the bright idea

Stargate Universe: Season One

After what feels like only a few weeks, the first season of the Stargate franchise’s third series is over. It’s been quite the ride since October aboard the Destiny. I started posting weekly reviews of each episode after the midseason premiere, “Space,” so I figured I’d write this retrospective to pay some honors (and maybe a few dishonors) to the first half of the season. 

From the very first shots of “Air,” I knew that Universe was going to be a whole new kind of Stargate. I’m a media production student, so allow me to get oddly specific. The music was no longer orchestral. It was ambient and percussion based, slightly more like the score of Battlestar Galactica. The title font was a sans-serif (I know, my nerd is showing) and it was much less classic than the other two shows. The camerawork was handheld… and what the hell is a “kino” and why does it look so strange!? It hasn’t been for a while, but the premiere of Universe marked the very end of Kurt Russel’s Stargate. 

Here’s my lengthy, in-depth take on Season One as a whole. I debated breaking this into several posts, but ehhh, you guys can handle it. Put your thinking caps on and click “Read More.”

Read More

Stargate Universe: 1x20 “Incursion, Part 2”

With the end of “Incursion” comes the end of the first season. Universe has been getting more and more action-heavy since the mid-season premiere, “Space.” “Incursion” really shows off Universe’s ability to showcase an entirely different kind of action than the rest of Stargate franchise. With limited gunfire and space battles, the show finds a way to keep me on the edge of my seat.

By the end of “Incursion,” there’s nearly no limit to directions the show can go in during the second season. Rumors say that someone doesn’t make it to season two, but even that isn’t set in stone yet. It could be TJ, Chloe, Young, Scott, Telford, or Greer. I’m sure the spoilers are out there with the answer, but I haven’t read them… and won’t until October when Universe returns. It seems like TJ had the worst luck at the end of the episode when she got shot several times in the chest. If she does survive, the baby definitely didn’t… which is a good thing in my book. I didn’t want her to be a mother character from the get-go. 

“Incursion” did so many things right for the show in the long-term that I don’t know where to start. Perhaps my favorite part of the the two-part finale has been the subplot with Eli and Chloe. It was a really interesting decision to remove Eli from the action. He definitely could have been of use in the control room. The scenes between these two were stellar in the second part of the episode. Chloe telling Eli that his friendship isn’t a “runner up prize” and Eli admitting his feelings for her easily jump into my top five Stargate character scenes. I want to say that the possibility of Chloe picking Eli romantically over Scott is done… but I really don’t know. “Incursion” also did a great job of showing off many of the ensemble characters. There’s a real, gritty, emotional connection to each and every member onboard.

Colonel Young has been stripped down to the bone over the course of the last few episodes of this season. We’re seeing a truly incapable leader for the first time in the Stargate franchise. We see him crack under the pressure, fail, and second guess himself. The struggle between he and Camille came to an all-time high during “Incursion.” Civilians and the military have always butted heads throughout the franchise, but the military side of the issue has never been so weak and human as it is in Universe. 

The filmmaking of the Stargate franchise has also reached a pinnacle by the end of “Incursion.” The show was so enormous and grand with beautiful exteriors of Destiny and gorgeous wide shots of the gate room. The scale was juxtaposed with tight, unstable shots of intimate character scenes. Half the experience of enjoying Universe is just looking at it. Bravo.

The scene where Telford and Kiva shoot one another was another highlight of “Incursion.” Will she make it to the season premiere? The question of what to do with the Alliance ‘invaders’ hasn’t been resolved either. How is the incursion going to end and what are we going to do with the Lucian characters (assuming we defeat them eventually)? I completely didn’t expect the season to end with this big of a cliffhanger and I’m really thrown off by it. Despite my surprise, “Incursion” is one of the best, if not THE best story of the entire series to date. The possibilities are endless for season two and I can’t wait for the ride to begin.

I’ll have a full retrospective on the entire first season in a few days. See you in the fall, Destiny.

Stargate Universe: 1x19 “Incursion, Part 1”

I want to hold off on a full review of “Incursion” until I see Part 2 next week, but I’ll offer up some thoughts on Part 1. My feelings are fairly neutral. After the last episode, my hopes were extremely high. I never expected the Lucian Alliance to be playing a role in the season finale… and here we are, Lucian Alliance guns blazing. 

