I called up my mother today and caught her at the worst possible moment – while she was watching the opening credits of Stargate: Universe. In instances like these, real conversation is impossible. Today’s discussion went something like this:
Mom: Stargate Universe. It’s the new show?
Me: That’s right.
Mom: Brian J. Smith. Elyse Levesque. They’re all new?
Me: That’s right. New cast.
Mom: They are walking through what looks like a desert.
Me: That’s the third episode. They’re on a planet –
Mom: Did you write this one?
Me: No. Brad and Robert did.
Mom: Did you write any?
Me: Yeah, but my episodes won’t air until later in the season.
Mom: Consulting producers Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullensi.
Me: Mullie.
Mom: Producer John G. Lenic. Executive Producer Carl Binder.
Me: Yeah, so anyway –
Mom: Created by Brad Wright and Robert Cooper.
Me: Anyway –
Mom: The sand is so white. White white.
Me: Yes, we shot the episode at a place called White Sands.
Mom: Oh, it’s sand.
Me: What did you think it was?
Mom: I don’t know who are the men and who are the women under their big hats and sunglasses. They’re still walking. I think they’re looking for something.
Me: Yeah, they’re looking for –
Mom: Now the woman is testing the sand. She’s throwing out the water.
Me: (SIGH)
Mom: Now they’re getting up and walking again. (beat) I’m going to change the channel and come back when they find something.
Which is in itself an achievement of sorts given that most of my relatives simply wait until they see my name flash up on screen before turning the channel. Yes, there’s nothing quite like my mother’s play-by-play of an episode I’m already intimately familiar with. If she ever entertains a late-life career change, I highly recommend she provide audio overviews for the visually impaired. “People are flying through the gate. Now more people are flying through the gate. And still more people flying through the gate. Somebody gets hit with a suitcase. More people flying through the gate. Now some kid is playing a game in his room. He’s talking to a friend. He answers the door and Richard Dean Anderson is there with another man. They talk to the boy. Still talking. Still talking. Still talking. The boy goes up the stairs. And he’s on a space ship….”
I accomplished approximately nothing today. My attempt to deposit a check proved fruitless as I didn’t have the account number handy, I was unable to drop off my jackets because the tailor was closed, and Les Amis du Fromage were out of my favorite cheese. There was no parking at either of my two local grocery stores and I forgot to pick up butter.
No, scratch that. I did accomplish something (which is a tad north of approximately nothing). I caught up with the mailbag. Enjoy!
Crystal writes: “That portable people meter sounds like an even bigger invasion of privacy than we have.”
Answer: How so? No one is forced to participate. It’s voluntary, not unlike the Nielsen system.
Matt Boesch writes: “How many times was the two-hour (sorry 3- hour Pilot) rewritten?”
Answer: This is more a question for Brad and Robert who actually wrote Air I, II, and III.
Berry Morris writes: “ I was wondering, on some episodes of Stargate Atlantis that you and Paul wrote, you provided kind of an outline of the way the scenes were written. I loved it! Any chance of that happening for Stargate Universe?”
Answer: Sorry, no, not for SGU.
Shiningwit writes: “*HUGS* for Carl, he’s not skeevy at all, he reminds me of a retired greyhound I know called StigJ”
Carl Binder writes: ““…a retired greyhound”?!!!!!”
Shiningwit writes: “He’s a really sweet retired greyhound….”
Answer: Okay, referring to my buddy Carl as skeevy is one thing, but comparing him to a retired greyhound is going too far…
Oh. Uh, never mind.
Marie-Lyne writes: “The picture of Marty G., behind Carl on the wall… does it really say “Thanks for the baby”? Hahaha, what’s up with that?”
Answer: When you’re in show business, fans tend to gift you with all sorts of cool items like chocolate, artwork, and the occasional baby. I prefer chocolate.
Chevron7 writes: “Joe, just did a search and apparently you can check your feed stats through the dashboard. Worth a look.”
Answer: Oddly, this feature doesn’t display on my dashboard.
Michael Jones writes: “The dust devil that led Lt. Scott to the lime… an Ascended Ancient bending the rules?”
Answer: I don’t know. At the risk of spoiling the rest of the season for me, I haven’t read any scripts past those for the first three episodes.
Michael Jones also writes: “What became of the fools who went through the Gate to that other planet the ship had locked out?”
Answer: That remains a mystery. But the fact that they didn’t respond to Eli’s communication attempts suggests the worst.
Michael Jones also writes: “Who or what took the Shuttle that detached from Destiny at the end?”
Answer: That wasn’t a shuttle.
Michael Jones also writes: “And exactly why did they not use the Keno to scout for the lime?”
Answer: The kino can test for atmospheric conditions, even send back telemetry like a MALP, but it can’t go digging for soil samples.
Thornyrose writes: “But it’s contrived that not only was this secret base attacked(I strongly suspect that the issue will be covered in later episodes) but that the relatively minor surface damage was sufficient to trigger a planet wide explosion.”
Answer: Yes, more on the circumstances of the attack later in the season. As for the “relatively minor surface damage”, it was actually some major damage to a very specific section, the power conduits feeding massive amounts of energy to the gate from the planet’s naquadria core.
Scott Boyd writes: “Of course, why her mother had clearance to know what had happened in the first place….”
Answer: She’s the wife of a U.S. Senator heavily involved in the program.
Sylvia writes: “WHy did Telford in Young’s body start giving commands and trying to take control of what people on the Destiny were doing? Generally, this can be so counter productive when there are limited resources.”
Answer: Yes, it can be pretty darned counter-productive. Stay tuned.
T’loc writes: “Do we find out what happen to the 2 individuals who went through to the other plant?
Do they have enough knowledge of stargate ie gate addresses to dial gates ala the mcKay-carter gate-bridge to get home?”
Answer: We’re left to wonder, and the fact that they went through without a remote also suggests they won’t be dialing out from their new home planet.
Juralas writes: “Jamil’s delivery of every line in that scene made it my favourite for the episode.
“You think that’s why I’m annnngry?”
“WALK OR DIE HERE. It’s your choice, Mr….Decision Maker.””
Answer: YES! One of the many things we love about the guy. He’s got an incredibly dynamic onscreen presence.
Matt Boesch writes: “My Question is this (more like two questions) “will there be a Opening Credits scene (like a full one minute one or the current one being shown? and two why is there no title at the beginning after the cold opening like “Air, Part 3 and then the guest stars name after that?”
Answer: Nope, sadly no open credit sequence like SG-1 or Atlantis. As for the lack of onscreen episode titles, it was a creative decision.
Deni writes: “Elway’s finally back home as of yesterday evening, but will be going to the neurologist at the University of Florida on Monday, just to make sure he’s ok.”
Answer: Hoping the best for Elway. Please keep us posted.
Alex Deva writes: “Was the sand creature always CGI?”
Answer: Yes.
Alex Deva also writes: “The new device you use on stage for the Stargate puddle, it’s like a solid (projection?) screen, right? So when Eli pokes his arm through it, that’s CGI, correct?”
Answer: That is correct.
Michael Linn writes: “Now onto what’s been bugging me, since the Beginning of SG-1 the gate(s) on earth have had room for a nine symbol address, other then location, what made the Icarus gate so important?”
Answer: It was the planet’s naquadria core that could provide the vast amount of power necessary to dial a nine symbol address.
Flappo writes: “ As I’ve seen the third episode I think Rush had a real hard life in his youth, working two jobs for being able to sudy. Will we get more backround information about the other characters to?”
Answer: Yes, as the series progresses, we’ll learn more about all of our main players.
J writes: “You say ” … we were limited by time and simple logic. ” I get the timeline part of this. But, not to be harsh, don’t you all create the logic?”
Answer: Yes, but there’s a difference between including something that fits easily within the body of the story you are presenting and forcing an element into the mix.
Rex Carter writes: “ Also any puddle jumpers on the destiny or just the 2 shuttles and will they be able to use the shuttle sen armstrongs body is in and also bury him?”
Answer: No jumpers. We’ll learn more about those shuttles in time.
Laura H. writes: “You guys really love Anna Galvin, don’t you? The first non-regular to be in all three shows.”
Answer: Along will Bill Dow (Dr. Lee) and Harriman (Gary Jones).
Malibunextyear writes: “I still only have one question, hoping you can pass it along! Where is my damn poster???”
Answer: Great question!
Rednor writes: “She introduced herself as her father’s aide, not his daughter. When he started his speech at the dinner, she started guzzling wine. There was definite conflict here, or inconsistency in the writing.”
Answer: How so? She prefers that someone’s first impression of her be based on her accomplishments rather than who she is related to. In the dinner scene, she was embarrassed by the attention her father was throwing her way. How is this inconsistent?
Tammy Dixon writes: “Are you saying that you aren’t talented enough to convey this relationship without a sex scene?”
Answer: Uh, we’re not the ones that who had a problem with the scene so it was never an issue for us. It would be like me accusing you of writing an untalented comment because you wrote it in English rather than French.
Col. Mustard writes: “Something that I noticed about Air II while watching Air III, what was Dr. Lee doing in Rush’s body while Rush was in Lee’s?”
Answer: Yes.
Rebecca H. writes: “It was my impression that the communication stones could be used only once, by one person, and that there are only five of them. Are they reusable, and by multiple people?”
Answer: Yes, they are reusable by multiple people as will become clear in upcoming episodes.
I enjoyed Air III, man was it bright after being so dark. I loved Eli’s Planet of the Apes reference……
I liked TJ taking charge and saying that it wasn’t right that Telford was not taking care of Young’s body…
So flipping channels and stopped at SciFi – happened to notice a few familiar faces..Nicole deBoer, Sebastian Spence, the guy from the Aschen (love those episodes)….So was curious and looked it up on ImDB….8 of the actors on the first cast page had been in either SG1 or SGA. It’s fun to see familiar faces, but not watching the movie NYC: Tornado Terror, as the SCFI orginal movies have been horrible…
Regarding the 2 that went thru to the other plant, is it possible that the reason why the gate addresses were “locked out” was because those gates are space gates and the ship realize that its shuttles are not operational so it allows only the planetary gate to be opened.
Joe, there are 3 O’s in my name!! Good thing though is that it keeps those that don’t pay attention from spamming me.
On a side note, I’ve looked and looked for the KINO videos and can’t find them. Can ya point me in the right direction?
oh and my intitials before marriage were TJ..Though my name is not Tamara, it is Tammy.
I just watched the video, it’s cool.
“As for the lack of onscreen episode titles, it was a creative decision.”
Mind re-instating that next season perhaps? I really like the title of the episodes being shown. You should also maybe have more fun with it like Japanese sized episode titles like “The rat finds no purchase in life without hair color.” or “Some say we walk with a little tilt” What gripping titles those would be!
Thanks for the good wishes, Joe. He did much better today, actually went outside with Mr. Deni to play “soccer” (he scores many goals), had a blast and is now sleeping soundly, finally. The problem is that he usually has seizures while he sleeps, so I can’t take my eyes off him for a few days, but at least he’s resting. He’s had a bad case of Mommyitis today and that worries me because it usually precedes seizures, but so far, so good. The neurologist that sees him at UF is a brilliant guy, so I’m cautiously optimistic it’ll just be a matter of re-adjusting meds.
