Sci-Fi & FantasyDrama1978–1979ABC

The Best Episodes of Battlestar Galactica

Every episode of Battlestar Galactica ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Battlestar Galactica!

Best episode
S1E10 The Living Legend (1)
7.9596 votes
Worst episode
S1E9 The Young Lords
6.3544 votes
Top season
Season 1
7.1avg
Binge time
18h 41m
21 episodes
BestEpisodes
WorstEpisodes
BestSeasons
AllEpisodes

Seasons1

All1

Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 10 - The Living Legend (1)
    7.9/10(596 votes)

    S1:E10

    While on patrol, Apollo and Starbuck encounter the supposedly lost Battlestar Pegasus, commanded by the living legend, Commander Cain.

    Director:Vince Edwards
    Writer:Glen A. Larson

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  2. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 11 - The Living Legend (2)
    7.9/10(578 votes)

    S1:E11

    The brash Commander Cain insists that the Galactica join in on a frontal attack on the Cylons -- an attack that Adama believes would be a suicide mission.

    Director:Vince Edwards
    Writer:Glen A. Larson

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  3. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 21 - The Hand of God
    7.7/10(545 votes)

    S1:E21

    Rather than continue fleeing from their enemies, the crew of the Galactica commences an all-out attack on a Cylon base.

    Director:Donald P. Bellisario
    Writer:Donald P. Bellisario

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  4. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 1 - Saga of a Star World
    7.6/10(893 votes)

    S1:E1

    The Cylon Empire tricks the Twelve Colonies into believing they are striving for peace. Then they ambush the unprepared colonies and destroy the military's Battlestar fleet. One surviving Battlestar, the Galactica, under the command of Commander Adama, gathers the remaining humans and leads them in the search for the legendary 13th colony called Earth.

    Director:Richard A. Colla
    Writer:Glen A. Larson

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  5. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 13 - War of the Gods (1)
    7.6/10(562 votes)

    S1:E13

    While the fleet is plagued by glowing lights that constantly fly past them too fast to be followed, Apollo, Starbuck, and Sheba find the remains of a shipwreck, with a mysterious and seemingly all-powerful being named Count Iblis, who helps them capture Baltar.

    Director:Daniel Haller
    Writer:Glen A. Larson

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  6. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 14 - War of the Gods (2)
    7.6/10(551 votes)

    S1:E14

    While the fleet is plagued by glowing lights that constantly fly past them too fast to be followed, Apollo, Starbuck, and Sheba find the remains of a shipwreck, with a mysterious and seemingly all-powerful being named Count Iblis, who helps them capture Baltar.

    Director:Daniel Haller
    Writer:Glen A. Larson

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of Battlestar Galactica

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  7. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 3 - Lost Planet of the Gods (2)
    7.4/10(627 votes)

    S1:E3

    While Commander Adama leads the rag-tag fleet of ships to the planet Kobol, where he hopes to find clues of Earth's location, the Viper pilots contract a disease, making it necessary for the women to take on fighter patrol duties. But the traitor Baltar leads the Cylons in an attack on the Galactica.

    Director:Christian I. Nyby II
    Writers:Glen A. Larson, Donald P. Bellisario

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  8. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 18 - Baltar's Escape
    7.4/10(526 votes)

    S1:E18

    When Baltar plans his escape with the help of the three Borellians and the Eastern Alliance Enforcers, members of the Council of Twelve are taken hostage, and Adama must give in to the escapees' demands.

    Director:Winrich Kolbe
    Writer:Donald P. Bellisario

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  9. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 2 - Lost Planet of the Gods (1)
    7.3/10(662 votes)

    S1:E2

    Apollo and Starbuck discover a void in space. Commander Adama is convinced that this void will lead them to the planet Kobol, and orders they go through.

    Directors:Christian I. Nyby II, Donald P. Bellisario
    Writer:Glen A. Larson

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  10. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 16 - Murder on the Rising Star
    7.1/10(514 votes)

    S1:E16

    When Starbuck's rival in the popular sporting event is found murders, all the evidence points to Starbuck; and Apollo is about the only person who believes in Starbuck's innocence.

    Director:Rod Holcomb
    Writers:Donald P. Bellisario, Terrence McDonnell, Jim Carlson

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  11. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 15 - The Man with Nine Lives
    7.1/10(530 votes)

    S1:E15

    An old con man known as Chameleon meets Starbuck and convinces him that he may be Starbuck's father, to gain Starbuck's help in evading a trio of bloodthirsty Borellians who are after him in revenge for another con.

    Director:Rod Holcomb
    Writer:Donald P. Bellisario

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  12. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 7 - The Gun on Ice Planet Zero (2)
    7.1/10(580 votes)

    S1:E7

    Apollo and Starbuck lead a group of convicts on a possible suicide mission to destroy the cannon, which is located on an icy planet.

    Director:Alan J. Levi
    Writers:Donald P. Bellisario, Michael Sloan, Leslie Stevens

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  13. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 6 - The Gun on Ice Planet Zero (1)
    7.1/10(597 votes)

    S1:E6

    Baltar attempts to lure Galactica into range of a gigantic pulsar cannon. Adama becomes aware of the trap and sends in a team of commandos to destroy it.

    Director:Alan J. Levi
    Writers:Donald P. Bellisario, Michael Sloan, Leslie Stevens

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  14. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 19 - Experiment in Terra
    6.8/10(538 votes)

    S1:E19

    Apollo and Starbuck follow the escaped Eastern Alliance ship back to Terra, where they help the Terrans overcome a nuclear holocaust, with the help of the race of white lights that had earlier helped them defeat Count Iblis.

    Director:Rod Holcomb
    Writers:Glen A. Larson, Mark A. Payne

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  15. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 12 - Fire in Space
    6.8/10(545 votes)

    S1:E12

    A Cylon kamikaze attack leaves the Galactica burning in space, with no way to extinguish the blaze that has trapped Boomer, Athena, and Boxey except a dangerous spacewalk by Apollo and Starbuck.

    Director:Christian I. Nyby II
    Writers:Terrence McDonnell, Jim Carlson

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  16. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 5 - The Long Patrol
    6.8/10(579 votes)

    S1:E5

    Starbuck is assigned to test a new ultra-fast, but unarmed, Viper with a talking computer named CORA; but when he meets a bootlegger, who steals the Viper, Starbuck finds himself arrested by the Galactic Police of a prison planet.

    Director:Christian I. Nyby II
    Writer:Donald P. Bellisario

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  17. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 17 - Greetings from Earth
    6.8/10(579 votes)

    S1:E17

    When Apollo and Starbuck find a primitive sleeper ship carrying a man, a woman, and four children, speculation spreads in the fleet that the people are from Earth.

    Director:Rod Holcomb
    Writer:Glen A. Larson

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  18. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 4 - The Lost Warrior
    6.7/10(629 votes)

    S1:E4

    Apollo is marooned on a Western Frontier-like planet, where he meets a woman and her son ... and a damaged Cylon, known as Red Eye, who has become a notorious gunslinger.

    Director:Rod Holcomb
    Writers:Donald P. Bellisario, Herman Groves

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  19. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 20 - Take the Celestra
    6.6/10(498 votes)

    S1:E20

    Starbuck runs in to his long-lost love, Aurora, who is involved with a group trying to free the passenger ship Celestra from its supposedly dictatorial captain.

    Director:Daniel Haller
    Writers:Terrence McDonnell, Jim Carlson

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  20. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 8 - The Magnificent Warriors
    6.3/10(533 votes)

    S1:E8

    When a Cylon attack destroys most of the fleet's food supply, the Galactica must trade equipment for grain on a rural planet plagued by the Borays, a group of pig-like marauders.

    Director:Christian I. Nyby II
    Writer:Glen A. Larson

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  21. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 9 - The Young Lords
    6.3/10(544 votes)

    S1:E9

    Starbuck crashes on the planet Trillion, where the Cylons have destroyed all the humans except for a band of children, who have become warriors to save their enslaved father.

    Director:Donald P. Bellisario
    Writers:Donald P. Bellisario, Frank Lupo, Paul Playdon

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Best Episodes Summary

"The Living Legend (1)" is the best rated episode of Battlestar Galactica. It scored 7.9/10 from 596 votes. Directed by Vince Edwards and written by Glen A. Larson, it aired on November 26, 1978.

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