By the time I touch down in Vancouver, those of you on the east coast of the U.S. will be settling down to take in the third episode of Stargate: Universe’s second season. Tonight? That’s right! 9:00 p.m.! SyFy! Tune in!
Last season, I got more than a few fans asking about the possibility of Destiny running into one of the Ancient seed ships, those trailblazing vessels launched well in advance of Destiny, charged with the task of seeding suitable planets with stargates and establishing the path to follow. My response to those who asked has always been to point out that, short of some sort of mechanical or system failure stranding a seed ship, it’s highly unlikely the Destiny would cross paths with one. Yep, HIGHLY unlikely.
Anyway, tune in for tonight’s episode of Stargate: Universe in which the Destiny crew investigates a mysterious object on the heels of a highly unlikely encounter.
The slightest of sneak peeks at the behind-the-scenes action on this one. Setting up one of this episode’s many “discovery” sequences –
Well, another Montreal visit is a wrap. I spent time with family, hit a few so-so restaurants, and attended my buddy’s wedding (see last issue – ed.). Yesterday was my last full day in town, so I did the rounds. One of my stops was Lawrence and Mel’s place where the newlyweds were hosting a little wine and cheese. Holy crap! You learn a lot about someone from checking out their living space. For instance, I didn’t realize my buddy has the picture perfect serial killer profile. Allow me to set the scene: The crazed killer is finally arrested. Turns out he’s a fairly nondescript fellow living a quiet, middle-class existence. The neighbors describe him as the type that kept to himself. But when the investigators enter the premises in their search for clues they discover obvious signs of alarming obsessive compulsive behavior like –
I won’t even bother documenting the selection of champagne bottles lining the top shelves of his kitchen or that enormous glass container in the front room overflowing with corks. Perhaps more shocking of all was what I learned from some of his co-workers who made the trip over from London. Lawrence, it turns out, is a diehard Coronation Street fan. So diehard, in fact, that he’s been trying to swing a studio tour for well over a year. Coronation Street!
Well, closet serial killer or not, it was great to see my old buddy (and new budette). Still, just to be on the safe side, I contacted the authorities and suggested they keep an eye on him.
Hey, speaking of collections, my mother has a pretty extensive collection of my early writings including this little gem from my stay at summer camp –
Which goes a long way to explaining my life-long love of the great outdoors.
Some other highlights from this trip…
- Sis and her bag of birthday swag.
- My birthday haul from mom and sis.
- Also, a fantastic cream of pistachio and a very god almond cream I’m unable to bring back to Vancouver with me because they are both over the 100 ml restriction for carry-on articles. I’ll have to track them down in Vancouver.
- Hot peppers!
- Felix
- And Baby.
Dinner tonight with Bob Picardo who is in town to film a super secret guest appearance on another series. I’m hoping there’ll be a slew of Awakening comments awaiting me on my return! Let’s hear from you!
REALLY looking forward to tonight’s episode!
You all seem to have found a really nice groove. The show’s pacing is working really well, and last week’s episode was a pretty sweet kind of intense in terms of us knowing what nobody else (other than Rush) knows, and then there was the tease of whatever’s “out there”.
Now I have to try to forget about looking forward to it until after work.
OMG I am howling over your note home. Not sure about great outdoors, but definitely your ability to express yourself was clear even then. Just think though, the bad food may have been part of starting you on your foodies journey!!
Okay where are the wedding pics with you dressed up? HMMM?
Also, you didn’t post on the 11th so we are due a LONG one tomorrow.
LOL lets hope your friend’s wife curbs those collections. Oy.
OOPS just saw you DID post the 11th.. going to read. I swear I checked last night before bed!
Hello Joe.
Can’t wait to see Awakenings tonight!!! I’ll post my thoughts later after it airs, but it looks like a great episode, although Aftermath will be a tough act to follow. I am still tripping about that shocker of a controversial ending!!! 🙂
Best wishes,
Bryan
Just a quickie…
I, too, have a sand and soil collection from all the places I’ve visited.
😛
das
can’t wait for tonite!
What a riot (the letter from camp). You were already a food critic. But your handwriting was MUCH better. What happened? 🙂 And the start of the crossing out of words on a card.
Interesting collections. I was into collecting mini snowglobes for awhile. Last one I bought, though, was on my trip to Vancouver back in 2001. I also collect anything with golden retrievers on it. And dolphins.
I can see why you both are great friends. Safe journey back home.
I am psyched for a new SGU tonight. Then after SGU and Caprica, I must get back to my tax return. It’s due on Friday. Talk about getting it down to the wire here. Hopefully with me not having to spend Jan-May working on strategy every weekend to battle the school district, I’ll finally be able to get caught up and when 2010 tax time comes around, actually file on time. That would be great since I get money back from the government.
Ya know, whenever you mention something or someone being involved in a super secret project all that does is stir up more questions and create anxiety. Well it does in me 😛
I’d like to submit a request, for what it’s worth, that this annoyance be halted. Didn’t your mama teach you if you can’t say anything secretive, then don’t say anything at all? 😉
“the food at camp isnt that good except for the chicken”
—- how typical of you Mr. Mallozzi!
Cute dogs and cat. I no longer watch SyFy. I watch NCIS and NCIS LA. I hope that MGM will use their heads and vote for Spyglass to bail them out since the Creditors are all for it.
Joe,
Noticed you have had some discussions with change haters as of late. I just wanted to say that I in fact enjoy the change of pace SGU has taken. As with everyone, TV is a short term escape from their real lives. If all TV were the same, no one would want to escape. Changing the format was the only logical way to proceed with a great story line.
This is funny, but as I stood in my yard a few nights ago waiting on my dogs to do their business I looked up at the sky and saw many stars (and a few planes). I thought…hmmm Destiny could be out there some where. For that moment I escaped my reality and jumped into the shows.
I just wanted to say good job to you and everyone else who put in their creative contribution to the show.
