SGU: A poor imitation of Voyager?

[swaaye]

The one thing that I think is likely is that those who enjoyed all of nuBSG will probably enjoy SGU.

I got burned out on the BSG brand of storytelling sometime during season 3 of the show. SGU's reuse of it isn't really desired. That's not to say that I haven't enjoyed some of the show, however.

I don't think Voyager has much in common with either SGU or nuBSG. Or at least there is a vast chasm in difference in how they portray the "lost spaceship" setting and involved characters.

 

[PsychoPere]

I don't think there's as much a causal relationship between enjoying BSG and SGU as you think there is. I loved BSG all the way through, miniseries to finale, and I was there for every second of it first-run. For SGU, however, I think my overall reaction so far can be summed up as simply as "eh."

 

[Harvey]

On the contrary, I think there are a lot of BSG fans on this board (myself included) who enjoyed that series to the end, but haven't been all that fond of SGU (to put it lightly).

But I bailed on the series before it supposedly improved. I could only last 21 episodes that mostly disappointed, it seems.

 

[AJ86]

"It's like BSG!" How? The ship is dirty? There are maybe some God-like aliens? BSG invented this shit?

I don't think anyone is trying to say BSG invented this stuff. But consider this: all these elements were in BSG and now they're in SGU. Things like:

-Depressed and moody setting.
-European scientists with a shady agenda haunted by hallucinations of their lovers.
-Alien guardians who may well be "Gods."
-A homosexual who teamed with an opportunistic self-serving bastard to stage a mutiny.
-Military vs civilians. Specifically, a gruff male military authority against a female civilian authority.
-Shaky Cam.
-Half season DVD sets.

All these elements were present in BSG and are now in SGU. That's a bit too coincidental to overlook.

Then they bring out Universe and it wasn't enough like SG-1, and too much like Voyager (which it has almost nothing in common with) and BSG (apparently because it's dirty and people occasionally have sex and there is a homosexual character).

No, not because they both have a homosexual character. But rather because they both have a homosexual character (Gaeta/Wray) who teamed up with a self-serving bastard (Tom Zarek/Rush) to stage a mutiny. If you can name me one other show that has this exact scenario play out in this exact way, I will concede the point.[/QUOTE]

I don't think the half season sets and the military vs civilian comparisons are really fair, the first is a studio decision not a creative one, and the second was present in earlier incarnations of the franchise. The homosexual/mutiny comparison I just find bizarre, the mutiny is a logical storyline given the premise, and the fact that one of the characters involved is a homosexual is obviously purely coincidental.

I would agree that he dark/serious tone of the show coming straight after the success of BSG is no coincidence though, but I suspect it had more to do with BSG proving that this could be done rather them outright copying the style.

Shakey cam is debatable. It's no where near as pronounced in SGU as in BSG, and the producers also use it for different reasons. In BSG it was used to create tension, as an attack could happen at any time they wanted to keep the audience on edge. With SGU they wanted to recreate the sort of documentary shots you see at the beginning of Saving Private Ryan, and get the audience in amongst the action and seeing things from a hypothetical persons perspective. The idea being that the audience can accept CGI and the more fantastical sci-fi elements this way, as they feel more organic and less staged. They cite Firefly and The Shield as the inspiration for the filming style, whether that's true is anyone's guess.

I think it's too early to make the 'Gods' comparison, and in any case it's something we've seen before in the franchise.

The hallucinations thing I'm not sure about either. I mean technically they're not hallucinations at all, nor were they only experienced by Rush. Baltar isn't European, by the way

 

[The Wormhole]

Each particulat similarity on its own can be looked at as a coincidence, but when you put them all togother, it does leave on with the impression that SGU is basically a BSG wannabe

Baltar isn't European, by the way

He was played by a European actor, which is close enough for me. Besides, who is to say Caprica or Aerilon didn't have a region named Europe?

 

[AJ86]

Each particulat similarity on its own can be looked at as a coincidence, but when you put them all togother, it does leave on with the impression that SGU is basically a BSG wannabe

Only if you don't have very diverse viewing habits. I think it speaks volumes that die-hard BSG fans are never the ones claiming SGU is a rip-off, yet they should be the first ones, if it actually were.

 

[Gepard]

Only if you don't have very diverse viewing habits. I think it speaks volumes that die-hard BSG fans are never the ones claiming SGU is a rip-off, yet they should be the first ones, if it actually were.

I'm an enormous die-hard BSG fan, and I'll say it. It's pretty clear SGU is trying to ride the coattails of what made BSG a critical darling, and they aren't doing a very good job of it.

 

[David cgc]

There's a difference between following a trend and being a rip-off, though. BSG wasn't a Firefly or Babylon 5 rip-off, though you can see many of the tropes and styles it used established in those shows.

