Many of you have questions about the Stargate: Universe season premiere. Well, I fully intend to wade in and field them, but not until Wednesday after the show has premiered in the U.K. In the meantime, your input is much appreciated. For those who haven’t seen Air I and II yet and want to remain spoiler-free, I’d suggest steering clear of the comments section for the time being.
Meanwhile, here’s an up close peek at the Destiny shuttle:
- Early design work – the shuttle
- Shuttle design and adjoining corridor
- Construction begins
- Coming along nicely…
- Concept art
- The pilot’s seat
- With moving parts!
- Looks comfy!
- Shuttle interior look out to green screen
- Shuttle interior – dressed and active
Hey joe 😀 Great addition and i just gotta say Air was one of the best Stargate episode i’ve seen can’t wait for next week 😀
Question for Joe: I noticed that Riley was called Sergeant but on his colar his rank pin was clearly Senior Airman, was that a costume mallfunction or just an overlooked blooper??
Well, I must be hooked because I watched one more time. Can’t get enough of the music at the very beginning and through out. And, as someone else mentioned, I thought there were a few strains of the Atlantis theme music.
Gee, hope Martin can pay for the for the joy ride. Where do we get in line for this ride. I will gladly be indebted to you all for the ride and will try not to cause as much damages and injuries.
Any way to speed up the week to next Friday?
Looking forward to more discussion and description you will be providing on more of the production. Awesome Brilliant and more.
LOL! I love how an Ancient shuttle has a nylon seatbelt. 😀
Oh, hubby wants to know if the shuttle has OnStar.
Superb cast, flawless execution and a damned fine story. Thanks all around for a really, really fun ride. I hope it’s a long one.
Hey Joe, long time no comment. Just wanted to let you know the first two hours of the series premiere were amazing. Two of the best in franchise history for me, and I’m not just saying that.
I know you probably don’t want to discuss these things quite yet, but I hope the ratings aren’t a problem for you folks. 2.4 million, right? That’s not quite the number I saw some fans throwing around, and even Darren seemed to make modest mention of the fact that he was hoping for something bigger. I think 2.4 million given the Fall climate and the overall state of television ratings at the moment is decent, but what I’m concerned with is fallout. I think that’s what everyone’s concerned with. If the show manages to hook a vast majority of those who tuned in, this season will be impressive, but if there’s a big drop… oi, then people don’t know what they’re missing!
Sorry for the slight rant, and again, I respect and understand you probably don’t really want to say much just yet. I also know full well I might not know what I’m talking about, anyway.
Awesome pics!
I’d like to be counted in the ratings for SGU but SyFy is making that very difficult. I won’t watch a program live on SyFy because of the excessive and insipid commercial interruptions. I DVR it in order to fast forward through the mess to the good parts (presumably the show I want to watch). Then I found out that iTunes was making parts 1 & 2 available free, which I downloaded (no commercials to fast forward through). My husband and I then watched the premier on our computer. I know that had I watched it on our DVR, it might have been counted in the ratings but I think on-line viewing is not counted, at least by Nielsen. What I’m really wondering is why does SyFy spend so much money on these programs and their promotion and then cut their own throats by driving viewers to other venues because of too many commercials? That just doesn’t seem like a logical business decision to me. There’s got to be a limit in terms of commercials people will tolerate and I think SyFy has crossed that line. How much profit is enough? Additionally, SyFy announces the Nielsen overnights, which I think only counts live viewing, as though it’s a meaningful number. I’m surprised any show stays on the air these days.
As to the show itself, the jury is still out for us. The cast is way too large and, after two hours, they are still little more than stereotypes. We’ll keep watching to see what sort of folks these characters turn out to be.
Sorry to sound so grumpy.
I agree with sylvia… WONDERFUL music throughout and thank you Joel Goldsmith for another show theme that is simply AWESOME! The music moved me, elevated me and really pleased me.
My only peeve isn’t with anything in the show, but that SyFy thought it a good idea to insert commercial breaks at the worst possible moments. Moments of high tension or in the middle of an actor’s scene. They were jarring cuts to commercial and every one had me yelling at the TV in anger, so thank you Syfy. Sheesh!
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SPOILER ALERT
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Otherwise, liked the shuttle & the idea of it sitting outside on the ship. Spectacular set designs, my Lord, I felt right there, present in the scene. Great acting from all concerned too.
Hey Joe, was it intended to have some similarity with Air I to SGA Rising? Sudden peril on board a new place, the race to “get saved”, in this case before they suffocate, on SGA before they drowned?
I predict SGU is off to a strong start. Anticipating a fab ep next week. AIR III… oo-oo-oo!
2cats
Great premiere! DVR’d it and watched it live. It’ll be a while before I finally delete from the DVR :). Kudos to all the cast & crew. Can’t say yet that I absolutelyloveitbunches, but I definitely enjoyed the first two hours and can hardly bear to wait for next Friday to see what happens next. Also, can’t wait to get deeper into some of the characters. My faves so far: Eli, Scott, and Wray.
Again, congrats to you Joe and the cast and crew, I’m ready for more!
Almost forgot… really liked the new way of filming, Andy Mikita must have had the steady cam guy on super overtime. Unusual shots, odd angles, from above through catwalks, POV from the Kinos — WOW! Very exciting stuff and yes, this is WAY different from other SG, but so very COOL.
More please?!
G’night
2cats
Hi Joe
I see from the pics the Ancients must have know we were coming. They relabled everything with sticky tape and put the English translation on it…
Elminster
Joe,
Good start to the show.
But is it true that the SGU dvd’s will be split in two volumes?
Take care
Dave
This sounds low to me:
Stargate Universe […] grabbed 2.35 million total viewers along with a 1.7 HH rating, 1.32 million Adults 25-54, and 1.12 million Adults 18-49 during its two-hour debut episode from 9-11PM (ET/PT).
for comparison warehouse 13 this summer had 4.4 million viewers for its debut
Now the network will be hoping for a big bump from DVR to increase the numbers
What a fabulous way to open the show. It was awesome to be able to Twitter with some of the cast while the show was on (I was watching it on my 9-inch non-HDTV screen in my office so I could Twitter) and am now watching it back on HDTV big screen with my husband. The gate entrance with the people and supplies coming through felt painful to me. So many favorite moments, so hard to list. Among my favorites were the simple little things like Robert Carlyle sinister-looking smile. I believe the three who showed the most emotional ranges were David, Elyse, and Brian.
Now a question: I know you have addressed the toileting issues aboard the Destiny, but what about birth control and protection against STDs? On Defying Gravity, they had time to plan and all the male astronauts got vasectomies and all the astronauts had to wear these little patches on their necks that inhibited their libido. Obviously on SGU, there was no plan for things like this. BSG encouraged their ragtag fleet to have babies to repopulate the species. Or will unprotected sex on Destiny have unexpected consequences?
Haha I gave my rant yesterday. Today, I tried to rewatch it, but I couldn’t. The camera movements were just too annoying. Which is too bad, really, because I’ve absolutely fallen in love with Matthew Scott and Eli Wallace and TJ! So looks like SGU will be a watch-it-once-only thing for me, at least until it stops giving me headaches. 🙁
Just a couple of general questions concerning Universe. Col. Carter indicated that the number of MIA was a bit under 100(have to watch again to pick up the exact number, though 92 comes to mind). Have you as writers/producers keeping count of how many people get killed off? More importantly,have you sketched out basic info on those characters we’ve either not seen, or saw only as bodies flying through the Stargate? I am very interested in how the “chorus” is handled even as we find out more about the lead/recurring characters. Congratulations on what appears to be a successful launch, and thanks for keeping our friends and kin across the pond in mind in referrence to discussing the episode.
Hi Joe,
I just had to say that I really feel that the inclusion of familiar SG faces in SGU is a wonderful thing. They give us touchstones to the familiar…they let us know that this is the same world we’ve known and loved for years and that their stories continue, even as new ones, with new faces, begin. In my mind there is no division between SG1 and SGA and now SGU…they’re simply different subsets of stories in one great story arc that is Stargate. So I loved seeing Jack with his three stars, and Sam in command of the General Hammond, and Daniel still among the still barely controlled chaos that is his office, even as I’m ready to follow Col. Young and Eli and Dr. Rush through the wormhole to the Destiny and the adventures that awaits them there.
Anyway…I just had to say again how much I enjoyed the premiere! Applause for all concerned there at Bridge. Oh…and send more…please!
SBS
SG1 had the Goa’uld and SGA had the Wraith. Will SGU have their own series-long bad guy( s ) they have to deal with?
I thought the premiere was outstanding. The acting and the special effects had me from the start. I can tell Eli is going to be my favorite character…and i’m already eager for someone to give Dr. Rush a kick in the pants.
Not impressed, but since this is probably a blog for the impressed, let me just say I thought The Last Starfighter ripoff was cute, brings back memories from decades ago in the cinema (such a cool car *g*)
i watched ‘sgu’. well done, stargate ptb!
and good for you on the sex scene! about time, i say… and keep something like that in mind for sam/jack in the 3rd sg1 movie!! 😛
Not sure if this has been asked. Two questions.
1. When Dr Rush entered in the point of origin, it was the symbol from Ra’s era (the sun over the pyramid), not the original symbol (horizontal line above a circle).
If the ancient ship left Earth millions of years ago, wouldn’t the point of origin be the original symbol since Gould only occupied Earth a few thousand years ago?
2. Back to SG-1’s 9th season, if Amanda Tapping wasn’t on maternity leave or she came back in time for the shooting, would Carter still be co-commanding SG-1 or would she be the commander and Mitchell would have been a lower ranking member?
You’re the only Canuck I know…so this is for you…
TORONTO — When it comes to making love, Canuck men are stuck in the middle.
/snip/
But they reached that ranking by the skin of their, well, teeth.
