Stargate Universe (Oct 2009) [Archive]

View Full Version : Stargate Universe (Oct 2009)

Lilaena De'Ville

Jul 25th, 2009, 07:57:16 PM

http://jainhollie.com/random/stargate.jpg

The young, hip, members of the Stargate Universe.

There's finally a good trailer out for the new Stargate show that will premier on SyFy in October.

It looks promising! It certainly looks better than I thought it would turn out. A 'younger, hipper' Stargate show that sends people to the far side of the universe sounds like a horrible Voyager nightmare, but it looks pretty good. :)

http://www.gateworld.net/video/newsandfeatures/1248429391.shtml

<embed src="http://www.gateworld.net/video/player/flvplayer.swf" quality="best" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" flashvars="file=http://www.gateworld.net/video/media/universe_trailer_HD.flv&displaywidth=300&usefullscreen=false&image=http://www.gateworld.net/video/graphics/universe_trailer1.jpg&link=http://www.gateworld.net/video/index.shtml&linkfromdisplay=true" width="300">

Cast (from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_universe)):
Robert Carlyle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Carlyle) as Dr. Nicholas Rush – The "ship's brilliant Machiavellian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machiavellian) scientist" whom producer Joseph Mallozzi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Mallozzi) had first mentioned in his blog in mid-November 2008 as Dr. David Rush. The ship's crew believe Rush to be losing his mind, but he does things for a reason. Carlyle explained in an interview that after the death of Rush's wife, Rush is driven by the opportunity to explore the galaxy. Carlyle accepted the role because of Wright and Cooper's take on the drama and direction of the show, and he is "[honestly] more than prepared" to play the character for possibly many years.
Justin Louis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Louis) as Everett Young – Described in the initial character breakdown as a "handsome, capable, former SG team leader" in his 40s who holds the rank of Colonel. He is "like the Jack O'Neill (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_O%27Neill) of ten years ago" yet has sharper edges. At the beginning of Stargate Universe, he has been married for two years and is the temporary commander of a secret off-world base.
David Blue (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Blue_%28actor%29) as Eli Wallace – Named Eli Hitchcock in the casting call, Eli Wallace is a "total slacker" in his early twenties and an "utter genius" in mathematics, computers and other fields. He is a social outcast with an "acerbic sense of humor", and lacks confidence in his intelligence. 
Brian J. Smith (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_J._Smith) as Matthew Scott – A skilled and well-trained Junior SGC member in his early twenties holding the rank of Lieutenant. He is "mentally unprepared for the urgency of the situation" aboard the ship. 
Jamil Walker Smith (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamil_Walker_Smith) as Ronald Greer[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_universe#cite_note-mgm_cast-0) – In early casting documents named Ron "Psycho" Stasiak, Ronald Greer is a "big, strong, silent" Marine aged 20 with a mysterious past who lacks control over his temper in non-combat situations. His rank is Master Sergeant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_Sergeant#United_States).
Elyse Levesque (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elyse_Levesque) as Chloe Armstrong – She is a "stunning and sexy" daughter of a US Senator around her twenties, whose character is tested "after her father's tragic death and the dire circumstances of being trapped on a spaceship". Her father (played by Christopher McDonald (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_McDonald)) had political oversight over the Stargate project trying to dial the ninth chevron.
Alaina Huffman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaina_Huffman) as Tamara Johansen – Named Tamara Jon in the character breakdown, she is an SGC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGC_%28Stargate%29) field medic in her early twenties with off-world experience. She has a modest background, yet is "beautiful, tough, smart, capable." At the beginning of the series, she is overwhelmed by the lack of medical knowledge, experience, medicine and supplies aboard the ship. Her rank is Lieutenant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lieutenant#United_States).
Ming-Na (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming-Na) as Camille Wray – An IOA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOA_%28Stargate%29) accountant who becomes the highest-ranking IOA member left stranded on the ship. She has "a false sense of importance and superiority to the other military and civilian population along with a stubborn way of asserting it". She is the first open gay character in the Stargate franchise. Her long-time partner back on Earth, Sharon, will first appear in "Life" in a possibly recurring role.
Lou Diamond Phillips (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Diamond_Phillips) as Colonel Telford – A proud and "stubbornly confident" life-long military man holding the rank of Colonel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonel_%28United_States%29). He is highly regarded by his superiors and is the chosen leader of the expedition.

