SG-U – Darkness (1x04) - (Discuss – Grade | SPOILERS)

[Wicca who Wonta]

I liked this episode even more than the previous one. I think I'm going to enjoy watching this show! Rush and Young continues to be interesting. Young got more screen time this week, which is good!

Unfortunately Chloe continues to contribute nothing and I still can't take Eli seriously. But hopefully this will change in the coming episodes.

 

[Michael_One]

6 chevrons

It is becoming obvious to me that Rush arranged the whole thing... he was so obsessed with Destiny and is dumbfounded its not dormant but operable like Atlantis.

The Destiny people are super dumb... they aren't using the stones to consult with experts on Ancient tech. Others have pointed this out and I concur.

Col Telford made a huge mistake in telling Lt Scott he has no confidence in Col Young. They don't really have any time for this sort of nay saying backseat driving.

Col Young's marriage was over some time ago. Could have done without that bit.

I think the shell shock many folks have is coming through well in the acting. Some are handling the situation better than others.

Col Young needs to appoint Busty Soldier Chick as morale officer. The men and lesbian women will pay total attention to her and the straight girls will be so furious with envy they'll work twice as hard to figure out the ship.

 

[Ridcully]

Slowly taking off for me now...like this one better than the rest!
Don't care about the relatives at home stuff though...trite and annoying!
But I can live with that.....

 

[1001001]

Col Young needs to appoint Busty Soldier Chick as morale officer.

She needs to be in every scene.


I gave it a 7. I thought it was pretty good. I like the whole concept that the ship knows what it's doing. How long before the crew has faith in it?

 

[FreezeC77]

I think the Kino was checking that chick to see if she had two of its relatives trapped under her shirt.


I agree on the communication stones stuff I didn't like it from the start and I really don't like how they're handling it. When Young said something to the one military guy after the meeting I thought he was going to go meet with some expert who could help them and instead he's talking to his wife? ex-wife? Girlfriend? Whatever... Lame


BTW was Rush's mood swing really due to caffeine and nicotine withdrawal? I took the little comment made by Young at the end of the episode after Rush made the comment about how much the withdrawal affected him to indicate that Young had been simply massaging his ego and had the medic give Rush that as an excuse.

 

[cultcross]

8 chevrons, my favourite so far, I thought the story was interesting (I was expecting 'oh we happen to have another stargated planet that solves our power problem, just like our lime problem'), no-one mentioned ZPMs, there were no countdowns or shouting percentages with the power failure, the slingshot sequence was a good idea and executed very nicely.
The character work seemed much better this week, Eli in particular is becoming more likeable and genuinely funny at times, and Chloe overacted much less this week and endeared me to the character a lot more than before. Rush's unnerved craziness was quite interesting, I like that he's not just Jackson or Weir mark II. I also like that Telford's being a knob about Young, actually, it gives a negative side to Young popping home for advice - he leaves Telford in his place sowing mutiny.

My only downside to this episode is that the cliffhanger isn't very dramatic (is the Destiny really going to fly into the sun? Anyone think so?) and the solution is fairly obvious - the shuttle takes off and goes to find some power source somewhere on one of the habitable worlds.

But I like the episode a lot, looking forward to next week.

 

[MPH]

6 chevrons

It is becoming obvious to me that Rush arranged the whole thing... he was so obsessed with Destiny and is dumbfounded its not dormant but operable like Atlantis.

The Destiny people are super dumb... they aren't using the stones to consult with experts on Ancient tech. Others have pointed this out and I concur.

Col Telford made a huge mistake in telling Lt Scott he has no confidence in Col Young. They don't really have any time for this sort of nay saying backseat driving.

Col Young's marriage was over some time ago. Could have done without that bit.

I think the shell shock many folks have is coming through well in the acting. Some are handling the situation better than others.

Col Young needs to appoint Busty Soldier Chick as morale officer. The men and lesbian women will pay total attention to her and the straight girls will be so furious with envy they'll work twice as hard to figure out the ship.

Not too bothered about them not consulting experts as the only one better than Rush would be Mckay and he would sort the problem out within seconds which would kill and dramatic tension and be really boring.

This episode was pretty good and the series is warming up now, I like Col Young as its a refreshing change to have a Col without and smart quips all the times and just plays it like a real Colonel would act.

 

[cultcross]

Not too bothered about them not consulting experts as the only one better than Rush would be Mckay and he would sort the problem out within seconds which would kill and dramatic tension and be really boring.

