burial. When Spock advises against it, Boma becomes insubordinate, to which Spock responds by allowing him the funeral. During the ceremony, the creatures attack again, and Spock is pinned by a boulder. Despite Spock's orders to leave him, McCoy and Boma free him. Spock then manages to get the Galileo off the ground by using the shuttle's boosters. As a result, the shuttle now has too little fuel to escape the planet's gravity or even to achieve a stable orbit, and there is still no way to contact the Enterprise. Spock suddenly decides to dump and ignite all the remaining fuel from the shuttle's engines. The giant flare he produces is seen on the Enterprise view screen just as the ship has left orbit. Kirk reverses course, and the survivors are beamed out just as the shuttle is destroyed on re-entry. Back on board the Enterprise, Kirk questions Spock, trying to get him to admit that his final action was motivated more by emotion than logic. Spock refuses but freely admits to stubbornness, at which the rest of the crew burst into laughter. Reception Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode a 'B' rating, noting that it "raises some interesting issues" but described it overall as watching a "fixed fight". The Hollywood Reporter ranked "The Galileo Seven" as the 67th greatest Star Trek franchise episode in 2016, including episodes in later series. They also ranked this episode as the 19th best episode of the original series. In 2016, Business Insider ranked "The Galileo Seven" the 9th best episode of the original series. Io9's 2014 listing of the top 100 Star Trek episodes placed "The Galileo Seven" as the 36th best episode of all series up to that time, out of over 700 episodes. In 2015, SyFy ranked this episode as one of the top ten essential Star Trek original series Spock episodes. In 2017, Business Insider ranked "The Galileo Seven" the 9th best episode of the original series. They note this is the first Star Trek episode to include a shuttlecraft. In 2018, Collider ranked this episode the 15th best original series episode. In 2018, PopMatters ranked this the 17th best episode of the original series. A 2018 Star Trek binge-watching guide by Den of Geek, recommended this episode for featuring the trio of characters Kirk, Spock, and Bones of the original series. References External links "The Galileo