“Incursion” continues the story that “Subversion” began. The Alliance was planning on boarding the Destiny. They did. No surprises. The story seems to be advancing in a pretty standard Stargate invasion fashion, á la “The Storm” and “The Eye” way back from Atlantis. The Alliance has some hostages that the characters are emotionally connected to (TJ), there’s someone removed from the action (Eli & Chloe), and there are a lot of demands over walkie. So what caught my eye? Well, for starters, someone got disintegrated somehow through a shield malfunction. Is there a virus in the ship? No one seems to know what’s going on with the ship’s systems. Eli and Chloe caught my eye. David and Elyse both gave great performances. I love those two characters together. Chloe loves Eli as a friend… too bad Lt. Scott is in the way of that romance. I’m also curious about what’s going to happen with Commander Kiva. Will she get away? Will we kill her? She obviously can’t get back to the Milky Way since we haven’t been able to. Somehow I doubt that this will be answered next week.

It was great again to see O’Neill and Carter. Seeing them doing what they’re doing in the Milky Way is really giving me a nice sense of closure on SG-1. The final episode of that show gave us the feeling that our characters are going to continue their day-to-day lives without us seeing it. They are. Gotta love a wonderfully interwoven franchise. On the note of the franchise, Atlantis crossed my mind. Not the show (notice the word wasn’t italicized). I’m talking about the city. I’m wondering if the city could use its wormhole drive to meet up with the Destiny. Following that thought, is it still in San Francisco Bay? I guess they’re holding off on that until the Atlantis movie.

“Incursion, Part 1” is average so far. The door is open for some great possibilities. We’ll see next week and I’ll lay down my final judgement.

Stargate Universe: 1x18 “Subversion”

Welcome back, SG-1! As we enter the final stretch of Universe’s freshman season, things take an interesting turn. Ever since the title of the finale was announced, I expected the “incursion” to be alien-based. “Subversion” took all of my expectations and turned them upside down. I’ve got plenty to say, so I’ll try to keep it organized.

“Subversion” marked the return of Colonel Telford, my absolute least favorite Universe character. He just always seemed so completely unnecessary. Sure, his intertwining with Col. Young’s wife was interesting in the beginning of the show, but his character only served to further the Earth-based stories… what I thought was the weakness of season 1.0. “Subversion” definitely upped the interesting on Telford. I still want him to get hit by a Destiny-sized bus, but at least I’m engaged by his character now. It seems like Telford is a spy for the Lucian Alliance. I can’t yet tell if he’s brainwashed or doing it willingly (for what payment/purpose?), but either way, it’s been confirmed that he was the one that leaked the location of Icarus base to the Alliance. When the story turned to Telford and the background of the attack on Icarus, I felt unsure of going in that direction and I halfway feel that way. Universe has been about the possible future of the show throughout season 1.5 and that’s a good thing. Getting caught up in a relatively unimportant background plot event like the destruction of Icarus is a waste of time. I know, it seems odd to call the impetus for the entire series “unimportant,” but the series should be entirely about the knowledge contained within Destiny and the characters.

So what does “Subversion” mean for the future of the series? A hell of a lot! Once it started to look like the Lucian Alliance was going to be the self-titled incursion of the season finale, I started to accept opening up the can of Icarus worms. I love when Universe catches me by surprise, and tonight was definitely a prime example of that! So what’s actually going on with the Lucian Alliance? Apparently they know about Icarus and the Destiny through Telford and are trying to reach the Destiny by finding another planet with enough energy in its core to power a 9-chevron connection. I’m assuming that that connection is made successfully if they’re going to stage an “incursion.” In terms of the future of the show, could this mean, somehow, that our characters are going to be one step closer to actually getting to back to Earth? 

Let me explain: I realize that the Icarus-like-planet would create a wormhole and connect to Destiny. I realize that wormholes are one-way in the Stargate mythos. But just connecting a new wormhole from the Milky Way to the Destiny could allow our illustrious writers to work something in that may shake things up a bit. It’s really just a hope of mine.

