Stargate Universe

[StarRider1701]

I liked Stargate SG-1 (hated the final episode) and Stargate Atlantis.

Not so sure about this new show. The trailer leaves a lot of questions behind, such as why spectacularly recruit this particular geek? Where are they that the Stargate only dials one address? (that was my take) Dhd broke? Cant rig a computer to dial out, like they did in Stargate?
Clearly they land on an ancient ship, thousands of years old. Don't know where they are, where they're going and cant steer! Will definately have to see the first episode or three, just to check it out next month on Syfy.

The cast is an interesting mix (to me) of established actors and new people. Other than an apparent cameo by General O'neill in the beginning, the show does not rely on characters from the two previous Stargate shows.

What's your take on Stargate Universe? What does everyone else think?

[crazyeddie]

When does the new show start?

[StarRider1701]

October 2nd, which is a Friday night. On Syfy.

[StarRider1701]

Possible spoilers - don't read if you haven't watched.

Really liked the new Stargate Universe. Its a different, kinda far out way of doing the same thing the other shows did, namely dialing new places and going there to see what's up. So far the only real "enemy" is the age of the ship itself and dealing with old systems on the brink of failure.

I am disappointed that Lou Diamond Phillips (really like him as an actor) didn't end up a part of the folks on the ship. I'm guessing he will take the place of our familiar characters (O'neill, Carter, Jackson) on Earth. Character interactions are going to be interesting, there are several factions or castes involved: military, IOA, the science geeks who will be figuring out how to fix and run things... There seems to be several "old hatreds" going on, people who dont like or trust each other for reasons that are no longer relavent.

I'm going to keep watching. It is not the same old Stargate.

[thebigcat]

Definitely not the same old Stargate. Conceptually it's a replay of Star Trek: Voyager, which is okay in my book since it's not going to become bogged down with Star Fleet protocols the way ST:V did (meaning it's not going to suffer from the steady erosion of Gene Roddenberry's ideals that Ira Steven Behr's subversiveness brought to the franchise).

The pilot ep set up the show nicely, well enough that I think I'll be onboard for the series.

[bdewoody]

Just watched the pilot. Some of it I liked and some not so much. Looks to me that the writers have been influenced by the recent Battlestar Galactica series. I think I'll watch a few episodes to see where it goes.

[observer7]

Interesting (raised eyebrow).

The show has potential. I see some new "things" that might surprise us. Can they get the ship fixed, well they better or this is going to be a short series. Can they get the gate working, and where will it take them? Will they encounter the Ori? Where exactly are they and what is the ships history and purpose? Of course the answers to these questions will be hinted at slowly as the series progresses, so I hope they have a plan.

I'll give it a 7.5 out of 10 but I reserve the right to change my mind after a few more episodes.

--

"186,000 mps, it's not just a good idea, it's the law!"

[StarRider1701]

Interesting (raised eyebrow).

Can they get the ship fixed, well they better or this is going to be a short series. Can they get the gate working, and where will it take them? Will they encounter the Ori? Where exactly are they and what is the ships history and purpose?

CO2 scrubbers are old hat tech even for us of lowly technological abilities! I'm betting they find some of whatever goop the Ancients used in one of those crates in the gate room.
The gate works, the ship only has a limited amount of enery left, certianly not enough to open a wormhole back to the Milky Way Galaxy. They do know about where they are, which is very, very far from home. If I remember right, the Destiny passed through several other galaxies, including Pegasis, to get where she is now.
I'm' betting not the Ori, but another enemy as yet unknown. The ship has obvious battle damage in several places. Who shot at the ship and how did it defend itself or get away? Automated defenses? I'm guessing we will see this new enemy as soon as they get a handle on keeping the ship and life support running for more than a few days at a time.

[bdewoody]

I just watched this week's episode and even though it was predictable I enjoyed it. This program is showing more and more the influence of Battlestar Galactica. I think it will attract a following as the characters develope.

[CommonMan]

I like it so far, except for the consent conflict between each other. I would like to see more story than soap opera. Maybe it will get better as it goes.

[StarRider1701]

I like it so far, too.
But, I've just spotted a possible inconsistency with the original Stargate.
In the origina series, several episodes hinged on the fact that only one Stargate can be functional at a time on a planet or in proximity with each other. If two gates exist, one is the dominant gate. These two gates cannot dial each other because they have the same address - its like dialing your own phone number. The Gouald motherships sometimes had gates aboard. But they couldn't dial the gate on the planet. Once they entered the system, the address for the gate on the ship was the same as the gate on the planet.
According to what I've heard so far. the Destiny is following another automated ship that is building and installing Stargates onto habitable worlds. Not sure how far ahead that first ship is, maybe hundreds or even thousands of years ahead.
The point is, when the Destiny enters a system the ship dials the gate on the planet. They can then dial back to the ship. They have not explained how that is posssible yet, but so far it seems to defy what we've been told about Stargate physics in previous episodes of the earlier series'.

[mj1]

When I first saw SG-U, the thought came to mind that this seems to be a cross between Lost and Stargate. I liked it though. It is quite different than the other Stargate series. Thing about it is that there is LOT that can be done with this series. I hope the writers stretch themselves and give us as good a story as they can. This series has BSG potential, if they allow it to.

To answer a question from the earlier threads, the ship is billions of lightyears from earth and needs lots of power to dial a stargate in the Milkyway. The ship's technology is pre-ZPM, so the gate needs to be powered by the ship's reserves, which were pretty low until the most recent episode. We will see what happens next.

[andrew_t1000]

I like it a lot.
The "wrong people in the wrong place" idea appeals to me.
The characters are interesting and well fleshed out, most of them have enough skeletons to fill several closets.

