10 Most Hated Battlestar Galactica Episodes

Coming after two stellar episodes, this was the first sign that the journey to Earth would face some meteor bumps along the way. Needing manpower to mine water from an ice moon, Commander Adama and Apollo suggest using the prisoners on the Astral Queen. Things go awry and the inmates gain control of the ship.

It all feels a bit obligatory, as there is a prison ship and so it’s used for what else, a prison riot. The beats are all familiar as hostages are threatened while our heroes plot how to resolve the crisis.

One problem is the leader of the prisoners, Tom Zarek. He is called a political prisoner yet he bombed a building, so he definitely deserved to be sentenced to jail. He is portrayed as this deep charismatic figure yet he spouts so much supposed morals that it's tough to get a sense of what he's really about.

There are also hints at some of the previous political undercurrents of the colonies, with Sagittaron being exploited by the others. Yet, it's all left too vague or general for us to really get a good grasp on the history making it hard to sympathize with Bastille Day.