While I enjoyed last week’s SGU episode, Seizure, better than usual, I’m really ramping up for tonight’s ‘The Hunt‘ episode.
SGU: The Hunt airs tonight in the US on Syfy
For starters, we get off Destiny, and I mean physically leave the ship through an actual Stargate (or maybe it’s a shuttle? … who cares … it’s not via the Ancient communication stones, which is all I care about). The episode also features Greer, which is always good for some heart pounding action and Varro gets more screen time.
And we morph into some kind of alien abduction of two of the exploration team. I wonder which two get captured? I guess I’ll tune into tonight and find out.
After frustrating myself by trying to locate the first sliver of the waxing moon soon after the sunset, I opted to watch the movie ‘Unstoppable‘ at least until SGU was half-finished recording. The movie proved such an adrenaline rush that Terry and I barely had time to blink before it finished after ten o’clock. I hurried off to bed, only to jump back up, remembering that Monday night (April 4th) was the best viewing night for Saturn. I dragged the telescope from my west-facing master bedroom window where I had earlier attempted to spy the sliver of moon to my east-facing ‘green’ room previous occupied by my daughter. I spied Saturn, but the double-pane insulated and probably tinted window glass caused distortion and a double-image. I should have gotten re-dressed and taken the telescope out on the front lawn, but five in the morning comes terribly early on a Tuesday.
I tossed and turned for an hour or two before drifting off. I hit the snooze at least twice before scrambling through my morning routine. I started watching ‘Seizure‘ just shy of 5:30 a.m., giving me at least five minutes slack time after finishing the episode to make it to my vanpool rendezvous. Wednesday morning ratings report: Holding steady with SGA crossover. Follow Monday update: Transcript for ‘Seizure’ episode.
Seizure (aired 4/4/2011)
I loved seeing both Robert Picardo (portraying Richard Woolsey) and David Hewlett (as Dr. Rodney McKay). Telford is fast becoming my new ‘Rush’ … the character I love to hate.
Seizure, as with most SGU episode titles, has many meanings and layers. Earth seizing the opportunity to thwart the Lucian Alliance and reconnect with Destiny through the Icharus-type planet Langara, who are reluctant to allow Earth to dial the 9th chevron and risk destroying their world. McKay, typically arrogant and socially inept, affirms his new dialing algorithm eliminates any such risk. Woolsey cautions the military to stand down with respect to the Langarans, but Telford (and Young) refuse to listen to saner diplomatic heads.
Back on Destiny, Amanda and Rush dally digitally and again I really didn’t need to know that much about the binary byplay between the two lovebirds. Rush is pathetic rather than annoying this time around. Amanda takes up lying in her attempt to ‘seize’ Rush for herself (ill-considered and poorly executed, even if her intentions were well-meaning) and Ginn and Eli display courage and integrity in contrast.
A nice well-rounded episode that I’d rate as better than a three but less than a four on a five star scale. I’ll be re-watching this episode later in the week to more fully appreciate some of the nuances I missed on my first rushed viewing. Transcript of last week’s ‘Hope’ episode for those interested found here.
I decided to re-watch both the ‘Alliances‘ and ‘Hope‘ SGU episodes Wednesday evening. I tend to roll my eyes during the episodes that use the Ancient communication stones. They strike me as a ‘cop out’ for the non-SF aspects of the show (i.e. human drama, human interest, family, friends, etc. … all circumstances and situations I can find readily enough on most any prime time series).
I realized on my re-viewing that both episodes presented the ‘flip sides’ of the ethical dilemma presented by the body swapping consequences of the Ancient communication device.
When it isn’t your body, do you take risks the original owner would not, especially since you get a ‘get out of jail free card’ when you return to your own body?
And, should you discover that your original body has been lethally damaged, why not just keep the body your currently occupying?
When your soul or consciousness returns from the ether (since your original body was murdered while you were using the Ancient communication stones leaving your spirit in cosmic limbo), what’s a body to do? <pun intended>
Are we obligated to find a willing host, either temporary or permanent, for your essence to subsume?
