Some unfinished notes on … Stargate Universe
So. There it was. The big series premiere of the new child of the Stargate guys.
Same production team, same writers, same stargate, but new settings and (apart from some kick-off guest starring) new actors.
They promised to take a step away from the frenchise, as it was to this point and lead it into a darker future.
And: It kind of worked.
Stargate SG-1 started its downfall with the abscence of Richard Dean Anderson, but before hitting rock bottom became an “ok” series on a lower niveau. The authors did right, ending it after the 10th season and finishing this part of the story with a few tv feature film.
Stargate Atlantis cloned all characters, gave them 2% of new features and a new galaxy with new old enemies. But that was it. It soon became boring as hell; I never watched the last season to its end.
Why I’m telling this? Because the completely new developed characters are the main and the most obvious new features of the series.
There even is a pudgy young nerd!
The story: Up to now, only 8 of the 9 dialing-keys have been used to active stargates. But finally a stargate with a 9th accessible key is found – which can’t be dialed. Only a kid, playing what seems like an Atlantis RPG on his computer finally solves the problem in a in-game quest, not knowing he does so. With him, they dial the gate, just as the gate’s planet is about to be destroyed. They have to go through, without being able to go back, and find them self on an ancient (like: Ancient) Noah’s ark like spaceship far, far out in the universe, travelling at the speed of light even further away.
Of course, Stargate can’t be compared to Battlestar Galactica in it’s moral implications and inter-episode (even inter-season) story arcs, but Stargate Universe goes back where SG-1 started: A fresh, ok-produced, lightweight weekly Sci-Fi-drama. But this time with a darker touch (maybe having learned from the good-worldish, naive point of previous views).
The setting, with the mysterious Ancient battleship, jumping to random planets at the edge of space, staying there for 12 hours and giving the crew the opportunity to visit the place for that amount of time, has a certain potential for a few seasons.
I’ve only seen the pilot (double) episode and might of course change my opinion again with the next episode, but as of now, I think Stargate Universe is worth watching.
