| # |
Title |
Original airdate |
Code |
| 1, 2, 3 |
"Saga of a Star World (aka Battlestar Galactica)" |
September 17, 1978 (1978-09-17) |
50280/1/2 |
| In a distant part of the cosmos, the human race is embroiled in a thousand year long war with the robotic Cylons. Aided by the human traitor Baltar, an armistice turns out to be a ruse by the Cylons who launch a massive surprise attack against the Twelve Colonies of humanity, almost wiping them out. Only the Galactica, led by Commander Adama, and a ragtag fleet of 220 civilian ships survive, beginning a journey across the galaxy in search of long-lost sister civilization Earth. But the Cylons will not rest until every last human has been eliminated, and pursue them across the galaxy. |
| 4 |
"Lost Planet of the Gods, Part I" |
September 24, 1978 (1978-09-24) |
50204 |
| With many warriors suffering from an unknown ailment, the Galactica recruits new viper pilots—mostly young women, including Apollo's new bride, Serina. Led by Adama's spiritual interpretations, the fleet enters a vast magnetic void, emerging at the planet Kobol, the legendary world from where humanity originated. |
| 5 |
"Lost Planet of the Gods, Part II" |
October 1, 1978 (1978-10-01) |
50205 |
| Before Adama can discover Earth's location from the inscribed hieroglyphs, a Cylon attack destroys the sacred city on Kobol—and claims the life of Serina. |
| 6 |
"The Lost Warrior" |
October 8, 1978 (1978-10-08) |
50908 |
| Marooned on a frontier planet, Apollo befriends a young widow and her son, rallying a town against "Red Eye"— a likewise marooned, yet memory-damaged, Cylon centurion gunslinger. The storyline is very much reminiscent of the classic western Shane. |
| 7 |
"The Long Patrol" |
October 15, 1978 (1978-10-15) |
50902 |
| After losing an experimental Viper to a smuggler, Starbuck is imprisoned on a penal colony, but this new environment holds a possible clue to the location of Earth. |
| 8 |
"Gun on Ice Planet Zero, Part I" |
October 22, 1978 (1978-10-22) |
50206 |
| Herded into a confined area of space by the Cylons, the fleet must pass within close range of a lethal Cylon pulsar cannon—unless an expedition of officers from the Galactica and a team of convicts can penetrate the ice-bound fortress housing the weapon and destroy it. |
| 9 |
"Gun on Ice Planet Zero, Part II" |
October 29, 1978 (1978-10-29) |
50207 |
| Apollo, Starbuck, and Boomer lead a team of cut-throat demolitions and cold-weather experts (and the stowaway Boxey). Along the way, they encounter the misguided human scientist who originally built the weapon, as well as his legions of clones. |
| 10 |
"The Magnificent Warriors" |
November 12, 1978 (1978-11-12) |
50912 |
| When a Cylon attack destroys the fleet's food supply, Adama and the others must agree to certain compromises with old acquaintances and with the inhabitants of a grain-rich, yet politically turbulent planet. |
| 11 |
"The Young Lords" |
November 19, 1978 (1978-11-19) |
50905 |
| Crash-landing on the planet Atilla, Starbuck befriends a group of young siblings trying to free their castle, their planet, and their father from the Cylons. |
| 12 |
"The Living Legend, Part I" |
November 26, 1978 (1978-11-26) |
50919 |
| The Galactica is reunited with the Battlestar Pegasus, previously thought destroyed. Led by the brilliant but arrogant Commander Cain, the fleet is torn in its loyalty between Adama and Cain until the human traitor Baltar launches a devastating attack. |
| 13 |
"The Living Legend, Part II" |
December 3, 1978 (1978-12-03) |
50920 |
| In order to obtain much-needed fuel, the Galactica and Pegasus join forces in a daring attack on the Cylons. The Pegasus plunges into the teeth of Cylon forces and is either destroyed or "missing in action" after the attack. |
| 14 |
"Fire in Space" |
December 17, 1978 (1978-12-17) |
50917 |
| The Galactica is rammed by Cylon Raiders making suicide runs on the main bridge and a landing bay. With Adama lying critically ill and the ship in flames, Boomer and Athena lead a group of survivors in the rejuvenation center, relying on Boxey's robot daggit Muffit to help them. |
| 15 |
