Analysis of Stargate Universe Series Premiere: "Air, Parts 1 & 2 (of 3)"

Spoiler Warning: This post contains mild to massive spoilers. Do not read if you haven't seen the premiere of SGU but plan to.

Friday night (October 2) was the premiere of the new Stargate Universe series on SyFy. I've been looking forward to more Stargate but was a little worried about the new show.

I was relieved that the 2-hour pilot didn't suck. In fact, I liked it. But, as I, unfortunately, just proved as a guest on a podcast (SciFiPartyLine), I have a little trouble explaining *why* I liked it. I watched the pilot for the 2nd time earlier today and typed out six pages of notes, including specific likes, specific dislikes, mysteries & unanswered questions, similarities to other shows, random observations, nitpicks, etc. I can easily dissect the show. And, I can overlook or forgive the negatives & nitpicks for now. I just can't quite verbalize why *overall* I really did like it.

Well, maybe I can now...
(1) I liked it because I simply liked the sum of its parts (see list below).
(2) I like the overall Stargate franchise, and the pilot episode did nothing that spit in the face of where it came from. It's different enough to feel fresh, but it still feels like Stargate. So, it'd be hard for me to not like it.

Here's my analysis of the episode in list form...

Things I Liked

• The premise.
• Most (but not all) of the characters.
• The performances.
• Everything about Chloe Armstrong, daughter/executive assistant to Calif. Senator Armstrong, and the performance of her by Elyse Levesque.
• How well a lieutenant, Matthew Scott, took command when Col. Young was injured. Stargate hasn't shown too many junior officers taking command of situations. Scott did well.
• The scene where Dr. Rush cries (I love it when characters cry).
• The all-too-brief battle scene.
• The cameos of SG-1 characters.
• The dangling of a few mysteries & unanswered questions (see that list below).

Things I Didn't Like

• Some of the transitions between scenes weren't that smooth.
• The Sergeant Ronald Greer character (but, I think it might be intentional that he's not that likable).
• Not enough space battle.
• Major "Half-Spoiler": As soon as someone said the airlock to the shuttle (which was leaking atmosphere from the whole ship) would have to be closed from the inside, it was totally predictable who would close it.
• With multiple locations, multiple flashbacks, a lot of characters, and a lot of premise to set up, I wondered how confusing it might be to those not already familiar with Stargate.

Questions & Observation About Technology & Equipment

• Why do people get flung out of the Destiny's stargate when they walked into the stargate on the Icarus base?
• Why does the Destiny's stargate vent steam after the wormhole closes?
• Dr. Rush says the ship travels faster than light but not in hyperspace. So, what kind of propulsion is it?
• Why does everything shimmer as the Destiny enters or exits FTL travel?
• They figured out how to make the stargate on the Icarus base outgoing only. That's neat. No more need for an iris like the Cheyenne Mountain gate or a force field like the Atlantis gate.
• After evacuating from Icarus base onto the starship Destiny, the survivors only have 23 guns & limited ammo. I wonder how long that will last.
• They have only the batteries they have in their walkie-talkies. How long will they last?
• The have limited food. I think they said they have little or no water. They do have seeds. Will they grow food onboard?
• They learned how to control the Ancient "communication stones" with a man-made base instead of the Ancient cone base "thingy." Plus, they figured out how to pass a visual signal through them too.

Mysteries & Unanswered Questions

• Does Dr. Rush know more than he's letting on?
• In Colonel Everett's flashback, why did he collapse? Does he have a health problem, and will that become a complication later on, since they only have an Air Force medic & probably little or no medical or surgical tools?
• Who in the photo is Dr. Rush crying over? Wife & daughter? Sister & niece?
• What are in the Ancient crates onboard the Destiny?
• Will they handle supply shortages & the searching for food & supplies better than Star Trek: Voyager did?
• Before being interrupted, was Dr. Rush about to imply that the ship is sentient? He already claimed the ship was aware of the needs of its inhabitants & making stops at habitable worlds accordingly.

Similarities to Other Shows

• Lost: The chaos of the first few minutes, people being flung out of the stargate & tripping over each other, felt like the first few minute of Lost's pilot episode (okay, granted not as cool as Lost did it).
• Lost: Will the flashbacks continue, or was that just for the pilot (to establish the characters).
• Lost: Could the civilians & minor non-coms be cannon fodder like background characters on Lost have been over the years?
• Star Trek - Voyager: A starship stranded in uncharted territory with potentially limited supplies.
• Sliders: A countdown clock before each subsequent FTL jump.