It also helps keep down the technobabble solutions, which it has to do if it's going to keep my interest - Atlantis at times became as bad as Voyager for technobabble plots and get out clauses, I only hope SGU can avoid this. I loved the bit in 'Darkness' where Young says 'fix it' and 'use the reserves' (the Atlantis/Voyager solution) and Rush is saying 'look, we are out. of. power. no ifs, no buts, no quick fix. You can't magic power into existence.'

I like Col Young as its a refreshing change to have a Col without and smart quips all the times and just plays it like a real Colonel would act.

Amen to that. Much as I loved O'Neill and tolerated Sheppard, it is nice to have a realistic military officer in charge.

 

[Dac]

6 chevrons

It is becoming obvious to me that Rush arranged the whole thing... he was so obsessed with Destiny and is dumbfounded its not dormant but operable like Atlantis.

The Destiny people are super dumb... they aren't using the stones to consult with experts on Ancient tech. Others have pointed this out and I concur.

Col Telford made a huge mistake in telling Lt Scott he has no confidence in Col Young. They don't really have any time for this sort of nay saying backseat driving.

Col Young's marriage was over some time ago. Could have done without that bit.

I think the shell shock many folks have is coming through well in the acting. Some are handling the situation better than others.

Col Young needs to appoint Busty Soldier Chick as morale officer. The men and lesbian women will pay total attention to her and the straight girls will be so furious with envy they'll work twice as hard to figure out the ship.

Not too bothered about them not consulting experts as the only one better than Rush would be Mckay and he would sort the problem out within seconds which would kill and dramatic tension and be really boring.

This episode was pretty good and the series is warming up now, I like Col Young as its a refreshing change to have a Col without and smart quips all the times and just plays it like a real Colonel would act.

Hasn't Michael Shanks got another guest spot coming up? I could see him being a big help in terms of what does what when it comes to ancient stuff, I wouldn't be surprised if he body swaps with someone.

I, too, rather liked this ep. It was nothing mindblowing, but it was entertaining.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Well, there were actually several things to like about this episode-- aside from the shower scenes-- making it the best episode yet. Which isn't saying much, of course.

I liked the "time capsule" recordings; some nice little characterizations there. The Gas Giant flyby was excellent; it was great to see some actual sense of wonder in TV sci fi, since it's so rare these days. They actually introduced a reason for Rush to be acting like a cranky teenager. The camerawork wasn't as bad, but I hope they hire some professionals soon and stop giving the donut girl ten bucks to do it.

Other problems still remain, like the forced conflict. The little domestic drama was ridiculous. And those little stones should be constantly put to real use; Rush should be consulting with Daniel Jackson et al. Especially Al. And the sets on the ship are just incredibly soporific; nothing but dark gray everywhere. Hopefully, the next planet they visit will have stores where they can pick up some potted plants and nice posters for the walls.

And I'm registering my prediction now that the ship is not on a collision course with the star, but is going to dip in and recharge itself with star-stuff, like at the end of Rendevous With Rama.

 

[MPH]

What would Daniel Jackson know about fixing a ship? Yes he can read Ancient but so can Rush, don't get me started on people like Dr Lee.

 

[Snaploud]

What would Daniel Jackson know about fixing a ship? Yes he can read Ancient but so can Rush,

One of their biggest difficulties is figuring out how to use the systems. This is likely due to the fact that the language is a much earlier version of ancient (as they are used to systems hundreds of thousands of years, if not millions of years, more recent). A language specialist like Daniel would be a huge help.

 

[Kelthaz]

Now that's more like it. If the show can do more episodes like this and less "walking the desert while yelling/kicking each other" type episodes than we might have a winner on our hands.

7 Chevrons.

 

[CaptJimboJones]

I gave it 8. I'm really digging this show so far - fairly intense drama, no technobabble (thank GOD), interesting characters, and a real sense of the harrowing danger of this type of exploration.

And, of course, Busty Soldier Chick. Even if everything else sucked, she'd make the show worth watching.

 

[Jenee]

Busty Soldier Chick

She needs to be in every scene.

Right. So everyone can bitch about her like Seven and T'Pol.

I thought the story was interesting (I was expecting 'oh we happen to have another stargated planet that solves our power problem, just like our lime problem'), no-one mentioned ZPMs, there were no countdowns or shouting percentages with the power failure,

I agree. Not just with the recent Sci-Fi series, but many television series these days, it seems I spend more time sitting on the edge of my seat (not in a good way) waiting for the characters to 'fix' whatever just in the nick of time. In this episode, I was able to just sit back and enjoy the story unfolding.