/snip/
Guys from England were found to be too lazy in bed, Swedish men were too quick, in Holland they’re too dominating, Americans are uncomfortably rough, Greek guys are annoyingly lovey-dovey and in Russia, women complained, their men are too hairy.
Scottish men were found to be loud, in Wales the guys are said to be selfish and in Turkey, the respondents complained about issues with being sweaty.
Of the men rated as good lovers, as well as the top-dog Spaniards, Brazilians, Italians, the French, the Irish, South Africans, Australians, New Zealanders and the Danish all were rated as being better in bed than Canuck males.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2009/10/01/pf-11247336.html
Can I ask that you postpone the Wednesday wrap until Friday when Australia has seen it?
Cheers, Chev
Hi Joe:
I gotta admit you guys pulled it off. When I first heard you were going have a different style with Universe I was a bit skeptical. I love darker, edgier shows and I was very receptive to the idea of Stargate going in that direction. But, such a shift seemed like a challenge.
How did you tackle this as writers? Did one person establish what the new style of storytelling would be like and give the other writers instructions and guidelines of some sort? Or have you all just been chomping at the bit to try a different style and you “got it” right away?
Again, I was impressed with the results. The actors were quite good and comfortable in their roles, as well.
I thought the premier was brilliant, it was much better than I expected (and I had high expectations), so a damnedgood job to everyone involved. I’m hooked, can’t wait for next week.
And a question: Will you be releasing the SGU soundtrack? It’s amazing, beautiful music.
Watching twice more since friday on hulu and on demand and both time with limited comm breaks it really was done perfectly can’t wait for the dvds. I ‘m really surprise by the negatives that i have read, every show borrows elements from other shows and builds on them and that is what is happening on sg:u. Again well done to cast crew writers and all who help get this on the “air”.
@JES. Complained IMMEDIATELY about ads, by Twitter to Craig Ensler (@Syfy), GM of Syfy Digital.
Otherwise, not commenting publicly until I re-watch on tape or online.
Way to go guys! Loving SGU. Very different in tone from SG1 and Atlantis but hey, it’s a different show.
One of the first things I noticed is that I don’t have a stand out favourite character yet, as opposed to the premiere of Atlantis where I fell in love with Weir instantly. It’s a strong ensemble and I have a feeling that we are going to see some suitably complex and flawed characters. I’m interested in Rush’s motivations, but I guess that’s the point. Loving Scott, our quietly terrified action hero who needs a hug. I can see the threads for some very interesting character stuff sticking out, grab them and pull! Can’t wait to see how they unravel.
I have a feeling I’m going to have a fondness for Camile, even if not everyone agrees. From what I’ve read (and I have been trying to avoid spoilers) her character could easily be a bit two dimensional but I don’t think it’s going to be… don’t let me down! You have a Ming-Na fangirl here.
I’m looking forward to a lot of complex character interactions and conflict (including internal conflict) and I’m optimistic. Remember Star Trek Voyager and the delicious looking conflict set up at the start? Starfleet and Marquis crew were best mates within a couple of episodes. Am I right in thinking the Destiny interactions will be a lot meatier? Can’t wait! No cop outs or ship-wide love ins!
Oh, and the moral implications of the stones? What you can get up to in someone else’s body… intriguing. Again, I have been avoiding spoilers so I will cover my ears and la lah a bit.
I have been telling my half pug puppy all about your little ones and he’s keen for some doggy cameos. Just saying. The SG1 cameos were pretty perfect and fit right in.
Sorry if this has been a bit disjointed, I’m typing between calls at work. For every paragraph here, I have helped someone quit smoking. Hah, beat that. I know I haven’t phrased anything in the form of a question but feel free to answer anyway!
Have fun!
During the show, my nephew texted me and asked why they didn’t use the camera-ball to close the shuttle door. Good question! Well?
Enjoyed it, and looking forward to next week’s ep.
@shadow step and with all sincerity, let us hear your unimpressed opinions…but with spoiler warnings for our UK /OZ friends. Will be interesting.
BTW…took a couple of minutes to get the Starfighter reference. Kudos to you!
@NZNeep: Keep on with the good work! Just lost my 84-yr mom-in-law, who never quit smoking, due respiratory problems after surgery.
I was just reading that some kid had a seizure while watching SGU last night!! :O
Didn’t something like that happen Japan a few years ago?
Do they make you put warnings up in front of shows with the shaky cameras, just to be safe?
I don’t think anyone knows if the camera motion actually triggered the seizure activity, but I have been reading several people’s posts about how that kind of filming makes them nauseous or gives them a headache.
Fortunately I can watch this style without any negative effect.
I can’t express how disappointed I am in the première. I had been looking forward to a more serious tone, and more character drama, but all I got was a very depressing and subdued 2 hours. There were no genuinely good character moments, and the pair of episodes just dragged on and on. I think I understand what sort of show Brad Wright wants to make, it’s just that he and the rest of the writing team don’t appear to have the talent needed to make it a reality. It just seems like a load of emotional lines were handed to the actors and great character moments were expected to spring from them, but it just doesn’t work like that. We have an insight into their past, but very little of what makes them tick or why they’re the person that they are, let alone development. I’ll give the show a chance by watching more episodes, but I get the feeling the writers just don’t understand how to write this sort of show.
Dear Joe,
Thank you for the great photos of the shuttle. Wow, it is a work of art. So ‘some kind of wonderful’.
Question: I asked before and I think I know the answer “Is Stargate Universe a family show?”
I managed to talk a friend into watching the show. They really like Star Wars so I gave her the argument that STAR Wars and STARgate had something in common. She agreed and even was going to tape it.
There sat the family, first five minutes a graphic sex scene. Now mind you, I didn’t mind, you said grittier, sexier… I just assumed this was part of the sexier. Well, she stood up (twittered me) and put her kids (11, 9 & 5) to bed. It airs here at 7:00pm (children are up). Mom and Dad will probably still continue to watch. Record the show and watch it later when kids are tucked in bed. No sci-fi family show. She hasn’t called me yet to give me the full scoop.
I use to sit with gate, action heroes with Jayden 5 and Fox 2 and we would watch SGA together. Jayden was Rodney and Fox always played John. To them, they were the heroes. There are still DVDs.
Maybe the ad speak…didn’t tell us what we were losing. I loved watching the premiere. Thought it was great. But I will miss what it use to mean to the family.
Best to you Joe,
Cheryl 🙂
Gilder- really sorry to hear about your mother-in-law. Smoking’s a bitch. I speak to some people who aren’t even allowed surgery until they quit for that very reason, as if surgery isn’t stressful enough as it is.
Jenks- I found your post interesting. We just got something completely different from the same viewing experience- which is to be expected I guess.
“We have an insight into their past, but very little of what makes them tick or why they’re the person that they are, let alone development.”
I liked this. We saw some threads and some clues about character motivations, but there is heaps of room left for exploration as the series progresses. There is no way all the characters can be developed fully in the premiere and to even try wouldn’t do them justice. I think it’s off to a really good start with heaps of potential.
I’m very optimistic about this show, and hoping it lives up to this potential. Like I mentioned before, shows can have an interesting premise then cop out or drop the ball. I just don’t think SGU looks like it’s going to be one of them.
It was a great premiere! The ship set is truly fantastic.
Re SGU, I’m not entirely sure where to begin. There were things I liked a lot, there were things I thought were ok, there were things I want to think about some more, and there were things I outright hated and don’t know if I can stand from week to week. I will watch again because there is serious potential here, and I will say this: it was all very well done, even some of the things I hated.
The writing was good (although, please, anyone watch The Last Starfighter recently? there is something to say for homage, but I’d like to see a little more originality with a new show). It really would be more creative to leave BSG behind and avoid the gratuitous pandering to it, which really doesn’t seem to me to be necessary to the story. The acting was phenomenal. The effects clearly had big budget written all over them.
What I liked a lot:
(1) The opening sequence, before people started flying through the gate, was beautiful – given my difficulty seeing anything with the darkness on the ship, I’m kind of surprised that I could see the opening star sequence so well, but it looked very, very nice on my beautiful Sony Bravia. It could have been a Bravia commercial it was so pretty and evocative.
(2) The music was amazing, beautiful, haunting, original, just lovely throughout.
(3) The basic story was very good, although with some flaws – it’s hard for me to buy the idea that the CO2 scrubbers were all worn out when it was made clear in the dialogue that no one had ever been on the ship before; there didn’t seem to be a good reason why the INTERIOR door to the shuttle was broken when, again, no one was on the ship. I suppose that just because the Ancients hadn’t used it as intended doesn’t really mean that no one was on the ship before, but really – I found it rather amazing that they found nice, comfy beds for the Senator and the Colonel that had decent bedding when everything else on the ship was in such a state of disrepair.
There were other issues, but the story, and the writing, were certainly equal to the best of Stargate and, indeed, SF movies and tv. (Which doesn’t mean that I liked it all.)
(4) The acting was first-rate, especially David Blue and Robert Carlyle (which doesn’t mean I can stand Rush or will put up with the psychopathic bastard for a lot longer).
(5) Loved seeing the Hammond. The Hammond made sense in the story, and I loved seeing Sam in command. Honestly, though, where were the beam weapons? It made no sense that the Hammond did so poorly in that battle. I loved the scene when Sam was reporting in to Jack.
(6) Daniel and the orientation films – hysterical and just perfect.
(7) Liked Eli a lot – David Blue is great, but I loved him in Moonlight (just couldn’t fit Ugly Betty in my tv schedule so I didn’t watch him there). This character could easily become my favorite if I stick with the show; he’s cute and sweet and smart and he loves his mom, but he’s willing to stand up to an Air Force general. I’m pretty down with geeks and techies and always have been anyway, but he’s both different from and similar to the others I’ve loved in Stargate. And I’d get distracted by cool toys if I were exploring a ship that had them. Can’t wait to meet David Blue at a con.
