A Word About Stargate Universe

In a word: Excellent.

Stargate SG1 is a classic. It ran a little too long, and it lost its creativity at the end. (Hey, we just defeated a race of false gods! Lets tackle another race of false gods!)

I enjoyed Atlantis, to an extent, but it was never able to cross over from “decent lightweight” to “serious contender”. I remember one season where they made a big deal about taking a different direction with it; I remember being of the impression that it was going to get more serious; more hard-core. But it didn’t. There were a couple good fight scenes, but it was same-old same-ole.

At the very end, I thought it’d be great if Atlantis came to earth in full view. It didn’t happen, but I hope they make a movie or such that finally reveals the stargates and Atlantis to the world.

SGU in no way diminishes the integrity of SG1. It brings it to a whole new level, though. Obviously influenced by Battlestar Galactica, its visually stunning. The sounds and music are great, and the characters are all excellent (if not a bit whiny).

The key to its success, as with all recent super hero movies (and BSG), is that they take the material seriously. Sure, there is comic relief, but the plot is serious and the characters are serious. Dr. Rush is a complete jerk. He’s not a misunderstood jerk with a kind heart that every one likes (ie: rodney); the guy really is a jerk. He gives you a bad feeling and you don’t trust him. This is perfectly demonstrated by the end of episode 4 where the captain realizes that Rush may have known about Destiny’s purpose to visit the sun all along.

I find every episode exciting and gripping. There are little things here and there that I could pick on, but I find the whole experience so rewarding that I don’t want to pick on it. I want to enjoy it.

This really is, so far, a great piece of science fiction. The first 4 episodes have been setting up the series. Now that everyone’s on board and they’ve worked out the power problems in destiny, it may now fall into a routine. Stop the ship; visit a planet; get back on the ship in 12 hours; move on. Let’s see how they keep that fresh and exciting. It can go wrong, but it started very strong.