SG-U - Awakening - (2x03) - (Discuss – Grade | SPOILERS)

[Mr Awe]

8. I enjoyed this even though in some sense, not a lot happened. But, it was an entertaining episode even if not overly dramatic or epic. The best parts were them exploring the new ship. The worst parts were Rush talking to his head people. Tney need to move that along quick because it's getting tedious already. They covered a good number of events efficiently but effectively to give a good overall sense of ship board life. What's going on with the LA, Telford, Chloe, etc. Not too much but yet didn't feel lacking for this point in the story. Obviously things are building up.

Mr Awe

 

[Mr Awe]

Thats it. I already knew that before i watched the dam show. An whole hour of nothing happening. I cant beleive this. U finally find a gate seeder ship and learn NOTHING! And we Do NOTHING with it. And then find aliens that DO NOTHING and we learned NOTHING about them.

Take a pill and relax. It's only the 3rd episode of the season. They're obviously setting all of the stuff that you mentioned up for later development. No point introducing all of that and then resolving all of that in 40 minutes!!

Mr Awe

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

I've had it with the random episode titles. Nothing 'Awakened'...well, the alien did but that's it. 'Intervention' is a little random too.

I can't wait to find out about the season's eighth episode, "Wombats."

Writer 1: We need a title for this episode.
Writer 2: Well, what have you written so far?
Writer 1: Not much, but I have this great scene where an alien opens it's eyes all dramatically and stuff.
Writer 2: Let's call it "Awakening"!
Writer 1: That's just a small part, it's not really about that...
Writer 2: Who cares, the audience won't notice.

According to the title list for Season 2 I've seen they actually gonna start with the first more-than-a-single-word titles soon.

 

[TiberiusMaximus]

Thats it. I already knew that before i watched the dam show. An whole hour of nothing happening. I cant beleive this. U finally find a gate seeder ship and learn NOTHING! And we Do NOTHING with it. And then find aliens that DO NOTHING and we learned NOTHING about them.

Take a pill and relax. It's only the 3rd episode of the season. They're obviously setting all of the stuff that you mentioned up for later development. No point introducing all of that and then resolving all of that in 40 minutes!!

Mr Awe

No kidding, the whole point of SGU so far is that it's slow-paced and dramatic.

 

[PsychoPere]

Later they can cancel the show and we will never know.
Later Syfy can file for bankruptcy and we will never know.
Later an alien invasion can take place and we will never know.
Later a meteor can hit Earth, and we will never know.
Later we can all ascend to a higher plane of existence and we wont care about SGU anymore.

"What ifs" do not present a compelling case against a show carefully trying to set up future storylines. If you only want to watch shows that tell a single story and are done in 42 minutes week-in and week-out, there are plenty of options. Some of us do prefer, even when we don't think the show is succeeding, shows that attempt to be a bit more ambitious than that.

 

[Snick27]

Thats it. I already knew that before i watched the dam show. An whole hour of nothing happening. I cant beleive this. U finally find a gate seeder ship and learn NOTHING! And we Do NOTHING with it. And then find aliens that DO NOTHING and we learned NOTHING about them.

Take a pill and relax. It's only the 3rd episode of the season. They're obviously setting all of the stuff that you mentioned up for later development. No point introducing all of that and then resolving all of that in 40 minutes!!

Mr Awe

No kidding, the whole point of SGU so far is that it's slow-paced and dramatic.

23 Episodes in to the show and still dont know what Destiny Mission is.

No wonder why people have given up on this show. And we learned soooo much bout that planet aliens and the blue aliens huh?

 

[Starbreaker]

I just don't know what to think about this show anymore. I'm still watching, but I'm barely hanging on. They're completely squandering their potential. Every once in a while, there is a great episode, but most of the time NOTHING happens. It's almost like they expect to have 5000 seasons to drag this stuff out.

Are they afraid of actually doing something entertaining? They have a whole UNIVERSE to explore, and they had to spend the first season going back to Earth via the stones, and the second season has been mostly about the Lucian Alliance characters that came from Earth... I think.... don't really remember.

They somehow managed to make finding a seeder ship and having contact with a very different alien boring.

 

[MilleniumLance]

I just don't know what to think about this show anymore. I'm still watching, but I'm barely hanging on. They're completely squandering their potential. Every once in a while, there is a great episode, but most of the time NOTHING happens. It's almost like they expect to have 5000 seasons to drag this stuff out.

Are they afraid of actually doing something entertaining? They have a whole UNIVERSE to explore, and they had to spend the first season going back to Earth via the stones, and the second season has been mostly about the Lucian Alliance characters that came from Earth... I think.... don't really remember.