Otherwise, skipping through any comments on Friday’s show, hoping to watch on Monday! Have a good night 😉
Cool clip – love the appearance. Won’t make any comments regard the photos of Carl and the Greyhound.
Guess you have a bit of a moral victory in that Mom did tune into the SGU without your telling her to.
Yeah, like Gracey said – viewing other shows and seeing familiar faces is cool. And, also agree, sometimes what is there is difficult to watch in spite of the familiar faces. sigh.
Thanks for the clip and mailbag.
Col. Mustard writes: “Something that I noticed about Air II while watching Air III, what was Dr. Lee doing in Rush’s body while Rush was in Lee’s?”
Answer: Yes.
Of course! Now it makes complete since. I can’t believe I didn’t see that.
Fantastic episode, and a wonderful start to a new series. I know I’m in love with a show when I find my mind wandering back to the characters, wondering/imagining what will happen next to them.
As well as where they’re going to get more toilet paper when that runs out. 🙂
The greyhound/Carl pictures were priceless. On the plus side, greyhounds are handsome animals, and there’s no shame in resembling one. Equally priceless is your recounting of the conversation with your mother. How lucky that you have someone so capable of deflating any hint of an obersized ego. ” They’re still walking”. You can’t even get angry because she is giving an accurate, if hardly complete, account of what is happening in those scenes.
The mailbag is appreciated as always. not that I expect an answer, but does the “not a shuttle” that left the ship have something to do with the more-battered than would be expected condition of Destiny?
As far as the now infamous sex scene, my attitude is “ho hum”. Randy, healthy young people in exotic places are probably not going to settle for cold showers to relieve their hormones. But I do think that a warning for those who have children watching, or who avoid those kinds of scenes would have been appropriate. Something the PTB might want to consider. If nothing else, it might help attract those in the demographic groups that they are seeking. The biggest concern I have here is that there is pressure for the show to be more like BSG, and that such scenes will be thrown in simply to keep that demographic group watching.
One last thing I’d like to comment on is about Rush. Over the last few days I’ve seen comparisons of Rush to Dr. Smith of Lost in Space fame. I’d like to point out that the Dr. Smith of the pilot and first few episodes was one of the great villians of tv history. He had intellegence, nerve, and a strong survival instinct that kept him from being spaced by the Robinsons. It’s a shame that LiS was dumbed down and Smith turned into a cartoon character. I’d be thrilled to have a streak of the original Dr. Smith to be manifested in Rush’s character. Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions and keep us entertained with pictures, videos, and all the other fun stuff you do here.
Joe!!!! Come on man…. I know patience is a virtue but this is killing me. Maybe tomorrow is my day 🙂
Joe – about that sex scene. I was gonna let it drop, but (youpickedontammy)…
I think the ‘issue’ those of us who were offended by it have is this – NOT that there was a sex scene, but that the scene was not tastefully done. What might seem tame to you may be quite shocking to others, afterall, not everyone who has a tv set watches porn, or nighttime dramas, or soap operas, or Showtime and HBO. Many of us (it seems) are not regularly exposed to in-yer-face sexual intercourse in the shows we choose to watch, and will avoid those that step over the line. For me, that scene stepped well over the line, and far beyond my comfort zone.
The complaint (and concern) that I have is that I know there were many other ways to handle the scene without it being so explicit. That makes me (can’t speak for others) suspect that it was done in that particular way solely for shock value and/or titillation…or worse, for desensitization. Whatever message it was meant to convey was lost on me, despite reading comments about explaining the purpose of the scene. So, from where I am standing it was a pointless, ineffective scene that made me embarrassed for the actors, and put me off the first half of the episode. I wouldn’t say that it was a very smart move, whatever the purpose for it was.
das
If you look closely at the end shot(well ok slomotion) you can see its ship firing up after exiting the surface of the Destiny, hmm, the plot thickens. Oh goody another mystery!! Those sunburns made me feel for the actors, like they were for real. good job.I am thirsty also, thanks a lot.
@deni, hope your baby will be better. and you get some rest.
-I love your conversation with your mom Joe, she seems to have lost interest when you weren’t involved in this one, she’s such a cool mom. and I will look for the friendship cake recipe again. I need cake!!
Have a great day!!
Last time on Stargate Universe:
“Answer: Really? Her father just died! Should she have just sucked it up and moved on to more important matters?”
Well she could, however she could have flagellated her self, impaled her self on sharp objects and cried an ocean of tears – as long as we didn’t have to see it.
Kino shutting the door: “And how exactly were they supposed to do that?”
Regardless of explanation, I would say the (production) team failed big time on this:
Everywhere I go, in newsgroups, on blogs, or with real life humans (you can touch them!) the vast majority of them are all saying “why didn’t they use the kino” and have opinions ranging from bad writing to stupid characters. Perhaps one of those lantern moments.
Sex scene: I’m with DasNdanger and wonder if 10 years from now the special directors cut blueray edition of the pilot will have a commentary track talking about how the scene was removed since it was not necessary but the studio thought it would go down well with the younger demographic.
“But Jamil Walker Smith blew us away with his audition and landed the role.”
Well he’s certainly good at presenting a totally unlikeable character of the kind where you hope death will claim them at the first opportunity. Perhaps an unfortunate episode with an airlock?
“Also, it will be interesting to read the response to the Greer character after tonight’s episode. ”
Still rooting for the airlock.
“After we were done, I asked them which character they liked best”.
Lieutenant General O’Neill.
“True, but anywhere he dialed he would have been putting lives at risk.”
Isn’t a better retcon: He only knows the address to Icarus base, he hasn’t memorized the rest of the phone book! *g*
(Also, Icarus – tempting fate – next they’ll change the name of the ship to Titanic!)
“Any aliens originating from any of these new galaxies will be very different from the aliens we’ve encountered in either the Milky Way or Pegasus.”
I say, didn’t that desert dust cloud have a guest role in SG1’s Absolute Power? 😉
“She’s the wife of a U.S. Senator heavily involved in the program.”
And friend of the president. But then aren’t we all.
And now, the continuation:
Well, rarely do you get an episode where you need sunglasses, was half expecting them to run into a red double decker bus.
However not enough spaceships, and too much whining from people I don’t know and don’t care about.
Though its an excellent re-use of the stones – lots of potential for guest stars (are we sure Adria is dead? I’m sure Morena Baccarin will be available for a guest shot as soon as they cancel “V” 😉
Would i would have liked to have seen: Sending the Kino way up and pan around, and chose a direction based on that.
And a lot of swearing and possibly a bit of punching. (Perhaps less sex and more swearing? That’s young too, right? *g*)
Liked the music: When it was channeling Blade Runner.
Hated the music: When the guy was singing, doing a noisy music video in space, driving home the point that this is for the young demographic.
Fear: Endless episodes of people whining over how terrible life is and relatives threatening to sue God *unless you save X* (and then cry from commercial to commercial)
*Spoilers*
So… Lt. Scott is an angst-ridden orphan who was raised by an alcoholic priest after his parents died in a car crash and who blames himself for the priest drinking himself to death after Scott’s 16-year-old girlfriend had an abortion.
Seriously?
Are you sure you didn’t mix up his back story from an upcoming SNL parody?
Hi, loved the show so far. And interesting that the Col. emptied a bag to put the stones in the bag to take with. Meaning they were part of the bases normal equipment, plus DR. Lee was sitting by the other stones in Home World Security.
1. Is the stones regular off world devices now?
2. During the dinner Chloe started to drink a little too much… then later on in part three her mom did the same thing when learning of them being on a far off ship. Could that be a sign of problems to come later on? Granted there is not much wine for anyone to drink on the ship.
3. You have said the planet had a naquadria core. Thus it can cause a big bang like destroying the planet. Since we did see that in SG1 when the new (after hammond quit) general used a nuke to set a planet of naquada on fire.
But from what I recall the naquadria was just known in Jonus(sp?) home world. And that was later shown to be because a gould created it from experiments but naquadria was not natural. Does that mean Icarus base was modified by the same gould in the past?
4. I dont know if I buy that the Destiny was never maned before. Because why would their be crew quarters with beds, life support or shuttles in the first place if no one was ever to be on it?
5. I dont mean to be nit pickey but how many places can some officers be assigned? Walter and Lee now at the Pentagon, plus how many ships can (think his name is Marks) he serve on?
P.S. Joe, Are you doing anything special for your birthday?
Oh, man. Joe, your mother sounds a bit like mine. Love her dearly, I do, but I do believe the two of them could get together and pull a joint stint for those audio overviews.
SGU is getting better every hour.
@ Joe – I liked Air 3 a lot better than the premiere. It made a lot more sense to me, people-wise. I also liked Greer, and I think that Jamil is fantastic. Everything Greer did in Air 3 made a lot of sense to me, even things that may have seen a bit off the wall, but in that episode, it all made sense. In fact, in this episode, Greer was my hand’s-down favorite.
Honestly, though, regarding Greer, looking at Air 1 and 2, can you not see why there would be at least some criticism of the idea of the way his character was introduced (ie, the stereotypic angry young black man)? It really could not have been more stereotypical if it were deliberate (which I’m sure it wasn’t).
The first time you meet him, he’s locked up, and then he almost attacks an unarmed and much smaller woman. He’s the only person we see stealing food. Now, eventually we may buy the reasons for those things, but that’s how he was introduced. It was like watching the evening news not so many years ago when the first thing one heard if a young male was accused of a crime was the color of his skin; also, his almost-attack of a woman and the fact that he was stealing, again, bad, negative, even vicious stereotypes.
In Air 3, though, everything he said and did made sense in context, and, although I was somewhat uncomfortable with the way he treated Rush, Rush deserved it and Greer actually saved his sorry life. And Jamil is fabulous.
Back to Air 3 – I really liked the dust devils. That was cool. I agree with Das – I like it that there was a mystery about exactly what they were, but I assumed that an Ascended Ancient was behind them. Or at least some kind of alien life form.
It was also plausible to me that some folks would think they knew better than the others and would try to go off to another planet, especially if they had the dialing-thing with them. So Curtis and Palmer are stranded and probably dead. Harsh, but that would be the reality they’re dealing with. Everyone has to learn to live together and find a way of dealing. Or they’ll die.
I liked TJ and thought her actions made a lot of sense; I liked her taking charge and being the medical officer she has to be. Of course, Telford is going to be way pissed at her, but I liked her attitude about it.
Aside from TJ and the idiot who went through the Stargate to God-knows-where, the women might as well not have existed in this episode. Not to mention that one of the idiots who went to their deaths was a woman who was a scientist and otherwise smart, so a woman who otherwise had some brains was killed off right away. It’s 2009 already, nearly 2010: in real life, women have roles to play that are at least equal to and important as those of men, and I think that an SF tv show should reflect that. SGU has taken a giant step back from SG1 and Atlantis in this regard.
What I seriously disliked and found implausible in Air 3 was the scene with Chloe and her mother. First, it was too soap opera-ish to have two characters in one episode going for the booze. That was overkill to me; the priest I found jarring, but it didn’t seem impossible especially when it was later established that he died from alcoholism.
