Stargate Universe 829
Last night I finally scraped together the two hours to watch the premiere of Stargate Universe. Since the last two series really ran their course and deserved to end, I was skeptical. At first blush it appears that the show is just Atlantis + Voyager, shot in the documentary style that practically every sci-fi show since Firefly uses. But I enjoyed it, and figured we should have a place to discuss it. The TV landscape needs more real, good sci-fi: there's not a lot of it left, even on the moronically renamed Syfy channel. But maybe this one will have a solid season. I just hope that future episodes don't have so many commercials. I couldn't believe how many ads appeared during this thing.
firefly (Score:3, Interesting)
Firefly wasn't shot documentary style, the special effects had some panning and zooming that first started in star wars episode II
I loved it! (Score:2, Interesting)
I have to say it kept me on edge of seat grinning, the detail and visuals were stunning, the music was very very well done!
As for the characters, the acting was quite good, i can see some of them growin
Im delighted to have a new Stargate to watch, and this new direction
lets be honest SG1 last seasons and SGA got very tired and boring
Thats what i love about this, I dont feel like im watchin yet another McGuiver episode or can predict the ending by watching the first few minutes
Stargate Universe has what was lost about Season 2 of SG1, not knowing what happens when you step thru the gate! last few seasons of Atlantis were diabolical imho
Its different and i like the new direction :)
Potential (Score:5, Interesting)
It's taken alot of stuff from Battlestar Galactica and Lost - not nescesarilly a bad thing - The previous series rather relaxed attitude to Sci-fi is still there, albeit reigned back slightly in favour of what seems to be a more character-oriented series. Notably the lack of any 'big bad' in the first episode bodes well for the focus being on internal struggle rather than on any kind of external threat.
One of my biggest gripes with the final series of SG-1 (and most of Atlantis) was the reliance on Deus Ex Machina to save the day (Especially in the closing episode of Atlantis) and the constant ressurection of characters through various means, Dr Beckett's clone, Dr Wier's seemingly endless robot clones and Daniel Jackson's repeated Ascensions/Falls.
Stargate's been one of my favourite series since I was a teenager (I've been watching SG-1 since series 3, and having watched Series 1 and 2 on repeats) - The audience has grown up, but the show really hasn't. SGU will hopefully fulfil that role, without alienating any newcomers
Re:SPOILER!!!!!! (Score:5, Interesting)
Call me out of touch, but this is actually the first stargate thing I have seen since the original movie.
So it transports matter well, I get that (humans and objects can move through), but what about air? Couldn't they just open the new gate to any planet with a good atmosphere and just top up the ship with breathable air?
The people I was roped into watching this with kept shouting at me to stop picking on it, but I want to know how they are limiting this thing...
"oh yes you can put any matter you want though it so long as it is solid or liquid" but then how do their bodies get through it when all the air is displaced out of their lungs?
Re:Potential (Score:4, Interesting)
Blame fan support for Danial Jacksons repeated reincarnations, if I remember correctly they originally didn't plan to bring him back after his first "death" but a large percentage of fans kinda freaked out.
Depends on your definition of "real" and "good"... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Potential (Score:3, Interesting)
I get the feeling that we'll find out it was actually Rush that contacted the Lucien Alliance in order to attack the planet, so that it'd free enough energy from the core to dial the gate. If I'm right then I'll likely stop watching it, as me guessing a major plot point like that was par for the course for Atlantis :P
My thoughts (Score:4, Interesting)
At first I was kind of scared with the direction they were taking it with stargate universe. I don't like watching drama shows. I thought back to the new battlestar galactica- which was okay- but honestly not my favorite series.
I just hope they don't try too hard to copy what battlestar galactica did. I kind of have the feeling that they want to- given the similarities of characters- Nicholas Rush is a over emotional long haired scientist guy who is possibly evil possibly insane- just like gaius baltar. I have a feeling that they're trying to adama-fy Col. Everett Young- but that wont work. Edward James Olmos defined that character. They cant duplicate him.
What i'm hoping is that they will realize they're going to fail if they copy another series, and they warp the characters a bit so that they're not the same. I'm hoping that once they do that- i'll lose the sour taste in my mouth.
