Stargate is back!

[locker_monster]

Stargate Universe was one of the few shows I was looking forward to seeing this TV season. I'm not really sure what to think of the show just yet, but it's a good start. The show had a different vibe from the other two shows. Yes, it is darker and moodier, but the humour is still there, too. With the premiere actually being three parts long, when the second part of "Air" ended, I was all, "Wha? No more?" So, good sign that the writers are doing something right. ;-)

Now, I've been watching Stargate for years now. Probably right from the beginning or near there at any rate. It was cool to see some of the old characters before going on this adventure with the new characters. But it's also cool that the average geek off the street, who has never seen Stargate, can watch this show, too. My sister said she wanted to check the show out and she's never watched an episode of the franchise. From what I can tell, you don't need to know every little detail. Yes, Jack, Sam, and Daniel all make an appearance (even Walter and Dr. Lee got in a shot or two), but their appearances aren't important to the plot. They're just a general, a ship commander, and a guy in an orientation video, respectively. They were there to kick off the show and nothing more. With that said, Jack, Sam, and Daniel are going to show up again, so old fans will get that nice kiss to the past.

But anyway, Stargate Universe. I'm liking the premise. A bunch of people get trapped on a rundown Ancient ship billions of light years from home. Their biggest worry in the episode, besides each other, was trying to breathe. It was a refreshing plot. No aliens to foil or planets to save. While Stargate has always been about the characters, I'm sure SGU will concentrate on them even more. So far there aren't any stand-out characters in my mind, but we the audience haven't had that much time to bond with them yet. Okay, we're supposed to identify with Eli since he's the newbie and the geek, but I'm not going to start to like a character just because he plays video games and is geeky about naming things. I was reminded of SGA's premiere and Sheppard's line "We'll name it later!" Oh, and it seems like the characters all have some deep dark secrets that will be revealed over time.

It's Dr. Rush who's the most interesting so far. We see him take the communication device and it's clear he took control of Dr. Lee's body, but we never see the conversation he has with Jack, if he even did have a conversation. I like to believe he's totally lying about being put in charge. So where did Rush go while in Dr. Lee's body? It's kind of cheap that they do have a way to communicate with home, but you do want to be able to connect with the rest of the franchise and at the moment, well, that means going to Earth. I can see them using the communication devices to have Earth based episodes in the future, but hopefully they won't do that too often. The whole point of the show is these people can't get home.

I had a hard time keeping up with all the technical stuff, though. The whole thing about the importance of the Icarus Base went by sort of quick, but I think I got the gist of it. And the Destiny I get mostly. But the Ancients built fully automated ships that could build Stargates on their own? And then those ships dumped those gates on different planets? I can only assume these ships and the Destiny were built after the Ancients arrived in the Milky Way but before they made the gates as they are in SG-1. I think it's funny that the SGU gate is like a rotary phone compared to the SG-1 and SGA gates.

You'd think people in science fiction would learn not to name things after Icarus. He's the guy in Greek myth who fell to his death and all. So obviously the Icarus Base was doomed from the start. And I was on that set back in April! That was the set I couldn't take a picture of. Doesn't seem that awesome now that everyone has seen it, but I was there!

So good to see Jack, Sam, and Daniel, even if it was briefly. I find it so funny that they've filmed orientation videos for the SGC newbies and that Daniel is the host. And Sam is the commander of the Hammond! I was on that set, too. :-) So I guess that means SG-1 is no more as a team? Or maybe Cam and Vala are still running around the galaxy with some new team members? I wish they would have dropped tiny, subtle hints about what the characters have been up to since SGA ended, but I guess you really shouldn't be doing that in the premiere for the new show. Hopefully we'll get hints in later episodes.

For now, a decent start. Apparently "Air" beat out Dollhouse, ratings wise, yesterday. You can draw your own conclusions. :-)

Comments

[newnumber6.livejournal.com]

After watching SGU I now have this image of Daniel Jackson just having to do orientation video after orientation video. "What? Another one? Do these guys really need to know how to use a stargate and sunspots to time travel? Can't we get Sam to do this one?!"

Overall I liked it, but you can clearly see they're going for a "SG as done by BSG" style in a lot of things. It's a bit distracting, at least at first, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. And it doesn't feel like it's "finished" the first episode yet, and probably won't be until "WE MUST SURVIVE THE NEXT DAY!" ceases to become the driving force of the episodes.

[locker-monster.livejournal.com]

It's funny how they have multiple videos, instead of just one long orientation that explains everything. Poor Eli probably had to sit through hours and hours of Daniel explaining stuff. But does this mean the Stargate Program is recruiting more publicly now? There were a lot of civilians running around Icarus Base and Senator Armstrong knew about the Stargate Program. I thought it was just the President who knew about it. I guess it's hard to keep something secret when you have a giant floating city battling aliens over Earth.

I didn't mind the camera work. I like to think it's more of an homage to Firefly than BSG. :-) And it gives the show a different look, which helps to set it apart from SG-1 and SGA.