Battlestar Galactica | Pegasus' Sacrifice 

Admiral Adama: Plans an amazing, meticulous strategy to fight the Cylons. Lee: LEEERROOOYYY JENKINS!!!!!

That zooming out, Galactica being battered, no hope in sight....and then gunfire and DRUMS with big letters "PEGASUS" on the side of the ship as it flies by. Most cinematic arrival in a space battle ever.

That camera pull to galactic getting pummeled in the nothingness of space, is legit one of the best scenes in SiFi tv history

That never gets old seeing Pegasus straight up annihilate a baseship with opening salvo alone

“Pegasus, you don’t have the firepower” “I’ve got the mass”

Cylon: "Sir, if I may..." Baltar: "Not Now! I don't want to miss a moment of the last Battlestar's destruction". Cylon: "I really think you should take a look at the other Battlestar". What the battlestar Pegasus always makes me think of.

The way Lee takes a last look around the flaming bridge is reminiscent of Sisko taking a last look at the Defiant bridge in DS9 before it was destroyed. And RDM wrote both episodes.

When Lee tells Pegasus thank you it’s like Pegasus itself responds: “Go, I got this” and proceeds to yeet half the Cylon Fleet without anyone aboard.

The "thank you" has so many meanings, always gives me a heavy heart. It was Lee Adama's first and only true command of a battlestar, he's thinking her for that honour. It saved what was left of humanity from New Caprica, he was thanking her for saving them. It saved his father and he's thanking her for that and despite the Pegasus being a more advanced, hugely superior ship, he's thanking her for saving his true home - the Galactica. The final shot of the Pegasus emblem only being engulfed in fire to me almost feels like it is the ship saying you're welcome.

I love how the Pegasus is so badass that it’s final ramming manoeuvre somehow eliminates two whole basestars. Incredible ship, incredible show.

Pegasus is so stubborn, even when she is destroyed, she brought the base stars down with her derelict.

That brief moment of silence then the drums start followed by all the Pegasus guns firing. Chilling.

Later in the series Laura Roslin says to Lee that he is so hell-bent on doing the right thing that he forgets to do the smart thing. That's probably the best example of that. Lee did trade a superior battlestar for a superior commander (although his motivation was purely emotional) and I think that ultimately this trade did pay off.

The music when Pegasus launches her opening salvo always sends chills down my spine. Fantastic

I just CANT watch this without lamenting the utter waste of a Mercury Class. Galactica has my heart but the Pegasus was the greatest asset humanity had outside of Adama and Roslin's leadership.

We can't hold off 4. Gives me chills every time.

My god did Bear McCreary do a great job with this soundtrack!

Pegasus redeemed her borderline criminal career post-fall by being sacrificed to take out the 3 remaining basestars that threatened the last of humanity's second exodus. Even Galactica wasn't able to accomplish that. Not the worst way to go.

I always hear Kahn when I see this scene. "From hell's heart, I stab at thee. For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee." RIP Peggy

It was super thoughtful of Lee to deliver those spare parts to that last base star. Some people are just givers.

"Then that's it. It's been an honour." Sooooo many goosebumps!

I'm just happy to hear Bagpipes in a Space Battle. it has been way overdue.

First time I saw this I was in awe of how awesome it looked, and how bad it was strategically. Until I realized Galactica had a full compliment of crew while Pegasus only had a skeleton crew that could escape in 4 raptors. In that regard, this sacrifice made sense.

I remember seeing this as it aired - it was the most epic thing I'd ever seen on TV.

Being a Navy Submarine Veteran, the Thank You Will gave Pegasus really hit me hard.

I love how the Battlestars aren’t shielded. They take the hits on the armor and they quite clearly can take one hell of a pounding. A real shame that there will be no more after Galactica.

This scene is simultaneously the best sci-fi action ever made but also the worst possible set of tactics used lol

Takes a look at the Bridge before leaving. "Thank you." That got me tbh

I can hear Daniel from Spacedock face-palming after watching this video

"Let's make sure history never forgets the name"...Pegasus

Galactica, in great pain as she jumps away: "Thank you, sister..." Pegasus: "Go. I have this."

