After viewing SGU’s sixth episode, Water, did you sit there and wonder “How the heck did they shoot the crevasse sequence?” Yeah, didn’t think so. But I’ll show you anyway…
Back in the office this morning where we broke our second story in as many days. Yesterday, we beat out the season opener for Paul and today, we spun episode two. Rob, who’ll be doing the honors on this one, pithced out a terrific, albeit radically different, A story to compliment the B, C, D, and E throughlines. Lots going on in this one – action, drama, spectacular visual effects, and a tough, tough decision. Two actually. Tomorrow, looks like Carl is on deck as episode five jumps two spots to take the position formerly held by episode three (my baby). Hopefully, we’ll be able to get his story broken AND squeeze in that Day 1 Mix of Faith. And lunch.
So here’s the question of the week, posed by the editor of IO9 regarding my recent rant that you may or may not be familiar with: “Is [my] skin getting thin because the complaints ring true, or was it an appropriate response to a monsoon of trolls?”
Well, after weighing all the evidence and giving it much thought I’m going to have to go with………………………………………………hmmmmmm…………………………………..the latter. If you read the entirety of what I had to say (rather than just the cross-posted excerpts), you’ll note I started off by stating: “I find myself in an awkward position. On the one hand, I want to keep this blog’s comment section open to differing opinions and allow fans to express their honest feelings about the show; on the other hand, I don’t want it to turn into a battleground where fans can feel free to insult the production, its personal, and each other.” And even the most cursory scan of past comment sections over this blog’s three-year run will bear this out.
I humbly submit the assertion that all comments should be recognized as worthy and constructive is, quite frankly, bullshit. There is a difference between weighing in with a negative opinion and launching inflammatory or personal insults from the anonymous refuge of your parents‘ basement. Only last week I mentioned I didn’t approve a comment to this blog for the first time in months. It happens, but rarely. Over the past couple of days, it has, admittedly, happened with more frequency, about a half-dozen posts, mostly from the same individual, seemingly designed to test the functionality of this blog’s TRASH button (Yep, it’s working just fine.).
The day after that initial entry, I posted the Cliff Notes for those who either didn’t read the entirety of what I had to say or missed the point. I broke it down in very simple terms. Evidently, not simple enough. So I’ll try again, breaking it down in even simpler terms.
Criticism = J
Inflammatory/Personal attacks = L
Two other points I touched upon. One, that those who use sexist terms while simultaneously arguing that a scene is sexist subvert their own argument. Two, that those who make use of sensational labels without supportive arguments risk undermining their credibility as well. I mentioned the use of the term “whore”, used by several posters. One of these individuals was someone who had (and has since) provided some terrific, well-reasoned critiques and yet, on this occasion, submitted a comment in which she labeled a character “a whore” and then moved on without so much as an explanation for her position. Some who read the post dismissed the poster and her views as extreme – which was a damn shame because, as I said, this individual has presented articulate and intelligent points in the past. To repeat what I said the other day (and you may have missed it as this part of my original post was presumably deemed less worthy of mention): “Still, I’d suggest that anyone looking to post a critical comment consider their wording – not their opinion, but the way in which they express said opinion. Sometimes, you can be offensive without even meaning to. And, when this happens, rather than making a good point, you risk alienating the very people you’re trying to convince.”
Finally, to all those who feel I’m slighting SG-1 and Atlantis by stating that SGU is far removed from the previous two Stargate incarnations… I had a wonderful time working on both shows for many, many years, and that was mainly due to its wonderful characters and the fact that, at the end of the day, neither series took itself too seriously, forever thumbing their noses at SF tropes like alternate realities (Ripple Effect), time travel (Morpheus I and II), and everything from phase-shifting to technobabble (Wormhole Xtreme, 200). Of course, both shows had their fair share of danger and drama and unexpected tragedies but, when all was said and done, the good guys were good and prevailed in the end while the bad guys were bad (although occasionally conflicted) and invariably wound up on the receiving end of a mothership explosion. Our heroes rarely, if ever, screwed up and, even if they did, their actions never resulted in any long-term consequences. In Stargate: Universe, however, the situation is darker, murkier. The characters are flawed. They make mistakes, sometimes big ones, and they suffer the ugly consequences. Like I said. A different show. Not better. Or worse. Just very different.
Looks like I’ve got a bit of a backlog in the mailbag – which I fully intend to get around to at some point this weekend.
Hey Joe,
Check out my Wheel of Stargate I made when i was bored one day.
http://mylifeincleveland.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/wheel-of-gate/
I think you were totally justified, FYI.
Ok I was just saying no one would go up to one of tge actors on their twitter and call them and their characters whores. So sorry If you thought I was labeling a character a whore(I know I’m probably not the person your thinking of, just checking though). Dang, i’m one paronied puppy. If you read my posts and didn’t get to know me, You’d think I was an ex spy always paronoied that someones attacking him.. Lol
Thanks so much,
Major D. Davis
Hi Joe, first of all, I apologize for my english…it’s not very good.
I have to say that so far, in my personal opinion, SGU it’s been awesome so far, sure…it has good and bad things (which tv series/movie doesn’t?). I look forward to see the rest of the season, keep up the good work!
Greetings to the whole staff of SGU!
Joe, once more you have earned my undying affection. How you manage to maintain such a level head is astounding. Looking forward to the backlogged mail bag!
Can you give us any hints as to what’s maybe possibly going on in S2 of SGU? Or is that jumping the gun too much?
stupid question. For what does the J and the L stand?
Criticism = J, Inflammatory/Personal attacks = L
(I understood your previous posts. First yay, latter nay. Just wondering about the abbreviation)
A pity that you couldn’t catch the Chewbacca howl on tape. Would have liked to here that. 🙂
“…but, when all was said and done, the good guys were good and prevailed in the end while the bad guys were bad (although occasionally conflicted) and invariably wound up on the receiving end of a mothership explosion. Our heroes rarely, if ever, screwed up and, even if they did, their actions never resulted in any long-term consequences. In Stargate: Universe, however, the situation is darker, murkier. The characters are flawed. They make mistakes, sometimes big ones, and they suffer the ugly consequences.”
As you know, this was one of my biggest complaints with Atlantis, and for the simple fact that Universe is an attempt to be different in this regard is one reason I am still watching, despite my apprehensions about some of the show’s other elements.
And Joe – I don’t think your skin is thin, or that you over-reacted. Having been on comic book forums for a few years now, I’ve seen some of the ugliest blow-ups and pouting bouts – often leading to someone running away from the evil interwebs – amongst some of the best-known writers and artists in comics. Every time I come here, I am amazed that you continue to blog daily, despite some of the personal attacks and accusations that have been made against you, the show, and everyone involved with the show. Even I’ve been rough on the show and its creators, and yet you still continue to put up with me and others like me.
I’d say – based on what I’ve seen of other creative types on the internet – your skin is at least a foot thick!
And remember something else – people like controversy. They like to stir people up…and they like to see people who are stirred up. You provided some excitement in the fandom – gave people something to write about. 500 posts for that entry tells me you got some blood boiling. People like that, even when they say they don’t (or why else would they post?). You know what you did, Joe? You gave the editor of IO9 something to write about – you made his job a little easier.
But you should already know that. That’s how the beast works – people these days thrive on scandal, controversy and conflict. No one at IO9 cares about the last dinner you had at Fuel, or Maximus’ surgery – but you sure did get their attention when you called out the idiots! Good for you – you are now a household name! You’re famous! Well…at least amongst sci fi geeks and stuff. 😛
Have a good evening, sir!
das
Oh, before I forget. Since not everyone can get a vaccine, and since we don’t like to get sick, whether it be a cold, flu, generic virus, or bacterial infection, I found these tips on the net – some good advice to avoid all sorts of infections.
SWINE/H1N1 Prevention Tips: http://www.altdotlife.com/forum/index.php?page=15
We all know to wash our hands and to keep them off of our face, but the two things that caught my eye here is 1. gargling daily with salt water, and 2. using a neti pot or nasal rinse.
After all my illness this past winter/spring, the doctor advised me to use a neti pot (or nasal flush) twice daily. I’ve been trying to follow that advice, especially this past month. Not sure if it works, but hubby had bronchitis two weeks ago, and so far, so good – I didn’t get it yet. I’ve also been trying to drink more liquids, and gargle with salt water (though I often forget the latter). I figure it can’t hurt, and who knows, it just might help!
das
That get-up cannot be easy to wear for hours on end.
@ Nina K.P. – The J is a smiley face, the L is a frowny face. For some reason, the faces aren’t showing up for you.
Ugh…and I just saw that my grammar is off in my previous post. Oh well…it’s late…I’ll blame it on that! 🙂
das
Oh, and trolls…the reason for your rant, that is.
See Joe, you have a ‘tell’ when things hit too close to home, or when you’re skirting around something. I’m not telling you what it is, but I see it, and I didn’t see it in your rant. So, either your indignation was justified, or you’re just becoming a better fibber…but I’m willing to go with the former. 😉
das
@Joe – Gosh, I had just assumed based on a lot of the things that I read for “comments” that everything was going through. Whatever wasn’t approved had to be pretty bad for the trash button to be put into use. Well, 502 comments (so far at least) being approved – and read – gets kudos from me any day.
Peace & Love,
j
I guess when you said this person had supplied well reasoned critiques I should have known you were talking about someone else. I’m so insecure. Lol
Thanks so much,
Major D. Davis
Oh and das is darn right Joe. I am amazed how you come back and take tge time to post every day despite all the attacks. That is darn respectable. Really, thank you though. Despite some of my negativity, I still do enjoy sgu and this blog immensely.
Thanks again.
Major D. Davis
Not sure if these have been answered so I’ll ask.
1. In the first episode, the ninth chevron was Earth’s symbol. They dialed the symbol from Ra’s gate but Ra’s gate is only a few thousand years old. If Destiny is millions of years old, Ra’s gate wouldn’t have existed on Earth. So shouldn’t the ninth chevron have been the original symbol (the one found on the Antarctica gate)?
2. Every time the crew needs something (air, water, light), Destiny knows this and goes out of hyperspace to a planet that has what they need. How does Destiny know this?
Hi Joe,
Having discovered your blog around the time the SGU first aired, I can’t believe there are people who take it for granted. I think this blog is an excellent opportunity for us fans to learn about the production side of things (something that always fascinated me personally), and give you, the show creators and writers some feedback on how we perceive the show. Personally, I find it hilarious that people keep making offensive comments, as if that will result in you guys scrapping certain scenes from the upcoming episodes, and re-shooting them. I guess they missed the memo that the season one has been *wrapped up*.
Something you’ve touched upon in your recent posts really caught my attention, because it has bothered me in the past. You have mentioned recently, on at least two occasions how the SG-1 and SGA characters were near-perfect, and I have to agree with you. Personally, I have always found the character of Samantha Carter to be too perfect, and thus difficult to really embrace. In my opinion, some of this had to do with the way the character was conceived and written (extremely intelligent, battle capable), and some of it had to with the casting — let’s face it, Amanda Tapping is extremely easy on the eyes. In latter seasons (season 10 comes to mind, in particular), there were a few attempts to write some flaws into her character, but at that point it was simply too late, and I as a viewer was left confused by the contradicting character behavior.
I think this was largely avoided with the character of Rodney McKay in SGA, but SGA had someone like John Sheppard who really had nary a ding to him.
Mind you, I’ve watched and enjoyed both series very much. I just had to say that I agree with your statements on perfection of the characters in SG-1 and SGA.
However, having said all that, I personally wish there was more *science* and *fiction* in SGU thus far. 🙂 In other words, I *love* character-driven stories, and I think it is great that you guys have chosen a different direction for the SGU compared to the SG-1 and SGA. Nevertheless, I am left wishing for some serious expounding on the tech of Destiny, why and when *exactly* was it launched, what it can do, etc, etc. And can the damn thing get fixed?! 🙂 🙂 (sorry, just couldn’t resist). I know, the “bugs” in the episode Water were a cool alien (as in *fiction*) element. It doesn’t mean I can’t wish for more of it, does it? 🙂
Finally, I wish other characters would stop bashing Rush, get out of his way, and let the man work on the ship. In the words of Mr. Potato Head, “Hey, I can dream, can’t I?”
I do have some questions for you.
For some time I’ve marveled at how the scripts get turned into the finished episodes (or movies), what the directors and actors start with, and what we as the audience get to see in the end. Would there be any way to get my hands on some finished scripts from any of the SG series? Electronic or printed form is fine — I just want to be able to read the script and then watch the episode, and sort of compare & contrast how the script got turned into the end result.
You said writing the “tech” episodes isn’t something you enjoy / look forward to. Can you expound on that?
We know that the various SG teams have in the past dialed a gate manually, provided the sufficient power requirements. Can the SGU crew do the same, i.e. while in the FTL mode, provided the gate isn’t out of range?
Thanks again for keeping the blog, and best of luck at retaining the thick skin.
Hi Joe:
I had to euthanize my 12 year old cat, Tigger, yesterday. It was the hardest thing I’ve had to do in a long time. She has battled feline leukemia (cancer) for the past two years. With a mass the size of a small orange in her abdomen, we decided that she had fought the good fight long enough. Since I have never had to put an animal down before, I didn’t know what to expect. Without going into details, I found the experience disturbing and not peaceful. I feel guilty about her last moments, even though, deep down, I am sure it was the right thing to do. Geez, I miss her.
Patricia
One other thing….to be clear, I paid our family veterinarian to euthanize Tigger. I was with her to the end.
“After viewing SGU’s sixth episode, Water, did you sit there and wonder “How the heck did they shoot the crevasse sequence?” Yeah, didn’t think so. But I’ll show you anyway…”
Actually, I did! Remember, I asked if they actually built a crevasse? Sigh. Used to do backstage stuff in theater – props, costumes, makeup, lights, SFX, etc. Love all the behind the scenes stuff – thanks for showing us!
My roomie, who has reluctantly watched SG:U with me has decided that she is hooked now. Apparently thinks Luis Ferreira is a cutie, you can tell him he has a fan 😉
Is it safe to read the comments again? LOL I read the blog every night, but had stopped reading comments about a week before your ‘rant’ because I was tired of hearing the sniping. Your skin is not becoming too thin, Joe – if anything you may have been too patient!
I will wave my magic wand for a troll-be-gone spell… if that works, I’ll get on the dust- and dog fur-be-gone spells next….
Lisa
Well I loose my internet on Friday as I change to a new provider so will miss great piccies from the LA con…BUT I will be at Chevron 7.3 this weekend with David Blue…looks like he is excited as well as he has twittered about it…bless him
http://www.massiveevents.co.uk/chevron73/
So watch out on Gateworld as piccies will probably be going up on there as well as peoples LJ’s
See you guys in about 10 days.
Kriss 🙂
On a completely different topic, Mark Dacascos (one of our favourite bad/good guys from Atlantis + awesome fight scenes with Jason M.) just got voted off Dancing with the Stars (ya, ya, I know, who watches that?). His dancing partner got sick and he had only a couple of days to practice with her replacement. Perhaps Jason should have stepped in!
“Our heroes rarely, if ever, screwed up and, even if they did, their actions never resulted in any long-term consequences.”
