[barnsleykeith]

It seems as though there will be no weekly death of a red shirt and no major character is in danger of being offed. When Scott was down the crevass there was no sense of jeopardy at all. Basically they spent 40mins getting a barrow-full of ice
As a big fan of the previous SGs I'm finding this one boring and very weak. We've had 4 hours of TV time now- it needs to pick up the pace and introduce some realistic danger into the plot or it's doomed as far as I'm concerned.

[Lexxy_703]

i got a bit sidelined when watching this week, can someone please explain why the Alien 'bits' happily jumped into the container when the airlock door was opened?

thanks

[HannahRob]

it had water in it.

[Tobias.]

Can anyone explain to me why everytime the stargate shuts down we get a fireworks display? no other gate does that unless i've missed something!

Show really needs to pick up the pace. A nice introduction, or even hint of an uber bad enemy would at least make my day.

At this rate come episode 16 one of the female's is going to need feminine products for her time of the month and the ship will stop at a relevant gate and we spend the next 35mins trying to find something suitable. And i bet it isn't anywhere close to the star gate.

[whedon247]

Originally Posted by Weigh-Man

Is anyone else really struggling to get into this, it's so predictable and boring.

I loved SG1 and Atlantis but this is just pants.

im the opposite lol

sg1 and atlantis were good, but nothing to write home about so maybe thats why im enjoying universe

[barnsleykeith]

Originally Posted by Tobias.

Can anyone explain to me why everytime the stargate shuts down we get a fireworks display? no other gate does that unless i've missed something!

Show really needs to pick up the pace. A nice introduction, or even hint of an uber bad enemy would at least make my day.

At this rate come episode 16 one of the female's is going to need feminine products for her time of the month and the ship will stop at a relevant gate and we spend the next 35mins trying to find something suitable. And i bet it isn't anywhere close to the star gate.

Ep 16 is called Tampax-The Bloody Battle. Hope it lives up to it's name

[Verence]

Liking Spencer more and more

[BrotherLove]

Some of the writing in this episode suffered the "plot device contrived laziness" that really should be left behind, as it could easily be written in a more intelligent manner.

I mean an alien life form that used 40,000 litres of water and was the size of a few grains of sand???? Must have had a mass of what - a few Kilos at most??? And it tucked away that much water???? Where the heck did it place all that water? Nowhere, it was just a convenient ill-conceived plot device for a water shortage.

The "trained" army guy who saw a small sand twister and immediately panicked, opening fire at scary dust sized particles???? Er, why??? Oh yes, it was a contrived situation so we can have a bit of horror action, so the army guy's intelligence was reduced to that of a complete idiot.

Loads more examples that could have been written slightly more believable with a once going over of the script and not changed the story or dramatic tension in the slightest.

Really hoped Stargate was leaving this style of writing behind. Apparently not.

[Lexxy_703]

Originally Posted by HannahRob

it had water in it.

thanks pretty simple then, the equivalent of cheese in a mouse-trap i suppose!

i don't know how much longer i can give this, i really WANT to like it & find out what the hidden agenda is, but it's just not grabbing me at all at the moment

[swingaleg]

When the blond woman was looking at the bugs, didn't they re-shape into a human face.......and the same when Scotty was at death's door

Isn't that slightly more interesting tha them being water-sponge bugs ?

Is that just left in the air or will the bugs reappear to solve this mystery ?

Must admit hat I assumed the 'bugs' were actually the vaporous spirits of the deceased ancients who originally manned the ship.............but then that would have been such a cliché i suppose...................

[garywh]

I'd consider myself to be an avid fan of the Stargates, but even I'm getting bored with this. Obviously I'll keep watching, but the way things are going, I may be flicking over to Champions League footie more and more often. Let's have some excitement please!!!

[Mandark]

This series reminds me more of the original film. Much more serious and militaristic than the two series.

I wouldn't mind the slow character development if the characters were actually interesting!

[DratVanity]

Originally Posted by 2FS

Rush and Young are the only characters to interest me so far, I'd be happy if they dumped the rest through the Stargate.

The 'romance' between the eye-candy cardboard characters, annoys me almost as much as Eli.

Agreed on the second point! Gawd.

Rush is mah favourite character. I also like Johansen. She's...interesting.