I also like that Telford's being a knob about Young, actually, it gives a negative side to Young popping home for advice - he leaves Telford in his place sowing mutiny.

Kinda makes you think he's jealous and wishes he were there instead of Young.

My only downside to this episode is that the cliffhanger isn't very dramatic (is the Destiny really going to fly into the sun? Anyone think so?) and the solution is fairly obvious - the shuttle takes off and goes to find some power source somewhere on one of the habitable worlds.

Or, the solar panels will absorb enough rays and power up just in time for Rush to stear the ship away from the star.

 

[AJBryant]

I have to wonder what might have happened had Young popped in 60 seconds earlier, while Peter DeLuise's character was manning the stones. They obviously don't usually have ranking colonels who know what's up manning the stones -- so what if a caretaker manning the stones gets "transported" to Destiny?

 

[kNkg]

What would Daniel Jackson know about fixing a ship? Yes he can read Ancient but so can Rush,

One of their biggest difficulties is figuring out how to use the systems. This is likely due to the fact that the language is a much earlier version of ancient (as they are used to systems hundreds of thousands of years, if not millions of years, more recent). A language specialist like Daniel would be a huge help.

No, the problem is getting full access to the systems not understanding what they mean.


KK

 

[Harvey]

This was about as good as last week's. Better than the premiere--there's no pointless use of achronological editing, and the very melodramatic Earth-bits were kept to a minimum.

But a whole point has to be subtracted for the scene where Colonel Young meets his wife. The scene would be uninteresting without music, but with Joel Goldsmith's loud clanging of sad notes on the piano it became downright insulting. And I've rather liked Goldsmith's work for this series so far.

Another point has to be subtracted by the characters not putting the communication stones to their proper use. If Chloe is so useless, why isn't Colonel Carter or somebody more qualified body-swapping with her in this time of crisis?

Another point has to be lost for Lt. Scott's Jesus schtick. It doesn't have a long way to go before it starts to get really annoying.

And I'll take another point off for the near-mutinous behavior of half the crew. What could Eli possibly know and who besides Col. Young could possibly do a better job leading them? There's plenty of reasons to have actual conflict. Why spend time with this silly, contrived crap? At least Rush got a reason for his behavior (nicotine and caffeine withdrawl).

I thought the aerobreaking sequence was really well done. All the promise this show has (and is not living up to) can be found in that scene.

6/10

And I'll reiterate my annoyance at people complaining about the "amateurish" camerawork. Please. I'd love to see an episode of the show shot by actual amateurs. It seems like only then would have the people in this thread realize the skill and complexity of the camerawork used thus far.

 

[archeryguy1701]

I enjoyed this one as well. It was interesting, and there seemed to be some character development going on for a lot of characters. I liked the videos for home because I felt it did a good job conveying the bad place they were in at that time. I'm going to enjoy this series

Channing Tatum (Scott is it?) is rapidly becoming my least favorite character on the show. Shut up with the Jesus already.

He had a hallucination of a cross in one episode, and says a very short prayer in another, and it's enough to warrant this sort of reaction already? I could understand if they were beating it to death, but this is nothing compared to what they could be doing.

And I'm registering my prediction now that the ship is not on a collision course with the star, but is going to dip in and recharge itself with star-stuff, like at the end of Rendevous With Rama.

Hmm, interesting thought. If that happens, I can see...

Spoiler: Spoilers from the promo for next episode

... them launching the shuttle with the 15 people chosen to survive, and then the Destiny taking off without them.

 

[Peter the Younger]

7 chevrons. I guess I have more tolerance for grumpy characters than some, I like the character interactions so far. Rush may be a sonofabitch, but he also reminds me of some of my old professors - brilliant assholes who have no patience for their colleagues, let alone their students. Young, on the other hand, reminds me of the great majority of officers I've ever met; I like the guy.

The video confessionals were surprisingly tolerable, especially compared to other attempts to use the same gimmick (Virtuality, I'm looking at you.) If nothing else, they gave us a glimpse at that old Stargate humor ("Despite what you may have heard from a certain... Scottish person...")

As for them not using the stones to grab McKay or Jackson: 1) Yet. They haven't done it yet. There are other things going on in the world of Stargate, perhaps those folks are busy; 2) second, the actors themselves may be busy. I would expect Daniel to make an appearance sooner or later.

Also, I think we should start a petition to have Vanessa the busty 2nd Lt. get more screen time. Perhaps an episode with her trapped in the misting shower.