(8) Liked Scott – I usually don’t go for the young, pretty boys, but the actor is great, and this character seems quite solid, except for critique #2 below. Love the actor. I’d happily see him at a con. I’m very impressed with Brian Smith.
(9) Liked the fact that I didn’t think the females were *completely* shallow, although the jury is still out on this one because the female characters were much, much weaker than the male characters. I think I may like TJ, although not her hairstyle, which is just plain weird.
(10) I liked Col. Young. I also liked the Senator and the fact that he wasn’t an arrogant pig but a loving father who as he knew he was dying, did what he could to save his kid and the others.
(11) The Destiny. I really like that ship. The exterior visuals of the ship and surrounding space were excellent. I loved the design, the sets, the gate.
What I didn’t like:
(1) Rush. My *first* thought about him was that he was Dr. Smith. I despised Lost in Space when I was a kid, and Smith was the biggest reason why.
In any event, Rush appears to be an unredeemable, lying pig without a conscience, willing to screw up the lives and endanger everyone around him because of his curiosity. He appears to be a narcissistic psychopath. Doesn’t the SGC at least attempt to screen out this kind of person, no matter how brilliant?
My skin just crawled when he was looking at the list of names for the person to kill to save everyone else, and that the others impliedly accepted his right to do that made it even worse.
O’Neill putting him in command? Oh, yeah, sure.
Yes, the part is well-written if this is the kind of person you want to use, and, yes, well-acted. I can’t criticize Robert Carlyle; he’s phenomenal. But if there isn’t something substantial that is redeemable about the character, I won’t be around for the long haul, even if I like the other characters. I don’t watch tv shows built around unredeemable pigs. I might go to a movie with a main character like that, but I won’t invest in a tv show for the long run unless there is some solid and continuing reason to like him.
For me, if a tv show is character based, I have to like the people. Even if I like most of the people, if I hate the lead, I won’t be wasting my precious time and emotional energy on the show. To me, it wouldn’t be Stargate. I won’t allow something like this to ruin the feeling of something that is as important to me as Stargate.
I don’t care if he has tragedy in his past that affected him deeply and caused him to develop an emotional autism. Lots of people have tragedy in their pasts and don’t treat other people as toys and put them in such danger to satisfy their own curiosity. I watch tv to relax and be entertained and to feel good, not to be filled with gut-churning, unpleasant emotions caused by a lead character that has no redeeming characteristics. His abilities and knowledge do not make up for having a serious personality disorder.
It was also pretty clear that he’s going to going to make himself completely indispensable by not allowing others to actually learn how to communicate with the ship or Earth and/or try to find a way home, even Eli. I guess that may be how he gets away with criminal behavior, or how it’s justified in writing for him. (“Oh, yeah, we can sell him as a rapist continuing to be on the show because he’s indispensable because everyone would die without him and it makes for great conflict.”)
If I can’t care about him as a person and just get pissed watching him, I will be out of there no matter how much I like everything and everyone else. It may be great drama, but it won’t make for good tv in my house.
(2) The completely gratuitous, exploitative sex scene. So much for a family show. If I had younger children, they would not watch this show. That scene had nothing to do with the story. Even worse, it involved characters who were later shown to actually have a sense of duty, so the scene made no sense given the characters we started to see develop later in the story.
The scene was repulsive and seems to have been stuck in the story to satisfy those who want “edgy, dark, young” SF. Please. It was damned creepy. I mean, “Scott, what’s your position?” during a sex scene? How old was the person who wrote that line? 15?
If it is necessary for whatever reason to establish that characters are in a relationship, or even just young and attractive and screwing like bunnies, it’s not necessary to show them doing it when they are supposed to be doing something else and have double entendre dialogue with someone interrupting them. There are OTHER ways to indicate that in the story. Hey, I was young once and in a relationship. I remember hormones. But sleaze is unnecessary and seems incompatible with the characters as they were shown later in the story.
I also really don’t get it, given that Brad Wright was so critical of the gratuitous nudity in Children of the Gods that he redid the episode to get rid of it, along with other changes. (I think the redone episode is MUCH better than the original).
(3) Shaky camera action. Fortunately my lovely Bravia is very good at not pixelating during this kind of scene, but my stomach isn’t so stable. If the shaky camera action keeps up permanently at this level, I won’t be sticking with the show because, combined with the visual darkness, it almost makes me feel like I’m on an amusement park ride going in circles at high speed. I threw up on the tilt-a-whirl when I was 18 and on Space Mountain at Disneyworld when I was much older than 18. I’m not so good with the nausea inducing action.
The technique itself is contrived and trite. It could not be more contrived. To me, a technique is not creative when it is done so much that it has become a tv trope for the “young and edgy” shows. I can’t believe that people buy this crap and think it’s creative.
(4) Too much of the show was literally too dark for me to see what was going on (actually, darkness was clearly both literal and metaphorical for this show, and it was a little too much of both). The darkness combined with shakiness was WAY too much for me, even with watching it on one of the best televisions in the marketplace. Hey, I’m nearly 56 and my eyes have always been bad. I don’t think this show would be watchable for me on a regular tv. It was damned close to unwatchable on a state of the art tv.
(5) The kino as a reality-show recording device is so lame it makes me cringe. I’m aware that this is a real selling point for the show, but I personally am not buying it. I won’t be watching the kino scenes on the web. (I also think the name of the device is lame).
I like the kino as a sophisticated MALP and as an aid to searching the ship and going places that people can’t go. It’s very cool for that. I *hate* the idea of people talking to it and recording their feelings and thoughts. It’s TOO reality-show for me. I HATE reality shows and have had to endure too many that family members wanted to watch.
The thing I hate the most about reality shows, even more than the hideous manipulation that makes them anything BUT reality, is the endless one-on-camera yammerings by the incredibly self-involved, stupid and vapid contestants. There are few tv experiences worse than listening to the eternal introspections of vapid people. It’s not that I found *Eli* vapid; far from it, but I’d rather not have to deal with reality-show tropes. As Scott said, that’s going to get really old really fast. I am not looking forward to other people doing it. I suppose the next thing up is the kino watching people have sex and then other people watching the kino of people having sex.
(6) The choppy editing, which rather speaks for itself.
(7) Ok, I understand it’s commercial tv, but (related to 6) the editing of commercial and story together was about the worst I have ever seen. EVER. There were also way too many commercials. On the other hand, I had time to feed the cats and play with the cats and talk on the phone and fix dinner and go to the bathroom. A tv show should be able to hold one’s attention a little better. SG1 episodes I’ve seen dozens of times hold my attention better. Even fast-forwarding through my DVR recording to avoid the commercials on my second viewing was difficult because there were just plain too many of them, and the story segments were too short in relation to the commercials. I gave up about mid-way through the second viewing because of this.
The plethora of commercials combined with the bad editing of same with the story stood in incredibly stark contrast to the PBS broadcast of The National Parks, which is the other thing I’ve been watching all week. True, that was PBS, but I was riveted to the tv during that. It’s nice to be able to concentrate on what you’re watching. That was difficult with SGU.
(8) I’m disappointed that the decision was made to go with the angry young black man trope with Greer. Certainly the character has more potential than that, but I’m sad you went that way at the beginning. It wasn’t necessary, but it was offensive. I’d really rather the stereotypes were left on the cutting room floor, or, better yet, avoided entirely in the script.
(9) Rush and stubble. Please. I’ve never liked the stubble look anyway, but of late it seems even more stupid than when it was really trendy. I’ve never found it attractive, and now I just think it’s really stupid.
(10) Let’s see, we’re very young, we’re women, we’re beautiful, we’re under attack by faceless aliens, we’re running through the gate for our lives, we’re on a dirty old ship that we don’t even know where the bathrooms are, we didn’t stop and go back to our rooms to get our baggage and make up cases before we jumped through the Stargate, and yet our hair is perfectly in place and our makeup is PERFECT! It’s more perfect than perfect! It’s even more beautiful than it was when we finished our morning routine! It’s more perfect than the makeup beauty contestants wear!
And oh, we’re all so achingly beautiful and the guys are mostly ordinary looking guys (with some eye candy, but mostly just guys), but we young girls are so beautiful that it makes one weep and our make up is perfect all the time! Yes, it’s sexist tv. AGAIN.
Even BSG got this better. The only time anything was less than perfect about the appearance of those girls was the few seconds Chloe was weeping for her dead dad. After that, she was perfect again. I’ve heard a lot about realism and edginess, but not a flaw in the makeup or hair? Come on.
I guess it’s “realistic” to show two attractive young people having sex in a closet when they’re supposed to be on duty but not to show that women get messy when they’re running for their lives and can’t breathe from the CO2 building up in their systems and the struggle to find something to save themselves.
(11) Ming Na had maybe 5 lines of dialogue. The one adult woman on the show and she’s virtually not there, and when she actually was in focus, she was stared down by the guy. Boo-hiss at that.
(12) The women were shallow compared to the men. They were less shallow than I’d feared, but they’re cookie-cutter characters compared to the men. After Sam Carter, Stargate can do so much better than that. Wray might turn out to be an exception, but she was mostly not there.
Anyway, SGU had some great stuff and some not so great stuff. There was enough great stuff that I’ll tune in next week, but frankly, I’m somewhat concerned about the long run because what I’ve seen, added to what I’ve heard and what I’ve read in reviews from people who have been fawning all over SGU with BSG comparisons, I don’t think that the things I hate are going away.
It remains to be seen if there is enough that I like to outweigh what I don’t. This isn’t really Stargate to me yet, but it’s not BSG either. I think that the pandering to BSG could be done away with quietly without getting rid of what DOES make this work. If it is eliminated, I *could* love the show. (That is, if it turns out that there is something less reprehensible about Rush than appears to be the case.)