While we’re chatting about hopes of mine, I was praying that Telford was going to be a Goa’uld the entire time! I kept thinking that him being a Goa’uld would explain him not knowing (or denying) being a Lucian spy and somehow explain the residual memories he leaves behind with everyone he swaps bodies with. I’ve been missing some good secret Goa’uld action in my Stargate these days! “Subversion” made up for plenty of other things I was missing… like another Dr. Jackson appearance and a more-than-cameo-sized appearance of General O’Neill! It looks like Col. Carter is going to be in the next episode commanding the General Hammond (her very own Daedalus-class X-304!), too. Where’s Teal’c?

SG-1 made other appearances in “Subversion,” as well. It was great to see good ol’ Goa’uld cargo ships and Goa’uld ship interiors. Seeing those classic sets in Universe’s distinctive lighting and shooting style was a treat; a true meshing of old and new Stargate. I’d even put money on the fact that the Lucian outpost set is the same set as the original gate room and then the Icarus gate room. I even recognized some very familiar camera shots during the scenes in that space…

The possibilities for the two-part season finale are endless. “Subversion” was a great transition into a new realm of options for Universe. This week’s episode carried through all of the stories we’ve been seeing every week including the tension between Camille and Young, TJ’s pregnancy, and Lt. Scott questioning Young’s command. With curiosity on the horizon and growing momentum, Universe is looking to end its first season on a high note.

Stargate Universe: 1x16 “Sabotage”

“Sabotage” is completely worth it just for the last ten minutes of the episode. As far as the rest of the episode, I have slightly mixed feelings.

The character content of the show has me a little bit confused. Maybe ‘confused’ isn’t the best word, because it’s not that I’m unsure of what’s going on, it’s just that I’m not sure what the purpose of it is. We’ve seen Rush become softened and humanized over the last few episodes as opposed to becoming increasingly villainized over the course of the first half of the season. Rush really doesn’t need anything else to convince me that he’s actually a good person. So what’s the point of bringing in a quadriplegic to save the engines and flirt with Rush? That entire substory with Rush and Camille has me perplexed. It was executed and written well, it just didn’t move anything along for me. I know I talked about how the communication stones haven’t been featured recently. Well, they’re back again in “Sabotage.” They didn’t take away from the episode, although Camille and her girlfriend was an unnecessary addition. To me, it literally only filled time.

TJ and Col. Young’s pregnancy arc was probably the best character-driven story piece in “Sabotage.” It was subtle, but how much can that subplot really be featured after she’s only been pregnant for a few weeks? I have high hopes for that story. I’m also really becoming a fan of Vanessa James, a recurring character that seems to be becoming friends with TJ and Chloe. James plays a fairly large role in “Sabotage” and starts to flesh out her character. I was really confused by the story in this episode with James and Franklin, but that all changes in the end. I hope this character sticks around (especially were her backstory with Lt. Scott… she can get interesting).

So what about the actual plot of “Sabotage”? I’m glad you asked! Let’s do the bad news before the good news. Eli, Lt. Scott, and Chloe found their way back to Destiny in the worst way possible. I realize that they used their arrival as a plot device for the aliens to locate and track the Destiny. I get that. But their offworld story arc was one of the best parts of the last two episodes. I was literally hoping for them to not make it back until the season finale… or even the next season’s premiere. Them arriving on the ship was so anticlimactic, I really don’t even know what to say about it. That could have been an epic snowballing of action and anticipation as they found a way back onto the ship. Instead they were just thrown around as a way for our alien friends to follow us. Whatever, TPTB…

I’m kind of unsure about Vanessa James’ role in the alien’s tracking Destiny. Something happened when she disconnected from the communication stones allowing the aliens to connect to her body and use her to sabotage the FTL drives. It was too hazy for me to really enjoy, but I’ll go along with it. I’m just kind of bothered by how contrived “Sabotage” feels. The key plot points are just used to manipulate where the writers wanted to end up instead of being used to tell a really good story.

However they did it, the aliens eventually do track down the Destiny. Franklin miraculously snaps out of his control-chair-induced vegetable state and volunteers to sit in the chair during the impending battle. I suddenly understood the purpose of the James/Franklin subplot. One way or another, Destiny jumps away from the battle. Franklin saved the day… right? Once Young gets back to the control chair, Franklin is gone. All 42 minutes of “Sabotage” is worthwhile for this singular moment. The one aspect of the Ancients that we all know and love has been missing until this moment: ascension. I said aloud during this scene “HE ASCENDED” just because I couldn’t contain myself. I’m praying to the Stargate gods that the amount of information downloaded into Franklin allowed him to ascend. This count mean some very interesting things for the future of Universe.

