARE), how is this going to repeat?
THEN WHAT THE FUCK THERE ARE PEOPLE STILL LEFT BEHIND. oh my god these webisodes are so fucked up. The Cylons kidnapped humans over forty years ago and began to experiment on them in order to create the hybrid humans we’ve seen in the current timeline. I mean…christ, I can’t ignore the irony of this, either. The Cylons want to be as far from humanity as possible in design, yet they are using human bodies to do so. I just cannot imagine what they are doing to people, and what they’ve already done at this point. I HAVE SO MANY FEELINGS RUSHING THROUGH ME. Does this mean that people like Tyrol, Tigh, and Anders were all planted from birth? Or from a certain age? That they really have been Cylons this whole time, long before the genocide of the human race occurred?
I cannot deal with this.
It’s all made worse when Adama is unable to save the people trapped inside the chamber in the laboratory. Even this far back in his past, Adama has guilt about leaving people behind. HELLO CHARACTER CONTINUITY. I love when this happens! It’s not only important as a character point, though. I’d forgotten just how terrible the Cylons were to humans, especially since it’s been quite a few episodes since we’ve even seen them at all. They show up at the end of season three, but are they on the offensive? Are they going to attack the fleet, or do they have something else in mind?
The final episode of the webisode series helps to put this all in perspective and hint at a horrifying explanation for the armistice with the humans. Adama gets out of the laboratory in time to see a new model basestar ascend into the atmosphere, but then quickly learns that the war is over. Of course, there’s no way for Adama to know the full context of this very moment, but it all made sense to me: the Cylons agreed to an armistice as a trick. Or, at the very least, it was partially a long con. Why would they abandon their experiments on the ice planet unless they’d discovered something crucial? Why else would they destroy the place after leaving? I think the Cylons made some sort of breakthrough in human-Cylon hybrids, and decided to hide out for forty years to take advantage of time in order to catch humanity off-guard.
I was reminded of comments from Cavil just prior to the exodus on New Caprica, and later during “The Eye of Jupiter.” He suggested nuking everything, and in the latter case, stated that they were machines. Waiting out for years was entirely possible because their concept of time is not the same as humans. They don’t age, or at least not in the same way humans do. So whose to say that they didn’t agree to the armistice specifically to wait things out?
The story is brought full-circle when we see Commander Adama, right before the start of the Second Cylon War, standing in Galactica’s museum. He has no idea that the man who tells him about his son’s role in the decommissioning ceremony is a Cylon. And that’s the irony here: Adama was so close to the truth that might have saved humanity from genocide. Why didn’t the human pursue whatever Adama found in that lab? Was it all destroyed? Was it just ignored because no one understood it? Either way, these Razor Flashback webisodes provide a numbing context to where our characters are in the present. They have no idea how history has been leading up to this point.
The real question, though, is how this is all repeating. Again.
Goddamn you, Battlestar Galactica!
It’s neat to see Obama forty-one years in the past, to get these chunks of his history and get a new perspective on the man we see in the present.
YES WE CAN. SO SAY WE ALL.
<img src="http://malor.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/adama-08.jpg" height="50%" width="50%/">
I was seconds away from copypasting that exact sentence. Because that is an amazing typo and also a perfect image for it.
<img src=http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_aZvtpWsaj4Q/Rk2n9rnr79I/AAAAAAAAA30/olCx5NG3XC8/s320/Adama%2Bv5.jpg>
That is SERIOUSLY CREEPY
OBAMA IS DOWN THE STREET RIGHT NOW
I MUST SHOW HIM THIS
I can just picture you running down the street yelling, "Admiral Adama! Admiral Adama!"
Best typo ever
I SWEAR. Auto-correct on Pages is like my mother during junior high: she drops me off in her Ford Aerostar minivan and constantly embarrasses me.
