The Characters
C (Featherlite) - An average grade, even though few of the characters themselves are average.
Rush, Eli, TJ, and Telford are all above average. Rush is SGU's "House", or Lie to Me's “Cal Lightman.” He's the character we are supposed to hate. I love to hate him. He's fun. And he does stuff, aside from sit around and moan. Eli is fun and serves a purpose. He's not very deep though. And he really wants to get laid, which gets a little tiresome. TJ is an active character who is both professional and emotional. All she needs is a little backbone. Telford is a hardnosed bastard but at least he gets things done. I'd much rather have had him on Destiny, and his wife and Young back on Earth.
Greer, Scott, Park, and James all have potential. I think I could really like them but these characters all need more development. Not just back story. Development.
Chloe, Wray, and Young are all below average. Chloe has no purpose. Seriously, her character has nothing to offer. She serves no useful function on the ship. I realize it was a wrong place/wrong time thing that caused her to end up on Destiny, but if she had clearance to get to Icarus in the first place, she should be able to do something. (Again, this is supposed to be a secret program. They sent her to another planet. She must have some skills.) Wray is a professional politician who hasn't played any real politics yet. Use her, show! Colonel Young is the character I despise the most. He's supposed to be a professional military man. I get that he didn't want to lead the team that was going through the 9th chevron. But you were in charge of Icarus, and you're a colonel in the U.S. Air Force. Lead, dammit. Don't whine about your almost ex-wife who wanted to leave you after you had an affair with your medic (what fraternization rules?) or beat up on another officer because he was at your wife's house or react to a power-play set up WHERE NOTHING BAD WAS GOING TO HAPPEN TO YOU ANYWAY by losing your temper and stranding the one man who could save your sorry ass - not to mention everyone else on the ship - on some backwater planet. I thought that colonels needed to have some kind of college degree to get the rank. Quit acting like a hormonal seventeen year old boy. I have no respect for the character, which is different from not liking the character.
Unfortunately, a lot of the characters are stuck in their stereotypes. We have the Little Girl Lost, the Bureaucrat, the Maverick, the Geek, the Anti-Social Genius, the Tortured Leader, the Overwhelmed Medic, the Angry Man. Stereotypes serve useful purposes. They help audiences identify, and identify with, characters quickly. But we are 10 episodes in, and most of these characters have not moved beyond the caricature they started out to be.
A+ (Mark) - OK, this is where my points from my intro come into play. Featherlite, you mentioned that the characters are stuck in their stereotypes, but I don’t see that. I also am glad that if they are in some way stuck in some stereotypes in the eyes of anti-fans and fans alike, that they aren’t stuck in the mold of previous show characters. For example: SG1’s O’Neill = SGA’s Shepperd, SG1’s Daniel Jackson/Samantha Carter = SGA’s Rodney McKay, SG1’s Teal’c = SGA’s Teyla/Ronon Dex, etc. In SGU, the characters are their own personalities that weren’t transported on from the other SG shows, which I think give them the advantage in character development. Plus, I love consistent characterization, which SGU is decent at doing so far. For instance, it would not be plausible for Spencer to be a lunatic in one episode and then joking around the next. Everyone is a ticking time bomb, because they didn’t have that psychological testing that you mentioned, Featherlite, which further solidifies that they are the wrong people and anything can happen.
As for Col. Young, I like him, but he is heavily, heavily flawed. Is he the right person to lead? Maybe not, but people follow the chain of command and at the moment he is the highest ranking officer on the ship, which means that he has to do his job, even if he would rather put a bullet in his head. Col. Telford is the idiot to me. I still to this day for the life of me can't figure out why he is so gung ho about taking Young’s command. Is there something (or someone) on the ship that he needs or wants? Do Young and Telford have some type of past where they are at constant competition or something? I need to know like yesterday for me to figure out why Telford is the Buzz Killingon of SGU. But Young leaving Dr. Rush behind on that planet? Big dumb ass faux pas for so many reasons that I can’t list them all now. Speaking of Rush…
Dr. Rush. He is no Rodney McKay. He is more insane and more power hungry than the arrogant McKay ever was. Dr. Rush is on a mission and in his eyes everyone is expendable. This makes him ruthless, duplicitous, and ultimately, dangerous. Why does he need to know this Ancient technology? Does he want to ascend as well? What is his ultimate goal that he would ‘lie’ and ruin the group’s only chance to go home? He is a force to be reckoned with and a mind I would love to explore on a daily basis. Bottom line: A damn intriguing character.
I already said Greer is my favorite out the bunch, with Rush being a close second (even though I hate his guts at times), but I like all the rest kind of equally. The secondary recurring characters are just as interesting and they remind me of the recurring characters of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, such as Garak, Kai Winn, and Nog, who help serve the story, but also bring their own personality in as well to the point that you pray they make it so see another day. All in all, I can’t wait for these guys to return to my TV set.