Anyway- I do like the gamer dude- Eli Wallace- but I feel like it was kind of an obvious ploy of them to put him in- they know most of the people who watch the show are fat male gamers who went to college (like myself). Regardless- that should inject some humor into the series- and that is the main reason I loved the series- because of the witty comic relief- like when Jack O'neal made some wise crack at the big scary aliens- or when Rodney Mckay yelled at the other characters for forgetting something that was blatently obvious to the viewer- but would've been left in the background in any "first generation" sci fi series - like startrek and such.
Anyway- I feel like i've geeked out enough for one blurb, I may as well be the fat comic book guy at this point- so i'll cut my blurb short.
Re:Firefly (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm reminded, surreally of Space: 1999 (Score:3, Interesting)
The Wikipedia article on SG:U seems to imply that, whilst they're stuck on a starship they can't actually drive the thing where they want to go and are restricted to hopping on and off via its onboard stargate when they get near interesting things. So it's a bit like Voyager but somebody stole their steering wheel.
Space: 1999, a British sci-fi (60s or 70s, I'd guess) had a similar setup but it was based on the slightly more bonkers-sounding premise that the crew were stuck on a moonbase and that the entire moon had been catapulted across the galaxy. When the moon went through an interesting neighbourhood they'd sometimes hop off and take a look around, then they'd jump back on again before it left. Surreal stuff! Despite the dodgy science and costumes they actually had some quite good episodes with interesting plot ideas.
As an SG1 fan, I'd just like to say "Please let it be good! Please let it be good!". That is all.
Re:SPOILER!!!!!! (Score:3, Interesting)
The rules of the stargate are quite strange and often "expanded" to create some plot. But I give them that their explanations are often quite clever.
A third point is that a stargate actually has a way to recognize objects. It only sends the object if the whole thing passed the event horizon. Otherwise it just would rip people and stuff apart when they try to pass.
I've never figured out what is really supposed to happen when you shut off a worm-hole in mid-transit. In one episode of SG-1, some heavy material re-materializes inside of the nearby planet's sun (causing/solving the red sky and eminent doom). In another episode, Teal'c is trapped inside of the buffer, and his atoms are not just randomly lost at some point in space between the two gates. Also, there is at least one episode I can recall where a Jaffa retreating through a gate has his staff weapon cut in half when the gate shuts off. Also in the 2nd episode of the entire series of SG-1, Kawalsky had his head cut in half by them shutting down the gate while his head was partially in the wormhole. So the whole thing about transporting entire objects as one packet seems to be not true all of the time.
Re:Sliders! (Score:4, Interesting)
My thoughts exactly - it's Voyager (Stuck in the middle of nowhere) + Sliders (Limited time window to explore planets without any control of which ones).
That's not to say it's bad - I enjoyed the first episode(s), apart from the annoying flashback (they'd better be one-offs because if it turns into Lost then I'm out) and I think it's got a lot of potential if they're clever about it.
One thing that gets me though; the ancients built thousands of Stargates with 9 chevrons - 6 co-ordinates, 1 point of origin, 1 "area code", 1 apparently special one - and then only ever use the 9th one to allow them to get from one specific Stargate (that was seemingly in the wrong place) to one specific ship. Why the hell didn't they just give the ship its own "area code" instead?
Re:Troubleshooting skills. (Score:3, Interesting)
In Startrek physics, Ek would be close to 0 at warp since space-time moves rather than the ship. However, causing a warp field to transect a vessel rather than form around it would likely cause the wholesale destruction you seek.
Back to SG:U - The opening shots documented the ship turning parts of itself on to receive the people coming through the wormhole. Engineers who could design an intergalactic vessel would not design the CO2 scrubbers to be always on for tens of thousands of years (much less maintain atmospheric pressure), but to activate based on atmospheric composition or life-signs sensors. So, why don't the human engineers/scientists realize this and ask what else has been respiring on the ship? Also, why would such a vessel go into space without all internal hatches sealed?
