The Stargate Franchise - A First Timer's Watchthrough

[tomalak301]

Pain

I think when this season is done I'm going to say my main issue with it has been the pacing. Things feel slow and this cast feels like they are whispering everything. Here we have an episode about some graphic hallucinations brought on by an off world tick, and the deeper we got into the episode the more I just felt like I didn't care. However, the acting continues to be very good, especially coming from the actress who plays Lt. James. Her distraught over what she thought had killed Scott was really good and I think she's impressed me the last few episodes. Carlyle has been great too, and so has Ferreria. I just wish there was more energy to these episodes.

 

[Romulan_spy]

Pain

I think when this season is done I'm going to say my main issue with it has been the pacing. Things feel slow and this cast feels like they are whispering everything. Here we have an episode about some graphic hallucinations brought on by an off world tick, and the deeper we got into the episode the more I just felt like I didn't care. However, the acting continues to be very good, especially coming from the actress who plays Lt. James. Her distraught over what she thought had killed Scott was really good and I think she's impressed me the last few episodes. Carlyle has been great too, and so has Ferreria. I just wish there was more energy to these episodes.

I think that is a very astute observation. The acting is quite good and it also has some really poignant dramatic moments. But SGU is a show that takes way too long to really do anything significant.

 

[bigdaddy]

You are getting close to the S1 finale, "Incursion Part 1 & 2". I don't think it is as good as the SG1 or SGA season finales but it is a climax in the SGU story arc.

A silly SGU storyline.

 

[Romulan_spy]

A silly SGU storyline.

I do think that

Spoiler

Young was really incompetent in how he handled the Lucian Alliance incursion on Destiny. He had advance notice. I think he had a plan to vacuum out of the air. So why didn't he vacuum out of the air BEFORE the stargate was activated? That way, the Lucian Alliance would have come out of the gate in a vacuum and died instantly. Instead, he hesitates, botches the whole thing terribly and almost loses the ship.

 

[bigdaddy]

I do think that

Spoiler

Young was really incompetent in how he handled the Lucian Alliance incursion on Destiny. He had advance notice. I think he had a plan to vacuum out of the air. So why didn't he vacuum out of the air BEFORE the stargate was activated? That way, the Lucian Alliance would have come out of the gate in a vacuum and died instantly. Instead, he hesitates, botches the whole thing terribly and almost loses the ship.

Same reason the Midway station didn't have an iris, bad writing to make a stupid plotline work.

 

[tomalak301]

Same reason the Midway station didn't have an iris, bad writing to make a stupid plotline work.

You know I think I know what your spoiler is, but since Im past a moment where I could safely ask this question I will ask. Why didn't the Destiny Stargate have a Shield? The episode where they get Eli, Chloe, and Scott back, you had all the marines there ready to shoot whatever came through. You would think for a ship like the Destiny that can restore it's power by going through a star, they would have automatically put the shield on their Stargate to prevent intruders from coming through, especially with the ship as advanced as it is.

 

[The Wormhole]

Sabotage

This episode had my full attention so by default (lately) it was a great episode. I loved how they used the stones here, calling in a hyperdrive expert to come in and help fix the FTL systems so the Destiny can make it across the void. I think ever since "Life", the writers have started to use the Stones better and I like the idea that if you need an expert or just help with someone, that someone is just a stone-call away. I wasn't really a fan of how quick Eli, Chloe, and Scott made it back. We spent an episode and a half with them being left behind and then, woosh, they are found. The reason for them being back was too quick and too simple as well. I loved the relationship between Nick and Mandy and just learning more about them. Also, Nick and Young are finally working together for the greater good is helping move this plot forward. It seems like this episode finished some of these storylines, like the ones dealing with the aliens and set up a new mystery on what happened to Franklin. Overall, this was a whole lot better than the last couple and, like I said, I was into it the entire episode, so that was a huge plus.

I remember that episode caused controversy several months before it even aired because when the casting information for Mandy leaked it contained some very insensitive language towards handicapped people.

Pain

I think when this season is done I'm going to say my main issue with it has been the pacing. Things feel slow and this cast feels like they are whispering everything. Here we have an episode about some graphic hallucinations brought on by an off world tick, and the deeper we got into the episode the more I just felt like I didn't care. However, the acting continues to be very good, especially coming from the actress who plays Lt. James. Her distraught over what she thought had killed Scott was really good and I think she's impressed me the last few episodes. Carlyle has been great too, and so has Ferreria. I just wish there was more energy to these episodes.

IMO, a missed opportunity with that episode would have been to reveal the blue aliens really did board Destiny and were really behind everyone's hallucinations, meaning Rush would have been the one who was in fact not hallucinating.