I do like the show so far, I'm just hoping they stay away from predictable episodic storylines. We've had two practically cloned episodes with 'bland hero' Scott going through the Stargate to fetch something, getting into trouble along the way, then inevitably making it back just in the nick of time.

[seosamh]

Originally Posted by Verence

Liking Spencer more and more

I think it says something about the show that I've seen every ep and I don't have a clue who Spencer is. I thought I hated Eli the most but that senators daughter is becoming even more annoying if that's even possible! She is absolutely pointless.


Anyone got any idea what the ratings are like stateside?

[Ethel_Fred]

Originally Posted by Tobias.

Can anyone explain to me why everytime the stargate shuts down we get a fireworks display? no other gate does that unless i've missed something!

It's a Mk 1 gate - in the pilot they said it might even be the original gate

[Alien28]

Originally Posted by Ethel_Fred

It's a Mk 1 gate - in the pilot they said it might even be the original gate

Also, the steam-punk look is so in right now!

[thebladder]

Originally Posted by DratVanity

Rush is mah favourite character. I also like Johansen. She's...interesting.

Ruch is my favourite character, I also like Johansen, She's...well fit!

[DCI Hunt's Girl]

I'm enjoying SG:U but saying that, I'm still not as into it as SG-1 and Atlantis.

My fave characters are Eli (loving all the pop-culture references he makes) and Dr. Rush

[codename_47]

I think what Stargate fans have to realise is that this isn't your...err..older brother's Stargate, this is taking the franchise in a new direction and is a lot less lightweight, imo.

I've always been a bit contrary to the opinions of regular stargate fans as I found the Stargate format a bit cheesy and formulaic for both series (Get into situation, make a few wisecracks, have the science boffin explain how to get out, blow stuff up, more wisecracks, roll credits, etc)
In the early years of SG1 it was a bit boring and slow to me, it only really kicked into gear when they started getting spaceships and being Trek lite.
Oh yeah and the save Daniel Jackson stuff was a complete disgrace, showed the writers were more about playing to the fans than going their own way. Poor Jonas.

Then Atlantis came along and it was more of the same, albiet in another galaxy. Same format, chain of command,
cliche'd lead military commander trying to overcome demons from his past, Teal'c warrior clone, unlike most of Fandom I found Mckay's arrogance boorish and annoying, but the writers spooned it on more and more season after season, and another overpowering alien threat that we can't really deal with except in covert operations on their vessels etc.
So far so samey...

But with Universe you feel at least they're trying to do something new with the franchise. Except for Eli, who is the only one being truely honest, you get the impression that none of the characters have shown their true colours yet, especially Dr Rush.
And instead of turning up on the ship, having it self power up and the science character know exactly what each system is doing, the ship itself is also a big mystery.

I think you have to adapt what you expect from a Stargate series to enjoy the show. For me its finally Stargate done right.
The only thing I have against it is them continually using Eli to shoe-horn in pop culture references (Planet Hoth, etc) which aren't really needed in this show.
Oh, and I'm not quite sure how being a devout Catholic merges with sleeping around with whoever he can find but maybe that'll come up later.

Also I like the fact they're counting stuff like the bullets. If they only have what they came in with then perhaps they're setting up a plot where they finally run out of weaponry and the military types have to deal with problems another way. Or maybe the civilians on the ship will rebel against them since they have no way of stopping them, etc etc.

It's potential storylines like that that'll keep me coming back to this series: Stargate done right at last, as I say.

[BrotherLove]

Originally Posted by codename_47

Also I like the fact they're counting stuff like the bullets. If they only have what they came in with then perhaps they're setting up a plot where they finally run out of weaponry and the military types have to deal with problems another way. Or maybe the civilians on the ship will rebel against them since they have no way of stopping them, etc etc.

It's potential storylines like that that'll keep me coming back to this series: Stargate done right at last, as I say.

That's exactly what I was hoping for, but there are glaring plot holes and rubbish writing and logic that undermines what they are trying to achieve. I agree, they are aiming for new direction, more gritty, more realistic, which is great but leaving in sloppy writing that spoils it.

If you read my last post, I talk about the grains of sand using 40,000 litres of water and the typical "red shirt" idiot of the week panicking and firing bullets into a sand twister. That just made me roll my eyes, something that didn't bother me on the light and none-serious Stargate and Atlantis.

Not to mention some pretty awful cliché characters and relationships that have little depth.

