Stargate Universe review
Spoilers for Stargate Universe pilot
I never expected to start this review out like this, but, ... is this what Stargate Atlantis was canceled for? WOW! "Underwhelmed" is the key word for the premiere of Stargate Universe and I'm a little disappointed.
Many of us were very upset that Stargate Atlantis was canceled by the SyFy channel. As we know, Atlantis was a fantastic show that found an impressive footing in its fourth season which I believe is the best season of the entire franchise. Still, however, SyFy found their reasons to cancel it; many speculated it was to make room for this new series SGU, a darker and more serious series with a younger cast. Some thought that Universe was meant to take the place of Battlestar Galactica which finished its run at the end of last season and as we who've seen BSG know it was one of the darkest, most grim shows on television. When a short synopsis was released about SGU, people getting whisked away to the other side of the universe on board an Ancient Stargate seeding ship, most people, including myself, felt a familiarity - Lost in Space and Star Trek Voyager spiced up with the drama of BSG. Why cancel a perfectly good series (Atlantis) for something we've seen several times already? Yet, it was canceled anyhow but even still, SGU is more Stargate, but different. The fact that it is Stargate is why I still wanted to see it and hopefully support it because I love the franchise; I want more from that universe. Weeks before the premiere I began getting excited; we were seeing new promo clips, photos, and interviews with the cast preparing us for what might be a fantastic premiere. Unfortunately, it wasn't.
"SGU follows a band of soldiers, scientists and civilians, who must fend for themselves as they are forced through a Stargate when their hidden base comes under attack. The desperate survivors emerge aboard an ancient ship, which is locked on an unknown course and unable to return to Earth. Faced with meeting the most basic needs of food, water and air, the group must unlock the secrets of the ship's Stargate to survive. The danger, adventure and hope they find on board the Destiny will reveal the heroes and villains among them." [SyFy]
SGU stars Robert Carlyle (Rush), Justin Louis (Young), Brian J. Smith (Scott), Elyse Levesque (Armstrong), David Blue (Wallace), Alaina Huffman (Johansen), Jamil Walker Smith (Greer), Ming-Na (Wray), and Lou Diamond Phillips (Telford).
Although a pilot is garbage, it doesn't mean the rest of the series will be awful as well. If you remember, I hated, very much hated, the pilot of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles but after continued viewing, giving it a chance to find itself, I fell in love with the series and called it the best network show next to LOST. Forget about cancellation and ratings, that doesn't matter when it comes to quality of scripted shows.
The folks behind the Stargate franchise clearly had a goal to change the tone of the franchise, turning it into something more gritty and real. That concept isn't a bad one and it's proven to work well critically like in BSG but it sadly fails in SGU because of one reason - the writers don't know how to created hard-core drama organically when telling a story. SGU's biggest flaw and my reason for disliking the pilot is the forced feeding of drama just for the sake of stepping away from scifi action. The moment the pilot starts, drama, drama, drama followed by incoherent flashbacks meant to build backstory. I really don't care if the backstory, as in the gratuitous sex scene and Colonel Young's random dream or flashback (whatever it was) of passing out at home, has any bearing on the future episodes of the series. Those are character elements that shouldn't be told or set up until the actually series is set up. There is no structure to this show, none whatsoever as if the writers sat down and said "we need a show set up around drama" instead of saying "lets create characters and a setting before we created story leading into drama." They didn't take these new characters, build them and organically told their hardships of being on the other side of the universe. They took cliche drama elements, created circumstances and decided which characters to toss in the scene. For example, is it me or is the Senator sacrificing his life set up in the most cliche, unoriginal way possible? I don't want to give details away but the scene is set up in a way not tell a story but only to kill a person just to give it a feeling of rawness and causing people to scream and cry. This type of execution is throughout the premiere and none of it gives me the heartfelt emotion as it's done in such shows that actually organically create drama.
The execution of drama in SGU is the sole reason why I really dislike the pilot episode - all other flaws don't matter after this except for one; I was unimpressed with the cast except for two characters, Robert Carlyle's Dr. Nicolas Rush and Alaina Huffman's Tamara Johansen. Because of Rush's determination, he seems half way psychotic which I found to be very interesting. It seems like he, as a scientist, has something to really prove but that journey makes him look crazy and incapable to everyone else. Huffman, honestly, is just a likable character - a medic that is forced to take on a Doctor's role. She saved several scenes with her performance where the rest of the cast is unlikable as they preformed characters that don't look or feel interesting. David Blue's Eli Wallace is by far the dumbest character in all of Stargate, yet the show was promoted around that character along with Rush. That's a pity.
