Should Voyager have been more like Stargate: Universe?
- Thread starter Enterprise1981
- Start date
These two shows are mostly the same.
They both ripped off Lost in Space.
But one used arcs and running plots, and ongoing stories.
Meanwhile the other started each week fresh, as if the last thing that happened had been the pilot or Seven of Nine showing up.
Each technique has it's assets and liabilities.
But since Babylon 5 and Buffy (which were on air at the same time) were experimenting and winning with plots and running story lines, while Voyager persisted in clinging to the same model their ancestors used with Gunsmoke, you have to ask "Do I want to grow up, grow down, or do I want to constantly be growing up and down inconsistently and uncontrollably depending on if the tv I watch is above me or beneath me?" ...Questions were being asked why Star trek was clinging to such an archaic model if it was the future of television?
(Obviously Star Trek is not the Future of Television, since this is the future, and it's not here. HA! Suck it past!)
They both ripped off Lost in Space.
But one used arcs and running plots, and ongoing stories.
Meanwhile the other started each week fresh, as if the last thing that happened had been the pilot or Seven of Nine showing up.
Each technique has it's assets and liabilities.
But since Babylon 5 and Buffy (which were on air at the same time) were experimenting and winning with plots and running story lines, while Voyager persisted in clinging to the same model their ancestors used with Gunsmoke, you have to ask "Do I want to grow up, grow down, or do I want to constantly be growing up and down inconsistently and uncontrollably depending on if the tv I watch is above me or beneath me?" ...Questions were being asked why Star trek was clinging to such an archaic model if it was the future of television?
(Obviously Star Trek is not the Future of Television, since this is the future, and it's not here. HA! Suck it past!)
Game of Thrones, Game of Thrones, Game of Thrones.
I'm going to fry a steak, and then spend an hour pretending I understand everything that's happening in the new episode of Game of Thrones while I'm waiting for boobs.
I'm going to fry a steak, and then spend an hour pretending I understand everything that's happening in the new episode of Game of Thrones while I'm waiting for boobs.
But in this case, VOY was being criticised at the time it was on because whilst it's theme of a ship tryng to get home seemed to lean towards a more serialised approach they stuck with a more episodic approach.
I get the impressions that series were better in the 60's than they are today.
These days, the producers and writers only goal seem to be to annoy the viewers.
Hasn't that always been the case? It's just that today we can go to so place online and vent our frustrations more easily.
With SG-U I did not care for any of the characters,
In ST-V I did not care about any of the characters.
Both started with a similar premise but SG-U tried to be another NuBSG even to the point of giving Rush an invisible (to others) person to talk with. ST-V only paid lip service to the premise to the point the only time they really mentioned the long journey home was during the epilogue when Janeway would say something about how some technobabble got them so many light years closer- other than they it could have been in the alpha quadrant on patrol.
Personally I think SG-U would have been improved if they just never got those thought transfer egg looking things to work- sending a character back home for a visit broke it for me.
In ST-V I did not care about any of the characters.
Both started with a similar premise but SG-U tried to be another NuBSG even to the point of giving Rush an invisible (to others) person to talk with. ST-V only paid lip service to the premise to the point the only time they really mentioned the long journey home was during the epilogue when Janeway would say something about how some technobabble got them so many light years closer- other than they it could have been in the alpha quadrant on patrol.
Personally I think SG-U would have been improved if they just never got those thought transfer egg looking things to work- sending a character back home for a visit broke it for me.
Since I foolishly started a new thread on is topic without realising this one was already in place, I'll add my thoughts here too.
I've just gotten through a mammoth first time viewing of all Stargate series' and have to admit of the three, Universe is my favourite. The feel and tone of the show was very visceral, showing a ragtag bunch of people at their best and at their worst. Though most were trained they clearly are not prepared for such an ordeal, especially when faced with the fact they may never get home (though the stones was a bit of a copout and used far too much) and the morale-crushing effects that had on them. Whilst the characters themselves had clear divisions and conflicts, some of which were never resolved but left to simmer as they tried to work together for the greater good, but still capable of boiling over and showed them to be very real people trying to deal with the impossible. On VOY, some of the characters started out with promise but soon became bland, dreary and predictable, then had all their development dropped in favour of the boob-factor (have to wonder if Julia Benson [Vanessa James] had been blonde would she have gotten loads more screen time and development and made to wear catsuits), whilst the division between the two crews was dealt with too quickly and showed no lasting repercussions.
