"Battlestar Galactica" The Hand of God (TV Episode 2005) Poster

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9/10
Back to the action!
Tweekums15 September 2010
Warning: Spoilers
After a few episodes without large scale action we get an episode which has the most action in the season so far. The fleet is running desperately short of Tylium, their fuel source, and if they don't find some very soon they won't be able to continue fleeing the Cylons. As they search Boomer and Crashdown discover a large deposit, there is a problem however; the Cylons got their first. Adama has a choice; the fleet can look for more elsewhere or they can attempt to take it from the Cylons... with their reserves so low they have to go for the latter option. With her knee still too bad to fly Starbuck is asked to draw up a plan; something unconventional that the Cylons won't suspect. They know how to get to their target, now they just need to know which of the structures in the Cylon refinery they have to hit, Baltar knows that they must target a certain part of the refining process but he has no idea which building that is housed in. He asks the Six that only he can see but she just tells him he must trust God to guide him, not wanting to admit he doesn't know he points at a structure and tells them that is the target. At first it looks as if the mission won't succeed when the Cylons don't fall for the decoy but it soon turns out that was part of the plan and after a daring flight Apollo destroys the target which was the correct structure... was it a lucky guess on Baltar's part or was he indeed guided by God? That wasn't the only religious question raised in this episode; President Roslin had an hallucination featuring a dozen snakes; something which matched an ancient prophecy. Despite all this action on the fleet time was found to show us more of Sharon and Helo's time on Caprica; Helo sees a Six which confuses him as he saw one die the day Sharon rescued him but he thought she was human so can't understand where this one came from.

This was a good episode, it was great to see some proper action again. Character driven episodes can be excellent too but every so often one just wants to see spaceships blowing each other up! It made an interesting change to see Starbuck back on Galactica during the battle; it was clearly harder for her to listen to her pilots in difficulty than it would have been for her to fly with them. The action itself was fairly spectacular with several Vipers lost and a thrilling scene where Apollo flew his Viper through a tunnel.
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9/10
The first occurrence...
matthewhemmings1 July 2016
...I think, of the hugely important phrase "all of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again." If I was ever to get a quote tattoo, that might very well be it.

M p.s. Apparently I need to add more lines.

I give it 9/10, for the reason stated above.

p.p.s. Nope, still not enough.

Tricia Helfer is quite stunning as always.

p.p.p.s. Almost now, I hope.

I would even go so far as to call Her wife material.

p.p.p.p.s. Hmmmmm.
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8/10
Instrument of God
claudio_carvalho14 September 2008
When the Tylium reserve of the fleet is running out and enough for two more jumps only, Boomer and Crashdown find a deposit enough for a couple of years in an asteroid. However, the Cylons are exploring and processing the fuel in a well protected refinery with a base with many raiders. Commander Adama decides to attack the base and asks the unconventional Starbuck to analyze their strategy with eyes wide open and based on Dr. Baltar's guess. President Roslin, who is delusional and suffering hallucinations with the treatment with chamalla, agrees with the plan. Meanwhile in Caprica, when Helo sees Number Six alive after dying on his hands, he questions Boomer what might have happened.

"The Hand of God" recalls the original series, with many strategies and airborne battles. The runaway of Helo and Boomer has reached an interesting point with Helo questioning how Number Six could be chasing them if she died. The guess of Dr. Baltar seems to indicate that he is an important part of the Cylon plan. Again the unpleasant part of the episode is related to the useless character of President Roslin, participating in military decisions in another ridiculous sequence. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Mão de Deus" ("The Hand of God")
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8/10
Battlestar Galactica - The Hand of God
Scarecrow-881 August 2018
Warning: Spoilers
"Hand of God" did sort of have a Star Wars vibe to me as Apollo must fly his Viper into a narrow tunnel located in a base on an asteroid containing much needed ore, occupied and featuring a swarm of cylons. Commander Adama picking Starbuck's unorthodox brain for an attack strategy that the cylons might not anticipate really is quite a statement of his respect and interest in her unique space fight perspective. Because the cylons would tactically coordinate attack plans based on how the military have conducted themselves in the past, Starbuck could perhaps offer Adama a different approach to surprising them. The base on the asteroid needs to be taken out so the ore can be used for fuel the BG and Colonial ships are in desperate need of. In fact they have enough fuel for like two jumps and the cylons could always challenge them at any time. Using cargo holds to hide Vipers and Colonial ships as decoys, the attack plan might just work, but Apollo will counted on to use some fancy flying in order to get to a certain vulnerable, sensitive target area inside the base, pointed out by Baltar Gaius as the ideal bullseye (although he later admits to "fantasy Six" when off in his delusion with her during discussion that he just picked it at random, later determining such a guess as "guided by God"). The show continues to address realistic problems that would obviously plague a fleet as it travels in space towards a destination. Water problems in the past have been mentioned, and in this episode it is fuel. And the cylons are always a nuisance the fleet cannot always avoid. But this episode, thanks to Starbuck and Apollo, and Adama's belief in them, shows how ingenuity and courage can work in the favor of the BG and fleet. Adama concealing the attack plan from Roslin does earn a bit of tension but not all military tactical strategy will be shared so freely between them. Again trust is still something that appears to be lacking to some degree. Helo and Boomer's progression on Caprica still hasn't quite captivated me, but I reckon his isolation and her attachment to him gives context in comparison to what the fleet is going through so far from there. Roslin seeing snakes and this vision eerily similar to ancient text, unable to get through a press conference because of it (previously she had seen Leoben before he was found and interrogated), appears to be a supernatural possibility...Gaius also considers his potential spiritual significance, somewhat convinced by Number Six's constant hallucination that he is far more than just a brilliant scientist.

Good action-oriented episode has fine performance interplay between the principles, conducting what the best attack strategy could be, ultimately a success because of "outside the box" thinking.
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6/10
The Hand of God
Prismark102 February 2021
Warning: Spoilers
With that episode title. Battlestar Galactica once again ponders if there is an higher authority guiding the humans.

It is also a more actioned packed episode. It highlights Adama's tactical brain even if he has to keep vital information from President Roslin.

The Vipers launch a daring raid to get Tylium from an asteroid. It is protected by Cylons but obtaining Tylium will seriously boost the fleet's reserves.

Baltar's wild guess about targeting the refinery. Roslin hallucinating snakes at a press conference could simply the randomness of life. It could be a higher authority or it could just be the influence of Cylons.

This was Adama's episode. He even has to bench Starbuck, she is not fit enough to fly the mission.
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