Dasquian Belargic

Jul 26th, 2009, 03:05:54 AM

Robert Carlyle! :love

I like this move towards more... gritty sci-fi shows in the style of BSG.

Captain Untouchable

Jul 26th, 2009, 06:29:36 AM

I'm extremely happy with the date it premieres - best birthday present ever! :lol

I'm a pretty hardcore Stargate fan, so the whole news of the 'hip and trendy' thing had me a little worried. But apparently (according to Joseph Mallozzi, one of the writers whose blog I read), all that stuff was what the network was kicking out, rather than the writers actual perspective on it. I've been getting sneaky info and things as production has been going on; and even for someone as obsessed with the franchise as I am, I'm genuinely impressed.

I think what appeals to me is that, unlike SG-1 and Atlantis, where the teams were "the best and brightest", the majority of the people who wind up stranded on the Destiny aren't cut out for it. They will screw up; they won't necessarily save the day every time. And because they're so far away, they can't just phone up Sam Carter and get her to come save their asses.

Something else that intregues me, from the interview at Comic Con: apparently the writers made a pact that they wouldn't have any prosthetic ("rubber-faced") aliens during the first Season. Because they're outside of the Milky Way and what not, they wanted to feature aliens that looked more... alien. So apparently they're more likely to be CGI than dudes in suits.

Gonna quit rambling now, before I have a nerdgasm. :eee

Edit:

There's a second SGU trailer from Comic-Con. Its available on the Syfy website, but if you're outside of the US like me, someone was kind enough to put it up on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbBhvpFqUoo

If you're wondering, the computer game that Eli is playing on is actually behind the scenes footage from the Stargate MMO they've been working on. :lol

Captain Untouchable

Sep 29th, 2009, 04:42:10 PM

So: three days until the premiere, pretty much. Like I said before, I'm pretty obsessive with my Stargate fandom, and was worried about all the hype about how they were trying to break out and do something new and different... but the more I read, and the more promo clips I see, the more likely it is that my excitement will cause me to require a change of underwear.

Something interesting that I heard about the other day: Ivon Bartok, who does the DVD special features for 'gate, will be doing a series of in-character webisodes to go along with Universe. The premise intregues me - there's something aboard Destiny called a Kino, which is basically a little floating camera. The guys are going to use it as a probe, but it also tours around the ship and effectively lets the characters keep a video diary. If you're in the UK, or have stumbled across the Sky promos online anywhere, they're samples of the kinds of things the webisodes will cover. Not sure when/where they'll be uploaded (whether it'll be the syfy site, the MGM site, etc), but I'll let you know as soon as I do.

Also, it seems like they've finally managed to get a first name for Colonel Telford through whatever wonky legal selection process they have: he's called David. Seems like he *is* a Main Character as well, although I guess we won't know 100% until we see where his name shows up in the credits. :lol

I have to admit: I'm almost as excited about this as I was about Season 5 of Supernatural starting a couple of weeks ago. :eee

Lilaena De'Ville

Sep 29th, 2009, 06:00:07 PM

Yeah I can't wait for Friday! :dance

Tear

Sep 29th, 2009, 06:59:35 PM

Smells of BSG to me. With Robert Carlyle playing the Baltar type character. Not a bad thing but hopefully they make it their own and not ride off the coat tails of another sci-fi great.

Captain Untouchable

Sep 30th, 2009, 09:00:53 AM

Smells of BSG to me. With Robert Carlyle playing the Baltar type character. Not a bad thing but hopefully they make it their own and not ride off the coat tails of another sci-fi great.

Everyone seems to be saying that and - not meaning to cause offense - I think it's a little naive.

I think we probably need to look beyond the scifi-for-television genre a little here. SGU apparently shares the ensemble cast, darker and more realistic theme, and so forth. But is it necessarily because of Battlestar, or is BSG just part of a general shift in the industry. Look at the new Batman and Bond stuff. The new Star Trek movie. The swathe of superhero movies. Aiming for dark, gritty, character-driven and a grounding in "realism" seems to be a pretty popular approach, both with studios and fans. BSG may be the only obvious scifi one, but there are other shows like Lost and Heroes that have a similar ensemble cast / dark feel / character-driven plot.