Wait a stinkin’ minute!!!!! You actually DO go by ‘Joey’??! 😆 And here I thought I was being all pesky-like. 😉 Too funny that you were complaining about the food. 🙂
das
Hi ,
1) will we see any of the Atlantis set in the episode with McKay and Woolsey?
2) Does Atlantis have a set of Ancient Communication Stones in case they ever need them if they get cut off from Earth again if they leave Earth.
3) Will anybody find anymore zero point modules or is that all there is?
Joe – question as far as communication stones go…
If, say…Todd and Rodney… switched using the communication stones, would Todd (in Rodney’s body) chow down in the cafeteria all day, while Rodney (in Todd’s body) threatens to suck on the first human ‘snack’ he stumbles upon? In other words, both have strong appetites, but would their food cravings be influenced by the bodies (and the needs of those bodies) their consciousness is in at the time?
Thankies.
das
I can’t blame Lawrence for keeping that Goa sand; it’s gorgeous there.
My nephew is also a burgeoning collector; he filled my purse with a succession of beach pebbles at Sandy Point (because there’s nothing I like more in my purse than sand and rocks).
Seed ships; sounds so wholesome and salt of the earth-ish. They would have cool names like “The Appleseed,” “The Husker” or “The Burpee.”
So …. something about a seeder ship. Reading between the lines is my strong suit.
My take on the camp writing:
You already had a distinctive writing voice and didn’t appreciate Tony the Tiger putting words in your mouth.
Hi Baby! My neighbor’s cat is named Baby and she hangs out in my backyard, a real sweetie. Wanna introduction?
very god almond cream…. a religious experience?
Mmmm, new episode. I need the distraction. I might even watch it twice… at least it doesn’t conflict with Dancing with the Stars, and NCISes are On Demand.
How about that Florence? One hot TV mama!
I realize that you have no control over this, but I really hate that the U.S. gets to see new episodes first and we here in Canada have to wait an extra 3 days before we can get in on the discussion.
That said, I’m really excited for “Awakening” as I’ve been waiting since season 1 for a look at the seeder ships and just why they put Stargates on some of those planets which are (at least at this point) uninhabitable. Exactly how many years/months/days were the seeder ships sent out before Destiny? And how many seeder ships are there in total? I hope at least some of this gets answered in this episode.
Also, looks like we’ll have some new aliens showing up this week, which is always fun.
@Das: The minute I saw the note with “Joey” on it, I wondered how long it would take you…:)
Hey Joe, did you happen to see any of these while you were last in Japan?
http://www.mikesblender.com/indexblog88.htm
I missed the spectacular wedding installment of the Mallozzi blog! It looked like a fun time. And see kids aren’t all that bad, sometimes they can be down right funny.
Also apparently you were a food critic at camp. I can certainly say that the camp that I attended and another camp that I volunteered at many many years later always had pretty decent food.
Ahhh camp. I have such fond memories. I was always in to the kayaking, archery, and horse riding. Interestingly they had a horse named Cody there. Every time I went to camp I ended up with him… very weird. Ahh then there was the kayaking… that was fun, peacefully paddling around our man made lake, away from the other kids. Then there was my best friend of many years, Nick… I wonder whatever became of him.
Yikes what a magnet collection… and sand… that’d be a mess if ever dropped.
Continuing to enjoy Masked, and will be enjoying SGU tonight!!!
Cody
Will there be a third season of SGU?
So, did you know last season that in fact they would encounter a seeder ship and didn’t want to give a spoiler to an episode you were writing? Or had the events for Destiny not been planned this far when you were asked? Another non-related question…are you a basketball fan? If so NBA or college?
@ Deni – I’ma bit slow sometimes. 😛
@ Joey – Nice to see Sis, Felix and Baby…hope mom is well, too.
Also, I have a fridge magnet collection something like your buddy’s – magnets from where I’ve been, but I prefer ones with images or something on them. Some are lighthouses, some are animals, some are purty pictures…but this is my favorite (blurry, sorry): http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/dasNdanger/padutch2.jpg
😀
das
You posted early today. So I re-posting my entry from yesterday’s post.
.
What bad timing. We got the biggest real life reality show happening with the evacuation of the trapped Chilean miners. So expect a slump with all TV shows tonight. Truly an Act of God for ratings for everyone.
I agree with Lou’s comment earlier. I like the way the show is going, especially the character development. I’m a long time fan girl of the Stargate series and I’m enjoying SGU immensely.
PS, Thanks for the “hint” about the seed ship.
Awww, little Joey, so young and already a budding food critic! Don’t let the cold water deter you though, the outdoors is great!
Felix is totally a cute little dog, but that cat just looks evil.
And can I say it is KILLING me having to wait until Friday to watch SGU? I have friends at work who download it (I do everything but smack them with a lunch tray for doing it), and it’s pretty hard to stay unspoiled, but I’ve managed to so far. It’s going to be a long season, though.
Hey Joe
I was wondering… do you or have you run into either Andrew Nichols or Daryl Vickers in your travels out west?
Elminster
That was a fantastic episode! Did anyone notice the plot similarities between it and Stargate Atlantis’ Adrift/Lifeline at the beginning of SGA season 4?
Connor P
Wow! Wow! Wow! The episode was incredible. Won’t share any other details, but wow! I really liked how they all worked together.
Whoa, whoa, WHOA! I really liked this one – liked the creepy element, the hamstring bit ( 😆 ), and the ENDING! 😯 😮 You do like your scary stuff, doncha Joey??
Good job, sir! 🙂
das
Well so many questions! First my thoughts (Spoilers)….excellent work Mr. Mallozzi you had me on the edge of my seat wanting more..the news aliens are cool and definitely friendly i think…why stun and not kill. Telford being left behind…didn’t see that coming.I have a feeling we’ll see that ship again. T.J. is a badass!
Questions!!!
1.) “Homeworld Security is expecting us” does that mean Stargate Command is in D.C.?
