Wow, talk about a surprise. While it is unfortunate that I had to watch this 101 minute made-for-TV movie special from the "Battlestar Galactica" series prior to seeing the third season of the show, I will say that it certainly takes some risks and wins out in the end. Oh, and you don't really need to have ever even seen the show to enjoy this DVD, it operates very well independently from the popular sci-fi series.

"Razor" first aired on the SCI FI Channel with a running time of 87 minutes; this DVD offers both, the 87-minute broadcast episode as well as an uncut version with 14 additional minutes added. I didn't watch the broadcast and I didn't watch the broadcast version (sorry, didn't see the need). Instead I soaked in the uncut version twice and gave it a listen the third time to hear a rather interesting commentary from exec producer Ronald Moore and writer Michael Taylor.

"Razor" is a back-story to the world of "Battlestar" giving viewers an insight as to what happened on the battlestar "Pegasus" commanded by Admiral Cain through the eyes of Officer Kendra Shaw. While there are certainly dips and valleys in the story-telling the overall result is fantastic as it offers up something of a Matrix: Reloaded style ending, but it ends how Reloaded wished it ended.

The subtitle "Razor" is a bit silly and makes it sound like they are trying a bit too hard to sound cool, but it's dismissible as the overall brutality of this episode is what leads the way. While I still contend the use of the word "frack" as a substitute for "fuck" is one of the worst ideas ever, it goes relatively unnoticed in an episode that proves television can have just as good of special effects as a feature film.

I am sure "Battlestar Galactica" fans have already pre-ordered their copy of "Razor", but for the folks out there that are interested in what this whole "Battlestar Galactica" phenomenon is and would like to get into it before the fourth and final season begins to air April 2008 should use this as a perfect primer. You don't have to buy a complete season, so you get the cost savings. You don't have to watch commercials, everyone loves that. And you get to see if this is something you should explore further. I call that a win-win situation.