Nitpicks (I wouldn't be me, if I didn't have nitpicks)

• The Stargate program seems to give out non-disclosure agreements like candy. They gave one to Eli Wallace, but before he had a chance to read the first page, they already beamed him to the George Hammond (a Daedalus-class Earth starship named after General Hammond, a character from SG-1 that died off screen after the actor that played him passed away in June 2008).
• In a flashback, IOA representative Camille Wray is talking to Air Force medic Lt. Tamara Johansen, and she makes a reference to *Colonel* O'Neill. Jack O'Neill was promoted from Colonel to Brigadier General in SG-1 season 8 episode 2 and is already a Lt. General. So, by calling him a Colonel, either the actor slipped up, the script writer slipped up, or the flashback was from a whole *five* years ago, which is plausible but not likely.
• Colonel Telford (the barely seen Lou Diamond Phillips) is seen in an F-302 during an air battle. Would they really have someone as highly ranked as a full Colonel out in a little tiny fighter during an intense battle?
• Massive Spoiler: Woops!!! No one had to die. They found onboard the Destiny remote control floating cameras that they named Kinos. When going through the crates of supplies, they found a whole crate of something that looked like rolls of tape. Surely, somewhere on the ship, there is a pointy thing. They could have taped a pointy thing onto a Kino, remote controlled the Kino into the shuttle, and pressed the button for the airlock door remotely. The senator didn't have to sacrifice himself by going in and pushing the button. But, then, there would have been less drama. :)

Boston Globe - Top 50 Science Fiction TV Show List

I was surfing the web when I found the Boston Globe list of Top 50 Science Fiction Television Shows of All Time. I’m pretty sure it’s an old list considering the omission of Heroes (a currently flawed & frustrating series that would probably earn a spot in a more current list if only for its first season). Also, I can’t help but wonder if this list’s #1 spot would be different now, following that show’s controversial final season, especially the final episode. Anyway, here’s the full list:

50. Earth: Final Conflict
49. The Wild Wild West
48. 3rd Rock From the Sun
47. Buck Rogers
46. That Was Then
45. The Greatest American Hero
44. Lois & Clark
43. Nowhere Man
42. Science Fiction Theatre
41. Futurama
40. The Thunderbirds
39. The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
38. Batman (1960s)
37. Space 1999
36. The Bionic Woman
35. Battlestar Galactica (original)
34. The Avengers
33. Lost In Space
32. My Favorite Martian
31. Alien Nation
30. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
29. The Six Million Dollar Man
28. Adventures of Superman
27. Buffy: The Vampire Slayer
26. Stargate: Atlantis
25. The Jetsons
24. Wonder Woman
23. Tales From the Crypt
22. Andromeda
21. Quantum Leap
20. The Hitchhiker
19. Dark Angel
18. V
17. Firefly
16. Flash Gordon
15. Logan’s Run
14. Star Trek: Voyager
13. The Outer Limits
12. Xena: Warrior Princess
11. Lost
10. Sliders
09. Mystery Science Theater 3000
08. Dr. Who
07. The Twilight Zone
06. Stargate: SG-1
05. Babylon 5
04. X-Files
03. Star Trek: The Next Generation
02. Star Trek (The Original Series)
01. Battlestar Galactica (new)


My Random Observations:
First, I’m shocked Buffy is not in the top 10 list. On many other lists, it’s in the top 5. It’d be high on my list too if not for the disappointing final two seasons, but I’m usually in the minority in that opinion. I still think it should be a few spots higher if only for its first five seasons. I’m surprised Firefly isn’t higher as well, unless it’s short life span counted against it.

It makes no sense to me why three Star Trek series are on the list, but Deep Space Nine (my favorite) is not one of them. While I wasn’t the biggest fan myself, I can’t imagine why Farscape is missing as well.

To me, Battlestar Galactica is good (at times superb) but over-rated as a whole. It had excellent production quality and exciting action scenes. But, I was never as crazy about the characters as most people were, I feel the story arc went a little wayward, I have mixed feelings about how the series wrapped up at the end, and my biggest complaint is it’s unrelenting gloominess that sometimes made it depressing to watch.

Despite the exceptions mentioned, this is still a decent list. I like any list that doesn’t forget Alien Nation, gives the Stargate franchise some credit, and includes Babylon 5 in the top five.