<img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5huX3zmMMvs/SYiQ372S-RI/AAAAAAAAAXk/e7I8Klef0Mo/s400/adama_08_512.jpg" />
I have to say, few things have brought me as much joy as seeing you turn into a hardcore Adama/Roslin shipper. WELCOME TO THE DARK SIDE, WE HAVE FANFIC (and cake).
I haven't had a chance to rewatch these webisodes but:
Of course, seeing Adama in bed with anyone who is not Laura Roslin, even in the past when he hasn’t met her yet, sends me into an irrational rage. YOU’RE WITH THE WRONG WOMAN GOSH.
Oh Mark, you're shipping is delightful.
This is my new favourite Mark quote.
I think our minds work in much the same way…
Of course, seeing Adama in bed with anyone who is not Laura Roslin, even in the past when he hasn’t met her yet, sends me into an irrational rage. YOU’RE WITH THE WRONG WOMAN GOSH.
As much as I share the WHY IS THIS NOT LAURA AAARGH attitude, in the little screentime we get of her I actually rather like Jaycie. Totally agree about the make up on her inuries. Especially her dead left eye *shudders*. Something interesting to think about: Jaycie and Carolanne were both blonde. Laura is a brunette/redhead (it tends to depend on the light). "I can't picture you as a blonde" from Resurrection Ship pt. II suddenly plays a little differently, at least to me.
but he’s able to mimic the way that Edward James Olmos talks when he’s in character as William Adama.
For me it was the look on his face when he forced himself to leave the human prisoners behind. Something about the way he held his mouth, that grim frown just felt like such an EJO expression.
It's only given a few seconds but the destruction of the Columbia is so chilling. I might be hearing things but the faint screams over the wireless, which I assume are from the people on board, freak me out so much. It's like in the miniseries when the Captains of the non-FTL ships are shouting for the others not to leave them and cursing them when they refuse only MUCH WORSE.
Yeah, the screams of the Columbia crew are the most frightening thing in the Razor flashbacks, for me. Even moreso than the horrific revelations of the planet below.
Adama was definitely flashing back to this while beating up Leoben with a flashlight.
I teared up a bit at the final shot of the galactica. In the present timeline it's so beat up. There are craters and hull breaches everywhere. But in this flashback to the very beginning, it's whole and shiny. Not new, but not falling apart. Poor Galactica, she's suffered so much.
I wasn’t feeling these webisodes at first because I’ve become one of those fans (ADAMA YOU ARE WITH A WOMAN WHO ISN’T ROSLIN I AM FULL OF IRRATIONAL ANGER AND HATRED AT THESE WEBISODES) but then shit got so real.
SO MANY QUESTIONS! Was there once a woman who looked like Six and was then captured by the Cylons and experimented on? Or did the Cylons create some kind of Frankenstein’s monster-like project and piece together various human’s parts to create a single humanoid Cylon? MORE CYLON HISTORY, PLEASE! AND WHAT DO YOU MEAN THIS HAS HAPPENED BEFORE AND WILL HAPPEN AGAIN?!
Anyone remember the timeline regarding the webisodes and the crash of the actual Columbia shuttle? Either it's an eerie coincidence or a rather tasteless current events reference, and I know which one I'd prefer.
Wikipedia says it was in 2003, so a gap of about four years between the crash and these webisodes.
I think it's more coincidence than reference. The BSG wiki (which is full of spoilers) says that this Columbia is supposed to be a reference to the original series, not the real-world ship
The Galactica is a Columbia-class battlestar in both series.
The webisodes premiered over four years after the Columbia disaster.
Columbia was the name of one of the battlestars in the original series. They could have picked a different name, true – but who knows if the space shuttle even crossed their minds when they wrote the webisode?
I think there are plans in the works to make a series based on a younger Adama. I might be remembering that wrong, might just be a hopeful rumour.
I thought that's what Caprica was…? (I haven't seen it)
Caprica is about gur perngvba bs gur Plybaf ba gur gvghyne cynarg. Naq vg’f snnnnnnnnnno, gubhtu zber cybg/rkcbfvgvba urnil guna OFT (srjre fcnprfuvc onggyrf, zber rkvfgragvnyvfz).
