SGU Stargate Universe

UPDATED THROUGHTOUT

The third entry in the Stargate oeuvre (after the original SG-1 and Atlantis) is already over.  I opted to watch this show because it started right after my beloved Battlestar Galactica ended and I desperately needed a weekly fix of sci-fi programming.

I also already knew what the Stargate at the center of the show was all about because I had watched, and liked, the 1994 movie by the same title.  And while I had never watched a single episode of SG-1, I had tried watching Atlantis but gave it up when I couldn’t get over how unnerving and annoying the character of the resident genius was.  He totally got under my skin every single time he was onscreen, which was constantly, being one of the main characters.

That character, apparently present in each incarnation of the show, is skillfully played in SGU by Emmy nominated actor Robert Carlyle.  Actually, he’s flanked by a second, younger and smarter, resident genius in this series, smartly played by David Blue.  Carlyle’s character often butted heads with the commander, a very good Louis Ferreira, who also saw his leadership challenged by both the military (Lou Diamond Phillips) and civilians (an excellent Ming-Na).

The premise: after a devastating alien attack on a key world outpost, a small number of survivors escape via the Stargate to the Destiny, a previously unknown ancient ship (pictured below) built by the same alien race that built the Stargates themselves.

The Destiny travels on autopilot through the universe on a path set up by “seed” ships, smaller versions of the Destiny, whose only job was to find habitable planets on which to place Stargates for the Destiny’s crew to step through.

While at first the crew has virtually no control over the ship’s instruments, they slowly gain more and more understanding of their inner workings.  Destiny’s mission is also a puzzle for a very long time, but eventually things start to become clearer.

Interstellar planets are explored, alien enemies valiantly fought, countless things discovered and learned.  In short, one hell of an adventure even though the likelihood of ever going back home grows smaller and smaller with the passage of time.

The show quickly grew on me and was stunned when I heard that it had been canceled after only two seasons.  Sure, not every episode was a winner, but the acting was very good, the action was enjoyable, the writing was good, the visual effects excellent, and the overall quality of the production quite good.

I actually found out the series had been canceled at the beginning of the year (apparently it was too costly to produce for its ratings) and figured the production knew and would prepare a good sendoff, but the series finale was really a season finale, with a nice cliffhanger, but certainly no closure or conclusion in sight.  As a season finale it was actually quite good, nicely setting up the usual “what’s gonna happen!?!” scenario, but I was a little disappointed because, naturally, we will never know.

Ultimately, having only watched this series, I cannot compare it to the others, but I thought it was pretty good.  If you’re a sci-fi lover, you might want to give it a try.

Grade: 8