Mary
I loved the premiere. It looks like it will be a great show. I have faith just like I have since the very beginning. I’m having a lot of fun following everyone on Twitter. Today they got Elyse to sign up and Sherry Harris has become like another mom to me on there. I liked that these first two parts of Air seemed to show off the younger actors more than those who have been acting for years.
I do have a few questions: (Warning to anyone who hasn’t seen it yet – these questions may contain spoilers)
(1) I have asked David Blue and John G. Lenic on Twitter this question after seeing the premiere and neither has answered me back. It okay. I know they’re busy. Maybe you could answer it once it has aired everywhere. When Eli’s playing the game in the beginning and is kicked out of the level, is that the central tower of Atlantis in the game? I’ve watched it four times now and I’m pretty sure it is.
(2) Did Telford board the Hammond and isn’t aboard Destiny?
(3) Did Elyse actually knock Robert Carlyle down and was actually hitting him? You can kind of see what looks like Robert bracing for impact. It was one of many OMG moments for me.
Can’t wait for more. Keep up the good work and thanks for all the behind-the-scenes pics.
The storage closet scene started and I clapped my hands over my eyes and said, “OMG, his mother is watching this!” That’s gotta be weird.
Hey, maybe you can have Brian’s mom do a Q&A sometime! That would be an interesting perspective.
Hi,
I’m not sure if this has been asked but…
Atlantis left Earth a couple million years ago, and the Destiny (according to dialogue) left Earth several thousand years ago.
The Destiny looks much older in design than Atlantis and it was seemingly implied that the ship traveled to Pegasus to explore gates there, but the Ancients were already there. Was Rush wrong about the time when the ship left Earth? Did the Destiny leave before or after Atlantis? I’m confused.
If you could please clarify what I just typed that would be great.
Thanks Joe.
PS
I liked the premiere a lot, and my brother loved it.
Haha, I second the call for a Q&A from Brian’s mum!
Additional insights on SGU premiere.
Air part 1 looks like a clip show with choppy transitions. Guess it couldn’t be help, since there isn’t a running show to help with the start up transition.
Have check the running time from the iTunes store. Air part.1 got a run time of 43 minutes 49 seconds minus the opening & closing credits which gives actual show time of 41 minutes 19 seconds. So roughly 1 in 3 minutes of Air part 1 is ads! Since I am in Canada, don’t know if SyFy puts onscreen crawler messages/ads in addition. This is not a good way to treat fans, usually premieres have less ads to build up the show. The ads increases from 1 in 4 minutes average in a regular Stargate show.
Joe…I’ve never asked, may I call you Joe? I just wanna give my continuing support.
I don’t sweat the sex scene and I can respect what was going on with it. As far as the “family show” line goes, I think we’ve all learned that if you’re at all concerned about the content or language your kids see, you should Tivo that sucker jack rabbit.
And commercial breaks are inevitable and given the mood of the show, they’re gonna be offputting. Invest in a recording device!
I’m just not that eager to put a big ole FAIL on any of the characters or the kinos after such a quick glimpse thus far. I mean, just because their reproductive organs are on the inside doesn’t mean all the female characters are going to play pivitol roles in the pilot.
Sorry, it’s bugged me people attacking you over things that, quite frankly, can be remedied or have nothing to do with you.
Finally was able to watch SGU tonight without interruptions.
First off, wow. That was a good premiere. SPOILERS!! in my comments.
Things I liked: The time shifts. I know that some people have problems with these kinds of time shifts. I liked it. I’ve always liked telling story by reveling it like this. Yeah, it’s been done. But it never gets old to me. Two, the camera really wasn’t that jerky. If it had been, I personally wouldn’t have watched it. It literally would make me ill. Blair Witch anyone? Three, I love the lighting and the sets. Wow. Fourth, the guest stars were used well. I was a little worried that it just might seem stuck in there just to put O’Neill or Daniel in there for ratings. It worked in my mind.
Things I didn’t care for but may come to like: I hate that shot of space flying by. Now that did make me a little ill. I hope that special effect isn’t done too often. Please don’t make Chloe a cry baby. I loved it that she lit into Rush, but don’t have her crying all the time. Not that she didn’t have cause, because of what happened. The scene with Rush crying seemed a little over the top. Didn’t do much at all for me.
Characters I like so far: Col. Young, Scott. Not sure about Eli or TJ or Chloe yet.
Question: When did they reveal the ninth chevron? I can’t remember when that happened and it was killing me for the whole show that I didn’t remember that happening.
I watched Air 1 and 2 on iTunes this evening (Computer hooked up to the TV so I could still see it on a big screen – First seeing any Stargate on ittybitty laptop screen just isn’t right.) and loved it — Writing, cinematography, music, and of course acting all fantastic. And the ship is beautiful.
Thanks and congratulations to all on a job well done.
The only thing I’m annoyed about is…. We have to wait another week for more. When each part ended I couldn’t believe 40+ minutes had already gone by.
Think I’ll watch it again now. 🙂
– KB
Coucou =) ça va bien?
Waou! Merci pour tout ces photos! Le destiny est un magnifique vaisseaux!!!!
Hier vous n’avez pas parler de l’audience? qu”en pensez vous?
Bonne journée!
Bisou
Me revoila!
Je me posais une question?
Il y’aura autant d’humour dans sgu que dans sg1 et sga?
Car mise à part Eli, les personnages ne me semble pas trés drôle, c’est peut être normal car les 1ers épisodes ne commence pas dans la joie et la bonne humeur, mais j’espere que par la suite il y aura de l’humour de la part des autres personnages car sinon je vais vite m’ennuyer.
Je me demandais autre chose?
Pourquoi la majorité des vaisseaux de stargate ressembles à un sexe masculin?
Regarder la new déco de mon twitter,
100%Jospeh!
http://twitter.com/home
Bisou, a plus tard!
I’ve really been loving all the work-in-progress pics you post. Maybe that’s because this incarnation of SG is the only one I’ve been aware of (thanks to your blog) from before the show even had its debut, and also because you — with reinforcement from cast and crew on Twitter — have gone to great lengths to keep fans connected to SGU’s development, to as great an extent as possible. I know that was the mission directive for “No Fan Left Behind,” but I don’t think it hit me until post-show reflection just how much of an investment I’ve felt with SGU, both emotionally and intellectually.
For me, that investment had a very palpable payoff from watching the debut: I paid as close attention as I would to an especially compelling news story, and upon rewatching, had NO reason to chalk up my enthusiasm to a transient high from a promising show that was a little weak on delivery. I still love the entire package, and in the absence of ads, was quite captivated up to the last moment. Whenever the DVD’s come out, they’re going to get a lot of playing time here.
– When you’ve seen or read stories involving all sorts of AI’s, it’s not too hard (or so it seems to me) to view the kino as another member of the character lineup, in a wildcard-type position — even though, IIRC, it’s been stated that the kino is not in fact an AI. That’s still how I see it, and I’ll enjoy watching its viewer-oriented-POV development along with the gratifying abundance of human character development that’s surely in store for fans. We’ve already seen that the kino does comedy very well. *w* (Props to David Blue and Brian Jacob Smith for making the kino-discovery scene so funny.)
Just my own opinion, but I didn’t see anything as gimmicky or gratuitous, just (in some cases) as a different presentation of familiar elements — although I agree that parents should have had a way of knowing about the sexual content. To me, it was funny and very human, but I can see where it would be awkward for those with kids of a susceptible age. — As to familiar elements, some criticisms seem a bit like vid clips of 1950s folks who said that rock n’ roll was just a fad. Dimmed lighting has been around since film noir – origin of the term, if memory serves – and has a valuable use, alongside less-conventional camera-work and editing techniques. Props to the viewers who give positive reviews on what they like about the show, even though watching gave them physical discomfort. A dilemma there, for sure. . . . Plenty of fresh, very absorbing content and presentation to play the major role in setting the tone for SGU.
– Re. the pic and caption (lol at that) of Marty G., it figures that the guy with the plaid suit would have some “Top Gun” RPG issues. Then again, he did send that champagne. . .
[Joe, browser glitch, hope this isn’t a duplicate]
@Jim from Jersey:
And from the “shit, almost forgot again” file: You made an American Senator self-sacrificing. You truly are gods.
LMAO.
Hey, Joe
First time I submit a comment here! 😀
So my question to you, and i really want you to answer it, is if LDP is going to be on the Destiny? I think it’s kinda weird if he’s going to take over someone elses body with the stones all the time. I thought he was a regular but now I wonder how?
For a second season I just don’t see how he’s going to use the stones all the time.
(sorry for the english if there are some grammar error.)
Thanks in advance.
Mary,
Were we separated at birth? So many of your points were ones I wished I had said! Just commenting on two here:
“(11) Ming Na had maybe 5 lines of dialogue. The one adult woman on the show and she’s virtually not there, and when she actually was in focus, she was stared down by the guy. Boo-hiss at that. ”
I was quite disappointed in her character and her few lines. But my expectations were particularly high for her character so that may be my fault.
In the midst of a crisis – people and objects flying through the Stargate with disastrous results to bodies – I would have expected someone in her position to ASSIST the military leadership in getting people to safety before throwing a hissy fit at least.
The Senator – who was significantly obnoxious AND hurt – had a better reaction to the crisis than she.
THEN she decides to pick a fight with Greer on a irrelevant point – at that moment – but folds like tissue in the wind when challenged.
“(12) The women were shallow compared to the men. They were less shallow than I’d feared, but they’re cookie-cutter characters compared to the men. After Sam Carter, Stargate can do so much better than that. Wray might turn out to be an exception, but she was mostly not there. ”
They were even more shallow than that. As I said yesterday, all we have to go on is what we saw in the premiere, but it was not good. They were definitely cookie cutter characters. The actresses themselves may be terrific but, given how limited their roles were, it was tough to tell.