I wouldn’t call “Sabotage” a step in the wrong direction, but it wasn’t a monumental leap in the right direction like the last few episodes have been. It didn’t drop the kino, if you know what I mean.

Stargate Universe: 1x15 “Lost”

THRILLED. I got concerned for Universe two or three weeks ago. It seemed like it was going to drop the ball that it started to run with after “Space.” I was wrong. Sometimes I love being proved wrong and this is one of those times. If you’ve been reading these reviews over the last few weeks, you probably know what I’m about to say. “Lost” is continuing to fix my one complaint about the show: long-term story arcs.

With about ten minutes left in the show, I started to think to myself “Well, I guess it’s alright that the team is going to make it back to the Destiny. I has been a two-episode arc…” When Lt. Scott, Chloe, and Eli were dialing to the Destiny and the Destiny was receiving an incoming wormhole, it hit me. “I hope a different wormhole connects to Destiny!” It was such a good idea I had… and then it came true. It’s almost as if TPTB in Vancouver can hear my wishes in the past and write exactly what I’m hoping for! This ‘lost in space’ arc that’s been building is fantastic. Once the team finally started to mesh after all of the conflict throughout the beginning of the show, they got ripped apart. All of the positive and exciting tweets coming from the cast and producers about the shooting of season 2 that’s going on right now has got me BEAMING.

A few episodes ago, in “Faith,” a team decided to stay on a planet behind Destiny. The possibility of living planet-side in Destiny’s galaxy was pretty much just brushed over by the overarching concepts of the show. Well, that theory is being revisited with some of the leading cast of the show being, not only stuck on a planet, but stranded in a galaxy. But are they stranded? Like I mentioned, there’s a team of Earthlings on a semi-nearby planet. I’m praying to Vancouver that Scott, Chloe, and Eli find their way back to that planet. Think of the possibilities, people… Eli can explore the obelisk on that planet that created the planet! My review of “Faith” wished for more time with the mystery of the creation of that planet. It might finally come true.

Time to chat a little bit about what’s happing on the Destiny as with the rest of the cast. I’ll delay one second to say that I’m pretty thrilled with all of the character relations/development going on with our threesome stuck offworld. So let’s start with Greer. “Lost” gave us an opportunity to explore Greer’s background, something we all knew was already a bit bumpy. The writers shed some light on what actually happened during Greer’s childhood. I’m indifferent to the situation. I think the presentation of the flashbacks was a bit cliché and the content was as well. I’m hoping that they don’t dwell on the whole “bad daddy” past. It’s been done before. I get a lot of the same vibes from Greer that I got from Ford when he was still on Atlantis and this new information differentiates them slightly… but not much.

TJ is pregnant and now her baby daddy knows. I loved all of the scenes with Young and TJ. It’s an interesting story line for sure. I’m interested to see where it’s going to go. Since Alaina Huffman was pregnant, we know that TJ will carry the child. Here’s my question: will the baby be born? Don’t take this for me being sick, but I’m hoping for a miscarriage or some other circumstance that prevents the baby from joining the cast. I really don’t want TJ to become a Stargate mom for all the reasons I discussed last week. Bring on the baby drama for the next few episodes, though!

Overall, I’m loving every episode of Universe these days! It’s going in fantastic directions. I can only imagine what the season finale is going to bring! 

Stargate Universe: 1x14 “Human”

The second half of the first season continues to pick up steam in “Human.” It feels like someone is actually listening to what I’ve been saying over the last few weeks. Several elements from “Faith” and “Human” are left unresolved at the end of the episode, creating the potential for these arcs to play out over several episodes and even become underlying conflicts: perfect!