However, I didn’t see any particular reason for that Chloe’s mother to be tossing back the alcohol like that except to make the phrase “character-based” equivalent to “soap opera.” Yeah, she’s under stress and is facing something mind-boggling, but she looked more like a lush than someone who was facing something mind-boggling. The drinking was overkill. A good actor is capable of portraying stress, fear and grief without something so cliched as tossing back booze in the middle of the day.
Also, when she was told her husband was dead, I found the dramatics completely unbelievable and totally contrived: it looked more like bad acting than it looked like a woman finding out her husband was dead. I, as everyone else has, have experienced grief, but I’ve never fallen on the floor, and no one I know who has ever learned of a loved one’s death has done that either. I was at work when I learned that my mother was dead – and I didn’t go screaming and falling all over the place, nor did I have the urge to do so. Chloe’s mother’s behavior was soap opera dramatics. It was way overdone. Now I understand why Chloe’s a drama queen. But I did like Mom’s threat to go public about the Stargate program: that I believed.
And speaking of soap opera: Scott’s back-story now is more soap opera than Days of Our Lives. How many more tragedies can you pack into one character’s history and make it believable and not a joke? Again, tragedies happen and people have to learn to live with them, but when a person’s history includes almost every possible tragedy, it gets to be ridiculous. Tragically dead parents, raised by an alcoholic priest who also died tragically, blamed himself for said death, headed for the priesthood but he got a girl pregnant and she got an abortion? I’m sure if you searched you could find people whose lives are really like this, but even then, you’d be screaming soap opera! Less is more sometimes. (Which I should probably consider when I write these long messages).
Speaking of backgrounds, bring on the tiny violins for Rush! He’s not the only person who grew up poor and had to work very hard to get an education (and here, I know personally of which I speak). It still doesn’t justify him being a jerk. If he’s as smart as he’s being portrayed, he also would have had lots of scholarships.
Back to Air 1 and 2 – Referencing your reply to Das about the sex scene in Air 1, yes, it’s true that reaction to the sex scene was a matter of opinion, and clearly none of you in the writing and producing staff were of the opinion that it was a bad idea. (I kind of figure that if you had, it wouldn’t have been in the episode, which is why I find it so strange given Brad’s recut of COTG).
Certainly some viewers who have spoken to the issue don’t have a problem with the sex scene either, and some actually liked it. But it certainly looks to me like the vast majority of people speaking here and there to the issue didn’t like it and found it inappropriate. That doesn’t mean that either side is right or wrong; it’s not an objective thing OR a numbers game, really. You can’t have a vote for every possibly objectionable scene or story point; if you tried, you wouldn’t be able to tell a story.
However, the fairly widely held opinion that the scene was too much does or should matter, even if you don’t agree. It seems fairly clear that you lost some viewers due to that scene, and a lot of people who watched SG1 and Atlantis with their kids aren’t going to do the same with SGU. I think that’s a big loss.
I saw part of Air 1 and 2 last night before I switched over to Smallville (and then I switched back and forth between SGU and Smallville until Air 3 came on) and I liked that scene even less on what is my third viewing. It’s too explicit (yes, in my opinion), and frankly, I find it extremely distasteful and embarrassing to watch. If what was being set up was something about the characters of these two people, what it established was that they don’t care a damn about the uniforms they wear or the duties they are supposed to perform. They also lack a certain amount of respect for themselves if they’re having sex in a closet while they’re on duty.
That they were both on duty is simply appalling to me and is a nasty statement about the military. I simply find it fantastically impossible that the SGC would ever assign military personnel who are the type who would be having sex while on duty to a posting of such importance.
I wouldn’t have a problem with the two having a sexual relationship while off duty. I still wouldn’t want to see anything as explicit as this one if they were off duty, but the scene wouldn’t have been nearly as insulting to the military had they been off duty. I would prefer a much more subtle scene, but two young people having sex while off duty isn’t a problem for me or even all that surprising.
While on duty, though?
Also, you’d think that a man who had already gotten one person pregnant would think twice about stupid sex. What it says about Scott’s character is not good.
I’m also w/Das on her follow up on this scene – the scene was pointless, ineffective and embarrassing. If I ever watch Air 1 again, I’m fast-forwarding through it and pretending it wasn’t there.
Re darkness on the ship – yeah, I get it, the ship is dark, power is being conserved, etc. Of course it is. However, when what is being shown is too dark for us to see it, something is going wrong with the filming. I have seen many night scenes on tv where it’s clear that it’s a dark night without a moon, for example, but I don’t get eyestrain trying to figure out what is going on or even who is in the scene.
Re Rush’s character and his choice to dial the 9th chevron because of the possibility of the explosion transferring back to Earth – sure, it’s a possibility, but it wasn’t Rush’s decision to make. I also don’t for a second buy it that it was his reason for dialing the address with the 9th chevron: it may have been an excuse, but it wasn’t a reason. So far, we haven’t seen anything in his character that shows he gives a damn for anyone but himself and the woman in the picture, whom I am assuming was his wife (since he wears a wedding ring). And likely dead wife at that.
The possibility of the explosion transferring through the wormhole existed for wherever the 9th chevron took them, even to the Destiny. For all Rush knew, the address was for a populated planet just like Earth. He had no idea where the wormhole went. So the “reasoning,” insofar as he was engaging in reasoning, applied no matter where the wormhole went. Earth vs Alpha site? Go the Alpha site. That’s at least one of the reasons why it exists.
Rush is very good at coming up with excuses for his behavior. He’s selfish and a liar, and a fairly good liar at that. He’s also like a child pointing fingers at other people; that business in Air 3 of him saying right away that Greer shot the guy was correct, but he failed to say that there was a reason. So far, I still think he’s a psychotic bastard. If the tragedies he has experienced are going to be the excuses for his behavior, it might be good to remember that many in your audience have faced tragedies as bad or worse and yet don’t behave badly.
Re the ship being damaged and the type of damage it has – given the age of the ship and where it’s been (all over hell and gone, basically) I certainly find plausible that the exterior of the ship has a lot of damage and has systems that are failing. I wouldn’t find the converse plausible.
Hull breaches and exterior dirt and damage make more sense than the ship looking all new and shiny; space has a lot more dirt and dust and rocks and miscellaneous stuff floating around and running into other things than we used to think. It would also make sense that it had come under attack numerous times. However, some of the interior damage doesn’t make a lot of sense at this point in time.
Re the Hammond’s pathetic performance against the Lucien Alliance: I still don’t find it plausible that the Hammond couldn’t defeat the Lucien Alliance hatacks. It has Asgard weaponry, and I doubt very much that the Lucien Alliance could have advanced as far as the Asgard. I also don’t believe that Earth hasn’t continued to advance in its own right. One of the cool things about technological development is that it tends to expand exponentially.
Finally, it occurs to me that while there are still things I don’t like about SGU, you’ve got me watching, as well as thinking and talking about it. That’s a success – which I’m sure you realize.
Hmm, another finally: you’re mother is a scream!
@Das – buy a new keyboard! They’re cheap! They’re so cheap that I have three or four in my big box of miscellaneous computer parts in the basement!
@Gregoryfinch – I easily believed that the attackers were the Lucien Alliance, although I agree with you that there could have been other possibilities. Still, given that someone from the Lucien Alliance is going to appear in three episodes somewhat later down the line than where we’re at now, it makes sense to me. And I have a theory (which may be completely off base, but what the heck! it’s just a theory). Remember Seska on Voyager? Of course, given the Ancient communication stones, this character might not be on Destiny, but it seems more likely to me that she’s on Destiny now and not on Earth.
Mary
Just for Carl…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6bDxCN8IYY
🙂
das
Hi Joe!
Watched Air III twice and really enjoyed it both times. Again with the “Wow” factor. 🙂
SPOILERS
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Really liked how it all came together and the White Sands area was so gorgeous.
The inter-character dynamic was interesting – how Curtis & Blonde Science Lady (sorry, forgot her name!) were so distrusting of Rush they were willing to risk going to another planet without a way to return. (With unhappy results, I believe.)
I wasn’t sure if I’d like the Ancient comm. device, but I see a lot of potential in using them to connect with Earth, but still be separate by many, many, many galaxies.
I’m not sure I’m into Chloe yet. I did like her scenes with her mom, but one small thing is her mom’s drinking seemed a bit cliche. I dunno. It’s not that her mom couldn’t handle this extremely stressful situation by drinking, but the whole pouring whiskey into a crystal glass just felt a bit OTT. Anna Galvin was great, so it’s no criticism on her acting.
Overall, loved the storyline.
@ Margaret No one said Lt. Scott drove his priest guardian to drink himself to death.
Really loved the Planet of the Apes ref by Eli.
Gotta go – pets are demanding attention.
eddy
I guess I must’ve missed the opening credits, Only thing I saw was the 5 second SGU flash intro Syfy likes to air.
Will episode 4 have the official theme song intro?
Took me FOREVER to get to your page last night, then when tried to post wouldn’t let me.
Anyway, I have to be honest… I really do. OMG, loved last night’s episode. I am hooked. It was exciting, fun, intense. Leora said she is addicted. I am a happy camper. Thank you.
I am also with Das on the sex scene. It could have been handled a different way. A way that conveys they are having sex, without actually showing it. If I described on your blog in writing what I saw, it would be pornography. You said this show was targeting a younger audience yet I would not let any child of mine, under 18, watch that. Unfortuneately, sex sells and you guys know that. I still don’t understand what kind of character traits you were trying to impress. Are graphic sex scenes going to be a recuring event aboard the Destiny? Tammy Dixon was right. The writers lack discerning awareness of who could be watching.
Is there any chance you could post some shots of the Kino remote?
Responding to Mary–I didn’t notice Mrs. Anderson falling. I’ve fallen to my knees in shock at a happier occasion, so I accept the artistic choice.
Someone mentioned O’Neill? I think it’s realistic that he’s written & portrayed as older, wiser and graver.
I missed the premiere of SGU… 🙁 but I did catch the third episode (will catch the premiere on hulu as soon as my toddler stops interrupting me LOL)… it definitely caught my interest, I like the darker, edgier tone personally although my husband isn’t so big on it (the lighter tone of SG-1 drew him, but I love shows like Fringe, Dexter…).
I have to confess though I’m confused by the characters so hopefully as I watch I’ll be able to figure out their names. Thus far, I only know Eli’s name… 😀
I also thought there was a lot of sand. And it WAS very white…
@Mary – Totally agree with you on the Greer character. But, maybe we will see him being redeemed. Rush may be a jerk character (at least for now), but I have a hard time believing that even Greer would threaten to shoot him for asking for water – even if it really was only a threat like Rush pointed out.
Joe….first wanted to say really enjoying SGU so far and just a quick question…..I have been contemplating since the premiere of SGU about how if Destiny is an Ancient ship wouldn’t there be a need for the gene to activate things on the ship and get things to work better even if it is just initializing whatever so others can use it….to cut to the point of all my rambling i guess i am wondering if this is something that is going to get addressed, already was and in my multiple viewings i somehow missed it, or is not going to get addressed and we just need to live with not knowing……
Feel like I forgot something…
Mrs. Armstrong and security clearance: It’s entirely conceivable that DoD /USAF at least interviewed her as part of her husband’s clearance process. I was interviewed for my husband’s clearance renewal, about halfway through his federal civilian career.
