Stargate was an interesting movie. I remember it being something of a crazy-awesome action flick when I was younger, and only recently re-watched it and found it to be...good! It was actually pretty good! I mean, the concept was fascinating, well thought out, and the execution was sufficient. Watching it today, dated visual effects and all, wasn't as amazing as it might have been back in the day I imagine. Long story short: it was original, and I would dare say it's a sci-fi classic.
Now, on to something I wasn't really aware of until somewhat recently: That Roland Emmerich's film spawned a series that's been compared to Star Trek in the best of ways. My friend was a rabid fan of Stargate SG-1. Still is, to the best of my knowledge. He would sing its praises all day long, but I never really bought into it. Don't know why.
But here we are, several years and a couple spin-offs later, and I've been watching a new show called Stargate Universe on Netflix. I sort of added it to my queue at random. Sort of. I am a very big fan of Roland Emmerich's movies, and I felt that I wouldn't be fulfilling my role as said fan if I didn't watch at least one of the spin-offs of his movie. Oh, man, I am so glad I did.
I don't pretend to know what the Stargate lore has turned itself into these days. Actually, I can honestly say that I have no rutting clue what happened beyond the events of the movie. So, starting this series, I was a little thrown off by a few things. The pilot was NOT made for newcomers like myself, as I could easily pick out references to the other shows. It was also kind of odd that the show just expects you to accept that, yes, there is an offworld colony somewhere out in space, we also have spaceships, and the power to teleport humans, but no one on Earth knows about it.
Needless to say, there was A LOT to take in, but once it got going, and the show's overall premise began to present itself, I was almost instantly hooked.
We begin with the activation of a stargate somewhere on a very, very...very large alien spaceship. Just as the portal opens, dozens of people begin flying out, crashing into each other, flying into walls. It was very cool. There was that frantic "What the hell's going on!" feeling that I haven't gotten since the first episode of Lost, and I was loving every second of it. Eventually, the layers begin to get peeled back, and you're brought up to speed as to how the people got there, why they're there, and where they are.
And where they are is on a ship that has been traveling extra-galactic for thousands and thousands of years, putting them well outside the Milky Way and into some other mystery galaxy. Very nice. Not to mention the ship's resources have all but vanished in that time, so the crew has to figure out how to survive, just where the ship is taking them, and how to deal with each other.
If you mashed Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek: Voyager together, it would've looked exactly like this. These guys are lost, their alien ship, Destiny, is on autopilot, and it only drops out of FTL when it thinks there's a problem. Sometimes those problems are a mystery even to its crew.
Also, this series is beautiful, and I mean beautiful. The visuals are astounding and in line with some of the best that BSG had to offer, sometimes better! They didn't skimp on the CGI budget. At all. There were times when I was awestruck by visuals. It's part of the reason why I'm still watching.
The main reason, thankfully, is that the characters are very likeable - most of them, at least. Robert Carlyle (28 Weeks Later) is brilliant as the...brilliant scientist, Doctor Nicholas Rush. He's very much the Gaius Baltar of the series, with ulterior motives that serve to either get everyone in trouble, or save the lives of everyone aboard Destiny. He brings a lot of passion and intensity to his role, which is a breath of fresh air in a show where I thought cheesiness would dominate.
Another favorite of mine is the young, awkward geek-cum-genius, Eli Wallace. He's the show's comic relief and the resident lawful good character. He may not be hysterical or anything like that, but you can always expect him to do the right thing in any situation, even if doing good gets people in trouble. I'm also digging the Star Wars references and a time when he introduces himself as Philip Fry. Nice.
Anyway, I'm only about halfway through the first season, and it's still holding my attention. The writers seem to be having trouble thinking up where to go, since sometimes a lot of time is taken up in each episode by bullshit sequences of random drama (BSoRD, I don't know). For instance, on a mission to harvest ice for water, a crewman randomly falls into a crevasse and gets stuck. The rest of the episode revolves around getting him unstuck. Yeah, there's some stuff happening back on the ship, but still. Come on.
This show is sort of what I wanted Battlestar Galactica to become, before it started getting up its own ass with religious overtones. Which was fine, but it made it hard to enjoy it for long periods of time. It tried to turn itself into art, when I just wanted to watch good characters stick it out for as long as they could and get back to Earth. In the end, there was no happy ending...for anyone. Which sucked.
Stargate Universe is off to a good start with a not-terribly-original premise, but it does have some great characters, some great drama mixed in the middle of it, and visuals that are simply beautiful. What's more, it doesn't take itself too seriously, which can make for a little give and take sometimes, but it's still a rewarding experience if you grin and bear it. I'll be keeping my eye on this one.
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