I absolutely love the how the sound of the Pegasus gun batteries firing off to bears soundtrack its beautiful

Insert token “Lee is an idiot”’ comment But if you’re going to send out a battlestar with style, this is how you do it.

Ironically this is exactly how the Pegasus was destroyed in the original series....we just got to see it on screen here.

BSG had an amazing team of FX artists that really made these fight scenes engaging

This is such a great scene. As they pull away from the Galactica just getting decimated with that music playing, you are convinced the ship is done for. Then those first few missiles fly past. The Pegasus and the shift in music. So well done.

that long pull back and the music before the missiles fly gets me every time

To all who are complaining about Lee losing the Pegasus: It would’ve ended up in the sun anyway. ;)

Probably the single greatest moment in television history. Even better if you know the context and have seen the show up to that point.

One of the best sci fi shows ever made period!

She was a beautiful ship. I though that she will join Galactica arriving on earth but didn't happen. She went out on style and dignity. She did what she was meant to do. Defend humanity against the Cylons

A true fighter. as a soldier once said " I may not win this fight but you will never forget my name."

I just noticed something about the Galactica and the Pegasus. The Galactica was designed for a much more defensive role. Seemingly having more armor and AA capabilities. Whereas the Pegasus seems faster with far greater offensive abilities. Interesting.

So many toasters got resurrected after that with the name "PEGASUS" bloodily scrawled into their foreheads.

Imagine we get off this rock, figure out how to explore the galaxy, then run across the debris from a battle like this.

Still one of my favorite scenes in all of science fiction. That slow pull away from Galactica and then the missiles flying in and that drumbeat. To this day... Chills.

Watched all the series of this - enjoyed it - Adama - "we cant hold off four base ships" - Pegasus comes in 👍

Gotta love that last Middle Finger by Pegasus, Two Mega-Toasters dead by one ship!

At 4:18ish when Lee said "Thank You",....he sounded just like the old man.....🏹🤠👍

HOLY DETAIL! I just noticed that when Pegasus collides with the basestar, you see a trail of small flaming explosions going to the back of the ship. She only explodes when they reach near the engines where the fuel would have caught fire and destroyed her.

The drama this show created was bar none. Your heart is in your throat the whole time. Stakes don't get higher than the literal survival of the human race.

4:34 With a vivid enough imagination, one can hear Pegasus screaming a gargantuan *"FRAK YOOOOOUUUU--!!!"* as she's making those final few hundred meters to her own death and the destruction of her enemies.

goosebumps and shivers multiple times in 5 minutes. this show is a legend

It's almost 2022 and this still puts me in tears. Wow

Starbuck: Looks like you broke your ship, Apollo.

I love Pegasus’s end not that it ended but how it took out a few basestars in a few minutes and in it’s final moments rammed a basestar and the flight pod just as a final FU to the Cylons 4:18 is one of my favorite clips the music choices.

Dualla looks awesome in that uniform.

i love the Pegasus her last act was to headbutt one ship and clothesline the other one

For those criticizing lee for sacrificing a superior ship to save ‘the bucket’, I hear you. But also remember that the last stand of Pegasus also kept the cylons distracted long enough for civilian ships on the ground to load up and evacuate before the bulk of the Cylon forces had time to redeploy and focus on what was going on down there. Galactica likely wouldn’t have held out much longer on her own, and if Lee hadn’t showed up then the base stars may very well have wiped out many of the civilian ships attempting to flee in a bombardment from orbit. Lee saved his father as well as the shows namesake ship, but he also likely saved many ships and thousands of civilian and insurgents on the ground as well. With humanity on the brink of extinction, all the lives saved were priceless and worth laying it all down for. As I said before, I don’t believe Galactica was in good enough shape to hold out as long as Pegasus did, especially not after that atmospheric free fall. Looking at it objectively, it had to go down like this. And let’s be honest, Pegasus made the cylinders pay one hell of a heavy price for their victory. If any of you follow ‘The Expanse’, you’ll know that James Holden essentially did this in season 5 episode 10 when he put his ship into battle up against 5 Free Navy ships. He and his ship survived by dumb luck from a mutiny within the Free Navy task force, but he had still been willing to make the sacrifice to keep the military ships distracted while his crew on an unarmed ship got away. Like I said, look at it objectively and consider the big picture. I hated losing the Pegasus, but I know that Lee did the right thing all and all and I accept it.

4:25 this scene of the raptors evacuating is just stunning to me and the score is perfect for this moment

The most emotional scene from BSG for me... I literally get teary eyes everytime

For me this proves one thing: Even in a fair fight the toasters would've been scrapped. That's why they had to resort to terrorist tactics.

omg when the radar glitches and the other two basestars shows up just an amazing episode love this show remember the Pegasus

Honestly, this was probably one of the best ways the writers could remove the Pegasus from the show. Command decisions from Lee aside, having it go out in a blaze of glory to the sound of war drums was visually and emotionally spectacular. Plotwise though, this was really a victory for the Cylons. Sure, they lost a few Basestars and the civilian fleet got away, but the Galactica suffered irreparable damage and the Fleet lost one of the two Battlestars defending it, taking with it their capability to produce additional strike craft. Adding on to that was the fact that the Pegasus was the only fully functional warship they had since the Galactica only had one flight pod and was missing a majority of its arms and armor. If it hadn't been for the Cylon Civil War, I'm not sure Galactica would've made it to Earth.

Battlestar Pegasus Stats: Defenses: 10/10 Weapons: 10/10 Strike Craft: 9/10 Plot Armor: 1/10

did a hell of job making lee look overweight. Guy looks like an olympic athlete in real life.

This has gotta be one of the best entrances into a fight ever.

There wasn't enough emotion when he ordered "All hands abandon ship"

The final actions of the Pegasus epitomize the phrase "Give 'em hell !!"

Best scene in the series, so epic and sad at the same time.

This was the most awesome and epic moment in the whole series along with the giga masterpiece of a soundtrack.

Son comes out of nowhere to save his father, that by itself had my clenching my fist saying YaH!

Honestly, if the budget didn't require them to destroy Pegasus, it would have been cool to see how she would have played into the story going into the rest of the series. That being said, if I have to play Devil's advocate for why Lee's decision to throw the Pegasus away made at least SOME sense, I would guess that it came down to a numbers game. Galactica simply held more people including crew and pilots and the loss of them would be a blow in terms of people and leadership that the colonials would never recover from. That and considering most of Galactica's resources were devoted to the evacuating the civilians, it's highly unlikely there were enough Raptors available to evacuate all of Galactica's personnel in the event things went sideways. Pegasus, being newer and more advanced, could far more easily run on a skeleton crew capable of fitting into four Raptors. Plus, there's at least some evidence to indicate that if Pegasus didn't show up, the Cylons simply destroy Galactica and then move on to the Civilian ships before they can even get off the ground. Helo says as much when Pegasus appears and takes the heat off of them. So if the calculus is that Pegasus survives but Galactica and none of the civilians do, I guess the choice makes sense if sacrificing Pegasus means the civilians and Galactica get to escape. That being said, if I'm Lee in this situation, I'm rolling the dice and taking all my planes with me, maybe leaving a few behind to guard the safe bet civilians. But overall, if I'm ignoring orders and taking my ship to the heart of the action, I'm not going halfway. Bring the Viper wings, the heavy Raptors, arm the nukes. At the very least, utilize the element of surprise to disable more than just one Basestar. Jump in with a full salvo from Pegasus's heavy forward batteries as well as a potential nuclear strike and get ride of as many ships as possible. If I manage to outright destroy two Basestars before they get a chance to look at me, the fight's already won. If Galactica could realistically hold off two Basestars, then Pegasus could do it easily. And even damaged, Galactica and Pegasus against two Basestars is a fight the Cylons just lose. Plus if Pegasus survives to make it to Earth, the Battle of the Ionian Nebula plays out very differently, the later politics don't play out nearly the same, and the Galactica's decay isn't as crippling to both military strength and fleet morale if Pegasus is still around. The Rebel Basestar probably still gets integrated into the fleet but I severely doubt Gaeta's mutiny plays out nearly the same way. I could easily see the Battle of the Colony still happening with Galactica going out on one last mission while Pegasus stays behind. Lee probably still goes with Galactica and his father on that mission and leaves Hoshi as Admiral only with Pegasus under his command instead.

