CmdrCain

I thought "Fire in Space" was a solid episode for a number of reasons, including the look it gave us at the perils of a ship, even a technically advanced warship, having to manage without any outside support. Galactica is on its own here, and if they can't put this fire out they've had it. The idea for the Cylons to ignore the vipers in order to kamakazie Galactica worked very well in exploiting this weakness.

Another standout point of this episode was the opportunity it presented for supporting characters to shine, particularly Boomer, Athena, and Dr. Salik. I'd like to have seen all three characters developed further as the show progressed, and I don't understand why Maren Jensen was considered such a weak actress that they eventually wrote her out of the show. For not having any acting background, she didn't do badly at all. I've seen far worse.

The weakest parts of this episode, for me, were the Galactica exterior f/x when Starbuck and Apollo are setting their charges, and the viper strafing run on the landing bay. On the latter, it just didn't seem believable to me that the vipers could carry enough suppressant to extinguish a huge fire in that massive landing bay. It was also unfortunate that they recycled the f/x for the scene where the Cylon raider crashes into the landing bay and explodes (they used it again for the explosions caused by Starbuck and Apollo's charges).

As an interesting aside, this episode was combined with "the Living Legend" for the full-length film "Mission Galactica: The Cylon Attack".

Overall, if ranking Galactica episodes from best to least, I'd place "Fire in Space" somewhere in the middle: not the greatest, but a good effort, nonetheless. And also memorable for giving us an enhanced look at some supporting characters.