2.) Is there a working gate on the seeder ship?
3.) How much longer do we have to wait until Rush’s Secret is found out?
4.) IS there a reason for the bridge of the Destiny rising from the hull other than being cool?
5.) How well you gonna sleep tonight knowing you wrote that awesome episode?
Oh…oh man….That’s so cruel, Joe. Bring LDP back then….
Oh, man. 🙁
I’m in a quandry. I want to hate this episode. I really do. And it has to do with what happened to Telford. I should have more faith, I know I should.
…
OK, I loved the episode, even with what happened to Telford. I do have faith. It’s just… Telford! Bad enough we lost Riley, now Telford is with a bunch of aliens. Is it next Tuesday yet?????
I’m just surprised the note home from camp didn’t have any pictures (or crayon drawings) of the food. 🙂
And your Buddy’s sand collection? Truly disturbing.
– KB
Worst. Episode. Ever.
Sorry Joe, I’m done. Young is an incompetent fool, Rush is a psychopath, and after stretching credulity in order to get Lou Diamond Phillips ONTO Destiny last season you now leave him in the hands of some aliens on another ship, by the selfish, insane assclown Rush’s own doing. Stupid, stupid stupid.
I’ve invested so many years into the Stargate franchise and nothing lasts forever, I get that, but this show started weak, got stronger, and then just tanked with Season Two. Personally, I think Robert Cooper should have been fired after coming up with this “oh-so-serious” version of our beloved SG1/SGA.
I’m done, and with a million viewers this is the last season anyway. Joe, I know this is going to piss you off, but there is a reason why so many people stopped watching this show and is isn’t Tuesday night, it’s a shoddy, convoluted, pretentious SciFi show that simply doesn’t deserve to use the moniker “Stargate”..
The worst of it is you’re DONE with principal photography and even if someone there WAS listening to your deserting audience you cannot fix the show in time. Just a sad way to end 17 Seasons and 2 movies of Stargate.
Lastly, Joe, I have LOVED your SG1 and SGA episodes, some of the very best episodes have your name on them… but this one? Not even close.
thanks joe, first killing off my favorite secondary character in Riley, and now stranding Telford on the seeder ship? why do you torment me like this 🙁
ugh………i will keep watching………but this really has to stop lol.
@ Deni, again – I didn’t notice the ‘Joey’ first time around because I didn’t blow up the picture. I didn’t even notice ‘Joey’ after I made the picture big because I was more intrigued by the cold water and the ‘I shouldn’t have taken swimming’ remark, and I just wondered if it was anything like this old Bill Cosby bit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRySaLcNPYo
😆
Joey – The Giant Goosepimple. 😀
das
Over all an okay episode… I loved seeing the gate ship, but there really wasn’t enough action…. I mean really the idea that they could possibly get home was outrageous. If and when they ever get home that would mean no more SGU, so they obviously won’t be doing that for a while… I really wish they wouldn’t have even put that “attempt” in there… Especially not in one of the very beginning episodes of SGU… That’s more of a later thing when we’re all like “Ugh when are they going to get home!” Idk… Overall it was good.. The aliens were pretty interesting.. Hard to tell if they were hostile. But they definitely not friendly lol… But they didn’t really hurt anyone, just knocked them unconscious.. I have to admit though it was kind of sad having to leave Everett behind. Sucks for the guy who had to go back to his body.. 🙂
Wow…. SGU gets better with every ep…. Though I’m a little mad at the people complaining on Twitter…. They say the plot moves too slow and it’s stupid…. Lol…. I think people are too use to mindless network shows haha…
9.5/10
Argh! That Rush! One week I feel for him…the next I’m shouting at him (quite literally) for his duplicity!
And nearly as bad was his failure to be impressed by the contents of the cargo hold. When they were standing there surveying that seemingly endless row of…well, so as not to spoiler…you-know-whats, it honestly took my breath away. I had this “Oh wow! How awesome is Stargate!” moment…. Suddenly all of it tied together…the gate lifted out of the sands in Giza…the Antarctic gate…the Atlantis gate…the Destiny gate…it was like coming full circle, back to the very beginning. It was….epic.
I swear, I’m running out of adjectives for this show. Outstanding episode, Joe. Can’t wait for the second showing in T-30 minutes….!!!!
SBS
Love the refrigerator magnets. All color coordinated too!
I was admiring the sand collection when, OMG!! two labels are on in different directions! How did that happen! Your buddy seems to be a neat freak.
So, you have always been a picky eater. And had bad handwriting.
Your show was great tonight Joey!
They are pulling a miner out now. Got to go watch!
Hi Joe: I bet you were a very picky eater as a child, which is what caused you to become a foodie now.
Also, after watching tonight’s (Tuesday) episode of Caprica on Space channel, please send your agent over to them to offer your services. They need good writers over there. And, I’m sure you can easily write for two shows. You don’t really need to have a life, do you? 🙂
Since you have attended one or two conventions, what would you like to see at a convention that would be downright awesome? Just curious…really.
Welcome back to the wet coast.
Patricia
“Yep, HIGHLY unlikely.”
And that’s what tv is for 😀
it would just be boring if it weren’t against all odds 😛
—
ps, felix looks too cute 😛
is he as friendly as he looks?
I don’t like spoilers, so I won’t inflict them on other readers; all I can say is oooh, shiny. And Danger Music! And and and …. tasty, very tasty.
Made my evening, that, and DWTS got rid of that annoying dude. I refuse to call him by that ridiculous nickname. Sadly, my stepson in CT aspires to be like him, even refers to GTL as if it were a life goal and not simple basic hygiene. Sigh. Don’t blame me, I didn’t get a crack at raising him as a dirty hippie liberal tree-hugging poi spinning artist type. At least he isn’t a vegan or a DJ.
Wow! It just keeps getting better and better. If SyFi cancels this show they are out of their minds. Can’t say much without….
