So, the last two months or so I've been rewatching the Stargate franchise and I still love it. I started with the 1994 movie, followed by SG1 and the movies, Atlantis and now Universe.

The movie is a lot more serious than the later series but I do quite like it.

SG1, that series still rocks! The mixture of action, seriousness and humor is just great. I also liked the last two seasons with the Ori arc. However, the last two seasons basically only revolved around the Ori, there wasn't anything else going on. The Goa'uld were the better villains than the Ori, but after seven seasons it was becoming repetitive. Kill one System Lord and enter the next one. The season finale was definitely different, but very enjoyable. Ark of Truth gave a good closure to the Ori arc, but Continuum was, although enjoyable, not necessary from my point of view.

Atlantis is a great series as well. I liked the cross-overs with SG-1 and later the introduction of SG-1 characters in SGA, it definitely makes it obvious that both series take place in the same universe. The Wraith were good villains, I especially like Todd. One thing I definitely didn't like were the Asurans/Replicators. They were also in SG1 and having them, even though different from SG1, feels like lazy writing. But the series does end too abruptly and the finale was too much in too little time. Let's hope someday a movie will be made tying up loose ends, but I doubt it.

The cast changes in both series didn't mind me that much. I actually think it adds some degree of realism. People get reassigned in real life and I think both series handled it well.

Now Universe, I've never seen it before and I have to say it's very different from the previous series. It's dark and gloomy, but it does suit the premise of the series. I like it. Too bad it got cancelled already.

Any other Stargate fans around here?

Jaz

I loves me some SG1. Was never a big fan of the Film though. But the Show, as you said, struck an chord of action with comedy.

Love Stargate, was taken to see the film by a young Dutch lady in Plymouth many years ago. When the series came out in the UK I was working away from home and had little access to TV so only caught a few episodes now and then. Now I'm retired and bought the boxed set of SG1 + films (along with a boxed set of Babylon 5,crusade etc. 70%off on Amazon ) and watched them with great enjoyment, I have seen one or two SG Atlantis episodes and it was only on here that I found out about SGU and still have never seen a single episode. At Christmas past there was a boxed set of SGU in the supermarket in Hasselt but as I never had enough money on me to get it I had to leave it on the shelf, I went back a week later and it was sold out So still not seen SGU.

My wife does not like SciFi at all and will not watch anything like that

I absolutely love, love the Stargate film and it's the only film from Roland Emmerich that I liked enough to buy on dvd. I have still not watched any of the Stargate tv series but I definitely plan on doing so sometime in the future.

Too bad about SG:U getting canned after 2 seasons. I guess it deviated too much from the previous SG series for most fans.

Two months? Geez, I started rewatching SG-1 over a year ago I think and I'm only up to season 7's finale! Of course, I've also been rewatching Firefly and ST: Voyager on DVD along with new TV, so I'm hardly devoting my time to it heavily, and I never watch more than 1 ep per day (with the exception of the S7 finale which despite being 2 hrs and airing as 2 eps I watched in one sitting).
Now I'll alternate S8 with S1 of Atlantis as they aired concurrently and that will keep the crossovers chronological. I screwed up rewatching TNG because I was in the middle of S6 when they suddenly had a DS9 crossover and I'd not started DS9 yet. I didn't have to for Voyager, though, because it never had any DS9 crossovers beyond the pilot, although DS9 did have a sort-of Voyager crossover ep, but that's really going off topic.

Anyway, SG-1 and SG: Atlantis I thought were perfect mixes of serious SF and humor. The stories and situations were usually serious, with occasional humor coming from lines of dialogue, although there were a few notable mostly-comedic episodes like "The Other Guys" with the Canadian comedian whose name I forget (the guy with the duct tape) and ST: Enterprise's Dr Phlox in guest roles. Of course, there were the very serious eps, like the S5 finale or Heroes towards the end of S7, as well.

About the only thing that ever bothered me about the show was the fact that after a brief attempt in the first season to have language barriers when visiting other worlds, in lieu of creating a ST-style "universal translator" to talk to them or just having Daniel act as translator every single episode, they threw in the towel and just had everyone speak English. Except the Unas, but they weren't human anyway.



The Jedi Master

That would be Patrick McKenna, the nerdy Harold Green from The Red Green Show, Red Green is the one with the Duct Tape.

Yeah, I've got too much free time on my hands as my student visa prohibits me from working. And I don't watch a lot of tv, so I have a lot of time to watch Stargate.



I should've done that as well. Would've been quite fun.



That's the thing that bothers me as well. But I guess having Jackson as a translator would get annoying as well. The Goa'uld, Tok'ra and Jaffa do speak their own language from time to time. At least they created a believable reason why there are humans on almost every world they visit.



Yup, it's definitely different from SG1 and Atlantis. It's far more serious, and I guess most Stargate fans loved SG1 and SGA for their mixture of humor and action. Even O'Neill is more serious than in SG1.

Jaz

Funny how in Europe the dvd's are out before it's even broadcast on tv. Back in the Netherlands, I saw the entire first season of Atlantis before a Dutch channel picked the series up. But the dvd was already in stores.