Featherlite: Stargate: Universe returns in April. But as of now, I don't think I'll be returning. Why? They haven't given me any reason to come back. Please don't tell me that I haven't given the show a chance. Networks are pulling series after 2 or 3 episodes. I've given this one half a season to develop. How much time should it get? Unfortunately, the entire season was filmed prior to airing, so there is no way to address some of the more strenuous complaints from all over fandom. If they do change some of the things which bother me most, I’ll consider popping in for their sophomore run (SGU has already been picked up for a second season.)
Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment or - for a full blown discussion - join our Stargate: Universe discussion board.
Mark: To sum up, Stargate Universe is the Stargate franchise’s Deep Space Nine in that DS9 got a lot of flack: “they are stuck on a space station, they don’t have a ship, why is the commander of the station a ‘commander’ and not a ‘captain’”, etc. But DS9 produced some of the best character drama to ever grace the screens of sci-fi TV. DS9, to me, was a precursor to the recent BSG incarnation in tone and atmosphere, but it stands on its own in the canon of Star Trek as the show that dared to try something different and came out on top, IMHO. So I think that SGU will follow the same path: Scrutiny first, praise later. Mark my words…
[...] TVO Report Card – Stargate: Universe (Episodes 1-10) « TVOvermind [...]
"We've had 15 years of "the Stargate can only remain open for 38 minutes and then it will close", as well as having it close on somebody’s head and dissecting it when it shuts down. Now we have an earlier model gate that has a safety feature where it won't shut down if something is sticking in it. SGU, your retcon is showing."Actually, the Pegasus gate (and probably the milky way one as well) has a safety feature that prevents something from being cut off in transist. Remember the Atlantis episodes "Thirty-Eight Minutes"? The stargate stayed open because the puddle-jumper was half-way stuck inside the gate. And while then gate would have shut down at the 38 minute mark, Eli probably stuck his arm inside the gate long before that time, and he didn't do it to prevent the stargate to close at 38 minutes. He did it to prevent the Destiny from going to FTL and closing the gate. Also, Rush mentioned that the gate can't stay open for more than 38 minutes. I think it was in Water that he mentioned this.
I can find nothing at all to like about SGU. I went into it with an open mind and didnt mind if it was going to be different once it was well done and engaging, it proved to be neither. It's incredibly boring and I have no interest in ANY of the characters. I find them either just plain boring, annoying, irritating with no redeeming qualities. I find it interesting that those who seem to enjoy SGU either didnt like the previous shows or barely watched them. SGU hasnt corrected any of the issues I had with the previous shows. For all the hailing about it being dark I dont find any tension at all and Mark's comment about knowing that the characters would be fine in each episode is completely wrong and again it shows he hasnt even watched the show. SGA killed of 3 members of its main cast so I think that shows that they were indeed in danger and no one was safe. I dont see any of the main cast getting killed off in SGU and even if some were I wouldnt miss any of them. I'm still hoping that Rush stays dead but that's not going to happen so how is this show any different. I find it almost unrecognizable as a scifi show and more of a melodrama in space, but its just too slow moving with characters I have no interest in. As to the comment about shooting aliens before asking questions isnt that exactly what they did in SGU with the sand aliens, lets just shoot them before we know anything about them. SGU's characters are forgettable and I can't say I find the acting that inspiring either though I agree that Ming-na is woefully underused, but not surprising that the irritating Chloe gets the line share of the screentime when it comes to the ladies. Overall SGU is a disaster. It shouldnt hold the Stargate as it isnt remotely stargate to me at all.
"For all the hailing about it being dark I dont find any tension at all and Mark's comment about knowing that the characters would be fine in each episode is completely wrong and again it shows he hasnt even watched the show. SGA killed of 3 members of its main cast so I think that shows that they were indeed in danger and no one was safe."I watched much of SGA and I do recall the very characters that were killed off. They either died in a high stakes episode or a season finale and I tuned in to watch only to see how that specific character would be sent off. In other words, a regular SG1/SGA episode had a formula where the crew got back safely and only upped the ante during a two-parter/ season finale. In SGU, they are in constant danger from the ship, their surroundings, and each other. Nobody is "buddy buddy" and there is still trust to be built amongst the survivors. I might didn't watch every single episode of SG-1 or SGA, but I did watch enough to differentiate the three. Not saying that SGU is superior, but it is different and sometimes a franchise needs a little bit of change to liven up a concept that can quickly become generic if you use the same formula over and over again.