“Human,” for one of the first times in the series as a whole, caught me off guard several times throughout the episode. First off, I’ve been staying away from any kinds of spoilers on the Interwebs having to do with SGU, so I had no idea that Dr. Jackson’s subplot was all in Rush’s head. For the first few minutes of the episode, I was under the assumption that we were flashing back to before Rush got involved in the Stargate Program… which was partially true. I really loved the entire Rush story throughout “Human.” This episode seems to have completed the ‘softening’ or ‘humanifcation’ that Rush has been going through for the last few episodes. The backstabbing Rush that we all knew and hated back from the beginning of Universe seems almost justified now that we know the backstory of him and his wife.

The concept of the Ancient interface chair has been completely refreshed for Universe. The chair aboard Destiny seems to be completely different than the Ancient chairs we’re used to seeing in SG-1 and Atlantis. This chair seems to be a hybrid of a control chair and Ancient repository of knowledge. This repository doesn’t seem to download the information into the user’s brain like the Jack O’Neill version did… the user seems to get sucked into a virtual reality within the chair. I’m a fan of this refreshed interface as it opens up a new realm of possibilities for stories about the chair—although I’m not sure that any characters will be taking the plunge after Rush risked his life in “Human.”

The episode was almost completely Rush-centric, and this review is seeming to be as well. I don’t think it needs to be mentioned, although I am now, that Carlyle is doing an amazing job throughout the backend of the season. I thought that Rush was a little (get ready for a juxtaposition) two-dimensional in his duplicity (I promise that that makes sense). The character is completely coming to life and so is Carlyle’s performance. The story surrounding Rush in the virtual reality with his wife was aesthetically GORGEOUS. It’s probably my favorite cinematic element of the show to date. The blown-out, lens flare-heavy aesthetic contrasted with the grime of Destiny, reaffirming how different of a world Rush was in. Bravo, Director of Photography.

The B-story with the team offworld shouldn’t go unmentioned. I said before that “Human” caught me off guard and this adventure certainly did as well. It seems like the crew of Destiny is running into civilization a lot more often these days, opening up a lot of possible directions for the show to go in. I thought it was going to be a shame that such a civilized world would go unexplored… but, luckily, that isn’t the case! I was expecting Rush to pop out of the Ancient chair and be able to stop the ship at the planet. Again, I was pleasantly surprised by disaster! The prospect of half of the lead characters being stuck on an awesomely populated-with-mystery planet is fantastic! When the Destiny jumped into FTL I grinned with the possibilities for the show over the next few episodes.

I wonder how long the team will be stranded on this planet… Now THAT’s serial drama!

Stargate Universe: 1x13 “Faith”

“Faith” finished what “Space” began in actually renewing my faith in Universe. The show as pitched to us as a change of pace within the Stargate mythos and a turn towards character drama. We finally received that in “Faith” and I, for one, am thrilled!

One of my longest running critiques of the show is the lack of story arcs. It seemed like week after week, the conflict was resolved by the end of the episode. There seems be be a 10-minute Rule in the world of Stargate: an impossible crisis is always solved within the last 10 minutes of air-time. As the episode passed 35 minutes on Hulu, I prayed to myself that some of the fantastic conflicts set up in “Faith” would be left open. They were.

The show is obviously very aesthetically different than the other Stargate TV series, but for the first time, the style truly paid off. Being a TV/film student myself, I can appreciate the cinematography of “Faith.” Several shots really stood out to me and made me stop to appreciate them within the show—most notably one on the planet of a reflection of Lt. Scott and Johansen. The camera helped the success of the successfully-character-driven episode by connecting to the actors in ways I haven’t yet seen in Universe. The editing was spot on, as well, holding on characters for reactions just a second long enough for the audience to question motives and react emotionally.

I truly feel like I know these characters. Throughout “Faith” I appreciated the increasingly complex relations they have with one another. Chloe continues to surprise me week after week. She’s becoming annoying idealistic, but that’s good. If I’m not going to get annoyed with any characters… they must be pretty flat. Chloe’s role of the civilian devil’s advocate over the last few weeks has improved her character ten-fold. She’s not just Scott’s emotionally-sensitive lover anymore.

