External links
- The Hand of God at the Battlestar Wiki
- "The Hand of God" at Syfy
- "The Hand of God" at IMDb
| "The Hand of God" | |
|---|---|
| Battlestar Galactica episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 10 |
| Directed by | Jeff Woolnough |
| Written by | Bradley Thompson David Weddle |
| Original air dates | UK: January 3, 2005 US: March 11, 2005 |
| Guest appearances | |
| |
"The Hand of God" is the tenth episode of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. It shares its title with the last episode of the original series.
In the episode, the humans capture a fuel-rich asteroid from the Cylons using a plan devised by Lieutenant Kara "Starbuck" Thrace. President Laura Roslin begins seeing visions, and Gaius Baltar comes to believe that his contribution to the raid on the asteroid was guided by God. On Caprica, Helo and Caprica-Boomer keep running from the Cylons. [2]
President Roslin experiences a hallucination of snakes produced by the herbs she is taking to fight her breast cancer. Later, Priestess Elosha tells her about a prophecy of a leader of the human race in exile: the leader receives a vision of 12 serpents and later dies of "a wasting disease." The Priestess questions the president if she's indeed dying and both are surprised to seemingly confirm manifestation of ancient prophecy.
An asteroid made of tylium, a necessary fuel to jumping which is in short supply, is discovered, but it is being mined by Cylons. Commander Adama decides to take the asteroid by force and, with help from Starbuck (who is unable to fly a Viper because of a knee injury she received), comes up with a plan that uses the civilian fleet to draw out the Cylon Raiders. President Roslin is briefed on the plan and approves.
The raid begins with Cylon Raiders moving toward civilian freighters, but more are sent toward Galactica, initiating a dog fight that draws the Raiders away from the freighters, which the briefing did not anticipate. Just as all seems lost, the freighters unveil a secreted squadron of 12 Vipers led by Apollo, who now have a clear path to the asteroid. Adama admits to Roslin that he strategically concealed this part of Starbuck's plan in her initial briefing.
In an attempt to perform in Starbuck's out-of-the-box style, Apollo avoids the facility's defenses by flying through the mine tunnels. He bombs its tylium containers, setting off a large explosion and destroying the base while leaving several years' worth of tylium for the fleet to mine.
Dr. Baltar is surprised at the success, as he had only been guessing when asked to identify the location of tylium containers. Head Six prompts him to begin thinking that he may have a role to play on behalf of the Cylon God that he had previously mocked, whilst Gaius is beginning to be faithful, encouraged as a chosen "instrument of God".
On Caprica, Helo and Sharon hide from the pursuing Cylons in an abandoned stable. They flee after spotting a nearby group of Cylon Centurions led by a Number Six copy, the first indication to Helo that there are humanoid Cylons.
The writing staff referred to this episode as "the Big Mac" during production because they believed the action would make it a crowd pleaser. It was originally slated to be the ninth episode of the first season, with "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down" as episode 10. Executive producer Ronald D. Moore realized that the end of the eighth episode, "Flesh and Bone", in which Leoben Conoy causes Roslin to fear that Adama is a Cylon, was an ideal segue to the paranoia of "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down", so they were switched. The only major change that had to be made was to switch the action on Caprica between the episodes. [3]
Roslin's conversation with Elosha in this episode begins the introduction of the Battlestar Galactica mythos in the re-imagined series. The show's creators wanted to retain the epic narrative of the original series but introduce it gradually, after fans had already committed to the show. [3]
Roslin receives her briefing on Starbuck's plan on an illuminated table with large figurines representing ships; the plan is later tracked on it as the raid is underway. Moore explained that the decision to use the "big board" was a result of financial and narrative constraints. Using computer graphics to narrate space battles is often expensive, and the product often has to be simplified heavily so the viewer can understand it. The idea for a big board came from classic films about World War II such as Sink the Bismarck! , Tora! Tora! Tora! , and Midway . The idea for the models came from production designer Richard Hudolin. [3]
In an homage to the original series, the appearance of the freighter that conceals the Vipers is based on the Colonial Movers freighter from the original series. Apollo's attack run through the mine shaft is an homage to Star Wars . [3]
Show composer Bear McCreary said "The Hand of God" was one of his favorite episodes to score of the first season and described it as "a lot of fun." [4]
"The Hand of God" was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Series in 2005. It lost to Lost's pilot episode. [5] [6]
Susan Tankersley of Television Without Pity gave "The Hand of God" an A−, calling the action sequences "pretty awesome". [7] Simon Brew of Den of Geek reviewed the episode favorably, singling out for praise the use of the big board and "the increasing complexity of Roslin". [8]
John Kubicek of BuddyTV ranked "The Hand of God" as the 11th best episode of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica and called the episode "brilliant". [9]
Caprica-Sharon's vomiting is the first sign that she is pregnant. [3]
Dr. Gaius Baltar is a fictional character in the TV series Battlestar Galactica played by James Callis, a reimagining of Lord Baltar from the 1978 Battlestar Galactica series. He is one of the show's primary characters.