The Eli character is kinda cool, in the "light" episode Dr Rush tells Eli he is sorry he got him into the "mission",
Eli simply replies, "I'm not, at least not yet."
It will be interesting to see how Colonel Young keeps order and discipline.
Some of the civilians are annoying, bitching about doing it tough, I mean what do they want?
I can't think of any place I'd rather be! On a starship, in an entirely different galaxy, how could it get any better?

[StarRider1701]

I like it a lot.
Some of the civilians are annoying, bitching about doing it tough, I mean what do they want?
I can't think of any place I'd rather be! On a starship, in an entirely different galaxy, how could it get any better?

You left out: with little food, some water but not knowing were more will come from if that runs out, life support iffy with old fashioned, makeshift CO2 scrubbers doing most of the work and ship's energy iffy, although we now know how the ship recharges itself. Still cant control where the ship is going or figure out how to steer though! Lets not forget the ship is billions of light years from home and getting farther away with each passing moment.

If I were Eli or the Professor or maybe one of the military personnel, maybe it would be ok. But an ordinary civillian who seems to be just along for the ride with little or no knowledge helpful to the situation would suck.

[andrew_t1000]

I like it a lot.
Some of the civilians are annoying, bitching about doing it tough, I mean what do they want?
I can't think of any place I'd rather be! On a starship, in an entirely different galaxy, how could it get any better?

You left out: with little food, some water but not knowing were more will come from if that runs out, life support iffy with old fashioned, makeshift CO2 scrubbers doing most of the work and ship's energy iffy, although we now know how the ship recharges itself. Still cant control where the ship is going or figure out how to steer though! Lets not forget the ship is billions of light years from home and getting farther away with each passing moment.

If I were Eli or the Professor or maybe one of the military personnel, maybe it would be ok. But an ordinary civillian who seems to be just along for the ride with little or no knowledge helpful to the situation would suck.

Gee, that sounds kinda like life!
Seriously most of the civilians are engineers or scientists.
I think you have it the wrong way around, the military personnel would be feeling a little "fifth wheel", especially the way they seem to be always clutching their assault rifles!
Maybe I'm just a bit to stoic about food, comfort level and the like.
I tend to be happiest in a harsh environment with the challenge of getting from "A" to "B" on minimal food, water, resources.

[StarRider1701]

The military people are at least "in on it." they may not understand every word, but at least they know what's going on and they're the ones who are doing most of the going thru the stargate.
Some of the civs are political hacks, totally useless types. I do hope the writers can find a way to get more of the civillians into the story in more active roles, right now sitting around and bitching is about all they can do!

Goiing from A to B on this lush planet teeming with life is totally not the same thing. Here, all you really need to know is what not to eat, because most things are edible. And water is everywhere if you know how to find it - but that seems to be true of the Universe, too. Lately it seems almost everywhere we look we are finding ice. Ice moons, ice rings, comets are balls of ice and rock, there's even ice on our own moon that we used to think was totally barren.

[andrew_t1000]

The military people are at least "in on it." they may not understand every word, but at least they know what's going on and they're the ones who are doing most of the going thru the stargate.
Some of the civs are political hacks, totally useless types. I do hope the writers can find a way to get more of the civillians into the story in more active roles, right now sitting around and bitching is about all they can do!

Goiing from A to B on this lush planet teeming with life is totally not the same thing. Here, all you really need to know is what not to eat, because most things are edible. And water is everywhere if you know how to find it - but that seems to be true of the Universe, too. Lately it seems almost everywhere we look we are finding ice. Ice moons, ice rings, comets are balls of ice and rock, there's even ice on our own moon that we used to think was totally barren.

LMAO!
Sorry, but I go camping and adventuring in Northern South Australia!
I can tell you right now, not only does it look like Mars, but Mars probably has more water!

[cosmictraveler]

To slow and soapy for me. An hour of a trapped man and some dust flying around....just doesn't peak my interest what so ever. Yes, it looks and feels like Battlestar, which I also disliked for its soapiness as well. I won't be watching this series but from time to time to see if it picks up any. I really doubt it will though.

[mj1]

To slow and soapy for me. An hour of a trapped man and some dust flying around....just doesn't peak my interest what so ever. Yes, it looks and feels like Battlestar, which I also disliked for its soapiness as well. I won't be watching this series but from time to time to see if it picks up any. I really doubt it will though.

How'd you feel about this week's episode when they used the communication stones to "send" the commander home, in his main rivals body no less (played by Lou Diamond Phillips). While in Lou's body, the dude begs his wife to forgive him for ;leaving and she does. He's was boning her good when the communication stone malfunctions and Lou's character is back in his own body right in the middle of screwing the commander's wife and the commander is suddenly back on the ship. That was an excellent scene. At the end, Lou's starting to sniff around the guy's wife. You just KNOW he is going to be doing her as himself before long. That was soappy, but creative.

[crazyeddie]

How'd you feel about this week's episode when they used the communication stones to "send" the commander home, in his main rivals body no less (played by Lou Diamond Phillips). While in Lou's body, the dude begs his wife to forgive him for ;leaving and she does. He's was boning her good when the communication stone malfunctions and Lou's character is back in his own body right in the middle of screwing the commander's wife and the commander is suddenly back on the ship. That was an excellent scene. At the end, Lou's starting to sniff around the guy's wife. You just KNOW he is going to be doing her as himself before long. That was soappy, but creative.

I was an interesting twist, but I hope they are not going to rely too much on the communications stones as a plot device, that would get stale quickly.

I must say I'm surprised to see Richard Dean Anderson so much in the new show, I sorta thought he only did guest appearances nowadays.