Battlestar Galactica “33” (January 14, 2005)

The series’ premiere (following its launch via a mediocre four-hour miniseries) had a perfect high concept premise in the style of a classic science fiction short story: the entire fleet must teleport through space every thirty-three minutes just before the Cylons catch up and wipe them out.  Nerves are frayed, no one can get any sleep (or do anything that requires more than a half-hour’s concentration), and fatigue is beginning to take its toll in fatalities in writer Ronald D. Moore’s grim, precise study of a system collapsing under stress.  It’s a lingering shame that this half-smart, half-dorky cult show never again achieved the standard set by the tautly directed and cannily performed “33.”