Stargate Universe (3rd stargate series!) (2 Viewers)

[Arild]

Originally Posted by NeilO /forum/thread/254416/stargate-universe-3rd-stargate-series/30#post_3614252

 

[Francois Caron]

Did the ending of this week's episode look like a mix of Stargate:Firefly and Stargate:BSG?

 

[Mikah Cerucco]

If so, that's a good barrel to pull from.

I held off on watching the pilot so I could watch all 3 parts at once. For those who loved everything about SG-1 and Atlantis, I'd suspect it's a more difficult show to get into. I love that there isn't the attempt to interject humor every 15 seconds. All in all, I like the artistic choices they've made with this one and I can't see not following it on a weekly basis. If there's the intent to bring more humor to the series, I hope it's the mature humor of, say, BSG, and not the almost-pratfall humor of SG-1.

I'm always a fan of the casting following the story needs and not vice versa, but I missed seeing Teal'c along with the rest of the original team. It was also interesting to watch Samantha Carter, then see Dr. Helen Magnus on Sanctuary right afterwards. She has changed quite a bit over the years.

 

[Greg_S_H]

If it had been me, instead of trying to work in a long Planet of the Apes gag, I would have bent down and pretended to pick something up and said, "Look, sir! Droids!"

What do we think about the shuttle launch? Was it a funeral for the senator that we didn't see, or was it an automated launch? Did the ship "know" to send a shuttle to the alternate planet for the two errant crewmen, or did it sense a dead guy inside and say, "Ew, gross!" I'd have to guess against a funeral, because why would you waste a shuttle that might prove repairable and important? And, I doubt if the ship would care if a dead guy was in there.

On the DVDs, do you think Air will be one big three-hour episode? I think it's a safe assumption.

 

[Eric_Connelly]

Meh...It seems to be a massive mishmash of every sci fi show of the past 20 years.

When we got to the "Martian Chronicles" flashback I knew they were reaching

Show needs to be about an hour longer to move things along faster.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Friday's was still part of the pilot, so let's wait and see what a regular hour is like with this show. I don't have a clue yet, but I would guess there will be a number of "the ship has detected another planet, let's explore it" episodes.

 

[Arild]

Originally Posted by Greg_S_H

Friday's was still part of the pilot, so let's wait and see what a regular hour is like with this show. I don't have a clue yet, but I would guess there will be a number of "the ship has detected another planet, let's explore it" episodes.

That's the thing that struck me about this pilot. Even now that it's over, I have no idea what this series is going to be. I mean, the pilot was all about the life support issues - now fixed, at least for now - and there hasn't really been any obvious setup for whatever is going to happen between now and when the series ends. I suppose that may be a good thing, though.

 

[KevinGress]

Originally Posted by Mikah Cerucco

If so, that's a good barrel to pull from.

I held off on watching the pilot so I could watch all 3 parts at once. For those who loved everything about SG-1 and Atlantis, I'd suspect it's a more difficult show to get into. I love that there isn't the attempt to interject humor every 15 seconds. All in all, I like the artistic choices they've made with this one and I can't see not following it on a weekly basis. If there's the intent to bring more humor to the series, I hope it's the mature humor of, say, BSG, and not the almost-pratfall humor of SG-1.

Firefly, I would agree. BSG, I would not.

While I like "the look" of SGU, I hope they quickly move away from the limited resources and "everyone's whiny and angry and fighting everyone else" storylines and move more to what Stargate is - exploration and hope.


That's not to say that they should all agree all the time (ala Star Trek) but it shouldn't dominate the show, like it did on BSG. Right now there's very little to like about any of these characters - other than perhaps the computer genius and the soldier who found the lime. I think the creators watched BSG and thought "Oh, that's why no one's watching Atlantis - we need a bunch of characters that no one likes all fighting each other. That's what we'll make!" (It wasn't the reason.)


What made the first 4 or 5 seasons of SG1 special was not knowing what was on the other side of the gate and going with a team that you liked every member of to see what was on the other side; and when times got hard or dark - the characters you cared about always carried a sense of hope.


And that's why if they need a model they should model Firefly, and not BSG. The big difference between the two was with Firefly, there was a sense of hope; there was no such hope from BSG.

 

[Mikah Cerucco]

Another difference is BSG made it through 74 episodes, and Firefly didn't even get to air the 15 that were produced. I get that they were on different networks with different expectations, but still. I don't agree that BSG didn't have characters you could root for. What BSG didn't have were pristine characters. It had characters who tried to do the right things under difficult circumstances, and sometimes the right thing was ambiguous. It was also often the lesser of two evils.

So yeah, if SG:U deviates from the simplistic whimsical model of characterization exhibited by SG-1 and Atlantis, I've no problem with that. If such a deviation occurs, there's no reason the sense of wonder and exploration must be casualties.

 

[KevinGress]

Originally Posted by Mikah Cerucco

Another difference is BSG made it through 74 episodes, and Firefly didn't even get to air the 15 that were produced. I get that they were on different networks with different expectations, but still. I don't agree that BSG didn't have characters you could root for. What BSG didn't have were pristine characters. It had characters who tried to do the right things under difficult circumstances, and sometimes the right thing was ambiguous. It was also often the lesser of two evils.

