And thus begins Stargate Universe, the latest chapter in the Stargate series.
Already, the series is darker, more sinister and adult. Our characters are flawed, and not in the same amusing manner as the characters from SG1 and Atlantis, who required something to balance all the factors in their favour. Here, the flaws are already festering issues. For instance, Msgt. Greer (Jamil Walker Smith) had been imprisoned, awaiting a Court Marshall, before the attack that landed them on an Ancient spaceship travelling to who-knows-what destination. He and Camile Wray (Ming-Na), a member of the IOA, already demonstrated animosity towards one another, though we do not yet know the nature of his crime.
Neither SG1 nor Atlantis delved into dramatic character issues. Certainly some segments focused on their relationships (or else people like me would not be still waiting and hoping after 13 years for Jack O'Neill and Samantha Carter to finally get together), but from the moment I saw Lt. Scott (Brian J. Smith) having sex in a supply closet with a fellow (female) soldier, I knew the approach Universe would take would be different.
The entire premiere set a different tone. In both SG1 and Atlantis, the premiere's established who the enemy was - the Go'auld and the Wraith, who the team travelling regularly through the gate would be, and what they would be contending against. Both teams also had as members an alien (Jaffa and human) whom they had met while on another planet.
Universe has no enemy, except the tensions between the characters on Destiny and Destiny herself. Yes, they will be travelling to planets in whatever galaxy they have found themselves, but the focus seems more likely to be on the only possible throughline - the characters and the ship. They will have to contend with the failing life support systems, the lack of supplies, of food and water. They will struggle, rather than cooperate, for none of them is prepared for this mission. When they go through the stargate, they will have limited time to explore the planet they are on and get back to the ship before it leaves as it is commanded to do on auto-pilot. They will not be able to return to planets they have already visited.
If you are a fan of SG1 and Atlantis, you will not be disappointed with this new show. Yes, it is very different, but the elements you have grown to love (such as the humour) are still there.
But if you never got into either of those series, or even if you did not like them much, you should still check out SGU if you are remotely interested in science fiction.
Please let me know what you thought.
PS.
1. Robert Carlyle!!! plays Dr Rush and he is awesome.
2. Eli Wallace (David Blue) had ever nerd's dream come true - he solved a problem in a video game that allowed him to join missions in space. Just like The Last Starfighter.
3. Because Eli just joined the SG team, he doesn't know anything that viewers of SG1 or Atlantis know, so we learn as he learns.
4. Richard Dean Anderson has put on a little bit of weight.
5. I wonder if they will let this doctor actually survive and kill some other member of the team instead.
6. I love that things are already getting named!
7. I wonder if Destiny is powered by ZPMs and if power is going to become a major issue.
8. No replicators so far.
9. They named the ship the Hammond!
10. What did Dr Rush tell the SGC when he briefly took over Dr. Bill Lee's body?
I enjoyed the show and I'm definetley going to keep up with it.
ReplyDeleteI think my favourite bits will be the exploration and repair of Destiny. Given the number of Ancient storage crates I suspect there will be a few surprise in a box episodes. :D
The main drama was predictable but I found their resolution to be satisfying and sensible if a bit sad for one of the characters.
I do like how they summed up what you needed to know about the Stargates with the traning video montage. It was very handy.
I'm sort of under the impression that Dr. Rush didn't really call SGC, since they never cut back there afterwards and we only have Rush's word that he did. No one else seems to have used the stones after, but I might have missed it.
The flashbacks cuts got annoying, and I hope they don't keep doing them. It was hard to tell when something was happening since we didn't have alot of context to go on. Two futuristic spaceships/facilities are difficult to tell apart. Fortunately, it should be quite obvious from now on when they do that.
I found Stargate Universe to be nothing short of awful. Many people assume that the fact that the characters are more flawed (and thus, more unlikeable) makes it more 'real' and 'adult'. I ask you, in the real world, could a ship run if its captain and officers were arguing all the time? Could a corporation? Could any large scale group effort run if you constantly have internal break downs in how it's run? No. In reality, a ship run like that would fail after a very, very short time. As for SGU being 'adult' because of a sex scene, that's pretty much backwards. Any show that depends on a sex scene to scream out 'Look at me, I'm a big boy show!' is NOT a mature show. If there's a sex scene for a reason, yes, that can make a show more mature. But as far as I can tell, there was absolutely no reason for that scene other than to make people go 'Gasp! They showed sex. This must be mature'.
ReplyDeleteAnd if that wasn't bad enough, the amount of 'main' characters is terrible as well. You have Dr. Rush, the smart guy. And Eli Wallace, the smart guy. You have TG, the woman who just can't take it. You have Chloe, the woman who just can't take it. There's a clone for each and every character, which means that instead of a problem being fixed in the normal amount of time, and then returning to the plot, it now has to be fixed TWICE.
As for the first episode itself, it was so full of plot holes, I was pretty sure it was a gag. If Eli's solution was supposed to work, why would they take him to Icarus? He would have never found out what the game was really about. If the Earth symbol was needed to deal Destiny, then it must have been on that gate. Why did no one wonder why the Earth symbol was on another gate? Why would the Ancients launch a ship with the life support systems running? They knew it would be a long time before they boarded it, and that they'd be arriving by Stargate. Wouldn't it have saved supplies to simply have the life support turn on as soon as the Stargate was activated? Why was it that with scientists who were smart enough to unlock the 9th chevron, they couldn't step up a remote way to press a button? A small weight, timed to fall on the button could've the job. Or better yet, why not seal off that section of the ship? The shuttle, and the shuttle bay door might not have been viable options, but there were hallways leading there. Just close those off, problem solved. And these are just some of the plot holes I saw.
Don't even get me started on this 'hip, new, dark, dramatic' camera work. I like to watch my TV shows without a giant box blocking half the scene, or getting motion sickness. What's wrong with using a tripod? Or zooming in and out without looking like something my senile grandmother filmed?
SGU is a worse addition to the Stargate franchise than even SG Infinity was. I can't imagine any Stargate fan actually enjoying this travesty. If you want to watch a show about interpersonal problems, they already have plenty of shows that are like that. There's even one that takes place in space! What I wanted was another Stargate. Another 'let's kick some alien ass' type of show. I had thought, going into this, we were going to see a new enemy, an enemy that would've bad the Ori look like a schoolyard punk, who would be threating the whole damn Universe. Indeed, there is an enemy threating Universe. And it's called a 'new, mature take on Stargate'.
Ouch! I can tell that you are a huge fan of the franchise to be so upset about SGU's different take on the universe of Stargate. I won't refute everything you've said, because in some cases I can see where you are coming from but choose not to take issue with it myself.
ReplyDeleteI will say, however, that I think part of the point is that the characters are flawed and don't get along and thus how are they going to overcome this before they all die in space? It's very different from SG1 and Atlantis where the teams were carefully picked and the resources of the entire world were on hand.
On Destiny, they have whoever got through the gate. Even if that means two of every kind...might be a clever play off of Noah's ark.
Regardless of anything else, they are going in a new direction. It has similarities to the series we already know, but it is forging a different path. I'm sorry you won't be on it with me, but for those of you who are coming, as long as we enjoy ourselves.