Am I the only one who loves SGU?

[samalex]

I've watched a few Stargate episodes over the years, but I hadn't just fallen in love with any of them until SGU. I watched the first couple of episodes when they originally aired then as goes life I just didn't make it a priority and fell out of it. I'm now watching them on Netflix and am about 10 episodes from the end of season two, which I guess is all they made.

But from reading the comments about SGU it seems that most die hard SG fans don't care for the show. Why? I'm totally digging the storylines and character development, and given I loved TNG, DS9, and Voy, I see elements of all three in SGU.

[Sandoval]

It was okay. No worse than a lot of the rubbish that's on TV anyway.

[C.E. Evans]

I liked SGU, but then it was the only Stargate series I was ever able to get into. But even I can see that maybe it was too much of a departure from previous Stargate shows--there wasn't much humor in the series and the action quotient was low except towards the end, IMO.

[Gary Mitchell]

I didn't like it at first since I didn't like any of the characters but I kept watching it because it was Stargate and it really grew on me. It was really disappointing when it was cancelled.

[AJ86]

No, you're not the only one.

As things stand SG-1 is my favourite, but I think that had SGU finished it's run it would have topped it for me. Much more depth, but they just took their time too much for a mainstream audience.

[TiberiusMaximus]

In general, people who liked the other Stargate series didn't seem to like SGU, and people who didn't like the other series seemed to like it. Of course, there are exceptions to both sides.

I didn't really like it at first, but it grew on me and Season 2 was mostly excellent. SGU also had an amazing finale.

[Sindatur]

Gary Mitchell wrote:

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I didn't like it at first since I didn't like any of the characters but I kept watching it because it was Stargate and it really grew on me. It was really disappointing when it was cancelled.

Yea, this is pretty much the story for me, couldn't get into S1, didn't enjoy more than a couple episodes, because everyone was just so unlikable and there was nothing to hold my interest, but, I suffered through it.

First half of S2, I found I was starting to enjoy about half the episodes.

Second half of S2, the show had finally found it's footing and had becoming mostly enjoyable, and by the time it ended, I was sad it took so long to get itself up to speed, and wasn't allowed to continue, since it had actually finally become good.

[RoJoHen]

I loved it and am annoyed that it got canceled when it did. I thought it was really heading in an interesting direction.

[Agent Richard07]

I liked the show as well. I liked it's attempt to make Stargate more sophisticated, and I thought it had some pretty clever and nicely shot moments. From a stylistic and production standpoint, it was excellent. Looking back at the actual storytelling though, I think the "slow burn" may have been too slow. As for the characters, they took some getting to know, but once I did, I came to really enjoy the naturalism and camaraderie we got. I'm also one of the few people who liked the stones. I found them to be an excellent scifi idea and plot device.

TiberiusMaximus wrote:

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In general, people who liked the other Stargate series didn't seem to like SGU, and people who didn't like the other series seemed to like it.

I'm one of those. Sort of. I liked SG-1 back in the day, but lost interest in Atlantis in part because it didn't have the ambitious quality that other shows like BSG and Lost had. SGU, with it's attempt to inject that same energy into Stargate, brought me back to the franchise. SGU even got me to go back and finish Atlantis.

[Harvey]

Season 1 was absolute rubbish. It had great production values, a couple of decent actors, and...nothing else. I saw the first episode of season two, didn't notice any improvement, and finally gave up on the franchise. I doubt I'll return to it, especially since it was cancelled without much of a resolution.

[The Wormhole]

SGU's main problem was that it took too long to go nowhere. Other problems included that lack of humour and light-heartedness which are trademark to Stargate and attempts to take themselves too seriously resulting at the best of times being boring, like their depiction of aliens. Or at the worst of times they look totally ridiculous doing things the other Stargates could get away with, like depicting the Lucian Alliance as a bunch of cliche cartoon supervillains.

Yes, SGU did show some improvement with the second half of the second season, primarily they were starting to figure out which characters worked and were given them more to do. But it was too little, too late. The damage was done. While SGU might not be the worse show on television, it's a far way's from the top indeed.

[Brikar99]

I liked it, though I definitely agree it was a little too slow-paced for its own good. I also wish the second season got a blu-ray release. The show looked great in HD.

[klingonmaquis]

Ok, hated the first half of season 1. Slow pacing, characters I had very little interest in and quite frankly the visits to earth were crap. Sure, the first thing I'm gonna do when I can visit family is go clubbing....frak that! For the longest time the ONLY character I liked was Dr. Rush. He, I understood. Everybody else for the most part were forgettable for me. When Lou Diamond Phillips made his transition from ass to human I was totally into that character. I can understand wanting to get the right people there and the civilians home. I hope that they continue the series in comic book, novel or something. Loved the first 6 years of SG1. LOVED Atlantis, but SGU once it got the momentum had lost the fans who could have carried it on. What can ya do though.

[Enterprise is Great]

I liked it from the start but I can see how people got frustrated with how slow it moved early on. But the back half of season one was much improved but the show really didn't take off until season 2. A shame it got canceled when it was just getting really good. Anyway I liked it better than Atlantis and I liked SGA.

[Temis the Vorta]

It was unwatchable garbage. If they wanted to jettison the silly-nonsense tone of Stargate, that's fine, but they do need to replace it with something good instead. They were trying to ape the gritty realism of nuBSG, and they failed. Utterly.

Sandoval wrote:

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It was okay. No worse than a lot of the rubbish that's on TV anyway.

Being no worse than the tsunami of crap on TV is not my idea of "okay." It's true that SGU wasn't noticeably more awful than the general awfulness of TV, bit this isn't a forum for Jersey Shore, so that's not the show being bashed to shreds here.