Re:Stargate B-Team (Score:3, Interesting)
Overall, it seems interesting enough to pull me back again, but we'll have to see how well it maintains my interest. As to the person who questioned the premise of the inmanned, unarmed (or poorly armed) ship that was bouncing between galaxies, it does seem to be something that would fit the mythology of the Ancients as presented in the other shows. If the Ancients presumably seeded life across multiple galaxies, they might have used a ship like the one in the show to do some automatic (manned or unmanned) journeys to find suitable sites. It's possible that, when the ship was fully operational, that even things like the drones could have been dispatched automatically to check and record conditions. Then, if the ship's programming was set (or got switched to autopilot during a crisis) to travel through a number of galxies in a circuit, it might have cycled back through Pegasus Galaxy, where Atlantis could have called it home to load up with a crew. It obviously did support a crew at one point, so they will probably find some means of affecting repairs and making food on-board. My guess for the first season plot progression is that it will include the following elements:
The one thing that will be interesting about this show is if and how they could introduce a common enemy or villian (apart from an internal one). Since it seems they will be spending only 12 hours at a time in each location (each galaxy?), that would make it hard to have a series-long common enemy (e.g., Goa'uld, Wraith), unless they use the most overused sci-fi plot device of them all: they just disturbed a super-advanced race that is now aware of their presence and will follow them at all costs because they want to get back to the source of the meat buffet (e.g., Wraith, Borg). I'm also interested in learning more about Rush. It seems he already has alterior motives.
gamer lamer as accidental hero (Score:1, Interesting)
How original and fresh are the writers using such a time worn premise....
really, that's the only way you can bring the slob/couch potato/ipod lover into the story line....
>Sadly, it's all we have.
True. But that's the kind of talk that allowed Enterprise to last through 4 sorry seasons..
I want Carlyle to stand out (i wished he was the next Doctor) but the material is awful and cliched beyong belief (and not the good Dr Who kind).
I dont want soap opera in space but sadly we have mediocre acting being upstaged by even more mediocre writing.
Please kill E-lie.
Have him lose his bodily functions like Pike and just get him to stfu.
Re:babylon 5 (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually I found the Shadow War to be much less compelling than the Earth Alliance Civil War. One can only imagine what JMS would have done with that if he had devoted Season 5 to it (as originally planned) instead of compressing it into Season 4.
I wouldn't mind seeing a story where the megalomaniac Sheridan got his comeuppance. Rebelling against Earth because a dictator comes to power and shreds the Constitution is one thing. Creating your own private army filled with outsiders and imposing "take it or leave it" terms on Earth after said dictator has been dealt with is another thing entirely. If Sheridan had any loyalty to Earth whatsoever he should have turned over some of his toys [wikipedia.org] after Clark ate his own PPG.
In the same vain it would be nice to see Delenn knocked down a peg or two. There are quite a few Minbari in the B5 story that I found it easy to sympathize with (Neroon). Delenn was not one of them. At best she was a religious fanatic willing to condemn billions of people to death because of prophesy. At worst she was every bit as delusional as Sheridan and saw herself as being fit to rule the Galaxy and "keep the peace" (at gunpoint, interesting concept that) between the younger races.
Re:babylon 5 (Score:1, Interesting)
JMS was royally ripped off by WB. Even the 'low budget' DVD that he came out with last year 'lost money'. I doubt he is in any hurry to play with it anymore. I think after writing/producing/directing large portions of the show he wants his cut which is owed to him. WB has taken the money and ran with it and gave him a pittance in return instead of the percentages he is owed. There is a reason Hollywood is devoid of good ideas. They rip off the people with the wherewithal to come up with coherent ideas. They realize this and move on to other things.
He also stated if they do make anymore they are going to do it right. Instead of penny pinching it like they did on the last DVD.
Also the 'story' is done. At this point it would be beating a dead horse. I enjoyed the spin offs an what not but they just are not the same and just serve to remind me that there is no more 'b5'.
Re:Appallingly mediocre. (Score:3, Interesting)
And to be honest, if you can't sympathize with a smart guy running around trying to put out fires while everybody else is running around like a chicken with their heads cut off because they don't know what to do... you probably don't belong on
Re:SPOILER!!!!!! (Score:1, Interesting)
If SG1/A taught us anything it's that the ancients are a bunch of arrogant pricks who couldn't see their own shortcomings even when they smashed them in the face.