You know I think I know what your spoiler is, but since Im past a moment where I could safely ask this question I will ask. Why didn't the Destiny Stargate have a Shield? The episode where they get Eli, Chloe, and Scott back, you had all the marines there ready to shoot whatever came through. You would think for a ship like the Destiny that can restore it's power by going through a star, they would have automatically put the shield on their Stargate to prevent intruders from coming through, especially with the ship as advanced as it is.

I guess we're just supposed to assume Destiny was made in the days when the Ancients weren't as security conscious as they became when they built Atlantis.

 

[bigdaddy]

You know I think I know what your spoiler is, but since Im past a moment where I could safely ask this question I will ask. Why didn't the Destiny Stargate have a Shield? The episode where they get Eli, Chloe, and Scott back, you had all the marines there ready to shoot whatever came through. You would think for a ship like the Destiny that can restore it's power by going through a star, they would have automatically put the shield on their Stargate to prevent intruders from coming through, especially with the ship as advanced as it is.

The spoiler has to do with what happens in the season finale which is just stupid and not needed.

But like Roman said I think the ship is so old that the Ancients might have been the only 'intelligent' life around so they didn't feel threatened.

I don't even remember it not having a shield.

 

[David cgc]

I guess we're just supposed to assume Destiny was made in the days when the Ancients weren't as security conscious as they became when they built Atlantis.

The Atlantis shield might not even be an original part, but was a more recent addition after the rise of the Wraith. Given the very existence of the Stargate network, it seems clear the Ancients thrived in a much more innocent (or enlightened) era.

Destiny relies on security-through-obscurity. While the ship itself has defenses, it would've quickly left the range of the original stargate network (and, as I said, there probably wasn't anyone in the Milky Way who'd want to use a Stargate to wage war), and the Stargates the Seed Ships drop aren't intended to be any kind of permanent public transit feature, but just to facilitate Destiny's crew gathering supplies and scientific information as they go, glorified ring transporters that aren't even operable without a Kino remote, which you can only get from Destiny. The Seed Ships may even have avoided inhabited planets intentionally.

 

[tomalak301]

I do think that

Spoiler

Young was really incompetent in how he handled the Lucian Alliance incursion on Destiny. He had advance notice. I think he had a plan to vacuum out of the air. So why didn't he vacuum out of the air BEFORE the stargate was activated? That way, the Lucian Alliance would have come out of the gate in a vacuum and died instantly. Instead, he hesitates, botches the whole thing terribly and almost loses the ship.

Ok, I'm watching the episode right now and I read this spoiler already so if you want a refresher, the Alliance sends people through and one of those is Rush. You vent the air before the stargate is opened, and you pretty much kill Telford and Rush. I'm not sure Young wanted to do that. Of course he probably didn't know that Rush would come through, but I'm not sure he would want to take the risk.

Ok, I'm doing my little commentary on the episode. Rush now says the connection was severed when he walked through the gate so he should have vented the atmosphere. Yeah chalk that up to bad writing.

 

[tomalak301]

Subversion, Incursion

Well, this is a hell of a way to end Season 1. I really enjoyed all those episodes, and the end of Incursion two with TJ getting shot and Young's military personnel surrounded was a shocking way to end the season. I still agree with the spoiler above, that Young should have vented the room before the gate opened and then none of this would have happened. It was great to see pretty much all of SG-1 except for Teal'c in these episodes even though Sam and Daniel only got mini-cameos.

Did I like these episodes more than the other finales? Not really mainly because there were parts of the episodes that kinda dragged. Again, a lot of SGU is this quiet planning and sitting around and by the end you're excited that the action is picking up. Kiva is one ruthless woman though

Overall, I am somewhat enjoying SGU, but this series isn't as good as the others. It's just really hard to get into and maybe I am getting to the point of I'm almost done with Stargate but I'm looking forward to it being over. It's like senior-itis in High School only this is Stargate-itis. I can see the finish line (And maybe one day I will see the Kino Shorts). The highlight characters this season were Young, Rush, and TJ. I can't really get into the rest though, which is a shame.

Sorry this review isn't longer but I did enjoy all three episodes (With Subversion being my favorite).

Favorite episodes in Season 1 of Universe:

Light
Justice
Space
Sabotage
Subversion

I'll start season 2 tomorrow.

 

[Romulan_spy]

Subversion, Incursion

Well, this is a hell of a way to end Season 1. I really enjoyed all those episodes, and the end of Incursion two with TJ getting shot and Young's military personnel surrounded was a shocking way to end the season. I still agree with the spoiler above, that Young should have vented the room before the gate opened and then none of this would have happened. It was great to see pretty much all of SG-1 except for Teal'c in these episodes even though Sam and Daniel only got mini-cameos.

