10 Amazing TV Episodes (That Doomed Great Shows)

The 2004 reboot of seventies Star Wars clone (no pun intended) hailed the rise of 'The Golden era of Television'. The basic formula was expanded, reframed with new characters, given a dose of realism and set against the controversial Iraq War of 2003. Cylons were effectively insurgents, the Colonial Fleet were the aggressors and the Philip K Dick sci-fi trope of artificial right-to-life themes were at the front of the storytelling.

With the resistance all but defeated on New Caprica, the Cylons are preparing to detonate a nuclear weapon and destroy the settlement. Adam and his son Lee have positioned the battlestar Galactica to take on the ground forces but the battle causes significant damage to the ship, pelted by four Cylon Basestars. As all hope of evacuation seems lost, the battlestar Pegasus jumps into the planet's atmosphere and takes down three of the four attacking Basestars in a kamikaze manoeuvre that had fans leaping from their sofas.

There is so much to love here yet, self sacrifice, reunions, the anguish of Tigh losing his wife, but unfortunately it also killed the entire Pegasus crew and reset the series to its starting point.

Exodus may have worked better as a season finale bridge or even as a finale to the entire series. It did, however, clear the deck for the rest of the run into the slightly hazy themes of prophesy that would come to encapsulate the remainder of the show.