Battlestar Galactica

Saga of a Star World (1) - S1-E1

Plot hole: Apollo takes Adama down to the surface of Caprica aboard his Viper, yet the Viper is a single-seat fighter. This is the only time the single-seat craft is used to carry two people (though there is no shot of the two aboard - it is simply shown landed with the two characters nearby).

johnrosa

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: It was 2 seater Viper training aircraft.

stiiggy

Saga of a Star World (3) - S1-E3

Plot hole: Starbuck and Apollo fool the Cylon basestar into believing they're two full viper squadrons. The Cylons haven't yet fully retreated behind Carillon (they order this as we watch), so their scanners should have been able to detect this deception far sooner than they did.

Jean G

The Lost Planet of the Gods (1) - S1-E4

Plot hole: This episode shows that, upon return from "long patrols", pilots are expected to use decontamination booths before rejoining the general population- a reasonable precaution. Strangely, Apollo and Starbuck walk among several ship personnel on their way to the two decontamination booths. If the pilots are walking among others on their way to the booths, this seems one rather pointless process. (00:21:50)

johnrosa

The Gun on Ice Planet Zero (1) - S1-E8

Plot hole: The borrowed (oh, all right, ripped off) plot of "The Guns of Navarone" does not translate well here. The premise, that the rag-tag fleet must pass through the "narrow corridor" guarded by the pulsar gun, is ludicrous. We're in outer space here. Outer space is very, very big. We can fly around one lousy little planet, no matter how many Cylons are "herding us" toward it.

Jean G

The Young Lords - S1-E11

Plot hole: After crashing on the planet, Starbuck's pants are shown torn open on his right thigh which is bleeding significantly. The child warriors find him and bandage his wound. When Boomer and Apollo arrive to pick up Starbuck, they give him a clean uniform. In the next scene, he is in that uniform, but his injured leg is wrapped in bloody bandages over the new pant leg. It seems unlikely he'd put the fresh pants on, then bandages. (00:44:40)

johnrosa

The Living Legend (1) - S1-E12

Plot hole: Galactica's sensors detect a second Battlestar, Pegasus- a shock to everyone aboard. Then its commander, Cain, speaks with Adama via video hookup, and announces that he'll be arriving at Galactica momentarily. Yet he arrives in a Galactica shuttle, marked "GAL 356", which hasn't been sent to go get him since they only just now discovered Pegasus exists. Even worse, this is the same shuttle destroyed several episodes ago when it crashed on Ice Planet Zero. (00:10:55)

johnrosa

Battlestar Galactica mistake picture

The Living Legend (2) - S1-E13

Plot hole: The "drop team" parachutes into Gamoray under cover of night, wearing all black to conceal their approach, yet their parachutes have an enormous rainbow stripe pattern. Not exactly stealthy. (00:15:15)

johnrosa

Fire in Space - S1-E14

Plot hole: In order to extinguish an enormous fire aboard the Galactica, multiple explosives are placed on the exterior hull that are then detonated, opening the ship's interior to the vacuum of space and thus suffocating the flames instantly. No explanation is given for how everything is fine immediately after, yet everyone is up and around, breathing just fine. No holes to repair, etc.

johnrosa

The Man with Nine Lives - S1-E17

Plot hole: Considering Galactica's mission of protecting the entire fleet, she wouldn't risk having recruits brought aboard that haven't been through a security screening already, especially a pair from a known warrior-like race, both of whom are wearing weapons openly. Nor would they be guarded by a crewman who willingly answers classified questions about locations of decorated Warriors posed by total strangers. Yet all of these gross security oversights occur in this one episode.

johnrosa

Experiment in Terra - S1-E22

Plot hole: When Starbuck attempts to liberate Apollo, he captures two guards, saying "Now drop them or I'll incinerate you". They comply and he leads them to a room where Apollo's weapons and equipment are being analyzed. The analyst holds a radio on which we hear Starbuck say "Drop it or I'll incinerate you". First, Starbuck isn't transmitting. Second, he already has the guards disarmed and in custody. Third, the words are not the same as spoken earlier. Fourth, there's no reason such a transmission would have been delayed when sent radio-to-radio. (00:30:35)

johnrosa

Experiment in Terra - S1-E22

Plot hole: The General informs the President that the Eastern Alliance has just launched its missiles. But the General has been sitting there throughout Apollo's speech with no communications device. So he couldn't have known that the missiles had been launched. (00:36:40)

Jean G

Experiment in Terra - S1-E22

Plot hole: The President and the General argue on a podium in front of a large gathering of citizens that are seated all around. When the General is told that their enemies have launched an all-out missile attack that will trigger their own automated response, wiping out both sides in the next six minutes, the audience is completely motionless and doesn't appear to react at all. They take the news that they are all going to die remarkably well. (00:40:25)

johnrosa

Take the Celestra - S1-E23

Plot hole: At about 35 minutes into the show, the fuel gauge of the shuttle shows 50 units of fuel remain. Five minutes of real time (and far longer in "story time") after, Starbuck begins counting down the fuel level, starting at 25 and dropping by 5 every 2 seconds. At that rate, the 50 original units should have run out within 20 seconds, and shouldn't have lasted over 5 minutes. 'Real world' use of fuel in space doesn't apply, as the canon of this show suggests fuel use is a constant to maintain motion, even in a straight line. (00:35:05 - 00:40:40)

johnrosa

Take the Celestra - S1-E23

Plot hole: Apollo lectures Starbuck about his appearance, reminding him that they will be seeing Commander Kronus, so he should at least "fasten up" his jacket. But in these shots and every shot after, Apollo's jacket is open, too.

johnrosa

Battlestar Galactica mistake picture

Saga of a Star World (1) - S1-E1

Continuity mistake: When Baltar turns to face the two setting suns, we see the lower one at the left has what could be a boat in its reflection on the water. The higher one on the right is over a mountainous area on the horizon. The next shot is of Baltar in close-up, then the next returns to the horizon to show us Baltar's view, which shows just ONE setting sun. The one on the left has vanished though there is room enough for it to have been seen in this shot. (00:40:15)

johnrosa

More mistakes in Battlestar Galactica

Commander Adama: Mr. President, a wall of unidentified craft is closing in on the fleet.
Baltar: Possibly a Cylon welcoming commitee.
Commander Adama: Sir, may I suggest we launch a 'welcoming commitee' of our own?

More quotes from Battlestar Galactica

Trivia: The pilot crests (worn by Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict, among others) on their collars were actually U.S. Army Military Intelligence Class A uniform crests.

More trivia for Battlestar Galactica

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.