*** Minor Star Trek: TNG spoiler (If you have not seen Generations) ***
A classic prop destruction was ST:TNG - in their first film, Generations, they crash the Enterprise - this appears to have been a good excuse to build a new one for the movies, as they apparantly used the TV series sets for the destruction scenes, destroying them in the process (with a few exceptions which were being used elsewhere)
As to Battlestar Galactica, I'd say give it a chance... as a mini series, the new one was not too great, but as a pilot - well, who can say the Babylon 5 pilot was without flaw first time round? Lets see how the next few episodes come out before making harsh judgements? It is attitudes like that (from the biggies in the business) which causes new sci-fi ventures to die all too quickly.