"War of the Gods, Part I" |
January 14, 1979 (1979-01-14) |
50921 |
| Vipers are disappearing from regular patrols, and mysterious bright lights are flying around the Galactica at immeasurable speed. On an eerie, red-glowing planet, the enigmatic Count Iblis is found, apparently the sole survivor of a major catastrophe. |
| 16 |
"War of the Gods, Part II" |
January 21, 1979 (1979-01-21) |
50922 |
| Always shunning the mysterious bright lights, Iblis uses his charm and his supernatural powers to wrest control of the fleet from Adama, but the wiley Commander knows Iblis' key is on the red planet, where Apollo and Starbuck go only to face tragedy - and find the answer to the mysterious lights. |
| 17 |
"The Man With Nine Lives" |
January 28, 1979 (1979-01-28) |
50916 |
| An old con man, Chameleon, meets Starbuck and cons him into believing he may be his father in order to gain his help in evading a trio of blood-thirsty Borellians who are after him seeking revenge for a previous con. In the process, Starbuck's girlfriend Cassiopeia learns that Chameleon's con may not actually be a con after all. |
| 18 |
"Murder on the Rising Star" |
February 18, 1979 (1979-02-18) |
50924 |
| When Starbuck is implicated in a rival triad-player's murder, Apollo and Boomer come to his defense as Protectors. They eventually uncover a plot involving Karibdis, a traitor alongside Count Baltar in the Destruction of the Twelve Colonies. |
| 19, 20 |
"Greetings from Earth" |
February 25, 1979 (1979-02-25) |
50926/50947 |
| A ship of humans in suspended animation is found drifting in space. When brought aboard the Galactica, the Colonial leaders debate whether to awaken its occupants. Their ship is eventually escorted by Apollo, Starbuck, and Cassiopeia to the planet Paradeen — embroiled in a bitter war with the Eastern Alliance. |
| 21 |
"Baltar's Escape" |
March 11, 1979 (1979-03-11) |
50927 |
| Baltar escapes from the prison barge by hijacking a shuttle piloted by Boomer and Sheba. Taking advantage of lax security imposed by the new governing council, Baltar kidnaps the council members from a Galactica landing bay and demands to be released. |
| 22 |
"Experiment in Terra" |
March 18, 1979 (1979-03-18) |
50928 |
| The mysterious bright lights return again, transporting the bewildered Apollo to the planet Terra to avert war with the Eastern Alliance. Exposing a plan by the devious president, Apollo has Starbuck warn the Galactica, which uses its laser cannon to destroy all the ballistic missiles avoiding planetary holocaust. |
| 23 |
"Take the Celestra" |
April 1, 1979 (1979-04-01) |
50929 |
| When Starbuck encounters his long-lost love Aurora, she complicates matters by taking part in a mutinous rebellion aboard the Celestra. Her rebellion, undertaken for a noble cause, is soon overshadowed by a sinister mutiny by Charke, the Celestra's power-hungry second-in-command. |
| 24 |
"The Hand of God" |
April 29, 1979 (1979-04-29) |
50930 |
| Receiving a mysterious radio signal possibly from Earth, Adama and the crew are wary of a Cylon trap, and decide to turn the tables by attacking the Cylons with a stolen Cylon Raider. Apollo and Starbuck, in the series finale's last scene, narrowly miss receiving Apollo-11 moon-landing transmissions from Earth. |
Between 1978 and 1980, episodes were edited into three feature length films. The first film, Battlestar Galactica, was an edited version of the pilot "Saga of a Star World", featuring some differences from the original televised episodes, including the death of Baltar. It was released in cinemas in Canada, Australia and Europe before its American TV premiere and, in 1979, it was released theatrically in the US. The second film, Mission Galactica: The Cylon Attack, was a re-edited version of the episodes "The Living Legend" and "Fire in Space", which also differed from the broadcast versions, omitting several scenes from both episodes. In 1979, it was released theatrically in Europe and Japan. The third film, Conquest of the Earth, was a similar edit, though this time its source episodes were from Galactica 1980. It was also released theatrically, in 1981, in Europe and Australia.