William "Bill" Adama is a fictional character in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica television series produced and aired by the SyFy cable network. He is one of the main characters in the series, and is portrayed by Edward James Olmos. The character is a reimagining of Commander Adama from the 1978 Battlestar Galactica series, originally played by Lorne Greene.
Leland Joseph "Lee" Adama is a fictional character in the television series Battlestar Galactica. He is portrayed by actor Jamie Bamber, and is one of the main characters in the series. His first appearance was in the 2003 Battlestar Galactica miniseries.
Karl C. Agathon is a fictional character on the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica TV series, portrayed by Tahmoh Penikett.
"Litmus" is the sixth episode of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. In the episode, an investigation into a Cylon infiltration comes to focus on the relationship between Chief Galen Tyrol and the Galactica copy of Boomer in order to weed out other sleeper agents.
"Colonial Day" is the eleventh episode of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series.
"Kobol's Last Gleaming" is the two-part first-season finale of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series.
"Scattered" is the first episode of the second season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on July 15, 2005.
"Valley of Darkness" is the second episode of the second season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on July 22, 2005.
"Fragged" is the third episode of the second season of the Battlestar Galactica television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on July 29, 2005. It is the first episode in which Starbuck does not appear.
"Resistance" is the fourth episode of the second season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on August 5, 2005.
"Home" is a two-part episode of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. Part 1 aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on August 19, 2005, and Part 2 aired on August 26, 2005.
"Pegasus" is the tenth episode of the second season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. It aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on September 23, 2005. Following "Pegasus", the series went on hiatus until January 2006.
"Resurrection Ship" is a two-part episode of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica television series. Part 1 aired originally on the Sci Fi Channel on January 6, 2006, and Part 2 aired on January 13, 2006. It was the first episode broadcast after a hiatus following the broadcast of the previous episode, "Pegasus", on September 23, 2005.
The music of the 2004 TV series Battlestar Galactica is a body of work largely credited to the composers Bear McCreary and Richard Gibbs. The music of Battlestar Galactica displays a variety of ethnic influences and generally does not conform to the "orchestral" style of many science fiction scores.
"Crossroads" are the nineteenth and twentieth episodes of the third season and season finale from the science fiction television series, Battlestar Galactica. Neither episode begins with a survivor count.
"The Road Less Traveled" is the fifth episode in the fourth season of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica. It first aired on television on May 2, 2008. The survivor count shown in the title sequence is 39,676. It is the only episode of the entire series in which Bill Adama does not appear, and the first of two episodes not to feature Laura Roslin. It is also the final episode in which Number Six is absent.
"A Disquiet Follows My Soul" is the twelfth episode in the fourth season of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica. It aired on television in the United States and Canada on January 23, 2009, in Australia on January 31, 2009, and on Sky One in the UK on January 27, 2009. According to the director, this episode takes place immediately after the webisode series "The Face of the Enemy". The survivor count shown in the title sequence is 39,644. The Region 1 DVD release of Season 4.5 includes an extended version of this episode.
"Daybreak" is the three-part series finale of the reimagined science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica, and are the 74th and 75th episodes overall. The episodes aired on the U.S. Sci Fi Channel and SPACE in Canada respectively on March 13 and March 20, 2009. The second part is double-length. The episodes were written by Ronald D. Moore, and directed by Michael Rymer. The Season 4.5 DVD and Blu-ray releases for Region 1 feature an extended version of the finale, which not only combines all three parts as a single episode, but also integrates it with new scenes not seen in the aired versions of either part. The survivor count shown in the title sequence for Part 1 is 39,516. The survivor count shown in the title sequence for Part 2 is 39,406. At the end of Part 2, Admiral Adama announces the survivor population at approximately 38,000.