Spoilers
Spoilers
Spoilers
Spoilers
Spoilers
Spoilers
Loved the look of the aliens in this episode. Although they reminded me somewhat of the previous aliens(I know, they weren’t blue, but the body type, movements, etc) it is nice that you didn’t bring them back and this bodes well for more different aliens in future episodes. First time I felt really bad for Telford since the series began. Great performance by LDP. I loved “put me in coach.” He was really trying to get the crew home, and he got stranded for it, alone with some very nasty aliens. How he survives will make for an interesting story, since the Comic Con trailers shows him in a future episode. Rush is going to be in serious life threatening trouble when his excursions are discovered. Leaving early when Riley was surely going to die is one thing, but stranding Telford will not go well with Young. I expect another drag out brawl between them. I can’t belive that Young can’t just have someone follow Rush. These guys are airmen and marines and they can’t stealthly follow a scientist??? They should have discovered his secret by now.
Also, I think it is time to let the L.A. prisoners out. Besides the fact that they can’t keep them in that tiny room forever, I want to see more of Ginn.
Now that Telford is off the ship, there is no one to take the pressure off of Young. I expect him to snap sometime in the next few episodes. I almost hate to jinx it, but it is so nice that we haven’t had an episode with any scenes on Earth yet, I wan’t to keep the focus on Destiny and not any events back home. Can’t wait until next week…Bring on Pathogen!!!
“Awakening”: As I tweeted, my, my myyyy!
Joe, I just found out a San Antonio scfi fan is in Van for a professional conference. I presume the Bridge is still closed to casual visitors, but will suggest ReFuel. Any other ideas?
Hey Joe,
Wow…OMG…SGU ROCKS!!!! I am having such a great time watching, re-watching…and watching again…I don’t want to miss anything.
You ROCK!!!
Best to you Joe,
Always,
Cheryl 🙂
Hey Joe,
First i have to say tonights episode was Epic (Good Job).
So now a Question,is it possible if SGU won´t be
renewed for a third season that the Team may change the
End of Episode 20 of Season 2 to get a satisfying
ending for the whole Series.Maybe with some Special-
Power-Source coming up for everyones surprise ;).
Because i think this Show shouldn´t end open like many Shows did.Don´t get me wrong I PRAY for another Season
but if not, there has to be way to conclude the Storyline.
Best regards Gerald
Wow. I thought I had a pretty good fridge magnet collection, but I bow down before Lawrence. He is the champ. Your sister always looks great. Hi to Felix and Baby.
I liked the episode. Though I agree that the attempt to dial home was kinda I don’t know… off some how. Since their attempt wasn’t in anyway presented as a danger or an obstacle, like it was in the first season episode, I felt like it was just kind of another “we’re stuck here moment.” Besides if they got home it’d really end the series, unless it was like Lost in that they then had to return to Destiny for some reason. Other than the then main story was excellent.
Cody
Great Episode, Joe!
While I don’t really expect an answer to this, I have to ask if the Aliens encountered on the seed ship are some how tied to Destiny’s mission? Or more specifically, are they the care takers of the Seed Ship?
You see, they only made a move when Destiny started dialing back to Earth. I believe they were trying to keep the crew on Destiny – as evidenced by the fact that they locked down the ship as the crew made their way back to Destiny. They didn’t want them coming back after they got off.
If they were really bad guys, they would have killed or ambushed everyone on the ship. If they were concerned about the power transfer, they would have stayed to make sure it wasn’t reversed. The seed ship had more than enough power on it’s own. Telford is going to be just fine with those guys.
BTW, what’s their nickname in the writers room? I know they will be back – perhaps around Resurgence. When LDP was tweeting about being back around the time they were shooting the midseason two parter. 🙂
On a completely different note, when do we get to see Robert Knepper step up and start taking a major role in the stories? It’s driving me nuts that you have an actor of his calibur sitting around in the background delivering one line an episode. The man is an incredible artist and one of my favorite actors!
I hope you made it home safely and the pups were excited to see you.
Every episode SGU keeps getting better and better. And if the VFX department does not win the Primetime Emmy next year for this episode, then it will just be criminal. The episode had some really wonderful moments. I always now worry when people start getting more dialogue lines. Last week, Riley talked a lot and looked what happened. This week….
Maybe MINOR SPOILERS
The last shot I couldn’t help to think it was a foodie’s irony. What I got from the aliens was…. tasty. After all, they did spit out the dried fruit. I’m thinking they’re meat eaters. Making a fellow foodie the main course. I could be wrong, though. Of course, what could happen is that he figures out how to use the ship to dial Earth and gets back there. We’ll see.
Loved the chemistry between Varro and TJ. Loved the TJ moment with Simeon. When Brody was going up the ladder, I couldn’t help but think of the movie “Aliens.”
I think the aliens were deceptive, feigning cuteness and luring you in. Like the little alien creatures in GalaxyQuest.
I was on the edge of my seat. Excellent work.
Dear Joe,
Please choke who ever came up with the idea of stranding Telford. Friends who I convinced to watch SGU for LDP are constantly bothering me and asking me what’s going to happen to him or if he’s dead. I reassured them that the seed ship stile enough energy to make FTL jumps but they won’t relent on asking about Telford’s survival.
Otherwise, that was a great episode! I liked the smaller moments like Scott and Greer’s lady talk, T.J. and Simeon, and Rush dismissing the big grand reveal of the stargates. And looks like the Icarus Base crew is starting to take after SG-1 and the Atlantis Expedition in pissing multiple alien races.
Joe, I don’t think “Buddy” is obsessed enough.
You need to tell him to geographically arrange his fridge magnets. Then he can draw roads between them etc..
I have to wait till Friday to watch the show. boohoo!
Did the alien understand what Rush was saying when
Rush said to Young that the alien was no threat?
(..I forget the exact wording.)
You guys made sure to show the alien turning it’s
head towards Rush..almost in a way to show that the
alien might have seemed to understand what was being
said in that moment.
