"Air, Parts 1&2"

    The Stargate franchise has been in my life for quite some time. I was a fan of the original movie from 1994. I vividly remember watching the start of SG-1 on Showtime in 1997. And I remember chatting with a friend on the phone during commercial breaks for the premiere of Stargate Atlantis. While I'm a fan of various genre shows, something about Stargate has always captured my imagination more fully, engaged me more thoroughly. I make it no secret that Daniel Jackson (Both Spader and Shanks) is part of the reason I became interested in - and later majored in - Anthropology. So as you can tell, I'm pretty well versed in my Gate and have pretty high expectations. It is with this eye that turn toward the latest addition to the franchise.

    Of course, the genesis of Stargate Universe is not without its own drama. Announced on the heels of the cancellation of Atlantis, SGU has endured a number complaints, detractors and pessimistic speculation that the previous spin-off seemed immune to. Interviews with the actors and creators of the series yielded an inconclusive picture of the series that sounded part Battlestar Galactica and part Star Trek: Voyager with a heaping helping of Lost, Deep Space Nine and whatever other genre show you care to put up to it. Going into the show, I felt like I knew a lot about it and yet really knew nothing. Despite the interviews, fans knew little of the mechanics of the show. The "base," the missions, a "villain" were all unknown quantities. Despite what I'd heard, I tried to keep an open mind and really avoided any talk about the new series online. I almost forgot it was on until last week. So last night I settled in for two hours and was quite intrigued by what I saw.


    Stargate: Universe has a fairly straight forward, if superfluously complex, plot. Essentially, the plot revolves around a group of Stargate personnel - both military and civilian - being forced to evacuate their base. This base is particularly important because it houses the brilliant minds and funders of the Icarus Project - the rather unfortunate name of the project looking to crack the meaning/destination of the Gate's ninth chevron. During a pitched air battle, the ground team must evacuate through the gate. Only, it is too dangerous to dial the gate to Earth, so they must use the energy build up of the mounting planetary explosion to dial the ninth chevron. The team find themselves on a ship very far from home that is in a state of disrepair beyond anyone's means to fix. The ship is locked in autopilot and they have no way of altering the path of the ship or power enough to gate back to Earth. The end of the episode reveals that the ship makes periodic stops for its damned crew to resupply before it moves on, with or without them. This premise is very simple, but effective. The heavy emphasis on Stargate continuity so early on in the episode could possibly be alienating and certainly amounts for a lot of seemingly useless screen time but it does firmly place the show in the heart of the franchise.


    Watching Stargate Universe was an interesting experience. While I enjoyed the premise, there was a lot about the show that I felt was standing in its own way. There is an argument to be made that this show starts out in a similar manner to Atlantis, and on paper I can definitely see that. Someone unfamiliar with the Stargate is brought in to help facilitate the journey to the new location. A stand-offish scientist is already working on things there and is upset when the "ignorant" new guy upstages him. A heroic, but overbearing army officer bosses people around only to be shown up a younger officer. It does seem like we're working off the same playbook. Speaking of similar playbooks, apparently the producers got ahold of the Battlestar Galactica book because there's a lot of that show to be found here. From non-linear plotting, lighting choices, characterizations and story style, this really does feel like a BSG hybrid. It was more than a little distracting to see, having been a fan of both series. There is also a rather incongruous sex scene that looks almost exactly like any uniforms-on-in-the-locked-bunks sex scene from BSG. However, the biggest change from the past has been in the music. While Joel Goldsmith has been with the franchise from the beginning, his music has usually stayed in a bombastic, militaristic vein. Within the first fifteen minutes of the show, there was lighter music littered with bag pipes, Middle Eastern instruments and solo piano. Normally, this would just seem to be a composer playing with new material. Coupled with the other BSG nods, I can only assume there was a move to ape Bear McReary's unique style. It's certainly not enough to be declared a rip off, and after a while I ceased to notice the music at all. My biggest piece of advice to the producers of Universe would be to allow the show to come up with its own themes, style and feeling.


    The main cast of Universe is rather diverse and filled with interesting characters that could lead to fun stories down the line. That said, I'm unsure who the lead of the series is. On paper, I know Dr. Rush (Robert Carlyle) is the main character, but by far the most amount of time is spent with Eli Wallace (David Blue) the geek-in-residence. Nearly 30 minutes of the two hours is dedicated to background and characterization for Eli, while many of the other main cast members are ignored. By comparison, the second billed Col. Young (Justin Louis) is out cold for a majority of the episode and is only spotlit in one brief vignette about his past. Robert Carlyle is by far the main draw of the series and what little we know of his character makes for a compelling version of Stargate. Carlyle's rush seems cut from the same cloth as Dr. Baltar, but seemingly less self-centered and more pragmatic. His arc over the episode takes him form trustworthy math-guy to mysterious leader who seems somewhat ill-intentioned. Carlyle really puts in the best performance of the show and his understated acting really sells the character's disaffected personality. Eli actually came across as my second favorite character of the episode. I was expecting a bit of a Jonah Hill knock off, but instead we get a very well rounded character. It's always fun to see a character's pure joy at going through the gate for the first time, and his sense of wonder wandering around the ship really sold the "lost" feeling for me. I was also fond of Lt. Scott (Brian J. Smith) who has a fairly interesting character and whose soap opera-esque overacting actually isn't as off putting as it seemed it would in the first minutes. Much of the cast was overshadowed by Carlyle, Blue and Smith and we really end up with what seem to be one-note characters in Camille Wray (Ming-Na), the cold International Oversight Admin. representative and Sgt. Greer (Jamil Walker Smith, of Hey, Arnold! fame), the hot-headed unstable enlisted man who was in the brig before the evacuation and whose uniform is ominously spattered with blood. The only character I didn't take to was that of Chole Armstrong (Elyse Levesque). I found her to be out-of-place and and not as strong of a character as she seems to be written. I half expected her speech near the end of the episode to conclude with "... and just because my reproductive organs are on the outside.." I imagine the character will grow on me, but right now I couldn't stand the few scenes she was in. I'm hopeful that this cast will be more ensemble based than previous shows in the franchise.


    By far the most jarring change for the franchise is the lack of the series not taking itself seriously. And this installment takes itself very seriously. What little humor there is is located solely in Eli's wonder and coping mechanisms. As well, there were some comedic cameos from SG-1 cast members, the best being a humorous bit with Michael Shanks. Hopefully, comedy will come in time once the series hits it stride. Another concern I have is what I perceive to be an early dependence on the Ancient Communications Device. This was a plot device used on both previous shows in the franchise that was fairly old after the first time. Essentially, it allows the user to swap consciousnesses with someone back on Earth. The device has no stated distance restriction, so it feasibly could be used ad nauseam in the new show. I really feel that it undercuts the series. It's hard to feel lost when one has a phone line home. Judging from some early synopses the device is a plot point in no less than three episodes this season.


    Despite some of the above reservations, I'm very jazzed for the series. There's some fun potential here. The added element of a time limit to how long an away team can stay on a planet should make for some tauter drama. As well, playing off of the character's abilities and inabilities should add something to the series that was missing for a few years - characters not knowing anything! Stargate Universe really has the potential to be different from its predecessors while still playing in the same sandbox. However, it needs to focus on treading its own path instead of copying the movements of previous SyFy Channel successes. I plan on being here every week to review and examine the episodes, hopefully in a shorter amount of space! See you next time! Stargate Universe airs Friday nights at 9 pm.

Article Tags

Write a Response