The only positive thing I have to say about SGU is that the visual effects are top-notch as they've always been in this franchise. Other than that, I hate to say it, but the pilot of Stargate Universe sucked. I dislike the pilot as a Stargate fan but more importantly I dislike the pilot as someone who tries to fairly treat and respond to artistic stories (notice I didn't label myself as a critic because I'm not) and as a general fan of the filmmaking process.
Although I have a strong dislike of this pilot, I will continue to watch SGU as it's important to give all first seasons, sometimes even into the second season, the benefit of the doubt. SGU could turn into a fantastic show but if the writing carries over from the pilot as it will in this coming week, I don't know how long I'll stick around for this.
Rule of thumb; never force feed drama to viewers. Create your drama only around well placed characters which will organically create hardship as the series progresses. With that said, the preview of the new episode looks promising as we go through the gate, take a look:
On a side note or rather a question; was the score for the pilot Blade Runneresque or was I hearing things again?
When it was all said and done, SGU doesn't even come close to being as amazing as Stargate Atlantis' premiere "Rising". To wash the bad taste from my mouth I had to watch this:
 |
 STARGATE UNIVERSE DVD SET  US $99.99
|
 Stargate SG-1 - Season 10 (DVD, 2009, 5-Disc Set) US $15.15
|
 Stargate SG-1 - Season 10 (DVD, 2009, 5-Disc Set) US $10.60
|
 Stargate SG-1 - Season 9 (DVD, 2009, 5-Disc Set) US $15.50
|
 Stargate: Atlantis - Season 1 (DVD, 2005, 5-Disc Set) US $2.25
|
 1 CENT DVD: Stargate - 2-Disc Set Ultimate Edition Nice US $.01
|
 Stargate SG-1 - Season 1 (DVD, 2001, 5-Disc Set) US $2.99
|
 Stargate SG-1 - Season 3 (DVD, 2003, Five Disc Set) US $2.99
|
 Stargate SG-1 - Season 4 (DVD, 2003, Five Disc Set) US $3.24
|
 Stargate SG-1 - Season 5 (DVD, 2004, 5-Disc Set) US $5.50
|
 Stargate SG-1 - Season 6 Giftset (DVD, 2004, 5-Disc Set US $8.00
|
 Stargate SG-1 - Season 9 (DVD, 2009, 5-Disc Set) US $12.50
|
 Stargate SG-1 - Season 10 (DVD, 2009, 5-Disc Set) US $2.99
|
 Stargate Universe:(DVD SET) SG-U 1.0 Season One NEW US $19.95
|
 Stargate SG-1 Season 1 One box set 5-disc DVD EUC US $9.99
|
 Stargate SG-1 - Season 1 Gift Set (DVD, 2001, 5-Disc... US $9.99
|
 Stargate Atlantis Seasons 1-5 DVD Box Sets US $12.76
|
 Stargate SG-1 Seasons 1-10 DVD Box Sets US $11.56
|
 Stargate: Atlantis - Season 2 (DVD, 2009, 5-Disc Set) US $6.13
|
 Stargate SG-1 Season 1 Box Set DVD 5-Disc complete set US $7.00
|
| Powered by phpBay Pro |
Related Posts
I actually kinda liked the pilot. It wasn’t as good as the Atlantis premiere, and I was kind of disappointed on how it ended. Personally, I think the BSG comparisons other reviewers are making are a bit unfair. This show still felt far more Stargate-y than BSG-y.
That being said, I’m fairly lenient on pilots, simply because, I’ve grown used to seeing significant concept/character shifts in the second or third episodes fairly quickly. There was enough there to leave me intrigued for more, but I truly hope this wont’ be a repeat of Atlantis Season One, which was largely forgetable aside from the pilot, the mid-season two-parter and the season finale.
I liked it too. Not as good as Atlantis opening episode but I did see a lot of potenshal in the first two shows.
How they set up the show though I really think they need to be carefull of how many people they kill off. Not getting any reenforements from Earth any time soon.
I would give it 6 out of 10 for these opening epsodes , I know that’s not high but the first 3 episodes of SG-1 were far worse and that went on to become one of my all time favorate shows.
Give it time.
Leave your response!
Who’s so far being consider for the NFD 2009 sexy celebrity title?
Recent Film Reviews
Subscribe to NFD
Categories
Yesterday's Movies
Original Articles
Scores & Soundtracks of the Week - Total Recall
Photos of the Week: Total Recall
LOL Friday: Funny photo of the week