I found it interesting that Col. Young was adamant that Greer be returned to his body when the cowardly visiting scientist attempted to refuse (once he found out his body on Earth had been exposed to lethal radiation levels). And the Senator, within only a moment’s hesitation, firmly stepped up and volunteered to return and diffuse the bomb, regardless of the consequences to her life.
Yet, the very next week, Eli and Rush are fighting to keep Ginn and Amanda in Chloe’s body, each understandably selfishly wanting their recent lovers returned to them. Chloe seemed strangely willing to allow her guests to remain and the only person to voice any protestation was Matt, the other male of this bizarre love triangle.
I half hoped the Ancient communication device would remain offline so we could get back to the mission, whichever flavor that might be (Young’s ‘Let’s Get the Heck Back to Earth’ or Rush’s ‘Damn Earth, the Universe Beckons’), but Telford reared his head before the credits rolled on ‘Hope.’
After last week’s disappointing ‘Alliances‘ SGU episode, I admit to some skepticism prior to viewing last night’s ‘Hope‘ episode. Tuesday evening ratings update: ‘Hope’ gained 7% in viewership compared to last week’s ‘Alliances’ episode.
SGU 'Hope' aired 29 Mar 2011
Destiny’s ‘crew’ (I hesitate to call it a crew, since no one but Rush really wants to be on board) has had no contact with Earth for days, so volunteers are manning the Ancient communication stones around the clock waiting for word about the terrorist attack and bomb threat (see last week’s ‘Alliances‘ episode referred to above). Chloe relieves Volker, who looks ill and dizzy, so he goes to sickbay to see T.J. She takes his vitals and tells him he has high blood pressure (176 over something … can’t remember exactly what). Volker knew he had high blood pressure, was on blood pressure medication, but also neglected to tell T.J. because he assumed there was no alternative homeopathic remedy (wrong). Due to the long untreated hypertension, Volker’s kidneys are shutting down; T.J. breaks the news to him that the only treatment available would be a kidney transplant from a live donor. Destiny’s sickbay apparently doesn’t include any dialysis-like equipment.
So, Volker gets a wake-up call about kidney disease (something I’m very aware of since my husband has been fighting to stay of dialysis for well over a decade). T.J. surveys the crew for matching blood types, eventually finding two matches, one of which is Greer (no surprise there). Without the Ancient communication device and access to Earth’s medical personnel, T.J. faces attempting a kidney transplant with a medic’s training (and some crash course reading from Destiny’s medical database).
Meanwhile, Chloe briefly nods off while connected to the communication stones and Ginn‘s consciousness manages to take control. This turns into a bizarre love triangle (or is it quadrangle) between Ginn and Eli and Chloe (hosting Ginn) and Matt. And as if Chloe’s brain didn’t have enough to do, Amanda makes an appearance, so suddenly Rush is really motivated to ‘save’ Amanda and Ginn. So we went from two couples (both young adults) to three couples in about thirty seconds. Rush’s solution, of course, remains the neural interface chair.
Chloe seemed unbelievably willing to let whoever run around with her body, very noble and self-sacrificial. At least Matt showed some sense, standing up for her right to her own body. Chloe does volunteer to sit in the chair. She’s occupied by Ginn at the time, who has another choking fit (possible remnant of her murder by Simeon from last fall). Alarmingly, as she’s gasping for air, Destiny has a power failure and mainframe reset. Begs the question, was uploading her consciousness linking her life-signs to Destiny’s systems? Young orders the chair turned off, over Rush’s angry protestations (since the transfer may or may not have completed). Chloe collapses into Mat and Eli’s arms. Rush confirms two new programs in Destiny’s memory banks, one of which is active and operating somewhere on the ship.
