16. The Living Legend (Battlestar Galactica , Season 1)
In contrast to its contemporary Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Battlestar Galactica was a series that opted to take a more serious approach to its story telling. Any series that begins with the near annihilation of the human race would be hard pressed not to. In this episode Galactica comes across the Pegasus, another battlestar under the command of the legendary Commander Cain, portrayed by Lloyd Bridges. After initially rejoicing, the crew of the Galactica begins to realize that Cain is more focused on continuing to fight the Cylons than trying to protect what remains of the human race. Tensions mount between Cain and Adama over a proposed attack of an important Cylon base, the end result of which is the apparent destruction of the Pegasus during the attack. Combining great adventure and surprisingly deep commentary on the nature of fighting the losing fight, The Living Legend earns its inclusion here. When you have something this strong to work with it should come as no surprise that the reboot SyFy channel series of the mid 2000s chose to adapt this storyline for their own purposes.