Since this list might be a few years old, I’d like to think Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Moonlight, and Journeyman, could have earned spots on a more current list, despite all three shows being short-lived. The jury is still out on Dollhouse and Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Tragically missing from the list:
- Crusade
- Farscape
- Highlander: The Series
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
- The 4400

Should be higher on the list:
- Babylon 5
- Lost
- Firefly
- Quantum Leap
- Stargate: Atlantis
- Buffy: The Vampire Slayer
- Alien Nation

Should be lower on the list:
- Andromeda
- Dark Angel
- Star Trek: Voyager
- Xena: Warrior Princess
- Mystery Science Theater 3000
- X-Files
- Battlestar Galactica (new)

Note: MST3K was great, but I say it should be lower because it's more comedy than sci-fi.

Should not be on the list at all:
- Batman (1960s)

My Personal Top 12 List:
12. Crusade (short-lived sequel series to Babylon 5)
11. Quantum Leap
10. Battlestar Galactica
09. Alien Nation (1 season plus 5 TV movies)
08. The 4400
07. Firefly
06. Stargate: Atlantis
04. (tie) Star Trek: The Next Generation
04. (tie) Stargate: SG-1
03. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
02. Lost
01. Babylon 5

Honorable Mention:
- Chuck (more spy than sci-fi, but the Intersect technology is definitely a sci-fi element)

My Very Weird Dream About the TV Show "Lost" (with an even stranger sitcom crossover)

It's 4:43AM, and I just woke up from the weirdest Lost dream. The details are already starting to fade, but it had something to do with Locke having written a small book with illustrations.

He's found some way of binding the book with makeshift glue, and is in a hurry to give it to someone before he turns invisible or something. I think at the last minute, while the glue is still drying, he gives it to Charlie, and at that point in the dream, I think I'm Charlie, because it's from my POV that I receive the book.

Then there's a subplot with Hurley. I've already lost half of it, but right before I woke up, it ended with Hurley seeming to have not been on the island at all. Instead he's somewhere I didn't recognize surrounded by young people. It might have been a mental institution, but wherever it was, I only saw it from one angle and it felt like a TV set, as if that subplot was taking place in a sitcom. They were having some kind of party. Right before they give Hurley presents, they turn the lights out for a second. When the lights come back on, Hurley has vanished. Then, there's someone at the door, and that's when I woke up.

The two weirdest things about the dream are: (1) The dream actually felt like it was making total sense up until the moment Hurley vanished; (2) For some reason, half the cast of The Facts of Life were at Hurley's party. I definitely remember seeing Natalie & Mrs. Garrett. Blair might have been there, and I think Jo appeared at the last second. I don't remember seeing Tootie.

My subconscious mixing together Lost and The Facts of Life??? Seriously, what the #@!! is wrong with me?

Live Blogging: 81st Annual Academy Awards [Half-Hour 8]

Best Actress must be next. They're doing the five past winners thing again. The nominees: Anne Hathaway, Kate Winslet, Melissa Leo, Meryl Streep, and Angelina Jolie. I only saw The Reader and Changeling, and I liked Jolie in Changeling better. It will almost certainly go to Winslet or Streep, but Jolie is my pick anyway. The winner: Kate Winslet. Oh, hey, she thanked Peter Jackson too. He directed one of her first films (if not *the* first film for her).

Wow, her speech went on for a while, and they didn't interrupt her with music. They haven't done that all night. They must just be letting this one go long tonight if it has to.

Best Actor is next. The presenters: Michael Douglas presenting Frank Langella. Robert DeNiro presenting Sean Penn. Adrian Brody presenting Richard Jenkins. Anthony Hopkins presenting Brad Pitt (they were together in the great movie Meet Joe Black), and Ben Kingsley presenting Mickey Rourke. My pick is Frank Langella, though Mickey Rourke is almost certain to win. Winner: Sean Penn. Wow, his wife Robin Wright Penn looks great! Dude, thank your wife. Thank your wife. There's the political commentary. Two more things? More political commentary. Mentions Mickey Rourke. Did he thank his wife??? If he did, I sure did miss it.

Best Picture, presented by Steven Spielberg. First, a Best Picture nominee montage, with a focus on this year's nominees but with clips from past winners sprinkled in. The nominees: Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader, and Slumdog Millionaire. My pick: Slumdog Millionaire. Winner: Slumdog Millionaire. Good. It truly was the most deserving out of those nominated.

-----

Comments on the show:

The new way of presenting acting nominees with five past winners per category saying nice things about the current year's nominees was a good idea in a way, but it carried on a little long and dragged down the momentum of the show.

I don't understand why there were only three Best Song nominees instead of five, but I do like the fact that they combined shorter versions of them all together into one performance rather than doing full versions of each, sprinkled throughout the show.

I also like how they clumped similar categories together back to back using the same presenters to save time, though I think having Will Smith present four or five awards all on his own was a little excessive.