Still fell like something’s missing. Probably my multiple posts and emails fogging my brain. G’nite.
Carl might look like a greyhound, but at least he’s a good-looking greyhound!
Thanks for the laughs. 😀
@Joe So, by “aquaria” yesterday, you meant “naquadria” right? Which is a huge source of power, and yet is incredibly unstable. If this is confusing to people, perhaps you should direct them to SG-1 on Hulu, specifically seasons 5, 6, and 7? It’s all introduced/clarified there. 😀
Non-spoilery question: Was the song/lyrics at the end written specifically for this episode? It’s just too perfectly worded NOT to be! And Alexi Murdoch’s voice is delicious! 😀
SPOILERS Air Part 3:
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My Air Part 3 Thoughts:
1) I was NOT watching in HD, but I did NOT see Eli’s arm at the end. Perhaps I should iTunes it in HD?
2) Shooting in New Mexico was totally worth it. At first I thought that the stargate itself was EXCELLENT CGI, but then John Lenic said on Twitter that they actually brought a stargate to the location. Also WORTH IT! The whole sequence was incredible.
3) Loved the background on Matt Scott and Rush. Not sure how much I trust Rush’s self-reported “history” but at least I see him as less of a snob now. Scott’s history is something I’m having a harder time reconciling with his actions in parts 1 and 2… if he got a girl pregnant at 16, surely he would learn not to sleep around? Unless that was the last straw and his faith was shattered after that. Looking forward to more clarification on that particular aspect of Lt. Scott, and hope I don’t have to wait too many more episodes to get it.
4) LOVED the ending. That’s going to be my laptop wallpaper quote and picture. ‘Nuff said.
5) Camera movements were not so bad this time around. And I could actually see the actors’ faces most of the time. Different director/DP? Or the ibuprofen I took beforehand working? Either way, I could handle it, YAY!
6) LOVED the music! Joel Goldsmith is a musical god!
7) The chemistry between Jamil, Brian, and David is awesome. Felt very real.
8) I love how the exposed parts of Eli and Matt’s skin was red. Very realistic, and a great detail that could easily have been overlooked but wasn’t.
Also, I wanted to say that the relief on the faces of those who were breathing at the end was very true-to-life. Well played, all.
I have to go with Das, Ponytail and some others on this as well. The sex scene seemed too sudden and out of place and I think didn’t really fully execute the goal of what the scene was trying to ultimately say about the character/s. I am not one to be shocked too easily, except I was a little when my wife (new to SG as of this series) was because I was kind of embarrassed that she was embarrassed. It just seemed too auxiliary to the bigger picture and ultimately the sudden appearance and then end kind of broke that 4th wall without the actors having to actually look at the camera to break it. It still resulted in a lot of us remembering we are watching a show rather than being enthralled in the story. Answering the question of where the characters in a story go to the bathroom by showing them actually in the process of squeezing out a huge one, would be just as distracting to my ability to concentrate and getting lost in the story. But if you start it off with a little intro such as Tellford playing a practical joke on Young by taking mass laxitives while they were body switched in a later episode, the bathroom scene wont be that sudden and, I hate to say it, off putting. So what it boils down to is just the suddenness of it. It seemed just enough “too gratuitous” by how it was presented, that it broke the flow of the show.
@Mary – Also, I wasn’t going to say anything, but since you mentioned the women on the show, I kind of need to get this off of my chest. What you said brought me back to August of this year when there was a fiasco brought about by it leaking that the producers/creators of the show only wanting really skinny women cast on the show (although, it was just one casting description that was leaked.) But, there are hefty guys on the show. Eli is pleasantly plump (bless him, he’s a teddy bear), and the guy that Greer shot to keep him from going through the gate was big. So, it seems like there may be a double-standard. I hope not. But, again, just throwing it out there.
The average size of a women in America is a 14. None of the women on that show look like they are that size, or even close. I know that it’s Hollywood, and/or Canada (don’t know what the equivalent of of Hollywood is there), and the women need to look good. But, there are women that are really pretty that also have a little bit more to them. Again, just throwing this out there.
Peace & Love
j
But I like my keyboard…
🙁
(Mr. Das keeps yelling at me because he can’t see the letters to be able to type on mine. Heh. That kinda sorta prevents him from hogging my computer. 😀 )
I want to say a few things about the characters, but due to the hour I will hold off until tomorrow. I do want to say, however, that I don’t mind Scott’s backstory – people DO have tragic lives.
Here’s a story for you. My foster sister, for instance, was put in an orphanage in India for a period of time when her family was having problems. They eventually got the family back together, and moved to America. Once here, the parents divorced and the mother and grandmother raised the children, preventing the father from having any contact with them. It was not a pleasant life, but for their privacy I won’t go into details. A few years later, the mother died (blood clot or aneurysm), and six months later the grandmother died (heart attack). One of the children – only about 13 or 14 at the time – had two nervous breakdowns during this time, and had to be hospitalized. Their father – due to his personal circumstances – was unable to take the children, although he did provide support and had visitation. So all three kids went into foster care, and since we had known the family for about 8 years, mom and dad took in the oldest girl, and my sister eventually took in the youngest. Less than two years later the father also died. So, here were these three kids – all under the age of 18 and two of which were not American citizens or even in the country legally – and they had nobody except ‘strangers’ to care for them. It really screwed them up emotionally…I mean, the whole ‘journey’ in their young lives, from living in an orphanage to moving to a strange land and then losing all that was familiar to them. People do have crap lives sometimes…so I can certainly buy into Scott’s tragic life. It does happen that way for a lot of people.
das
Jason “The Chef” wrote: “It just seemed too auxiliary to the bigger picture and ultimately the sudden appearance and then end kind of broke that 4th wall without the actors having to actually look at the camera to break it. It still resulted in a lot of us remembering we are watching a show rather than being enthralled in the story.”
THIS.
Thanks so much for saying what I felt, but couldn’t quite pinpoint so as to put into words. This is why it messed up the premiere for me – the scene was so jarring it made me suddenly aware that I was watching a tv show. It disrupted the flow of the story and my ability to be lost in it. When you are uncomfortable or embarrassed for the actors – instead of for the characters – the story has been compromised and it takes awhile to get re-absorbed into it.
How big of a deal is it? Well…just look – a scene that took only a few seconds threw enough people off the pace of the show that it nearly ruined an entire two-hour presentation for many of them. That’s not the way you want to introduce your new baby, and so I do question the wisdom in it.
das
I’m really enjoying the new series, I’m just not sure I like the cuts that lead to commercial. In the premiere JWS delivers the line “…screwed us once… I’m not gone let him do it again” (very well-delivered line) and it immediately goes to commercial. In my case that turned out to be some weird ad that starts off with people singing. It was very off-putting.
A ‘black’ screen might help, it just feels weird the way it is, looking forward to the dvd seamless versions.
@J — Bingo! That’s what I forgot.
I raised the question about real-sized women a few weeks ago. The SG franchise has favored thinner, younger women over the years. Rare exceptions were female characters over 60 and two of the SciFi sweepstakes winners.
I did see one gray-haired lady among the refugees in Air I and hope she was not just a one-time day player.
Joe, as TPTB makes plans for a potential 2nd season, please remind them that women of all shapes and sizes are believable as scientists, wives, mothers, etc. (Military women necessarily are of a narrower size range.)
We know that “Hollywood North” and other film meccas have actresses of all sizes. “DaVinci’s Inquest” seemed to use a wide range of actresses. Wasn’t Ms. Gavin featured as an attorney in that series?
@AV eddy My bad. That should have been worded, “Lt. Scott is an angst-ridden orphan who was raised by an alcoholic priest after his parents died in a car crash, who’s girlfriend had an abortion and who blames himself for “letting down” the priest who “pretty much” drank himself to death when he was 16.”
@Mary
Yeah I’ve seen enough hints of what is coming to see that an alternate theory about who was behind the attack is pretty weak. A shame. Perhaps there were already enough plates up in the air and spinning that they thought introducing more would be too confusing?
I do indeed rememeber Seska and I can see where you are going with that. I see your Seska and raise you a Sikozu for interesting possibilities.
I do think you are onto something about the stones – there is no way of knowing who exactly you are talking to unless they indentify themselves…
That greyhound looks so sad. Carl just looks surprised. I don’t see the comparison.
I haven’t watched AIr III yet. I’m so bummed about that.
To go back to what others were saying, that sex scene was a little jarring. I’m not sure if that was the intent or not. Was it? I know that the show was rated TV14, but that crossed the line. I’m sure many of you here have watched Battlestar Galactica. That sometimes crossed that line too. I was watching with my teenager. Both of us were so embarrassed because we were watching it together. I know that it goes with Scott’s character development, but maybe it could have been handled a little differently.
@Das (cc: JimfromJersey): Was it you who mentioned Cape May? I’m NJ born /raised, lived in southern Hunterdon County, halfway between Ringoes and Hopewell (Mercer County).
Re “real” women again: Joe, TPTB and makeup/costume depts. should also consider that the DESTINY women probably didn’t bring makeup. You’ve mentioned that costume changes are limited by the plot; I posit that makeup should be “natural”.
Leave the creation of lipstick and mascara substitutes to the fan-fic authors. 🙂
Let me preface this by saying I don’t think anybody had some illicit agenda with having a [gratuitous] sex scene. However, I think from what little we know about Lt. Scott’s love life, he might be more inclined to the unconventional and bordering-on-the-unseemly sort of relationship. I mean, just because they show somebody doing something doesn’t mean it’s necessarily a good thing.
@Mary I am just curious, but I think I know the answer… have you ever served in the armed forces? Been overseas, a long way from home, little contact with the regular world, with nowhere to go but the chow hall, work and your rack? I have. Yes, in uniform, on duty. Some people drink, some do drugs, some play video games all night, some become gym rats, some have sex. All obsessive behaviors manifest themselves. And some do those things in uniform, on duty. I had a senior chief who kept a bottle in his desk drawer. Sex while off duty on Icarus base? Where would you propose they go? They can’t visit each other’s rooms, that’s forbidden. And they’re not under scrutiny when they’re supposed to be working, unlike their liberty hours. That’s fraternization, officer and enlisted, they have to hide it. Nope, storage locker when the opportunity arises (ahem) makes perfect real world sense to me.
Lt. Scott is a guy, I’m not surprised certain decisions would be less than stellar. But he likely had a condom handy, the military sends cases of them wherever the troops go. Your tax dollars at work.
Change of topic: I know people who would think “Naquadria” was a perfectly delightful name for a baby girl. Yep.
Which one is older, Atlantis which left to Pegasus 10 million years ago or Destiny?
I was stoked to see that SGU had a geologist. My first thought… please don’t kill her. Oh well.
Air III was interesting. The dust devil effect was perfect, wonderfully done. Joel’s score as usual was fantastic. And I was very happy to hear much more of it in this episode. I hope this is the trend going forward, except for the song. It killed the build-up the score had created. And I thought getting the scrubbers finally working was strangely anticlimactic, especially since the entire episode was centered around it.
