Delve Into 'Battlestar Galactica'

Escape and Get Up to Speed

With the show on hiatus, there's plenty of time to get caught up on the first two seasons.

SciFi is broadcasting reruns every Friday night. But for those who want select episodes to watch on your own time, everything is available on iTunes. And on DVD, you can find everything but the second half of the second season.

Here's a selection of recommended episodes:

"33" (Season 1, Episode 1) -- Winner of a Hugo Award, one of science fiction's top honors, the series premier demonstrates right away that this is not your father's "Galactica." On the run from the evil Cylons, the Battlestar Galactica and its ragtag fleet of civilian ships is forced to execute faster-than-light jumps every 33 minutes or risk annihilation. Under stress, after days on the run with no sleep, the crew makes a tragic blunder. As Edward James Olmos' Commander Adama puts it, "We make mistakes, people die." It's hard to imagine those words coming from Lorne Greene's version of the character.

"Flesh and Bone" (Season 1, Episode 8) -- Taking a page right out of the war on terror, this disturbing episode delves into the dirty world of terrorism and torture. A Cylon detainee claims to have planted a nuclear bomb somewhere in the fleet that will go off imminently. Starbuck, a cocky officer aboard Galactica, is sent to find the bomb -- using any means necessary. In the process, the show plays with the audience's sympathies, transforming the captured Cylon from a murderous fanatic into a flesh-and-blood being.

"Pegasus" (Season 2, Episode 10) -- In a throwback to one of the most popular episodes of the original series, this story marks the beginning of a three-episode arc involving the Battlestar Pegasus and its commander, Admiral Cain, played by sci-fi veteran Michelle Forbes. After first cheering the discovery of the Pegasus, Adama and the fleet soon find out that their sister ship's survival was an even more troubling tale than their own. The contrast of -- and the conflict between -- Adama and Cain serves as an allegory for the difficult choices facing commanders in a time of war.

"Scar" (Season 2, Episode 15) -- The Galactica's fighter pilots have met their match in a ruthless Cylon rival nicknamed Scar. Seemingly knowing all of the pilots' tactics, Scar hunts down and destroys Galactica's Vipers, in the process killing numerous pilots and rattling the rest, including the normally unflappable Starbuck. The show offers a behind-the-scenes look at the stress and daily dangers of being a carrier pilot.

"Downloaded" (Season 2, Episode 18) -- Back on the human's home world of Caprica, the Cylon occupiers are honoring two of the heroes in their war on humanity. But after their extensive contact with humans, the two heroes are having second thoughts about the roles they played. The show offers the first real glimpse into Cylon society.