How they had to deal with even the basics of survival, from needing to breath in the pilot, to the need for supplies and hardships they face just to have enough to get to the next planet. All of which was too easy on VOY due to the replicators, even rationed they never seemed to be left wanting, even able to create useless items (such as clarinets so that dull characters can be dull and musical), even their hydroponics bay where they had to grow food vanished in favour of Borg alcoves.
The structure of the series as well was also a big strong point, with the fact that what happens previously actually impacts and directly affects what comes after, with the characters having to deal with the fallout of some major issues. VOY relied too heavily on the reset button and the episodic nature of the show never really gave it much impact, when it was in a position to tell a pretty amazing saga, it never really felt as though the ship or crew were in any great risk.
There is also the very positive and life-affirming portrayal of a same-sex couple on SGU (unfortunately not two hot guys), something VOY never went anywhere near, at a time when it would’ve made an impression and meant something to the fans.
Though SGU was cancelled and we never got to find out just what happened to the crew, the fact that they left it so open and uncertain does raise questions of if they would ever get back home (especially given the significance and importance of the Destiny’s overarching mission), or if they did just how and when that might happen.
PS – SGU kept a count on their shuttlecraft too
I've just gotten through a mammoth first time viewing of all Stargate series' and have to admit of the three, Universe is my favourite. The feel and tone of the show was very visceral, showing a ragtag bunch of people at their best and at their worst. Though most were trained they clearly are not prepared for such an ordeal, especially when faced with the fact they may never get home (though the stones was a bit of a copout and used far too much) and the morale-crushing effects that had on them. Whilst the characters themselves had clear divisions and conflicts, some of which were never resolved but left to simmer as they tried to work together for the greater good, but still capable of boiling over and showed them to be very real people trying to deal with the impossible. On VOY, some of the characters started out with promise but soon became bland, dreary and predictable, then had all their development dropped in favour of the boob-factor (have to wonder if Julia Benson [Vanessa James] had been blonde would she have gotten loads more screen time and development and made to wear catsuits), whilst the division between the two crews was dealt with too quickly and showed no lasting repercussions.
How they had to deal with even the basics of survival, from needing to breath in the pilot, to the need for supplies and hardships they face just to have enough to get to the next planet. All of which was too easy on VOY due to the replicators, even rationed they never seemed to be left wanting, even able to create useless items (such as clarinets so that dull characters can be dull and musical), even their hydroponics bay where they had to grow food vanished in favour of Borg alcoves.
The structure of the series as well was also a big strong point, with the fact that what happens previously actually impacts and directly affects what comes after, with the characters having to deal with the fallout of some major issues. VOY relied too heavily on the reset button and the episodic nature of the show never really gave it much impact, when it was in a position to tell a pretty amazing saga, it never really felt as though the ship or crew were in any great risk.
There is also the very positive and life-affirming portrayal of a same-sex couple on SGU (unfortunately not two hot guys
), something VOY never went anywhere near, at a time when it would’ve made an impression and meant something to the fans.Though SGU was cancelled and we never got to find out just what happened to the crew, the fact that they left it so open and uncertain does raise questions of if they would ever get back home (especially given the significance and importance of the Destiny’s overarching mission), or if they did just how and when that might happen.
PS – SGU kept a count on their shuttlecraft too
I'm not necessarily saying they were better, especially when there were shows like Me and the Chimp (with Ted Bessell of "That Girl"), Mr. Terrific (Dick Gautier was a co-star), Captain Nice (by Buck Henry, starring William Daniels), Hank (I don't think Wikipedia even knows about that one but it starred Dick Kallman and Dabbs Greer), My Mother the Car (with Jerry Van Dyke and Avery Schreiber), and Camp Runamuck (which I watched every Friday night when I was 14). But they were episodics, that's what I grew up on.
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Thank god nothing stays the same.
Liar!
Okay it would be nice if William Shatner never dies.
If William Shatner doesn't wake up, he's just a pillow.
I will rest my bits upon him any day.
Ick!
I am instantly repressing this.
Repressing it right down your throat 