Back in sickbay, midway through the transplant, with the mainframe off-line, T.J. nearly panics. Amanda appears (only to T.J.) and helps her finish grafting Greer’s kidney into Volker. As soon as the operation is completed, Amanda disappears. We then switch to Eli in his quarters, where we hear someone knock on his door. He sees Ginn and they talk, but can’t touch.
This episode brought several questions bubbling up in the cauldron of my mind:
Why was T.J. unaware of Volker’s hypertension? Wouldn’t the only medical professional for these ‘shipwrecked’ people have set some kind of baseline for each person and checked periodically?
And if everyone’s on a vegetarian diet (as far as I can tell), wouldn’t they be losing weight and a lot of it? How have Volker and Eli maintained their rotund physique on a much reduced caloric intake? Which again leads me back to T.J. monitoring everyone for signs of malnutrition and other symptoms.
Finally, besides Matt, no one asked or discussed the ethics of downloading Ginn or Amanda into someone else’s body. Does that ‘body’ get a say in this process? I doubt Ginn or Amanda want to be zombies (i.e. downloaded into the recently deceased). I equally doubt that any sane person would sacrifice themselves for a consciousness to be downloaded into them permanently. I can see the possibility of something like the communication stones where Ginn and Amanda get a ‘day out’ or ‘walkabout’ or something to spend time with others (specifically Eli and Rush). That’s the least morally repugnant option, provided the host is willing. Otherwise, we’ll be creating the Goa’uld all over again.
I’ll give this episode three stars on a scale of five. Definitely better than last week, but still just spinning the proverbially Stargate futilely.
Last week’s episode of Stargate Universe, Twin Destinies, left me with some hope for progress towards a more scientific storyline. Thanks to last night’s episode, Alliances, that brief sparkle came crashing down in a soap-opera-like bombshell.
SGU 'Alliances' aired 21 Mar 2011
The IOC (or whatever world governing body currently attempts to control Earth’s Stargates) paid a visit to Destiny through a Senator and a scientist (the one who turned down heading the Icharus project before Rush came on board) who switch with Camile Wray and Greer (kick and screaming and griping about being ordered to take R&R). Basically, Camille needs a ‘fix’ for her political intrigue addiction and the Senator needs to assess Destiny’s mission and the progress on returning the crew to Earth.
Camile and Greer haven’t had thirty seconds to acclimate themselve to an increased terrorist threat level (Leutian Alliance) on Earth before the facility is attacked. We spend the rest of that storyline on Earth with Camile and Wray an an airman trapped in an unstable building trying to get out and eventually seeking the bomb left by the Leutian Alliance kamikaze pilot. Ample opportunity for Wray and Greer to endear themselves of each other through an unproductive but oh-so-dramatic shouting match.
On board Destiny, the Senator is stirring the pot and questioning everyone’s fitness to lead and their ability to survive. The scientist is appropriately awed by Destiny but not convince of Rush’s ‘discovery’ of an intelligent being(s) existing before the birth of the Universe. He also attempts to stir the pot among Rush’s underlings.
My biggest disappointment became the introduction of yet another cowardly scientist. Once he learns his body back on Earth has been exposed to lethal doses of radiation, he sabatoges the signal of the Ancient communication stones device so he can remain in Greer’s body rather than return to certain death. At least the Senator stepped up and accepted her sacrifice for the greater good and returned willingly to her body to complete the diffusion.
And the real icing on the cake, we end the episode with Camile and Greer on the observation deck, where his emotional armor cracks and he talks about his mommy with Camille. Yes, it had emotional impact. But spare me the psychobabble and get back to the mission … any mission. We can cry about characters’ flaws and humanity on a hundred other ‘normal’ television shows about ‘normal’ Earth scenarios. This is supposed to be science fiction.
No questions were answered about last week’s time travel mysteries. We basically spun some emotional wheels in “Alliances” and stirred up the nearly dead threat of the Leutian Alliance. For a Stargate episode, I’d give this somewhere between a two or a three on a five star scale. I think I would have been less disappointed had I watched Hawaii Five-O instead.
