stargate universe

I was just now scanning this about stargate universe and thought it may make a great post to my web logs.



Director Roland Emmerich's feature film StarGate opened in 1994. Starring Kurt Russell and James Spader, the movie scored a big box office hit, which in turn spawned StarGate: SG1 a Showtime TV series, which became a syndicated series, then finally landed on Syfy (then Sci-Fi Channel) as an original show. StarGate: Atlantis followed SG1, and though it lasted a respectable five years, the StarGate franchise had cooled off. Now comes StarGate: Universe, yet another Syfy original spin-off, but something is decidedly different.

Not only does the gritty look, feel and cinematography remind one of recent Syfy original hit, the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica from Ron D. Moore and David Eick, but character dynamics, tone and the show's mission statement is heavily preoccupied with survival and cooperation. Instead of the classic kind of space exploration seen in previous StarGate shows, or even its thematic sci-fi predecessors, like Star Trek or Space: 1999, SGU is clearly about staying alive.

Dr. Nicholas Rush (Robert Carlyle) is a brilliant, but troubled scientist. After he conceals a super complex mathematical formula in a video game, chubby computer nerd and MIT dropout Eli Wallace (David Blue) succeeds in decoding the math secrets. It allows Rush to finally activate a StarGate to travel to a mysterious location. When the base where the StarGate stands is attacked by hostile forces, Rush locks a wormhole to the unknown destination, and dozens of hapless, confused and wounded people travel along. They next find themselves on a massive, ancient starship, traveling by the ship's autopilot. They can't control the locations the ship ferries them to, but can appeal to its core programming, essentially telling it they need help.

Fans of British science fiction maestro Gerry Anderson's short lived, though cult classic sci-fi landmark Space: 1999 will recognize this basic theme. Led by Commander Koenig (Martin Landau), the denizens of Moonbase Alpha were blasted off into space, though stranded on a lunar base. Similarly, they couldn't control the planets they visited, nor their general destination, but had enough command of Alpha's equipment to survive. Their basic dilemma: continue to find a way home, or find a habitable planet on which to eke out some kind of life for a dispirited group of humans. Star Trek fans recognize a related theme in Star Trek: Voyager. In both shows, there was a battle between different factions of people or crew. In 1999's pilot, there was even a politician, who struggled for control of Alpha, a similar character is found here played by Christopher Macdonald (Castillo from Star Trek: The Next Generation's 'Yesterday's Enterprise'). For Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) on her Starship Voyager, she had to butt heads with and match the egos of the Maquis.

Amongst fans of these shows, there was a consensus of potential unrealized, and by an easily identified factor. For all the promise the first few seasons of Star Trek: Voyager showed, in terms of character interplay and conflict with Starfleet crew and Maquis, the convenient cohesion attained was far too quick and easy. I was invited to pitch to Star Trek: Voyager about a month after the pilot aired. In my writer's bible sent by the studio was a letter from co-creator Jeri Taylor. She cautioned on pitching stories involving too harmonious crew dynamics or getting the gang home too soon. Voyager waited seven seasons, and a finale episode to bring the crew home, but it's more than arguable the interpersonal conflict hoped for and promised never materialized. With Space: 1999, its 2 year run not only wasn't enough time for growth, but the 2nd season's cast and producer changes nearly revamped the show into an almost unrecognizable state.

However, the desolate, vulnerable feel of the Alphans of Space: 1999's first season was wonderfully handled. Episodes dealt smartly with the rising self doubt within Koenig to bring his people safely home, or gave us a glimpse into the wondrous, philosophic bent of his trusted friend and science officer Professor Victor Bergman.

SGU already displays wisps of fun, substantive character development. Blue's Eli is a likable guy, despite a slacker, even slovenly attitude and appearance, or probably because of it. He's like a chubby version of Wil Wheaton's Wesley Crusher of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but though he might be a know it all, his fleshy physique, and everyday man quality makes you want to hang out with him quicker than Wesley, or even smarmy Dr. Rodney McKay of StarGate: Atlantis. There's always going to be a 'brilliant' scientist in a space show. It goes with the territory. Eli (calls himself Math Boy) is one you finally either know, or want to know, or even might want to be. Carlyle's Rush comes off as another likable egghead, darker, even slightly dangerous, but intriguing and always confident After a hothead military type trains a gun on Rush, threatening to blow him away if he pushes another button, we believe he's still collected when Carlyle finally presses the button, and he never works up much of a sweat.

It's this human exploration I want to see most unleashed full force in StarGate: Universe, and what producers Robert C. Cooper and Brad Wright promise; less emphasis on aliens, planetary exploration and more focus on character arcs. We already want to see these characters grow, change, and affect those around them with their transformation. SGU is off to a great bang of a character building start, we can only hope it doesn't run out of steam, or in this case, vibrant StarGate wormhole energy.