The odd thing is that the Stargate franchise got it right with Carter, Weir, Teyla and a host of other female characters from the first two series. Of course, in those series, the female characters had a leadership role and weren’t simply there to “report back” to the men on the current situation. Not the case in the premiere.
Is it Friday yet?!
I just wanted to say that I absolutely loved Stargate Universe episodes 1 and 2, and cannot wait for the next one! If before I might have been a bit cautious, yet curious, then now I’m definitely an addict of the show who craves more of it as I am of SG-1 and SGA. 😀
So, pass on the huge congrats and thanks for doing this to all the others behind and in front of the camera!
I also thought to mention that the holo deck (as I call it) where Lt Scott and Eli found dr Rush and where Lt Scott and Chloe where after her father’s death – well, it reminds me a bit of Moya’s deck from Farscape. Accidentally, it’s also my favorite (so far) part of the beautiful ship.
So, keep doing your thing and all the best!
PS
Is there any chance of Robert Carlyle doing a Q&A? Please?!
caitlyanna said:
Sherry Harris has become like another mom to me on there.
I know what ya mean!
SGU: Wow! Too many commercials and the sex scene was something I won’t let my
oops, pressed wrong key. I wouldn’t let my 14 year old watch the sex scene. So he will have to wait until he is older to watch this series.
Congratulations, to the cast and crew!
Tam
I consider myself a diehard fan of the whole Stargate franchise and I really enjoyed the premier (yes, there is a “but” coming)…but, the commercial placement and the sex scene were both very off-putting. I don’t watch shows with graphic sex and now I am very torn. Can’t you suggest relationships without showing stuff like that? I guess for now I’ll watch with caution, my finger ready on the channel changer should that crop up again and hope beyond hope it doesn’t. (I can probably get used to the commercial thing). Thanks Joe, otherwise I enjoyed the show very much. Looking forward to see how things progress!
Congrats to all involved. I love the look of SGU. The characters are interesting and Eli is amazing. Really looking forward to seeing where his character goes.
My only complaint isn’t exactly with the show. I read here on this lovely blog that this was very much still a family friendly show. So I let my nine year old watch with me without first viewing it (yes on the dvr I don’t let him stay up that late) and I have to say that sex scene wasn’t exactly what I want my son to watch. I am not a prude and if he weren’t watching with me I wouldn’t have thought twice about the scene. I realize its my mistake, I should have viewed it first instead because everyone has different comfort levels. The rest of the episode was fine, but that one scene means I have to screen this from him all season and will likely not allow him to watch which is a shame since he really loved SG -1 and SGA. He is a sci fi boy through and through and to find shows that we can share together is a real treat. Sadly I think this won’t be one of them.
I know that there is violence on this show and I don’t think that excessive violence is better than sexual content for a childs viewing. I suppose its just a matter of the level of content, whether violent or sexual and that scene was way above my comfort level as a parent to let my child view. I had to fast forward it.
Merci pour cette nouvelle serie elle est enorme 🙂
I have to admit when I first heard about the concept of a new stargate show that was not connected to the SGC or Atlantis, I was a little skeptical. However, I believe the show is a wonderful addition to the stargate family. It takes some aspects of SG-1 and Atlantis and expands on them beautifully. Although I have to admit that I also am not a fan of the fast camera movements like Battlestar Galactica had–I hope there are fewer of these in the future. I am looking forward to the rest of the season.
Hi Joe, so who knew the premiere was on again this morning on SyFy? I found out about 1/2 hour into it and watched it again (never had the chance to watch it on Hulu yesterday), this time without so many commercials. Must say, I liked it much more this time. And yep, that was Atlantis music in the scene when Rush discovers the name of the ship – very cool! Joel is simply amazing. Just four or five notes, but beautifully done. The jiggly camera thing still bugs me (headache now), so I’m just hoping it won’t always be like that. I didn’t hate Carlyle this time, either, so for me, that’s good news! Also hoping SyFy doesn’t do us in again with the commercials next week 🙂 Have a good Sunday!
I am truely blown away by the darkness SGU has, it refreshing and what Atlantis should of had , even just a little. And to show the Dead body of the senator after he sacrificed himself. Nice work to all of the SGU crew Joe! I can’t wait till next week, I am able to fill the hole of SG1 and Atlantis left, May this new series be as successful as the other two, I know I’m hooked, Am as a nerd thanks for David Blue!
Question: How is it the Destiney follows the seeder gate ships, is it just to test out the new Stargates or is there a purpose and function?
Had a quick chance to skimme through the comments, Im sorry but this goes to all the negative comments, This is not SG1 and this is not Atlantis people, this is SGU. GET OVER IT PEOPLE! Atrue fan can see SGU is a Separate entity.
Ok had to get that off my chest.
Ok when it isnt truly stargate so why they called it Stargate, when they dont want to continue with stargate as we know it why is the series still called Stargate? Yes this is really stargate and you can feel it from series, but there are some speculative things in it, now I mean sex in “Air” ( ah sorry spoiler…:D). Its like the nudity in first episode of SG1. I hope it will be delete in future from series. (Cuz they are two groups of people: one who love BSG and one who hate it, take it as a fact, now is the age of BSG like scifi series, all want to have success like BSG had) I am really not saying SGU is bad because its inspired by BSG, I really like Air, Universe is really great and I now less than 24h after watching the series love it, really LOVE IT, but there are things what are for stargate too much, I hope that sex scenes will be deleted, when they were in spoilers. I REALLY loved BSG the story, universe, everything, but when comes sex scenes I jumped it because I thing that scifi has potential, it has many fans and It REALLY NEED PORNO IN IT TO BE INTERESTING. Thanks for reading.
I loved the SGU premiere and see great things ahead for this latest edition of the franchise.
That said (and I’m not sure if this is a nitpick or not), I was struck by the opening scenes: SPOILER ALERT
How similar in structure the beginning scenes were to the first episode of Atlantis. It was far more intense, of course, but there was the crowd, carrying boxes and bags, going through the event horizon (the only difference being that they were running away from aliens instead of setting out to explore). There was the spreading out and exploring the ship, finding wondrous (if frightening) things. Lt. Scott and Eli Wallace are a younger version of John Sheppard and Rodney McKay, with the added element of a smarter, more assertive Zelenka (Rush). The “pants” joke was inserted earlier, but no aliens were involved this time.
I could go on, but I want to say that I didn’t find that the similarities were a negative. In fact, maybe they served to transition hard-core Atlantis fans into the new mythos, and will now be dispensed with, as the new stories unfold and the characters develop their own personalities (these are different actors, after all).
All in all a good beginning (although I’m already annoyed at the senator’s daughter). And I’m glad you didn’t portray the senator as the typical dumb, unreasonable, cowardly politician so familiar on TV. He was a man with strong opinions, used to leadership, but with a willingness to sacrifice himself for his daughter and the others, since he knew he was dying anyway.
Looking forward to the next one. Cheers.
For all those sex scene haters… whats wrong with you? If I remember, or I know (lol) that the first SG-1 episodes had a nude scene.
Maybe you hated that aswell but seriously you didn’t see anything and in a real situation that could happen.
I just don’t understand you people!
And those who have like a list of complaints, just want you to know that this was 1.5 hour long. All the characters cannot be focused. There wikk still be 20 episodes and possible/likely another season to focus more on everyone.
I think this is a more mature and “real” way of making “stargate”. I seriously think that this is better than Atlantis and I was a huge fan of Atlantis…
SG-1 is still the king but lets face it… it’s the original (except for the movie which is another kind of original)
As for the shaky camera could be tuned down. I think it would be cool if it was used in the more “nervous” and “stressed” situations. But not through out the whole movie.
For example when Chloe and Matt talks after her fathers death, the camera comes around that pillar. Thats was just weird. All though it didn’t bother me to much.
So it would be good to use like 50/50 shaky and some not.
And as I’ve stated previously here. Give me more about Telford!!! 😀
I want to watch the premier a second time before commenting on it, but I do have a question for when you are going to answer them. Carter said that 80+ people were MIA. She beamed out everyone outside the bunker(the soldiers manning the rail guns) and got Telford and the other F302 pilots aboard. Since the bunker was shielded, she couldn’t beam them out. What is the number of people that are MIA? You would have to subtract the Senator from that number, as well as the man T.J. was working on who died, so now how many survivors are on the Destiny???
“I mean, just because their reproductive organs are on the inside doesn’t mean all the female characters are going to play pivitol roles in the pilot.
Sorry, it’s bugged me people attacking you over things that, quite frankly, can be remedied or have nothing to do with you.”
Edgar, how about ONE female character having a “middling” pivotal role in the pilot? …. 😀
Joe getting the comments because most of us have no other place to post them. He is not being attacked personally.
So I just watched Air last night, (boo, assignments and midterms) and HOLY CRAPBALLS! It’s amazing! The effects, sets, acting were all superb! Congrats to all involved. I actually like everyone so far, with my favourites being Eli, Scott and Young. Yay! Can’t wait till fri for the continuation!
No other place to put them? Come on, Gateworld Forums, Hello McFly
Hey Joe, a couple questions.
1. Are all the people wearing the Icarus Base uniforms military?
2. So now that we know there are like 80-90 people on the ship, how many are military?
3. How has extra continuity been going(considering you guys have almost filmed the whole season?
4. Does Scott even believe(as a Christian) what he did with James was wrong.
Oh and I have to make a suggestion. While I would rather not have sex scenes in SGU, I can tollerate them as long as they aren’t in every or every other episode and as LONG AS THEY AREN’T AS IMMODEST AS THIS ONE. I mean, I wouldn’t have minded it so much if they didn’t show the bottom half of the people, but seriously, do we need to see James Virtually pantless and scott moving back in forth just covering the spot. COME ON MR. M.
