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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!

Binge this in 18h 41m•Peaking at 7.9/10

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

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  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 1 - Saga of a Star World
    7.6/10(838 votes)

    #1 - Saga of a Star World

    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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  2. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 2 - Lost Planet of the Gods (1)
    7.3/10(623 votes)

    #2 - Lost Planet of the Gods (1)

    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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  3. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 3 - Lost Planet of the Gods (2)
    7.4/10(588 votes)

    #3 - Lost Planet of the Gods (2)

    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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  4. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 4 - The Lost Warrior
    6.7/10(596 votes)

    #4 - The Lost Warrior

    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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  5. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 5 - The Long Patrol
    6.8/10(544 votes)

    #5 - The Long Patrol

    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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  6. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 6 - The Gun on Ice Planet Zero (1)
    7.1/10(566 votes)

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

    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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  7. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 7 - The Gun on Ice Planet Zero (2)
    7.1/10(548 votes)

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

    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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  8. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 8 - The Magnificent Warriors
    6.3/10(503 votes)

    #8 - The Magnificent Warriors

    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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  9. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 9 - The Young Lords
    6.3/10(516 votes)

    #9 - The Young Lords

    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, Paul Playdon, Frank Lupo

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  10. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 10 - The Living Legend (1)
    7.9/10(564 votes)

    #10 - The Living Legend (1)

    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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  11. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 11 - The Living Legend (2)
    7.9/10(548 votes)

    #11 - The Living Legend (2)

    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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  12. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 12 - Fire in Space
    6.8/10(514 votes)

    #12 - Fire in Space

    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:Jim Carlson, Terrence McDonnell

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  13. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 13 - War of the Gods (1)
    7.6/10(529 votes)

    #13 - War of the Gods (1)

    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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  14. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 14 - War of the Gods (2)
    7.6/10(518 votes)

    #14 - War of the Gods (2)

    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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  15. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 15 - The Man with Nine Lives
    7.1/10(500 votes)

    #15 - The Man with Nine Lives

    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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  16. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 16 - Murder on the Rising Star
    7.0/10(487 votes)

    #16 - Murder on the Rising Star

    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, Jim Carlson, Terrence McDonnell

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  17. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 17 - Greetings from Earth
    6.8/10(551 votes)

    #17 - Greetings from Earth

    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 18 - Baltar's Escape
    7.4/10(499 votes)

    #18 - Baltar's Escape

    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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  19. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 19 - Experiment in Terra
    6.8/10(510 votes)

    #19 - Experiment in Terra

    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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  20. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 20 - Take the Celestra
    6.6/10(472 votes)

    #20 - Take the Celestra

    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:Jim Carlson, Terrence McDonnell

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  21. Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Episode 21 - The Hand of God
    7.7/10(519 votes)

    #21 - The Hand of God

    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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Season 1 Ratings Summary

"Saga of a Star World" is the best rated episode of "Battlestar Galactica" season 1. It scored 7.6/10 based on 838 votes. Directed by Richard A. Colla and written by Glen A. Larson, it aired on 9/17/1978. This episode is rated 0.3 points higher than the second-best, "Lost Planet of the Gods (1)".