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Stargate Universe
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 wasn't shot documentary style, the special effects had some panning and zooming that first started in star wars episode II
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
It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for being subtle.
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?
...
Personally I look forward to every episode in the stargate series. I was a big fan of SG1 for a while, and while I didn't like atlantis at first, I eventually did- realizing that it was its own thing.
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.
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?
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?
There are 1.1... kinds of people.
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.
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.