Stargate Universe eps 1 and 2
I wasn’t going to sample this latest offering from the Stargate stable, but a recommendation from fellow sci-fi enthusiast/non-Stargate watcher e had me sitting down to give it a go, so here’s me sitting down to write about it.
People all over the internet have mentioned Stargate Universe being heavily influenced by Battlestar Galactica. That would be an understatement. The unhappy characters, the power struggles, the sets, the mood, even the lighting – everything about this SCREAMS Battlestar Galactica. Which could be no bad thing, except that when you try to emulate something as good as BSG, you’re setting yourself up for a bit of a fall. How on earth are you going to measure up?
So while I enjoyed this tale of a small band of humans stuck on the other side of the universe, trying to get back to Earth, struggling to understand ancient technology, mythology and (can’t escape my) biology, as well as each other’s flaws and fallibilities, and it was entertaining and reasonably well-made, was it good enough to keep me hooked? I don’t know. Its influences are so transparent and its tropes so well-worn, that I’m not sure whether it has anything of its own to offer.
Ultimately, SGU is going to stand or fall on the strength of its characters. And while Robert Carlyle makes Dr Rush a nicely ambiguous shady scientist (mercifully free of the smarm that made me want to punch Gaius Baltar every week), everyone else is just a teensy bit too dull to capture either the heart or the imagination.
Even their flaws come across as a bit tacked-on. Scott being a ladies’ man seems a little unlikely for one so cookie-cutter earnest, Greer’s propensity for threatening everyone within a 2-mile radius seems entirely ridiculous for one who’s not yet been dishonourably discharged, and even the reliable Ming-Na’s character Camille just seems a bit petulant for one who…um, what does she do? No idea. But she seems to get on her high horse about it a lot.
Anyway, the first episode, concentrating on how they ended up a gazillion light years from Earth, was better than the second, which concentrated too much on a “the McGuffin is broken/lost, we must fix/find the McGuffin or WE WILL DIE” technical-type storyline that I struggled to follow. I’ll give episode 3 a go, because I did quite like 1 and 2, but unless everybody gets a bit more compelling, I may not stick around for much longer than that. Discussion of any episodes at all are welcome on this thread though - I’ll post my views of future episodes in the comments.
They showed 1 and 2 together here in the US, as a single upsized episode. I loved that Senator “Do You Know Who I Am” managed to die quickly. He was not someone I had any interest in.
Okay, I’ll be honest. The *only* two characters I have any interest in are Ugly Betty Cliff and Hamish McRush. I loathed Sgt Angry, was bored by Lieutenant Dullard, didn’t quite see the point of Colonel Ouchie, etc.
What I liked was the alien-ness of the setting, the failing systems, and the being far enough away from home, and having to fix everything and explore strange new ci. vil. eye. zay. tions. to boldly split infinitives, etc. Plus, it was the Last Starfighter. I *loved* the Last Starfighter. And Eli-Cliff made a really cute last starfighter.
I just hope they start solving things smartly. For all that everyone seems to hate Dr. Hamish, he was right in not putting Earth at risk in saving a few dozen people and I hope they don’t use too many mcguffins and stupid choices to drive the plot.
I have the attention span of a gnat (and a subnormal gnat at that) but the first three episodes kept me watching, even if I was playing games on the computer at the same time…
(And thanks for watching!!!!)
Heh, Senator DYKWIAM was absolutely rubbish, wasn’t he? Seemed to have been lifted straight out of some crappy disaster movie remake – I can just see him being annoying in “The Poseidon Adventure 3: This time it’s soaking” or something. And his whiny daughter wasn’t much better. I was surprised they seemed to be hinting at her and Lt Dullard hooking up, I thought her and the Cliffster were going to bond a bit, but maybe not. Or maybe it’ll be a love quadrangle with the Lt’s other squeeze in the mix. PLEASE NO.
