It's all over - unless you count the forthcoming TV prequel movie, The Plan - but in celebration of Universal Playback releasing the entire Battlestar Galactica series in one handy DVD/Blu-ray box set, unabashed sci-fi geek Toby Weidmann picks out his favourite 10 episodes from the series. If you have still yet to see the entire show - what's wrong with you?! - you may want to skip some of these episode write-ups, which is why this list appears in chronological order. After all, we wouldn't want to spoil what we think is one of the best sci-fi shows ever produced ...
33 (Season 1)
Battlestar Galactica's opener - not including the mini-series, which relaunched Ron Moore and David Eick's impressive re-imagining of the Glen A Larson 70s sci-fi romp - and it's a corker. After initially escaping the Cylon fleet, the warship Galactica and its ragtag convoy of civilian starships now finds itself under repeated attacks every 33 minutes. With the human death toll rising, the constant threat of total annihilation is having a devastating effect on the Galactica crew, who cannot afford the luxury of sleep. Five days later and the fleet finally breaks the punishing cycle, with only 47,973 survivors left alive.
The Hand Of God (Season 1)
At last the Galactica is given the chance to strike back at the Cylons in this all-action episode. The Colonial fleet is short on fuel, but find deposits of a mineral that they can use on an asteroid. Problem is the Cylons already have a heavily guarded base there, so there's nothing else for it but to take them on using a clever ruse. As well as its fist-punching-air moments, this episode also includes some key thematic revelations in the BSG story arc: Gaius Baltar (James Callis) falls further under the spell of his imaginary lover, Cylon Number Six (Tricia Helfer) and becomes convinced that he might be the human conduit for the Cylons' one true god; President Laura Roslin (Mary McDonald) learns that a "dying leader" will lead the fleet to its new home; Apollo (Jamie Bamber) and Starbuck (Katee Sackoff)'s relationship deepens; and Helo (Tahmoh Penikett), stuck on Caprica unknowingly with a humanoid Cylon, Boomer (Grace Park), discovers that the humanoid Cylons have multiple "clones" after spotting a double of Six.
Kobal's Last Gleaming Part 2 (Season 1)
As the season one finale, there's no surprise that this episode is packed with, er, surprises. The Opera House is introduced for the first time, a place that is returned to on numerous occasions throughout the show and is BSG's main deus ex machina when it comes to big story revelations. Meanwhile, Commander Adama (Edward James Olmos) leads a military coup against the President after it's revealed she secretly sent Starbuck back to Caprica to find the Arrow Of Apollo that will hopefully show the path to Earth. While on Caprica Starbuck meets Helo and Boomer, and thus correctly surmises that the Boomer on Galactica must be one of the 13 humanoid Cylons and a sleeper agent. A revelation Galactica-Boomer herself makes when "switched on" before firing two shots into Commander Adama's chest. Talk about shock endings!
Pegasus (Season 2)
Those who are familiar with the original Battlestar Galactica series may remember that the Colonial fleet bumped into another battlestar, the Pegasus, while fleeing the Cylons in the two-parter The Living Legend. It was one of the original series' best episodes and perhaps the reason why Moore and Eick decided to resurrect the concept in their BSG. However, although the rivalry between the two battlestars' commanders, Adama and Admiral Cain (24's Michelle Forbes), is kept, the rest of the storyline is very different - in the original Adama outranked Cain, in the new series the position is reversed. Although this two-part episode is excellent, the first half gets the nod because it includes some memorable moments: such as the emotional first meeting between the two battlestar crews, the revelation of the horrific treatment of Pegasus' Number Six and the truly thrilling finale, which sees the two starships preparing to battle it out.
Lay Down Your Burdens Part 2 (Season 2)
Star Trek has had its share, 24 excels at it and Lost, as preposterous as it is, can also leave you on tenterhooks, but when it comes to season cliffhangers Battlestar Galactica rules. The first part of this final episode to season two is predominantly a political affair as Roslin and Baltar battle it out for the Presidency, with Roslin eventually conceding, but not before having tried to rig the election in her favour. Baltar decides that the fleet will abandon its search for Earth and live on a habitable planet they discovered, dubbed New Caprica. The story then throws a huge curveball into the mix, by leaping the series forward by a whole year. Life on New Caprica, while not easy, certainly seems better than aboard a starship, but, as you'd expect, the Cylons have not given up their search and dutifully arrive to subjugate the colonists. Outsmarted and outgunned, Adama and Apollo are forced to flee in their battlestars, while President Baltar surrenders on the planet below. Uh-oh!
Exodus Part 2 (Season 3)
Resolving the New Caprica story, this is predominantly an action episode, as Adama finally returns to rescue the colony in spectacular style, but it also includes some of the series' most dramatic moments, particularly for Colonel Tigh and Starbuck, who will never be the same again. Meanwhile, as the fleet flees, Baltar is left behind with the remaining Cylons, who aren't happy!
Crossroads Part 2 (Season 3)
Another season cliffhanger - see, we told you they were good! - this is another episode that neatly ties up some plot threads only to open up a whole new can of worms. While the trial of Baltar over his alleged collaboration with the Cylons on New Caprica is resolved, leaving Adama and Roslin at odds, four of the final five humanoid Cylons are revealed - and shockingly they are all well-known faces of the Galactica crew. As one of them says: "We're Cylons, and have been from the start." The episode ends stunningly with the fleet adrift in space without power while the Cylons prepare to attack, while a crewmember, who was thought dead, returns claiming to have found the way to Earth.
Faith (Season 4)
This episode focuses on BSG's female characters and includes some major epiphanies for the likes of Athena (formerly Caprica-Boomer), Roslin and Starbuck. All three must make their own individual leaps of faith: Starbuck realises her destiny is to lead the Colonial fleet to Earth; Athena realises that by breaking her programming and choosing to aid the humans she is seen as an messianic inspiration to the rest of the Number Eights; and President Roslin realises her own mortality while in conversation with another cancer sufferer (played by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Nana Visitor) and has a choice to make about the road ahead. It's a thoroughly thought provoking episode, while also maintaining the action count, and Mary McDonnell, in particular, is sensational. Faith also includes a moment involving Felix Gaeta (Alessandro Juliani) that will have huge repercussions for the start of the final season...
Blood On The Scales (The Final Season, aka Season 5)
... And this is it. Although the final season's opener, Sometimes A Great Notion, is fantastic, and features one of the series' most shocking moments - the death of a BSG series regular - the third episode from this season is where the Gaeta-Tom Zarek rebellion finally comes to a head. It's a shame that this storyline was not given a little more room to breathe (having taken up just three episodes); although it's been very dark in tone (season four is easily the gloomiest of the series), it's also a storyline that's been coming. Adama and Roslin had started to become totalitarian in their command of the fleet and an insurrection seemed almost inevitable. While few will be saddened by the fate of the nefarious Zarek, it's hard not to feel for poor Gaeta...
Daybreak (The Final Season, aka Season 5)
A controversial choice maybe, as BSG's final episode split the fans, but this two-part story still manages to produce some standout moments and, on the whole, ties up all the story threads. OK, the final twist is a little heavy handed and ridiculous (so what, they just dumped all their technology for a pastoral life?), Cavil's end is completely out of character and we didn't like Baltar and Six's angelic revelation either, but there are too many crowd-pleasing moments not to include this in a BSG top 10. And call me soppy, but I had tears streaming down my face in the last few scenes between Roslin and Adama. Personally, I think Daybreak is one of the best final episodes to a series and a fitting send-off for one of TV's best shows ...
• Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series (DVD & Blu-ray)