Entertainment
Battlestar Galactica’s Most Exciting Episode Stole From Star Wars
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
The greatest strength of the 2004 Battlestar Galactica reboot is that it’s the opposite of Star Trek in tone, theme, and execution. This helped the show establish its own identity: not only was it drastically different than the original show from 1979, but it was the polar opposite of Star Trek, the most enduring sci-fi franchise in geek history. When this reboot came out, Trek was in the twilight years of its so-called Golden Age. Ironically enough, that Golden Age might never have happened without Ronald D. Moore, the BSG reboot showrunner who got his start writing for Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Despite being the anti-Trek show, Moore had to borrow from his old franchise in one way: having a relatively small number of space fights. Those were very expensive to film, so Moore filled most scripts with Trek-adjacent elements like interstellar politics and moral dilemmas galore. Every now and then, though, this newer show had to give the fans what they want in the form of a ball-to-the-wall space battle. The first real example of this was the Season 1 episode “The Hand of God.” This story looks and feels nothing like Star Trek, which is only fitting; after all, its most climactic moment was based on Star Wars!
Stay On Target
The plot of “The Hand of God” is that the Battlestar Galactica crew discovers an asteroid filled with tylium, which helps them “jump” throughout space. But the asteroid is currently being mined by the Cylons, whom our heroes have always had trouble defeating. Deciding to risk it for the biscuit, Commander Adama orders a bold attack on the enemy. That attack is a success, primarily because of two Viper pilots: the injured Starbuck, who comes up with the plan of attack, and 2) Apollo, who succeeds in his bombing run by successfully maneuvering through Cylon mine shafts on the Asteroid.
After “The Hand of God” premiered, Ronald D. Moore released commentary for this episode via podcast. The Battlestar Galactica showrunner confirmed that Apollo’s attack run on the asteroid was inspired by the Rebels’ Death Star attacks in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and Star Wars Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi. As heroes Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles did in those films. Apollo dodges anti-aircraft weaponry and maneuvers down a tight space before hitting a small target with his explosives. Arguably, this scene also critiques ROTJ by showing Apollo slowing, stopping, and using other tactics the Rebels just never thought of.
Great Shot, Kid! That Was One In A Million
Ronald D. Moore was the first to admit that the space battle in “The Hand of God” is a fairly blatant homage to Star Wars, but that’s okay. Creatively speaking, if you’re going to steal an idea, why not steal the very best? The two Death Star attacks remain among the coolest onscreen battles in the entire 20th-century, and Moore referencing them both helped put Battlestar Galactica on the map. Ironically enough, this episode premiered just a few months before George Lucas’ hated prequels came to an end. In a perfect world, the success of this episode’s space battle should have been a warning to Star Wars fans.
What’s that warning? Simple: when the Star Trek guy is doing Star Wars better than George freakin’ Lucas, you just know your franchise is washed!