I also hope there aren’t too many mcguffins, but I did quite like the idea of having Dr Daniel Jackson (who was always my favourite in the 3 eps or so I saw of Stargate) on the instructional videos. A way to keep a link with the old series but still fit in with the premise of the new one. Although as you say, e, the Stargate fanbase doesn’t seem to have taken this one to its collective bosom so whether it will pick up enough new fans to survive is the key question, I guess.
The whole thing did have a kind of “moody ST: Voyager” vibe and I got myself hooked on Voyager (somewhat inexplicably)so this may well pull off the same trick – I’ll let you know what I think of ep 3 when I see it…
(but meantime no problem, thanks for the tip
)
I couldn’t help but find Carlyle’s character to be reminiscent of the original Dr Smith from Lost in Space. And that’s not a bad thing.
I quite liked the first two episodes as a, quite well done, BSG-lite, I’m just not sure that there is much of a ‘hook’ yet. I’ve also no idea where the show is headed after the next episode and I’m unsure whether that is exciting or worrying.
I think it’s all going to center on Eli. His character makes or breaks the series. If they can bear down and focus on a sense of wonder and exploration, then win. If not, fail. (And yes, Dr. Smith! I hadn’t thought of that, but a great analogy. But Dr Rush seems much more a force of good, even though he’s a borderline sociopath.)
Every time I saw Eli all I could think of was ‘chubby Jason Biggs’.
I’m still a bit undecided on Rush’s motivations as I’ve only seen the first two epiodes so far. Dr Smith always had his own interests at heart, but because they were stranded deep in space he had to help out the group to save himself. Rush sort of gave me that impression in what I’ve seen so far.
I hope that they have an overall storyline to the season and it’s not a purely ‘evil planet of the week’ scenario.
Third one was okay. Not amazing, but watchable. I had no idea who half the people in the “Away Team” were, and for ages I kept confusing Eli and the one who got shot, but I liked the fact they turned on each other and it was all quite isolating and eerie, if as you say, e, a lot of it was lifted straight from Lost.
The communication stones bodyswap thing is a bit silly if you ask me, but at least we got to see MacGyver
I didn’t like Mrs Senator DYKWIAM at all though; she seems like she would have been a perfect fit for her late hubby – “I am a personal friend of the President” indeed.
Lt Cliche’s backstory meanwhile is so hackneyed it’s ridiculous. Daddy issues, guilt issues, woman issues, yada yada yada. And as well as being a womanizer (womanizer, womanizer, womanizer…)for years, he was going to become a priest? Was he in The Thorn Birds?
I liked the Planet of the Apes shout-out till Eli felt the need to explain it. Dude, things stop being funny if you then spend ages explaining what they mean.
And were the lyrics to the song at the end a joke? “Don’t forget to breathe” because now you can, we’ve fixed the life support system and air is circulating round the ship. “No eleventh hour reprieve” except um, yes, that’s exactly what it was.
I kind of enjoyed Episode 4 — but to be honest, I fast forwarded through all the backstory stuff so the episode ended up being about 25 minutes long. I really don’t care who the crew members are and I’m not sure the writers know where they’re headed with the two characters I like. Still, enough happened and the suspense was tight enough to make me tune in to Episode 5 later this week…
I agree with you e, I kind of liked the episode, but there was lots of dull stuff too. My thoughts on the episode are here: http://poursomegravyonme.co.uk/2009/10/23/stuff-i-watched-21st-oct-22nd-oct-2009/
Yep, me three. I did quite like the main story and the scenes that dealt with it, but the character stuff was utterly rubbish.
I think part of the problem is the cast is a bit too big – yet again, I had no idea at all who half the people who suddenly turned up in this episode were, so why would I want to see them giving the world’s most boring vox pops? There’s no reason to try and introduce us to quite so many folk, especially when practically all of them seem really antsy and unlikeable. I think they’ve taken the whole “flawed characters” thing a bit too far. Focus on a handful of people, get them right in terms of character and backstory, and just have the rest of them looking scared and that’ll be enough.