I’m still waiting to see which way the show goes. But I’m liking Lou Diamond Philips, a lot. The one thing I still don’t understand from Air I is why were people flying out of the gate and crashing into each other onto Destiny when they seemed to be only running or walking into it from the base side? The guy launched from the explosion at the end I get, the others I don’t.
Also, I’m hoping there’s more than one geo(something) on board Destiny. If there is, and even if that person dies, again, please make him or her smart. I just watched “Megafault” on Syfy and almost gagged. Who writes that tripe?
For the real thing, California is practicing an earthquake drill statewide this coming Friday, at 10:15 AM.
http://www.shakeout.org/
It’s a great way to get prepared, no matter where you live. And always remember to have something above you, like Carl, that can deflect falling debris. Shift Happens! Be safe. (Carl too 🙂 )
Apologies for posting twice, but I just remembered.
It would make more sense that the Hammond is unfinished, then others have advanced past Ori… =|
“Wonderingbrit writes: “One thing that did stand out as an obvious business opportunity for the franchise was the Daniel Jackson training videos – these have so got to be addressed and turned into DVD’s – they’d be hot property to any SGF fan.”
Answer: Yes, they will eventually be finding their way onto either a website or dvd.”
I think what wonderingbrit is thinking of is a set of instructional DVD’s.
(SGC Instructional Videos for SG interns? *laughs*).
Imagine this. The DVD’s would be fully “in-character” (except for the usual publisher logos and stuff that has to be on them),
so the description on the back is “in-character” and there are “classified” logos and whatnot.
The first DVD could use the stuff shot with Daniel Jackson so far, plus have him and a couple writers make more for him to talk about so as to fill out the DVD, divided into topic chapters, various technical data/specs, blueprints, candid shots of “aliens” and ships etc.
Daniel Jackson is all about mythology so I guess his DVD would be focused on that.
Carter would be more about the science and technology.
O’Neil… well he’d prolly just go “meh” and tell some good ol stories from far away planes, and talk about the Asgard maybe. “What did the Asgard say to the Jaffa?” kind of jokes. etc.
Teal’c, well, talking about the Goa’uld would be his field I guess, the system lords etc. And fauna and flora around the milkyway. “The hoopla plant is indeed good for you libido!”
And Walter Harriman could cover various SGC etiquette, and procedures needed before going offworld and when returning, what screening and tests they must take. (stuff we assume all teams go through but we never really see).
And about how moody the dialing computer can be, and the pain it is to dust the gate rings every day.
I’m sure all the fans buying these DVD’s would quickly cover the low budget need to film these and author the DVD content.
A great way to revisit old footage, blueprints, gadgets/props that was either never used, or so briefly used they quickly where forgotten, mixing old, with current, with some new stuff added just for the DVD.
I’ sure the actors wouldn’t mind the DVD royalties so sitting and walking around while talking for a several hours shouldn’t be that big of a “chore” now would it? *wink* It wouldn’t really need to be that high production value, a regular non-steadycam digital camera would lend some authenticity even.
As far as I can recall, no other Sci-Fi (or any show/franchise) has done something of this kind. The closest possibly being Star Wars “docu” DVD’s, and they sell like hotcakes.
Call them something ala the Stargate Legacy dvds or sumpt.
A great chance for actors to say/do stuff they’d never get a chance to do in the regular shows, and a chance for staff/actors/cgi/props to present stuff that would normally not see the light of day, and maybe even help expand the Stargate mythology in the process.
Now print this out and run Joe, to um, whoever would be really geared to run with this (who’d that be? No idea, your the guy with the know! Ya know. *grin*).
Just start with one DVD if that works out great, do more.
I dont know if this has been asked yet but when Will you guys find about a renewal for Season Two of Universe?
Joseph, je suis très en colère. Vous avez dit dans la réponse à Michael Linn que Icarus était spéciale car son coeur contenait du Naqquadriah. Mais je croyais que, comme ça a souvent été dit dans Sg1 , que le Naqquadriah n’était présent que sur la planète de Jonas car c’était un élément =>ARTIFICIEL<= dérivé du Naquadah. Voilà ma question: Pourquoi y a-t-il du naqquadriah sur Iacrus si c'est un élément qui ne se trouve pas dans la nature ?
Bon, c'est pas grave. Bonne journée quand même Joseph.
@Jason “The Chef”: I dunno; for the sake of novelty value, I’d like to see the number of words in the episode title increase in sync with the season number. That way, the networks have the added insentive to renew the show, just to see how much the writers squirm trying to come up with a set of twenty five-word episode titles…
As for the sex scene, I managed to find it online (we didn’t get it aired over here in the UK). Sorry guys, but I don’t see what the big deal is. Maybe its because I’m a guy of roughly Scott’s age and it didn’t phase me… but I actually paid more attention to the comedy element of Scott ignoring his radio, rather than what (or who) he was actually doing.
It put the exchance with James later on into context as well. Brian is fantastic at slipping in little nuances to his performance: the fact that he was so awkward around her, coupled with the sex scene, leads me to conclude that they had a predominantly physical relationship going on there, rather than anything long-term. So, if Scott winds up being shipped with Chloe or whatever, he’s not gonna have dumped his girlfriend to do it… just broken off a just-for-sex type thing.
Thought it was nicely handled, too – I heard some comparisons of it to Battlestar Galactica, but lets be real here. If it was Battlestar, one or other of them would have wandered around naked for five minutes either before or after, with their modesty only just preserved by strategically placed furniture. 😛
I took my tape of SGU over for Mum & Dad to watch but was unable to stay and watch it with them. I stopped by this morning and had the following conversation with my mum, a Stargate fan (I may have edited out a few lines but this is a rough estimation).
Me: So, did you watch the SGU tape?
Mum: Yes……ah I was a little confused.
Me: Did you get that it was going back & forth in time. It started in the middle of the action when they gated onto the ship.
Mum: Yes I got that. Sometimes I wasn’t sure where they were. So when does it finish?
Me: The next part is on Friday night. This was the first two episodes.
Mum: Oh, I thought it was a movie. I was confused when they said SG1 was coming up next.
Me: They showed an old episode of SG1 after SGU. This is a new TV show.
Mum: Oh it was quite good….but you know……I miss Sheppard.
Me: Yes………we all do.
Mum: Can you tell Joe next week that I miss him?
Me: Sure Mum.
So you know…..if your mother doing audio commentaries doesn’t pan out, perhaps you could audition my Mum and I. It could be a different way to go……or not.
Cheers, Chev
Hey Joe, What on Earth was that video? Mumbling in space or am I going deaf?
Cheers, Chev
I’ll sum up what everybody’s been meaning to say in two words: Awesome work!
Great blog too ;D
Really enjoyed Air 3, it was better than the first two episodes imo. Sure, it can be summed up in ‘they go to a desert planet, shit happens, and they ultimately fix the air system’, but I like those slow episodes. Leaves more room for character interaction. Nice to see more characters, in the first episodes with the overdose of Robert Carlyle I was afraid it was going to be ‘the Dr. Rush show’. But it was good to see there was some screentime for the other characters as well. Especially liked Greer, I was afraid he was going to be another Teal’c/Ronon clone but was pleasantly surprised.
Some points I’d like to mention:
– The scene between Chloe and her mother felt forced, and I think it was because of the music. It was like ‘yeah, we know this scene is emotional, no need to overdo it with the dramatic music’. The scene would’ve been more powerful without the music, imo.
– Nice job with the background of the characters in this episode. Now only hoping there’s some more development in it, with the occasional flashback, as well as fleshing out the additional characters. Greer, for instance… It’s clear something happened to him, and I’m curious to what. Also, how come he was in ‘prison’ in the first episode? What were the charges?
– In addition to the above, it would be awesome to have flashbacks with a character in Pegasus or the MW while he/she was serving Atlantis or the SGC. Would be great to see battles against Wraith, Goa’uld or Replicators in the new shooting style, as well as a couple of old (perhaps dead) faces we’d otherwise never seen again, while developing the character that the flashbacks are about. One can always dream 😛
– I’m curious as to how the several storylines are going to be handled. I.e., Chloes mother threatened to go public with the Stargate programme, will that story be actively developed across several episodes, or will it be done the old way (not reference it for a season and then pick up the story to deal with it in a full episode)? Would be nice to have several storylines being told throughout the season instead of having one storyline per episode.
@Shadow Step All that negative is going to lead to an ulcer buddy! Holy crap, just quit watching already!
Joe, Show’s going great! I love it, and find myself not being able to wait for Friday nights once again:) It’s a good Stargate Friday night feeling! I’m married, so it’s not like I have dates on Friday nights. However, I have been called T.J. since July 17th 1980, and I’m a guy. So now my wife teases me that I have a girls name. HMMMM.
pleeeeeeeeeease dont do the religion thing, we all know its gonna end badly either way but at least end it with some originality. usually stories like this want to come full circle and you cant do it unless you go down the path of making characters have a self-fulfilling purpose or just following fate, idk what SGU is, i think you guys want the Destiny crew to ultimately finish what the ancients have started, it seems thats what we are here to do in the long run, im fine with that, but keep their purpose to be in line with SG-1 and Atlantis, where its all about defending the homeworld and advancing humanity, and of course help others who share our values. you will clearly tell me that survival will be their only mission but ive yet to see a show that is just about that. and their “Destiny” wont be going home for now at least so something is gonna come up with all the artifacts and discoveries, lets not make it about religion or God did it scenario which got alot of BSG fans upset. and just wait until LOST finishes and you’ll hear the synchronous cries. and i dont know what fringe, that golden compass wannabe, is gonna do. so basically think of something original and in line with the previous stargates.
other than that, im looking forward to watching these INTERESTING characters develop. i have no idea why initial reviews were so harsh, they didnt think the characters were interesting, which is odd, since i cant think of a character that aint interesting, obviously some are more interesting than others, for me its Young, but i also like Dr. Rush even though hes kinda cartoonish and Greer is NUTS! reminds me of a Ronin without a purpose. so hes definitely interesting. others like Matthew Scott, who i have called Michael before because it suits him better whatever, i like the scenes where he tries to man up and he basically represents one aspect i find really interesting about the stargate series as a whole, is how these soldiers are forced to deal with circumstances they werent prepared for or they didnt sign-up for. like they get recruited from the army where they were trained to fight Taliban and then they find themselves fighting Goa’uld off-world instead. that transition is wacky. they somehow adapt but i would like to see that emphasized more. gotta a lecture so i gotta end it there.
Hi Joe,
You just said: “I don’t know. At the risk of spoiling the rest of the season for me, I haven’t read any scripts past those for the first three episodes.”
On the other hand, on April 21st you said: “today, I read Brad’s finished version of Darkness and Light.”
Which one is it? 🙂
First off, Let me say I’ve really enjoyed the 3 hours of Universe I’ve seen so far. It seems to have the potential to combine my favorite aspects of Stargate with the character drama found on a certain ABC show, which I like. I’m disappointed to be starting out with back to back 2 parters (or a 3 parter and a 2 parter I suppose), but If the stories that need to be told are big enough, I would rather have that then be rushed through them like “Enemy at the Gate” which I wish could have been broken up into 2 parts. Anyway, I have one question that I’ve seen discussed elsewhere, but can’t find a good answer to.
