Stargate Universe: Air (Pilot)

“Stargate” is possibly the geekiest long running science fiction series that I have had the time and desire to watch. That being said, of the 10 or so seasons of “Stargate” (original flavor) I managed to view four. Those four seasons I watched on the days I was not called in to substitute teach during a less than exciting stretch of my life (at least I wasn’t living in my parent’s basement). While “Stargate” didn’t exactly change the way I think about television I did manage to mostly enjoy my time with the series. However, once I landed a real job I decided I didn’t need to spend any more time with the show.

It’s rare that I begin a series, invest multiple seasons, and then stop watching. But for me, something was missing with “Stargate” and each episode I consumed somehow brought diminished returns. The overall story of the series did not produce in me a desire to return for more at the end of a season. In fact, I felt that the big stories that were of value and worth telling were always crammed into the last two episode of a season and all the other episodes were simply filler. My opinion on “Stargate” had so calcified that I didn’t even bother to check out the spin off series “Stargate Atlantis” which to this day I have not seen a single episode of.

I give you that background to demonstrate how surprised I was when I found myself interested in the concept of “Stargate Universe”. Unlike previous incarnations of “Stargate” there is no mission to explore or learn new things about exotic planets. The only priority these people have is survival and possibly finding a route back home to earth. I’m sure the pitch meeting in which the Stargate people sold the SyFy people on the new series included a line like “it is Stargate but grittier, more intense, think Stargate plus Battlestar Galactica”.

That being said, while “Stargate Universe” is an obvious retooling of the Stargate formula to capitalize on the Battlestar success I really liked Battlestar and I felt as though the Stargate recipe was missing a tasty key ingredient.

I did have some problems with the 2 hour pilot. I know it seems like a minor complaint but I completely despise the spaceship designs in this series. The designs of the ships seem impractical, everything seems overly ornate to the point of being non-functional. A spaceship which looks anything like a pyramid is completely out of my realm of believability.

Not all the characters were interesting or likeable. For example, the crazy marine that was released from the brig during the attack is a problem. He seems like he’s about to shoot half of the escapees and smacks of lazy writing to me (something I’m very familiar with as half my blog entries smack of lazy writing). Actually over the course of the two hour premier I felt like I only really got to know two characters out of the cast of about a dozen.

I loved Eli. I think he’s a great addition to the cast and extremely likeable. The fact that he’s a gamer scores him points immediately, and the fact that he has a Hurley-like outlook on life makes him a character worth cheering for. Additionally, it’s terrific that during a terrible moment where everyone is assuming they are about to die he can find a floating camera, give it a pet name, and then make it useful to the mission.

Chloe (Senators daughter), Matthew (marine in command when the commander passed out), Everett (the actually military man in charge) and Rush (the scientist/mathematician) all had moments that made them seem interesting but I’d like to see a bit more before I give them the glowing praise that I heaped upon Eli. I am secretly hoping that Rush is the John Locke of the crew in that he doesn’t want people the die, but if the ship demands it…

In case I haven’t made it clear enough, I do plan to continue with this show. Whether or not I make it through the rest of this season/series depends on how much the writing focuses on the interesting (the ship decides when its time for a pit stop) and minimizes exposure to inane (the actual look of the ship).