Its also worth looking at how the Stargate series' have evolved over the last decade or so. Just starting off with the basics:

SG-1 was very much about the team itself; the General and the Doctor - if there even was a "main character" filling that role - were usually ancillary to the plot. The stories dealt mostly with the team going off somewhere, and having an open and closed adventure, with minimal character development along the way. The tone was fairly light, thanks to Richard Dean Anderson, and while they tackled some typical scifi issues like religion, slavery, terrorism, racism, et al, most of it was dressed up in the form of the Goa'uld, the Jaffa, the Tok'ra, the Ori; big, characature bad guys.

Atlantis broadened the cast a little bit. Not only did they dedicate a lot of time to developing individual characters, but the "General" (Weir/Carter/Woolsey) and the Doctor got a lot more screen time. After a couple of seasons, stories stopped being stand-alone adventures, and started playing into a bigger plot. They started containing things more within the city itself as well, and they deviated from the team, having a lot of stories that focussed on individual characters without the rest of the team even being there. The background characters, like Beckett, Zelenka, Lorne, Caldwell; they all got much more development on-screen than their equivalents back in SG-1 got, for the most part. The enemies too were less distant: similar issues were tackled, but the people being dealt with were at least humans - rather than "aliens" - even if they weren't necessarily from Earth. They threw in more contemporary issues as well; nuclear arms, genocides, supporting "corrupt governments", etc. And okay, so the Wraith were pretty alien, but they were drawn from a horror movie background, and friggin' ate people: that's pretty dark.

Continue those trends further. Less and less stories involving the team going to other planets? Check. More arc-driven stories, and less stand-alone adventures? Check. More character development for main characters? Check. More screen time and development for the ensemble of supporting characters? Check. Tackling issues that are more contemporary? Check. Aiming for a more adult and less family-orientated atmosphere? Check.

If you zoom out far enough, then yeah. It probably does look like a clone of Battlestar. But to disect your Baltar parallel: what is it that seems the same? They're both intelligent? They're both scheming and manipulative, working towards their own - not necessarily apparent - agenda? What about characters like Chancellor Palpatine? Gul Dukat? Locke on Lost? Victor Von Doom? Julius Caesar?

Like I say, I don't mean to cause offense; but drawing a Battlestar comparison makes it seem like you're forgetting the bigger picture.

Edit:

I say a bucket-load of crap sometimes, don't I? Believe it or not, that was the abridged version :lol

Tell Cho

Sep 30th, 2009, 10:35:30 AM

Lou Diamond Phillips is in this. Now I'll be thinking of La Bamba all day long.

Well, come on, come on, come on now pretty baby...

Tear

Oct 1st, 2009, 03:42:40 AM

Everyone seems to be saying that and - not meaning to cause offense - I think it's a little naive.

True most studios are leaning toward the grittier sci-fi but I dont think its naive to say the trailers give a BSG type of impression.

I.E A military ship with a rag tag crew cut off from their home and traveling through space, with a big batch of civlians, trying to make it back. From the trailer clips it looks like its the result of some catastrophe influenced largely by Carylyes character. Heck the two even look somewhat similar( go to time index :42 on that trailer you last linked. They probably used the same wardrobe :lol )

Again thats just the impression I've been getting and im pretty sure thats the impression the studios are trying to give with the trailers. Pull in those galactica fans for the premiere. Worked for me. I'm not a fan of stargate but im gonna give this a try. Its clever marketing. Thats not saying its going to be a complete rip off, like i said I hope the show deviates and is rather something completely its own.

Captain Untouchable

Oct 1st, 2009, 05:14:05 AM

Rather than respond to that, I'm just going to quote what Brian J. Smith said in a recent Q&A:

Well, frankly I like where sci-fi is GOING. There’s an attempt to mix in a more realistic and grounded sensibility to sci-fi programming and I find it exciting. Sci-Fi explores the big questions – why not ask them in a way that engages and provokes and isn’t afraid of taking itself seriously? That being said, I always considered Star Trek to be a guilty pleasure – I never took the show seriously. It was sort of like reading a comic book. I guess as I get older (well, not THAT old but still . . . ) I’m much more into shows that challenge me to look deeper, and might allow me to relate to the characters I’m watching, foibles and all. If I just want to be entertained I’ll play XBox.