I was under the impression that Destiny and it’s sister ships were supposed to have been launched prior to Atlantis leaving for Pegasus. While I can’t speak for the Ancient’s changing taste in UI’s over the course of millions of years, from a 21st century human’s point of view, the style of the destiny appears to pre-date Atlantis. Also the fact that the ship was launched from Earth, yet the address was in the Atlantis database with only an implied 9th chevron of the earth symbol suggests that Atlantis was on earth either at the time of destiny’s launch or at least at the time the address was entered into the database.
If Atlantis left for Pegasus “Several Million Years Ago” according to “Rising”, was Rush mistaken in his estimate that Destiny left Earth “Hundreds of Thousands” of years ago?
Just want to say there’s alot of sexually repressed people out there to fuss over that sex scene. Get over it. Joe gave 2 responses explaining why it was done and you all still complain. And if you bring up be a parent thing then parent and keep your kids away from the tv. You don’t like it change the channel, no one is forcing you to watch it, Be an adult and be a parent.
Your mom is such a trip! A mom is always there to put things in perspective for ya. Sounds like she has recovered from surgery.
I’m not the only one to disagree about the sex scene. Didn’t they cut it out of the UK version? Which is kind of amusing to me, since the Brits are always saying the U.S. can be prudish.
I’m more into subtle. I loved the way Hitchcock would show the murder without “showing” the murder.
Tam
Ah, Joe, greyhounds are wonderful dogs. I’ve seen a few rescued ones and they’re gentle, loving and quite good looking.
Das: Thanks for the support! I’m used to being picked on though. I have three brothers, sigh. I do enjoy reading your comments. They always bring a smile.
Maddog316: I wouldn’t say I’m sexually repressed. My husband would testify to that, also 😀 . Mr. M, did ask for honest feedback. Does that only count if I agree with him?
Tam
Which picture is of Carl and which one is of the hound?
Coucou Joseph!!
Me revoila!!
ça va bien? moi oui j’ai passer un trés bon week end et j’ai pu voir l’épisode 3 de sgu!! =)
J’aime tout sauf:
• Les flash back qui reviennent dans le temp ou un lieu différent car quand le téléspéctateur est prit dans un scéne quand elle s”arréte pour repartir sur une autre il est difficile de ve remêttre dans l’histoire.
• 3 épisodes et pas encore vraiment d’aventure, pas de planéte extraordinaires, de peuples incroyables et cela n”a pas l’aire d’arriver dans l’épisode 4, mais je suis sure que l’on en verra dans les prochains épisodes.
• Je croyais que cela aller être sympas dans savoir plus sur les personnages et leur sentiments mais en réalité pas vraiment. Avec sga par exemple chaque secret ou scéne sur la vie des personnages étais si rare qu’elle nous rendez euphorique, tandis que dans sgu, tout est tellement évident notament sur les relation entre les personnages que l’on aura envi de passer à la prochaine scéne
Enfin c’est mon avi =)
Bisou bisou!
Hi Joe.
I don’t comment often but I regularly read your blog. It’s quite enlightening over the background of producing a TV show and the process of writing it. But since SGU started to air, I do think it took a bad turn and I may stop reading it until this first season is finished. I am either spoiled badly by the writer or exasperated by the fans’ lack of patience and imagination.
Do we really need a quick justification to everything we don’t understand right on the spot? Can’t the fans just wait to see the following episodes to check if there’s such justification of such scene or what a contraption really does or doesn’t in the end? Though I admire your patience is answering the fans, I’m not convinced this deserves well the whole production. A good example was the thing that left the ship at the end of Air 3: I asked myself, is that a shuttle? A derelict part tumbling away? A liferaft going after the “mutinees of the Destiny”? I just don’t want to know from the Horse’s own mouth. I expect the show to tell me that instead. The sex scene? Same thing. (and I think the character you are presenting this way is not the one that first comes to mind to most people but, still, don’t tell us).
Have the fans left their imagination in the bedroom before watching the show from another place in the house? Don’t these fans ever watched Atlantis or SG-1? I’ll give you how my own imagination came up with this Kino not being able able to close the shuttle’s door (it even surprises me the writer can’t come up with this same one very quickly):
They explained very clearly this door had some safety measure, I recall. You are on an Ancient ship. Systems requiring safety in an Ancient’s mind usually requires the Ancient gene to activate. Does a Kino have any genes? I’d bet not. Could everyone going offworld especially for dealing with anything remotely connected to the Ancient’s like the Ninth Chevron may have possibly been treated to get the gene (remember Atlantis?) just in case they get caught on the wrong side of a door? Maybe. Too far fetched? Ok, this touchpad requires several parameters of a human’s body (or Ancient, it’s close enough) and given out by one’s finger in order to work (temperature, pulse, SatO2 or told another way, anything a real doctor or nurse can tell today by rigging an existing device to your finger). If a pen is to be rigged to a Kino in order to simulate these parameters, I would bet also they can’t do it on their schedule. Voila, it’s so easy.
What did happen to your imagination, people? Has high-speed internet killed also your patience and thrill at waiting in expectation for an answer? To me, there’s only one need for a real answer from the franchise’s writers: What in the H3ll happened to the Ferlings??? ;-P
Jean in Montreal Qc
I think your mom should do the commentary for the DVD. : )
@ Tammy
thank for being honest and differ opion But others keep bringing up the scene over and over, I’m just being real for people to be an adult about not freaking out when sex is invovled and to parent their children instead of blaming Joe and the production crew for a small issue in a brilliant and contreversally charge Show, taking into the fact that when the show was first premiered it was at 9PM and is the parent allows their pre teens to still watch, then the parents should also have the reopnsilbity of explianing a particular contreversal subject matter to their child.
Hi Joe!
Air III SPOILERS
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One of the tech details I find most interesting is the wireless remote DHD. I kept looking for the standard ground-mounted unit when they arrived on Planet Sand, but then Franklin activated the Gate with the handheld unit. Doesn’t that also control the Kino?
I was a bit confused about the Ancient timeline also. The tech seems in some ways older than Atlantis, but if the Destiny is only hundreds of thousands of years old, then it’s much newer.
If it doesn’t use hyperspace to travel between galaxies, I wonder if we humans will figure out how the Destiny’s FTL drive works? Is it better? Worse?
Someone asked why there were beds, etc. if the ship was unmanned. Rush said the Ancients planned on gating to the Destiny once it got far enough out. I assume the Ancients wanted the ship to get beyond their explored space and join it “already in progress.” I wonder if Rush was right that the Ancients ended up Ascending before the Destiny got so far out in space?
@ Mary – As I said before, I had a bit of a problem with Chloe’s scene with her mom (the drinking), but as for Mom collapsing from the emotion, I’ve been there. People react to grief in all sorts of ways.
If people don’t want to watch any sex scenes in SGU, find versions with it already cut out or cut the scenes out yourselves. It’s all about making decisions, which time and technology now afford us. 🙂
Even though I’m glad there weren’t blatant sex scenes in SG-1 or SGA, I’m in the right situation and frame of mind that I don’t mind them in SGU. I think Lt. Scott, being a young man, would fool around even though a girl he was with got pregnant when he was younger. He’s probably a lot more careful about using protection now.
Something that amused me was at the end, when Chloe holds Scott’s hand. I was thinking, “Ouch! Sunburn!” IMHO, she should have touched his non-burnt arm, which would have been sweet and slightly intimate.
The disappearing small ship at the end was a cool, mysterious surprise. It didn’t look of Ancient design, but I’d have to see it still-framed to know for sure. And it could launch itself while Destiny was in FTL? That’s different!
eddy
Still not digging Chloe, and her mother needs to never be seen again.
As for the sex scene, after Air III, and finding out Scott got a 16 year old girl pregnant and was apparently quite religious, the sex scene with a co-worker just feels like he is some sort of womanizer. Throw in that Scott now seems to have the hots for the not-so-interesting Chloe, while the girl he was having “fun” with in the closet is in the group, is very, VERY soap opera. That is something I’d expect from “General Hospital”, not Stargate.
Greer though, he is cool, and the conflict with Rush needs to be explored more!
Hey, I saw the second episode today. It was great! I loved the desert scenes. I wondered how the actors managed climates; going from Canada to New Mexico? Wow!
Thanks for the good work.
Tam
Joe,
I watched the Premier again last night, then watched “Air III”. After watching the first show the first time, I wasn’t sure I would like it, and I’m still not one hundred percent convinced. I hope the whole series is not as dark as the first (and I’m not talking about the dim lighting, I’m talking about the anger and sadness). I enjoyed “Air III” more, so I’m hopeful for future eps.
I will, undoubtedly, continue to watch. I have great hopes that this is not going to be the “DS9” of the Stargate franchise. Not that I didn’t like “Deep Space 9”, it’s just not among my favorites because it was too dark and angry. I have enough of that IRL (In Real Life), I don’t need it to dominate my escapist fantasies.
My hopes, as of now, lie with Eli.
MA
@Jason “The Chef” – Indeed! Well said about breaking the fourth wall – that scene just ripped me right out of the story. A friend of mine used to say that some scenes in tv shows were “sofa pillow” scenes, and some episodes were “sofa pillow” episodes – so embarrassing to watch that you cover your face with a sofa pillow. Hathor, for example, was a sofa pillow episode. That scene in Air was a definite sofa pillow scene.
@ J –YES! I completely agree with you about the double standard between the sizes of the women and the men – the men are normal sized people, some overweight, some underweight, and some in really good shape. The women are all stick thin, and as I very sarcastically mentioned in my first message on Air last week, beautiful while the men are mostly just men, a couple incredibly attractive, but most ordinary men. (The perfection of the make up in the dire circumstances they are in just annoys me, given how so many issues we raise are being dismissed as “we don’t understand the realism.” Just what is so realistic about the women all having perfect makeup and hair?)
I’m sick of this double standard, and the weird thing is, looking back on both SG1 and SGA, it wasn’t always like this. The total babe phenomenon became clear in SGA after the first year or two when the female guest characters honestly all looked like they came out of the same mold. Some of them I couldn’t tell apart if they were in a line-up. They’re all really skinny, most have long brown hair and their faces are amazingly alike. They look just like the babe chosen to be the person from the Lucien Alliance.
I don’t have a problem with beautiful women, but I do have a problem with all the women being of a certain physical type and look, and all looking underweight, and the men being, well, ordinary.
@ Das, ah, the truth comes out about the keyboard!
Also, Das – I also know people who have had difficult lives, truly difficult and even terrible lives. In fact, I could (but won’t) describe my deep dark background and that of my siblings except to say that our lives were a continuing nightmare until we got out of that house, and none of us rested easily until my father died five years ago. If it hadn’t been for my mother and grandmother, maybe I would have been a lot different than I am. Hard lives and terrible things, even horrific things, do happen to people, and people are affected by them. How they are affected varies.
In my experience, though, when you have a difficult background, you can either learn to deal with it and have a productive life that doesn’t harm other people, or you can succumb to the generational nightmares and turn out bad. Even really really bad. Some people have trouble making the first of those choices and succumb to the second; maybe because I’m getting older, I have less tolerance for those in the second category and feel that how you live is a choice.