Wellllll… SG-1 did kind of alert the Goa’uld to the technological advancement of Earth and then the Ori to the size of the human population of our galaxy. The Atlantis Expedition kinda woke the Wraith up and alerted them to the size of the human population of our galaxy. Ooh, a bit of a recurring theme there. But I know what you meant. 😉
Joe, I’m really enjoying looking back at some of your past entries. Take Feb. 21, 2007, for instance. I didn’t know you watched Spooks/MI-5. I used to watch that show – really enjoyed it, though sometimes it was a bit too gritty for me (the deep fryer, for instance 😮 ). I loved Matthew MacFadyen in that – didn’t watch after he left the show.
The first thing I ever saw MacFadyen in was a BBC production about the UN peacekeepers in Bosnia called Warriors (Peacekeepers in the US). It was this scene from the movie that made me really take notice of MacFadyen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Y27PUgbdtU
Knowing the film, that scene just breaks my heart…and I share his sentiments about bratty kids. 🙂
It was a very poignant film – worth the watch if you ever get the chance. The human moments in this – the affects on the men during and after the conflict – THAT’S the stuff I love to see in a film or show. I guess I like films that explore the the human psyche under pressure, and probably why I love movies like 12 Angry Men and Lifeboat. But for some reason most modern productions don’t quite capture what I loved about those older movies. Somehow they confuse psychological drama with drama queens…turning what could be good character moments into something from the Jerry Springer set.
Do you understand what I’m trying to say? Can you see the difference between the human drama in Lifeboat, and the human drama in a show like BSG or ER? Something has been lost over the years…something is missing. Whatever it is, I look at the older movies as films that really probed the human condition, while modern tv and film just sensationalizes everything, making it all larger – and louder – than life, and never really making a point.
The human drama in Warriors/Peacekeepers was more on par with what I loved about the older films, though the film itself is much grittier. This movie also starred Ioan Gruffudd (Horatio Hornblower; Mr. Fantastic) in probably the best role he’s ever done, and Damian Lewis of Band of Brothers; Life. Good, sobering film. If you get a chance, watch a few of the other bits there on Youtube – it looks like someone’s put up the entire movie.
das
@das: Thanks, Joe’s emoticons were also J and L on my iPhone.
“Morpheus I and II”
Erm, that would be Mobius I and II. Morpheus was a season 9 ep about sleeping sickness and some sort of lizard.
Good guys were good, (except when they were under the influence of alien technology or similar) but bad guys weren’t always bad. Well, they were bad but not evil (Todd, replicators [‘no more evil than a virus’]). Or they were eeeevil, but intriguingly so (Ba’al, Adria, Michael).
So far we have yet to see any real “bad guys” on SGU (except for Rush, who I believe falls into the “bad but not evil” category). I can’t wait to see how this season progresses. I’m still waiting for a character other than Eli to make me laugh… 😉
Gilder’s Roll Call
Joe M. Vancouver, Canada
Gilder Texas, USA
PBMom Texas, USA
Susan the Tartan Turtle, Perthshire, Scotland
SG-1lover Scotland
Dasndanger New Jersey, USA
Charlie’s Angel Southern USA
Pastrygirl Arizona, USA
Montrealer Montreal, Canada
Rose/OhioAnne Ohio, USA?
Sparrow_Hawk Midwest USA
deeinsouthafrica South Africa
Elminster Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
2cats, New Jersey (shore), USA
Thornyrose Virginia, USA
chevron7 (chev) Melbourne, Australia
Maddog316: Ft. Myers, FL, USA
Shiningwit – Cornwall, England
Berry – Las Vegas, NV
Shirt’n’Tie, Tipperary, IRELAND
Suziesbluefeather, Virginia, USA
cherluvya, Utah USA
Gracey, Connecticut, USA
Shia, Virginia, USA
Andria – AKA Sis, Montreal, Canada
Where is PG15 on Gilder‘s roll call? It’s not like him to miss this type of thing.
Oh and muchas gracias para the behind the scenes vids! I actually *was* wondering how that sequence was filmed! I was curious how much of it was actual, and how much of it was CGI. The SFX people you guys have are just so frakking good at their jobs, it’s hard to tell sometimes!
Is anyone else doing NaNoWriMo? Anyone else’s novel stuck on chapter 2? 😀
Hi, Joe.
Thank you so much for the videos!
🙂
Hi, Joe.
I forgot to mention — in the ‘V’ pilot on ABC tonight, they had a flying KINO that also was capable of being a weapon. It had pointy things on it that could be launched into action. Yikes!
Hey Joe,
Love the vids, always something to entertain us. Show & Tell is always important. hehehehe
*Sigh* I guess the controversy isn’t going to end anytime soon. We all love Stargate and can’t seem to find common ground to stand on. Has it always been this way?
I am new to this “closer contact” in knowing more of what is going on. Maybe those days of just sitting down and watching Stargate each week was easier. Behind the scenes has taken on new meaning.
Loved your simplification of your points. Great idea.
Best to you Joe,
Cheryl 🙂
It’s funny – last week I ended up visiting the hospital three times (all related visits) and couldn’t help but think about your mom’s story from a while back. My first two visits, I was there 3ish hours with what I’d consider reasonable waiting. The blue-green breathing mask with eye shield I wore helped to pass the time, as did several HGTV segments on the tv.
The third trip, however, was at night. Halloween night. I wouldn’t say there were more people there, but I was there over 6 hours where that was almost pure waiting. The extra hour I was hoping to spend sleeping passed by me as I watched the digital clock go 1:57, 1:58, 1:59, 1:00. Grrr! Those HGTV segments weren’t much fun again. and again. and again. I am, however, better off knowing how to grout tile and make a zodiac vase.
Way back when we started hearing casting announcements and seeing cast pictures and uniforms, I just couldn’t picture a Stargate show happening. Six episodes later, I must admit that the actors are phenomenal, the ship is amazing, and the premise is working really well. I’m pleased that we’re seeing a lot of their “settling in” – I just hope that this (so far) wonderfully-crafted first season doesn’t set us up with an uninspired second season a la Heroes.
Thanks!
“There is a difference between weighing in with a negative opinion and launching inflammatory or personal insults from the anonymous refuge of your parents‘ basement.”
Dude. You just slammed Eli.
My criticism of SGU in the main is of the casting of solely beautiful, young women. Look at the sides for the much criticised quadriplegic character. ‘Must be thin, think Calista Flockhart’ (my paraphrase). Goodness knows we cannot have an overweight, 45-year-old who looks average, can we. No, not on Stargate. At least, not anymore. No, we have to have the Boy’s Own Fantasy model now that Mallozzi et al are in charge. This isn’t a criticism of the cast; it’s a criticism of you. Why, exactly, was the scene with kino and the obviously braless Lt Young included? Tits and ass don’t amuse; it added nothing to the story. It was simply a tacky, unnecessary scene so when you cry foul and pout that people are being unfair to you, you simply come across as disingenuous. Granted, a lot of the criticism is hideously rude but if you don’t want criticism that you’re being sexist then perhaps you shouldn’t be.
Hi Joe, “Morpheus I and II”? Am I missing something? Just messing with you, I know what you meant 🙂
Thanks for the clips on how they filmed that scene. Hope it wasn’t filmed during that heat wave we had this summer. Ouch that would have been tough if it was, poor Brian and Louis!!!
Actually there was a thread (which is now closed) on GateWorld. From some one who decided to personally attack you. If I was a mod over there. I would have closed it or deleted that thread immediately. At least the responses to this person’s attack, were in defense of you.
Hey, Joe
I got a question for your mailbag und hope, that you’re gonna answer it 😉
I’m very interessted in the new gate and it’s new “glyphs” – will there be any explanations about them in upcoming episodes? Are they even star constellations?
Joe in no way are you thin skinned. Your rational response to the series of comments made here and elsewhere was excellent. In fact I’m glad that I stumbled upon your blog years ago or whenever I found it, because it shows that there’s a place on the internet where discussion is somewhat civil. Other venues are just rife with all manner of inappropriateness. Additionally, I agree with what you’ve said criticism is one thing, ad hominem attacks are another. And making critiques while coming across as the very things you’re critiquing undermines your point. (I try hard to avoid that)
I’m also glad that you offer a window in to the production and your life as a writer/producer. A life which seems really cool, though I’m curious how writers can focus on their work, especially in those cases where they work at home.
BTW being that I love good food and humorous commentary on things your blog is even greater. As was said before come for the stargate stay for the everything else. Keep on bloggin’!!!
Joe, it seems Flight of the Concords might not return for a third season because showrunners think “its too much work” and its not worth the effort basically. man thats a shame, it was a cool show. remember, too many ***** on the dance floor? and remember “they cut his whole body off”? i only watched two comedy shows, curb and concords, other than that i dont bother.
@dasNdanger
thanks das. Would have never guessed the letters are smileys.
And talking about grammar. I should better re-read before posting after midnight. here/hear. argh.
Nina
this post should be tagged, and when the inevitable whining occurs in the future, you can simply link the persons back to this. don’t know that you could state your view any more clearly than this. Thanks for the videos; amazing how the shots look on the show as a finished product compared to how they were prepared. Find out today if the local bookstore gets my copy of the BotM club in, or if I’m going to have to online order with express delivery. Looking forward to a good weekend read either way.
( I don’t know what tags work here, so bear with me if it gets messy… 😉
[i]Of course, both shows had their fair share of danger and drama and unexpected tragedies but, when all was said and done, the good guys were good and prevailed in the end while the bad guys were bad (although occasionally conflicted) and invariably wound up on the receiving end of a mothership explosion. [ … ] Like I said. A different show. Not better. Or worse. Just very different.[/i]
Thank you for saying this!
I’m personally one of the people who prefer the storytelling style of SG-1 and SGA, and it has saddened me a lot to see comments like “bubblegum”, “we’re going to do it [i]right[/i] this time” etc. about the series I loved for 15 seasons ( never mind that I only started watching Stargate beyond season 1 last year! :-p ).
I understand wanting to promote your new series and advertise how it’s different from the old ones, but I, and many other fans with me, have felt that the way you’ve been doing this is through badmouthing your ( and many other people’s ) earlier work. This doesn’t feel like professional marketing behaviour to me. So I’m glad you posted this last paragraph.
SGU is [i]different[/i] from the other two series, and “better” or “worse” only lies in the eye of the beholder.
[i]Our heroes rarely, if ever, screwed up and, even if they did, their actions never resulted in any long-term consequences.[/i]
*[i]coughHoffanviruscough[/i]* *[i]coughMichaelcough[/i]* :-p
Also, let me just add that I’m terribly sorry for Brian J. Smith and his mother, and other actors who have been personally attacked due to their characters’ actions. Some people should just have their internet access taken away from them until they’ve learned to tell the difference between real people and fictional ones.
I agree that the rant was justified. Plus you clearly waited a couple of days so you could post it calmly and not in the heat of the moment. Which I wish a few of the posters would also consider, take a breath, realize that nothing was done to you personally and then calmly, rationally respond.
das is right. The internet loves its controversy. It lives off of it. Nothing better then a good rant to keep the forums and the blogs humming for days.
Sadly I am in the camp of not loving SGU. I really want to, but for some reason it is just not clicking with me. I am not offended by the sex. Once I got past my mistake (yes, mine I should have watched it first) of allowing my son to see the premier I was fine with it. I now know this isn’t for the smaller members of my family. Thats fine. I don’t dislike any of the characters and find I quite like many of the actors. Yet, I just don’t find myself caring about any of the characters. That is okay, I’ll keep watching for now, because perhaps like Fringe something will happen to change my opinion. If not, no biggie. Not all shows are for all people. I don’t see why The Mentalist is such a huge hit, I was bored the two episodes I watched so I stopped watching. I don’t go and rant on and on about what is wrong with the show. Its just not my cup of tea. I am going to give SGU a full season before I make any viewing decisions. Either way I plan to keep visiting this blog. Thank you Joe for posting everyday.
Joe
Well said, agian you justified you means and differentiated SGU from SG1 and SGA. Unforturnatly people who Compare SGU to those 2 will still make the comparisions when you’ve stated several times that SGU is not like SG1 or SGA.
? Have you guys started spinning SGU 2nd season Episode names yet? There 2 words long now right?
I haven’t posted for a long time but have continued to read daily for over a year. Seems to me that people who are not satisfied with the show were the people like me who really liked both SG1 and Atlantis because they were out to save the world(s), not just themselves. I didn’t like Galactica because of the latter. So the reality is hard for me to take, it’s not the same show and with that, I’ll not be buying the DVD’s at the end of the season like I did for the other 2 shows. Also, there is not much humor going on. The characters need to have their little quirks (yes flaws), that are humorous. These are the 2 things that will regain my attention, hope it happens before I turn the channel forever. This is not meant to be a cautionary for the writers and producers, its meant to be just me expressing my deep sadness at losing my favorite show of all times.
you were right to react the way you did. it’s funny now how all the clarifications will make you feel like you’ve completely retracted your point, but you haven’t. you were justified. you are right. don’t forget that.
it simply isn’t cool for people to make personal attacks on actors who are part of a show that they may not like. i enjoy the show. i think it’s really good. i think it’ll get better. do i have my opinions on the actors, sure. i like them.
this is the same BS that battlestar galactica got when it started. attacks against the actress who played the president, against the actor who portrayed baltar. there were no shortage of complaints.
the more fevered the complainers, the better the show.
I actually appreciated the entirety of what you wrote in the “rant”, as well, I write them too, and I get, often, TL:DR. For those less accustom to being ignored, that means Too Long, Didn’t Read.
I think a lot of people, if I may, wrote off, the “rant” in question, because they DID see the writeup on IO9, went “meh” and moved on. I clicked through, and thought this was actually a pretty cool place (imagine that). What I mean by that is everything is thoughtfully written and people that frequently respond, and even question, are responded to, which is actually pretty damn cool when one thinks about it, considering the daily job Joe here actually has. I said, myself, how this new era of direct communication is overwhelming, in a lot more words. I wasn’t even sure if I would continue reading, but again, as I also said, the writing is thoughtful, and so are the responses. That actually means a lot, and while io9 can discuss how the show sucks or whatever they are trying to lay on Joe here, I think if their readers came through, read through a few posts here (ehem… all the way), they would see, that perhaps the show’s direction may not be what they had wanted, there is certainly no lack of genuine *care* for it. It is no less than the previous shows, and I would say it is even moreso, since I really think we are in for a ride of more depth. The idea of over arching storylines that takes several episodes, or even seasons to complete, even answers that aren’t well, answered directly, or at all (but in an interesting way… the American Happy Ending is not a given)… I love it. So far SG-U has met, and even went beyond expectations.