BSG was a very baroque show. It was nasty and dark and humorless and I loved every minute of it. SGU is about the “better angels of our nature”, even though the characters go through some dark stuff. They never give up. They’re survivors. I don’t know how many times a character in SGU says “okay this sucks, but we’re gonna get through this – and we’re gonna get through it together.” That’s the difference – SGU is about the inexplicable ability of human beings to sacrifice themselves for a stranger and to find hope in impossible circumstances, and BSG was about whether or not the human species deserves to survive. I don’t think you’ll ever doubt the answer to that question after watching SGU.

Its not a military ship at all. The crew is made up mostly of civilians; they're not just along for the ride. The main cast is almost as much civilian as it is military, and there's a huge ensemble of supporting characters. Baltar brought about his "disaster" by being ignorant and neglegent; Rush brings it about by ruthless intent. In Battlestar, they were on the run; in Universe, they have no one to flee from.

Maybe its because I've done more than just watch the trailers - reading interviews, articles, Q&As, and such - and that's why I'm not settling for the comparisons you've drawn... but they just seem off.

If we're gonna go making sweeping generalisations and ignore huge chunks of the character, you might as well compare Rush to Quinn Mallory from Sliders. They're both scientists with long-ish hair; they both used wormhole technology to strand a group of people somewhere. Aside from Rush being pseudo-evil, they're exactly the same. :mneh

Dasquian Belargic

Oct 1st, 2009, 10:07:05 AM

*pats the Captain*

It's okay, man... it's okay.

Tear

Oct 1st, 2009, 12:40:00 PM

Maybe its because I've done more than just watch the trailers - reading interviews, articles, Q&As, and such - and that's why I'm not settling for the comparisons you've drawn... but they just seem off.

Of course they'll be off. I only watched the trailer.

If we're gonna go making sweeping generalizations and ignore huge chunks of the character, you might as well compare Rush to Quinn Mallory from Sliders. They're both scientists with long-ish hair; they both used wormhole technology to strand a group of people somewhere. Aside from Rush being pseudo-evil, they're exactly the same. :mneh

Making sweeping generalizations is all I can do. I'm going OFF the trailers and giving my impressions left by them. Obviously you don't have too since you've been "reading interviews, articles, Q&As, and such". So you have an entirely different picture then I do.

Yeah I could make that connection between Baltar and Quinn. But you know what would make it better? If the someone did a remake of Sliders! A grittier, more realistic, character driven sliders. With a semi evil Mallory Quinn. ;)

Something like BSG...yeah!

BSG was the first of its kind and broke a mold for this genre. Anytime any gritty sci fi show comes out since that point your going to get people referring to the first. Its just the way it works.

Pow! Older Jerry O'connel actually does too!
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p19/DirtyMongooze/baltar.jpg

Jason Mcgraves

Oct 1st, 2009, 02:44:05 PM

I was a fan of Sg-1 and I liked atlantis. I felt the ended atlantis one season to soon. It needed one more season to flesh out a better ending to the series. As for SGU it looks different and I think I will like the change in direction so I will for sure check it out.

As for this I here about BSG being the first of it's kind. It really wasn't the first of it's kind, probably the first of it's kind to succeed but definately not the first of it's kind. I mean I loved BSG but I could still disect the show and compare it to other sci-fi but I won't just as I wouldn't compare SGU to BSG.

Maybe SGU will return to what the orginal stargate (the movie creaters vision) was supose to be. From what I have read on his vision the Star gate series was meant to be dark from the begining. I mean come on in the movie O'niel was an ass and wanted to nuc an entire planet because he felt it was his duty. Not to mention he was sucidal. He was a much darker character then sg-1 turned him into. So I guess what I'm saying is Star gate already has it's darker grittier roots.

Lilaena De'Ville

Oct 1st, 2009, 07:22:12 PM

Captain Untouchable

Oct 2nd, 2009, 12:45:55 AM

I keep waiting for them to have the guts to reveal the Stargates to the world. I thought with Atlantis in the San Francisco Bay this would happen sooner than later, but... perhaps we'll never know. :(

They have an SG-1 and Atlantis movie planned, but as yet there's no word on when it will happen. The SG-1 movie is meant to be O'Neill-centric (which will either be awesome or lame, depending), whereas the Atlantis one follows straight on from Season 5. Unfortunately, DVD sales are sketchy at the mo, so the network hasn't manned up and signed off on either of them yet.

