I wish I could disagree with the points made by the review.
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.
The whole "I'm gay so it makes me a deep character" shit is getting annoying. There's more to gay people than the fact that they're gay. I mean, I don't see any of the straight people just having a past of being straight.
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?
This review is absolutely beautiful, it hits all the points I have with this episode, the sex, the too convenient sport equipment, the offensive cliche of the young single mother who must be a stripper, etc.
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?
I agree that the use of "we have sex, can we be called different now?" attitude is annoying, if we just threw away the science lady scenes at the beginning and end, and that awkward filler at the middle, it would still be the same episode, only that it would lead to more intrigue when she was under the psych evaluation (it wasn't that hard to spot the lie in the first place, we were given too much information.) Heck, throw away all but two mentions of sex and we could get a better show.
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.
"And after being accused of merely wanting SGU to be "old-school Stargate," I hope the following analysis shows you that I'm demanding more from a series of which I was promised more." (Methinks the lady doth protest too much)
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.
@yrag: I didn't delete your post this site is policed by commenters and editors. I responded to you, multiple times. I wasn't speaking to you particularly even though I do remember your rant and honestly, it got borderline offensive and was very condescending. If your post was deleted, it was someone else who thought it was a bit petty. And come on, it was a bit much. You weren't talking about the show you were directly attacking me. Sorry if people here have very little tolerance for that and I do as well. I won't delete this, but come on read the post. Don't be mad because I don't like certain aspects of the show. It's a review not a shower of praise. We review things here. And I think it's pretty clear that I'm not alone with my criticisms. But you would know that if you read the comments.
I have to agree with Meredith. This so-called marriage between Stargate SG1 and Battlestar Galactica is sub-par.
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....
I have to say - I'm crazy disappointed with SG:U. I can't help but wonder whether the show isn't actually being written by juniors moonlighting from Days of Our Lives for a bit of extra pocket money. What are we up to, Episode 9? And yet the plot development so far can be summed up as follows:
What's the point of putting these people on a space ship in the ass crack of the universe if you're going to have them run back home and cry every damn episode? What had intrigued me about the premise of this show from the start was that I figured we're going to strand these people on a ship and watch as they survive and explore the unknown universe whether they wanted to or not.
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.
The communication stones are the weakest part of the show. The people on Destiny should just be missing (presumed dead) and on their own. I realize that would make the show Stargate:Voyager (or at least the first season of SG:Atlantis) but I would prefer that to the soap opera stuff on Earth. The writers apparently didn't think through the full implications of the body swapping combined with conjugal visits home or bother to explain why experts aren't swapping in to Destiny. (BTW what did Dr. Lee do on the ship when he swapped with Rush in the pilot?) They could just show Earth in flashbacks (Lost style) to break up the shipboard episodes.
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.
@Ghost_in_the_Machine: Agreed. I thought the Camille/Sharon moments would have been lovely...if they had been written as a flashback to show the life Camille left behind and the wife she was missing. Instead, it came off as another instance of creepy sex with a stranger. It's why I stopped watching Dollhouse, but at least Dollhouse knew they were being creepy.
I wouldn't worry much to those who don't like the direction the show is taking. The moment it starts to tank in the ratings it will turn into SG:Atlantis 2.0 so fast you won't know what hit you. My bet is on this happening by next season. Any takers?
I agree completely with your review.
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.
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."
@twophrasebark: +1. seriously. I understand making up a story, but there are things that are STILL classified in WWI!
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
@twophrasebark: I think Camille is crying at the end because she just realized her wife slept with another woman who handed her a crazy line about space aliens.
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.
@twophrasebark: I always think the same thing, isn't this in some twisted way like watching your significant other cheat on you physically?? And how do the people whose bodies are being used feel about this??
@twophrasebark: yeah... if some random woman showed up, claiming to be my wife in another body, I'd be just a little weirded out... and I'm pretty sure I would NOT be getting intimate with a stranger, no matter whose brain is supposedly inside there.
I haven't seen the most recent US ep as we are a week behind here in Australia, but I have to say I agree for the most part. I really want to like SGU and I did like the first few episodes even though most of my friends didn't.
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...
Meredith hit the nail on the head with this one, everything you said was basically right, why cant we have more episodes like last week, we had action AND character development.
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.
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.