I “get” a lot of the stuff that isn’t explained, I see where it could go, and if I am wrong, I don’t mind, because it gives me something on TV that I can actually discuss with my wife. We always had “scifi sundays”, and sometimes that was after letting a couple weeks of SGA add up, or when we watched seasons 9 and 10 of SG-1 over the course of a somewhat short time, I am happy to have that back, even if it is one EP. at a time, for now. My preference to watch, or let add up has nothing to do with the show’s quality, actually, when I watch them in succession, it all seems even better, but there are one or two other goings on in my life that TV doesn’t always win over, which is fine. I have back scifi sunday, and it is a show we are already spinning theories about. I say, keep up the good work, don’t bow to pressure, but since you already have season 2 mapping out, I doubt anything said on io9 is going to change the direction, or tone, as you put it, of the show. I don’t want it to anyway. If so, we would have SG-U directed by Whedon, and the lead played by Summer Glau, but as a Terminator, along with that guy that played Chromartie and sang that lovely version of that Scottish kid’s song… anyway, Please, lets just sit back and watch what is being filmed, you know, right now, and enjoy it. Regardless of one’s side in this, it certainly is interesting to imagine where it is all going, which is the point. Too many 45 minute mini-shows=cancelled… I think if we gave all the answers, there would be far less of a following, probably because everyone (I suppose that have a say)
would have what they wanted now, and we are only into the 5th (right?) episode! Joe, I would like to express my desire to continue my scifi sunday, so I tip my hat.
I don’t think you’re thin-skinned. In fact, I’m amazed at how well you take the criticism.
From my observation, it seems that with some of your more intransigent critics, when they criticize an aspect of the show, and if you don’t agree with them, they get even more riled up and accuse you of not listening and being arrogant.
The point being missed by some of these folks is that, while you are certainly open to *polite*, constructive criticism, just because you don’t agree with them doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re not listening to their concerns… it simply means that you don’t agree. So, they demand respect and for their opinions to be heard, but then they don’t respect other opinions and become angry if you don’t agree with them (let me emphasize that this applies only to *some* of your critics…. obviously, you do have some who are polite and reasonable).
Also, a couple of days ago, someone made the comment that some of these concerns being put forward should be equivalent to, and treated as, the same kind of responses you would get from a focus group. Since these concerns are not from a random sampling of fans across the SG viewership, then the answer is no, you cannot take the criticisms as being equivalent to what you would get from a focus group. They are from a very small, vocal, and angry minority, and that’s it.
Hi Joe,
Although I read your blog every day I don’t often post but today I feel I need to…
Oh My Goodness! I can’t believe that you are having to justify your words from the other day!?! Everything you said in your previous post was completely true. There is absoulutely NO reason for someone to think they have the right to pass judgement on an actor’s person just because they don’t like the character they are playing or don’t like a characters actions.
Having just watched Light (we Aussie’s are a week behind, WA doesn’t stand for Western Australia, it stands for ‘Wait Awhile’ ) I have to say that for the first time I actually DON’T like a character. For the Writers and Actor this should be taken as a compliment, it’s easy to play a likeable character, but writing and playing a beliveable opposite is not an easy thing. Especially when you have voiced nothing but wonderful things about said actor, and commented on what a nice person he is right here.
I choose not to mention the character/actor in question because I don’t want to fuel any more negativeness to a person who, I my opinion, deserves praise for the fantastic job he doing.
I am finding SGU to be a refreshing take on the Stargate verse, showing everyday people reacting realisticly to a bizarre and out of this world situation and am looking forward once again to Friday night.
For those of you out there who feel the need to throw around horrid labels remember this before hitting the ‘Submit Comment’ button… We are all adults here and a little respect for the writers, producers, actors and anyone else involed in the production of this great show, is completely uncalled for and childish. Grow Up!
To you, Joe, I say once again Bravo! It needed to be said!
Mya
Hm, I’m not seeing any smiles either, just J and L – I assumed J was the poster, anyway
“did you sit there and wonder “How the heck did they shoot the crevasse sequence?”
I was thinking, “what if he dies – that would be unexpected and different. What if they both die – Rush would be captain! That would be really unexpected” *g*
“Is [my] skin getting thin because the complaints ring true”
John Rogers (Leverage) can admit to mistakes – can you? Which episode you did was really rather bad? Or hasn’t that happened yet? 😉
Un mot d’encouragement,
il est plus facile de détruire que de construire, de critiquer que d’analyser, de nuancer que d’affirmer. Tuer prend une seconde , donner la vie prend 30 ans etc.
Ceux qui ne font rien ne font pas d’erreurs non plus !!
Cao,
un ami
Joe…
Thought you might want to peruse this thread. Just ignore my lame-o comments 😛 , but you might be interested in some of the other viewpoints expressed. Some good, some bad – but mostly from a bunch of people not obsessively pissed off at the SG franchise, perhaps giving you a more balanced view of what is working for viewers, and what is not. (It seems the shower scene is definitely working, while the sex scene is not…I find that interesting, especially considering that the guys commenting are in your target demo.)
http://www.606studios.com/bendisboard/showthread.php?t=182980
das
what were the actors doing online anyway? they shouldve known better—im in no way insulting their intelligence in fact i think they are very very smart people who should be constantly admired for their talents— but chances are the forever anonymous fans will always have something negative to say about them and the best thing the actors can do is to avoid the internet community sites completely as well as reviews. what they should do is just continue doing their job. however, they are welcome to read my insightful comments anytime they wish. lol i promise they will be insightful in the future.
One of the things that has always puzzled me is why sometimes people can’t offer valid criticism (or what they perceive as valid) without being nasty about it. I think you’ve hit the nail on the head here again with your discussion about what is okay and what isn’t. I can easily see someone else offer criticism in a harsh tone, but then why would anyone even try to consider their point?
Up until now, I have very little to criticize in the show, except for this. As must be standard for a show like this, the beginning needs to be based almost entirely on survival. I’m reminded of a book on writing I read once which discussed character’s long-term goals and immediate goals. It noted that you might create a character whose long-term goal is to become a major league baseball player, but if you throw him off a cliff his need to survive becomes the immediate goal that must be addressed first.
So my one critique: Right now, SGU is stuck in immediate goal mode, with their long-term goal (presumably getting back to Earth) in the background. I accept that as necessary. But I’m looking forward to things stabilizing a little more on the ship, so they can start doing some more exploring while they try to find their way home.
Hey Joe,
In comparing SGA to SGU. Yes they are different and not one is better or worse. I enjoyed SGA and am enjoying SGU. I think Atlantis was at it’s best in Season3 and 4 because characters seemed more flaw, it was darker, characters forever changed or were killed or lost. Just to name eps like “Mckay and Mrs Miller” to show Sheppard having a dark personality by making someone kill themselves to save another life. You should not sell yourself short with SGA, you and Paul did an amazing job to make SGA not a walk in the park and all about happy endings. Look at eps like “The Kindred” and “The Last Man” there were no Heroes that prevailed and people suffered the consequences. Simply brilliant eps.
Anyway, SGU has been a pleasant surprise and am looking forward to more eps.
I just hope the SGA and SG-1 movie will happen. I have money to spend and so do a lot of other fans. 🙂
Best,
Squall78
I know maybe I’m obsessed,, so keep that in mind when you read the rest of my post 🙂
I like SGU, it’s different but being a BSG fan also I can live with the darker edgier parts.
I have been giving this much thought, i.e. trying to understand why I’m not blown away by SGU, yes I like it, and have loved some scenes here and there, e.g. my fave, Destiny going through sun’s corona, and yes I’ll still watch (learned to tape first and FF the parts (gratuitous sex) that I don’t much care for) but I think I may have come up with the reason why I haven’t been as wowed with SGU as I was with SG1:
No, not the darkness, slowness, focus on relationships, not even a couple of the characters not being my “cup of tea”, thank goodness to Rush and Eli, they balance that out cause they are very enjoyable to watch 🙂
What is missing for me is the “falling in love with a lead character” part of what usually happens to me when I dedicate myself to a series and become totally enamored with it (such as I did with SG1, Star Trek and other non SciFi shows, e.g. Boston Legal)
I need to “bond” with, “identify” with, or be “attracted” to at least one character on a show (remember I’m only talking about me, selfish aren’t I, LOL)
So far there really isn’t anyone yet that I feel that way about on SGU, I can see that if Rush shows a “tender spot” (or something like that) that that might happen with Rush (it happened with Olmos/Adama on BSG) and since Eli is very young and I’m not, I can see myself have a mother type attachment to him maybe? Or perhaps there will be a new character introduced that would do that for me.
For now I sit and patiently wait for any and all scenes containing Anderson/O’Neill scenes (yes he’s the one I bonded with the most on SG1).
I’m going on to long, sorry, just a wee bit longer, thanks,
So before I go, about your blog above:
You start to explain why you were not “slighting” SGI/A in your “Rant” post, but then you go on to describe SG1/A but never really state your opinion on their “worth” to you artistically, i.e. it just seems to me that you, (and it’s my impression not saying it’s a fact), in your opinion think that SGU is a superior show than SG1 ever was. If that is the case then I feel saddened because that show means the world to me. I guess this is akin to when Shatner put down fans for being so over the top about Star Trek, (he later apologized and retracted his comments because he came to realize just how important Star Trek actually was to many fans and that is was a very VALID show).
I hope that if I’m right about my impression, like Shatner, someday you too will come to realize just how BIG A DEAL SG1 really was/is for many many fans.
(insert Vulcan hand sign here) Live long SG franchise and prosper.
P.S. Can’t wait to see O’Neill in next episode, I’ll “claw my eyes out” anytime just to catch some glimpses of him 🙂
Poor Brian. How long did he have to hang there in what must be an uncomfortable costume? Was he at least able to have an iPod or something?
I loved SGA and am glad that we’re not seeing a clone of it now, just because SGA was cancelled ..
I like the fact that SGU is different – I sit in anticipation of what’s going to happen next – it’s not predictable..
To the trolls ;
As the hip hop band (?) Butterfingers say
“Professional Fuckwits, take one night off”
Oh and for some entertainment Joe and all other blog-ites , I found this – The 15 most stupid (sorry don’t like quoting ‘stupidest’) Products.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/02/the-15-stupidest-products_n_342316.html?slidenumber=uyVPIHYjKVk%3D
Knackered, time to hit the hay (its 11.40pm here)
Annie
Yo Joe,
I noticed on the ‘Wheel of Gate’ entry under MyLifeInCleveland’s blog, you made special dubious mention to 1×3 and 1×20. While I agree with 1×3 ‘Emancipation’, (boy do I ever…) 1×20 was ‘There But For The Grace Of God’, which is possibly my favorite episode of the entire first season. Could you be a hero and shed some light on what you didn’t like about it? I’m just curious…
Joe, (And anyone else who cares to read my lengthy essay!)
In my opinion, Stargate Universe is a show created by hundreds of people, and then certain people just saying outright that the thing that they have spend the last god-knows-how-long creating for us, is just a ‘piece of shi*t’, is entirely unfair. I feel that if a discussion was held and everyone brought valid reasons to the table, then this kind of abuse could be avoided.
As you have pointed out, Scott and Chloe found each other at the end of Air, and connected through their mutual losses. In the shows timeline I believe the ‘hooking up’ was a few days or less later, I do not see this as a problem. There are people who meet, and the marry in a matter of days or weeks, ever been to Vegas anyone? THey both were led to believe that they were going to die, and animalistic instincts took over!
Even if people are of the opinion that the supposed ‘sex scenes’ ruin the show, then that is still no reason to turn off. As I see it, there is nothing gratuitous in any of the Scott/Chloe kissing scenes, i actually think that the funniest scene of Air was the store room scene. Only because of the way Young seems to know that Scott may not be exactly ‘doing his duty’, and for me those few lines seemed to establish a relationship between the two, and for me raised the question, what else has Scott done that Young may know of? Was Young aware of the situation because he went through the same rookie mistakes as Scott?
I think that the obsession of some people with the very few scenes with women not exactly fully dressed is completely pointless, as even though some may feel that they ruin the whole atmosphere with god old snog, it is also a good way to show maybe the lack of control that character has over themself in a situation beyond their control. I thought that the Kinosode (Great name from the GW Forum there!) involving Eli and Riley ‘perving’ on Lt. James was well done in showcasing both characters immaturity and juvenile nature. This does not mean that they automatically act like this all the time, I mean, i like steak as much as the next guy, but would you eat it everyday, all the time? This may be a one time thing, or it may be that Eli, having seen Chloe and Scott’s little scene in the corridor, is seeking female company, and due to his social inabilities, this is the way he satisfies his need, but this does not mean he acts this way all the time, as i previously mentioned.
I hope this shows my opinion towards this subject, and even though I sometimes shout at the tv, ‘WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU CRAZY FOOL!’, I think this kind of situation is a very good character study, as mentioned by BW many moons ago. I love that the show is not what you stereotypically think of a stargate show, but is more of a long term psychological study into human behavior, cut off from the rest on humanity and everything that they hold dear.
Thanks for reading, if you got this far without falling asleep or running away!
Loyal fan and general hide-in-the-shadows-man!
Josh x
Joe –
You really don’t have to approve any comments. It’s your blog, after all.
I liked SG1 because it was solidly formulaic (SGA an offshoot)- it had several easily recognizable archetypal characters with clearly defined heroes and bad guys. Some scifi, fantasy, humor and a reassuring heroic outcome. And, you had the luxury of 44 episodes to develop SG1 out of the gate.
SGU is completely different – ensemble cast with complicated characters, more realistic plot lines and much more drama. It takes longer to develop the characters in an ensemble so I was prepared to be patient. And, since this is a completely different direction for the Stargate franchise, the show will probably take longer to find it’s “legs”. And those who were attached to the first two shows in the franchise won’t get anything like the same experience. So, my only criticism of the producers is that they need to be patient with the fans just as much as the fans need to be patient with the show. But no one should be abusive – that just undermines the credibility of anyone’s position anyway.
The problem is that television is a business that requires immediate successful results or you’re gone. When I was a very young student, I interned in the program scheduling department of one of the three major TV networks in NYC. The executives were slaves to Nielsen ratings (which I picked up and delivered to them every morning). Some shows disappeared almost immediately because of a few weeks of bad ratings. Some shows deserved this – some did not. I find it sad that this is still such an important yard stick in measuring success after so many years. But advertising dollars are scarce these days, so you best deliver the goods. You will lose some fans and gain others – hopefully the balance sheet will lean in your favor. Meanwhile, I will continue to watch the show to see what develops.
@Maddog316 “Well said, agian you justified you means and differentiated SGU from SG1 and SGA. Unforturnatly people who Compare SGU to those 2 will still make the comparisions when you’ve stated several times that SGU is not like SG1 or SGA. ”
A lot of fans are dissapointed, because SGU is such a drastic departure from the standard Stargate formula (we came to expect in the last 13 years) of exploration, adventure & expansion of human knowledge of the universe. I don’t care for the ‘drama’ turn of the franchise, because there’s plenty of other DRAMAS out there I’d rather watch. When I tune in to see Stargate, I want to see SCI-FI & travel via Stargate, discovering new plantes and new civilizations. SGU is not that. And as Mr. M stated, it will NOT be that. So, time for me to stop watching. :/
Gilder’s Roll Call
Joe M. Vancouver, Canada
Gilder Texas, USA
PBMom Texas, USA
Susan the Tartan Turtle, Perthshire, Scotland
SG-1lover Scotland
Dasndanger New Jersey, USA
Charlie’s Angel Southern USA
Pastrygirl Arizona, USA
Montrealer Montreal, Canada
Rose/OhioAnne Ohio, USA?