So yeah, if SG:U deviates from the simplistic whimsical model of characterization exhibited by SG-1 and Atlantis, I've no problem with that. If such a deviation occurs, there's no reason the sense of wonder and exploration must be casualties.

Does anyone really think that if the situation was flipped and that BSG actually aired on a major network (like Fox) that it would have made more than 15 episodes and that Firefly wouldn't make 74 on SciFi? A quick scan shows that BSG's episode on 1/16/09 garnered around 2.1 million viewers. Firefly's premiere had somewhere around 4.9 - 5.1 million.

That's close to 250% more viewership.

BSG characters were beyond complex; they were morose and unredeemable. And while the characters on Firefly were in hard times, you had a sense they were looking to better days, and better ways.

So, I for one, do have a problem if TPTB want to create Stargate:BSG. Having unlikeable characters fighting with each other doesn't automatically make for good drama. If that's your cup of tea, fine - watch Caprica. It's not what SGU should aspire to.

 

[Mikah Cerucco]

I will watch Caprica, but I hope it's OK with you if I watch Stargate:Universe as well. At the end of the day, it's the writers who determine what the show should aspire to. Some people will find it acceptable. Some won't. I could just as easily say that based on the movie, the SG-1 and Atlantis TV shows shouldn't have aspired to be Sci-Fi Light. Instead, I approached the shows for what they were, not what I hoped (expected?) them to be. I'll do the same for Stargate:Universe.

That out of the way... I'll forgo any discussion as to whether there were any redeemable characters on BSG, but unlikeable? I read through the thread of every season of BSG and I saw plenty of affection for the characters over the years. Some people loved Starbuck. Apollo was generally a boy scout...
one who happened to marry a woman who wasn't the love of his life (but that happens).
I "liked" Adama right through to the end. Did I agree with everything he did? No way, no how. But I still liked him.

It's OK if you watched BSG and decided you didn't like anything about any of the characters, but I don't think that's the general concensus amongst fans of the show. Likewise, as time goes on, we'll get to know the characters on Stargate:Universe and I'm sure there will be heroic actions, adventure, intelligence, and humanity. If it's a little more serious in tone, that's just fine by me.

 

[Diallo B]

Originally Posted by Mikah Cerucco

Likewise, as time goes on, we'll get to know the characters on Stargate:Universe and I'm sure there will be heroic actions, adventure, intelligence, and humanity. If it's a little more serious in tone, that's just fine by me.

agreed.

one of the reasons that i couldn't really get into any of the previous sg series was because of how hard they tried to be comical or tried to be star trek.

 

[MarkHarrison]

Can we please stop the Battlestar Galactica discussion please? I'm only midway through season 2 and am very annoyed that I'm reading spoilers in a Stargate thread.

 

[Raasean Asaad]

What exactly was spoiled?

 

[Mikah Cerucco]

I've edited my post to put the BSG spoiler in spoiler tags. My apologies Mark. I actually can't believe I did that, as that's against the spirit of what we try to do in these threads, and I've been here long enough to know better. Brain fart. Rest assured that you still don't know what will happen based on what I said, but that's besides the point.

 

[KevinGress]

Originally Posted by Mikah Cerucco

...I could just as easily say that based on the movie, the SG-1 and Atlantis TV shows shouldn't have aspired to be Sci-Fi Light. Instead, I approached the shows for what they were, not what I hoped (expected?) them to be. I'll do the same for Stargate:Universe.

...It's OK if you watched BSG and decided you didn't like anything about any of the characters, but I don't think that's the general concensus amongst fans of the show. Likewise, as time goes on, we'll get to know the characters on Stargate:Universe and I'm sure there will be heroic actions, adventure, intelligence, and humanity. If it's a little more serious in tone, that's just fine by me.

The issue is one of degree. I would say you are right and have no problem if SGU is a little more serious in tone. BSG goes way beyond that. What bothers me is that BSG is too often being held up as the new standard on how sci-fi should be, and it shouldn't. SG1 proved that it had a successful model - action, adventure, and the ability to be both humorous and light, and yet serious in tone, as well. It irritates me when it seems like people are try to paint BSG as being the only way to do drama in sci-fi and that SG1 is somehow of lesser quality because it's not 'dark' like BSG. Early SG1 did just fine portraying moral delemmas.


But you're right - ultimately the writers and creators will determine the tone of the show. I'm just saying that trying to be Stargate:BSG would be ill advised. Stargate, at it's core, is one of exploration and wonder.

 

[MarkHarrison]

Originally Posted by Mikah Cerucco /forum/thread/254416/stargate-universe-3rd-stargate-series/30#post_3617695

 

[Shawn Shultzaberger]

I have to admit the aerobraking maneuver with the big blue gas giant was kind of cool. So far I'm still liking the show but I'm not quite sure I know where they are going with it.

 

[Simon Massey]

not knowing where they are going with this is i think a plus.
Better than falling into predictability

 

[Francois Caron]

Honestly, I think everyone would be better off without that crazy professor. His arrogance, ego and selfishness is what put everyone in that mess in the first place, and now he's pissed off that he can't solve the problem by himself?

Screw him!