BTW….I found that postcard from camp to be very amusing.
Thank you very much for sharing it with your readers.
I have a small sand collection.
Although it’s not as neatly organized
as your friend’s sand collection.
I started collecting sand years ago back when I was
writing a story/screenplay about..of all things..sand.
I really liked writing that story…it was fun.
(…and it had some pretty good and unique action sequences.)
Joey 🙂
Tonights episode was great!!!! Spoilers!!
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I have to admit I thougt the new aliens were somewhat cute, at least the one we met first was in his behavior. I kept thinking they have to bring him back and and intigrate him with the popuation. It did strike me as odd that no one thought to communicate with it in ancient as they were probably well versed in the ships systems and therefore the ancient language. Can’t wait to see Varro and the others let out into the population as well as the follow up with Telford and how he and the aliens get along.
Tell Mr. Woolsey we miss him and hope to see him back in the the city of the ancients soon
-ZPB
So, you couldn’t just pop the JARS into a clear plastic “lunch” container, a little tape to ensure no leakage, and stick it in your CHECKED Bag…? Or, did you not *have* a CHECKED Bag?
BTW, hope that SAND COLLECTION *doesn’t* include any BLACK HAWAIIAN Sand…
Speaking of which, have you seen this from TWITTER:
AsteroidWatch The next cosmic wanderer in our neighborhood is 2010 TG19, safely passing on Oct 22 at 1.1 lunar distance (430,000km/267,000 miles).
You may want to check your shoe soles.. you know, what with curses and all being the way they are…
just saying…
wow..good epi to keep one on the edge of the seat.
s
p
o
i
l
e
r
How can anyone not be impressed with an entire cargo hold of Stargates…derrr. Of course I had my wow moment there.
The aggravation is – this crew is acting like some real people – a reality show of sorts. By this I mean, in any business, any job, any workplace, there are the bozos who act like they are the only ones alive. And, there are people who break their necks to do their job and do the right thing. For the stupid stuff – all that we as viewers can do is yell stop you stupid head. And, we wait with baited breath while the scene unfolds – good or bad. Great writing!
Is it TUesday next yet?
Your card from camp must have been the inspiration for the Alan/Allan Sherman song – Hello Muddah, Hello Fadah. lol.
Did your parents send you to the Frosted Flake’s Camp or something, wtf?
Coucou!!!
comment ça va bien??? =P Moi super!! ça fait plaisir de voir Andria et Felix =)..
Tiens ces cadeaux me font penser que votre anniversaire approche éhéhé !! J’espere que vous allez très vite reçevoir le mien, en espérant que vous ne l’ayez pas déjà^^!
Merci beaucoup pour ces nombreuse photos!
Je vais regarder Awaking plus tard , je doit d’abord voir l épisode 3 de Desperate H 😉
Hier j’ai regarder Sateda avec mon cheri, un pur moment de bonheur…ça m’a rappeler pleins de bon souvenirs!
Aller bisou,
je vous adore
*Warning: SPOILERS*
Awakening was brilliant! My favorite scene? T.J. almost breaking that LA members’ hand! Lovely reminder that yes, she is a female medic, but she’s also a soldier and is by no means weak and in need of constant protection. I love the way the plot is moving, pleeeease do not listen to people claiming the pace is too slow; when Heroes gave in to that pressure the series was ruined. I cannot think of any series with better character development!
Excellent episode, Joe, probably my favourite of your credited SGU episodes thus far. Great job with the atmosphere, and if you had a hand in the design of the aliens, I say kudos too. But, I especially loved the quippy-ness of the dialogue, from TJ’s smackdown of Simeon to Scott/Greer’s conversation about Park. Good times. 😀
Hey Joe,
Was wondering, do these new guys get an unofficial name? The last ones you called Blueberry aliens… are these possibly Brownberry aliens? :p
Anyway loving the new season!
In ‘Life’, Rush planted a planet in the database which he claimed could get the crew home. Is there any follow-up on that in season 2, when the crew discovers that planet doesn’t exist at all?
Charming
The admin from a certain anti SGU site has told the minions to NOT watch SGU live or via DVR but that torrents are ‘preferable’
So… they are against SGU but are still downloading to watch and ridicule?
I think they’re not willing to admit that they really want to watch.
Yes! I’m loving that Rush is back doing sneaky stuff. Docking with the seeder ship was awesome, music and visuals stunning. And I’m glad that not all aliens want to destroy us. Though it’s not entirely clear (to me) why they shot Rush and Dunning?. Expected Telford to stick around for a tad bit longer, it was a surprise to see him go. You got me there. 😀 Then again, I think there were some clips in the season 2 trailers that featured LDP and we have yet to see them. Hmm. Overall, uh, awesome episode. 😀 SGU rocks.
Das will never, ever, let you live down that note. Intriguing to see you’ve started your gastronomic critiquing at such an early age.
You done good with Awakenings. I definitely want more. More aliens. More on the Lucian prisoners. More on Telford. More seed ships, or at least that one ship. More of a guilt ridden colonel slowly going mad. With this episode I really see a lot of opportunities for the show to go in some exciting directions.
Hope the flight home was a good one. Thanks for sharing your weekend, and providing some much needed laughs as you did so.
IMHO SGU just keeps getting better and better!
Just wanted to say that I really enjoyed Awakening, and I really wish that we didn’t have to wait a whole week between episodes!
Great episode, this is finally what I expected the series to be in the first place! Real Stargate feeling 🙂
Hi Joe,
this was one of the greatest episodes ever.
Since we no that LDP is atleast back for “Seizure” could you tell us in wich episode he will be back.
Cause I really like his Character. Sorry for the bad grammar i am not a native.
A great episode, Joe! My thanks to everyone involved. I can’t help but think that you know who will be back. Many story opportunities there.
SG-U : Pathogen sneak peek
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=23FyG7BOc34&vq=medium#t=14
I enjoyed this episode a lot, after having not enjoyed the previous two so much. Easily one of the best of SGU so far. Those creatures were cute.