Following the cancellation of the series, all of the episodes from the original series were re-edited into telemovies for syndication, including a third edit of the pilot. The four two-part episodes ("Lost Planet of the Gods", "Gun on Ice Planet Zero", "The Living Legend" and "War of the Gods") were all combined and expanded with about five minutes of scenes deleted from the original broadcasts. The remaining single episodes were edited into two hour blocks, combining two episodes into a single narrative, occasionally including over-dubbed dialogue.[4] The final telemovie, an expanded version of "Experiment in Terra" with some scenes from Galactica 1980 episode "The Return of Starbuck", featured new footage of an astronaut finding Commander Adama's logbook, which retold the premise of the show.[5]
| # |
Title |
Original airdate |
Code |
| 1 |
"Galactica Discovers Earth (aka Galactica: 1980), Part I" |
January 27, 1980 (1980-01-27) |
1.1 |
| After 30 years of searching, the Battlestar Galactica and its ragtag fleet locate Earth. However, it soon becomes clear that Earth is not advanced enough to help combat the Cylon fleet that tailed Galactica to Earth. Captain Troy - a grown up version of Boxey - and Lieutenant Dillon end up teaming up with a feisty female reporter from Earth named Jamie Hamilton. |
| 2 |
"Galactica Discovers Earth (aka Galactica: 1980), Part II" |
February 3, 1980 (1980-02-03) |
1.2 |
| Commander Xavier steals an experimental Viper capable of time travel and goes back to the 1940s in an attempt to speed up Earth's technological development by giving Colonial technology to the Nazis. |
| 3 |
"Galactica Discovers Earth (aka Galactica: 1980), Part III" |
February 10, 1980 (1980-02-10) |
1.3 |
| Jamie, Troy and Dillon travel back in time in pursuit of Xavier, and manage to prevent the Nazis from prematurely developing the V-2 rocket. Xavier escapes, and the others return to 1980, where all three Vipers are discovered by the military. |
| 4 |
"The Super Scouts, Part I" |
March 16, 1980 (1980-03-16) |
1.4 |
| The fleet is attacked by Cylons, who destroy the school barge. Troy, Dillon and a shuttle-load of Galactican school children make an emergency landing on Earth. |
| 5 |
"The Super Scouts, Part II" |
March 23, 1980 (1980-03-23) |
1.5 |
| The Galactican children attempt to fit in on Earth, and uncover an illegal toxic-waste dumping conspiracy. |
| 6 |
"Spaceball" |
March 30, 1980 (1980-03-30) |
1.6 |
| The "Super Scouts" use their superhuman strengths as ringers in a baseball game while Xavier plots their abduction. |
| 7 |
"The Night the Cylons Landed, Part I" |
April 13, 1980 (1980-04-13) |
1.7 |
| A new advanced Cylon Raider is shot down over Earth. Two of its five crew survive - a Centurion, and a new, advanced humanoid Cylon - and are loose on Earth during Halloween. |
| 8 |
"The Night the Cylons Landed, Part II" |
April 20, 1980 (1980-04-20) |
1.8 |
| Troy and Dillon attempt to kill the Cylons on Earth before they can contact their empire. |
| 9 |
"Space Croppers" |
April 27, 1980 (1980-04-27) |
1.9 |
| The Galactican children help a farmer in financial trouble. This is the last episode set on Earth and the final appearance of most of the cast. |
| 10 |
"The Return of Starbuck" |
May 4, 1980 (1980-05-04) |
1.10 |
| Told in a series of flashbacks, this episode explains the fate of Lieutenant Starbuck, who crash-landed on a planet with a Cylon Centurion, whom he befriends believing the Centurion to be the only other inhabitant - an assumption that proves false when the Centurion discovers a woman who is on the verge of giving birth to a child and who proves to be a renegade member of the same race as the Seraphs and Count Iblis. |