Sparrow_Hawk Midwest USA
deeinsouthafrica South Africa
Elminster Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
2cats, New Jersey (shore), USA
Thornyrose Virginia, USA
chevron7 (chev) Melbourne, Australia
Maddog316: Ft. Myers, FL, USA
Shiningwit – Cornwall, England
Berry – Las Vegas, NV
Shirt’n’Tie, Tipperary, IRELAND
Suziesbluefeather, Virginia, USA
cherluvya, Utah USA
Gracey, Connecticut, USA
Shia, Virginia, USA
Andria – AKA Sis, Montreal, Canada
maggiemayday – Utah, USA
I book my vacations about 13 months out (we take two or three a year or so), and I was perusing places to go. I’ve lived in Iran and Saudi and Japan, and visited many other places, but I’ve never set foot in Canada! So for Spring of 2011, Victoria or Vancouver? Whistler … but I neither ski nor golf, which seem to be the main point there. Thoughts? Anyone?
I’m wondering if you guys are going to do an AU episode for Universe? You hade several AU episodes in SG-1 and in Atlantis.
I know not many episodes ha been aired of season one, som maybe there already is one… or perhaps in season 2?
It’s almost like an unwritten rule that you have to have Alternate Universe episode(s) in a sci fi show? 😛
Coucou Joseph Me voila !!!!
Vous allez bien? Moi oué ça peu aller, j”ai reppris les cours, je suis trop fatiguer car je n’ai pas dormie cette nuit…plus que 2 jours et ensuite je suis en stage.
Merci pour ces videos, elles sont intéressantes! Rohh encore des personnes qui postent des commentaire anticonstructif? -_-” j’espere que ça va leurs passer.
Bonne journée,
Gros bsiou!
Me revoila, je viens de voir les audiences du derniére épisode de sgu encore en baisse ça fait déja 3ieme épisodes de suite, en plus cette fois on est en dessou des 2millions, c’est inquiétant ou non?
Have I told everyone that sometimes I tend to be a bit…anal? See…names were blending into places…and it was confusing…soooo…
Gilder’s Roll Call
Joe M. – Vancouver, Canada
Gilder – Texas, USA
PBMom – Texas, USA
Susan the Tartan Turtle – Perthshire, Scotland
SG-1lover – Scotland
dasNdanger – New Jersey, USA
Charlie’s Angel – Southern USA
Pastrygirl – Arizona, USA
Montrealer – Montreal, Canada
Rose/OhioAnne – Ohio, USA?
Sparrow_Hawk – Midwest USA
deeinsouthafrica – South Africa
Elminster – Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
2cats – New Jersey (shore), USA
Thornyrose – Virginia, USA
chevron7 (chev) – Melbourne, Australia
Maddog316 – Ft. Myers, FL, USA
Shiningwit – Cornwall, England
Berry – Las Vegas, NV
Shirt’n’Tie – Tipperary, Ireland
Suziesbluefeather – Virginia, USA
cherluvya – Utah USA
Gracey – Connecticut, USA
Shia – Virginia, USA
Andria (AKA Sis) – Montreal, Canada
maggiemayday – Utah, USA
Whats this roll call stuff.
Ok lets just say this.
Major D. Davis, East coast United States.
My mom doesn’t want me to give away too much personal info on the web so lets just say east coast.
Hi Joe,
First, I’ve gotta change my name to add my last initial, as it looks like there’s another Sean on here (one in Ireland I believe). Well, you receive our provided email addresses (privately) so you can tell who is who at least. 🙂
I have an uber-big question that has been gnawing at me since the first episode of SGU, and even more so as the episodes are released:
Is Col. Telford a Lucian Alliance convert?
😉
Thanks!
Sean D.
@skontel – Thanks for your post. What you said about the Samantha Carter character (whom I really like) made me think of the John Sheppard character. While I neither dispute nor agree with what you said about Sam, I think it may be a little true about the John Sheppard character.
In The Kindred Part II, Carson had just been rescued from the abuses of Michael, only to find out that he was in fact his own clone, his family and everyone else thought he was dead, so his team was never looking for him, he no longer had a job because he had been replaced because of his death, and he was also dying. And, one of the first things I saw John saying to Carson was that he was never really any good at the missions? That just blew me away. I also disagree with that statement. Maybe this was giving the John character more texture. But, call me old-fashioned, I like John being a nice guy. I never thought Sheppard would kick someone while they were down like that (in my opinion), especially someone as sweet as Carson. It was the only thing that bothered me about what was otherwise a very-very good episode. On another note, I’m still hoping for the movie! I’m sure it will be good.
@Joe – Thanks again. I really do appreciate that you approve as much as you do. I hope we hear more about Maximus. It was nice of you to let us know about his recovery.
Peace & Love,
Gilder’s Roll Call
Joe M. Vancouver, Canada
Gilder Texas, USA
PBMom Texas, USA
Susan the Tartan Turtle, Perthshire, Scotland
SG-1lover Scotland
Dasndanger New Jersey, USA
Charlie’s Angel Southern USA
Pastrygirl Arizona, USA
Montrealer Montreal, Canada
Rose/OhioAnne Ohio, USA?
Sparrow_Hawk Midwest USA
deeinsouthafrica South Africa
Elminster Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
2cats, New Jersey (shore), USA
Thornyrose Virginia, USA
chevron7 (chev) Melbourne, Australia
Maddog316: Ft. Myers, FL, USA
Shiningwit – Cornwall, England
Berry – Las Vegas, NV
Shirt’n’Tie, Tipperary, IRELAND
Suziesbluefeather, Virginia, USA
cherluvya, Utah USA
Gracey, Connecticut, USA
Shia, Virginia, USA
Andria – AKA Sis, Montreal, Canada
maggiemayday – Utah, USA
Anne Teldy, Evansville, Indiana USA
I awaited the SG:U show with mixed emotions. I’ve been a long time SG-1 fan, LOVE RDA and Amanda Tapping, never paid much attention to SGA until I was sick for four months and couldn’t do much but watch TV. The first episode I saw was Runner. The show captured my attention, and I was hooked by the time Condemned aired. I immediately bought Season 1 to catch up on the storyline. I liked it, but I have to admit that the main reasons I was interested in the beginning were the delectable Jason Momoa and Kavan Smith. (I MISS THE DREADLOCKS!) So, I watched the first SG:U. I didn’t like it. Didn’t hate it, but didn’t much like it. However, I’m a veteran of spinoffs, and know to give it the benefit of the doubt. As of now, I’m still on the fence but I keep watching it. I did like “Water” but thought the final tremor that knocked Scott loose was a little bit of a cliche. To tell the truth, although I seem to be contradicting myself, I thought the first tremor might do the job. And right from the beginning I wondered why they didn’t just use the sled to pull him out. I’m guessing there’s something about the sled capabilities that either I don’t know or missed out on.
I’ve gotta say that the sex scenes neither surprised me nor disturbed me, (other than I had not picked up that she was attracted to Scott so it surprised me in that way, not because it was a sex scene) although I did feel sorry for Eli. I did think that Chloe was a little TOO touchy feely with him after the shuttle left, although I can rationalize it if I try hard enough. Perhaps the fact that I don’t find Eli physically attractive and do find Scott physically attractive had a lot to do with it. And I agree with some posters that she doesn’t have a “legitimate” reason for getting so much air time other than being the daughter of a famous person.
I was one of the rabid Keller haters. Not Jewel Staite, let me make that perfectly clear. She was absolutely AWESOME as Kaylee in Firefly and I’ve seen her guest star in other shows, and she’s a perfectly good actress. I just felt that her character was wooden and forced, not written as well as it could have been. The “deer in the headlights” look was overdone. Jewel did as good a job as she could, but Keller’s constant screaming and being terrified of things kinda got on my nerves. Then all of a sudden in “Brainstorm” she was all decisive and in charge…. too suddenly. Also, I did feel she was being “shoved down our throats” (yes, I know that the numbers show she didn’t get as much air time as it seemed), but I felt that she needed more time at Atlantis, and needed to earn the respect of the others, perhaps by showing some backbone, before being admitted to the sanctum of the inner circle on such an unconditional basis. And I strongly felt, and still do, that her character was NOT the type of person Ronon would have been attracted to. Someone like Teyla was more his type. The Amelia Banks thing was good, I would have liked to see that developed further; unfortunately the ending of the show was the ending of that.
On a side note, I really enjoy the way that you (or the other writers) insert your name in some places…. one of my favorites was the name “Mallozzi” on the spine of the book the chess players were using in “Sunday.” That was amusing!
Duct Tape has been asking about Maximus. Joe, I think you started something there with that sexy scar. I suspect that Duct Tape has been trying to e-mail him while I’m asleep.
Gilder’s Roll Call
Joe M. Vancouver, Canada
Gilder Texas, USA
PBMom Texas, USA
Susan the Tartan Turtle, Perthshire, Scotland
SG-1lover Scotland
Dasndanger New Jersey, USA
Charlie’s Angel Southern USA
Pastrygirl Arizona, USA
Montrealer Montreal, Canada
Rose/OhioAnne Ohio, USA?
Sparrow_Hawk Midwest USA
deeinsouthafrica South Africa
Elminster Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
2cats, New Jersey (shore), USA
Thornyrose Virginia, USA
chevron7 (chev) Melbourne, Australia
Maddog316: Ft. Myers, FL, USA
Shiningwit – Cornwall, England
Berry – Las Vegas, NV
Shirt’n’Tie, Tipperary, IRELAND
Suziesbluefeather, Virginia, USA
cherluvya, Utah USA
Gracey, Connecticut, USA
Shia, Virginia, USA
Andria – AKA Sis, Montreal, Canada
maggiemayday – Utah, USA
Bella&Bilo – Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada
Actually, I did wonder how the crevasse scene was done.
As for the rant, there was nothing thin-skinned about it. I thought it was calm and cogent. Unfortunately, there are individuals on the internet who have, shall we say, an off-center and rather immature view of the world that doesn’t allow them to fully comprehend rational arguments. Instead, they view such arguments as “attacks” or “contemptuous dismissal”, which suggests pathetically weak self-regard.
Speaking of SGA- A Favorite EP. Is when Rodney “evolves” and must decide whether to live or, as he finds out, quite possibly ascend, and comes so close, of course, choosing to live… (well, what is SGA without McKay?), anyway, I presume the Destiny, like Atlantis, serving as some sort of “outpost” perhaps holds similar secrets, as I am sure the Ancients were aware of ascension, if the Destiny shares even similar technology as other Ancient “stuff”. It is certainly going to be an interesting ride. The ascended, even, we are unaware of, I guess, where “they” are, actually, I thought the water-eater things, at first, could have been Ascended hints, but not yet, as I am sure it is, as I have said, a long ride, which is probably what you tell a lot of people. That’s good though, because a short ride would be an and to much of the fun of my scifi sunday. 🙁
My critique would be, actually, it seems done well… Everyone is pretty much doing what people would do, and I like the command, Young seems to be put in a situation he never wanted, but is slowly gaining the strength, which I think in the last episode, was represented by his interaction on the ice-planet. I actually don’t mind the sex one bit, and I entirely understand it. Seriously, if you are BILLIONS AND BILLIONS (to quote Carl, RIP) of lightyears away, (and yes, I know Carl was talking about stars, I just like the quote), everyone is going to be freaking out, having breakdowns, and seeking comfort, which leads to, well, as we have seen. In a crisis situation, this really does happen.
What I would like to commend, actually, is any actor that has had to play someone with the “chip” so often used on a shoulder. I think these guys don’t deserve hate, because they are playing a character, not actually being an asshole. Rush, and whats-his-name, that went ahead and decided to “invent stuff too” (which was actually a pretty cool scene), they really play it to the bone, and it shows. These guys aren’t Ronin, or Teal’c, and as interesting as they were, and watching them interact with the rest and each other, (which was an SGA highlight), the backgrounds are entirely human, earth, with lives, in cities, towns, driving cars, and so forth. Totally not the same. So obviously we are going to relate to these emotions more, which causes us to react to them in a way we didn’t “need” to with someone from some other planet with a chip on their shoulder. They are in it for the galaxy, these guys on Destiny, so far, are really in it for earth, and mankind, because I think Rush’s secret is not some dark endgame but a desire for exploration, which is why he is usually right there at the command post of the ship, checking logs, and reading information, hell he even disovered the name of the ship when everyone was still freaking out. (A console that we have seen so far, I am sure it is just one console of many).
I’ve been a huge fan of SG-1 and SGA since the beginning of each series and I have been reading your blog for many years now and this is the first time I’ve felt the strong need to leave a comment.
Joe, please … please … ignore the lunatic fringe and stop giving them the attention that feeds their delusion. Don’t even acknowledge their existence.
Every comment, every post is like a siren song to them and it also seems to attract more of their ilk. You should feel free in taking draconian measures to remove their posts, screen their comments and blessedly spare the rest of your reasonably sane readership and fanbase. There is no need to explain why you’re doing it – this isn’t a government institution or a sociology course on freedom of speech – it’s a blog, a social gathering – no different than kicking someone out of your house party for being an obnoxious, harassing ass.
There have been many blogs and forums that I’ve stopped reading because the trolls ran free and you had to sift through pages of garbage for any meaningful discussion or morsel of information and I don’t want that to happen here. I don’t want to be turned off and stop visiting your blog.
Am I just a blind fanboi? I don’t believe so. SGU hasn’t been enthralling me and the only reason I’ve been giving it some time is because it’s Stargate. But in the event it doesn’t grow on me, then I’ll simply stop watching. Why not liking something in fandom requires tantrums and obscene behaviour is beyond my understanding. I didn’t care much for the Michael storylines in SGA – that didn’t stop me from enjoying the series though.
Anyways, I think I’m rambling now. I couldn’t remember or find the email address to send you comments so I decided to just post it here.
Besides, the more you ignore them – the crazier it’ll drive them. Win win.
Arctic Goddess: You have NO reason to be guilty. A lot of us know your pain. 😥
J: Great points! I totally agree with ya.
Das: OCD can be an asset. :ideal: (I just had to work that Icon in 😉 .
Gilder’s Roll Call
Joe M. – Vancouver, Canada
Gilder – Texas, USA
PBMom – Texas, USA
Susan the Tartan Turtle – Perthshire, Scotland
SG-1lover – Scotland
dasNdanger – New Jersey, USA
Charlie’s Angel – Southern USA
Pastrygirl – Arizona, USA
Montrealer – Montreal, Canada
Rose/OhioAnne – Ohio, USA?
Sparrow_Hawk – Midwest USA
deeinsouthafrica – South Africa
Elminster – Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
2cats – New Jersey (shore), USA
Thornyrose – Virginia, USA
chevron7 (chev) – Melbourne, Australia
Maddog316 – Ft. Myers, FL, USA
Shiningwit – Cornwall, England
Berry – Las Vegas, NV
Shirt’n’Tie – Tipperary, Ireland
Suziesbluefeather – Virginia, USA
cherluvya – Utah USA
Gracey – Connecticut, USA
Shia – Virginia, USA
Andria (AKA Sis) – Montreal, Canada
maggiemayday – Utah, USA
TammyDixon-MS, USA
Tam
Ooophs, I need a spell check so bad! Here goes again 💡 .