I really enjoyed last night’s episode and will watch it again on demand when I get a chance — great visuals and suspense. Every time someone was alone I was waiting for something to jump out and make me spill my drink LOL
It was hilarious to see them offer the alien the “fruit” — I remembered Thor (“I like the yellow ones”) giving Carter the food cube and her horrified reaction at the taste 🙂
The Tony the Tiger camp letter was fun — you were already “editing”, and critiquing the food! My mother has a letter to Paul McCartney I don’t remember writing, apparently never mailed but lovingly kept by her to be brought up periodically at family get-togethers…(insert major eye rollage).
@ Thornyrose – That letter from camp is pure gold. Joey, the chicken-lovin’ giant goosepimple. 😀 Remember is dream about turkeys in the bathtub the other night? I think it had everything to do with this letter.
I also love how he saw fit to edit the pre-printed notes. Everything in that letter says something about the man Joe is today…a foodie, a critic, a writer who chooses his words carefully, and an anti-outdoorsman.
He should frame that and hang it on his wall.
das
Ok, a week behind here in the UK. Suffice to say if the depressing theme continues I’m going to have to get tranks. Can we PLEASE have the odd touch of humour? I realise that they’re in dire circumstances but that is usually where the blackest of humours begin, as a counterpoint. I know because I’ve been accused of being flippant on those occasions when my dark humour has surfaced usually by those who a) never had a sense of humour or b) those who had it removed at birth.:)
Fantastic episode – really enjoying season 2 so far!
(but please try to go a little lighter on the music montages at the end – it’s almost turning into a cliche)
Good Episode Joe. I get the feeling that’s not the last we’ll see of either those aliens or Telford, why else would you have bothered showing his capture by the aliens after Destiny left? I hope next season (IF there is a next season & Telford isn’t killed off) that LDP gets to be a member of the main cast.
Reading some of the comments around the web, I’ve come to the conclusion that the people who seem to dislike the show are idiots.
@jmanzione
troll
and that is all you seem to do, “I hate this, I hate that, I’ve been with the franchise for OVER 9000 years!” You are annoying…give it a rest find the good more than the bad and just chill with it, like a pot head
Hey joey,
Sorry, about that a second ago, the troll looked hungry…
Anyway, awesome episode, I was drawn in, and was like…ooo seeder ship!!!
I thought it was going to be bigger than destiny, oh well, but one thing I noticed on the seeder graphic is that is looked like it had a forward docking bay on its underside, so am I right in guessing that the seeders and destiny can all line up in a row joining power supplies and then do a simultaneous dial of all the destiny gates throughout the universe and then auto fire the dakara device(destroyed) to seed human life throughout the universe!?
that was just a thought, probably too grand..well in anycase, I look forward to the big reveal on destiny’s mission.
and I wanna see pathogen
later yo!
Mr. Mallozzi thank you for fantastic episode Awakening. Episode was just pure epic!
Joe,
GREAT EPISODE! Got a couple of questions (if there’s mail bag soon)
1) Will the first half of the Season be ending with ”Visitations” or ”Rensurgnce (1)”?
2) Will we be seing Telford again?
3) Will Peter be writing any SGU eps? Haven’t seen his name under ‘Written By’ in a while, LOVE his episodes 🙂
4) Is there a chance that you can name the AU episodes this season?
5) Any chance we’ll be seeing Gen. O’Neill or Carter this season?
Good job on this episode. Much better than the previous 2, imo. Having Telford stranded with our little friends was….crrrreeeeepy!!!! 😯
@ Joey – The aliens at the end reminded me of something. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. NOT in appearance, but in body language/mannerisms. Then I remembered. The little green aliens from Galaxy Quest! 😀 Only…a LOT scarier. 😕 😮 Perhaps Telford is gonna be their Thanksgiving turkey. 😉
das
This’ll be the last time I can chime in on an episode right after it airs since I’m a hulu watcher and there’ll be a bigger delay for the next episode.
Awakening review:
Aliens! You know how I feel about that.
Good job making every episode able to stand mostly on its own. BSG and Lost kinda’ ticked me off how you had to watch every episode in order. Hulu kept me in the loop, but I resented HAVING to stay in the loop and would’ve taken any excuse to break the addiction.
Doofs leaving one gun to hold the ship? Doofs.
Great chemistry between TJ and Tanic(sp?), but even better when TJ made Headwound Guy her —–. Authentic writing to have him acquiesce AFTER she bends harder. How did you know guys need a little reminder about their physical safety to get their minds off their freaked out egos when a woman turns the tables on them? Ask me how I know.
Best line: Young (to Rush, re: Volker and Brody): They’ll be all right.
Next best: Telford: And I’m willing to do the same for you.
Oh, Rush, Oh what a tangled web … I might not be on Team Rush anymore since his selfishness is why Telford couldn’t be warned. But, I’ll never be on Team Young after he threatened to take Wray out of the lottery to get her to stop criticizing him. While I don’t know Rush’s motivation, I do know Young is a small, small man.
Nice little shared look between Volker and Brody. In my own imagination, it was because they were being marched to the next dangerous locale by the gunbearer behind them. I know, I’m a hopeless anti-authoritarian. Would like to see more of how Volker and Brody feel about their calling.
Volker had foodie lines! Little echoes of Joe in there?
So, the seeder ship is behind them and juiced up now? That must be like that feeling you get when you pass a drunk in traffic.
End Awakening Review.
I got big news coming up soon. Watch Levar Burton’s tweets at the end of October or in November. You’ll never guess it from that hint. You’ll have to see the tweets.
Very cool episode Joe. Finally got to see where the magic starts. The gaterooms of gaterooms. I just wish it was a bit more of an event though. Perhaps even learning a little bit about it like the ship learns through AI (on a level of data creation that can’t be transferred to other seed ships) and is always improving the gates as they adapt which is why they are different in various places.
