io9 
Enter your username and password.
San Francisco, 5:19 AM
Mon Nov 30
10 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip your editors: tips@io9.com
Editor-in-Chief:
Annalee Newitz | Email
News Editor:
Charlie Jane Anders | Email
Associate Editor:
Meredith Woerner | Email
Assistant Editor:
Lauren Davis | Email
Weekend Editor:
Graeme McMillan | Email
Contributors:
Joshua Glenn
Stephen Goldmeier | Email
Ed Grabianowski | Email
Austin Grossman
Paul Hogan | Email
Lauren Davis | Email
Chris Hsiang | Email
Lynn Peril | Email
Ann VanderMeer
Alasdair Wilkins | Email
Graphic Designer:
Stephanie Fox | Email
Interns:
Tim Barribeau | Email
Julia Carusillo | Email
Alex Eichler | Email
Cyriaque Lamar | Email
Caitlin Petrakovitz | Email
Mary Ratliff | Email
Josh Snyder | Email
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
11/25/09
Alas this was a terrible episode and the stones need to go or be used in a way that's efficient and relevant to the story. Let's get on with the plot already and people may get interested into knowing about the crew.
Surely Young has more important things to think about than punching his superior in the face when he potentially may have sex with a woman that's light-years away, or simply not using Telford's body to have sex with his ex-wife in the first place. More importantly and as pointed out by many IO9ers all of this character development can be done via short flashbacks and dialogues instead of filling the whole episode.
Surely Stargate Command would use the stones on a daily basis to teleport carter and other scientists so the can have a look at the ship and resolve the situation within 40 minutes, they have done this for a decade already.I want to see this instead of what's her name having pasta with her girlfriend.
The 'I know the road to earth' moment was too short, then again I might have said BSG rip-off had this lasted any longer.
Shame, especially when the last episode was pretty good. It's as if they started with the title and then the writers were like...huh, I got nothing. Let's put a chair there.
11/24/09
It's all "let's focus on how gay this character is and leave it at that!" Scott's got his religious back ground and a son he didn't know about and there's obviously a lot we don't know about Young's past--particularly the military stuff. It goes on.
Gay characters suck too often because that's all they ever are: one-dimensional people with a particular sexual orientation. You might as well have a character whose only characterness is that he likes the color blue.
Make Camille more interesting, dammit. Showing a quick scene with he parents just indicates to us that they're yet another group of parents who are disappointed in their kids for the people they like banging.
It's not that this is the only problem that I have with the show--the show sucks at characterization, although Greer, Rush, Young, TJ, and Eli all have some excellent bits. I'm so disappointed that this show has so much promise and aside from the first three eps and Time, it's been kinda bland.
Given the opportunity, I'd love to get the chance develop a science fiction show. I have no idea where to start, though. Anyone want to point me in the right direction?
11/23/09
But also, not only did nothing happen in these 40 minutes, but they had to pad it with three music montages. Big red flag to me that this is a filler here, that they simply didn't have a script .
Also, I find that it's simply not realistic that these people wouldn't be desperately exploring the ship 18h a day, hoping to find a solution. Instead, they are moping around and complaining.. I also don't think these people - who were traveling in space as part of a top secret program - are behaving realistically in this situation. They're spoilled angry brats.
Doesn't this whole magic stone plot device remind you of DollHouse? It has all the same prostitution creepiness and more. And it doesn't help crew moral. And why would you to that so early in the missing anyway?
11/23/09
As for baldy, perhaps he's the one who dies next episode, or at least passes out of sorts (the preview had him an hour late to some duty thing.) Funny thing is, it seems to me that the military personnel would be more interesting than most of the other people. I'd even be interested as to Lt James decision to be in the Stargate-Icarus program in the first place too.
Someone should keep Telford away from the stones, even though he's bringing tension, it's still basically:
On Destiny: do this and this, if it doesn't work, run away
Off Destiny: Screw with Young and his wife.
Hell, what reason does he have to be on the Destiny anyway?
And on the topic of the stones, they're using them too much as a scapegoat, won't the thing run out of power eventually too? (I hope it does, less of the "oh we're like on the other side of the universe yet and I can still go home and visit significant other/friends/family/"other").
I'd just want to see possible mentions where Eli goes back to Earth to check news (possibly on io9/Giz/Kotaku) and play video games for a while. That would be more fulfilling than mindlessly just what they did with Camille this time around which was simply get back, get asked to start a revolution, visit significant other, enjoy some food, drink, snuggle and cry at the fact you forgot something. I was hoping that we could see her describe the people and situation of the Destiny to the other, but that didn't really come up at all.
As for the disconnection of the episode Time, apparently we're getting one of the online Kino episodes which is supposed to deal with the aftermath, at last check, it still hadn't been uploaded.
11/25/09
11/23/09
Yes Meredith, that would be by me who made that accusation of you merely wanting SGU to be "old-school Stargate (but of course no one can weigh the merits of the points I made because you yanked my response despite the fact that I wrote no profanities and called no names. I only answered your tone in kind. Apparently you like to dish it out but won't tolerate a heartfelt defense.
And even though I know you're going to suppress the dissent in this message to your total assault on the series, just like you did the last [read DELETED], I'm going to call out you unabashed trashing of this show anyway.
First, I will agree that "Life" was slow and not my favorite, still, I was going to try and respond to your litany of SGU crimes against television humanity point by point, but they're just too long, what's the point?
So let's just sum the situation up: You HATE the show— you hate practically every single aspect of the show. Again, we get it. So why not move on to another one more to your liking and stop gouging week after week after week a show that I and other DO like. It isn't going to change to your liking I know that, the other readers know that— why don't you know that yet? It IS what it is, and I find it engrossing, I find it compelling and your ranting about just bums me out.
As you've said again and again about this show— "What's the point?" After a certain amount of time a reasonable person who has NOTHING good to say about a program just has to acknowledge it isn't the show for them and moves on. I did with Dollhouse, I just stopped watching even though I had been a fan of Joss Whedon's other shows. Why can't you with this?
What's the point of declaring: "I'm demanding more from a series of which I was promised more." when that's not going to happen for you? Can't you switch critiquing shows with someone else on staff whole has a less vociferous hostility to SGU? Are you just going to go on week after week with this? Please— Meredith, THE HORSE IS DEAD! Put down the stick and just walk away already.
I think you'll feel better, I really do. I sure know I will.
Now, go ahead and hit that delete button that your finger's been hovering over.
11/24/09
11/24/09
11/23/09
I get the gritty, I get the drama - I just don't care about "any" of the characters; and if you don't care about the characters how can you invest in the show week after week?
This series might work under back to back DVD watching (mentioned elsewhere here), but serialized over weeks or months on television ,simply not enough is happening to maintain an interest. The pace is glacial at best.
I want to love this, and I tune in every week - but perhaps it's just because we're so starved of SciFi even this will do....
11/23/09
Stuck in deep space. Have issues.
YAWN.
11/23/09
11/23/09
And instead we get this damn earth-bound soap drama. I don't give a damn about their lives on earth and who/what they're missing. They're on a fucking SPACE SHIP with cool old unpredictable technology in a region of the universe that no human otherwise would ever hope to see . And with these tools on a "mature" billed series, they can explore new themes and possibilities in a more gritty and dark manner than Stargate has previously been able to.
And in the Time episode, I finally thought this series would start moving in that direction, but nooooo, nobody wants to see that boring stuff, right? Let's go back to people crying for an hour.
11/23/09
There's enough good stuff on the show to keep me watching but the writers need to start delivering more on the promise of the show.
11/23/09
Bad plot device. No biscuit.
11/23/09
11/23/09
The use of the female characters is absymal, and the morality behind the body swapping is so bad that i despise every single character.
Why would I want to watch a show in which I cannot stand any of its' characters?
So I won't.
11/23/09
Once upon a time, the Stargate program was so secret that Colonel Carter was not even allowed to tell her dying father about its existence or her achievements. That's right, even super sweet paternal figure General George Hammond tells Carter: Tough luck guess your pop will die and never know you went into space like he always dreamed.
But now the Pentagon has a new policy. It kind of goes like this:
If your significant other is cleared by the Pentagon, first you explain that there is a stargate that takes people to other planets and galaxies. Then you explain that you're on a ship in another galaxy. Then you explain that you're in someone else's body.
Then you say: Hey do you want to have sex even though I am in a different body and I just told you that there are aliens and spaceships and stargates?
At which time the other person says: "You had me at hello."
This is my problem with this show.
11/23/09
I remember when the Senators wife Threatened to expose the program. I live in the real world. She'll be inplanted with some nice false memories like Vala
11/23/09
And what's with making Scott's ex-girlfriend a stripper? If they're going for edgy, make her a Scientologist and have Scott horrified to find that his son is living at the Celebrity Centre.
11/23/09
11/23/09
Yeah, I assumed the Senator's wife threat was a plotline would be followed up. Guess not?
Maybe she found out that just about everybody knows about the Stargate program now?
"I'm going to tell the world about the Stargate program!"
"Ma'am, seriously? Everybody knows."
"Really?"
"Yeah, plus everyone has sex with people just because they say they're in someone else's body. It's out of control."
"I think I'll get drunk now."
"Very well, Ma'am."
11/23/09
11/24/09
11/23/09
But from there it kinda went downhill for me. I'm losing interest and I'm finding that I don't really care about most of the characters. The men seem a bit cliche and the women don't seem to be given much to do, and this bothers me a bit. It really feels like a "blokes world" to me. Also, the body swapping confuses the heck out of me, and I feel they started doing that far too early.
I'm really trying to give it a chance but I'm struggling. I feel like it -could- be a great show, and it has the potental to be great... but it isn't yet. I'll keep watching though, because I know it took more than one season for me to hooked on BSG and maybe this will be the same...
11/23/09
i'm not giving up on this show though, especially now that i know we are going to get aliens and space battles on the 2nd half of the season.