You guys said the scenes were TASTEFUL and discreet, this scene was not even close to tasteful and discreet(though I have seen worse). If the scene was more modest, I would have enjoyed SGU and the character of Scott more if the scene was nonexistint. Oh well maybe 13 years down the road you guys will do “Air The Final Cut” with longer VFX scenes and no sex scene. :p
Also, why did they actually have to be doing it, they could have just been kissing and it would have had the same effect without all the grunting and moving back and forth, actually having sex. I mean, right now it just looks like you trying to put skin and parts of private parts in and put actual sex and not kissing in to entice viewers, but I think it was a terrible mistake, me, my friends and my parents all thought it was a mistake and it took away my some of my excitement of SGU. I mean even my friend said, “IT WAS GREAT, I JUST HOPE THERE AREN’T SCENES LIKE THAT IN EVERY EP”.
I mean you take out a nude scene and call it totally un-stargatey and then you put a graphic sex scene in. Come on Mr. M, you guys are better than that. 🙁
Anyways, SGU is good overall, but like all shows, it has its flaws.
Anyways, thanks for reading it Mr. M, I just needed to get it off my chest(hopefully you did read it). :p
In the end im keeping optimistic until proven wrong later, and in the meantime, despite my frustrations with SGU, I trust you to make the right descisions and you have my full support as an SGU fan!!!!!
Thanks so much,
Major D. Davis
Was pretty good. I have some issues with the camera shake (tone it down, please) and some of the characters I really want to see get left behind (Chloe especially), but Robert Carlyle is terrific. I’ll give it more time to see see how it develops.
The commercials, on the other hand, were awful. Way too many of them and at times it felt there were more minutes of commercials than of the actual show. In fact, a couple times the Siffy ads at the bottom of the screen actually worked their way up to cover a good half of the screen action with those awful GhostHunters and other ads. Is there any way to let Siffy know they are killing themselves with these ads? I’m ready to skip the live viewing and download elsewhere without the bazillion commercials.
Can I be a little blunt after having now watched this…
The music score was just TOOO much!! and often did not fit. It actually became annoying.
I get the story, but only kept watching because the senators daughter is so hot!
The scenes were slightly ‘Battlestar’ and that I didn’t like Battlestar. Also typically in the battle flash-back they used the constant repeating single piano key – just like battlestar.
It’s early days, the production is awesome, the set fantastic but seems small.
I want this show to be great, but the last part of this beginning is next week, so i’ll reserve further thoughts till after then.
Visually stunning and always top quality that only the guys at Bridge seem to be able to do right.
To be fair, it might just be too new for me at present.
People see a nude person and act like were all going to hell? Is the free world so closeted to the human figure?
Finally! I got to watch SGU.
I have to agree with people that the commercial breaks were TERRIBLE. And I had to DVR the show since I was out of town Friday night. Even with the ability to fast forward Jeremy and I were looking at each other like, “A commercial? Now? Really?!”
Again, I know so many other people have mentioned it, but I am SO GLAD Erin wasn’t watching with us. Since she’s 8 and asks TONS of questions, the sex scene would have lead to way too many questions. So I don’t agree it’s a family show. I let Erin watch SGA and SG-1… well not Children of the Gods. I’m just saying she won’t be watching SGU. She wouldn’t like it anyway. She’s certainly too young. As a mom, that’s something I feel the need to say. Other parents may disagree with me. That’s just my opinion. I watch TONS of shows that I don’t let Erin watch. I’m just glad a friend had warned me so I watched it first.
I do like Eli. Am I supposed to find Rush extremely creepy? As Allie would say, “Stranger danger!” He has a slimy feel to him. Worse than that doctor from Lost in Space. He makes me nervous. *keeps both eyes on Rush*
I’m honestly not sure how I feel about the show. I can’t even compare it to SG-1 or SGA. It’s like apples and oranges.
I do terribly miss both SG-1 and SGA.
Hmmm… I guess those are my thoughts.
Trish
Hey Joe,
Are Brad and Rob concerned about the ratings? Atlantis ended not far off from where SGU premiered. 1.5 vs 1.7 is not a big difference in the ratings world. Even the age demos were pretty close.
I look back at “Rising” and it pulled a 3.2 HH rating with 4.2 Million viewers. This of course is comparing Live+SD to Live+SD. I figured “Air” will get at least a 500,000 viewer lift with Live + 7 but it would still be around a million viewers less than SGA. Which was a show that was less to produce in it’s first season according to Brad.
I loved “Air” so not trying to sound negative. Just very concerned. I think you and Paul were doing great with SGA. After seeing the premiere numbers for SGU I’m thinking the network and MGM should of renewed SGA and promote it more and hold off on SGU for one more year. SGA seemed to still perform and seemed to get a lot less promotion than many shows on Syfy.
Anyway, sorry for my rant, have a great Sunday!
Best,
Squall78
hey! joe
Loved the new show!!!
congrats on a well done job.
can’t wait to next week 🙂
Hey again, Joe.
I posted a review, complete with questions I had (and some – I though – rather odd loose ends) about all three parts of Air. If you’ve got some time (HA!), take a wander on over maybe. My blog is here: http://polsblog.wordpress.com/2009/09/19/and-now-for-something-completely-different/
Kino…flying camera…ahhhhhhhhhhh. Here I was all confused thinking about big lights attached to manfrotto type things with maffer clamps and such.
The music is absolutely amazing, I love how it is a completely new sound. I LOVE my old Stargates but I am so happy to see the pretty serious tone of the new show.
Beautifully shot and acted.
Oh, btw, I rather liked the sex scene, it was anther strong indication that this ‘ain’t your momma’s Stargate’. You are stepping it up. We are so prudish in NA it was refreshing to see something like that.
Once again your guys have hit the nail on the head with the richness of colour and the environment they created. I just hope we manage to get a lot of years out of this one.
Ekko: I didn’t like the nude scene in the first SG-1. I felt it was not appropriate for my child (and not necessary to the plot) to watch. When they remastered Children of the Gods, it was sooo much smoother to me. I don’t need to see a naked female to show how humiliated the character was. As a female, I know how vulnerable we can be, I’ve live it.
However, being a parent of a 14 year old, I sensor shows for him. Shows can show sex with suggestion. There is nothing wrong with me because I don’t enjoy seeing other people have sex, either. You can watch nude scenes/sex scenes if you would like/enjoy it. To each their own.
Best wishes to all cast/crew for a successful show!
Tam
A couple responses:
(1) Re attacking Joe: I haven’t seen a single attack on Joe. I have seen (and posted) strong criticism of certain aspects of the show. Joe invited comments. Nowhere did Joe say, “only post positive comments.” There are also plenty of positive comments, but Joe didn’t ask for a fawning lovefest only.
(2) Re the appropriateness of the sex scene and the implication in some messages that there is something wrong with those of us who thought it inappropriate: fine, you liked it. But if you have to have a completely gratuitous, out of context and very graphic and astonishingly sleazy for prime time tv sex scene to prove that your shiny new show is “trendy, edgy, young and sexy”, there’s something wrong with your storytelling.
That sort of thing isn’t creative. It’s not interesting to a lot of people. Others do respond positively to it, although I am noticing around the web today that opinion seems to be in the minority. I’m not suggesting that you don’t have a right to think it was a great scene, but a lot of people don’t. They have a right to point that out without being attacked.
There’s a category of fan fiction that goes for the sex in closets while the characters are on duty thing, and that was what this scene was at best, bad (IMO) fan fiction. If this is what a show has to have to be successful in 2009, that’s sad.
The truth is, the nude scene in COTG was more tasteful and better done and less gratuitous than this was.
Finally, people specifically asked whether this show was family friendly, and they were told it was. That they are complaining now should be a surprise to no one. I know I wouldn’t watch it with a kid.
(3) The overuse of the shaky cam and visual darkness: It IS possible to tell a really great story without copying another tv show and without following all the trendy new techniques (shaky cam, dark visuals, inappropriate sexual behavior, unredeemable and nasty characters and so forth).
Remember Forest Gump (which I, btw, hated)? The stupid technique of putting people in scenes they weren’t and couldn’t have been in was overused to death for a number of years after that film came out. Shaky cam and the like are being overused now. Maybe if I were 16 I’d appreciate it, but not everyone in the audience is under 20. It made me (and clearly others) nauseous.
I also don’t need shaky cam to realize that there is confusion, fear and disorganization in an escape. I can figure that out from seeing natural human behavior, running, crying out, etc. I don’t need the camera to add to it for me. This, to me, is a case of “less is more.” The camera doesn’t have to be jiggling and running around in circles for me to get the point about what is happening to the people.
(4) Copying the tone and techniques of the “successful” BSG. Hmm. How long was SG1 on the air? How long was SGA? And how long was BSG?
There certainly are plenty of people who love BSG and think it was the best SF ever. There are plenty of people who didn’t and in fact who hated it. There are lots of people in the middle.
I think instead of copying something to be trendy, it would be better to figure out the best way to tell a story with people who will stay interested in it. And I can tell you this: there are way too many people complaining this weekend about the nausea-inducing movement, about the darkness that makes it too hard to see the show, and the lameness of the sex scene, for a show with that sort of thing to last anywhere near as long as even SGA, which I think was cancelled prematurely. Even people who really liked the premiere of SGU and all the characters are saying things like that. They are worth listening to.
And just because you think they’re prudes or just don’t get it that this is “not your father’s Stargate” doesn’t mean that their opinion has no validity compared to yours.
Mary
“Ekko: Maybe you hated that aswell but seriously you didn’t see anything and in a real situation that could happen.
…….
I think this is a more mature and “real” way of making “stargate”. ”
Oh, I have no doubt that it happens …. but that doesn’t make it “mature”.