"Hey isn't there a chance the Star gate could cut out when someone's only partially through and kill them? Maybe we should add some safety features..."
"Are you kidding? We're not stupid, we're the ancients, that'll never happen, stargates are perfect! Now help me build this doomsday weapon that we know no one will ever try to use because it's just awesome to look at!"
Re:Troubleshooting skills. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Hulu? (Score:4, Interesting)
but was impressed at how quickly I liked the characters
I thought they were all pretty awful apart from Rush and Eli, although Eli did have that godawful 'a man died today' line. *shudder*
Oh, and that math puzzle in the video game thing was just idiotic.
Re:Troubleshooting skills. (Score:3, Interesting)
Consider this. We could build cars, boats, airplanes, etc, with 100+ year lifespans. They'd need a lot of redundant systems, over-engineering, and be massively expensive and power-hungry.
Or, we can assume that we'll still be around in a 100 years, and still able to build newer, and better system with the technology we've discovered in 100 years.
This is actually a recent phenomena, roughly coincident with the Industrial Revolution. Before that, things were built to last, because people didn't want to go through the massive effort of redoing it every few years. Buildings were big, massive things (think castles, pyramids, cathedrals) and made to last centuries. No expense was spared, because you had hundreds of years of living in it before you'd need to worry about doing it again.
Today, even our most advanced structures (skyscrapers, stadiums, bridges) come with lifetimes. We build *exactly* as strong as it needs to be. We build with materials that are exactly as sturdy and long-lived as they need to be, but no longer. What's the point of putting titanium/molybdenum panels that will not corrode in a 100,000 years, on a building that, if it's lucky, will be torn down in 50 years to make room for the newest skyscraper?
To me, it's amazing, given that propensity, that Las Vegas isn't made from paper mache and spit-wads. There's barely a building there over 20 years old now.
With the ancients, you have a race that can, more or less, build anything, with technology that lets them warp space and time to their liking, and you think they're going to waste time engineering a vessel to last 100 millenium? I'd imagine it was a standard, galaxy-limited ship that they built for seeding the Milky Way with stargates, which they then modified for inter-galactic travel, along with a system whereby they could go visit if it ever found anything "really cool". They sent it towards Andromeda to seed that galaxy with gates, and then on to Pegasus, etc, etc. I imagine they retro-engineered and patched the ship up so it could survive quite a long trip, but then they ascended, so there was no need to go check on it any more. Which means that, according to Dr. Rush, the ship is 100,000 years old, and hasn't been maintained in at least 10,000 years.
The only thing on Earth that humans made even close to that age is the great pyramids, and look at how damaged they are.
Overall, I think the ancients did a darn good job given the circumstances.
Re:Appallingly mediocre. (Score:1, Interesting)
I actually liked his performance, I think the lack of definition you are referring to is how cold he acts on the show. I have a feeling he will be understood a lot better by the audience in later episodes...or dead.
Re:Hulu? (Score:4, Interesting)
Which is why I say FUCK EM.
I wrote a letter to them awhile ago, quite awhile ago actually, where I bitterly complained about the fact I was paying for the SciFi channel and they were RUINING the experience of Stargate Atlantis with that stupid overlay of the SciFi logo constantly and those advertisements.
Seriously? Advertisements for their own shows, animated no less, that take up 20% of the lower screen?
It's the stupidest thing I have ever seen. A movie costs approx. $11 and they don't pull that crap. I was probably paying around $10 a month for the SciFi channel on a few digital receivers.
Well I canceled. Told SciFi I canceled too. I don't even have an interest in pirating SciFi. Actually, the interest is the same amount of interest I have in German gay scheisse porn. Zero.
If Stargate Universe really is that good, then the whole 1st season will be out on DVD soon enough. I will get it through my Netflix account and watch it then. If it is really good, then I will probably buy the 1st season for my collection. Have SG-1, and Atlantis already.
So you know what? SciFi channel wins. I won't pirate their content, I won't watch their content, and I won't pay for their content either.
Fuck EM. Deep and Hard.
Re:Hulu? (Score:2, Interesting)