If they did reveal the Stargate to the public, it'd be somewhat final; for SG-1 at the very least. They've shown us glimpses of the possibilities through alternate timelines and other planets, and the overbearing fact is that either society crumbles, or Stargate Command does. Granted, Carter has her own ship now, and O'Neill is a General, but they are still hoping to continue with the movies for at least a few more iterations: making the Gate public would pretty much write off SG-1 entirely - the whole "why is the US military in charge of this? blah blah blah" issue - and would gut some of the cast from Atlantis too. Retaining the status quo would be nigh impossible... and I kinda like watching the status quo at the minute. :\

Travis North

Oct 2nd, 2009, 09:37:32 PM

Just finished watching it on Space channel.

It was great.
<input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden">

Lilaena De'Ville

Oct 2nd, 2009, 10:03:04 PM

Waiting for Ty to wake up from his nap so we can watch it. :D

Captain Untouchable

Oct 4th, 2009, 07:05:31 AM

Just watched the pilot; here are my initial (spoiler free) reactions, if y'all give a darn about what I thought:

I went into this with the same approach I took to Star Trek: on the one hand, I was excited for new anything from one of my favourite franchises, but on the other I was prepared to be defensive and critical of the stuff they'd done different. And it was different. And yet somehow, it wasn't. It feels really poncy to say, but it had the same "soul" as earlier Stargate, I guess.

There were criticisms in advance that the use of hand-held camera stuff would make it more like Battlestar, visually. It really wasn't. I don't know what the difference was, but it didn't feel like BSG at all. Maybe something to do with camera filters? Or maybe it was because they didn't zoom in and out and wobble about so much. Dunno. Visually, it came off looking like Stargate, but with a twist.

The story telling was... well, the only word I can think of is "graceful". Describing it as gritty would be insulting: it was far too smooth, elegant, and flowing for that to seem apt. A lot of gritty stuff has explosions of action, great surges of drama. With SGU, it shifted from one to the other. Throw in the musical score, which was something that Stargate has never really relied upon, and wow: some of those scenes were damned powerful. The way that they portrayed the characters through that storytelling was fantastic. Character development wasn't a blunt instrument that you were whacked around the head with. It was delicate little scenes. The bit where Lt. Scott and Chloe are talking on the observation deck? And the scene that it was in response to? Something about the ensemble was just incredibly moving.

I like Eli Wallace. Probably because he reminds me of myself: he's smart, but cocky as hell about it, and thus invariably screws up because he doesn't try hard enough; he doesn't think he needs to. He's totally out of his depth, but they don't clobber you with that notion. He's the token comedy character, but because of his youth he hasn't developed the cynical attitude that O'Neill or McKay had. Its more lame and immature humour, too. And some great stuff that is purely acting, rather than script - for example, they find these little flying cameras called a "kino", and Eli gets the idea to use it as a video blog type thing; some shots are done from a kino eye view, and Eli keeps shooting glances at the kino; kinda breaking the fourth wall, but not quite.

If Eli is the character I'm most like, Lt. Scott is probably the one I wish I was most like. He's only a few years older than I am; he's totally new at this. Yet, he winds up shoved into a position of authority, and he almost handles it really well. There are some fantastic character moments where the edges fray a little, and he shows how out of his depth he is. He gets a little angry, or shows a little of his fear; he just works as a rounded character. Also, the first flashback scene we get with him is probably the best character introduction ever!

Dr. Rush is like Baltar, but not. The face value comparison from the trailer doesn't work, but on seeper levels, you can draw some parallels. Like Baltar, you find yourself rooting for him, even though you know you shouldn't. Unlike Baltar however, its because Rush wholeheartedly believes that he's doing the right thing. He has a logical approach to things, but he's passionately logical. There's a scene where he's consoling Chloe: if anyone but him had said what he did, you'd have thought he was a dick. Somehow though, Robert Carlyle makes it seem compelling and genuine. I don't really know how to describe him; if nothing else, you should totally watch the pilot just to see what I mean!