T
@ Arctic Goddess
When it’s time, it’s time. No one, whether it be animal or even Human should suffer unnecessarily.
Deep down you KNOW you did the right thing, it’s just that you miss her and feel guilty for doing so after what you had to do.
But ask yourself this. Would you want her to go on, knowing that her life would never, ever get any better?
Now go and grab a tissue – and prepare for the next kitten… ‘cos all cats belong to the goddess Bastet (I refuse to believe Ba’al killed her) – and that particular Goa’uld always knows where to send one of her army. 🙂
Heh, I wrote up a huge longwinded comment last night that failed to go through, and in the cold light of day, that’s probably a very good thing.
I still think that there are many valid criticisms being leveled at the show, whatever the tone in which they are delivered, and quite often find myself agreeing with the criticisms even if I don’t exactly like the tone in which they are delivered. As for the poor choice of words and personal attacks, it seems to me those are coming from all corners, not just the people saying they don’t like the show.
As for the “if you don’t like it, don’t watch it!”/”It’s just a tv show, get a life!” crowd, these are the reasons I am still watching SGU even if I don’t exactly like everything about it:
I like the actors involved. A lot. I think they have been exceedingly gracious and patient and good-humoured in the way they’ve gone about reaching out to fans like me. I watched the adverts, and they did not leave me wanting to watch this show. I read David Blue and Brian J Smith and Ming Na and Lou Diamond Philips and Alaina Huffman’s twitter feeds, and I wanted to watch this show because it was so obvious that these people adore their jobs. And that they care for each other, and for this show, and because they want it to succeed. It makes me want to love this show just as much.
Likewise, this blog. While I don’t always agree with the comments and/or posts, I am very appreciative of the fact that this forum exists. I like and admire many of the commenters because they make me re-examine my own thoughts about the show. It’s another interpretation, another way of viewing the episode, and I like being able to watch the discussion even if I don’t often participate. But for that to work, I need to watch the source material for myself.
I also enjoy seeing the show from the other side of the camera. I love the tidbits of info we get here, and reading about some of the trials and tribulations that are a part of a show writer/runner’s life.
This is one of my few ‘must read daily’ blogs (except when I’m on vacation), and it has been for a long while. For the people telling me that this is just a show, I humbly submit that it is not. There is a community on this blog that I would sorely miss if I just walked away now, and frankly I’m not willing to do that.
For some people, the show is great and exactly what they wanted and expected. For me, it is not. That doesn’t mean I should stop watching or give up commenting, and I thank you, Joe, for stating as much. In fact, I suspect Syfy would prefer it if everyone continued to watch for as long as possible so they get the best November/December etc. numbers ever to match their record breaking October numbers. *grin*
And frankly, one of the roles of science fiction, be it in novel or television/movie or graphic novel format, is to provoke discussion and comment and criticism — What makes us human? How far should we go in the name of exploration — do we have the right to alter the ecosystem of other planets to make them habitable for human occupation if it means the loss of local life? Who gets to decide what the definition of life is, or sentience? Do we have the right to manipulate DNA to get the best baby possible? Is xeno-genocide okay if it’s the only way to prevent extermination?
For me, that’s the fun of science fiction. Along with questions of gender: as a woman and a scientist, I want to know where I fit into all of this. I like science and math and technology; I want to watch other women like me on TV, rather than seeing them as irrelevant background characters, there to add the, er, romance, or be rescued, or told what and/or how to think by their better, more knowledgeable male counterparts, or whatever. I want to watch women who know their own minds and make their own decisions, who add value to the expedition not just because they are pretty or sexy, but because they too have valuable knowledge and skills to contribute to the pool. I want to see people solving problems, where the set of people includes both men and women, and not just white or straight, either.
I’ve said this before, but I am tired of watching women characters be relegated to the sidelines in stories like these. I am tired of being told, over and over in movies and TV shows and books that women can’t think for themselves, that they need to be told what they are feeling by the men around them. And, yes, SGU is just a TV show, but it does not exist in isolation. There is a wealth of science fiction (and other genre fiction!) out there reinforcing exactly the same message: women should look pretty, no matter what, be young and sexy and smart…but not smart enough to solve problems on their own or think for themselves. Women should define themselves by their relationships with the men around them, and be available for rescue whenever the hero needs a convenient pick-me-up/ego-boost. That’s not a message I personally care for, and the sooner that message gets relegated to the dustbin, the happier I’ll be. But, unfortunately, for it to go away, that message needs to be pointed out, again and again. Why are all the smart problem solving people men? Why are the women characters all young and pretty and sexy? What happened to the attractive but plump middle-aged super-smart female scientists, or the ordinary looking but kick-ass female soldiers who don’t care about lip gloss or tight T-shirts? Where are the women working the problems alongside Rush and Eli, or going off-world to get some life-saving water and ice?
Where would I fit in, as a woman and a scientist on this ship? Would I be in the background, my contributions deemed insignificant and unworthy simply because of my gender?
We’re, what, six episodes in, and TJ has finally come to the front as a potential leader, and that’s great! I just wish it had happened three episodes ago. And I hope we don’t have to wait much longer for Camile to step up and grab some of the screen time, or for Lisa Park to come up with the lifesaving fix instead of Eli and Rush. Or for Chloe to give up on the self-pity/martyr fest, and start showing us all how smart and capable and adaptable she is. Because not knowing something is not an excuse anymore — she’s smart and well educated. Please just let her prove it!
And, um, that ran a bit longer and got a bit more off tangent than I was expecting. Oops…
@Shadow Step – You said: “Hm, I’m not seeing any smiles either, just J and L – I assumed J was the poster, anyway”
I’ve made that same mistake a couple of times (I think?) in the past too. I guess it’s good that someone asked that question since others have devices that don’t show the smileys too.
Makes me happy I tend to brush things off. (*g*)
Peace & Love,
j
Well what the he**. Here I am at WORK and I am reading the blog, I knew it was a matter of time. Maybe it’s the gremlins working in my favor.
Joe, really how do you put up with all this?
This is how I watch t.v. I see a show I watch it I either really like it or dislike it, if I really don’t like it, I don’t watch it.
When I find a show I really like, I can get wrapped up in it. But much like what happens in life the only thing I have control over is my reaction. Yeah there have been things I didn’t like that happened on SG-1, when Daniel ascended – I thought the character was written off for good, I wasn’t into SG-1 as much until Daniel came back. I was shocked that Weir’s character was written off and kinda sad and then Sam took her spot and the Woolsey came in which I just didn’t like the character, Woolsey was “the man” as O’Neill refers to ppl in those positions.
But much like life itself what contorl over the way the writters write do I have??? My reaction to those above mentioned cases, I was bummed, and I think I expressed my displeasure about Woolsey. But the writers know their job better than I do and Woolsey grew on me.
The fact that people / characters were written off…. reflects how people come in and out of our lives. It kept the shows fresh. Different people , different storylines. At the end of the day it – it’s just television. I have no control over how show is written. And I appreciate there is a place to express how I feel good or bad with in reason. And I know, Joe, you like to hear feedback (constructive that is) – what artist doesn’t (yes writing is an art ).
So while I am still trying to adjsut to SGU – I’m still not hating it. The only reason I am sticking with it – is the talent behind the scenes. The actors were really good choices too,which draws me in.
It would be like Thomas Kincade painting in black and white. He may still be a painter of light and still acheive levels of light and illumination with black and white. Nothing wrong with that, it would just be different. And so it is with SGU, it’s just different.
@skontel–Sometimes scripts show up in charity auctions or on eBay.
“you risk alienating the very people you’re trying to convince”
But you can’t be convinced – you are always right, right? 🙂
Uhm, actually, I have wondered how they filmed that. Although well, my wonder actually went more towards set design and paint job rather than the actual camera work. I’m crafty myself so naturally that’s where my interests lie. But thanks for the vid!
@ARCTIC GODDESS, Sorry to hear about your kitty, I have 2 myself. Hopefully this weekend will lift the saddness a bit. I will look for you in LA. Safe flight. Sheryl Berwick
@ DENI and KAREN, BYE bye and yes , I will call or text when I can. Love ya both, Sheryl
First, I’d like to echo the sentiments of those who applaud you, Mr. Malozzi, for keeping your cool in all this, and allowing this blog to stay active and open as such.
Next, I was intrigued by something written by Michelle above about falling in love with a lead. It’s a valid point, but I think one that wasn’t even taken far enough. When you love a show, especially one with an ensemble cast, there are usually a number of people you like. Sometimes all of the central characters, even.
I’m just not sure the more subtle approach to character and conflict is paying off in that sense on SGU.
And I still chalk this up to the fact that, so far, there’s really no bad guy.
Amidst a discussion of characters who are more flawed and whose actions have more dire consequences, I have to wonder where that is on-screen so far.
Is it a “flaw” to be going through caffeine withdrawal and to wig out as a result? Is it a “flaw” to seek comfort in the arms of another person (or two) if you think you might be dead any day? Is it a “flaw” to waffle in most circumstances in terms of who you trust, who you don’t, and who you share information with as a result?
Yes, these things are handled more realistically on SGU than they were on SG-1 and SGA (those being the obvious examples for comparison), but where’s the consequence?
I said this on our podcast this week, but in the previous two series, and in the film, the stargate was always the doorway to adventure, danger, excitement and wonder. And so far on SGU, it’s really just been the doorway to the gas station.
And none of the characters that we should be falling in love with is even driving the bus.
Internal conflict (and by that I mean conflict between our cast of characters, all of whom are theoretically on the same side in that they all want to a) survive and b) get back home) is only good when it gets in the way of the main storyline. But right now, the internal conflict is the main storyline.
Our characters aren’t in control of anything. They’re not flying the ship. They don’t even know where it’s going until it gets there. They’re just trying to survive. Except there’s no heroic element.
Rush may or may not have ulterior motives (based on what’s been shown on-screen so far). But so what? If he does, and if they’re sinister, we’re not in on it, so there’s really no danger that we know of, other than paranoia, on that front.
Telford seems like he’s up to no good, but again, we have no idea why, so it doesn’t matter. Right now, he just seems power trippy for no reason.
The particle cloud monster is so far just an enigma. Yeah, it’s capable of scouring a man’s skin off if provoked, but otherwise seems peaceful, so right now it’s more curious than scary or threatening.
We can only imagine why our group of characters ended up on Destiny in the first place. The ship seems to be extremely capable of taking care of itself. So it doesn’t need a crew for that. But if, as Rush stated, they were “meant” to find the Destiny, then why is that? What does the ship need a crew for if it can take care of itself, recharge itself, etc.? Perhaps the ancients built it as some sort of failsafe in the event of their destruction. A failsafe that needs a crew. A crew that can do something that the ship can’t do itself because it’s not alive, or it’s not ancient or at least have the ancient gene.
But if that’s the case, how much “internal conflict” are we going to have to sit through before we figure out what that is? When are we going to be let in on “the big thing” that SGU will ultimately be about?
If there is no big thing, if the Destiny is only going the places it’s going and doing the things it’s doing because it happens to have a crew now after millions of years, and if all of the conflict in SGU is just going to be about the effects of their situation on them in terms of trust / paranoia and “conflicts within the mind”, then I fear that SGU will keep teasing us with greatness and importance but never deliver.
I have to agree with some others here who note that there have been moments and scenes of subtle greatness, but I also think it’s just not enough for a show with “Stargate” in the title.
I get the need to change. To be more realistic. To be more subtle. To have more genuine flaws in your characters and consequences that are the result of those flaws. Just remember that for years you’ve given us a doorway with unlimited adventure and excitement on the other side. If there’s one thing about a Stargate show that must never change, it’s that.
Joe, just two points, please: First, I may be imagining things, but I am pretty sure that I’m the person you are pointing to when you raise the use of the word “whore” as it relates to a certain character. Yes, I used the word. When you first responded, I explained my thinking but backed down from the word “whore,” and I even apologized for using it. This was even BEFORE your “rant” as well as after.
I apologized several times, Joe. I am very sorry I used the word – I shouldn’t have. But you keep raising this issue as though I was standing firm on my right to use that term, without ever noting that I did in fact apologize for it, do regret it deeply, and in fact have not used the term again as originally applied to the character.
It’s ok if you don’t acknowledge or accept the apology I have freely provided, and you can say or do anything you want in your blog, but I really wish you’d stop bringing it up and bludgeoning me with it. There have been lots of other examples of the kind of problem you discussed in your rant.
Second, for the record, I have never called any actor any bad name whatsoever nor blamed them for any issues I have with the characters in the show. I’ve never criticized the actor in question in any way.
I’ve also never posted a single message on Twitter or Gateworld, so if people are going after the actors for problems they have with the show, I’m not one of those people and have never even seen the posts that so offended people there. (Actually, the only thing I’ve ever done on Twitter is look at pictures of your dogs and clicked a link to a political person’s blog or two).
Mary
Personally I think it’s great that SGU is far removed from SGA/SG1. It makes the show unique and gives the show a chance to explore behavior/actions that wouldn’t normally be seen in a military enviroment. Because lets face it. Half the actions thus far probably would never happen in Stargate Command because some cross the line(Such as the sheer amount of arguements between the characters)
Basically touching on the behavior/actions of the characters point that makes the show special.
And I’m sorry I misspelled your last name above 🙂
Re SG1 and SGA character screwups – well, actually, there were a couple of doozies that come right to mind, although I could probably think up a few more. But these two, one for each show, were huge.
SG1 – messing around with Ancient technology that no one understood, Daniel brought the Milky Way galaxy to the attention of the Ori, resulting in two years of war and many, many deaths of Jaffa and humans in the MW galaxy. They also ended up bringing down the Ori, most likely resulting in fairly severe disruption of the civilization in the Ori galaxy, but they did free those people.
SG1 – They woke up the Wraith. Now, in the story, they pretty much had to do what they did that ended up waking up the Wraith, but they were kind of blindly stumbling around, and created the situation that woke up the Wraith. This resulted in culling in huge numbers that would not otherwise have yet happened. We don’t know how that story ends yet.
Oh and I don’t think your skin is thin either. If anything you’ve taken a lot of complaints/abuse from the lower class of society on here and still provide excellent postings. And everyone here apreciates what you do.
Michael A. Burnstein hands us a crucial point in that those on the Destiny solve the first problem – survive – before they can attempt the second problem – return to Earth.
Firm grasp of the obvious – one will not get anywhere near home if the ship and those on board do not survive.
The integral actions of the ship’s auto pilot makes the effort to survive more interesting. Brilliant in that – will the ship take some action that interferes with survival? Of course, now we see that the ship has added a couple of plot twists to complicate the efforts.
And, I’m sure there will be some “predicatable” complications cause that happens in real life too as well as “OMstars, where did that come from” sequences.
My next statement may sound like a cop out, but as a StarGate fan, I am content to take the journey with Destiny and her “crew” to whatever adventures unfold. And, I am quite willing for this journey to last several seasons – how bout 10?