Last week, my strongest gut reaction to SGU‘s episode ‘Deliverance‘ centered upon the seemingly kinder, gentler Nicholas Rush I normally love to hate. Last night, against my better judgment and geeky-routine, I watched Stargate Universe’s latest episode, ‘Twin Destinies’ live with only occasional pausing to avoid obnoxious annoying overamplified advertisements. Just doing my bit for the ratings.
SGU 'Twin Destinies' aired 14 Mar 2011
To my relief, Rush returned to his old habits within the first five minutes of the episode. And before ten minutes elapsed, I had another Rush to reinforce and affirm the original one, feeding back off each other in perfect temporal synergy.
But let me step back a bit. The under-scientists report to Rush, Wray, Young and Telford that the recent battles with the drones have pushed Destiny to the brink of destruction. No redundant systems remain, no backups, no way to repair damaged systems, all appears hopeless. And in fact, Rush accuses ‘everyone’ of being defeatist. Eli throws the wrench in the monkey by proclaiming he’s found a way to dial the 9th chevron to Earth while Destiny recharges in a star. The debate rages about the ‘true’ mission of the crew (Destiny v. the 9th chevron and/or returning to Earth). Rush then becomes the defeatist profit, espousing doom and death if the crew follows Eli’s plan of hope. Young overrules all objections and orders the crew to congregate in the gateroom where the announcement will be made of the chance to return to Earth. Young allows Rush to appeal to the crew for volunteers to remain on Destiny, and he agrees to support Rush, even unto standing beside him as Rush addresses everyone.
After the first commercial break, Young presses Rush for a minimum number of volunteers to man Destiny. This becomes a key event for the rest of the episode. Their conversation is interrupted with an urgent summons from the bridge. Young and Rush arrive to discover Rush’s voice heard over the radio (assumedly from the shuttle) requesting to board Destiny. Rush finally has an intelligent conversation with someone … himself.
I can’t completely keep spoilers out of this review (as noted in the last few paragraphs). Yes, time travel is involved, albeit unwittingly. It’s been ages since I watched an SG1 episode that dealt with time travel via stargate, so I’m a bit fuzzy on the physics. We’ve got at least two Destinies, two Rushes and two Telfords that we know of, and deaths occur, well, maybe (no one ever really dies in science fiction).
Telford may become another Rush-like character for me. In fact, ‘future’ Telford on Earth demanded to be connected via the ancient communication device to his ‘original’ self on the ‘original’ Destiny. That poses an interesting scenario for the stargate universe mythos. Telford vocally and militarily asserted himself, to the contradiction of Young, a number of times in this episode.
The subplot where Rush pleads for volunteers to remain on Destiny, with Young’s out-of-the-blue support, lacked punch or believability. Especially with respect to those who stepped forward as volunteers, most of whom have pressing familial ties on Earth that would pull any sane person home in a heartbeat. Clearly a ‘plot device’ as none of it mattered by the time we reached the credits.
Varro returned, briefly, but significantly, showing that the Lucian Alliance is still alive and kicking somewhere in Destiny, just below the surface.
Overall, a much improved episode from last week, clearly a four out of five stars. Only eight episodes left for SGU and Syfy announced Sunday, that starting in April, SGU will air earlier on Monday evenings, at 8:00 pm Central instead of the current later 9:00 pm Central.
Monday evening, at least in the States courtesy of the Syfy Channel, marked the return of Stargate Universe. The first of the last ten episodes, Deliverance, aired at nine o’clock Central, which means I don’t get to watch it until Tuesday (because, as you must already know, I turn into a pumpkin most work nights shortly after 9:15 pm).
SGU 'Deliverance' aired 7 Mar 2011
I’m relieved I did not stay up late to watch the episode ‘live’ even though not doing so probably contributed to SGU’s less than stellar ratings upon the return of the second season. I felt let down, similar to what I felt with the Season Two opening episode, Intervention, especially since Season One‘s cliffhanger Incursion (parts I & II) really got my blood pumping. