Oct 24 2009
The Permanent Stargate: Universe Discussion Thread, Season Two
This is the SG:U discussion thread for the second season; The season one discussion threads are here: 1|2|3
As there is an interest in having an official comment thread here on Whatever for the discussion of Stargate: Universe episodes, themes and details, behold! This is it. Henceforth, let this be the place you come here to chat with other Whateverites (and occasionally its Creative Consultant as well) about what you see on the show. I’ll put a permanent link to it into the SG:U sidebar widget so it will always be easy to find.
NOTE: This thread will almost certainly contain spoilers of the most recent episode if you come to it during or after the first airing of the show in the US/Canada. Be warned.
All right, then. Discuss the show!
I'm the Creative Consultant for this television show, appearing Fridays on Syfy. Miss a week? For US residents, 
This post is strictly here to set up the subscribe function for email updates and contains no useful content. You may consider the time reading this officially wasted :)
I definitely feel wasted!
It’s coming on. Yay!!!!
Bleh, the worst part is the thread updates via email don’t seem to be on anymore.. Double waste :)
So, a lot of things has come up as I watched the previous season that I hope will be looked upon for the coming seasons.
I never get the feeling that they’re actually Stuck in space.
I mean, how much makeup and hairspray did they bring?
Little things like those really take away from the feeling of being stuck in space with -Limited- supplies.
And at the start of the series this was pretty much just a regular Teenage drama, set in space.
If it wasn’t for Dr.Rush I’d have binned this show after 5episodes.
Less Drama-o-rama more stuck in space fighting for survival.. please.
I sincerely hope Season 2 will take a huge leap towards the adventure aspects of the previous Stargate series.
The other Stargate shows did not grab me, because they felt like ‘stock’ sci-fi space shows. Somewhat like ST:TNG, the obstacles were usually [insert jargon], and the solutions to those were also [insert jargon]. I consider the character-driven nature of shows like BSG and SG:U to be *the* reason they feel like better shows. Obstacles are typically related to characters, and the solutions are often human dilemmas, not a technological breakthrough.
When there is an emotional moment in SG:U, it typically is well-written and usually hits home. The same seriousness never really played out from ST:TNG and the other Stargate shows. That said, there’s very little levity in SGU.. and Eli alone cannot cut it. I’d love to see atypical emotional moments come from all the characters sometimes. The alternate reality of Eli saying how he felt about Chloe was done very well. Maybe Rush could deliver a funny line once in a while.
Colonel Young at times is written a bit two-dimensionally… he could use some more development that doesn’t further the “stone-cold determination” side of his personality. Also, the two sciencey guys (now working with Rush more often) are just waiting to get a little more character-development focus.
That’s all I got for now! Great show.. hope it keeps getting better!
I don’t think Col Young is two-dimensional, I think we’re just left with interpreting a lot of the actor’s body language to understand that he’s pushing forward a singular agenda with multiple levels and understandings underneath it. I think that works, but I can understand if someone else isn’t getting that.
Honestly? I think Lt Scott actually takes the cake for SGU character’s without much depth. That’s not because there’s no attempt at depth there, but because however handsome and earnest the actor is he’s not really handing us much more than “boy hero.” ….Aaand, I’m fine with that. I think that Scott is one of those characters that should exist on the show if for no other reason to add some continuity with the previous shows which were full of Lt. Scotts.
But who am I kidding, I’m watching this season because David Hewlitt is supposed to make an appearance sometime.
The military/civilian divide, and now the Lucian/Stargate divide, is an impractical situation. Earth can do almost nothing to help them and almost nothing to punish them. Neither can any of the Lucians in the Milky Way.
The people on ‘Destiny’ are a small band of isolated humans. The most isolated there have ever been. The ‘stones’ enable them to maintain a little bit of cultural continuity with Earth – but life on Earth if very very different from life on ‘Destiny’. The people on ‘Destiny’ are being shaped by their still-unstable situation, they are struggling with how to adapt…..
One thing they need to realize is that the “We’re all in this together” aspects of their situation thoroughly trumps their earlier ‘military/civilian’ and ‘Stargate/Lucian’ divisions. Obviously past enmity presents an impediment to noticing that they are better off cooperating as a village than they are hating each other. Another impediment is that once that realization occurs the power structure is going to shift because a comprehensive understanding of their situation produces the realization that all of their relationships with each other (Col. in command, UN Committee person advising/critiquing, etc., etc.) are based on being a participant in a civilization that is now pretty much irrelevant to them (except for sentimental and morale factors).
A lot of the same people may be ‘in charge’ once the folks on “Destiny” realize that they are a small band of humans, all alone…..but they will be ‘in charge’ for different reasons, and in different ways.
This is a fundamentally _different_ sort of ‘Stargate’ show, and the more that the premise of the show is examined by the writers the more it is going to become clear just how *_different_* a ‘Stargate’ show it is. [Anticipation.....]
Young is not two-dimensional. He’s just completely inept.
Can’t understand for the life of me how SGC keeps him on command instead of asking Scott to put him out of an airlock.
Not that the rest are exactly bright either.
Well, I for one am glad that [sexist characterization omitted] Kira is dead. Her as an ongoing character might have driven me away from the show.
I hope (but don’t expect) that they’ll maroon the Lucians on the first livable planet they come across. Or just airlock the bastards. They are detestable criminals and always have been; killing them would be doing the galaxy a service.
But then I felt the same way about Rush at the beginning. Is still don’t LIKE him, but I no longer think airlocking him is an immediate imperative.