“Maddog316
No other place to put them? Come on, Gateworld Forums, Hello McFly
……
People see a nude person and act like were all going to hell? Is the free world so closeted to the human figure?”
Sorry, I had to compare these two posts.
You are criticizing people for their comments on the sex scene for being over the top and then you get upset because people don’t post at a specific forum that you think is more appropriate?
Sorry, I found that very funny.
BTW, where was the nude person?
@ Rose – good point about Wray – she SHOULD have been taking a leadership role in helping people stay calm, find a way to deal with what was going on, and so forth. That would have made her less cookie-cutter as well.
I guess, bottom line, it’s 2009 and SF isn’t only for young males. Women should be in leadership roles – and other critical roles in a story – just as men are. If they’re not, it’s sexism in action, and after the likes of the female characters in SG1 and SGU, it’s amazingly disappointing. If they are cookie-cutters with flawless makeup no matter the situation, there’s a big fail going on.
@Pol – I read your review from the link. Very interesting. There’s a lot you mention that I didn’t catch last night, but I suppose much of it is in part 3. Some of those things concern me, some of them seem interesting. Thanks for posting the link.
Mary
Pretty good start ratings wise. At least it beat Dollhouse anyway. If it rated below such a mediocre show like Dollhouse, it’d be totally tragic.. 🙂
At the person above. I personally thought the Sex scene wasn’t really needed, at least not in the whole context of the show. It didn’t add to the drama, but more to the character in general.
To Rose: Ok half nude, sex what ever, I was responding to the comment that you made that Joes blog was the only place to respond about the show. Joes drum is not the only one to beat on my dear. And neither is Gateworld for that matter, like he has the sole resonsibility what gets aired, frankly in the end he’s a producer, whether he likes the scene or not.
Hey Joe,
Just finished watching air on iTunes and its amazing how much better the show is without commercials. It makes me want to see part III even more.
-ZPB
Mary,
This is getting freaky – I hated Forest Gump as well. ;-D
Generally, I don’t have to worry about what other people will see on my TV screen, but next week is an exception. I deliberately won’t be watching it live just in case there are any other surprises. (Which will provide the added bonus of being able to fastforward through the commercials!)
Following up on what Mary said ….
She’s right about the CoTG’s scene …. the nudity scene there made far more sense and was done much better.
@Mary…thanks.
@ Mary – Of course there is something wrong with those of us who didn’t like The Scene – we have a sense of human decency! 😉 (Okay – before anyone jumps all over me for that one, it’s a bit of a joke, k??)
Mary, I’m with you on this one, just don’t fret over it – over people thinking we’re ‘wrong’ for disliking the scene. I know many people like scenes like this – as has been said, to each his own. I don’t watch porn, or sexually explicit R-rated movies. Call me a nerd. Call me a prude. Call me a troglodyte. Call me unenlightened. Whatever. Thing is, I like having a choice – not having something smack me in the face for shock value, without giving me a chance to decide whether or not I want to see it. It was forced on me, and THAT is what I have an issue with. It makes me feel like a voyeur – it makes me uncomfortable, and makes sex cheap and meaningless.
Like I’ve said elsewhere – sure, sex is part of being human, but so is pooping, and I sure don’t want to watch someone doing that in my tv shows, either! 😆
Another gripe I have about the scene is that it told us nothing about the characters. Where was the motivation? Where was the point to it all? Was it telling us the girl is a cheap whore who will do anyone in a storage closet? Was it telling us the guy has a habit of dereliction of duty, or was it telling us he’s some sort of player? Are these two in love, or just after cheap, ‘dangerous’ thrills? It was bad storytelling, and that makes me feel like the scene was nothing more than a device to shout out, ‘hey! This is not your mother’s Stargate!’
Yeah, we know that.
In contrast, I think of the recent Lewis episode that explored Hathaway’s sexuality. No pointless sex scenes, but instead a good story that got the audience emotionally involved first. It begins with the suicide of Hathaway’s boyhood friend, a young gay man, and drops several hints that Hathaway may be gay himself. It then reveals that when they were 14 Hathaway’s friend kissed – or wanted to kiss – him, and Hathaway laughed at him. It then introduces the girlfriend of his friend, opening up questions about his friend’s sexuality – was he really gay, or bi? Why the girlfriend all of a sudden? What about Hathaway’s sexuality? It then shows Hathaway and the girlfriend getting closer…him shyly taking her hand during the funeral service…him a bit reluctant about calling her on the phone…her inviting him out for the evening…her being there for him after he has a falling out with Lewis…and finally him a bit awkward in expressing his desire to have sex with her…”you’re trembling,” she says – “it’s been a while”, he says. There was a story here – a journey leading up to the first kiss and desire for intimacy that made it all meaningful. It progressed, and was part of, the story.
The scene in SGU did none of that.
das
I must be bored tonight…
I wanted to add to the above that in the example I gave, the questions that were raised throughout the Lewis episode were answered in a progressive way, moving the story forward. Now, granted, the questions raised by the sex scene in SGU may eventually be answered, but will people stick around long enough to get those answers if they already feel that the scene was gratuitous and pointless, and perhaps stop watching for fear of more of the same?
Joe – you once complained about ‘out-of-blue’ gimmicks in movies – well, I think this one ranks right up there with the worst of them.
das
Ekko wrote, “for all those sex scene haters… whats wrong with you?”
It’s called morals. Some people have them. More and more people don’t.
Das and Mary,
Remember Simon from Atlantis?
Did either of you think Weir and Simon had a platonic friendship? No, me either.
Two adults – mature, one could say – people with commitments to extremely demanding jobs – who no doubt (in my mind) spent some “quality” time together as their schedules permitted.
And I am pretty sure Teyla didn’t get pregnant by herself. ;-D
@ Rose/OhioAnne – I’ve also figured that Weir bumped uglies with Lucius…but I certainly didn’t want to SEE it. 😛
das
Hi Joe,
Liked the premiere, it set up the series like it was supposed to; introducing characters, the situation and the conflicts that will drive the series.
A couple of things:
1. If the ship was launched by the Ancients as an unmanned ship to be boarded much later, why was the life support even on? And where did the Co2 come from if no one has been on board? The Scrubbers should have been in pristine working order. Unless there have been other inhabitants of Destiny?
2. What’s with the shuttles being on the outside of the hull? Seems more likely they would be exposed to damage. Shuttles are usually on the inside of a ship for this reason.
Thanks.
Hey Joe, (as a first time poster saying “hey Joe” feels quite unreal) Then the mouse pad on my lap top goes off the wall and brings me back to reality.
Congrats on SGU airing in the us. And very much looking forward to tuning in on sky 1 in the uk (i.me and my girlfriend were talking after “not” watching a so called “pilot”episode about rating scores and how they affect the show, and it baffled us, do outside the us ratings count when a show is on the air?)*
Im 23 now, and remember being with stargate from the very beginning, you know in the cinema… through sg1 and atlantis which ill say thank you and well done, there must of been some hard days but there are alot of happy gaters out there. (ii. Ill be honest, i did take a year brake after season 8, it took me a while to convince my girlfriend to try it out, shes not a big fan of tv in general, and hey presto shes a gater, but a girl with a lot of questions so i wont let her know about your blog sorry… or maybe your welcome)
and finally, really this was meant to be short but when finally writing to the…Mr Mallozzi??? Gotta say, keep doin what ever your doin.
*I finished an incredibley busy shift at work… i work some where not so cool as you, definaltley not cool at all… At 4am in the morning uk time, ne way struggled home with the thought i had picked up a extra shift having to return for 9am, to my amazment i “found a lamp & made wish” and sat and watched 87 minutes of greatness sir. When the end came 9 months of waiting over i felt relived, i rolled over and caught a couple hours winks, got up and had the best day at work ever. Parts One and Two were fantastic, and theres been so much banter over place about “whats it going to be like” or “Stargate Voyager” (who ever even created that is a doosh).
We live in a world so cracked down on censorship, we cant actully protect ourselves from whats out there in the world. Stargate is and has allways been about exploration, within ourselves as well as planets your damn right this aint your daddy’s stargate, his was damn cool though. This is just true…
Paddy
England
Loved Air I and II and I was curious as to why/or if The Destiny isn’t activate by the ATA Gene? Perhaps it was built before the Ancients adopted the use for the ATA Gene in their technology?
Loved the show, can’t wait for the rest of the season
Hi Joe,
Most of my comments, compliments and questions have already been posted. Special thanks to Mary for detailing so many of my observations.
I would love to know your thoughts about the similarity of the SGU opening to that of Star Trek. For a moment I thought that I was going to hear someone say “Space, the final frontier.” Where does the line blur between being an homage and a copycat? I’m sincere in my question.
As a long time fan of both Star Trek and Stargate, I’ve enjoyed the references and similarities of SG to ST. When SGA came along, it was like the franchise now had a Deep Space Nine. In the SG tradition, SGA was amazing and hod its own distinct identity. I was excited and curious to see what the SG version of Voyager was going to be like.
It’s now feeling like a ST rip-off. It was challenging for me to embrace the beauty of the opening, because it felt too much like a copy. I tried to put that feeling aside, but as the show wore on I just never felt drawn into it. It had neither a compelling story nor characters, so it was hard for me to see this as an homage or a distinctly unique show. It felt empty, like it had no soul of its own.
I have been a diehard SG fan from the beginning, so I’m going to hang in there for a while even though it feels weird to not be excited about it.
To close, thanks so much for this blog. I’m not a daily reader, but I’ve been around for a while and I’ve enjoyed the SG insight, food & book chat, and stuff that makes me laugh out loud. I still remember that fantastic rant from more than a year ago that included “sweet Jesus, no to virtual babies!” (something like that)
Thanks for all you create and share,
Lisa
To everyone who has posted about the sex scenes, you would NOT like BSG at all. There was some very graphic sex that even I was surprised wasn’t censored and there was a lot of sex overall. There was even an implied threesome, and acts of infidelity.