I wasn't so sure about Hugh Jackman hosting since I've never watched him host the Tony Awards, but it really didn't matter much because once the show got started, there really wasn't too much for him to do.

And, not once did they start music in the middle of a person's speech. That was respectful. Now, if winners will just learn to police themselves on how long they go on crying and catching their breath, the show might be over by 11:30.

Overall, I liked the show. You could tell they were trying new things, and many of them worked or were at least improvements. With a little tweaking (and, I'm sorry, some overall better nominees), next year's show could be excellent.

Live Blogging: 81st Annual Academy Awards [Half-Hour 7]

Liam Neeson and Freida Pinto are up to present Best Foreign Language Film. Woops. I don't think the nominees were in the same order on the screen as they were in which they read them aloud. Whatever won, it's a Japanese film.

Queen Latifah is on stage. Oh, here we go... In Memoriam (with Queen Latifah singing "I'll Be Seeing You"): Bernie Mac. Michael Crichton. Pat Hingle. Roy Scheider. Isaac Hayes. Ricardo Mantalban. Stan Winston. James Whitmore. Charlton Heston. Sydney Pollack. Paul Newman.

I wish they had filled the screen with the memoriam images. Instead we got a view of the stage which had monitors showing various pictures of those that passed away and their work. The end result is that the images of them were very small on the TV screen. A few times, a person's name got cut off at the bottom of the screen or was just too small to read well. I know they're trying some new things this year, but I'd rather they just let the memoriam fill the screen as they have in the past.

Reese Witherspoon is up to present the Best Director award. Her dress is a little weird. Anyway, my pick is Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire (although Chris Nolan for The Dark Knight would have been just as deserving had he been nominated). Winner: Danny Boyle -- who, in my defense, really does look like Rudy Giuliani, so it was an honest mistake.

Live Blogging: 81st Annual Academy Awards [Half-Hour 6]

Okay, if they still have to do Score, Song, Best Foreign Film, Best Picture, a tribute to Jerry Lewis (?), and the In Memoriam parts, they must not be trying to finish by 11:00. They haven't done the boring lawyer part yet either.

Eddie Murphy is out to present the Jean Hersholt Award (whatever that is). The recipient is Jerry Lewis. These parts are usually long & boring. Time for raspberry jelly toast.

And, now a music montage of the Best Score nominees. Zac Efron & Alicia Keys are out to present the award. My pick: Slumdog Millionaire. Winner: Slumdog Millionaire.

Now, the best Original Song. One nominee from WALL-E and two from Slumdog Millionaire. Being performed on stage. Why are there not five nominees? My pick: WALL-E. I have to admit a little bit of language bias for my pick. Although, wow, the Indian songs are pretty catchy & lively. And, they did a little bit of a blend of songs at the end. Nice. The winner: "Jai Ho" from Slumdog Millionaire. And, now that I see the songs performed, which jogs my memory how they sounded in the movie, I think I'm okay with the Slumdog win. That was a great song, even if the lyrics were in a different language.

Live Blogging: 81st Annual Academy Awards [Half-Hour 5]

Looks like Best Supporting Actor is up next. They're bringing out five past winners again. This could take a while. Cuba Gooding, Jr. did a great job introducing Robert Downey, Jr.'s nomination. Kevin Klein is doing the introduction for Heath Ledger. And, the winner is: Heath Ledger. No surprise. His parents & sister are accepting the award on his behalf. Very nice.

The next award must be for Best Feature Documentary. Interesting how they're introducing them by showing clips of some of the filmmakers talking about their films. Bill Maher (urgh) is there to take a pot-shot at religion and maybe just present a freakin' award in the process. The winner: Man on Wire. Now, the Best Documentary Short Film. Winner: Smile Pinki.

And, now the 2008 action movie montage. Kind of weird that they take the effort to recognize action movies, but they never consider nominating one.

Will Smith is up to present the award for Best Visual Effects. There should be more than two nominees for this. My pick is Iron Man. The Dark Knight would be okay. *But,* *of course,* it goes to Benjamin Button.

Will Smith stays for Best Sound Editing. The Dark Knight, Iron Man, Slumdog Millionaire, WALL-E, and Wanted. Great nominees. My pick: WALL-E. Winner: The Dark Knight. Wow! I wasn't expecting that. It probably would have been my 2nd choice, though Iron Man would have been an extremely close 3rd.

Will Smith still up for Best Sound Mixing. Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, Slumdog Millionaire, WALL-E, and Wanted. My pick: WALL-E. Winner: Slumdog Millionaire. Wow! Another surprise.

Oh, that's not Rudy Giuliani in the audience. That must be Danny Boyle, director of Slumdog Millionaire. Woops.

