Television

Stargate Universe – Divided (2)

A group of civilians led by Rush and Camille attempt to take the ship. A miscalculation by Rush leaves some control in Eli’s hands. With the aliens attacking, the crew rushes to remove the last tracking device on Destiny before escaping into FTL.

A disappointing, but entertaining second part to the first episode of this the second half of season one. The civilians on board decide to follow Rush and taking the ship from the military. Somehow one has to really wonder at the validity of such an action as this is something that Young, “a full Bird Colonel” is an expert at overcoming.

It seems that the aliens who they dealt with in the last episode have been attacking Destiny for some time and the automatic defenses on the ship have been defending her from even before the humans arrived. Rush plans to put all the power into the shields and then hopefully get away from the aliens for good, but the information comes out that Rush himself has a tracking device in his chest after he led everyone to believe that the last tracking device was destroyed. Something that Young and the rest have to deal with.

So we are left with a total distrust of the civilian population and one wonders how things will function going forward. Personal relationships are now strained as well as everyday relations. Not a good situation for a group of people stuck on a single ship on the other side of the universe together.

An entertaining episode with a lot of action. Interesting script choice for an episode. We’ll see what direction they take the travelers in the future. Thanks for reading…

Jeffery Yarter
The Lizardman

Stargate Universe – Space (1)

After leaving Rush on the planet to die, Col. Young must move forward without him. When he goes to report back to Earth he ends up on an alien ship and the civilians think it is a plan to keep them from communicating until a large alien ship shows up.

***** Spoilers *****

So trouble in the form of another race. Young and Rush must still pretend to get along. Camille is bound and determined to get Young taken down. Finally someone gets kidnapped leading to the finding of Rush.

No one surely could be that unhappy with the new direction they are already going with this second part of the first season. We now have a hostile alien presence, we had our first space battle, Destiny seems to hold her own despite some flaws, and everyone is back together.

Obviously the military/civilian situation is going to continue to play a prominent role within the story lines. Rush continues to believe the prize is Destiny herself where as Young is committed to the people and trying to get them home. Young saves Rush even though Rush tried to implicate Young in the former murder. For once I think the interesting part is the civilians seem a little corrupt and the military seems like it’s trying to do the right thing. Sort of a funny plot twist. The acting is still a little stiff, but I think that comes a little from the lighting and production style the show is using and the fact that everything is so dark. I’m looking forward to see the overall direction they’re planning for this second half. Should be interesting. Thanks for reading…

Jeffery Yarter
The Lizardman

Stargate Universe – Justice

Spencer is found dead by Greer and even though the evidence points toward suicide the gun used is missing. Lt. Scott had an alibi so he runs the investigation until the gun is found in Young’s cabin. Camille takes over on Earth’s orders.

Actually a pretty entertaining episode with a number of huge surprises most of which I won’t mention so you’ll have to watch it.

Young’s whole guilt seems to be trumped up, but he steps aside and allows Camille to take over. Of course the military are reticent to take orders from Camille. Rush immediately takes the opportunity to go after the tech using the chair. Which personally I found rather predictable. He didn’t tell anyone to use the chair, but he did point out to everyone involved it was the best and probably the only way to get the technology to get them home or to at least be able to control the ship.

I’m sure you can gather what happens. Interestingly enough things become even more complicated when the Destiny drops out of light speed and a suitable planet shows itself and has a stargate. Camille sends a team minus Greer and Lt. Scott to the planet and puts a researcher in charge. While on the planet they find something that causes Rush and Young to need to check it out.

We have a huge surprise to the end of this episode and with it being the first half of season one cliffhanger. I guess we won’t find out what’s what until at the least a few months from now.

There was an ad for the first season 1.0 DVD during the show so they will be selling this show in half seasons like quite a few shows these days. Ten episodes plus an extended version of the Pilot episode. Interesting episode with quite a few special occurrences. You’ll have to see it to believe it. Thanks for reading…

Jeffery Yarter
The Lizardman

Stargate Universe – Life

While a number of crew members are using the communication stones to speak with loved ones the crew continues to explore Destiny. Rush and Greer find an older version of the Ancients control chair and Young refuses to let anyone use it.

I have been a strong proponent of this show from the beginning. I have to say this and the last episode were steps in the wrong direction.

