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The Best Episodes of Battlestar Galactica Season 1

Every episode of Battlestar Galactica Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Battlestar Galactica Season 1!

When the 12 Colonies of Man are wiped out by a cybernetic race called the Cylons, Commander Adama and the crew of the battlestar Galactica lead a ragtag fleet of human survivors in search of a "mythical planet" called Earth.

Genres:Sci-Fi & FantasyDrama
Network:ABC

Season 1 Ratings Summary

The best episode of "Battlestar Galactica" season 1 is "Saga of a Star World", rated 7.5/10 from 738 user votes. It was directed by Richard A. Colla and written by Glen A. Larson. "Saga of a Star World" aired on 9/17/1978 and is rated 0.2 point(s) higher than the second highest rated, "Lost Planet of the Gods (1)".

  • Saga of a Star World
    7.5/10 738 votes

    #1 - Saga of a Star World

    Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 9/17/1978

    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

  • Lost Planet of the Gods (1)
    7.3/10 539 votes

    #2 - Lost Planet of the Gods (1)

    Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 9/24/1978

    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.

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

    Writer: Glen A. Larson

  • Lost Planet of the Gods (2)
    7.4/10 507 votes

    #3 - Lost Planet of the Gods (2)

    Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 10/1/1978

    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

    Writer: Glen A. Larson, Donald P. Bellisario

  • The Lost Warrior
    6.7/10 517 votes

    #4 - The Lost Warrior

    Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 10/8/1978

    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

    Writer: Donald P. Bellisario, Herman Groves

  • The Long Patrol
    6.8/10 470 votes

    #5 - The Long Patrol

    Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 10/15/1978

    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

  • The Gun on Ice Planet Zero (1)
    7.1/10 497 votes

    #6 - The Gun on Ice Planet Zero (1)

    Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 10/22/1978

    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

    Writer: Donald P. Bellisario, Leslie Stevens, Michael Sloan

  • The Gun on Ice Planet Zero (2)
    7.1/10 476 votes

    #7 - The Gun on Ice Planet Zero (2)

    Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 10/29/1978

    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

    Writer: Donald P. Bellisario, Leslie Stevens, Michael Sloan

  • The Magnificent Warriors
    6.3/10 433 votes

    #8 - The Magnificent Warriors

    Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 11/12/1978

    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

  • The Young Lords
    6.3/10 447 votes

    #9 - The Young Lords

    Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 11/19/1978

    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

    Writer: Donald P. Bellisario, Paul Playdon, Frank Lupo

  • The Living Legend (1)
    7.8/10 478 votes

    #10 - The Living Legend (1)

    Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 11/26/1978

    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

  • The Living Legend (2)
    7.8/10 467 votes

    #11 - The Living Legend (2)

    Season 1 Episode 11 - Aired 12/3/1978

    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

  • Fire in Space
    6.8/10 440 votes

    #12 - Fire in Space

    Season 1 Episode 12 - Aired 12/17/1978

    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

    Writer: Jim Carlson, Terrence McDonnell

  • War of the Gods (1)
    7.5/10 455 votes

    #13 - War of the Gods (1)

    Season 1 Episode 13 - Aired 1/14/1979

    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

  • War of the Gods (2)
    7.5/10 443 votes

    #14 - War of the Gods (2)

    Season 1 Episode 14 - Aired 1/21/1979

    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

  • The Man with Nine Lives
    7.1/10 427 votes

    #15 - The Man with Nine Lives

    Season 1 Episode 15 - Aired 1/28/1979

    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

  • Murder on the Rising Star
    7.0/10 417 votes

    #16 - Murder on the Rising Star

    Season 1 Episode 16 - Aired 2/18/1979

    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

    Writer: Donald P. Bellisario, Jim Carlson, Terrence McDonnell

  • Greetings from Earth (1)
    6.8/10 466 votes

    #17 - Greetings from Earth (1)

    Season 1 Episode 17 - Aired 2/25/1979

    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

  • Greetings from Earth (2)
    7.4/10 421 votes

    #18 - Greetings from Earth (2)

    Season 1 Episode 18 - Aired 2/25/1979

    When Apollo and Starbuck find a primitive sleeper ship carrying a man, a woman, and four children, the inhabitants reveal that they are from Terra, an Earth-like planet at war with the evil Eastern Alliance.

    Director: Rod Holcomb

    Writer: Glen A. Larson

  • Baltar's Escape
    6.8/10 431 votes

    #19 - Baltar's Escape

    Season 1 Episode 19 - Aired 3/11/1979

    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

  • Experiment in Terra
    6.6/10 399 votes

    #20 - Experiment in Terra

    Season 1 Episode 20 - Aired 3/18/1979

    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

    Writer: Glen A. Larson, Mark A. Payne

  • Take the Celestra
    7.7/10 436 votes

    #21 - Take the Celestra

    Season 1 Episode 21 - Aired 4/1/1979

    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

    Writer: Jim Carlson, Terrence McDonnell

  • The Hand of God
    7.2/10 8 votes

    #22 - The Hand of God

    Season 1 Episode 22 - Aired 4/29/1979

    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