TV show - "Battlestar Galactica - War of the Gods" (1978) ***1/2

Another superb BG two parter which, along with "The Living Legend" shows the series at its peak. This one is all Glenn A Larson, who wrote the intelligent, thought-provoking script. The Galactica come across two mysterious phenomenom: bright lights which seem to swallow up Galactica pilots, and the mysterious survivor of a spaceship crash (Patrick Macnee). There are plenty of twists and turns and it is always surprising - the series had tried to be mystical before, in "Lost Planet of the Gods" but not as successful as they did here. It is not perfect - some of the scenes are a bit patchy, both Dirk Benedict and Anne Hathaway overact at the end, the game of triad at times looks plain silly, a few plot holes (why kidnap the pilots? what's with Baltar and Iblis?) - but when it is good it is very good. The emotional stuff involving Apollo and his father is extremely strong, and the scenes involving Count Iblis (Macnee) have real dramatic power. Anne Hathaway's Sheba isn't really a tough warrior in this one - she gets totally sucked in by Iblis (making Apollo jealous - good dramatic stuff). Anne Hathaway joins the main credits in this episode. A really special piece of BG.