Stargate Universe

[NaperVic]

Friday premiered the newest Stargate series, Universe.

 

Did anyone else watch it? What'd you think?

 

I loved Stargate SG-1 & Stargate Atlantis, but so far I'm not sure about Universe.

 

It feels to me too much like what Voyager was to the Star Trek series.

 

There was a cutie, so I'll keep watching for now .

[hh5]

The show format seems to copy Galactica. The flow being disjointed.

Not sure if they will keep me as a fan???

 

That scientist seems to be power hungry and anti-social mmmm another doctor smith???

[JamesSavik]

So far...

 

 

It looks like sci-fi channel is using leftover crap (and actors) from BSG and Stargate to create Stargate: the Abortion.

 

Look for a mid-season cancellation of this rip off of two successful series that owe their success to ORIGINALITY.

[Aeroplane]

I quite liked it, but I wasnt riveted.

[Lugh]

Two opposing views here:

 

I wasn't thrilled.

 

DC loved it.

[Hoskins]

I thought SG-1 jumped the shark when Jeff Weber Macgyver O'Neill got promoted

 

I thought BSG jumped the shark when Lt Castillo Adama let his kid off the hook AGAIN

 

I think this one jumped the shark when the kid got recruited because of a video game. "The Last Starfighter", anyone? It was that moment that I knew there wasn't going to be one bit of creativity shed on this lump.

 

[W_L]

I'll give you my in-depth review after I finish watching it.

 

FYI, I hated Voyager and Enterprise.

 

I loved BSG though and I do believe that the BSG model of sci-fi takes the human darkness further than previous shows in the genre. The first 2 seasons were a tour de force about power, humanity, and our

 

Stargate has always been an interesting sci-fi franchise.

[W_L]

Sorry for double posting, but I did say I would give an in-depth review of the series premise and SGU:

 

Stargate has become a well known franchise, equivalent to Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars, and other. Stargate universe is the third series in the franchise.

 

Stargate SG1 set the stage with adventure, over-arching plots, and the usualy "Save the world scenarios", which we can found in Sci-Fi today. It was good entertainment and enjoyable, because it had the right mix of bravado and humor. Who can say no to Jack O'Neill making snide remarks about his opponents and then gunning down twenty guys? The peculiar Dr. Jackson who is obsessed with the mysteries of existence and seeking something beyond him? Samantha Carter's romances and trait of killing off every boyfriend she ever had including Jack O'Neil in the Continuum Movie ? Finally, Tealc with a warrior scowl and silent treatment that would make most Klingons blush, most likely based off Worf from TNG? Those were the golden years of Stargate before the 9th season.

 

Stargate Atlantis was to be a second series branching off the original. The series started out very well, but fell apart around the 3rd and 4th season. The premise had many promises: understanding a whole new host of civilizations in a distant galaxy alien to our own, new villains that could rival the perrenial technologist (The Ancients) that were the Wraith and Asurans, and you had interesting characters with a complex backstory that coalesced. I liked the M.A.S.H -esque motif they ran during the 1st season, which was incredibly delicate blend of humor/action/humanity. "Poisoning the Well" may perhaps be my favorite episode of the Franchise for the line, "Victory at any costs, Churchill, Didn't think I'd disagree"- Carson Beckett. It was a good series before the dynamic shifted more to emulate SG1 in the action category ending in the Biggest battle of Stargate "Be all my Sins Remembered", which made Atlantis become similar to DS9 if you wish to compare Star Trek series to Stargate.

 

Both series had merits, but they started fading due to many writing shifts.

 

Now we go into Stargate Universe or SGU- A meshwork of Star Trek Voyager, Battlestar Galactica, and many other nods to series.

 

So far, the musical score reminds me of Battlestar Galactica and the opening action sequences with the Al'Kesh bombers and Death Gliders were more akin to the Cylon raiders of BSG than Stargate. As to the 9th Cheveron SFX sequence, I'll leave that for viewers to decide upon. I like the premise, but I have big reservations on execution.

 

Now for the meat of the story, it is a character based series rather than a Arc story. Most people viewing sci-fi don't think about the differences in the Genre of Sci-Fi, but there are two main group of shows:

 

"Adventure of the Week"- This is similar to an anthology format like Star Trek and its sequel TNG along with Voyager. Additionally, Lost in space, Andromeda, and the original Battlestar Galactica were based off this story technique. The adventure of week usually involves a large ensemble cast, which makes or break this kind of TV series. Execution of the stories must be consistent with the characters, which sometimes mean that the characters become robots only set to one emotional or character dynamic. Stargate SG1 succeeded with this format and Stargate Atlantis in season 2 and 3 failed here.

"The Big Story"- This one was utilized by Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Babylon 5, and Battlestar Galactica. Arc or "Big story" shows are driven by plot points. The characters are still involved, but the plots carry the show to the next challenge for our characters. Stargate SG1 used this approach on their main storyline for the Gould in Season 1-6 and Stargate Atlantis 1st season and 4th seasons were thrilling due to it.