I’m getting totally fed up with Lou Diamond Phillips Col character too. He’s like a higher ranking Sgt Greer – just constantly in Angry mode. And as for you, Col Young, you have an estranged wife/partner/lover because of your work? How very original of you.
Incidentally, on the flawed characters front, was it just me, or did that ridiculous girl’s shower take about 8000 years? It went on forever.
It wasn’t just you that was curious about the shower, CJ; my mind was racing as to what she might have been up to in there.
Next ep and I’ll still be watching next week. And yes, once again, I did fast forward through the confessionals. I wish the SGU people would realize that I don’t actually *care* about the red shirts.
I think they should have concentrated on establishing the core cast first and slowly dribbled in the red shirts. As it stands, I don’t feel I know any of them.
Agreed. Albeit, only 2 and a half days seems to have passed on the ship (boy is Colonel Owie a fast healer!)
Is it really only 2 and a half days? They’ve got a lot done!
I watched episode 5 last night… if you look at the link I posted above, then you’ll see that I accurately guessed the outcome of the episode – smug grin alert!
I actually quite enjoyed this episode, it’s slowly drawing me in.
I kind of like that it’s a crisis-based show and they’re taking things a little at a time. Things aren’t magically solving themselves. No, not a perfect show, but I’m keeping watching. And yes, I guessed the outcome of the episode too, because although the characters don’t know they’re in a series, we do. And it would have been a very short one.
Ah, well it was pretty obvious that they were going to survive, but not necessarily by the means that they did. I think we still deserve a pat on the back for guessing!
Fair enough. *pat* *pat
Eh. Episode focused on characters that were not Eli & Hamish. Okay ep, but… you know…
Am an ep behind you, e, so just watched the one “we’re gonna die in the star, oooh no we’re not!” ep last night. It was fine, but I think it suffered from the fact, as you two have both said, that we knew they were going to survive (although I wouldn’t have guessed how, Sherby, so I second the patting
) There was no suspense at all except briefly when it looked like the shuttle MIGHT have an issue getting back to the main ship. So while I liked that they tried to show different people’s ways of dealing with impending doom (prayer, gambling, reading and sex), it all seemed a tad pointless. But then all serial tv is like that so I don’t know why I felt it more with this. Probably because I don’t give a monkeys about anyone in the cast yet, with the possible exception of Dr Rush who I quite like. No way did he know they were going to be ok, though – why on earth would he lie about it if they did? I don’t think he cares enough about any of them to embark on some grand manipulation scheme. He wouldn’t waste his time.
Also, gosh, Chloe – “if you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with”, eh? Oooh, Lt Hound Dog’s gone off in the shuttle, who can I use to feel better now…..Eli, steer well clear, mate, you don’t need to be anybody’s second choice.
Hmmm Chloe did come across as, what they call in France, a cock tease. Poor Eli.
Dr Rush is interesting because he’s not evil but they’ve made no concession to make him likeable.
The shuttle possibly not making it back was quite interesting, until they made it back, of course. You can’t help but feel that in BSG they would have just died.
Rush intrigues me. I’m sure he was shocked at the survival. So I’m not sure why the writers played it like that at the end of that episode…
It was a very strange way to end, and it made me feel a little like I’d missed something. I think in general they were trying to highlight the fact that, no matter what they said to each other, army-man (don’t know his name), doesn’t trust Dr Begbie.
The ending was just a bit rubbish, wasn’t it?
And they so would have died on BSG, I agree. Or at least a few of them would, while the rest got lost for several episodes, then met up with the rest of the “Fleet” almost unbearably traumatised and angry.
What BSG did so well, and Voyager did so poorly, was to make being lost in deep space as dangerous as it should be. So far SGU seems to be leaning towards the voyager route, sadly.