The last character that got developed enough to be worth talking about - imo - is Colonel Young. He didn't do much, save get thrown across a room and sustain severe head trauma. There's one scene though, where he's doing his leadership thing; he meets Rush's passionate logic head on with his own no-shit approach. He isn't a hoorah military type; he's more of "an officer and a gentleman", from what we've seen so far. He's the kind of character that you're glad is in charge, and that you understand why he commands the respect he does. I'm at a loss for a comparison: perhaps some sort of freakish combination of William Adama and Dillon Hunt?

There were cameos by O'Neill, Carter, and Jackson. But they were literally minutes each; tucked away in the background. Their being involved added to the story, rather than being an in-your-face affair. Yeah, they could have used a different ship, and could have had someone else recording the videos rather than Daniel Jackson... but they didn't. And it worked. Also, hardcore fans might want to keep an eye out for Doctor Lee, Walter, and Major Marks: they were literally blink and you'll miss them cameos, but it felt right that they were there, somehow.

Also, Carter's hair was darker - presumably a side-effect of having dyed it for Sanctuary. Okay, so I've had a crush on her since I was ten, but holy cow: does the woman never age?!

My only concern at this point is Sergeant Greer. I love the portrayal, and the character is great... I just don't see myself caring if they develop him or not. If they try and give him a sensitive side or something like that, it'll break what makes the character so awesome and badass. He's like Teal'c and Ronan, but without the interesting and compelling backstory potential. I like him; I'm just a tad intregued and concerned about how they'll tackle developing his character.

Lilaena De'Ville

Oct 4th, 2009, 12:00:58 PM

I thought it was really great, and can't wait til next week. :)

Emelie Shadowstar

Oct 9th, 2009, 03:54:31 PM

Well...odds are I will always be a week behind on this...but if hulu keeps tossing the eps up on their site, I think I'll keep watching it. Just got around to watching the first ep and coming from a standpoint of...well... having not watched any of the other series I enjoyed it...but wasn't instantly won over either.

I'm not really finding myself getting attached to any of the characters...which is usually what either makes or kills a show for me. I usually end up liking at least someone right off when first watching a show, but really I didn't this time around, which was kinda sad. Eli just comes off as...annoying, Chloe is obnoxious to me really glad they offed her dad right away. If I had to keep hearing her scream for him every time he had a medical hiccup I was going to want her dead real real quick., Dr. Rush is instantly reminiscent of Baltar...only more stuffy.

As for the military folks: Col. Young seems like a level-headed leader guy I'll probably just end up liking but not really caring what happens to him, Lt. Scott might go either way...he might be the character I end up liking a ton, or I just might not care about him either. Greer, I worry, is going to bug the crap out of me, though. He's filling that roll of "person with the attitude problem" that almost all these things seem to have but he just...isn't pulling it off so far without coming off as just a jerk.

Yeah yeah, not fair to judge right off on the first ep, but so far that's my impressions. Going to watch a few more eps and see how the characters develop but right now they just aren't keeping my attention. Boo.

Captain Untouchable

Oct 12th, 2009, 07:56:49 PM

Dunno if anyone else has stumbled across this, but the has started to upload the Daniel Jackson instructional videos, in small chunks.

So far we have:
[url=http://stargate.mgm.com/view/content/1654/index.html]The Stargate (http://stargate.mgm.com/MGM website[/url)
Hyperspace (http://stargate.mgm.com/view/content/1660/index.html)
The Ancients (http://stargate.mgm.com/view/content/1666/index.html)

It's pretty much the sort of information you'd expect to find in the first paragraph or two of a wiki article; if you're familiar with the series, you can even "hear" which phrases would be links to other articles. Seems to be mostly a fan service / novelty value thing that a new viewer wouldn't give a flying Furling about, but if you want to geek out and sit there taking notes like Eli did*, then they're probably worth a look. :)

* No, I didn't. I already obsessively knew all of it. Which is worse. But still. :mneh

Lilaena De'Ville

Oct 12th, 2009, 08:31:31 PM

Furlings. :D Just knowing this is the most mysterious species in the Stargate universe makes me a total nerd.

I miss the Nox. ;)

Captain Untouchable

Oct 13th, 2009, 06:12:32 AM

Furlings. :D Just knowing this is the most mysterious species in the Stargate universe makes me a total nerd.