They somehow managed to make finding a seeder ship and having contact with a very different alien boring.

My sentiments exactly, i have been watching every ep waiting for the "torment of tantalus", "fifth race" ,"there but for the grace of god" [Get ya hooked] episode but i havent seen it yet. next week we are back to the stones we'll see how that goes, i have accepted this is a diff show and what not to expect but what im seeing is just underwhelming and slow... you can plant seeds of story for the future, but it has to be entertaining to begin with to care about that future crop.

 

[TiberiusMaximus]

^I kind of disagree, but it's just my personal taste. I like SGU, but I have to admit at times it's similar to what Craig Ferguson said about Lost...something along the lines of "Every time the episode ends I think, 'aw, crap, I don't wanna have to watch this show again but I have to know what happens!'" I have to know, so I'm gonna keep watching.

 

[Kelthaz]

My sentiments exactly, i have been watching every ep waiting for the "torment of tantalus", "fifth race" ,"there but for the grace of god" [Get ya hooked] episode but i havent seen it yet. next week we are back to the stones we'll see how that goes, i have accepted this is a diff show and what not to expect but what im seeing is just underwhelming and slow... you can plant seeds of story for the future, but it has to be entertaining to begin with to care about that future crop.

I did that for season 1, but I have given up watching the show as of season 2. Of course, I haven't given up completely on the show. Torchwood and The Batman both had absolutely wretched starts far worse than Stargate Universe, but they became freaking awesome later on. The talent and the potential is there, but it just isn't getting realized. I'll let you guys be the guinea pigs for me.

 

[Starbreaker]

Lost kept me entertained 95% of the time, though. There were 15 classic eps by this point.

 

[The Wormhole]

To be honest, this episode was pretty boring. Oh, the concept sounded cool, discovering an Ancient seeder ship, but it was executed in a horrible way. The ship docks with Destiny, we fart around for half the episode until an alien shows up, eventually his friends show and things get hostile, Destiny unhooks and takes off. It was pretty damn predictable they weren't going to be able to dial the gate to Earth, so that bit of false drama was unnecessary.

I am starting to get sick of yet another alien species that can't communicate with humans. I don't care if it's realistic. There's a reason most sci-fi forgoes realism and presents aliens who can speak perfect English - it's entertaining. Does anyone really care while watching Star Trek that Klingons and Cardassians are speaking English among themselves and to each other? No, we just want the story to develop in the manner most entertaining. Sadly, I fear since this show is supposed to feature "harsh reality" we'll just get these types of aliens and any meaningful conflict and fights will have to be with the cartoony cliched bad guys from the Lucian Alliance.

I guess we're eliminating supporting characters to make room for the three Lucian Alliance characters. Last week, we said good-bye to Sgt. Riley, this week Col. Telford steps aside. Of course since we don't actually see Telford killed so therefore we can't rule out a potential return at some point. Hell, even if we saw him killed I wouldn't rule out a potential return.

And I got to say, despite all the hype of casting someone like Robert Knepper on the show, he doesn't seem to be doing anything so far. Kind of a waste. But then, none of the Lucian Alliance folks have had anything meaningful since the premiere.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

^^ I like this series' approach to aliens but I can fully understand where you're coming from. I like a lot of the stuff that isn't much like Stargate but that's probably not a good thing for a lot of people who really enjoy the franchise as it was.

 

[Agent Richard07]

Two things...

1) Those were the most realistic looking aliens I've seen on a TV show.

2) Why did Rush say he had no choice after undocking the Destiny?

They should have sent half the crew home before the power got reversed and had 1 crew member get "cut in half" by the gate, messily.....

That is drama.

That would have been a good compromise between sending the characters home, thus ending the show, and copping out at the last minute.

I'm also annoyed that nobody is really mentioning Chloe's shot-through leg that healed itself instantly (her half-hearted, "it's all healed" comment hardly counts). That should be major fodder for gossip on the ship.

Doesn't look like she told anyone about it, so there's nothing to gossip about. As for Scott, maybe he's keeping it quiet too, but it does make you wonder why he hasn't gone to Young or TJ about it.

Watch, one day Rush will come to the bridge and Brody and Volker will already be there.

I am starting to get sick of yet another alien species that can't communicate with humans. I don't care if it's realistic. There's a reason most sci-fi forgoes realism and presents aliens who can speak perfect English - it's entertaining. Does anyone really care while watching Star Trek that Klingons and Cardassians are speaking English among themselves and to each other? No, we just want the story to develop in the manner most entertaining. Sadly, I fear since this show is supposed to be feature "harsh reality" we'll just get these types of aliens and any meaningful conflict and fights will have to be with the cartoony cliched bad guys from the Lucian Alliance.

