Friday, October 9, 2009

A Whole New Experience: Stargate Universe

"'... It's a non-disclosure agreement. I assure you, it'll be worth your while to sign it.'
'And if I don't?'
'We'll beam you up to our spaceship.'" 
[Rush, Eli and O'Neill]

Six years ago I was living near Vancouver (British Columbia) and being new to the area I didn't have a lot of friends yet, so I was spending a great deal of time watching TV.  On one of those lonely evenings at home I happened across an episode of Stargate SG-1.  I haven't always been a big fan of science fiction or fantasy on TV or in the movies, but between the release of the first Lord of the Rings movie the previous year, and a brief sojourn in to the world of Alien (with Segorney Weaver), I was becoming increasingly interested in the genre.  For me, SG-1 was the perfect route into "weird."


The science behind the Stargate series, though complicated and advanced far beyond what we are currently capable of, is possible.  The idea that we're not alone in the universe was already one that I accepted.  Combining the two, in my opinion, was genius.  Of all the SG-teams that we've seen to date the original 4 - O'Neill, Carter, Jackson and Teal'C - are and forever will be my favorites.  It just worked out that over the next year my husband and I were able to find all of the available seasons of SG-1on DVD, and thus, our combined obsession with the Stargate franchise began.


It was around that time that Stargate: Atlantis began and Richard Dean Anderson started to pull out of the original series.  We continued to watch and to love the SG worlds, then eventually SG-1 ended and the movies were made, the Atlantis series wrapped up and we were left wondering: what next?


Stargate Universe is the answer.






Over the last several months I've searched out information about the new series - cast, plot, etc. - but no matter what I was able to find, I never really gained a clear understanding of what the show was supposed to be about.  I found a lot of speculation on forum sites, some vague (and not-so-vague) hints on Robert Cooper's blog and eventually there was some concrete info on the Stargate websites.  But when I turned on my TV to watch this first episode, I really didn't know what to expect.


I'm happy to say that after the completion of the premeire/pilot episode that I really like it. I'm looking forward to seeing more and while I'm still not entirely sure where the series, or the season, is going to go, I am interested enough to keep watching.  I was happy to see the brief cameo appearances of O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson), Carter (Amanda Tapping), Daniel (Michael Shanks) and even Dr. Lee (Bill Dow) because I'm a huge sucker for the "originals" but it was great, too, to get to see some background for the new characters. Though in getting the background, the time shifts during the episode did become a bit confusing.  They weren't always, sometimes the differences in the scenes was obvious but once in a while I couldn't quickly tell.  That being said, there are also wonderful opportunities that have been left open to learn more about the new characters too.


At this point the show is quite a bit darker, a bit more serious and more "mature" then previous SG series have been.  It does hold certain visual aspects that are reminscient of Battlestar Gallatica but it was refreshingly different from anything we've seen from the Stargate franchise before.  Will this hold for the future?.. Only time can tell, but I look forward to finding out.


Here are a few quotes from the premiere that really liked!
"This is my second spaceship, and my first was yesterday." [Eli]
"'A number of people died during the attack on the base, some I knew very well.'
'I'm sure some of them had more value then others.'
'As human beings, all of them were invaluable.'" [Rush and Chloe]


"'Have you found anything?'
'Destiny.'
'As in ours?'
'The name of the ship.'"  [Eli and Rush]


"There are just some things you never get over.  You get through them.  As best you can." [Scott]

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