"Battlestar Galactica"
The Hand of God (1979)

Director:

Donald P. Bellisario

Writers:

Donald P. Bellisario (writer)
Glen A. Larson (creator)

TV Series:

"Battlestar Galactica" (1978)

Original Air Date:

29 April 1979 (Season 1, Episode 21)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Action | Adventure

Plot:

On a night off, Apollo takes Starbuck, Cassiopeia, and Sheba to one of the least-explored areas of the Galactica...

Plot Keywords:

Robot | Spaceship Name In Title | Robot As Menace | Fugitive | Refugee

Cast

Richard Hatch	...	Capt. Apollo
Dirk Benedict	...	Lt. Starbuck
Lorne Greene	...	Commander Adama
Herb Jefferson Jr.	...	Lt. Boomer
John Colicos	...	Baltar
Maren Jensen	...	Athena (credit only)
Noah Hathaway	...	Boxey (credit only)
Laurette Spang	...	Cassiopeia
Tony Swartz	...	Flight Sgt. Jolly
Anne Lockhart	...	Sheba
Terry Carter	...	Col. Tigh
David Greenan	...	Omega

Goofs:

Continuity: The amount of damage on the Galactica goes back and forth during the battle.

Quotes:

Captain Apollo: I was just thinking...
Lieutenant Starbuck: That's what I was afraid of.

Movie Connections:

Edited into The Cylons of 'Battlestar Galactica' (2004) (V)

Galactica's Home-Run Episode

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Warning - possible spoilers.

While Battlestar Galactica's episodes were consistently entertaining stories, they too often were missing an extra power and verisimilitude that would make them unforgettable classics. It is a testimony to the show's overall strength that the good episodes are good and the weaker ones are not a total loss, but even so there was usually some twist or aspect of episodes that kept them from quite reaching their full power.

The Hand Of God, however, is perhaps the one episode that reaches full power. The best of the show's one-part episodes, The Hand Of God is a deft mixture of suspense, action, tension, and tenderness; from opening act to clever epilogue, the episode crackles with gripping quality.

It begins inauspiciously, as Apollo treats Starbuck, Cassiopeia, and Sheba to a demonstration of an ancient astro-navigational dome atop the Galactica. The scanner within the dome is set for long-range communication, and to the surprise of everyone it picks up a signal, a signal of an odd-looking spacecraft that Apollo recognizes as something the Colonies flew several millenia past.

Apollo, Starbuck, and Sheba fly to a distant solar system on the line of the signal, and to their horror they find a Cylon base star orbiting one planet in search of the Fleet. Escaping undetected, the three warriors report to Commander Adama, but instead of evading the Cylons, Adama decides to attack the base star - "I'm tired of running," Adama famously mutters to Colonel Tigh.

The Cylon first centurion in command of the base star, meanwhile, has learned of a brief scan blip outside the system, and launches raiders to probe into the area. The contrast between the opulent command bridge of the Galactica and the spartan command chamber of the base star is striking, and the synthesized dialogue between centurions brings out the full menace of the alien cyborg empire that remains a favorite sci-fi villain.

Before the Galactica attacks, however, Apollo gets the idea of trying to cripple the base star's scanners beforehand, and to Apollo's surprise, Adama recruits the Fleet's greatest enemy - Baltar - to assist. The interaction between Adama and Baltar that ensues is among the best scenes of the series and some of Lorne Greene and John Colicos' best work.

The episode's second half covers the actual mission, and the ensuing battle between Galactica and the Cylons is the best single such battle of the series.

The episode received unusually strong ABC promotion weeks before airing, and it's easy to see that the promotion was worth it.