Naq vg qbrf unir lbhat Jvyyvnz Nqnzn naq uvf qnq Wbfrcu va n cerggl znwbe ebyr. Go watch it. It won’t take long. (grumble grumble grumble skiffy channel doesn’t grumble grumble grumble)
Npghnyyl gur Jvyyvnz Nqnzn va Pncevpn vf abg gur bar va OFT — Wbfrcu unf nabgure fba yngre naq anzrf uvz nsgre gur svefg Jvyyvnz. Svefg Jvyyvnz vf “Jvyyvr”, frpbaq Jvyyvnz vf Ovyy.
ROT13 those spoilers!!!
Which is to say, yeah, I know, but if ya go posting it all over the place… It's hardly a revelation in the 'Ebfrohq'f n fyrq' range, no? (Citizen Kane(1941) spoilers)
I rot13ed it since people can't edit their comments after someone has replied to them.
Thanks for pointing it out and make sure to hit report if you see anything else so the mods can be notified.
I also rot13ed the rest of the conversation since Caprica is on Mark's confirmed list so better safe than sorry.
Apologies! I had no clue he was planning to watch it, so I hope he didn't see and get spoiled D:
I wasn't aware he was watching that one — other people talking about it openly made me think he wouldn't be. My bad!
No, you're right. They're currently working on 'Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome' which is meant to be about young Adama during the first Cylon war. I think it might just be a tv movie type thing right now and then they'll see if they want to expand into a series or not.
Sweet! Something to look forward to: I need more sci-fi in my life!
It was originally supposed to be a short web series, then the idea was turned into a TV movie/possible back-door pilot, which is how it's listed on IMDB and Wikipedia right now.
It's called Oybbq naq Puebzr, naq gur npgbe jub cynlf gur thl yrsg oruvaq ol Nqnzn va gurfr synfuonpxf vf tbvat gb or cynlvat n qvssrerag ebyr va gung. V bayl sbhaq bhg nobhg guvf jura pyvpxrq ba uvf anzr ba Jvxvcrqvn orpnhfr ur ybbxrq snzvyvne. Vg ybbxf yvxr gurl'er nyfb univat gur fnzr npgerff onpx nf Yg. ZpTniva.
Last I'd heard, SyFy was considering downgrading Blood and Chrome back to a series of Webisodes.
I guess they needed to keep the timeslots open for paranormal crap like Ghost Hunters and awesome movies like Mansquito LXVII.
I am suspicious that all this uncertainty with Blood & Chrome has more to do with the reboot film that keeps getting talked about than anything else.
The screaming over Adama's radio as the Columbia explodes is one of the most terrifying things I have ever heard in my life.
Also: I love how much of a hardcore shipper you have turned into. It's delightful.
I hadn't watched these until now. Wow. Excellent!
Also, I thought the actor looked like both Adami– Lee and Bill. Great casting!
I hope they plan to keep this actor for the "Blood and Chrome" series, if it ever comes around.
I like the idea that the plural of 'Adama' is 'Adami'
Everything's better with the latinate plurali.
Exactly
I shall henceforth refer to them as the Fightin' Adami
To my understanding, they cast Luke Pasqualino as young Adama for the Blood and Chrome series.
I’m amazed by how talented the actor playing young Adama was with his voice. A couple of times I thought it actually was EJO doing a voice-over.
Young Adama was totally badass, too. I mean, he’s TRYING TO KILL A CENTURION WHILE FALLING THROUGH THE AIR. I really like how different the centurions look, too, at least compared to the “modern” ones.