Did I like these episodes more than the other finales? Not really mainly because there were parts of the episodes that kinda dragged. Again, a lot of SGU is this quiet planning and sitting around and by the end you're excited that the action is picking up. Kiva is one ruthless woman though

Overall, I am somewhat enjoying SGU, but this series isn't as good as the others. It's just really hard to get into and maybe I am getting to the point of I'm almost done with Stargate but I'm looking forward to it being over. It's like senior-itis in High School only this is Stargate-itis. I can see the finish line (And maybe one day I will see the Kino Shorts). The highlight characters this season were Young, Rush, and TJ. I can't really get into the rest though, which is a shame.

Sorry this review isn't longer but I did enjoy all three episodes (With Subversion being my favorite).

Favorite episodes in Season 1 of Universe:

Light
Justice
Space
Sabotage
Subversion

I'll start season 2 tomorrow.

It just occurred to me that there was an even simpler way to prevent the Lucian Alliance from boarding Destiny. They could have just "buried" the gate, ie obstructed the event horizon. We know from SG1, that the wormhole can't form if something is blocking or obstructing the event horizon of the receiving gate. So all the Destiny crew had to do, was block or obstruct the event horizon of the gate on Destiny and the LA would not have been able to establish a wormhole connection in the first place.

But they probably should have severed the stone connection between Rush and Telford way sooner, all the way back in "Subversion" when Rush's cover was blown and he gets taken by the Lucian Alliance. I know Young wanted to continue the interrogation of Telford (in Rush's body) in order to get intel on the Lucian Alliance but at the point where you know your agent's cover has been blown, you should abort the mission. You don't leave Rush in Telford's body for the Lucian Alliance to do whatever they want with.

The only reason the Lucian Alliance was able to dial the 9th chevron in the first place was because they had Rush (in Telford's body) that they were able to coerce to solve the problem. We know the Lucian Alliance scientists was not going to figure out the 9th chevron on his own any time soon. So without Rush, the LA would not have been able to dial the 9th chevron in the first place.

Another observation: O'Neill seemed really annoyed and impatient with Col Young. I don't blame him. I like when O'Neill basically says "if you can't handle the mission, I'll replace you." and also when he reminds Young that Carter made the tough call of abandoning the 2 F-302 fighters in order to save the ship when the LA planet was about to explode. Sometimes military leaders have to make sacrifices for the greater good.

And yeah, Kiva was ruthless and played by a great actress.

Personally, I think S2 is much better than S1. There is a really neat time travel story later in the season. And I think the finale is excellent even though the series was cut short.

 

[Reverend]

The Atlantis shield might not even be an original part, but was a more recent addition after the rise of the Wraith. Given the very existence of the Stargate network, it seems clear the Ancients thrived in a much more innocent (or enlightened) era.

Destiny relies on security-through-obscurity. While the ship itself has defenses, it would've quickly left the range of the original stargate network (and, as I said, there probably wasn't anyone in the Milky Way who'd want to use a Stargate to wage war), and the Stargates the Seed Ships drop aren't intended to be any kind of permanent public transit feature, but just to facilitate Destiny's crew gathering supplies and scientific information as they go, glorified ring transporters that aren't even operable without a Kino remote, which you can only get from Destiny. The Seed Ships may even have avoided inhabited planets intentionally.

I think it's less to do with security consciousness or innocence and more to do with the possibility that this is from a time where the ancients were literally the only intelligent species in the galaxy. Maybe even prior to fleeing their home galaxy they had never encountered another species so the idea that anyone but them would even try to use the gates just didn't occur to them.

 

[The Wormhole]

I like when O'Neill basically says "if you can't handle the mission, I'll replace you."

That never really made sense to me. While I get that by "replacing" Young O'Neill meant having Young stone swap with a qualified military officer who would take command, but that would have more negative consequences than positive. Basically, Young can't do his job, so his "punishment" is hanging out on Earth while someone else takes control of his body to do his job on Destiny. After awhile, won't the rest of the Destiny crew feel unmotivated and want to similarly stone swap with someone else to do their job for them? Even if the Destiny crew wo stone swap to Earth for this sort of work exchange program are confined to the Pentagon during the swap, I can see many thinking it preferable to actually being on Destiny and doing the work themselves. If anything, O'Neill's threat to replace Young is in fact an empty threat.

he reminds Young that Carter made the tough call of abandoning the 2 F-302 fighters in order to save the ship when the LA planet was about to explode. Sometimes military leaders have to make sacrifices for the greater good.