I think “Faith” was the first time that I didn’t double-take on Rush, either. The hardships he’s been through recently make me trust his actions. The show and the crew of the Destiny can move forward scientifically now that Rush isn’t working against Young. Which brings us to Young, and Camille for that matter. These two characters have flip-flopped back forth between being powerful and horribly destructive leaders. With the admittance of some of his failures to Rush, Young is moving out of his leadership adolescence. I kept giggling aloud every time another Camille/Eli scene began, and that’s not a bad thing. I have a tendency of inappropriately enjoying things that catch me off guard. I would have never expected heart-to-hearts between these two and they were fantastic. These little interactions make life on the Destiny so much more human.

And now for the character-drama elephant in the room (or Unas in the room for the classic SG-1 fans). TJ is pregnant and Young is apparently the father. Hearing it was relief. Just before it was revealed that she was carrying Destiny’s youngest crew member, I was starting to get concerned that she had cancer. And, no, not out of emotional connection to TJ, although my liking for her is growing. Sorry, Alaina. A dying doctor in a Stargate series is just becoming a little bit too cliché. This pregnancy adds something really interesting to the mix. The tension of Young finding out will be a much-needed emotional overtone for the next few episodes.

My pregnancy prediction and hope: miscarriage. Admittedly, I am sick in the head, but not that sick in the head. Let me explain. A baby onboard Destiny will turn TJ into Teyla from Atlantis. Her character, and Young as well probably, will be weakened by always needing to care for the child. The baby will probably be aged really quickly on the show, also… which I just hate. TJ will question herself every time she goes into a dangerous situation and blah blah blah. The loss of this child, especially after Young gets attached to the idea of being the father, would strengthen character drama on the show. 

This is getting a bit too long, so I’ll make my comments on the plot of “Faith” brief. Possibility of this new alien species = FANTASTIC. Me wishing for Furling-like text to appear on the pillar = happened. Our new religious fanatic friend that stayed on the planet = great thing for show. I recently wrote a 9 page paper exploring the function of religion in Battlestar Galactica and a little God-seeking or angel-finding in Universe could work wonders.

“Faith” might be my favorite episode of Season 1 to date.

Stargate Universe: 1x11 “Space”

As you all know, I’m a big science fiction fan, so I figured I’d use this blog for the greater good: reviewing episodes of my favorite shows the day after they air!

Last night was the returning premiere of Stargate Universe, the third TV series within the Stargate franchise. It premiered last October with its first 10 episodes and the back 10 are starting up again. Let me start out by saying that I like the show, but I’m biased. I loved everything about the first two Stargate series… but I’m man enough to admit that I saw them turning downhill slightly before their ends. The last season of Stargate Atlantis was admittedly rough. For what it’s worth, I liked the first half of Universe’s freshman season, but saw what critics were critical of: this isn’t a Stargate show. There were no aliens, space battles, or mutated mythologies. It was just a few dozen people stuck on an Ancient ship, hurtling through space.

The mid-season premiere, “Space,” fixed all of those problems. The character drama that the showrunners set up during the first half of the season started to play out as the characters were thrust into their first actual life-threatening encounter with an alien species. As far as the aliens go, I like! They’re  nothing like anything that the first two Stargate series ever encountered. They can’t speak any kind of recognizable language and are pretty damn freaky. 

The first half of the season was EXTREMELY slow, but I feel like some of the character-based events in “Space” were rushed (fans of the show will appreciate that pun). Colonel Young left Dr. Rush bloody and beat up on a planet at the end of “Justice.” Before “Space” was even over, characters were accusing Young of purposely leaving Rush there (Young thought up an alibi about Rush being killed in a rock slide) and Camille Ray was already threatening to bring down the hammer of the I.O.A. on Young. Too much, too soon. By the climax of “Space,” it was discovered that Rush was actually scooped up by these new alien baddies.

Hey, Stargate Universe, learn something from the show you’re obviously inspired from, Battlestar Galactica, and learn to slow down your story arcs! Leaving Rush (and even Chloe for that matter) on the alien craft for a few episodes and bringing them back together with the rest of Destiny’s crew around the time of the season finale could have made for some really interesting arcs.

There was some new, interesting interactions between Johansen and some of the minor characters. These minor characters could create something that the first two series never had. Feeling connected with each and every member of the Icarus team stuck on the Destiny will create really interesting story lines: “I wonder if ‘so-and-so’ will find out that that happened!” etc…

Let’s just hope that the stories start to pan out in bigger scales than just weekly adventures.