Hope this did not qualify as a soapbox item…if it does, will gladly pay.
Regard roll call:
This is missing PG15 and perhaps others who might have added but subsequent adds were attached to a later version of the list which had an omission (hope this sentence makes sense).
Joe’s Blog Roll Call – 2:45 pm CST
Joe M. Vancouver, Canada
Gilder Texas, USA
PBMom Texas, USA
Susan the Tartan Turtle, Perthshire, Scotland
SG-1lover Scotland
Dasndanger New Jersey, USA
Charlie’s Angel Southern USA
Pastrygirl Arizona, USA
Montrealer Montreal, Canada
Rose/OhioAnne Ohio, USA?
Sparrow_Hawk Midwest USA
deeinsouthafrica South Africa
Elminster Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
2cats, New Jersey (shore), USA
Thornyrose Virginia, USA
chevron7 (chev) Melbourne, Australia
Maddog316: Ft. Myers, FL, USA
Shiningwit – Cornwall, England
Berry – Las Vegas, NV
Shirt’n’Tie, Tipperary, IRELAND
Suziesbluefeather, Virginia, USA
cherluvya, Utah USA
Gracey, Connecticut, USA
Shia, Virginia, USA
Andria – AKA Sis, Montreal, Canada
maggiemayday – Utah, USA
Bella&Bilo – Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada
Sylvia – Chicagoland, USA
>>Our heroes rarely, if ever, screwed up and, even if they did, their actions never resulted in any long-term consequences. << Their screw-ups cost billions of lives. They lost people they loved. They caused senseless deaths. Sorry, the above is not accurate. LOL did you actually WATCH the series? Sorry could NOT RESIST!!!
Which gets me to your posed question. Sometimes your responses are snarky and dismissive imho. IMHO they are also rare, usually deserved, often funny, and considering the massive amounts of crap you have to read and weigh through, I think the thickness of your skin is not in question. Your post asking for people to show some respect in how they complain or critique was more than warranted. And since we know I complain part of the time, and you have to know ass kissing isn't my thing, and I am older than you though not old enough to be your mother, trust me… your instincts and response were right.
In fact, btw, it has caused me to go online and remove some posts I made about someone. Did this person say some things I consider utterly disrespectful and deserving of a smack.. yes. Do I think his children or family should EVER have to find those comments on-line? I am ashamed to say I didn't consider it before. Was I abusive? No. But never-the-less, posting private personal type admonishments on public venues was wrong. There may be times it is warranted, but your post and the nastiness to Brian made me reconsider. Thank you.
Gilder’s Roll Call
Joe M. Vancouver, Canada
Gilder Texas, USA
PBMom Texas, USA
Susan the Tartan Turtle, Perthshire, Scotland
SG-1lover Scotland
Dasndanger New Jersey, USA
Charlie’s Angel Southern USA
Pastrygirl Arizona, USA
Montrealer Montreal, Canada
Rose/OhioAnne Ohio, USA?
Sparrow_Hawk Midwest USA
deeinsouthafrica South Africa
Elminster Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
2cats, New Jersey (shore), USA
Thornyrose Virginia, USA
chevron7 (chev) Melbourne, Australia
Maddog316: Ft. Myers, FL, USA
Shiningwit – Cornwall, England
Berry – Las Vegas, NV
Shirt’n’Tie, Tipperary, IRELAND
Suziesbluefeather, Virginia, USA
cherluvya, Utah USA
Gracey, Connecticut, USA
Shia, Virginia, USA
Andria – AKA Sis, Montreal, Canada
maggiemayday – Utah, USA
Bella&Bilo – Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada
JES – Green Bay, WI, USA
Gilder’s Roll Call
Joe M. Vancouver, Canada
Gilder Texas, USA
PBMom Texas, USA
Susan the Tartan Turtle, Perthshire, Scotland
SG-1lover Scotland
Dasndanger New Jersey, USA
Charlie’s Angel Southern USA
Pastrygirl Arizona, USA
Montrealer Montreal, Canada
Rose/OhioAnne Ohio, USA?
Sparrow_Hawk Midwest USA
deeinsouthafrica South Africa
Elminster Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
2cats, New Jersey (shore), USA
Thornyrose Virginia, USA
chevron7 (chev) Melbourne, Australia
Maddog316: Ft. Myers, FL, USA
Shiningwit – Cornwall, England
Berry – Las Vegas, NV
Shirt’n’Tie, Tipperary, IRELAND
Suziesbluefeather, Virginia, USA
cherluvya, Utah USA
Gracey, Connecticut, USA
Shia, Virginia, USA
Andria – AKA Sis, Montreal, Canada
maggiemayday – Utah, USA
Anne Teldy, Evansville, Indiana USA
Fargate One Québec, Canada
I hope the web exclusive clips will eventually turn up on a DVD. The “Apple Core” argument was comedy gold.
Arctic Goddess – So sorry about your cat.
I sat with my dog while the vet euthanased him. It’s a horrible experience, but knowing you could be there for them in those final moments is worth it.
Not that this will make you feel any better, but I’ve been with animals when being euthanased and I’ve helped a human while they were passing. Watching the cruelty of someone have to pass on their own is far more traumatising. I would have done ANYTHING to be able to help that person pass with something to put them to sleep rather than them have to go through that final battle.
Yeah…probably someone will have changed it already – I’ve added the additional names:
Gilder’s Roll Call
Joe M. – Vancouver, Canada
Gilder – Texas, USA
PBMom – Texas, USA
Susan the Tartan Turtle – Perthshire, Scotland
SG-1lover – Scotland
dasNdanger – New Jersey, USA
Charlie’s Angel – Southern USA
Pastrygirl – Arizona, USA
Montrealer – Montreal, Canada
Rose/OhioAnne – Ohio, USA?
Sparrow_Hawk – Midwest USA
deeinsouthafrica – South Africa
Elminster – Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
2cats – New Jersey (shore), USA
Thornyrose – Virginia, USA
chevron7 (chev) – Melbourne, Australia
Maddog316 – Ft. Myers, FL, USA
Shiningwit – Cornwall, England
Berry – Las Vegas, NV
Shirt’n’Tie – Tipperary, Ireland
Suziesbluefeather – Virginia, USA
cherluvya – Utah USA
Gracey – Connecticut, USA
Shia – Virginia, USA
Andria (AKA Sis) – Montreal, Canada
maggiemayday – Utah, USA
Major D. Davis – East coast USA
Anne Teldy – Evansville, Indiana, USA
Bella&Bilo – Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada
@ Gilder – I had not heard of that music.
Another favorite bagpipe style of mine is from Spain – Asturian folk music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZTm5A10WVQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4I8GNB4w4M
I had a favorite band – Brenga Astur – but I don’t think they’re together anymore. They came to the PA Ren Faire once, too. Never saw anyone play the pipes as fast as the Asturian pipers.
das
Opps, my apologies, I misspelled Michael A. Burstein’s name.
Sorry about posting again, Mr. M but what was the crevice made of? My hubby thinks it’s made of Styrofoam.
How cool did you keep the room for those shots? Because the actors could be awfully uncomfortable in those Rock’em Sock’em suits.
Thanks,
T
For those wondering…NOT that you are, but I do mention music a lot…
I am obsessive about music much like I am obsessive about long-locked pallid fellers.
I once heard a snippet of an instrumental of what sounded like The Lion Sleeps Tonight on a fading radio station while on a car trip. I could barely make out the DJ saying something like ’emboobay’. It was all I needed, and with that I started to dig…
I first learned that the style of music is called mbube – named after the song ‘The Lion’ (Mbube), or as we know it, The Lion Sleeps Tonight. It lead me to buying a CD of the original recording of Mbube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrrQT4WkbNE
I soon found the version I had heard, by the Soweto String Quartet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHQZRHnFMxU
I listen to mbube often, when I’m not listening to bagpipes, or sea shanties, or Arabic music, or Django Reinhardt, or madrigals, or…
Yeah. I love all that good stuff, and right now I’m listening to Korn. 🙄 So much for my taste in music (but hey, Jonathan Davis plays the bagpipes – so there is a connection! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rF7UGwdrXmw ).
das
Hi Joe
You and the gang on SGU keep up the good work, excellent show and great character’s Robert C is excellent as usual, do u remember him in the old BBC series “hamish McBeth. Can you get Flue shots for the Pups in canada, the pups flue shots are new here in the USA.
regards to the SGU crew and great job sofar..
Gilder’s Roll Call
Joe M. Vancouver, Canada
Gilder Texas, USA
PBMom Texas, USA
Susan the Tartan Turtle, Perthshire, Scotland
SG-1lover Scotland
Dasndanger New Jersey, USA
Charlie’s Angel Southern USA
Pastrygirl Arizona, USA
Montrealer Montreal, Canada
Rose/OhioAnne Ohio, USA?
Sparrow_Hawk Midwest USA
deeinsouthafrica South Africa
Elminster Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
2cats, New Jersey (shore), USA
Thornyrose Virginia, USA
chevron7 (chev) Melbourne, Australia
Maddog316: Ft. Myers, FL, USA
Shiningwit – Cornwall, England
Berry – Las Vegas, NV
Shirt’n’Tie, Tipperary, IRELAND
Suziesbluefeather, Virginia, USA
cherluvya, Utah USA
Gracey, Connecticut, USA
Shia, Virginia, USA
Andria – AKA Sis, Montreal, Canada
maggiemayday – Utah, USA
Bella&Bilo – Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada
Deni – Gainesville, FL
Hey guys, just spoke to Sheryl, she’s on her way to the airport hotel and off to LA tomorrow for the Stargate and Farscape conventions. The woman is beside herself with excitement – too funny. Gotta love those fans, Joe!
Hi Joe have been watching SGU so far so good. Thank God for Hulu otherwise I would have to just listen to fandom which I have doing less and less lately. Sorry to hear about Brian J Smith’s bad experience SG fandom can be intense and moody and can turn people off. I personally hate the Daniel Fan Sam fan fandom war in the SG-1 fandom because I like both charaters but there are certain fans of both characters who 2 old cliched sayings that come to mind “2 wrongs do not make a right” & “People in glass houses should not throw stones” I have said this in forums to both sides of this stupid war and other fandom wars in SG I can name a few it’s sad really but it is how online fandoms are no matter what genre I discovered that in the House fandom.
I think Brian’s character is a bit of a playboy not a complete player but he did seem to jump quickly. I don’t think Chloe is a loose girl but I can see what people are talking about in a way I like Chloe I am a Mulit shipper of her so far (meaning I like the character with a couple different people gotta love AUs and thank you for Ripple Effect because you gave me a perfect way to have all my ships:D) but I think Chloe gave Eli mixed signals because he seemed really hurt and angry in the episode Light.
What characters have you enjoyed writing for SGU so far?
Hi Joe,
Just a note to say I’m sorry you’re having to hear such comments from “fans”. It’s embarrasing to true fans out there to have the crazies lumped in with us. I too have my thoughts on SGU but would never express them in such a fashion. If asked I would say that I’m dissappointed that there just don’t seem to be any really likeable characters on the show. I’m hoping this will change as the show continues and am willing to hang in there to see how it goes. Poor Chloe, she’s not a whore. Loose is what I’d probably say from what I’ve seen so far but not a whore. Any girl (no matter what the circumstances..) who sleeps with a guy she’s know for what, 24 hours, is loose. Like it or not. I’m a girl, I should know. But she shows a lot of potential as a character and I’ll be intersted to see what you have in store for her. My only other quams would be that the SGC must submit off world personel with some sort of Psych exam. How on earth did some of the people pass that?!?! Rush, come on, he’s brilliant but a total loose cannon. I find it hard to believe that they’d let him work off world. Lastly, I would think that in order to work off world, that all personel, military and non, would have to go through some sort of survival training that would have prepared them for setting up some sort of base of operations and command structure on Destiny a lot faster than then are doing. The crew is a little paranoid that they are being lied to and stolen from. Again, Psych Exam??? However, even with all this, I’m still watching. There is great potential with the show. I’m hoping things start to move a little faster as the frist 4 episodes really should have been condensed into the premier. So far, I give the show a “B”. Hoping you’ll be getting that up to an “A” by the end of the season. Thanks for all your hard work and talent! Even with the above mentioned, I am enjoying the show. -Jennifer, Orlando, FL
Gilder’s Roll Call
Joe M. Vancouver, Canada
Gilder Texas, USA
PBMom Texas, USA
Susan the Tartan Turtle, Perthshire, Scotland
SG-1lover Scotland
Dasndanger New Jersey, USA
Charlie’s Angel Southern USA
Pastrygirl Arizona, USA
Montrealer Montreal, Canada
Rose/OhioAnne Ohio, USA?
Sparrow_Hawk Midwest USA
deeinsouthafrica South Africa
Elminster Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
2cats, New Jersey (shore), USA
Thornyrose Virginia, USA
chevron7 (chev) Melbourne, Australia
Maddog316: Ft. Myers, FL, USA
Shiningwit – Cornwall, England
Berry – Las Vegas, NV
Shirt’n’Tie, Tipperary, IRELAND
Suziesbluefeather, Virginia, USA
cherluvya, Utah USA
Gracey, Connecticut, USA
Shia, Virginia, USA
Andria – AKA Sis, Montreal, Canada
maggiemayday – Utah, USA
Bella&Bilo – Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada
poundpuppy29 (Erika) – Massachusetts USA
Gilder’s Roll Call
Joe M. Vancouver, Canada
Gilder Texas, USA
PBMom Texas, USA
Susan the Tartan Turtle, Perthshire, Scotland
SG-1lover Scotland
Dasndanger New Jersey, USA
Charlie’s Angel Southern USA
Pastrygirl Arizona, USA
Montrealer Montreal, Canada
Rose/OhioAnne Ohio, USA?
Sparrow_Hawk Midwest USA
deeinsouthafrica South Africa
Elminster Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
2cats, New Jersey (shore), USA
Thornyrose Virginia, USA
chevron7 (chev) Melbourne, Australia
Maddog316: Ft. Myers, FL, USA
Shiningwit – Cornwall, England
Berry – Las Vegas, NV
Shirt’n’Tie, Tipperary, IRELAND
Suziesbluefeather, Virginia, USA
cherluvya, Utah USA
Gracey, Connecticut, USA
Shia, Virginia, USA
Andria – AKA Sis, Montreal, Canada
maggiemayday – Utah, USA
Bella&Bilo – Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada
Laura – Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Hi Joe
In answer to your “question of the week”, no, you’re not being too ‘thin skinned’ in your recent responses. If anything, you’ve been too patient, and gracious in giving these dissenters a platform in which to personally attack your wonderful actors, and fellow producers, who are only doing their jobs. Just keep hitting that ‘trash’ button, after all, its your blog, and you can express whatever opinion you want, and, because its your blog, just keep hitting that trash key! If people want to launch viscious personal attacks on people associated with the production, they can go and find other forums in which to do so, you don’t need them here!
Hope that doesn’t sound too harsh, but you get what I mean. Das is right – the internet does love controversy!
Hey, how many ‘sleeps’ until you hit Tokyo?
