RDM has been something of a darling of the sci-fi world since he brought a re-imagined BSG back to the small screen. It's no secret that some feel that the show was flagging a bit in season 3 - in much the same way it did in season 2 - but even so, it effortlessly beats everything except Heroes.


Season 4 isn't starting until 2008, so to tide hungry sci-fi fans over - we have been treated to Razor... a film covering events on board Pegasus, from the time of the Cylon attack to before the discovery of New Caprica... Centring almost entirely around a previously unmentioned and unseen Pegasus officer and showing key events on Pegasus from her point of view - specifically several instances that had been mentioned in Galactica.

It suffers from the rather unfortunate inevitability that almost all prequels do - that people and events of a pivotal nature aren't mentioned... ever. As such, it's somewhat throw away but good clean fun nevertheless. In fact, it's more likely to whet your appetite for the show - if only because it plays very much like a feature length episode.

The episode plays out as a number of flashbacks from the point of view of our newly introduced Pegasus officer. Namely three incidents mentioned in BSG - the initial Cylon attack, Kane shooting one of her officers and the seizing of personnel and equipment from a civilian fleet. That is all essentially setting the scene for the meat of the piece... a trip back to the 70s where we finally see OLD SCHOOL CYLONS!

The exact significance of the "hybrid" isn't really elaborated upon beyond the fact it's some kind of bridge between the mechanical and organic stages of the Cylons and hence needs to be blown up, naturally things don't go quite as planned but the Cylons are dispatched and everything wraps up nicely... with just one possible tie-in for the show.

As Galactica goes, this is about as solid as they come... it's not really action packed but it has the high drama that Galactica seems to do so well and without any of the smaltzy romance that marred much of the latter half of season three. It certainly doesn't feel as if it's required viewing - although any BSG fan of merit would see it - but it's certainly fun and it breaks the somewhat longer interim between seasons 3 and 4.

The fact that considerable amounts of time are spent outside of the main cast is surprisingly acceptable. We do KNOW all the characters - except the female lead - and have some acquaintance with them and we get enough of the main cast that we don't forget this is BSG and not BSP but it does distance you somewhat and to have the lead as an unknown makes things just a little harder to swallow. Not that she is a deficient actor. She's quite adept at being the hard ass XO but it's hard to get a lot of character building into ninety minutes...

Still, all in all - a solid effort that any BSG fan could watch and enjoy.

One has to wonder why Star Trek enjoys such a substantial and loyal fan base. Naturally, when originally conceived it was rather radical. The idea of a ship where people of all colours, creeds and nations worked together represented something totally inconceivable at a point in time when equality was still a long way off and the Cold War was decades.

Not only that but - and it's hard to believe these days - but the effects were something akin to cutting edge at the time. Understandably, this and the raunchy antics of Kirk made it popular. Then of course it got cancelled and wouldn't grace the small screen again until Patrick Stewart et al donned their pyjamas in The Next Generation.

Inherently, these spin-offs tended toward the original format of the original series - with the exception of DS9 and even it followed many of the conventions. There wasn't anything particularly earth shattering about any of the new shows... the effects were no longer cutting edge, the stories may have been at times interesting but they were seldom controversial or original. In fact, it would be fair to say that as time progressed, the show became even more standardised under the auspices of Berman.

Ignoring DS9 - which didn't come under Berman's control - one can see the Star Trek "product" become more and more refined. While one could lay many criticisms at the door of Enterprise and Voyager, their episodes were all incredibly polished and refined... to the level of almost mathematical precision. Of course, that tended to trap the shows in their own rut... where they just churned out episodes with no soul, just 40 minutes of life filler.

Enterprise finally managed to change with its third season and the Xindi war but - as with DS9 - there were regular breaks from the story arc for relatively unrelated stories and it had a somewhat improbable ending. At least it actually had an ending though, in stark contrast to the ill-fated Temporal Cold War which didn't really end, so much as just stop - making as little sense as it ever did.

As to DS9... well, it was the first attempt by Star Trek at long term story arcs - The Emissary one and the Dominion War - but really, the Emissary element was far more understated and the Domion War didn't really even get under way until the end of the season 2 and really, it was only season 7 that had consistent arcs... and they only bookended the season. We had a pretty grim and gritty start, followed by some of the most insipid episodes - Take Me To The Holodeck is an abomination - and then the closing arc... which managed to end with something akin to a clip show (with Terry Farrel notable by her absence).

Even if the quality of DS9 was on the wane after season 5, at least it could occasionally throw off the feeling that each episode could happen independent of the other. Voyager regularly threw its characters episodes which would probably scar most people but consistently hit the reset button to make sure they never remembered... shame they didn't use it on the Borg kids or Naomi Wildman. The problem being that you never really got a feeling that the characters were progressing.

Obviously, Data and The Doctor both undergo a degree of humanisation but fundamentally they're still the same people seven years on, somewhat less irritating to their crew mates but not really much else. Tom Paris is a cock any season you view. Sisko might shave off his hair, grow a goatee, get a promotion and change uniform but he's still prone to shouting. The format just didn't encourage writers to do anything permanent to characters... hell, it actively DISCOURAGED any change to the status quo... it was almost like the perma-stasis of a sitcom, everyone frozen in a moment in time for years on end.

Not only were the characters unchanging... but so were the episodes. Aliens of the week, random energy anomaly, ship malfunction (including everyone's favourite - the holodeck!) or "personal" episode - the ones where people undergo a life changing event... and then promptly forget pretty much sum up the staple of episodes. Naturally, with some time travel or season finales thrown in for good measure. Things were getting pretty repetitive by the time we got to the Xindi war... which offered only some relief.

When you think about it, Star Trek really hasn't done anything for its fans. Even the Xindi war was a kick in the teeth to fans - as if the whole Enterprise/prequel idea wasn't bad enough - as it meant the Earth/Romulan war (well known to many fans) was eschewed for something totally different that put in an entirely new race that - much like the Denobulans - were never seen or heard of in subsequent (chronological) shows... that and the Temporal Cold War was introduced

Of course, Voyager personified the problems with Star Trek - although, on the plus side... it so disgusted Ronald D. Moore that he went off and made BSG - unlike Enterprise, it never underwent a change of management... it might have been cancelled if not for the introduction of 7 of 9 and her slutty catsuits. Just as well fanboys saved the day, eh? Not really... Voyager just provided more of the Berman brand homogeneous product. If you want to waste 40 minutes (60 with ads) why bother with Star Trek... you could do it with anything and quite possibly better.

If anything, Star Trek actively kicked its fans in the nuts... Voyager, Enterprise, Star Trek: Insurrection, Star Trek: Nemesis... hardly delivering fans love. Berman and Braga made a good job of making substandard episodes. Generic and soul sucking. You'd go to anything for a franchise that fucked you over repeatedly? If you love it... it hates you.