Awakening is a fantastic episode, I really enjoyed it from start to finish and particularly the last shot of Rush, sitting alone in the control room. I don’t why, but it just reminds me of the end of The Godfather II.
On SGU, Rush is sitting forlorn, contemplating his decision to undock the ships and leave Telford behind, and in the Godfather movie, Michael Corleone is sitting alone, pondering his decision to have his very own brother killed.
Were you thinking about the Godfather movie when you wrote that scene or is it just a lucky coincidence?
I also have another question. How do you get SGU to look so jaw-droppingly good in HD? I watch quite a few shows, but SGU wins hands down for image quality. I’m a bit of a video hobbyist, so I’m eager to learn about your whole process from shooting on film to post-production. If it’s not a trade secret, obviously.
I identify with Rush and loved that he ho hummed the gate factory … at first. I love it when people don’t do what everyone else does. About an hour after watching, I realized it made me ho hum the exploration of a cool new ship. Yes, I see the irony that I’m just feeling that way because I saw someone else ho humming. I thought I was immune to group think.
Like the pictures. Although the peppers look like something I would not want to touch. Do you really like the chilli Chocolate mix? I love both but afraid to taste them together. I have problems with the show’s editing as compared to the other series.
Hello.
Great Episode!!! I never expected that ending, but I have a feeling this won’t be the last we’ll see of the seed ship or the passengers…
My compliments to the writers on an enjoyable adventure. I wonder how everything will play out w/ the Lucien Alliance. Any chance we will see any of them experience Casa withdrawal? I know coffee and nicotine withdrawal were a big deal.
Best Wishes,
Bryan
Hey Joe. Awakenings was an incredible episode. Season 2 keeps getting better and better.
Questions:
1. Will we run into the seed ship again? It’s been set up quite wonderfully for another potential meet and greet.
2. Do the seed ships obtain power similarly to the Destiny or because they are somewhat older do they have a different power source?
3. How exactly does a seed ship gather minerals to build a Stargate? Does the ship itself land or does it send drones to mine an area and send the raw material back to the ship? Will we be able to see this in action in a future episode?
4. What makes a planet suitable for harvesting a Stargate, outside of an oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere?
5. We know that the Destiny has a form of automated repair. Are we to assume that the Seed Ships have something similar but in the case of this one, the repair drones malfunctioned?
6. Is the Destiny’s mission a specific location within the Universe or something else entirely? How could the Ancients have detected something billions of light years away and declare it their ‘Destiny’?
Thank you again Joe for another great episode and I look forward to the mission!
Another great episode… bar the musical montage. I know I’ve said this before, but they’re killing these episodes. It’s not so much the montage as the song selection, they’re so corny and ‘pop’ that they just sound so out of place in a show like SGU, and the way they come in out of nowhere is incredibly jarring. I know you guys seem to like them, and you don’t want to be pandering to any section of fandom, but honestly, you’d be hard pressed to find many people at all that like these. Even on a sites like IMDb, after pretty much every episode that has them there are threads where virtually everyone pro and anti agree that they’re hurting the show. I wouldn’t go as far as they do and demand they are binned like some might, but I would ask you guys to please, please reconsider some of their usage. I really think Joel could do the montages much better justice with something he could compose than the songs you’re using, as while they’re OK in their own right, they really don’t gel with the tone of the show in my opinion.
Sorry about the rant, felt I had to get that off my chest 🙂
hey joe!
AWESOME episode. really. kudos to everyone involved (you should buy them some of your incredible chocolate).
it was great. i loved the childish behavior of the alien, sitting down and all. it was cute.
incredible writing!
i assume telford will return? (stuck on a ship with plenty of gates and plenty of power. he could even dial home!)
Joe, when you write an episode, do you write the lyrics to the song as well?
@das You and I think alike. Scroll above for my comment about the alien creatures and GalaxyQuest. Glad to know I’m not the only one.
Really happy to see the ratings for this episode. Really amazing and well really amazing. Too bad about Telford thats life.
I got some random people to watch the show. People who aren’t really Scifi fans but enjoyed what they saw. Just goes to say if people give the show a shot they’l love what they see.
But I’m wondering. Is the show faced with the same thing that happened at the back end of season 1? Like when the channel didnt air it 1 week and the returning week saw a huge drop but the following week everything went back to the norm? 1.5 million next week?
Late to give a comment. Computer sorta died. So on my laptop. Don’t really like connecting it online as all my work and stuff is on this.
Hmm, is it my imagination or are the viewing numbers up this week for SGU? 🙂
Nice.
Let ’em keep rising! 😀
Hey Joe,
I’d forgotten that Awakening was one of your episodes.. I loved it!
I always find it interesting to see aspects of the various interwoven relationships among those on board, and it’s even more fun when it’s something new or a little unusual. I enjoyed seeing Telford and Young going head-to-head now that we know that Telford was more or less himself again, and that it’s clear they respect each other, even if they don’t always agree.
Some of my favourite parts were the aliens (I can see why Mark S. has been saying this is one of his favourite episodes, they’re so cool!), seeing TJ put Simeon in his place (she’s fun as a bit of a badass), and that scene between Scott and Greer about how he injured his hamstring totally cracked me up.
Hope you had a safe trip back! Were the pups happy to see you home?
I was sorry to read earlier this week that they’ve all been having health issues… has to be hard.
Nadine
PS: Oh! Have you read the Hunger Games trilogy? I just read it last weekend, and I literally couldn’t put it down. Seriously, I was doing dishes *while* reading. Totally sucked me in.
@ PBMom – HA! I totally missed your comment about the aliens!
“I think the aliens were deceptive, feigning cuteness and luring you in.”
Hmmmm…sound like anyone WE know?? 😉 😉
das
Hi Joe!
Long time no post – but I have to comment on your episode Awakening! (Spoilers!)