Maggiemayday — You can have a good time in Vancouver and Victoria in the same trip of 5-10 days. Whistler is a nice day trip but really doesn’t need more than that if you don’t ski. I usually spend at least a couple days in Victoria after the Con every year. It only takes a couple hours to get there on the ferry.
If you are coming in the spring, the Vancouver Creation Con (with the tour of the sets) is ususally held in March or April. Yes, the Creation guys can be a bit over-controlling in running things, but the guest list is usually great.
Awesome videos! Loved them – thanks!
@Arctic Goddess:
I’ve been a cat person all my life, so I definitely empathize. I’m truly sorry for your loss!
@das:
What exactly is that roll call thing? I haven’t been paying attention to most of the comments section too often until recently, so doubtless I’ve missed something big here. If it’s relevant to everyone and not just a select group of people, count me in. Jeff O’Connor (unsurprisingly) is my name; St. Petersburg, Florida.
Let’s see if I can catch this up:
Gilder’s Roll Call
Joe M. – Vancouver, Canada
Gilder – Texas, USA
PBMom – Texas, USA
Susan the Tartan Turtle – Perthshire, Scotland
SG-1lover – Scotland
dasNdanger – New Jersey, USA
Charlie’s Angel – Southern USA
Pastrygirl – Arizona, USA
Montrealer – Montreal, Canada
Rose/OhioAnne – Ohio, USA?
Sparrow_Hawk – Midwest USA
deeinsouthafrica – South Africa
Elminster – Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
2cats – New Jersey (shore), USA
Thornyrose – Virginia, USA
chevron7 (chev) – Melbourne, Australia
Maddog316 – Ft. Myers, FL, USA
Shiningwit – Cornwall, England
Berry – Las Vegas, NV
Shirt’n’Tie – Tipperary, Ireland
Suziesbluefeather – Virginia, USA
cherluvya – Utah USA
Gracey – Connecticut, USA
Shia – Virginia, USA
Andria (AKA Sis) – Montreal, Canada
maggiemayday – Utah, USA
Major D. Davis – East coast USA
Anne Teldy – Evansville, Indiana, USA
Bella&Bilo – Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada
Deni – Gainesville, FL, USA
Jennifer – Orlando, FL, USA
poundpuppy29 (Erika) – Massachusetts, USA
Laura – Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Jeff O’Connor – St. Petersburg, FL, USA
Have I missed anyone?
– @ jeffoconnor – Gilder started a roll call, just to see where everyone hails from. I was bored today and started updating it…and now it’s gone crazy! 😛
das
Oh, yeah… I missed people. Didn’t know you were still approving, Joe. I know there are probably some I missed…or that will be added before this is approved.
Gilder’s Roll Call
Joe M. – Vancouver, Canada
Gilder – Texas, USA
PBMom – Texas, USA
Susan the Tartan Turtle – Perthshire, Scotland
SG-1lover – Scotland
dasNdanger – New Jersey, USA
Charlie’s Angel – Southern USA
Pastrygirl – Arizona, USA
Montrealer – Montreal, Canada
Rose/OhioAnne – Ohio, USA?
Sparrow_Hawk – Midwest USA
deeinsouthafrica – South Africa
Elminster – Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
2cats – New Jersey (shore), USA
Thornyrose – Virginia, USA
chevron7 (chev) – Melbourne, Australia
Maddog316 – Ft. Myers, FL, USA
Shiningwit – Cornwall, England
Berry – Las Vegas, NV
Shirt’n’Tie – Tipperary, Ireland
Suziesbluefeather – Virginia, USA
cherluvya – Utah USA
Gracey – Connecticut, USA
Shia – Virginia, USA
Andria (AKA Sis) – Montreal, Canada
maggiemayday – Utah, USA
Major D. Davis – East coast USA
Anne Teldy – Evansville, Indiana, USA
Bella&Bilo – Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada
Deni – Gainesville, FL, USA
Jennifer – Orlando, FL, USA
poundpuppy29 (Erika) – Massachusetts, USA
Laura – Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
jeffoconnor – St. Petersburg, FL, USA
Fargate One – Québec, Canada
JES – Green Bay, WI, USA
Sylvia – Chicagoland, USA
TammyDixon – MS, USA
@articgoddess Sorry about Tigger. I’ve never had to put a pet to sleep before either. Both of my pets died of heart attacks before those decisions had to be made and fortunately was able to be there with them when it happened. I understand what you mean — you wouldn’t euthanize your human loved ones if they were dying so it must be a strange experience especially since our furry friends are our family members. But you are to be commended for seeing it through and being there for your cat.
@dasNdanger
“J is a smiley face, the L is a frowny face”
I looked into that, apparently you are not “supposed” to use wingding fonts on webpages (but use some ISO fonts instead), so the Firefox people refuse to display them, and so does the Opera people – and so does Opera(who makes rendering engines to many phones)
@skontel
“I have always found the character of Samantha Carter to be too perfect, and thus difficult to really embrace”
I find a bit of perfection refreshing, flawed characters are everywhere else.
@Ellie
“Tits and ass don’t amuse”
They would if we got a better view 😉
@Ann-Marie Sloan
Try visiting Television without Pithy 😉
@Yashu
“If so, we would have SG-U directed by Whedon, and the lead played by Summer Glau, but as a Terminator,”
Now that is almost as good as The Terminator of the Rings!
@Maddog316
“2nd season Episode names yet? There 2 words long now right?”
Spies suggest some season 2 titles will be “Hot Air”, “Moist Darkness”, “Light Curves”, “Earth Moved”, “Water Broke” and a special Hollywood guest star episode during sweeps called “Missed Congeniality”
(Of course my spy will say anything for food 😉
@Deni – I talked to Sheryl last night -(Tues. nite) LOL she was just flying!! Man! I wish I was going with her – I probably would get into some kind of trouble. Orlando will be fun. Really looking forward to that.
@libkat … thanks, I hadn’t thought of the con. Not really my thing, though. Perhaps, perhaps.
I appreciate your blog simply because unlike most show runners/creators/writers out there you give us the day to day details of what its like in the business. We see when you have writer block, when stories get shifted, when corporate steps in and how certain creative choices are made. You even let us in on the behind the scene things like parties and fabulous restaurants and such most of us will never have the privilege of attending. Its a view most productions dont share with their viewing audience. You have put a friendly, interesting face on the often faceless back end of tv.
So I just wanted to say Domo Arigato Gozaimashita *deep bow* as I think in the last few weeks you probably havent heard alot of appreciation for the unique forum you have let us join here and figured you could use to hear that.
I dont comment very often over the more than a year I’ve been visiting but I visit very regularly regularly (used to visit at work til the work filth and spam filters had a brain spasm/cramp and catagorized your site as porn and gambling… ) and I wanted to let you know your blog is very much appreciated.
I want to share about my personal experience with internet vitriol. From April 2007 until November 2008 I had a very active blog on Fox 26 Houston. I would often write about political things, especially during the election year. I would often write about what our school districts do to our kids in special education, where your tax dollars are being spent (from public information requests I spent my own money to get). The station did a story on our family in May 2007. From August 2008 until election day I appeared on their live newscast at 5:00 p.m. in a women’s panel where they would give us a hot topic and we would discuss it. I didn’t get paid for any of this.
I never minded dissenting opinions. There were a few though on that site who started personal attacks on my family, including my child with autism. They were vicious and cruel. More of those kinds of people moved in and the regular bloggers moved out. We’ve moved to Facebook where we know each others’ real names.
Somewhere along the way, someone got my email address. I started being harrassed by this one individual. I was threatened. I contacted the station and told them that after I asked this person to cease emailing me or I would contact appropriate people, he escalated. I finally blocked him, but I sent all the emails to the news station and told them just in case. I also told them it was not their fault, but in case anything happened to me or my family, I wanted someone to know what was occurring. With my public exposure, it would be quite easy for someone to find out where I lived. He was then banned from the site, but I suspect he came back under another ID. It was serious enough for their legal department to get involved. After a heated political season, I decided to just blog about the American Idol episodes and after they were done, I took a break from it. Our state legislators don’t meet again for another year (yes, can you imagine, they meet only every 2 years?) so when it starts up again, I’ll likely get back on there.
I had enough things on my plate. I had vowed not to give in to the haters by leaving and it seems that I did just that eventually. I hate that “they won” because I fight people like that on a daily basis so that the world can be a better place. One can only take so much before you say, “Enough is enough.” I can identify with what Brian and his family are likely feeling.
You have much thicker skin than I do, Mr. Mallozzi.
@ Arctic Goddess – So sorry about your kitty. 🙁 {{{hugs}}} When we recently had to do the same thing, the vet told us it would not be a pleasant experience, and suggested we not be there to see it. They left us alone with our kitty to say our goodbyes, and then took him away. I don’t think we could have handled anything more than that. Either way, it’s a heartbreak. 🙁
@ Narelle – PLEASE tell me that wasn’t something you just had to do recently. I’ve been a bit behind on personal stuff with all this SGU discussion going on.
@ Margaret – 😆 Poor Eli!!
@ Michelle – I’m with you on the ‘falling in love with a character’ part – it’s what got me watching Atlantis! With most shows/movies I watch, I must fall in love with a character – not always the lead, just someone…as was the case with the Wraith, and Prince Nuada in Hellboy II.
However, there are a few shows I’ve watched where I have not fallen in ‘love’, per se, with anyone, but still enjoy the ensemble cast – NCIS & Everybody Loves Raymond, for instance. In shows like that I just like everyone, and find all of the characters equally entertaining. I have a feeling SGU – if I continue to enjoy it – will go this way for me. I will enjoy the cast as a whole, without needing to love a specific character.
Ugh…I can’t keep up with the rest! So many good points that I would love to comment on, but I’ve already said way too much today.
das
Greetings:
I agree with all: far from having a thick skin, I think you have the patience and tolerance of a saint!
I know what people mean about having a character one bonds to (I wouldn’t quite call it ‘fall in love with’, although it can be close…) but I’ve been a big fans of plenty of shows where I didn’t bond with anyone. So far I’m starting to really bond with Dr “Lot-of-Work” Rush.
And as a Smith, I think it’s really cool that you have not one but two actors named Smith! We Smith’s say: there are two kinds of people in the world: People named Smith, and People who know people named Smith.
Gilder’s Roll Call
Joe M. Vancouver, Canada
Gilder Texas, USA
PBMom Texas, USA
Susan the Tartan Turtle, Perthshire, Scotland
SG-1lover Scotland
Dasndanger New Jersey, USA
Charlie’s Angel Southern USA
Pastrygirl Arizona, USA
Montrealer Montreal, Canada
Rose/OhioAnne Ohio, USA?
Sparrow_Hawk Midwest USA
deeinsouthafrica South Africa
Elminster Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
2cats, New Jersey (shore), USA
Thornyrose Virginia, USA
chevron7 (chev) Melbourne, Australia
Maddog316: Ft. Myers, FL, USA
Shiningwit – Cornwall, England
Berry – Las Vegas, NV
Shirt’n’Tie, Tipperary, IRELAND
Suziesbluefeather, Virginia, USA
cherluvya, Utah USA
Gracey, Connecticut, USA
Shia, Virginia, USA
Andria – AKA Sis, Montreal, Canada
maggiemayday – Utah, USA
Bella&Bilo – Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada
Laura – Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Shiloh – Culver City, California
@Arctic Goddess: Everything you’re feeling is normal, don’t beat yourself up. I am so so sorry for your loss. Deni
What is the white goop the actors have to eat in Mess Hall scenes?
Anne Teldy
Actually, Joe, when I was watching Water I couldn’t help but wonder why the crew chose to send the bucket full of microscopic aliens through FIRST, running the risk that some of them would turn right around and hitch a free ride back on Destiny to start the process all over again five episodes later… wouldn’t it have made more sense to let Young and Scott onto the ship first, THEN pitched the aliens overboard? And for that matter, wouldn’t an unstable vortex or tossing the thing outbound through an inbound wormhole have summarily solved the problem?
@Mary
“I used the word … and I even apologized for using it.”
Funny, I just spoke to someone who had been catching up on the series, and her first words were “Chloe is a whore” -so you are not alone *g*
In fact my first word was the same, however I retreated from it – not because I think in anyway there is something wrong with using it, except one – the one that counts: It’s to strong and doesn’t correctly fit the target.
Btw, you do know its him JM who approves these messages, right? It’s his dog! 😉
@Randomness
“…complaints/abuse from the lower class of society on here …”
So what you are saying its ok to be rude, as long is you do it to the correct people?
@das – Loved that song (Soweto String Quartet – Imbube ( Wimoweh )) I, too, love all different music, styles and tastes (except new country). Been listening to Rob Zombie of late, love his first solo album…
Elminster
Gilder’s Roll Call
Joe M. Vancouver, Canada
Gilder Texas, USA
PBMom Texas, USA
Susan the Tartan Turtle, Perthshire, Scotland
SG-1lover Scotland
Dasndanger New Jersey, USA
Charlie’s Angel Southern USA
Pastrygirl Arizona, USA
Montrealer Montreal, Canada
Rose/OhioAnne Ohio, USA?
Sparrow_Hawk Midwest USA
deeinsouthafrica South Africa
Elminster Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
2cats, New Jersey (shore), USA
Thornyrose Virginia, USA
chevron7 (chev) Melbourne, Australia
Maddog316: Ft. Myers, FL, USA
Shiningwit – Cornwall, England
Berry – Las Vegas, NV
Shirt’n’Tie, Tipperary, IRELAND
Suziesbluefeather, Virginia, USA
cherluvya, Utah USA
Gracey, Connecticut, USA
Shia, Virginia, USA
Andria – AKA Sis, Montreal, Canada
maggiemayday – Utah, USA
Bella&Bilo – Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada
Laura – Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Lou Zucaro – Schaumburg (Chicago-ish), IL, USA
Gilder’s Roll Call
Joe M. Vancouver, Canada
Gilder Texas, USA
PBMom Texas, USA
Susan the Tartan Turtle, Perthshire, Scotland
SG-1lover Scotland
Dasndanger New Jersey, USA
Charlie’s Angel Southern USA
Pastrygirl Arizona, USA
Montrealer Montreal, Canada
Rose/OhioAnne Ohio, USA?
Sparrow_Hawk Midwest USA
deeinsouthafrica South Africa
Elminster Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
2cats, New Jersey (shore), USA
Thornyrose Virginia, USA
chevron7 (chev) Melbourne, Australia
Maddog316: Ft. Myers, FL, USA
Shiningwit – Cornwall, England
Berry – Las Vegas, NV
Shirt’n’Tie, Tipperary, IRELAND
Suziesbluefeather, Virginia, USA
cherluvya, Utah USA
Gracey, Connecticut, USA
Shia, Virginia, USA
Andria – AKA Sis, Montreal, Canada
maggiemayday – Utah, USA
Bella&Bilo – Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada
Laura – Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Ponytail – Texas, USA
Joe,
I’d just like to say that I’m happy I gave SGU a chance. The first few episodes had me screaming foul (this is a Stargate series??), however this show has grown on me.
It’s not SG1/SGA… it is different…. It’s human… You can truly see conflict and inner struggle with these characters. It’s art attempting to mimic what it might potentially look like in a real life situation. I’m rooting for these characters and I’m along for the ride. Looking forward to the rest of the season.