I miss the Nox. ;)

Do you miss them for their crazy hair and invisibility powers, or just because their leader is Quark? ;)

Dasquian Belargic

Nov 19th, 2009, 04:04:10 PM

Just watched the pilot double-episode and now onto the third.. still waiting for any one character to really endear themselves to me :/

Lilaena De'Ville

Nov 19th, 2009, 06:33:36 PM

I really really liked last Friday's episode. :)

Time travel gimmicks always get me. :)

Captain Untouchable

Nov 19th, 2009, 10:19:05 PM

Things are really starting to pick up now, which is great. Unfortunately, the three-part "Air" followed by the two-part "Darkness" and "Light" slowed the pace down a fair bit during the opening weeks. D/L was originally concieved as the one-part "Fire"; so effectively, it took us five weeks just to reach the third episode ("Water"). I'd been reserving judgement one way or another until we reached that point, just so I could see how SGU held up in a one-hour format.

"Water" was pretty good - anything that involves pleanty of Young screen time is fine with me, given how awesome he is - but "Earth" and "Time" are marking out a steady upward climb in episode quality. "Earth" was a good mix of action and drama; and "Time" managed to put a totally new kind of spin on what can often be a tricky plot device to pull off.

Last week in particular, I loved the little insights that we got into the characters; particularly Eli. Him talking to TJ about his mother made sense... but under any other circumstances, the two just wouldn't get that sit-down time. And on top of that, now everyone knows, which probably wouldn't have come about naturally under normal circumstances, either. These last few episodes, the writing has really started to impress me: they're breaking out a whole new set of techniques, and I'm loving it.

Surprisingly, Greer is one of my favourite characters. Probably now that we know he was in hack for punching Colonel Telford in the face. After the last few minutes of "Earth", he deserves it, damnit! :shakefist

Emelie Shadowstar

Nov 20th, 2009, 02:36:59 PM

Just watched the pilot double-episode and now onto the third.. still waiting for any one character to really endear themselves to me :/
:lol *just went back and reread what she first wrote*
Yay! I'm not the only one!

I think I got through "Air" and I was just...done. The story itself was kinda interesting enough to keep me curious as to what was going to happen next, but without actually caring about anyone on the show I kinda fell out of interest on the whole. I have to like the characters first and foremost, and sadly I didn't find myself even remotely enjoying any of them being around by the third ep.

I may give it another try one of these days now hearing that it does eventually pick up... *shrug* but as for now, I think I wait for the season to be over so I can borrow dvds or something instead of watching it on my computer screen.

Dasquian Belargic

Apr 2nd, 2010, 11:10:47 AM

Since Caprica is on a break, I'm giving this show another go. Just watching episode 4 "Darkness" at the moment, hoping for good things...

Sasseeri Reeouurra

Apr 2nd, 2010, 01:28:55 PM

It starts up again tonight, too. :)

Dasquian Belargic

Apr 2nd, 2010, 01:52:55 PM

Well, I have 5 more eps to watch before I'm up to date - but after that I'll be watching along with you guys :)

Captain Untouchable

Apr 2nd, 2010, 02:05:29 PM

Jen -
I love Stargate to pieces, and yet I was pretty bored by the first six episodes; because "Darkness" and "Light" (4 & 5) were originally written as a single episode ("Fire"), it made the pace of the opening half of the season really slow. Water (6) is a little weak; but "Time" (8) and "Life" (9) are really good, imo.

Also, just a heads-up to you US and internet viewers out there: the UK broadcast of episode 11 is not until the 13th April: over a week after the US broadcast. I may be the only person watching "live" in the UK at the moment; but yeah: in addition to spoiler tags, it would be appreciated if you could note which episode name or number you're talking about. That way I can read your comments about last week's episode, without fear of stumbling across your spoilers for *this* week.

Thanks. :)

Dasquian Belargic

Apr 2nd, 2010, 02:09:06 PM

Yog

Apr 2nd, 2010, 03:11:19 PM

Good idea, Jace. We can just work spoilering in the same way that we do for Caprica, i.e. begin your post with something like 1x05 Light or 1x06 Water. Everyone seems to be sticking to that pretty well :)
Good idea actually. I'll do this for every TV show from now on, to prevent any confusion.