To start, I guess they got the message and aborted the situation, or went and got the cure right away during the first day, or who knows what? Oh, from the prior unfinished episode that some writer thought was very clever. In this episode we have a great deal of personal angst and character development which really has nothing to do with the circumstances of the people on the ship except it is suppose to make us understand how much these people need to get home. Especially as there are a large number of them that never signed up for this type of thing.

Not giving away anything major, Rush continues to amaze. One minute you think he might be a good guy, the next you want to throttle him for being a big liar. He definitely seems to have an agenda to all of what he does.

Telford really is a snake in the grass sowing seeds of doubt in Emily’s mind about her husbands fidelity. Obviously Telford has an agenda of his own. What that may be we can only guess. I loved the comeuppance at the end.

Eli is still a whiz and makes a few discoveries that are crucial to the situations at hand. Young and Rush sort of are doing a little dance around him to see who can control him. You almost have to think in the long run whomever does wins.

Touching pieces about Scott and Camille, but one has to wonder how crucial to the situation those deep seeded stories really. I am sure that each character on the ship has some kind of story. Are we going to be dragged through each of their lives one by one?

We’ll see where the episodes go from here. I would like to see some action and situations specific to the crew and their situation in the future with respect to other life forms or something similar. Wow, we’re on episode nine and nothing really has moved the story forward at this point. We know about the same things we did four or so episodes ago. Thanks for reading…

Jeffery Yarter
The Lizardman

Stargate Universe – Time

The episode begins as a group from the Destiny is coming through a Stargate onto a humid jungle type world. Shortly afterwords crew members start getting sick and the team quarantines itself on the planet. Then the real problems start up!

OK, a review of this episode is a little difficult. This is not a two part episode so…? It looks like next weeks show is based on the Ancient Comm stones and communication with Earth by various team members.

Let me say without giving too much away, I hate temporal worm holes, time warps, black hole time anomalies, or whatever excuse you want for manipulating a story because you just can’t come up with a good script. I always have believed time travel or anomalies are an excellent device when you have written yourself a story and have shot forty minutes of footage and realize you have painted yourself in a corner with no good conclusion. Other than that only 1 out of 10 or so stories using this plot device works. For example, it never worked in any of the Star Trek series or movies until it finally worked in the newest film.

This episode reminds me of ST:TNG Cause and Effect without the conclusion. It looks like the writers took license to create some crisis and strife, and we are left to try to figure out who or what is real.

The acting was excellent and the special effects really good. I especially like the little creatures as they remind you of another space story. 🙂 Well I must admit the story created anxiety. If that was the point? Well done! Thanks for reading…

Jeffery Yarter
The Lizardman

Stargate Universe – Earth

Colonel Young, Chloe, and Eli consciousness are stuck on Earth while Colonel Telford and two scientist try to force the power systems on Destiny to dial Earth. It may or may not work, but Rush isn’t about to let them take his toy yet.

I really don’t like the process of using the Ancient communication stones to switch consciousness through space between people. Also, I don’t like Colonel Telford played by Lou Diamond Phillips in the least. OK, so he’s doing his job, but boy do they characterize him as having a chip on his shoulder or what? Plus, it seems he just isn’t a nice guy. What was with the final scene of the episode!

So having a whole episode based on this technology and Telford is obviously not going to fly with me. I gave it an eight as I believe the story had some sound principals from the standpoint of method, but the distrust factor with Young is too huge to make sense at this point. Also Young really does know his people better than any one else. If this idea where to succeed I would think it would be under his watch.

The stories involving Eli and Chloe, as well as Young and his wife’s relationships were suppose to be for character development I suppose. In a way I didn’t find any of that compelling though. I will say if Young ever figures out what is going on with Telford I think Telford might end up being sorry. We’ll see.

Personally I think this was a throw away episode and maybe the worst of the season so far. We’ll see where all this goes again next week. Thanks for reading…

Jeffery Yarter
The Lizardman

Stargate Universe – Water

Mysteriously the water supply seems to be depleted faster than the group is consuming it. The Destiny falls out of light speed travel and presents a planet as a possible source of water. Young and Scott go looking for water/ice on the planet.

An interesting episode with a few different plots to look at. The first being the fact the water supply seems to be dropping at a radical rate based on use. Something like 40% more water was missing than actually used by the crew. So Destiny seems to recognize that fact and drops out of light speed and presents a possible planet that could have drinkable water on it. The problem is the planet does not have breathable air so Colonel Young and Lt. Scott must wear the two pressure suits that work on Destiny.

Jeffery Yarter
The Lizardman