For those mentioning BSG… I can understand the comparison between the two. However there will never be another Battlestar Galactica!
Man, Joe, you made me go back to io9, I swore I’d never go back, but I needed to see who wrote that.
Out of the regular staff (not contributors) the only people that haven’t made me angry at some point, are Meredith W. and Lauren D. I don’t care for the other three editors (including the two top). They are often misinformed (mainly because they don’t -read-) and overly snarky to the point of just being rude in an attempt to be edgy.
So please, don’t let them or the idiotic commenters of the internet bother you. There are a few, but there are also us sane ones, we’re just quieter 🙂
I think you were totally justified in everything that you said, and I also think that props should be given to you for clearly pointing out the right and wrong ways of going about stating an opinion.
On a different note, I’m loving the more personal aspect of SGU as I think this is what I craved from the other 2 SG incarnations and ate any personal moments up with a spoon.
I wanted t comment on how you handled James’ behaviour with Scott and Chloe, and I think it’s been handled fantastically! I like that although her character is obviously ticked that Scott isn’t with her anymore, her being the one to tell Chloe about Scott’s situation was very grown up and realistic and made me respect her even more. I’m really looking forward to where this love ‘square’ if you will (Scott, Chloe, James and Eli) is going
Also do we get into the back story of TJ and Young, am I right in detecting a history between the two?
If the rest of the season/series is as good as the episodes we’ve seen so far, I’ll be a very happy girl!
Gilder’s Roll Call
Joe M. Vancouver, Canada
Gilder Texas, USA
PBMom Texas, USA
Susan the Tartan Turtle, Perthshire, Scotland
SG-1lover Scotland
Dasndanger New Jersey, USA
Charlie’s Angel Southern USA
Pastrygirl Arizona, USA
Montrealer Montreal, Canada
Rose/OhioAnne Ohio, USA?
Sparrow_Hawk Midwest USA
deeinsouthafrica South Africa
Elminster Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
2cats, New Jersey (shore), USA
Thornyrose Virginia, USA
chevron7 (chev) Melbourne, Australia
Maddog316: Ft. Myers, FL, USA
Shiningwit – Cornwall, England
Berry – Las Vegas, NV
Shirt’n’Tie, Tipperary, IRELAND
Suziesbluefeather, Virginia, USA
cherluvya, Utah USA
Gracey, Connecticut, USA
Shia, Virginia, USA
Andria – AKA Sis, Montreal, Canada
maggiemayday – Utah, USA
Bella&Bilo – Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada
Laura – Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Jeff O’Connor – St. Petersburg, Florida
Morjana – Sacramento, CA
Gilder’s Roll Call
Joe M. – Vancouver, Canada
Gilder – Texas, USA
PBMom – Texas, USA
Susan the Tartan Turtle – Perthshire, Scotland
SG-1lover – Scotland
dasNdanger – New Jersey, USA
Charlie’s Angel – Southern USA
Pastrygirl – Arizona, USA
Montrealer – Montreal, Canada
Rose/OhioAnne – Ohio, USA?
Sparrow_Hawk – Midwest USA
deeinsouthafrica – South Africa
Elminster – Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
2cats – New Jersey (shore), USA
Thornyrose – Virginia, USA
chevron7 (chev) – Melbourne, Australia
Maddog316 – Ft. Myers, FL, USA
Shiningwit – Cornwall, England
Berry – Las Vegas, NV
Shirt’n’Tie – Tipperary, Ireland
Suziesbluefeather – Virginia, USA
cherluvya – Utah USA
Gracey – Connecticut, USA
Shia – Virginia, USA
Andria (AKA Sis) – Montreal, Canada
maggiemayday – Utah, USA
Major D. Davis – East coast USA
Anne Teldy – Evansville, Indiana, USA
Bella&Bilo – Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada
Deni – Gainesville, FL, USA
Jennifer – Orlando, FL, USA
poundpuppy29 (Erika) – Massachusetts, USA
Laura – Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
jeffoconnor – St. Petersburg, FL, USA
Fargate One – Québec, Canada
JES – Green Bay, WI, USA
Sylvia – Chicagoland, USA
TammyDixon – MS, USA
Morjana – Sacramento, CA, USA
Ponytail – Texas, USA
Lou Zucaro – Schaumburg (Chicago-ish), IL, USA
Shiloh – Culver City, California, USA
Is that everyone so far now??
das
@ Elminster – White/Rob Zombie is my driving music! I have Past, Present & Future in my car right now. My all-time favorite driving song is Thunderkiss ’65 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VELvq-faGk
Ya know…just for those who don’t know the hotness of Zombie.
And yeah – I think he’s sexy. Rock star skeevy sexy, like Carl. 😉
das
Hi Joe,
I honestly do not see the need for you to justify your rant. It was needed in a HUGE way. Hopefully you can let Brian J. Smith and his mother know that he truly has a fan base that will stick by him and all of the cast of SGU and defend everyone involved with the show.
Thank you sooo very much for showing us how they did the crevasse scene. Poor Brian, bet that was extremely uncomfortable but from what he has said on Twitter about some of the thing they have to do, I bet he had fun doing it. LOL I enjoyed “Water” in the fact that it showed some of the relationship between Young and Scott.
I read in December Sci-Fi magazine an article on Lou Diamond Phillips, very good article on SGU and Telford. My main concern is that in the article it said “there will be 3 main deaths and a suicide in the first year”. Now this had me grinding my teeth with “omg they better not kill off Scott, Eli, Chloe, Greer, Young or TJ or I may have to do some serious letter writing” LOL Anyway, if you haven’t read the article, please do….it was very good.
Keep up the good work and keep us posted. Your blog is a great source of entertainment and info. The videos you post give the fans a chance to see into the magic that you all put so much effort into. Thank you Joe very much.
“After viewing SGU’s sixth episode, Water, did you sit there and wonder “How the heck did they shoot the crevasse sequence?” Yeah, didn’t think so. But I’ll show you anyway…”
I did after I read that…
I think your rant was justified. I also think that SGU is like Star Trek’s DS9 in some ways–most of the criticism says that it’s darker than the other series, the crew didn’t always get along, and so forth. DS9 gets major criticism but also has a major fan base, even after being off the air for years. So I think that your rants are welcomed to give people a fair overview when our criticism goes overboard.
Just a quick post to say for me SGU is a welcome addition to my weekly viewing. I’m a fan of the two previous series and enjoying the latest one for the same reasons; namely great acting, writing and characters. I’m enjoying the tense atmosphere in the new show, the way it plays off against the understated humour and some first rate acting across the board. More please.
Well I’m not getting the whole whore thing at all, much less the personal attacks. Seems the poster has his own world of issues to deal with. Now the trolls comment was taken personally by a few bloggers on the ScyFy forum, so I can only assume that somehow it may have hit home.
As for the resurrecting SG1 crew, I can say, yeah that was a bit of a stretch seeing them die and keep coming back so often, but as you said, the show didn’t always take itself seriously.
That having been said, I am also hoping that such situations decline in this new series, as you stated. I don’t object to the real consequences for real tragedies vein at all.
The only thing that gives me pause at this point is the slow moving plot from a New Series angle. The personal Videos these guys make just seem to grind on and on, even though they take up very little time.
Frankly I don’t feel the need to connect with any of the characters at this point, since there seems to be no real cohesion between a sufficient number of people. Matter of fact it seems to me that any of them could die at some point in the future, so why get attached?
The mad scientist is getting madder and the military command is shaky at best. Dr. Rush had that tirade when he got tired and it seemed to me that he finally got a lot of tension off his chest. Hopefully he will at least fake an attempt to get along with a few key members so that he can have a little more time to learn the technical aspects of this ship.
What is lacking for me so far in this series is direction.
As I stated in a previous post, I want to know more about the ship, to me the crew just isn’t catching my interest yet.
The floating camera ball was great, the cool little showers were a nice touch, and that sweet star deck is my favorite place. I do however like the chubby game freak, I’d really love to see his character develop, and maybe let him slowly bond with Rush.
I liked the shuttle re-dock sequence, the solar recharge, the camaraderie at the end of that installment etc.
The Alien from the desert was also a nice touch.
I also think the communications stones were a very clever idea.
While I dislike the personal drama’s at this point due to my almost total detachment to the crew, I see possibilities with the script in almost every direction. Understand that for some of us, you can’t simply introduce us to an amazing interstellar vessel like the destiny without at least some of us wanting to know every juicy detail!
Much like SG1, I bonded with the gate way before I bonded with the actors. And to it’s credit the actors, 3 of whom I had never seen, really stepped up to the plate.
I think your selection for this new series, of cast members was right on track. So much talent, and very good acting.
All of the key players are believable and worth watching.
That amazing scene where the politician sacrifices himself left me saying, wow I didn’t see that coming! So, my only real dissatisfaction comes from too much personal drama, and not enough SciFi. Other than that I have no complaints.
Yes I can be patient as the series works itself out.
Especially with lines like, (40% ? what did you do pull that out of your ass?) OMG that one had me rolling!
Best wishes to ya Joe, you haven’t let me down all these years and you’re not gonna start now. I can say that because for you, failure isn’t even on the menu.
SGU > (SG-1)+(SGA).
re: quote from SGUfanatic
“I read in December Sci-Fi magazine an article on Lou Diamond Phillips, very good article on SGU and Telford. My main concern is that in the article it said “there will be 3 main deaths and a suicide in the first year”
Okay I’m hoping the first main death was the Senator/Governor (whatever he was), and if so that means we’re down to 2 main deaths and a suicide (hoping the suicide also counts as one of the main deaths) therefore it would be 1 main death left.’
JOE!, please, unless you want to break this woman’s heart, don’t let that death (or any death ever) be O’Neill, begging here, I’ll claw out eyes, rip out my ears, say 1,000 Hail Marys, just please don’t touch my fave, O’Neill,
Thanks 🙂
re: Tony quote:
“SGU > (SG-1)+(SGA).”
SG1 > SGA
SG1 > SGU (up till now)
SGA fluctuated between good and ridiculous.
P.S. IMO SG1’s best seasons = Season 1 – 4/5, after that it was still good, but never as good as the first 5 years!
If I was only able to watch one of the SG franchises I would much rather re-watch SG1 Seasons 1 – 5 (over and over again) rather than any SGA, SGU and yes I would choose it even over Star Trek TOS, (and any other ST series).
My thirteen year old son and I have been great fans. We have a great time watching the old shows and now the new show together. We both love Stargate Universe and the characters. Greer is starting to warm on us. Loved it when he decked the dissenting voice. The fact that Young likes him holds a lot of water with us. Rush has to calm down. Eli is cool. Col. Young is great. We like Lt. Scott. Wray is way too IOA like! Cloe is in over her head but nice. (This whole sex thing is over blown like H1N1) Hey they are just twenty, hooking up after three days….heck in real life it could of been three minutes. Lt. Janes took catching them real cool LOL. She is a little too G.I. Jane. The medic well she lacks confidence. She really showed here chops in Water. We like her better as a stronger character.
Now that being said so far we find things to be predictable. Need something to scrub the air..Destiny takes you there…Need power Destiny takes you there…Need water guess what….
This week Col. Young needs beer… well guess what we may have a way to get you home….LOL Just Kidding. When will the stories get away from survival based story lines and on to something else? Will there be larger story arcs developing?
When do we meet the new baddies you are alluring to?
Keep up the good work!!
@ sylvia
My name gets misspelled a lot. Thanks for the correction.
All: What’s with the roll call? I seemed to have missed an announcement.
I enjoy SGU. I watched all the eps again for the second time.
If people want to feel BSG, SG1 and SGA in the show SGU, it is not that hard to see there are some characters that have a feeling of the other characters (this is not saying they are the equivalent version):
Eli = A young McKay-ish type before he deems himself all knowing.
Eli/Scott interactions are a little like McKay/Sheppy…
Scott = A young Sheppy who enjoys some “Kirking” (Mckay’s words) and steps forward as a leader when needed.
Young = Adama – BSG when in charge and Daniel/Jack/Ronon when he is around the table
Rush = Kind of like an unstable Zelenka mixed with Baltar – BSG.
Dr. Park = more sure of self Dr. Keller type
TJ = Starbuck – BSG / Cadman
James = Jo on Eureka
Wray = Weir in that she holds it together not backing down but personally needs to let it out now and then
Geer = Ford – pre (good guy who looks out for you) and post Wraith-ish (has his own issues) …what a combo to have both in one…you never know what he is going to do)
Thank you for the water vids.
Thanks for the videos. This didn’t look like it was confortable at all! (but the scenes were great!) I always love to know what’s going on behind the scene.
This make me think about something else (because of the inconvortable position).
On the DVDs commentaries of SGA, David Hewlett always said there was some kind of competition between the autors to find the better way to “torture Mckay” (like hanging him by one foot on season two…).
I was wondering if you choose a caracter on SGU to do the same? Because it always lead to awesome/funny scenes. ^^
Sheryl asked me to add her name to the Roll Call Log, because she thinks she’s not computer savvy.So the friend that I am I will add her. I thought I added mine name, maybe it didn’t make this list. So I’ll added it again.
We are looking for any Floridians who would like to join us in Orlando. Raise your hands if you want to attend the Official Unofficial Florida Stargate Fan Club – Joe am I infringing on anything???
Gilder’s Roll Call – on November 4, 2009 at 8:52 pm dasNdanger
Joe M. – Vancouver, Canada
Gilder – Texas, USA
PBMom – Texas, USA
Susan the Tartan Turtle – Perthshire, Scotland
SG-1lover – Scotland
dasNdanger – New Jersey, USA
Charlie’s Angel – Southern USA
Pastrygirl – Arizona, USA
Montrealer – Montreal, Canada
Rose/OhioAnne – Ohio, USA?
Sparrow_Hawk – Midwest USA
deeinsouthafrica – South Africa
Elminster – Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
2cats – New Jersey (shore), USA
Thornyrose – Virginia, USA
chevron7 (chev) – Melbourne, Australia
Maddog316 – Ft. Myers, FL, USA
Shiningwit – Cornwall, England
Berry – Las Vegas, NV
Shirt’n’Tie – Tipperary, Ireland
Suziesbluefeather – Virginia, USA
cherluvya – Utah USA
Gracey – Connecticut, USA
Shia – Virginia, USA
Andria (AKA Sis) – Montreal, Canada
maggiemayday – Utah, USA
Major D. Davis – East coast USA
Anne Teldy – Evansville, Indiana, USA
Bella&Bilo – Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada
Deni – Gainesville, FL, USA
Jennifer – Orlando, FL, USA
poundpuppy29 (Erika) – Massachusetts, USA
Laura – Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
jeffoconnor – St. Petersburg, FL, USA
Fargate One – Québec, Canada
JES – Green Bay, WI, USA
Sylvia – Chicagoland, USA
TammyDixon – MS, USA
Morjana – Sacramento, CA, USA
Ponytail – Texas, USA
Lou Zucaro – Schaumburg (Chicago-ish), IL, USA
Shiloh – Culver City, California, USA
Sheryl – Port Saint Lucie, FL
kabra – Jupiter,FL