Re Scott’s background, for me, there is a point in fiction, whether in books or televised, that the number of horrific circumstances written into a character becomes manipulative and contrived rather than realistic. Maybe this is a case of too much, too soon for me with Scott, but I found myself thinking, “oh, come on!” when the priest raised that flask and we later found out he died of alcoholism. I do freely admit that this is a personal reaction, but I do think it was a little much.
@Gregoryfinch – Sikozu, interesting. I’d forgotten about her. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the show in question. I remember always guessing where her loyalties lay.
@maggiemay – No, I haven’t been in the armed forces – even had I ever been inclined to serve or willing to go to war, I have too many health problems to have ever been allowed to serve. That doesn’t mean that I am either ignorant of the circumstances of people serving (I do have friends in the armed forces, and a close friend of mine is career soldier and is in Iraq right now, btw) or lack understanding. So you’re saying that because people who need to have sex can’t do it while off duty because it doesn’t work out and is forbidden, it’s acceptable for them to do it while on duty in a closet or storage room?
@ paloosa – I saw Megafault last night too. I love disaster movies and am a big reader of apocalyptic fiction, but that had to be the stupidest thing I have ever seen. Well, possibly Atomic Tornado was stupider. Neither of them made any attempt to actually put science into the story. I like at least a little bit of plausible science with my disasters.
@imadamen – I could easily believe that the Hammond wasn’t quite finished and was pressed into service a little early because Air is set shortly after the events of Enemy at the Gate. The other available ships probably weren’t available.
@ Maddog316 – Me? Sexually repressed? 😆 Mr. Das would tend to disagree with you, especially after I’ve tied him up. 😉 (Hez, if you’re out there, you did not hear me say that!)
Don’t confuse being uncomfortable with a sex scene with personal sexuality. For me, it has more to do with what I find appropriate to watch – as I said before, I would not watch two people having sex in real life, so why would I ever want to watch two people having sex in make-believe life on tv? It’s about crossing personal boundaries, and for me the scene did just that. Personally, I am far more comfortable talking about sex than I am watching it, while my husband, on the other hand, isn’t embarrassed by watching it, but is extremely embarrassed to talk about it, even with me. We have different sensitivities. In fact, he just corrected me the other night for blurting out at dinner (in a crowded restaurant with my parents, an older couple, and a couple our age), “Don’t say that! I have to have sex with this man!” after our friend said that my husband reminded her of Jim Carrey. *shudder*
So…yeah…I’m not sexually repressed. I’m not a prude. I just prefer not seeing (or hearing) certain things on my tv, including graphic sex, obscene language, horror-style violence, extreme human suffering, animal cruelty, Jim Carrey, Will Ferrell, and American Football, not necessarily in that order.
das
@ Gilder – Aye, ’twas me. I’m a South Jersey girl all the way! NOT and NEVER to be confused with anything even remotely related to New York City!! (Translation: I’m a South Philly-influenced beachcombing hayseed …which probably explains a LOT. 😛 ) Love Cape May, though it’s not nearly as good as it was back about 20 years ago – kinda got too full of itself back in the 90s and lost a bit of its charm. Still, there are good things about it, mostly the climate, the ever-increasing vineyards, the sunsets, the restaurants (though they pale in comparison to any Joe’s shared with us), the seasonal events…and the DEAD winter that allows all us locals time to recuperate until the next batch of tourists roll in.
das
@ Mary – (Sorry Joe, I keep seeing new stuff…) As far as Scott is concerned – I see a bit of your point. It didn’t bother me, but I can see how a more gradual revelation of all that backstory could have worked a bit better. I guess I’ll use Lewis again as an example. Keep in mind there are only 4 episodes a series and each is a stand-alone movie, and yet some things have been revealed slowly. For instance, in the first episode (the pilot movie), Hathaway tells Lewis he was kicked out of the seminary for being too frivolous – for decorating a fish pie too elaborately, and not preparing a paper that he was supposed to. It’s not until the second season/series that we learn he left the seminary primarily because of guilt over the way he treated his gay friend. If all of that had been revealed in the first episode, it would have been too much, too soon. Still, I wasn’t bothered at all by Scott’s backstory – but perhaps that’s because I tend to be more accepting of a show when I’m not obsessing over one of the characters…or an entire hive full of them… 🙄
That said, I think my biggest ‘turn off’ with the show is not the sex scene, but the communication stones. I just don’t like them, and would prefer total isolation. If the show gets renewed, I hope they lose the stones in the second season.
Oh, and I might be in the minority, but I loved the music at the end of this last episode. I like having a modern song added to the soundtrack every now and then (if you use a lot of songs like that, you should market the soundtrack like NCIS does).
What does tend to be a bit much at times is the heavy piano music. Not my favorite.
And you still need a long-locked albino in the bunch…lol.
das
Joe, I have to tell you that the thing that made me the most nervous going into SGU was that you guys were putting songs into the show. I felt this way even though I thought you guys put great songs in both Vegas and Unending, and I think those songs enhanced the shows. Not so much with Fragile Balance. Anyways I have to say that I didn’t mind the song at the end of Air III. While I didn’t love the song, I think it was appropriate and was implemented well.
Also the FTL video would make a great screen saver.
Oh, just an aside. Our visiting minister today was originally from Scotland. Though he speaks with very little accent, he treated us to a sampling of his regional dialect. Yeah, I’m totally convinced now that Rush should be speaking Glaswegian. We wouldn’t be able to understand a thing he says, but he sure would sound amusing!
das
The more I watch SGU the more I like it. 😀 Seriously, is that possible? And the cast keeps tweeting that it’s gonna get even better. Is that possible, too?!
I really, really like Rush. Even when Greer hit him, several times.
Totally hooked, can’t wait for Friday.
Would we see a new wormhole effect in SGU?
@ Das
And again I say if you don’t like it change the channel. It’s that simple.
Still, a lot of viewers had a problem with the graphicness of the scene. I don’ think the scene bothered them so much as the way it was done. But its all over, no use crying over spilled milk. 🙂
Anyways, rewatched air part 3. I think once you know what’s coming, the pacing isn’t so jarring. Love the thing with Scott, my trust-the-powers-that-be o-meter just went up. 🙂
Looking forward to darkness, just hope all the people being negative(a supprisingly large majority) don’t tune out yet.
Oh and where are the webisodes, I can’t live without them??!!!
Thanks so much,
Major D. Davis
Convo with your mom. . . greyhound. . . Carl. . . LMAO!!!
Sorry, must dash — — —
I have only one big question: What in the universe is the Destiny’s gate made of?
I have 1 minor question.
What should we call the new gates?
hey, is any of these gonna be true?
1. that the reason why the 4 planets were off-limited by the ship is because there were alien intelligences over there
2. that the situation with the 2 ppl in the off-limited planet is somehow connected with the spyship at the end of ep. 3
3. that there will be an episode in which the 2 ppl resurface and the cast will believe that these 2 ppl are really them but it turns out that they are not or have been altered in some way
4. this episode will occur sometime before mid-2nd season or else the main characters will have traveled too far sorta like the kazon in voy.
5. there might be an episode in which the dna of the 2 ppl are used to interface with the main cast
6. there is an alien mothership hidden from the main characters but has a parasitic relationship or will have
7. the lady that took the place of superhotrichquality-girl-what’s-her-name is or somehow is connected with female computer lady from that atlantis episode where john shepard goes back to earth and tells about his harvard stuff and how he has a black guy as a safety-buddy/loyal-gun thing
8. the reason why the third series was made was because it is an adaptation and upgrade to the understandings learned from the 1st and 2nd series. the weaknesses of the first and 2nd series are that they featured not-so-perfect characters whereas the 3rd series featured powerful societal based characters that are designed to stimulate and attract most of the important audience groups. i mean, like ronin and teal were good muscles, and most of the guys were hot, and the girls were hot too but keyla wasn’t exactly superhot and she got pregnant and she didn’t exact fill the oh-she’s-so-sexy-i-need-to-watch-this-show-because-she’s-here, and neither did carter, and although all the boys were hot, and john shepard was alpha male and so was jack o’neil, neither had that super hot attractiveness thing that would get female audiences panting and masterbating with their sexual drives turned oonn and ready
9. that the reason why the show had characters that were not properly made for the situation is because it was the only way to get all these societally wide-ranging characters into the same situation and keep it a series because if you had a normal atlantis or sgc installation as the primary setting then logically you cannot maintain the existence of all these wide-variety characters within the duration of the series and still keep them as main characters
comments about 3rd episode sgu:
1. the idea that there were 5 planets that were inhabitable (the reasoning is that if 4 planets were offlimited, and that alien intelligences using these planets were limited to habitable planets, then all 5 planets within the system is inhabitable) within a system
2. the idea that the senator and his daughter both spent 6 months on a different planet. a senator like this would not get reelected. imagine arnold spending 6 months in hawaii
3. the issue with the planet with a radiological core exploding… if the enemy fire set the explosion, then wouldn’t that suggest the explosion had to be created long before from seismic effects and inner planet activities? if it was caused by using the stargate, then dialing earth would cause it simply because of a new situation in which the enemy’s fire somehow made dialing home a potential to set off the planet? (i know, the planet was a plot mechenism)
4. why couldn’t they dial another planet like the alpha site, or send most of the team to a normal planet, and then send a couple to destiny? (another minor plot issue)
5. i really hated the black guy who kicked Rush when he was criticising alpha male. i mean, i understand the black guy is supposed to be alpha male’s gun-security-thing but i hate him. i also hate him when he drew a guy at Rush and then acted all cool. what’s the deal with this scene? to kill Rush’s status to improve alpha male’s status? a natural output from the intermixing of these two characters that had to be shown?
6. i really really don’t like the alpha male’s existence within this show. i mean the pilot was all about alpha male. although i like the presence of alpha female, the presence of alpha male and how much this entire story is about him really makes the whole experience and my thoughts about liking the series pretty bad. i mean, i hated when john shepard was turned into alpha male and given a ‘gun’ and a ‘preselector female’. that just turned me off. i’m sure that was very very cool to the female audiences (but it was kinda strange to see john shepard’s character turn into super-sexy-male with harvard-rich background). on this subject, there is an issue with creating good characters that are sympathetic to both males and females. sometimes you just can’t do it. like if u create alpha female (superhotsenator-girlwhat’s-her-name) and then set her off loving alpha male then you’ll get the males not interested in the female cause she’s apparently attracted to alpha male and not ‘open’ anymore. besides that, as a guy, it’s really difficult to be attracted to alpha female when you have alpha male as a competitor within the same setting. i don’t know what you can do about this. it’s really difficult. i kinda think what you guys did was you created these sympathetic males for males but at the same time created this super-sympathetic male for females. but if you want to keep the males interested, i think you have to create okay sympathetic characters that don’t pique their sexual desire, and is this how you’ve done it so far with eli and rush? maybe there can be an episode based on making these nonalpha males sympathetic to males or finding someway to get alpha female sympathetic to males without throwing in alpha male as a competitor cause he’s just nasty and an asshole
Col. Mustard writes: “Something that I noticed about Air II while watching Air III, what was Dr. Lee doing in Rush’s body while Rush was in Lee’s?”
Answer: Yes.
Maybe I’m a little dumb, but I don’t understand youe answer Joe. Are you avoiding the question because it will be a relevant point in a future episode?
And so my real question: Is there a specific reason to use Dr Lee in the pilot, apart from a nice cameo purpose?
Maddog316: Not so simple. Mr. M, asked for honest feedback. With three brothers, I learned a long time ago not ask for my brothers opinions on things, if I didn’t want to hear it 😀 . They could be brutal! I still remember when I asked how my no bake oatmeal cookies tasted (I was about 10 years old). They told me the oatmeal was too big. I can’t control the size of the oatmeal!!!! I digress 😉 . Just a light example of free speech.
Anyway, have you ever heard the expression “The squeaky wheel gets the grease”? There must have been a squeaky wheel involved in the decision to not air that scene in the UK.
I totally respect your opinions and it’s great we can all express different views without getting our knickers in a knot. Your phrasing sounds a little different. Where are you from?
Das: Jim Carrey is kind of creepy.
Mary: Great post!
Chevron7: your mom sounds great! I have NEVER been able to get my mom to watch Scifi!
Tam
@ Maddog316 – I just might, but not because you told me to.
das
Oh never mind about my previous question regarding the official theme song.
Next time I should read the mailbag before asking a stupid question.
I watched part 3 of Air in the middle of the night when I was really tired. I think I’ll have to do that again next week – we really got into the episode. Robert Carlyle is absolutely awesome as Dr. Rush. Every time I start thinking I could maybe sympathize with Rush, he opens up his mouth and says exactly the wrong thing. It’s hilarious.
Joe – two quick non-SGU related questions…
1. Not sure if you saw my question the other day, but I was wondering if you had finished Aaron’s first Weapon X arc (ending with #5). I thought it was great, just wondering how you felt about it.
2. Wraith telepathy – early on I believe it was said that only Queens have the ability to get into human minds, and Teyla was only vulnerable to Wraith in general due to her Wraith DNA. Later, however, it is suggested that Michael got into Carson head, and in Vegas McKay tells Sheppard (regarding Todd, who – as far as I know – is not a Queen… ), that they can get into ‘your head’, suggesting that Todd had read Sheppard’s mind and that’s how he had learned his name. Was this change supposed to be a reflection of better human understanding of Wraith abilities, or something else?
Have a good evening, sir!
das
LoL @ Das
Like what I say means much
@ Maddog316 – Now that’s the spirit! 😀
das
Hi, Joe.
Thanks to your suggestion, Joe, I’ve become an official Stargate proselytizer.
Shameful, I agree, but it’s done.
After many years of begging, cajoling, and finally asking, “What’s wrong with you?!” I’ve induced my fourth cousin (or my grandmother’s great-grand nephew) to watch Stargate. He just finished watching SG1’s 9th season episode, ‘Ethon,’ on DVD and he’s also watching SGU (he really likes the FTL special effect). He’s ordered the complete SGA DVD and will watch that asap. (He also bought the Sanctuary 1st season DVDs.)
Best wishes, Morjana
Hi Joe –
Finally had the chance to catch up on the last 3 weeks of your blogs (back surgery – long story, better now) and to watch Air I,II & III (thank GOD for TiVo!!!)
Just had to say that I’m so glad you had the chance to tell us all what a nice guy Jamil really is. I’m telling you, he must be a hell of an actor ’cause he has me totally convinced that his character is borderline psycho with a REALLY big chip on his shoulder. I will be looking forward to getting more of his backstory in future eps.
And, oh yeah … if you’re not too tired of hearing this … I think you guys have done a hell of a job with SG-U. Yes, very different from SG-1 and SG-A, but I can definately feel the SG roots. Can’t wait until next Friday …
Mmmmm…right now I’m eating the most amazing salad, ever! It’s from that old Fit for Life diet – Mediterranean Rice Salad. I had to tweak it a bit, but no matter how I alter the recipe, it always comes out tasting basically the same – delicious! Tonight the combo is red leaf lettuce (the recipe calls for any type of lettuce, and sprouts, and spinach or arugula – I only had the lettuce), green olives, zucchini and yellow squash sauteed in olive oil, with Italian seasoning (recipe calls for just zucchini with dried basil and oregano), and brown basmati rice, topped with a dressing of olive oil, lemon juice, fresh garlic, tarragon, and Italian seasoning (the recipe calls for several different types of dried herbs, most of which I didn’t have since I use mostly fresh, so I just used the Italian seasoning again – the taste is basically the same). What makes this salad so delicious is that the hot rice and squash are put directly on the greens, wilting them slightly and really blending all the flavors. The green olives and lemon juice instead of vinegar are a plus, too. It’s just really yummy!
das
@Tammy
I was born in Cincy, OH moved to Florida when I was 7, 32 now, nah I’m ok with it, to each his/her own. I can get really pitbullish at times but Im a real great guy. And typing from an iPhone on here right now can be a chore, but my pnt really is what can Joe do with them already having 3/4 of the season filmed b4 they aired Air(sorry no pun).
What is Vanessa James’ rank?
Oops – forgot to ask a couple of questions.
Will we find out just why Greer was in detention? And it seemed to me that whatever it was might have involved Wray. Yes? No? And if it is revealed, will it be in an early ep or a later one?
I want one of what Roger Hågensen described. Stargate technical/mythology/instructional DVD’s would be awesome. And you could probably write it in a week and shoot it in a day!
I’m an overweight female. Have we seen any overweight females on the show so far? I don’t know–I wasn’t paying any attention. I also didn’t notice who got how much screen time, or the ratio of male to female characters, or several other things people seem to be upset about. I was busy watching a really cool show.
I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who had trouble figuring out where scenes were taking place in the premiere (see Chevron 7‘s post above).
@das: yes, that is always an option. I have not made up my mind about the show yet, but if I find that I am not enjoying it, I, too, will change the channel. There are a lot of other shows to watch on Friday night and I have a big stack of books waiting to be read. But if I do decide to stop watching, that doesn’t mean the show is bad, it just means that it doesn’t appeal to me. For now, I plan to give SG:U a couple more weeks to get a better feel for it.
Maybe I missed your answer to my question? Do hulu viewers show up in the ratings?
Joe,
I thought that naquadria is an artificially created version of naquadah that’s only available on Jona’s planet Langara?
Loving SGU so far. But I have some issues with the direction on ancient communication stone use. In SG-1 and Atlantis, there were a significant amount of shots that showed the body that was taken over, as the body (in contrast to the body of the temporary consciousness being shown) to remind the viewer of whose body was being used, and also to allow the actors to try to imitate their castmembers. In SGU this is not done enough, OR well. For example, when Chloe’s mom runs out of her house and sees Chloe standing there, you guys missed a HUGE opportunity there to show Chloe’s mom seeing someone she didn’t know, standing there, saying she was her daughter. Why was it done this way? Will the actual bodies in use be shown in some shots like in SG-1/Atlantis in the future? If not, why?
@CrazyMom1 – When it comes to the look of the women on the show, that affects its realness, at least for me. With close to 100 people randomly flying through a gate, it doesn’t seem real that all of the women (at least the ones I’ve seen) look like they are sizes 0-4. It is still early in the season, so maybe there will be more variety as the season progresses.
As to why I care about this, well, much of the time in the Hollywood and Fashion industries, women are made to feel that if they are not a certain size (even if it doesn’t fit their body type/build) that they are less attractive, or not attractive at all. And, this is not true. And, tv should reflect this fact, in my humble opinion.
This is not to say that the women on the show shouldn’t be there. I am sure that they were chosen on their merit.
@Gilder and Mary – Thanks for the feedback.
Peace and Love,
j
@Mary … I didn’t say sex in a storage locker was acceptable, I said it was realistic.
But I do agree, lose the stones.
Chiming in again, on the sex scene in Air, 1, after reading lots of comments.
No, I’m not repressed. On TV, I watch Californication, Entourage, Hung, Weeds, etc, but I know not to watch those shows when my teenagers are around.
(BTW, Joe, I caught “Young People Fucking” on Showtime a few weeks ago. Nicely written and acted, and I saw your “shout out” in the credits.)
I discovered Stargate first in my family. After watching many of the episodes, I got my kids and husband to watch, too. It was one of the few shows that we all enjoyed watching together. My kids later requested all 10 seasons of SG1, and it ended up being a great investment for long road trips. My kids continually re-watch “Window of Opportunity” and “Crystal Skull”, and right now, 27 SG1s and 13 Atlantis episodes are stored on my DVR, because my kids re-watch the shows continually, and always recorded, not just from SyFy but any place airing in syndication. My kids have even forced their friends to watch the shows with them, getting them hooked on SG1 as well.
We have now attended DragonCon for the past three years, and the highlight for my kids is to attend the Stargate panels. They excitedly picked up the Stargate Universe posters at the convention, and eagerly waited for the show. I had read here, and other places, that Universe would be “edgier and darker” but after Joe, here, said the show was family friendly, my entire family was ready to give the 3rd installment a try.
I was shocked that five minutes into the show, a heavily implied graphic sex scene took place.
I can never get that back from my kids.
I feel betrayed.
@maddog316, You live in Fl? Where?We have a Fl. Joe’s blog club. You are welcome to join us. Sheryl
In their rush to get off of Icurus, looks like they also forgot to pack sunblock.
Thank you for a much needed chuckle, LOVED the play by play of your Mom’s first look at SGU.
Loving the new show. Look forward to the rest of the season.
I am sorry if this article is not the dedicated one to the SGU but with all my respect I would like to share my criticism about SGU.
I am a real Stargate-fan. I saw all the 15 seasons many times. Now I saw the SGU 3. episode. (I am sorry for my English skill.)
1. Story is sluggish. Nothing happens. OK, I hope it will change – still it could.
2. Cameraman’s work is amateaur like in a lame Hungarian film. (I am Hungarian, so I know it.) Unmeaning camera-shakings and camera-movements, none-functioned viewpoint-settings…
3. Flashbacks break the storytelling. All the previous 15 seasons had linear storytelling. Why did you break it? This is amateur.
Why is it amateur?
Because life happens linearly!!! If you show a story for example in a conversations with friends, you really used to jump in time? NO, because it is pesky and nobody likes it. Storytelling is linear as it was through 15 seasons of SG1 and SGA. SG1 and SGA was a magical sci-fi fantasy book on screen. Nobody likes a book that jumps in time in its chapters…
SGU is like an outline, not a finished work. I am very sad to see how SG-Saga falls down into amateurism to the level of Battlestar Galactica, X-Files, Knight Rider, Kyle-X, Smallville. My soul is crying.
Laura H. writes: “You guys really love Anna Galvin, don’t you? The first non-regular to be in all three shows.”
Answer: Along will Bill Dow (Dr. Lee) and Harriman (Gary Jones).
And Ona Grauer. Speaking of whom, is Mrs. Young perhaps some distant descendant of Ayaina?
I have a feeling that, given the lack of humanoid aliens, playing Spot The Vancouver Actor is going to be a bit less fruitful than it has been for SG-1 and SGA, but I’ll still keep my eyes peeled for more repeats and hat-tricks. 🙂