So just saw Episode “Earth” (I forget what number it is.) As always, I had to sort of remind myself that they’ve only been on the ship for about a week. Because wouldn’t it be more helpful to swap out Colonel Owie with, say, some “Ancient”-style engineering and linguistics experts rather than Colonel La Bamba? Because La Bamba’s character development is making little more sense than Hamish Begbie McRush. I understand why he put Sgt Furious in the brig but he hasn’t been there for the last week seeing Furious actually be marginally useful. And when you have a marginally useful guy among a few dozen over excitable and basically non-useful people, why not use him? I thought the bit about poor Eli suddenly inhabiting a really hot guy was adorable but just a few days (or a week) after losing her father, why is entitled!brat!princess suddenly clubbing and worrying about her boyfriend.
In summary, this episode satisfied even less than last and then mostly because it lacked an actual Science Fiction storyline (although the *idea* behind refueling to power-boost was, admittedly, acceptable). I’ll still be watching next week, which is more than I might say about Fringe because this week’s Fringe was beyond awful. (Just watch out, CJ, you’ll adore it and then I’ll feel awful about trashing it.)
If it’s the Fringe I’ve just watched, e, I wouldn’t be too sure about that. Review tomorrow…
Is it me or didn’t they promise us some Pacey character development early in the season? Well, the season is almost a third over and there hasn’t been any Pacey development other than 2 or 3 lines of “Look, I’m proactive! I’m so proactive, I’ll just stand here in this corner and nod. A lot.”
Watched the SGU about Water/Ice. I was a bit bored. Piranha bug-clouds? Hm.
Also, most folk on the ship are unlikeable (Yes, Lt Scott, that includes you) but Chloe is just plain loathsome. “Entitled!brat!princess!” is spot-on, e.
I watched “Earth” last night and was a little underwhelmed. I feel like I’m sticking with the series at the moment because I think that something could happen; I’m not convinced that it will.
At least they’ve worked their way through the elements now, Sherby. Maybe it’s time for actual plot!
I’ll have my fingers crossed! There’s definitely a good series in there somewhere, it just doesn’t seem to be fighting hard enough to get out.
So, I watched “Time”. And it’s exactly the kind of paranoia episode that I hate. (Which is why I’m struggling with “V”, I suppose). Eli was whiny, immature, selfish, and stupid. Way to develop a character, writers. I’m still enjoying Hamish McRush..but…
This episode just really didn’t work for me with the sole exception of watching Princess!Spoiled!Brat do the thing that she rather prominently does. Twice. I adored that. Which isn’t a reason to watch a show.
I did watch the thoroughly shallow Sanctuary which follows SGU on the same channel, next time slot and much preferred seeing the poor Werewolf suffer for an hour. That was fun.
Playing catch-up, so have just watched “Earth.” I thought it was awful. Really really bad. Apart from the Rush fake-out at the end which was absolutely awesome. But all the rest of it – terrible. Made no sense to me at all either. No way General Macgyver would have sanctioned the switch (I’ve only watched SG a few times but I’m SURE) and why are there suddenly loads of shady people trying to force Col Young’s hand? Right now? Why so urgent? (Including Chloe’s husband from 24!) And all of them absolutely hateable. Seriously. They better start making someone other than Rush (and Eli, sometimes) likeable or watching will be like pulling teeth.
Am now dreading “Time”. If even Eli is unlikeable in it….
Was pleased (sort of) to see that I hadn’t imagined the Col Young-Lt TJ connection in the first ep though. I was sure there was something between them but they never seemed to mention it again and I began to wonder.
Also – as you said a few comments, back, e – princess’ clubbing and boyfriend business was ridiculous. And hypocritical. She has TWO GUYS on the hook on the ship! I think the ex is allowed to move on too…
I suspect you’ll like Time a lot more than I did. It really is not the kind of episode I like though.
On the other hand, cute wolf dude is worth checkin’ out.