Jaz

I only saw a bit from a couple of episodes but it seemed to me that SG:U was trying to create its own type of BSG vibe. I don't know if it was coincidental or not but I noticed some striking similarities between Dr. Rush and Gaius Baltar.

Yeah, I thought so too in the beginning, but now I do see differences between the two. He's definitely a Machiavellian character though, with his own agenda. Rush is a bit more noble than Baltar in my opinion, but not much

The influences of BSG are clear, but those are mostly visual. The main characters are different from those of BSG, but like BSG they're all flawed and with skeletons in their closets. Maybe even more flawed than those of BSG. And that is something very different for the Stargate franchise, before SGU only characters working for the (Rogue) NID, Trust or IOA had those kind of qualities. In SG1 and SGA, the SGC personnel and their allies were good, and the villains really pure evil.

Jaz

In that sense it followed very closely the tradition established by the different Star Trek series.

There were some gray areas covered over the years, but it was dangerous to go outside those predefined limits when SG-1 was starting so they didn't too often.

Rush differs from Baltar in that Baltar was all about himself, while Rush is always doing things for his own agenda, but not necessarily his own benefit. He has his own notions of what (and who) is important to the "bigger picture" and he will work towards those ends while sometimes even actively sabotaging things that work at cross purposes to those goals. Baltar never did things to help people for their own sake, only to make himself look better and gain importance.

So you could say Rush is less selfish at a "strategic" level than Baltar, even though at a "tactical" level in day-to-day ops he may appear equally as selfish.
I will agree that so far on SGU the guest cast from previous series has not exactly been the same, although do remember O Neill is I think a 3-star now so naturally he's not the same as when he was a colonel or even a 1-star. Daniel seemed more or less the same, though.

I still maintain that the biggest problem with SGU wasn't that they were all flawed with skeletons in the closet, but that they failed to be likable. Only Eli, probably the least flawed character, was likable. The others, well, just when you thought you might be warming up to them you'd have them do something to ruin that via one of those flaws or you'd find out what one of those skeletons were and you'd just deflate. Perhaps the flaws were too many, or they were demonstrated too soon, or seen too often. They don't give you a chance to like them. You can have 2 or maybe 3 characters be that way, but not EVERYONE but Eli.



The Jedi Master

Well, in SG1 helping people usually did serve the interests of Earth, either to frustrate the Goa'uld or get access to resources or technology.



Daniel is more or less the same, but he's been on less than O'Neill. O'Neill did ascend through the general ranks fairly quickly, from one star in 2004 (SG-1 season 8) to three star now.

Concerning the cast of SGU, TJ isn't that flawed a character either. I think she is the most likeable next to Eli.

Jaz

I really enjoyed SG-1 and SG-A. I am sorry about SG-U but maybe it was not it's time. At least it lasted 2 seasons more then what I can say for some. I really hope to see a more SG-a type show.





Bullet

the new SyuFy CEO is buying up rights to recently cancelled scifi series.

Actually, that's not that unusual at all. I personally know a Lt General who was only a colonel when I met her. I think it was only 8 yrs from O-6 to O-9 for her, and she never fought any Earth-saving battles! She did, however, go into space several times.

Here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_J._Helms#Military_career

She spent 3 years as a 1-star, and only 18 months as a 2-star! She got her 3rd star 2 months ago and is now Commander, 14th Air Force (Air Forces Strategic), Air Force Space Command and Commander, Joint Functional Component Command for Space, US Strategic Command. Say that 5 times fast.


The Jedi Master

Wow, 53 is pretty young for a Lt. General!

I learn something everyday. I really was wondering whether that would be possible, but I guess it is.

Jaz

The good Stargate is back!

SGU!

Oh you mean the final 10 episodes and not that it was picked up by another channel. lol

Can't wait to see the last few episodes. I've really come like SGU.

Jaz

I know Rodney will finally make an appearance during this batch.



The Jedi Master

I'm really looking forward to that and how they do his character in SGU. As he was also very important for comic relief in SGA.

His best quote: "I'm Dr. Rodney McKay, alright? Difficult takes a few seconds; impossible, a few minutes." Sums up the entire character.

Jaz

Rewatching SG-1 it was fun to see his character's introduction.



The Jedi Master

Ratings for the most recent SG:U airing,

Stargate Universe (SYFY)
- 1.035 million viewers
- 0.6/1 HH
- 0.5/1 A18-49



Well, at least it's getting more viewers than Caprica did. lol

0.5 is still crap... but 0.1 better than I thought it would get.

So I guess May 9 will be the final ep of SGU, barring a miracle.



The Jedi Master

Maybe the final ep will have a 5 minute epitath like what the final Caprica episode had where some of the big things are explained?

Doubt it. I think it will just end with no payoff and in ten years the producers will tell us what the next five seasons would have been like.

.5 is crap especially when Sg1 and Atlantis averaged 1.8 - 2.2 with a few 3.0+ ratings.

it will end with a 115 minute direct to dvd which is alredy in pre production. and guess who wants rights to air it first.... none other than SyFy.

If true, sounds like my prediction was pretty on the money.