 

I won't lie about my bias toward the "Big Story" and plot driven series. SGU for me is still young and could become either, but the pilot shows us a more "Adventure of the week" style with possibly better execution than Voyager was for Star Trek, hopefully.

 

As to the characters:

 

Eli Wallace- The Geeky guy inside all Sci-Fi fans. Syfy network knows their audience and he looks like someone that would fit into any comic-con. I think the character needs fleshing out; he'll become comic relief if they do not.

 

Dr. Rush- An Anti-Villain or an Anti-Hero, it all depends on your view of the character. He reminds of Dr. Baltar from BSG along with a few others. I like the concept and the cold deceitful nature of his character, which seems to me more human than many Stargate main cast members. He's as close as you can get to a BSG personality without calling it Stargate BSG.

 

The military guys have not gotten enough screen time for me to love or hate them.

 

Now there's an interesting thing in this series, Stargate has introduced the first openly lesbian main character, which is a interesting though forgettable. The first bisexual main characters, both females, appeared in Ds9 and Babylon 5 concurrently (I can debate this with sci-fi fans later in private; it used to be a more touchy subject as B5 fans thought they were more progressive than Trekkies.)

 

I'm still waiting for a openly bisexual/gay male character in American sci-fi (DR. Who doesn't count) that isn't or turns evil, (Why did Felix Gaeta have to turn evil?)

 

Thus, let's get down down to the story: It was odd and disjointed, so I'll leave any true judgments until part 3 "airs", pun intended for people that know episode titles like me by heart (very geeky).

 

As it is currently, SGU has many flaws and potential. Let's hope that they can make it and not crash the franchise like Enterprise.

[Linxe Termoil]

I loved SG 1, the movie and Atlantis.

 

I hated Battlestar Galactica because it jumped too much, which was why I hated about Star Gate Universe at first. I had to record it and watch it twice just to make sure I knew where things were at, but now that I've gotten it all figured out, i'm open minded enough to say that I'll keep watching it just to see where things go, at least for now. Then I'll make up my mind.

 

and the Cameo appearance by O'neill, Carter and Jackson was probably because they wanted to get in the fans good graces. We'll see though...

 

Me

[Phantom]

I agree... SG: U seems to be okay so far, but feels like it's lacking with something (that I can't quite explain right now). I'll prolly still watch the whole season to see how it is, and go from there.

 

I tend not to judge something based on the first episode (Pilot ones) cus then i'd never watch a show lol.

[Rabble_Rouser]

I watched and was interested by the premise but disappointed by the execution. I thought they developed the character of Dr.Rush well and the cute military guy but I really didn't get to the point that I connected to any of the other characters at all. I find pilots generally don't really do a series justice so I'll reserve judgement until I see a couple of more episodes. I'm hoping the jumping perspective frequency diminishes quickly. I think this will end up being a very different series since it's looking like it will mostly revolve around the characters as there seems like there will be very little chance of them interacting with outside forces.

 

I hated the first BSG (I was a kid then) but I loved the dark nature of BSG and enjoyed all the seasons except the second last. I think Star Trek holds the biggest cautionary tale for Sci-Fi series. After TNG, all the series seemed to get worse and worse. The Star Trek movie that came out this summer shows that a series can be successfully reinvented though.

 

I'll probably give SGU until the end of the 3rd episode before I pronounce judgement.

 

Steve

[W_L]

I watched and was interested by the premise but disappointed by the execution. I thought they developed the character of Dr.Rush well and the cute military guy but I really didn't get to the point that I connected to any of the other characters at all. I find pilots generally don't really do a series justice so I'll reserve judgement until I see a couple of more episodes. I'm hoping the jumping perspective frequency diminishes quickly. I think this will end up being a very different series since it's looking like it will mostly revolve around the characters as there seems like there will be very little chance of them interacting with outside forces.

 

I hated the first BSG (I was a kid then) but I loved the dark nature of BSG and enjoyed all the seasons except the second last. I think Star Trek holds the biggest cautionary tale for Sci-Fi series. After TNG, all the series seemed to get worse and worse. The Star Trek movie that came out this summer shows that a series can be successfully reinvented though.

 

I'll probably give SGU until the end of the 3rd episode before I pronounce judgement.

 

Steve

 

I think we all agree to give SGU a chance for a couple more episodes. I liked the Voyager concept and premise, but hated the episodes. I'm one of those geeky trekkies that actually counted how many shuttlecraft they lost and how many people they reported were killed each episode.

 

Dr. Rush is shaping up to be interesting, but I still don't understand what motivates him.

 

For the new BSG's Dr. Baltar, you understand it was his vanity, lust, and pride that motivate him from the very beginning. Everything he did had a twisted logic that people can relate with, which made BSG such a powerful story.

 

Dr. Rush is missing a motivation to be so cold and calculating.

 

Now to Star trek:

 

I think the Trek franchise began to die after DS9, not after TNG. Both the main producers of DS9 have crafted marvelous series after DS9, Ira Behr, the 4400, and Ronald D. Moore, Battlestar Galactica.