 

[Saquist]

"It's like BSG!" How? The ship is dirty? There are maybe some God-like aliens? BSG invented this shit?

I don't think anyone is trying to say BSG invented this stuff. But consider this: all these elements were in BSG and now they're in SGU. Things like:

-Depressed and moody setting.
-European scientists with a shady agenda haunted by hallucinations of their lovers.
-Alien guardians who may well be "Gods."
-A homosexual who teamed with an opportunistic self-serving bastard to stage a mutiny.
-Military vs civilians. Specifically, a gruff male military authority against a female civilian authority.
-Shaky Cam.
-Half season DVD sets.

All these elements were present in BSG and are now in SGU. That's a bit too coincidental to overlook.

Then they bring out Universe and it wasn't enough like SG-1, and too much like Voyager (which it has almost nothing in common with) and BSG (apparently because it's dirty and people occasionally have sex and there is a homosexual character).

No, not because they both have a homosexual character. But rather because they both have a homosexual character (Gaeta/Wray) who teamed up with a self-serving bastard (Tom Zarek/Rush) to stage a mutiny. If you can name me one other show that has this exact scenario play out in this exact way, I will concede the point.

I don't think the half season sets and the military vs civilian comparisons are really fair, the first is a studio decision not a creative one, and the second was present in earlier incarnations of the franchise. The homosexual/mutiny comparison I just find bizarre, the mutiny is a logical storyline given the premise, and the fact that one of the characters involved is a homosexual is obviously purely coincidental.

I would agree that he dark/serious tone of the show coming straight after the success of BSG is no coincidence though, but I suspect it had more to do with BSG proving that this could be done rather them outright copying the style.

Shakey cam is debatable. It's no where near as pronounced in SGU as in BSG, and the producers also use it for different reasons. In BSG it was used to create tension, as an attack could happen at any time they wanted to keep the audience on edge. With SGU they wanted to recreate the sort of documentary shots you see at the beginning of Saving Private Ryan, and get the audience in amongst the action and seeing things from a hypothetical persons perspective. The idea being that the audience can accept CGI and the more fantastical sci-fi elements this way, as they feel more organic and less staged. They cite Firefly and The Shield as the inspiration for the filming style, whether that's true is anyone's guess.

I think it's too early to make the 'Gods' comparison, and in any case it's something we've seen before in the franchise.

The hallucinations thing I'm not sure about either. I mean technically they're not hallucinations at all, nor were they only experienced by Rush. Baltar isn't European, by the way [/QUOTE]


Wow...I have to admit I had no idea that they were that similar.

James Callis is from Great Britain
Robert Carlye is Great Britain

 

[RAMA]

Wow...Voyager was my least fav ST show but you guys are being really hard on it. It DOES have some of ST's best moments in it. I'd say out of 170 episodes, 80-90 were above avg, and at least 30-40 were excellent.

SGU is the only Stargate show I've recorded on DVR, but lately its been hard keeping my attention on it. Its fairly drab. Excellent FX work and production design though.

RAMA

 

[Saquist]

Wow...Voyager was my least fav ST show but you guys are being really hard on it. It DOES have some of ST's best moments in it. I'd say out of 170 episodes, 80-90 were above avg, and at least 30-40 were excellent.

SGU is the only Stargate show I've recorded on DVR, but lately its been hard keeping my attention on it. Its fairly drab. Excellent FX work and production design though.

RAMA

I think VOY was so average...that it fell bellow Trek standards. In truth I think it's begining was so good that when it didn't deliver on certain small things at the end it ended up being a let down...but to tell you the truth that's true of almost all of the Trek Series except maybe except for TNG.

DS9 had a crappy ending
VOY had a crappy ending
and I'm really no fan of AGT from TNG
ENT had a really crappy ending.

I think it's just the sour taste of the last bite.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

In Season 1, they mostly tried to imitate nuBSG. Over the course of Season 2, the show has been slowly "trekized". I guess you could call it a somewhat darker version of Star Trek: Voyager now. Quality-wise I wouldn't say that SGU is necessarily better or worse than Voyager though.

- They've got a bridge including a captains' chair and can control where the ship is going. As result, the stargate also seems to be used less frequently (it now serves as a Trekian transporter? ).

- The Lucian alliance members who remained on board are stand-in for the Maquis.

- Apparently, they're gonna do more exploring in the future and they're bumping into more aliens.

- Camile was slowly transformed into the ship's counselor (although sometimes this comes across as a bit contrived, for example when it recently turned out that she's qualified to perform hypnosis).