What we are seeing is a new darker Startgate with the contrived elements of the old show still there. If they want this new direction, they need better writers as some of the cliché’s, plot holes and stupid logic make it feel like the old Stargate, but much duller, slow paced and boring.

That style of writing suited SG1 and Atlantis - I could turn a blind eye to it all for the sake of entertainment and humour - but it has no place in the style Universe is trying to adopt.

[whedon247]

Originally Posted by codename_47

I think what Stargate fans have to realise is that this isn't your...err..older brother's Stargate, this is taking the franchise in a new direction and is a lot less lightweight, imo.

I've always been a bit contrary to the opinions of regular stargate fans as I found the Stargate format a bit cheesy and formulaic for both series (Get into situation, make a few wisecracks, have the science boffin explain how to get out, blow stuff up, more wisecracks, roll credits, etc)
In the early years of SG1 it was a bit boring and slow to me, it only really kicked into gear when they started getting spaceships and being Trek lite.
Oh yeah and the save Daniel Jackson stuff was a complete disgrace, showed the writers were more about playing to the fans than going their own way. Poor Jonas.

Then Atlantis came along and it was more of the same, albiet in another galaxy. Same format, chain of command,
cliche'd lead military commander trying to overcome demons from his past, Teal'c warrior clone, unlike most of Fandom I found Mckay's arrogance boorish and annoying, but the writers spooned it on more and more season after season, and another overpowering alien threat that we can't really deal with except in covert operations on their vessels etc.
So far so samey...

But with Universe you feel at least they're trying to do something new with the franchise. Except for Eli, who is the only one being truely honest, you get the impression that none of the characters have shown their true colours yet, especially Dr Rush.
And instead of turning up on the ship, having it self power up and the science character know exactly what each system is doing, the ship itself is also a big mystery.

I think you have to adapt what you expect from a Stargate series to enjoy the show. For me its finally Stargate done right.
The only thing I have against it is them continually using Eli to shoe-horn in pop culture references (Planet Hoth, etc) which aren't really needed in this show.
Oh, and I'm not quite sure how being a devout Catholic merges with sleeping around with whoever he can find but maybe that'll come up later.

Also I like the fact they're counting stuff like the bullets. If they only have what they came in with then perhaps they're setting up a plot where they finally run out of weaponry and the military types have to deal with problems another way. Or maybe the civilians on the ship will rebel against them since they have no way of stopping them, etc etc.

It's potential storylines like that that'll keep me coming back to this series: Stargate done right at last, as I say.

dude! its like...your in my mind or something!

brilliant post and i agree 100%

[Doctorb]

I'm not sure really. Its slow, most of all what happened in the last 3 episodes would of been done in 45 minutes on the other shows....with more plot. I wonder how long it will be before a SG regular turns up to beef up poor ratings.

[seosamh]

Originally Posted by codename_47

I think what Stargate fans.... as I say.

You have point but the most important characteristic of any tv show is the characters and you have to like and want to spend time with them. 5 eps in I only know the names of 3 and one of them makes Neelix almost bearable! You like to slag off Atlantis put I'll remind you of 2 characters - Zelenka and Beckett who weren't part of the main cast, didn't get much screen time and were hugely likeable from the outset. I loved McKay too.

It's hard to judge a show on only 5 eps though - I've just downloaded my favourite show - DS9 - and the first 2 seasons were just as bad if not worse than Universe is. Maybe it will improve but I know I'm not going to put with much more of what we've seen so far.

[BuddyBontheNet]

I watched every episode of Stargate and thought it lost its way a couple of times. Allowing Michael Shanks back I would have been fine with if only they kept the Jonas character as part of the team. But after Jack was replaced by Cameron in Series 9 the show took a downward turn for me and when Vala appeared the scripts became much more 'frivolous' (Cameron was just playing John Crighton again). I watched the last series in fits and starts to make sure I saw the whole thing. Atlantis continued in the same vein as the last two series of Stargate for me and I gave up after the first three or four shows.

Universe looks much more promising to me, although the purpose of some of the main characters remains a mystery to me at the moment.

[whedon247]

i enjoyed water

ive liked the bsg style realism(yes i know how absurd that sounds for a show based on a spaceship lol) but it was nice to see an alien form make an appearance.

and Lt Johanson is uber hot!