It’s becoming clear to me that where the cylons are concerned I really know next to nothing, and what I guess or predict is probably wrong. But yeah, 100% surprised (and freaked out ) to learn that they were experimenting on humans. From what we saw it looks like they were creating the first hybrids, and I really didn’t want to think this, but once I did I couldn’t un-think it: they may have been assembling them from the people they captured. Ugh . And that forced me into, MUCH more disturbing train of thought: How were the human cylons created? Knowing that there was at least one group of humans captured by the cylons… could the centurions have chosen from among their prisoners to create the “blueprints” for the cylon models? During the first war, was there an actual human Six, or Sharon, or Tigh, who fell into the hands of the cylons? *shudder*
Did anyone else think that Random-Guy-From-Passenger-Ship-Talking-To-Adama-Through-The-Door looks a lot like Leoben? As in, they took the eight or so people who they had on that basestar that Li'l Billy Adams couldn't rescue and… [applied bioscience omitted for squick-factor] … and made some-to-all of the humanoid models of cylon?
thats exactly what i thought!!
I thought the same thing
Yeah, the first time I watched I definitely thought it was Leoben screwing with his head, which was why he caught on in the miniseries.
Different actor. Any resemblance is coincidence.
Nothing to see here, citizen. Go on about your business. This is merely a coincidence. Nothing to see here. Move along.
Can anyone tell me where I might watch these? I hate that I seem to have missed all of the webisodes. xP
The only place I could find them (in not-horrible quality, at least) was here. It looks like I can't link directly to the videos themselves, so you have to click on "Season 4.0 videos," scroll all the way down the side menu, and then scroll part of the way up to find them.
Also: Playback was weird for me (after finishing a clip, the player would automatically revert back to an earlier clip), and the clips are in reverse order from the top with a lot of the top clips given spoilery names.
Thanks for sharing! I spent 30 minutes last night looking for the last minute of episode 7. The only working clips I could find stopped after 50 seconds and I couldn't find the rest. I'm glad to see how it ended.
Awesomeness, thank you!
I really hope you’re planning to watch [the second movie] once you finish the series. 😀 Also I recommend Caprica! Zber Nqnzn snzvyl onpxfgbel CYHF gur bevtvaf bs gur Plybaf /naq/ n ybg bs qrgnvyf nobhg gurz gung gvr vagb gur frevrf.
Mark is planning to watch the movie (I redacted the title of it), and Caprica is confirmed as something he plans on watching (see the 'suggestions' page) so I rot13ed the description you gave.
I watch too many shows with people missing half of their faces. I'm becoming desensitized.
Anyway, I really liked these webisodes! I had no idea we were going to get insight into the development of Cylons, and now I'm dying for more. Those people he found were in the factory, right? I hope they were rescued and debriefed, but it seems that if they were, no one thought much about the human experimentation. And Doral inadvertently saved Lee's life, and despite the way he annoys me, Lee was integral to keeping the fleet together at the beginning. Doral helped keep humanity united and strong. Oops.
And Nick Cortez did a great job. He sounded like EJO, and acted like a mix between Adama and Lee, and I was reminded of Hot Dog when he gave that little nod in the cockpit.
On the timeline bit, it's been well over a year and a half. They were on New Caprica for 16 months alone. I think it's probably closer to 2 and a half-three years, although somewhere in the back of my mind, I think there are a few episodes that say more explicitly how long things have been.
Nico Cortez is great!
Mark, at this point, end of S3, the human fleet has been fleeing for about three years. One was seasons 1 & 2, one was New Caprica, and one was season 3.
Aw, poor Husker has to watch his girlfriend die before he can get the GRUFF BILL ADAMA VOICE on.
Poor Columbia, we barely knew ye.
I like Adama discovering all the weird biological stuff the Cylons are into, because he did figure out that Leoben was a Cylon rather quickly in the miniseries. It makes sense that he had prior knowledge.
I didn't realize that Adama got into the war right as it was ending, but I suppose it makes sense.
Okay so I don't know what the last part of the last webisode was, the part with grown-up Adama, because the only working video I had was in Russian and I had no idea what was going on. ETA NEVER MIND, found a link, thanks Mauve Avenger.