Stargate Universe 1.01 "Air" Recap

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October 6th, 2009 - (860 days ago)

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stargate-universe1a.0.0.0x0.400x592Author's Note: This premiere was two-hours long and with all the chaos that was happening I tried my best to shorten the recap. Sorry if it's too long.

The newest edition to the Stargate franchise started in media res (in the middle of the action) and it quickly escalated to must see TV for Friday nights. The chaotic atmosphere and shaky camera movements are a clear departure from the previous two series; and could be great for the show’s signature distinctiveness among the three Stargate series. But Jon Lachonis gave a damn good review of the overall show, let me give you a recap of the events that transpired.

The show took the LOST route and gave us flashbacks to give insight into some of the major characters while chaos rained all around them. So to tone down the confusion I will try to put the show in linear order.

Ready to jump through the gate? Well, these people sure as hell weren’t…

Life As They Knew It

The first flashback we received was from our show’s center, Eli Wallace, a “slacker” who seems to be a mathematical genius and a gamer. Eli is in the midst of playing a PC game (that looks eerily like the Stargate Atlantis base) when he has to put in a code that seemingly has been unbreakable in the gaming world. Eli breaks said code, but is thrown out of the game. The next day, Eli hears a knock at the door and it is none other than General Jack O’ Neil (guest star Richard Dean Anderson), a Stargate franchise staple. O’Neil and Dr. Nicholas Rush (Robert Carlysle) reveal that the game called ‘Prometheus’, which is the name of one of the Stargate spaceships, was pretty much a testing ground for someone to break a millennia-old mathematical proof which was masked as the Dakara Weapons Puzzle. While Eli thought that the puzzle was a waste of time, it turns out that was far from the truth. Rush and O’Neil disclose to Eli a trip of the lifetime, but Eli doesn’t want to leave his sick mother, who the two gentlemen promised would be taken care of in Eli’s absence. Eli declines again and after he closes the door he is beamed upon the George Hammond, another SG spaceship.

Eli is blown away by his new surroundings, but still doesn’t want to partake in this project, despite it being a help to his mother’s condition. After Dr. Rush hints at a potential mind wipe for Eli if he doesn’t comply, Eli relents.

Eli watches videos that feature Daniel Jackson (guest star Michael Shanks) that give the Complete Idiot’s Guide To The Stargate (franchise). Eli calls his mother (how? I don’t know) and tells her the cover story, but assures her that it is beneficial for both of their lives. Eli then meets a girl named Chloe, who knows a lot about Eli since he is something of a prodigy among the ship’s crew and civilians. Chloe reveals to Eli that she is the personal assistant to Senator Armstrong, a politician who monitors the Stargate program. It is later revealed that Chloe is actually Armstrong’s daughter, much to her chagrin.

Next we meet slew of characters in a couple of flashbacks: Colonel Everett Young, a seasoned pro who suffers from black outs and seizures; First Lieutenant Matthew Scott, who is assigned to be Eli’s escort during the experiments on Icarus Base; and Colonel Telford (guest star Lou Diamond Phillips), who we really didn’t get to know much of as of yet. We also meet Senator Armstrong, who is there to observe the progress of connecting the ninth and final chevron. After Dr. Rush explains that the planet chosen was ideal since it had a good power source from its core, the team tries to connect the ninth chevron using the mathematical proof Eli used in the game. The test fails, but it unviels the tension between Dr. Rush, who wants to push forward, and Colonel Young, who has the responsibility of protecting the people on the base. Dr. Rush thinks that the problem lies in Eli’s mathematical proof, but Eli doesn’t think so since he is there with them now due to the insistence of Dr. Rush himself.

While most of the head staff and special guests are at dinner, Dr. Rush tries to work on the problem himself, but it is clear that he doesn’t know half of what he is doing. Where is Daniel Jackson when you need him? Eli is the key, well in Chloe’s eyes, on how to fix the power core problem. It is also revealed to us that it was Chloe’s idea to embed the problem into a video game, which makes me like her even more. During a celebratory toast, the base is rocked with explosions signifying that the base is under attack.

Colonel Young goes and releases Sergeant Ronald Greer from confinement in the brig to help out in the melee. Two other characters we meet are Tamara Johnson, a field medic, and Camilla Wray, an IOA (International Oversight Advisory) accountant. Tamara was about to leave the program, but suggestive dialogue between the two women kind of implies some history if you catch my drift.

During the attack, Colonel Samantha Carter reports that they are being attacked by an alien race and that while the Hammond cut most of the enemy forces, the Icarus base will have to get the ones that slipped through. Meanwhile in the Stargate room, the scientists discover that the attacks are making the core go crazy, which means that the planet can go if it sustains enough damage. Dr. Rush begs for Eli’s help and Eli comes up with the notion that the mathematical proof might suggest that the problem isn’t within the power source, but the address of the gate. In other words, the base is technically not the right location to dial the ninth chevron. But everybody else wants to dial the gate to Earth, which Rush says is not a good idea. Why not? I will get back to you on that.

The war on the base is on critical and the base loses their chief medical doctor, leaving Tamara in charge of medical matters, something she is clearly not ready for. Chloe and Armstrong are running with other civilians to the gate, but are cut off when debris falls from the ceiling, trapping Armstrong on the other side.

Now, let’s get to that dialing Earth ‘problem’. Eli says that Earth should be seen as the actual point of origin even if they are not on Earth. In other words, dial the gate address as if you were from Earth. Dr. Rush aborts the gate dialing Earth to test this theory and he succeeds and immediately makes me hate him even more, because now it's too late to dial Earth.

When Colonel Young demands why the gate wasn’t dialed home, Dr. Rush says that with the planet being attacked, it is too dangerous to dial Earth, because it will increase the chances of the planet exploding. Liar.

The decision is made to instead go through the gate to wherever it leads. Lieutenant Scott goes through the gate first followed by other civilians, military personnel, and scientists. Chloe, Greer and Young manage to get Armstrong from the rubble and they make it to the gate. Young is the last to enter the gate but is thrown in there by the explosion of the planet and is injured severely.

Back in Washington, D.C., General O’Neil receives a call from Colonel Carter about what happened and she wonders how did the enemy find out about their whereabouts, which I bet will come into play later. But neither Carter nor O’Neil knows where the survivors could have gone.

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(2) Comments - Add Yours!

  1. Featherlite says:

    I think the man that Rush took over when he used the communication stones was Dr. William Lee, Dr. Jackson's buddy and Stargate scientist in a few of the later SG-1 episodes. At least it looked like him.

    Good job on the recap! I know it was long but there were tons of commercials. You hit all the high points. I was wondering if I missed who was attacking the Icarus base, but I guess they never told us.

  2. Featherlite says:

    I think the man that Rush took over when he used the communication stones was Dr. William Lee, Dr. Jackson’s buddy and Stargate scientist in a few of the later SG-1 episodes. At least it looked like him.

    Good job on the recap! I know it was long but there were tons of commercials. You hit all the high points. I was wondering if I missed who was attacking the Icarus base, but I guess they never told us.

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