The last episode of Battlestar Galactica "The Hand of God"

"The Hand of God" The last episode of Battlestar Galactica.


Whether or not they wanted this to be their last episode, it is what it is. It may have been a forced conclusion because the plug was pulled to give a hell of a series finale. This show must have been somewhat successful enough to allow for a spin-off series, Galactica 1980, no matter how ill-conceived or ill-perceived it was. That spin-off will only last ten episodes. But we'll get to that another time.


To me, this is all just a duplication of the Battle of Yavin (the first Death Star battle at the end of Star Wars: A New Hope). You'll see.


Starbuck gets a cheap look up Cassiopeia's skirt as they and Apollo and Sheba climb to the highest point of Galactica's interior to look at the stars. While there, we hear that Galactica launched over 500 yahren ago (that's about 342 years ago according to my calculations). They pick up a TV signal on an unused gamma frequency of the Apollo moon landing, although they don't know what it is. Apollo says the ship "looked like something the Colonies flew a couple of thousand yahren ago." They have no idea how long the signal has been floating through space.


Apollo, Starbuck, and Sheba go on patrol to search for the source of the transmission. Poor Boomer has to stay behind to work on cleaning up the signal. They fly past planets as fast I drive past lampposts, Jupiter, Mars, the Moon--then something comes out from behind the Moon--a Cylon BaseStar! Sheba will later confirm that the BaseStar was "behind the third planet." The case could be made where this is just another solar system though, I guess, but it sure looks like the Cylons found Earth first.


They run back to the fleet without being seen. Adama says, "I thought we'd lost them for good." Adama wants to make an all-out assault on the BaseStar. "I'm tired of running."


They prepare for the assault. Jolly gets one sentence of dialogue even though he still gets an "Also Starring" credit, talking about "If the commander is buying, I'm drinking!" That poor actor who plays the Galactica operator Omega gets more dialogue and action and screen time than this fat bastard but does not get the billing. What the frak does Jolly do to warrant even a name?


Knowing that they still have Baltar's Cylon ship to help them with the sneak attack, Adama strikes a deal with Baltar. Freedom for info. Adama will let him off on some habitable planet somewhere, all alone.


The romance ensues! Sheba and Apollo kiss. Cassiopeia and Starbuck kiss.


Apollo and Starbuck will pilot Baltar's Cylon ship inside the BaseStar to blow up the control center while Boomer gets to lead the squadron in the attack.


Baltar briefs Apollo and Starbuck. His info that was so important that Adama would make a freedom exchange for? The control center is at the bottom of the central core with one guard--smash those computers and the BaseStar is blinded. That's the important info? They could have beaten that out of him. They get aboard the BaseStar without incident. They infiltrate the central core, killing the one guard. They set the explosive charges. The squadron takes out the Cylon Raiders in a nice little space battle. The Galactica destroys the BaseStar.


(Sidebar: It's amazing how at least two Viper pilots are blown to smithereens but there are no tears or even mention of them--they are all worried about the return of Apollo and Starbuck.)


The end has Apollo and Starbuck back in the observation deck. They leave for the party without seeing the new television signal of "The Eagle has landed" coming through. The case could be made, like SETI, that if you don't monitor signals you could miss it.


So that's the end. The end of a show that everyone knows about but lasted only one season and 24 episodes. There are so many questions that never got answered. Who were the Cylons? Why did they want the extermination of mankind? Who exactly were the Beings of Light and just WTF did they want? Did they ever find Earth? I guess we get a kind of answer to that last one in the horrible spin-off series Galactica 1980, but as I have been reading, most BSG fans don't even consider that as part of their canon material.


The biggest question is why did the idea of this show last? Admit it, everyone knew about this show, and remembered it. I honestly thought it was getting better as the season progressed. What if there had been at least one more season--could it have taken off? Think of all the shows that really gather a fan base well into the second, third seasons. TV was at a point in 1979 where there was no SCI-FI Channel to save it. I remember this show being successful enough to have an attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood that I remember seeing when I was younger. Why did the idea attract enough devotion to ultimately inspire the new reimagined series? Thank goodness it did because the new series is one of the best shows ever. Could this type of show be better as like a "movie of the month" than a TV show? Concentrate on, like, six to ten "episodes" a year. Would this have fared better or worse under the current system of like 12 episodes to a season? It would have sort of eliminated its budget problem, plus the creators could concentrate on better stories.
Well, at least the reimagined it for us. Thank goodness for that. I just remember not giving the new show a chance when it first came out because of all the horrible things that are said about this 1978 show. I wonder how many other people skip it based on what they "remember" of the old show?