I finished Stargate. Well, almost...

[Yukaphile]

Hey. In the time since I've been gone, I finally completed Stargate! Well, Atlantis and SG-1. And MY GOD, what an amazing show. I'm convinced their goal was to just keep topping themselves late into the game. And now... ugh.... eight episodes into SGU, and I can't stand it. From what little research I've done, this is just a Battlestar Galactica ripoff, and... blech. It's unpleasant to sit through. I'm half-tempted to ditch it, but everyone keeps telling me I gotta at least see Season 2, it will improve. But is it worth the journey to get there?

[McAvoy]

The second season is better.

But yeah SGU was a chore for me to watch. Just like Caprica the prequel to nuBSG.

Everything about SGU was different from the previous two shows.

[Yukaphile]

And I don't hate the idea of a dark Stargate. But I kinda think since late SGA's writing was sliding down a little bit, the continuity was more lax, when you transition from fun to grimbleak, those seams show through more. I also hate how they blame the fans instead of themselves. It's clearly just a desperate ploy to win them back, like aping Wrath of Khan in Nemesis when hey, I think if you WANTED that, then Moriarty would have been the better villain (you have Janeway - just bring in the Doctor and have 'im steal the Doctor's holo emitter!), except that... they say it's because it was moved to Tuesday instead of Friday nights, which I find dubious. You know, because from what I read, that was in Season 2 long after dwindling ratings had hit them hard, going from 2.5 million to 1.5 million just in Season 1, so it was an entirely logical move for the studio to make. Plus if the fans are INVESTED enough, it's a sacrifice they're willing to make, but just brush off many of their concerns, especially with the actors and actresses themselves giving an actual voice to those concerns, and the disrespect shoves the loyalists out. So the usual corporate spin job. Really,, that's no excuse. As I said, if people are hyped enough, they will MAKE the time. It just feels a lot like the arrogance we have today was creeping in. Let me tell you, SGU so far is not dark Stargate, and the rape scenes are horribly unpleasant. I can't stand to hear snobs call those "more mature" and "adult." No, a sober discussion on the implications of those stones and how fuckin' SCARY they are would be more adult and more in line to the kinda ethical and moral view the writers wanted, I guess. Like take the two hosts that Daniel and Vala had possessed on Celestis. They suddenly just wake up about to be burned to death over something they didn't do. That's frightening as fuck. You should be asking if we've become too arrogant, more like the Goa'uld we beat rather than what helped us beat them. But they just don't care.

[Mabus]

Yeah, Universe takes a while to get good. Pity, cause it had a great idea and a very good cast. I guess the series creators just weren't suited for this kind of storytelling.

[Yukaphile]

Yeah, plus the spin-doctor as the bombing came in. That may make it harder to get voices heard today if they go the same path. I hear SGO has issues as well.

[Deledrius]

I guess the series creators just weren't suited for this kind of storytelling.

They really weren't. They tried aping something that wasn't in their wheelhouse and it suffered for it.

SG-U could have worked, but it was never going to be BSG.

[Yukaphile]

I think they made the damn decon chamber on Enterprise look great by comparison. REALLY. They took a Venn Diagram of what (I hear) worked on Battlestar Galactica, and then fused the two, into places they do NOT belong. Like the rape of Colonel Telford, just... icky as fuck, OMG. Who would have liked that? It's just a desperate pandering effort to draw back all the viewers, like Nemesis was for Star Trek fans. clearspira called them rape stones. I'll call 'em the same thing. They are. At least on SGU.

[McAvoy]

Yeah, Universe takes a while to get good. Pity, cause it had a great idea and a very good cast. I guess the series creators just weren't suited for this kind of storytelling.

They were probably better off if they did a more 50/50 SG/BSG fusion.

Let's put it this way, only Eli felt like he belonged to Stargate that we knew before Universe. He was light hearted, funny, and could joke about things. A few of the characters could have been like that too. There was no need for every single character even Eli to have some bad story.

But keep Greer the same. I liked him.

[Yukaphile]

Past Eli, Greer is the only other character I like.

[McAvoy]

Past Eli, Greer is the only other character I like.

I like him because I knew guys like that in the military. Greer is the type of guy you really want by your side. Assholes to be sure, but once you knew where you stand with them you were good.