I watched Time tonight and didn’t like it either, e.
I didn’t mind the paranoia so much as the sheer ridiculousness of it, though. When the creatures showed up and everyone started shooting and the gate went haywire and *that* happened to Chloe (for the first time), I just wanted to laugh – it seemed like a spoof, it was so OTT. And then the atmosphere and cinematography turned into a really bad fantasy video game, where you have to keep going till everybody’s dead. Couldn’t take it seriously at all. And then the time travel thing – bah. I am sick of time travel.
But you got to admit, seeing her die TWICE, pretty sweet, no?
Well, yes
I attempted to watch Time\Jungle Planet yesterday and gave up after about 5 minutes – it was awful. I think I’ve been waiting for an excuse to give up on this series and this episode gave it to me.
It didn’t get any better, Sherby – apart from Chloe dying repeatedly, you didn’t miss anything.
I’m glad I gave up then! It’s sad really because I think the series had a lot of potential.
These past 2 eps have been rotten but I think it could still turn it around – I’ll probably give it another go….
So I watched, um, I think it was “Life”. Something like that. And it wasn’t all that great but at the same time, I didn’t actually mind it too much. It was kinda entertaining. Sorta. And there was better Rush-ity. So…yes, I’m still sticking with it despite the dire two episodes that preceded it.
Kind of enjoyed Sanctuary too. Cheesy but pleasant. Wasn’t a lot of werewolf dude this week but it was made up for by Aussie dude.
Is it me or is January and the return of Chuck and Being Human about all that’s worth really being passionate about on TV?
I’ll tell you in my next Fringe post, e – in a few hours time…
(After you watch it, assuming you watch it, I’m ready to rip several story lines to shreds. Because while it wasn’t all that bad, it really wasn’t all that great.)
And we in the UK are highly unlikely to get ‘Chuck’ in January, e. The TV companies here are getting better, but I don’t have any great hopes about ‘Chuck’.
There’s going to be a big long Olympics break in the middle of the Chuck run — so likely it will work that you start late but get mostly caught up quickly. 3 eps of Chuck are going to air at once, by the way, 2 on that Sunday and 1 the next day on Monday .
So, speaking of brig time, whatcha think of Misfits? I’m kind of enjoying it. (Notice how I completely avoid the whole SGU thing? Answer: Because it had a bit more Rush. I thought the whole Colonel Young thing was stupid beyond belief.)
Haven’t watched it, e, but Red likes it as well. Might give it a go if they do a re-run of the whole thing at some point.
Just watched the “Fall Finale”. I like the ending. Which really was the only interesting bit. And might be because I just like Rush & Rush-related plots. The whole “mystery”? Bored.
Not caught that one yet, e, but bored is how I’ve been reacting to a lot of the episodes as well. They need to liven things up a bit!
I wonder if it will still have many viewers after the hiatus – not sure if it’s one of those shows they’re holding back till after the Olympics. I think that would be a big mistake.
SGU just got renewed for a second season. (So did eye!candy!Sanctuary for that matter.)
Well, well – sci-fi is definitely on the up and up these days
I finally got round to watching the fall finale. Wasn’t expecting to enjoy it much but weirdly I really did. I liked the murder/not-a-murder mystery and I also liked the BSG-esque military vs civvies theme although I’m thinking that in the early days of BSG, when they were still not keen on each other, Adama would NOT have let Roslin just take over like Young let Camille. Ooh, which makes me wonder – are Young and Camille destined to develop a romance like Adama & Roslin? I hope not because Camille is presently no.2 on my list of “characters I dislike the most on SGU”. Girlfriend is ANNOYING.
I was kind of surprised Young left Rush like that – it seemed a bit out of character, but still a great ending, e, I agree with you. Doubt Eli will be able to live with the secret if he thinks Young did it on purpose…
Also, Scott seemed reasonably competent and less dull this week. Maybe it was because he wasn’t hanging out with Chloe.