I like SGU, I give it a C.. there are way too many "what the hell" moments. What was the reaction of the woman soldier that took part of the lesbian love making? After the stones were disconnected did she say, "something tastes funny"?I don't mind Rush being left on the planet (Yes, Young is a putz for the act) however, we will get to see how smart the guy really is. I hope they show how he fixes that other ship. Young is the worst character. SGC has always had good officers, who don't cross the line (O'Neil and Carter, Shepard and Weir). But this Col. is running around like a brokenhearted Private.The question I guess is: Who will kill Young? An alien? Rush? Telford?
When is Brad Wright going to jump in and criticize you?
I pray it doesn't come to that, Mary…
I think that the stones were a bad idea from the get-go and were not thought through properly. I understand there are some severe WTH moments in the second half of the season.As to your last question, how about we combine them? Have Rush be replaced by a shapeshifting alien that steals his memories and then tries to kill Young . That would be awesome! Alas, TBTB won't kill off their hero.
Right, Eli was timing the jump to FTL, not the 38 minute countdown. But I believe it still should have cut his arm off. In SG-1, ep 1.2 (The Enemy Within), Kowalski's brain was severed when they shut down the stargate while his head was in an active wormhole. If Destiny said "time's up", there must have been a safety protocol that overrode the timer (which is rather silly because why have a timer if you can override it at will.)In "38 Minutes", the gate was going to shut down and bisect the jumper, hence the time limit. There was no safety feature to stop it. I had to look that one up – man, Atlantis S1 was a long time ago :)
I believe that the reason for O'Neill being able to shut down the gate in "The Enemy Within" is that it was an outgoing wormhole from the SGC to Chulak, and he just cut the power to the gate, and no power, no wormhole. But at the end of "Air, it was an incoming wormhole from the desert planet, and since the Destiny is unable to shut down the gate due to the safety protocols, and cutting the power would do no good since the wormhole was powered by the gate on the desert planet, the Destiny was unable to shut down the gate.It has been frequently stated in the stargate franchise that a gate can shut down before the 38 minute mark while something is in transist (radiosignals, humans, etc.). That's the reason why the gate doesn't shut down when someone is in the middle of stepping through the event horizon. And if you're planning on using SG1's "48 Hours" as a counterargument, the gate was shut down in that episode because one of the gates (the on powering the wormhole) was destroyed. The gate also wont stay open for long unless something is in transist. That's the reason why the gate don't stay open for 38 minutes every time we dial.
Hey, nice type of reviewing Mark & Featherlite! It's telling that the Pro- Side hands out a meager C+ and Con- Side a not that much worse D+ as overall result (if I did the averaging correctly…). Plus I find it rather interesting that the male reviewer was even more squicked by the sex- plotlines than the female one.I'd like to focus a bit on the character remarks from Mark, because they got me thinking (yay!). You say that character concepts got reused 1:1 from SG1 to SGA. Yep, I totally agree with that. And for SGU? In my opinion, there are no new types, they just split the old ones up. So for me, it would look like this:"SG1’s O’Neill = SGA’s Shepperd"= Young/Scott from SGU , (Young is the reluctant leader that really doesn't want anything to do with things while Scott is the golden boy trying to bravely hold things together. Somehow, they got O'Neill and Sheppard to encompass a little of both of that. Maybe they wanted to explore those character traits more in depth, hence they focus a half of it on two separate people?)"[Daniel Jackson]/Samantha Carter = SGA’s Rodney McKay" = Rush/Eli (both brilliant, with Rush the antisocial loner type with a grudge against the SGC and Eli the misunderstood but funny prodigy… again, fuse that and you get 100% Rodney. On the side: We call Eli "Rodney's little brother" over here anyway.).The "noble savage" leader type (Te'alc/Teyla) seems to be absent, though. Maybe they'd do well with a little alien leadership ;)?"Everyone is a ticking time bomb, because they didn’t have that psychological testing that you mentioned, Featherlite, which further solidifies that they are the wrong people and anything can happen."Sorry to say that I'm with featherlight on this all the way. Everyone on the Destiny was on Icarus base beforehand. To get to Icarus you had to have been brought up to speed on the Stargate program (at least in part), because you could only get there by spaceship. Which means they also couldn't just push blindfolded people through the gate to not have them know where they are. They don't declassify interplanetary space travel and the stargate to just anyone (any senatorial aides either, I'd guess, but we know how that turned out…). So short of sedating everyone during ship travel they must have been briefed and to be briefed and sent that far out you will have to be evaluated in some way for suitability.Or well, at least you should, unless SGC really screwed up. Seeing though the whole family visiting and disclosure happening all over the place, I might see how people come to believe that the Destiny crew did not get psych- evaluated. To me, it's still terribly inconsistent.To reiterate: This was just the one point that stuck out for me in the review. Overall, I find the balancing concept and the content interesting, well done and funnily enough agree with a lot of points from both sides.