There is real statistical evidence that 9-10 months after hurricanes happen, the birth rate in that area jumps. With no power, nothing to do, people have time on their hands. I imagine for a lot of these people on Destiny, some will not be sure of where they fit in the struggle to survive, or what skills they have to bring to the table, and without computers or video games or TV (and likely no books since the evacuation was so fast) to occupy their time, they are going to find ways to occupy their time. Perhaps that was the case on Icarus Base, too.
I’ve been thinking about the scene and wonder if it is more about the character. He is just an officer without any real responsibility, and engages in what some would consider an irresponsible act while on the base and just a short time later, is forced into this leadership role that you can tell the character isn’t sure himself that he is ready to lead, but does his best because that is what he is trained to do. I don’t want to get into the abstinence argument, but while it is nice and a noble ideal, real-life statistical data shows it isn’t effective. Our kids are having sex anyway. Having said that, my almost 14-year-old does not need to see this, but with his autism and developmental age of about 2-3 years of age, he doesn’t watch these kinds of shows with us anyway. If he was a neurotypical kid, it would depend on his level of maturity and oh, yes, we would have a discussion about that scene.
And I agree with crazymom1 — I sent a tweet to @malibunextyear and said, “Okay, that must have been awkward for you.” As a mom, I know my son is a sexual being (his brain in that department is like any typical 14-year-old), but that doesn’t mean I want to watch, even if it was just acting. I find it particularly tough also to imagine being involved with an actor and watching my significant other having a sex scene with someone else. It would feel like infidelity to me.
Question: In enemy at the gate the Odyssey is on a secret mission, which many people thought was going to be stargate universe… but it wasn’t…. so can you tell us what the secret mission was, or was this just a way to write it out of the show.
Hi Joe!
I just finished watching SGU and would love to send huge congratulations to everyone – cast and crew – in bringing together a fabulous show! I loved it! It was better than I had anticipated. Only thing that kinda surprised me was a particular scene near the start between two characters…wasn’t quick enough to cover my son’s eyes but I guess it could have been worse…or better depending on your point of view! 😀
Anyhoo, I tried posting a message on Saturday but I think it got lost.
But I just wanted to say congratulations on its successful debut. Can’t wait for more!
Thank you!!! 😀
Cheers,
Chelle 🙂
Joe,
some random comments,
For those with Comcast, the premier is available with limited commercials OnDemand under TV series.
I watched it when it aired and hard a time because of the flashbacks and the commercials. Much, much better with limited commercials.
As many do above, I would like to know head counts. I also want to know what supplies, equipment, etc. It killed me that no one took charge and organized things. Yes, I know breathing is important and the main leaders were working on that problem.
But all the people waiting until they were given something to do? Put them to work.
I, as many above, found the sex scene a little much. I thought when I saw it, “oh crap, it’s going to be one of those shows.” I don’t think the nude at the beginning of SG1 compared. 1. It started on cable where the viewer expects sex. 2. It wasn’t about 2 on duty personnel humping in closet.
I still watched the rest of the show and enjoyed it. But I can’t watch it with my nephew and that sucks.
I had to brighten the settings on my TV to be able to see the ship but that was no big deal.
On the comments about the senator’s daughter over acting when her dad died in front of her, if it had happpen to me, you would have seen something truly emotional. I thought it was well played.
I loved finding Eli through the game. “The Last Starfighter” times two. Starfighter was someone who could fly/fight, this one was who could do major math.
Overall – I enjoyed the show and am looking forward to what happens when they use the gate and to the new worlds.
Joe,
Congratulations to you and the rest of the crew on a masterful premier. I loved every moment of it and can’t wait to see more. I have been telling all my friends and family about the show and that they really shouldn’t miss it.
I was wondering (if you even know) if syfy takes into consideration the online viewership of the show (hulu.com, syfy.com, itunes, etc.) and does not just rate the show over the course of the season based solely on how many people tune into syfy? I am just hoping they take more into consideration than channel viewers before deciding on how many more seasons to fund because I know that even as much as I want to I will not be able to tune in at 9 every Friday and I do not have DVR so I will have to view the episode the next day online and I’m sure i’m not the only one. Times have changed with shows being available online and for the sake of the show I truly hope syfy realizes this.
Congrats again from a devoted SG-1, SGA and SGU fan! Stargate is my absolute all time favorite show!
Dan
Hey Joe, Just watched the premier! It was wonderful and I was crying on my couch. Very touching and I can’t wait to see more episodes. Our cable company had issues on Friday night and was out, we didn’t get to see it until Sunday morning. I hope that doesn’t cut into the ratings numbers. Anyway, just wanted to say great job, keep them coming!
Joe –
I’m sorry man, but that really sucked.
I couldn’t get over the shaky camera – it can work when you’re first establishing a chaotic moment, but unless it’s a mockumentary, it really doesn’t work. In fact, it actually creates a distance between your character and your viewer – which could explain why a lot of us never felt a connection.
I finally had to turn it off after 45 minutes because I was getting a headache and my eyes were straining. After a while I tried it again, but I just couldn’t do it – it was over the top.
The reason I fell in love with SG1 and SGA was because of the strong rolls that the women play. I really hope future episodes start to recognize a character like this.
You know, if you do some research, this is the only “forum” that has had overwhelmingly positive feedback. Everyone else has a lot of constructive criticism.
I did love Eli, it’s nice to see a more shapely figure – I still don’t understand why there can’t be a shapely woman. I guess more proof that the media doesn’t take women seriously.
I completely understand your desire to take the show in a different direction and it is something for which I have been absolutely prepared – but really man, this was bad. I could go on for pages but no one here would read it anyway.
Yeah, in all honesty, I don’t see this going past two seasons.
🙂 Prove me wrong and I will buy you a beer.
Hi Joe,
I’ve been reading your blog for awhile now and felt it was finally time to drop a line. First off, thanks so much for taking the time to interact with fans and listen to our thoughts. I’m always boasting to my bf about the beauty of this fandom and the cast/crew of the Stargate franchise.
I still have to watch SGU again, but my first thought was it’s definitely different and yet somehow the same – I think it has to do with Eli’s character, who’s most in the vein of the prior SG characters. I did enjoy the premiere to some extent. Good setup and some nicely updated designs/score. There were definitely some intriguing characters – Eli, Chloe, Rush and even less featured characters like Young and Greer. One problem may be that Eli right now is the only character, imo, with a natural sense of humor/wit (on others, they sound like one-liners) which I think helps make a character more real and believable. I understand they’ve just been thrown in a tough situation and will be in a pickle for a looong time, but I hope to see more of the wit from other characters in the future. As a female, I think that’s what’s missing from SG female characters especially – they’re tough, smart, independent, but let’s make them playful & funny too (Carter’s a good example). On another note, I agree the sex scene was gratuitous. Putting that aside now, I’m looking forward to the next episode. I don’t know if I’m committed, but I definitely want to see the SG franchise continue on strong.
I have to admit I’m one of the disappointed that SGA was cancelled – it was a fantastic and unique premise (and so beautifully designed) that it seemed such a waste to end so soon. Not trying to blame SGU or harp on the cancellation – just letting you know how much I enjoyed that series and the characters (especially Sheppard, Ronon, and McKay).
I just wrote another long message and my computer deleted it, so lucky you.
Being a fan of SG1 and Atlantis. This show really is bringing more fans to your doorstep. Hope you have time in your busy schedule get to us.
1.I saw in the opening whislt seeing the destiny that she had some pretty big guns on her* Will we see them in action?
2.The Destiny was huge, not that many people on board. I saw weve probaly seen 2% of the ship? There going to be some real cool stuff layin around even if broken? And will we ventur to the back end of the ship where it resembled a pryamid** shape back end
*serious question 🙂
**l /\__ u know what i mean 🙂
Strange how the shaking camera only bothers those that are mad that SGA was cancelled. How does that happen? I understand the questions that are being asked will be answered as the season roles along. To include the reason for the closet scene. Patience people, just keep watching and you will be rewarded with answers; Along with more entertainment. I loved it, but of course I am biased!
Hey Joe,
Have to admit I haven’t seen the show yet (life really gets in the way sometimes), so I’m not gonna comment on the show proper until I’ve had a chance to actually watch it; but, I do have to comment on a post I saw here from Mary.
@Mary – you said:
“(4) Copying the tone and techniques of the “successful” BSG. Hmm. How long was SG1 on the air? How long was SGA? And how long was BSG?”
I have an issue with that.
IMO, you’re being unfairly judgemental in comparing the length of time that these three great shows were on the air. While Battlestar Galactica didn’t enjoy the long runs that SG-1 and Atlantis did, it must be remembered that BSG was “designed” fron the outset for a relatively short run. The series creators set out to tell their story in a definite time frame, and they did exactly that. Love it or hate it, you have to give them credit for that. The only other show that did anything similar was Babylon 5, where J. Michael Strazynski (I hope I spelled his name right!) said that the show was only going to run for 5 seasons, and that the entirety of the story would be told in that time frame; and he did just that.
Maybe they did borrow things from BSG; it’s happened in other shows and movies before, and will again. Was is the right thing to do? Probably not; it’s always better (and harder) to come up with an original idea than to use someone else’s. Does it work for SGU? You say “no”; maybe you’re right, maybe you’re not. Obviously, the producers of SGU thought there was something to be gained by doing it; otherwise, why bother? Me personally, I haven’t seen SGU yet (like I said above), so I refuse to comment on or criticize it until after I’ve seen it. My whole point is, please don’t criticize a show just because it wasn’t on the air for as long as any other show.
shadowknight109