But what you're describing amounts to cartoony cliched aliens, and personally, I find that sort of thing too "been there, done that". I'm glad that we have a show like SGU that aspires to be more than your typical run of the mill entertainment. That said, they probably could stand to spice things up a bit on the alien front, but the remedy isn't to bring in the usual TV aliens that we've seen a million times already. Writing better drama surrounding the aliens (like in Signs) or picking up the pace would be better.

I like a lot of the stuff that isn't much like Stargate but that's probably not a good thing for a lot of people who really enjoy the franchise as it was.

I actually gave up on the franchise as it was. I still haven't seen the last three seasons of Atlantis. It was getting stale. I came back and got interested again with SGU.

 

[cylkoth]

I'm also annoyed that nobody is really mentioning Chloe's shot-through leg that healed itself instantly (her half-hearted, "it's all healed" comment hardly counts). That should be major fodder for gossip on the ship.

Doesn't look like she told anyone about it, so there's nothing to gossip about. As for Scott, maybe he's keeping it quiet too, but it does make you wonder why he hasn't gone to Young or TJ about it..

But didn't Eli text to Rush and everyone in the control station that Chloe had been shot and they escaped to an unexplored area of the ship? Enough people know that it should've been ship wide gossip after the siege ended.

 

[Agent Richard07]

^ Yeah, but nobody knows that her wound healed fast.

 

[lennier1]

^ Yeah, but nobody knows that her wound healed fast.

One of the writers had another brain fart.
Case closed.

 

[The Wormhole]

But what you're describing amounts to cartoony cliched aliens, and personally, I find that sort of thing too "been there, done that". I'm glad that we have a show like SGU that aspires to be more than your typical run of the mill entertainment. That said, they probably could stand to spice things up a bit on the alien front, but the remedy isn't to bring in the usual TV aliens that we've seen a million times already. Writing better drama surrounding the aliens (like in Signs) or picking up the pace would be better.

I could argue that other sci-fi shows can do English speaking aliens without it coming off as cartoony. After all, while recentally re-watching some episode from DS9's final season we have scenes set on Cardassia consisting entirely of aliens with not a human in sight. Yet, they all speak English (with the exception of the Breen) because that helps the story move and since the scenes are usually so interesting, we don't care that the English isn't realistic. Can you imagine how lifeless and dull Damar and Weyoun's banter would be if they were speaking their native languages?

But of course, SGU is about "harsh reality" so I guess that means no English speaking aliens. Though I don't see why they can't just give the aliens a universal translator so that they can communicate with the humans. Universal translators may be pretty out there technology, but so are FTL starships and the Stargate itself.

 

[lennier1]

But of course, SGU is about "harsh reality" so I guess that means no English speaking aliens. Though I don't see why they can't just give the aliens a universal translator so that they can communicate with the humans. Universal translators may be pretty out there technology, but so are FTL starships and the Stargate itself.

Maybe that's what those aliens wanted to try when they gave Rush the anal probe treatment?

 

[Agent Richard07]

I could argue that other sci-fi shows can do English speaking aliens without it coming off as cartoony. After all, while recentally re-watching some episode from DS9's final season we have scenes set on Cardassia consisting entirely of aliens with not a human in sight. Yet, they all speak English (with the exception of the Breen) because that helps the story move and since the scenes are usually so interesting, we don't care that the English isn't realistic. Can you imagine how lifeless and dull Damar and Weyoun's banter would be if they were speaking their native languages?

But of course, SGU is about "harsh reality" so I guess that means no English speaking aliens. Though I don't see why they can't just give the aliens a universal translator so that they can communicate with the humans. Universal translators may be pretty out there technology, but so are FTL starships and the Stargate itself.

I'm not opposed to universal translators, but given SGU's approach to drama, hopefully they can be worked into the mix in a more realistic way as opposed to just being there automatically as a televison conceit. There's no reason it can't be interesting if done right. This is science fiction afterall, so let's see some fictional science at work. It's about time a show did that and it's refreshing that SGU is at least making the attempt.

Or they can just forge ahead and give us stories involving language barriers, which can provide for some good drama too, again, if done right. Movies and shows do it all the time, so I don't see any reason why scifi has to suddenly do away with it.

And if they do have to use a conceit to expedite any part of the drama that involves alien language, then Star Trek VI's handling of the situation might be the way to go. That was well done.