Seeing Dualla brings a tear to my eye, just knowing what happens

The series ain't called Battlestar Pegasus.

Out of 4 Basestars, Pegasus killed 3 at the cost of itself, That last Basestar watching by: *runs away in horror*

I can still remember when I first watched this episode and there was that moment where I really thought Galactica was going to be destroyed. It was a mix of disbelief and bewilderment, but then Lee came along and saved the day, I think that was Lee's coolest move in the entire series.

Just love the music in the background before Pegasus cause hell on them

I don't like how these clips keep creeping up on my feed cause it makes me want to rewatch the whole fracking series again.

That subtle head shake is the kind of clear communication that keeps you off the bridge until there's literally nobody else available.

Greatest space battle in the history of television. Also love Adama's "let's get the hell out of here" as the final rebuke on the colonial's stupid decision to settle on New Caprica.

"A captain can do no wrong if he puts his ship along side the enemy." Admiral Halsey.

One of the best shows ever on TV, of any genre. The storylines every week were something to behold.

Pegasus charges into the fray, literally, with guns blazing

Battlestar Galactica in this scene was me when I was in a really dark place in life. I was tough and taking the blows of life but still had a limit to how much I could take.

In my opinion, this was the greatest episode of the entire series. I still have this episode on my DVR and I watch it from time to time.

When that flight pod took out the third basestar I inmediately thought of Cain: - "Yes, the Pegasus has always been a lucky ship." - "To lucky ships."

Pegasus pulling a total John Wick before John Wick existed. Ship just shows up and starts dropping base stars like they were bad habits. True legends never die.

Poor Pegasus. It was like she bore the curse of her Admiral's sins, but kept on trucking until she could finally redeem herself with a final sacrifice to save what was left of humanity. And she didn't take out half the Cylon fleet--she took out THREE-QUARTERS: The first baseship in her opening salvo, and two more with her final breaths, all while taking a holocaust of enemy fire without so much as twitching off-course.

That look of absolute terror at 1:09 is perfectly done, they both knew it was game over, If the Pegasus didn't intervene they'd be dusted

I remember watching the original series as a kid and seeing the pegasus do it's thing.. man it made my day

I always imagine a Cavil on the basestar at the end looking out and sighing as the word PEGASUS fills the entire window and then...explosion.

Lee: "Thank You" Pegasus: "Go. You have given me back my honor, Lee Adama. I will not let you down, my Captain." Pegasus destroys half the Cylon Fleet for her Captain and Crew.

the battlestar Pegasus' greatest enemy was never the Cylons, it was the producers whose constraints in the story arc made it necessary that it go away to wrap up the story. now imagin a series where the pegasus says you go your way to earth galactica, meanwhile we go to free the 13 colonies, as admiral cain envisioned.

Lee Adama's greatest act of incompetence in the whole series. He should have spent the rest of BSG in the brig.

😲 😲 😲 one of the most AWESOMELY shot extra special visual effects scenes ever done period!!!!!!!!!! Watching the live action pieces placed in WAS EXCELLENTLY edited IN smoothly done was exceptional editing!!!!!!!!! ALL stars did Emmy Awards caliber work!!!!!!!!!!!! All IN all one of the greatest scenes ever done in one of the most AWE inspiring shows ever done!!!!!!!!!!! Everything WAS on the screen!!!!!!!!!!!

When the Pegasus comes roaring in it always gives me a thrill. I'll confess here that I watched this clip not this particular clip but another clip of this before I watched the episode. I knew what was coming but it still gave me the same thrill and surprise when it did.

I've watched this episode I don't know how many times before but something just jumped out at me. The Admiral is at 1st angry that Apollo disobeyed orders and came but then he let's out a relieved thank you. That's a great piece of writing and acting right there.

The musical score on this show was so perfect.

One of my all-time favorite moments of any sci-fi show ever...