- Most crew members could be assigned to Star Trek-like ship positions:
Young - captain
Scott - first officer
T.J. - chief medical officer
Greer - security chief
Rush - science officer
Wray - counselor
Eli - uh, well... he's a cross between Neelix and Seven, I guess.
Chloe - stand-in for Kes

- While I'm at it, the Scott/Chloe/Eli love triangle is somewhat reminiscent of the Paris/Kes/Neelix triangle.

 

[Star Wolf]

In Season 1, they mostly tried to imitate nuBSG. Over the course of Season 2, the show has been slowly "trekized". I guess you could call it a somewhat darker version of Star Trek: Voyager now. Quality-wise I wouldn't say that SGU is necessarily better or worse than Voyager though.

- They've got a bridge including a captains' chair and can control where the ship is going. As result, the stargate also seems to be used less frequently (it now serves as a Trekian transporter? ).

From the very beginning the entire business of the countdown clock with Destiny always about to jump out of range of the stargate always screamed Trek transporter to me. It didn't fit with the sense that we only need starships for equipment that won't fit through or to strategically flank a standard Chappa'ai I got from SG-1

 

[Saquist]

In Season 1, they mostly tried to imitate nuBSG. Over the course of Season 2, the show has been slowly "trekized". I guess you could call it a somewhat darker version of Star Trek: Voyager now. Quality-wise I wouldn't say that SGU is necessarily better or worse than Voyager though.

- They've got a bridge including a captains' chair and can control where the ship is going. As result, the stargate also seems to be used less frequently (it now serves as a Trekian transporter? ).

- The Lucian alliance members who remained on board are stand-in for the Maquis.

- Apparently, they're gonna do more exploring in the future and they're bumping into more aliens.

- Camile was slowly transformed into the ship's counselor (although sometimes this comes across as a bit contrived, for example when it recently turned out that she's qualified to perform hypnosis).

- Most crew members could be assigned to Star Trek-like ship positions:
Young - captain
Scott - first officer
T.J. - chief medical officer
Greer - security chief
Rush - science officer
Wray - counselor
Eli - uh, well... he's a cross between Neelix and Seven, I guess.
Chloe - stand-in for Kes

- While I'm at it, the Scott/Chloe/Eli love triangle is somewhat reminiscent of the Paris/Kes/Neelix triangle.

That's a very strange and interesting list of comparables...

But really Eli isn't no Jeri Ryan!

 

[6079SmithW]

If we're making Trek comparisons then Eli would definitely fill the role of Wesley as the technical whiz kid.

 

[ReadyAndWilling]

In Season 1, they mostly tried to imitate nuBSG. Over the course of Season 2, the show has been slowly "trekized". I guess you could call it a somewhat darker version of Star Trek: Voyager now. Quality-wise I wouldn't say that SGU is necessarily better or worse than Voyager though.

- They've got a bridge including a captains' chair and can control where the ship is going. As result, the stargate also seems to be used less frequently (it now serves as a Trekian transporter? ).

- The Lucian alliance members who remained on board are stand-in for the Maquis.

- Apparently, they're gonna do more exploring in the future and they're bumping into more aliens.

- Camile was slowly transformed into the ship's counselor (although sometimes this comes across as a bit contrived, for example when it recently turned out that she's qualified to perform hypnosis).

- Most crew members could be assigned to Star Trek-like ship positions:
Young - captain
Scott - first officer
T.J. - chief medical officer
Greer - security chief
Rush - science officer
Wray - counselor
Eli - uh, well... he's a cross between Neelix and Seven, I guess.
Chloe - stand-in for Kes

- While I'm at it, the Scott/Chloe/Eli love triangle is somewhat reminiscent of the Paris/Kes/Neelix triangle.

I stopped watching the show, but they can control the ship now?

why not turn back?

 

[Star Wolf]

There was nothing of value behind except the catfish waiting to attack them.

 

[The Wormhole]

I stopped watching the show, but they can control the ship now?

why not turn back?

A couple of reasons:
-They're too far out for it to be worth a damn to turn back.
-Dr. Rush has convinced Colonel Young that Destiny's mission is one they should complete themselves.

 

[Saquist]

So my question is...why hold back getting control of the ship until season two when it could have been a really good Season one ending and the Lucian Alliance could ahve been a really good ratings booster for the first midseason two parter?

And doesn't it make more sense to turn back so they can eventually gate home?

 

[David cgc]

Depending on who you listen to, they're between one and fifty million years out from Earth. Even assuming the ship was taking the scenic route while it was unmanned and it could plot a more direct course back to Earth, it's still going to be a long damn time before they're anywhere near Earth. And that's not even counting the fact that the Destiny gates aren't galactic-range like the modern ones, so they'd have to practically be on top of Earth to make a connection (without a power boost, of course).