 

DS9 was the high point of Star Trek on a conceptual basis, but what happened is that concept was far too high and nothing can seriously be done for a proper ending to Star Trek. It was the last series to be thought out by Gene Roddenberry before his death. I would dare any Sci-Fi viewer to name an episode of Star Trek that was better executed in TNG or the original series than DS9 "Taking into the Wind", TNG's "Best of Both worlds" does not count as it was a two season arc, "Taking into the Wind" was a decade long story arc. It took them 7 years to craft that episodes elements (The Klingon civil War and Worf's storyline of TNG, the Bajoran occupation and Cardassian storyline TNG/DS9, and the Dominion storylines into what I would call the final hurrah of Star Trek) from the later seasons of TNG to DS9's final episodes.

[JamesSavik]

I watched the opening episode of SGU again and noticed some things.

 

The first episode was named "AIR". BSG's 2nd episode, 1st season was named "Water".

 

Dr. Rush has lost a wife or something- he's crying over her picture.

 

The stargate on Icarus Base had a ninth chevron and would not connect to earth. That is why the ship was there in the first place.

 

I suspect that Dr. Rush knew about the ancient ship. He seems to have a good grasp of the ancient language and knew how to "tell" the ship that they were in trouble and what they needed.

 

The fat kid/video gamer needs to die horribly.

[Rilbur]

Wait, they aired a new series? Dangit!

[JamesSavik]

You can watch it on hulu

[Phantom]

You can also download it for free (both standard and HD) on iTunes for now... not sure when that'll go bye bye

[hh5]

 

Now to Star trek:

 

I think the Trek franchise began to die after DS9, not after TNG. Both the main producers of DS9 have crafted marvelous series after DS9, Ira Behr, the 4400, and Ronald D. Moore, Battlestar Galactica.

 

DS9 was the high point of Star Trek on a conceptual basis, but what happened is that concept was far too high and nothing can seriously be done for a proper ending to Star Trek. It was the last series to be thought out by Gene Roddenberry before his death. I would dare any Sci-Fi viewer to name an episode of Star Trek that was better executed in TNG or the original series than DS9 "Taking into the Wind", TNG's "Best of Both worlds" does not count as it was a two season arc, "Taking into the Wind" was a decade long story arc. It took them 7 years to craft that episodes elements (The Klingon civil War and Worf's storyline of TNG, the Bajoran occupation and Cardassian storyline TNG/DS9, and the Dominion storylines into what I would call the final hurrah of Star Trek) from the later seasons of TNG to DS9's final episodes.

 

Nice that you mention that.

I was just watching the last episode of Enterprise.

 

Giving way to future to other star trek by calling it "These are the voyages..." rather than be a tv series that got cut off in the middle of a run.

 

Look at SGA - rather weird last episode.

 

SGU seems to be the last hope of the Star Gate series.

Really if it doesn't pick up in the couple of episodes it will be the first of the SG series to fail next to SGA.

 

What made SGA a partial success is because it still had roots to it SG home base and subject to its system of government.

 

Now breaking those ties - to govern their own destiny amongst the heavens against new bad guys and find new alies along the way.

Sounds much like TOS BG, NS BG, and Voyager.

 

I hope that the series would break those weak links too of Cylons or Federation.

 

It will take a lot to show to have it build itself off its own .

We're assuming that they will stay on that ship for however long until they can't repair it.

 

If they have to abandon it then it may give way to survive and find a way back to earth.

Would the series survive if the really look to their own survival - make a home of their own.

 

Show us what is possible where they choose to settle building a new place for Humanity in the universe.

Far away from the ori or the ga uui ?? or the wraith

 

But still face new bad guys.

Hey thats entertainment ...

No bad guys - no one watches the shows.

 

Not sure if they can suvive against vampire shows!!

They should have kept SGA - they had vampires audience share.

[Emulated]

Alright, first off: I LOVED STARGATE UNIVERSE!

 

It was just so...wow! I've watched it countless times (Gotta love Sky+), and it's still amazing!

 

The acting, the directing, the music, CGI, setting. It's all fantastic. A real 10/10.

 

Now I have to strongly disagree that this is Voyager, or Battlestar Galactica. They're all so different, you can't compare them. Sure they share some elements, but don't all Sci-Fi shows?

 

As for the story, I think that's great too. Damn, I sound like a major fanboy! But to be honest, I had big reservations about this show. They cancelled Atlantis, and days later, this was green-lit. It didn't sit too well with me. But I figured I'd watch this, see how 'different' they were really gonnna go.

 

I caught a bit of an Atlantis episode the other day and it felt so dated. Ok, perhaps that's the wrong word, but it didn't have that 'edge' that had me wanting more.

 

Of course it's all down to personal opinion and ultimately what we all want out of the show on a personal level. For me, Stargate Universe gives me everything in one show. I can't wait to see how it progresses (or better still, I hope that it remains as good!)

 

Oh, and as for gay characters in Sci-Fi, let us not forger BSG's Admiral Cain! I loved her before I noticed the relationship with Gina, but after I was like WOW!

[Lugh]

ok...

 

 

 

Fifteen minutes of walking in the sand. Really?

 

Talk about boring. Gah!