Will Smith *still* up for Best Film Editing. I do like how they're grouping the awards together this year. The nominees: Frost/Nixon, The Dark Knight, Milk, Slumdog Millionaire, and Benjamin Button. My pick: Slumdog Millionaire. The winner: Slumdog Millionaire.

Live Blogging: 81st Annual Academy Awards [Half-Hour 4]

Natalie Portman & Ben Stiller are out to present Best Cinematographer. Ben Stiller looks like Joaquin Phoenix did on David Letterman with the wild hair, shaggy beard, and sunglasses. It's the funniest thing Stiller has ever done (which isn't saying much). Natalie Portman looks hotter than Angelina Jolie too, though I'd prefer to see her hair down. My pick is Slumdog Millionaire with The Dark Knight an *extremely* close 2nd choice. The winner: Slumdog Millionaire. Woohoo.

Now, the guys from Pineapple Express are watching clips from 2008 comedies. So, were there only 1.5 comedies last year. Most of their clips are from dramas.

Those guys are up to present Best Short Film. No clue here. The winner is...something from Germany.

Hugh Jackman is singing & dancing in a tux & top hat. Very un-Wolverine-like. I think that's Beyonce who's joining him now. They're doing a Oscar song montage.

Ooh, a commercial for a Sandra Bullock movie with Ryan Reynolds and Betty White. I am there. It's called The Proposal. I have to wait until June for it. Bummer.

Live Blogging: 81st Annual Academy Awards [Half-Hour 3]

Jennifer Anniston and Jack Black are up to present Best Animated Feature: Bolt, Kung-Fu, and WALL-E. My pick: WALL-E (duh). The winner: WALL-E!

Anniston & Black stay up there for Best Animated Short Film. A couple of them look foreign. I think Presto will win, and I base my prediction on absolutely nothing. Hmm. The French one won. Well, the title sounded French, but the award acceptor is Japanese and speaks barely any English. Interesting.

Daniel Craig and Sarah Jessica Parker are up to present Best Art Direction. I totally forgot to make my pick for this earlier. The winner: Benjamin Button. Let me look again at the nominees. Nope, out of the three I saw, I would have picked The Dark Knight or Changeling instead.

Craig & Parker remain to present Best Costume Design. Benjamin Button is the only one I saw. The winner: The Duchess. Don't know; didn't see it.

And, they're still up there for Best Makeup. My pick is Hellboy II. Benjamin Button will probably get it though. And, it does.

Two people I don't know are to present...a 2008 love montage. Oh, that reminds me, I still wanted to see Last Chance Harvey.

Live Blogging: 81st Annual Academy Awards [Half-Hour 2]

And, the Oscars have begun. Less fanfare than usual. No prelude, clip montage, etc. Just Hugh Jackman.

It's going to be hard to get used to hearing Jackman's Australian accent. I'm so used to hearing him as Wolverine. He's singing now. He's bringing back the nominee music montage that only Billy Crystal used to do. He brought Anne Hathaway on stage to help with the Frost/Nixon segment. Oh, she can sing too.

I like how the The Reader portion of the music montage had nothing to do with The Reader. The lyrics implied that Hugh never got around to seeing The Reader. That's okay; he didn't miss much. Now, Hugh's sitting on Frank Langella's lap.

Hugh's pointing out several nominees in the front row. Where is Jack Nicholson? He's not nominated for anything, but doesn't he usually get an honorary front row seat anyway?

Woops. They had a little trouble with the curtains when revealing the screen to show the previous Best Actress montage. You could actually hear someone say, "Open them!"

Five actresses are up to present the Best Supporting Actresses. My pick is Taraji P. Henson out of the two movies I saw, but she may be the least likely of the five to win. Wow, this is a long presentation. They're talking about the roles of the nominees rather than showing clips. If they do this with every award, this will be a long night. The winner: Penelope Cruz. Wow, they're letting her go on forever with her acceptance. This show may last until Tuesday.

Steve Martin and Tina Fey are up to present one of the screenplay categories. Tina Fey looks better than Angelina Jolie too. This is the Original Screenplay category. The only one I've seen here is WALL-E, so it's automatically my pick. I wish J. Michael Straczynski had been nominated for Changeling. And, the winner is: Milk.

Now, the Adapted Screenplay category. Benjamin Button, Doubt, Frost/Nixon, The Reader, and Slumdog Millionaire. My pick is Slumdog, with Frost/Nixon a very close 2nd choice. The winner: Slumdog Millionaire. Woohoo.

Was that Rudy Giuliani in the crowd?