Which is something else I don't get, when is allowing the death of your comrades acceptable? Here, Young is chewed out for not sacrificing Rush and Telford, while Carter is lauded for making the call to leave behind the 302 pilots. Yet, earlier in SG-1, Carter herself chooses to allow Ba'al to take classified gate addresses to prevent him from killing SGC personnel he has hostage, and this is recognized by Landry is the right thing to do.

 

[Reverend]

Bit of an aside but am I right in recalling that the showrunners or someone on that side of things for SGU said that idea was that the old SGC was shuttered and operations moved to Atlantis, which is currently still on Earth? I think I recall something about that...
It would certainly explain why Walter, O'Neill etc. all seem to have relocated to DC to head up Homeworld Command.

That never really made sense to me. While I get that by "replacing" Young O'Neill meant having Young stone swap with a qualified military officer who would take command, but that would have more negative consequences than positive. Basically, Young can't do his job, so his "punishment" is hanging out on Earth while someone else takes control of his body to do his job on Destiny. After awhile, won't the rest of the Destiny crew feel unmotivated and want to similarly stone swap with someone else to do their job for them? Even if the Destiny crew wo stone swap to Earth for this sort of work exchange program are confined to the Pentagon during the swap, I can see many thinking it preferable to actually being on Destiny and doing the work themselves. If anything, O'Neill's threat to replace Young is in fact an empty threat.

I can't think of many things worse in a survival situation than a leader that can't handle it. Fairness or "punishment" doesn't come into it; just sheer necessity. If O'Neill wanted him out, he'd be out. It wouldn't be perfect, but it'd be better than allowing a leader in a front line situation to remain in command.

As for getting to "hang out on Earth", remember two things: 1) His body is still on Destiny, so if the worse happens he's just as dead as everyone else so it's hardly an escape. 2) If he's relieved for dereliction of duty then the place he gets to "hang out" would be a military stockade. Now how they handle the logistics of putting the body of an innocent officer in prison while someone else inhabits said body is a whole other question, but a workable one given how much bigger things with the IOA and Homeworld Command have gotten since the old days when it was just the SGC running things.

Also, this is O'Neill. He really doesn't do hollow threats.

 

[tomalak301]

Which is something else I don't get, when is allowing the death of your comrades acceptable? Here, Young is chewed out for not sacrificing Rush and Telford, while Carter is lauded for making the call to leave behind the 302 pilots. Yet, earlier in SG-1, Carter herself chooses to allow Ba'al to take classified gate addresses to prevent him from killing SGC personnel he has hostage, and this is recognized by Landry is the right thing to do.

Especially when most of this franchise has had a leave no one behind mentality. I agree that O'Neill made an empty threat, but I will say something has been really off about O'neill this entire first season. Maybe it's just the darker tone of the show, but it feels like the O'Neill that we saw for 8 seasons and recurring has, himself, been replaced.

 

[USS Firefly]

Especially when most of this franchise has had a leave no one behind mentality. I agree that O'Neill made an empty threat, but I will say something has been really off about O'neill this entire first season. Maybe it's just the darker tone of the show, but it feels like the O'Neill that we saw for 8 seasons and recurring has, himself, been replaced.

He is replaced by a changeling!
Oh wait wrong franchise

 

[Romulan_spy]

Which is something else I don't get, when is allowing the death of your comrades acceptable? Here, Young is chewed out for not sacrificing Rush and Telford, while Carter is lauded for making the call to leave behind the 302 pilots. Yet, earlier in SG-1, Carter herself chooses to allow Ba'al to take classified gate addresses to prevent him from killing SGC personnel he has hostage, and this is recognized by Landry is the right thing to do.

The two were different situations though. In the Ba'al episode, the choice was between the enemy getting information versus human lives. But even if Ba'al got the gate adresses, nobody would die. So it was just a matter of whether the gate adresses were equivalent to human lives. In the SGU episode, the choice was between 2 pilot lives versus the hundreds of lives on the Hammond. It was a clear choice between letting a small number die to save a great number live. It was a very different calculus.

 

[Jayson1]

I have a question for everyone. What does everyone think of Eli? I think going in he is basically designed to be the most popular character sort of like McKay because he gets all the best joke lines and he is more like the audience than the rest? He was my favorite character so the strategy worked but how does everyone else feel about him.

Jason

 

[Romulan_spy]

I have a question for everyone. What does everyone think of Eli? I think going in he is basically designed to be the most popular character sort of like McKay because he gets all the best joke lines and he is more like the audience than the rest? He was my favorite character so the strategy worked but how does everyone else feel about him.

Jason

Yeah, I liked Eli. He basically represented the audience. He was the nerd that got to actually go through the gate for real. And he did provide some humor and nice pop culture references. I also felt bad that he got friend-zoned by Chloe.