AMAZING! When I saw creature start to come out, I was thinking this is going to be another Vengeance or Whispers episode, where they’re being chased around these narrow corridors on the other ship shooting at aliens, and the red shirt guards get picked off. (Not to say that I didn’t like Vengeance or Whispers, but I thought doing it here would have been very predictable). But thank goodness I was wrong! I loved the scene with Scott giving the alien food. And the ending, I was ready for Telford to be turned into alien chow (but since he’s not you guys better have put him back on Destiny later in the season!!!) AND Joel Goldsmith is amazing too; when they see the gate construction area, an Atlantis/Ancient theme plays for a couple seconds in the background – great musical continuity. I have to say this was my favorite ep so far this season! Looking forward to more!
By the way, what do you guys around the office call these aliens?
Well Joe. I’ve seen your episode and read all the comments. I’d say it’s 99.9% to 0.1% you did a fantastic job! Take away the trolls and your batting 100%. You are a great writer!!
@Sean D
Absolutely. Amazing isnt it? Sure okay the episode deserved at least another half a million extra people, because it has to be my favourite episode thus far, totally awesome in every way.
I’m mostly happy because it shows there’s life in the show. Can someone say Season 3?
Aftermath was thoroughly engrossing, I sort of roused my self ten minutes in and realized I was completely into the awe of the crew entering the seed ship.
Loved the aliens, they were so deceptively helpless looking, the little buggers! I hope we haven’t seen the last of them.
Another great character ep also, great to see TJ interacting with the crew because her character always gets the other crew members to open up. Eli and TJ are still my faves for bringing lots of heart to their scenes.
T-Bag was very creepily awesome, look forward to seeing more of him!
Sorry, Robert Knepper; don’t want to be one of those folks who calls actors by their character names but I was a hardcore Prison Break fan so I got nothin’ but love for Mr. Knepper.
I loved Awakening. The cute but not so friendly aliens were great. It’s my favorite episode so far this season and probably my second favorite SGU ep overall; Subversion is still my first. 🙂
It would improve everything immensely if Young died. Perhaps people had heard he would and that’s why the number went up.
@It would improve everything immensely if Young died.
That would be heartbreaking. Young deserves to live all the way to the final episode. I’m not really a Wray fan myself and I wouldn’t be too fussed if she vanished. However she is starting to grow on me. Did think the same about Chloe and her being semi useless till the back half of Season 1 where she found her place on the crew and in my eyes deserved to stay alive.
OK…long time reader, first time commenter.
Let me say that I, too, have been watching everything Stargate since the beginning…and I’ve been very happy with all of it. Not every episode, not every plot…but on the whole, I’m very happy saying that I’m a fan, and that very much includes SGU. Thanks for keeping it moving forward, despite the naysayers and the incomprehensible network choices and the capriciousness of the ratings.
I have a couple of SGU questions, which I’ll try to keep as general as I can.
1. We know that the 9-chevron address for Destiny is special, in that it works from the Milky Way without specific knowledge of exactly where Destiny is. So…when Destiny dials Earth, is that an 8-chevron address? And does dialing a specific point like Earth from Destiny require less power than it takes to dial Destiny from a MW gate? I’m asking because it seems like the power requirements to dial Destiny (a naquadria-laced planet) are a lot greater than even the combined power of the seeder and Destiny can manage.
2. We saw a large bay door near the front of the seeder. Does that line up with the gate factory, and is that a part of how the gates are in fact “seeded?” Just wondering if the seeder just spits out a complete gate assembly from orbit and it hits the ground, opens, and it’s ready to go.
3. Why would an automated seeder ship have an atmosphere?
And in a completely unrelated note:
4. Do you ever do any SF cons other than the specifically Stargate-related ones?
@Abiron, I would respond (my own theory) to #1 by saying this:
The seeder ship probably has to have much larger batteries on board as they are actually building the startgates and distributing them, fully charged. That means the energy multiplied by hundreds or thousands of stargates in it’s lifetime would be required. It probably also is solar and would dip into a sun once in a while. Or perhaps something completely different since it is probably much older than Destiny. Perhaps it was an early generation of ZPM’s that they didn’t find out until much later steals energy from another dimension that causes problems like what we saw with McKay. I suspect that the “Factory” and the power cells on board is why it was such a tight fit in there as well. It had to store a LOT of energy somehow.
The 9th chevron would still have to be used as a point of origin (destiny) rather than a destination this time. 8 says what “known” galaxy, the 7th chevron is the point of origin for the stargate network within the galaxy (eg. nearest planet or inlet to the galaxy perhaps) and the remaining 6 are what extrapolates a position in space which sets the coordinates to the destination (Earth for the sake of this theoretical explanation).
A simple couple of questions. Who owns Destiny? On the discussion forums at SYFY, people are saying that it now belongs to the US, while others say it belongs to humanity as administered by the IOA.
Please forward this to the proper technical department.
What are the approximate dimensions of the Destiny. It is a couple of hundred meters, a kilometer, two kilometers what?
To john,
I won the Destiny in a gamble with O’Neil and Woolsey. That is why Picardo is making a guest appearance, David Hewlett will be playing me, and establish my ownership over the vessel, in which case I will then recall all seederships and line them up for a super battery…
after that, everyone will go home and I will seed the universe with life by sneezing into the wormhole causing all those bits to be reproduced on every planet…
Then, I will walk through the gate replicating myself and rule the universe mightily until I died of starvation.
Yesterday, I watched Awakenings and this is ridiculous : how the gate-factory can have enough power to dial earth ?
You mean this ship has more power than a ZPM ?
Whereas the ZPM is more recent than this ship
And in Atlantis, you said the more powerful’s ancients generators are ZPMs
and we saw the only generator more powerful is the Acturus Project.
SGU has many incoherences you should to be careful about that
You should show at your public you know your tv show
Yours faithfully,
Tony
Sorry if it’s badly written
I’m french
Tony
Your English is very good and your comment was written well.