stephanie jacobsen

Here comes Exhibit A demonstrating why, no matter how they try to "open up" the story for newcomers, intensely plotted "genre" shows have such a tough time building viewer interest as their runs wend along.

Tomorrow night's movie "Battlestar Galactica: Razor" will, I'm sorry to say, be utterly incomprehensible to story novices. Or casual fans of Sci Fi's intense ethical drama. And maybe even die-hards. I'd like to consider myself one of the last group, yet I found the first half of this two-hour tide-over (until next spring when the acclaimed series' fourth season is scheduled to start) a confusing jumble of flashback time frames, locations, characters and, well, pretty much everything.

Then again, that complexity is a strength of "Galactica." Instead of the silly space wars of ABC's 1979 family-friendly original, Sci Fi's soulfully adult re-think has always delved into the trickiest, most crucial personal choices and societal issues: loyalty vs. morality, tribal identification, theological clashes, "spin" manipulation, the politics of war, the efficacy of torture, the exploitation of fear - in other words, today's thorniest real-world dilemmas. Series (re)developer Ronald D. Moore has challenged us with highly recognizable stakes and thrilled us with high adventure, and never talked down to his audience.



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But "Galactica" has over the past three seasons become such a dense construct as to defy those seeking belated entry to its mind-blowing universe. "Razor" helps not one whit with all its temporal back and forth. The time-setting graphics like "10 Months Ago" and "41 Years Ago" may be designed to simplify the story yet they actually make it seem more cluttered. Artistry be damned - just stay in one place for awhile, and maybe we'd have a fighting chance to figure out what's happening.

First, we're on Pegasus, the "unknown" battlestar that surfaced during the second season as the only remnant besides Galactica of the space fleet destroyed along with the humans' 12 colonies in that sneak attack by the android Cylons. The Pegasus' exceedingly hard-boiled Admiral Cain (Michelle Forbes) is better explained, through the tragic relationships and horrific encounters in the days after that several-years-back apocalypse. But then we flash forward (which is still back before the third-season time frame) to the weeks after Pegasus' reunion with Galactica, after Cain had been killed and Galactica's Apollo (Jamie Bamber) was finally handed the Pegasus command by his Galactica-leading father, Adama (Edward James Olmos). Both Cain and Apollo are seen through the lens of a key Pegasus aide to both, Kendra Shaw (Stephanie Jacobsen), a compelling tough-cookie haunted by her own anguish.

And then there's Adama, who comes into sharper view halfway through "Razor," which reveals a shocking personal score he's been itching to settle for four decades, since the first Cylon war. This is where newbies probably give up completely, but devotees should finally find themselves sucked into the operatic enormity of it all. This second half (actually, a separate hour episode from the first) slows the pace to more intimately examine the human-Cylon connection and, especially, the costs of military ruthlessness and the "We have orders" mindset. It's a gut-check in about seven different ways, the way "Galactica" does so provocatively.

Of course, I can say all that having watched the first hour of Sci Fi's advance screener of "Razor" three times to figure out what the frak was going on. Maybe, a cynic could think, that's the point. Boost the ratings for Sci Fi's repeat run (late Saturday night at 1 a.m.), and sell a few more of the "Battlestar Galactica: Razor - Unrated Extended Edition" DVD, conveniently hitting shelves Dec. 4.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: RAZOR. Back and forth in time goes this two-hour movie, fleshing out story gaps and presenting more provocative moral choices in this series' rich human tapestry. If only we could figure out who's who The story of how Kendra Shaw goes from raw rookie to battle hardened razor is set against the story of how the Battlestar Pegasus survived � from the first Cylon attack to its rendezvousing with the Galactica. In preparation for the airing of the Sci Fi Channel event, Battlestar Galactica: Razor [Saturday, Nov. 24, 9 p.m.], I had the opportunity to take part in conference calls with Jamie [Lee Adama] Bamber [posted on November 14th] and Stephanie Jacobsen, who plays the titular character, Kendra Shaw.

What are some of the things you liked about this character? And that includes traits that maybe you don't like personally but you enjoyed playing?

Fundamentally, I would just say her complexity. I mean, what she was for me was I guess just almost sterile. And I think as an actor when parts of your journey is always actor things, playing emotion and revealing human emotion to sort of go against all of those instincts, pull them right back and cover them up was an enormous challenge for me and it was actually very, very fulfilling.

How familiar were you with the show before you were cast?

I'm from Sydney, Australia. We get Battlestar Galactica there. I don't know how up to date it is. I was familiar with the concept, with the characters, all the very � all the foundations basically but in terms of storylines and things like that I wasn't particularly up to date. I mean it was definitely something that I recognized as being a fantastic show and I was over the moon when I got the job.

I'm just wondering from your perspective how strange was it to come into a show that had been going on for so long and have this group embrace you? And was it kind of helpful in a way playing this kind of alienated character that you were kind of an outsider stepping into this new world?

Okay. I have to say that I didn't feel like an outsider stepping in at all. Everyone was just wonderful. So I didn't have that to draw from. I mean, everyone was helpful, accommodating, welcoming, very open, very generous with me in every (which) way. So I didn't have that sort of (disdained) solitary experience working on Battlestar as my character did. But it was I guess coming in as someone who was completely new to the environment and new to everyone who was already established there was akin to the character. So I guess that there was that correlation.

It's sometimes hard for a new character to be introduced
Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen
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Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen


Birth name Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen
Born Hong Kong
Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen (born in Hong Kong, 1980) is an television actress. Her mother is Portuguese and her father Chinese-Norwegian-English. She moved to Australia at the age of 12 and after attending high school in Sydney, Chaves-Jacobsen went to Sydney University where she graduated with majors in philosophy and English literature. She says she received her biggest break when she was cast in a major role as the enthusiastic young medical intern Charlotte Adams on the Australian soap-opera series "Home and Away."

She played Lieutenant (later Major) Kendra Shaw [1] in Battlestar Galactica: Razor, a between-seasons television film of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica television series. [2]

Prior to her role in both Battlestar Galactica and in Home and Away, she enjoyed parts in Farscape and the SBS comedy Pizza, as well as a number of TV commercials.


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