So I've been thinking about checking out the Stargate franchise

[J!!]

don't forget about Stargate: Infinity

[Yukaphile]

Will do! I just need to find a proper way to download the movie, before I begin downloading the series off Dailymotion.

[Madner Kami]

SG:U isn't bad, it's just different. It's closer in tone to the newer Battlestar: Galactica than Stargate which is the main issue.

A lot of people quite like it, and it's unfortunate that it ended so early.

SGU shares MANY qualities with Enterprise in that they took a family friendly show and decided that it needed to be ''darker and more adult''. And Like ENT, they didn't do that with mature storylines, they did that with tits, swearing, and characters acting like assholes. Lt James for example is very much the T'Pol of the series: her introduction is her having TV sex in a storage closet and then spends a good chunk of season 1 in various skimpy vests and panties. And then we have Chloe who is the cute fanservice Hoshi. Unlike Hoshi however she is not at all intelligent and is a massive prick tease toward Nice Guy Eli. Her job between getting her kit off is to be The Load as TVTropes puts it. I would also say that Colonel Young shares some qualities with Captain Archer in that they are both terrible leaders, although in fairness, at least Young was never meant to be the commander of Destiny whereas Archer was actually chosen.

And then there are the body switching stones, which feature in most episodes and are mostly used to have sex in the bodies of complete strangers and for the ''heroes'' to commit identity fraud.

AND, like ENT, it had a final season that repaired many of the problems mentioned above to the point of it just starting to be a good show... but was too little too late.

SGU isn't all bad despite my description, but for the love of God watch SG-1 and Atlantis first.

/subscribed

Also, it needs to be mentioned, SGU has the best Soundtrack of any SG-show.

[Darth Wedgius]

SG-1 is my favorite science fiction from TV. You can take that as a positive or a negative for your own purposes. Season one is a bit rough around the edges sometimes, and the series may have overstayed its welcome by a season or two at the end, but there's not an episode I actually regret seeing.

I enjoyed SG: Atlantis mostly for the character interaction. I don't think it got as good as SG-1's best, but it had some really good episodes in there. Mostly, I think if you find Rodney McKay entertaining during the first season you'll like the rest.

SG: Universe is... I'm going to be controversial and say it's like the Deep Space 9 of Stargate. The fans of SG-U are often not fans of the earlier Stargate series, and the fans of the earlier series are often not fans of SG-U. SG-U had a darker tone and a lot more interpersonal drama. It's not an identical situation... I liked DS-9 more than Enterprise or Voyager, but I gave up on SG-U pretty quickly. I've heard many times that SG-U's second season was much better than the first.

Also, SG-U's second and final season ends on a cliffhanger that was never resolved on TV (I hear it was resolved in comics), so you might grow to like the characters just in time to see them all put in danger with no on-screen confirmation on how it turned out.

[Madner Kami]

What makes SG:U great is, what is the downfall in the eyes of others, indeed. It sets out to create a rag-tag bunch of characers, all flawed, imperfect beings with their own agendas and problems, instead of taking a bunch of cardboard cut-outs, like all the other SG-series did.

Now, granted, the other series fleshed out their characters over time, but have an honest look, they all are walking tropes at the onset of their series and they lack any sort of depth. In contrast for example, Colonel Young is someone who was put into his initial position (commander of Icarus Base) not by choice or calling, but because he got pushed there by his friends, who wanted to do him something good and get him out of a depressed position. He doesn't want to be there (and the base's moral suffers greatly for it), but goes along with it and is now thrown into a place (Destiny), that leaves him completely out of his depth and this new challenge actually allows him to get back to be an actual leader for the people he genuinely cares for, instead of the lethargic mess we meet at first, even though it overwhelms him for a large part of the series. This is complex character-building and SGU starts out with that edge. Pretty much the same is true for many of the characters. They're complex, flawed human beings and it's a large ensemble, instead of plucky commander + pacifist science guy + pathfinder girl + badass fighter.

Also, it really needs to be said, SG:U actually gives you the feeling that these characters are explorers and pioneers. They don't meet human society #1554+1 every other day. They have much more baseline problems. How does Destiny work? How do we actually manage to feed ourselves? How can we fix this aeons old ship that is slowly but steadily breaking down, so that we have enough air to breath tomorrow? What do you mean we are on a collision course with a star and our power reserves are running low?! And there is persistence between the episodes. No reset-buttons and what happened two episodes ago leads to plot points in later episodes.

Is SG:U dark and gritty? Yes, often times too much. But it sets out to do something different instead of just doing yet another iteration of SG1 and it sticks to it's roots. I absolutely love this series and it has one of the best final cliffhangers ever done on TV.

And the best soundtrack of all StarGate. "Light" by Joel Goldsmith is easily one of the best themes for a sci-fi series ever made, perfectly describing the lone, desperate situation of our heroes, but also the great unknown and wonders that are ahead of them. Even years after hearing it for the first time, it still moves something deep in me.


youtu.be/NL3n2co-bVQ

The Gauntlet Ending (series cliffhanger), that sends Destiny and it's crew off into the literal unknown deep dark space to an uncertain ending.


youtu.be/5Ocbg0wExX0

Absolute. Brilliance.

[Yukaphile]

Sounds like what STD/DISCO is trying to do. This is one of those shows that STD/DISCO is being made to "compete" against? Probably explains why Season 1 was so... um, "different."

[Yukaphile]

Well, it's that time. I finally watched the movie as well as "Children of the Gods."

[Darth Wedgius]

Well, it's that time. I finally watched the movie as well as "Children of the Gods."

I didn't think the movie was bad, but I liked SG-1 and Atlantis a lot more. There's a lot more time to put interesting detail in a TV series, to be fair, but I even liked Children of the Gods acting and characterization better.

[Yukaphile]

I think the start is very archetypal if not outright stereotypical, but there's enough new and fresh ways they are defying expectations that it leaves an impression on me.

[Mecha82]

While you don't need to watch movie you just might watch it. After all it's one of better movies from Emmerich so you might just as well enjoy watching something from him that isn't terrible.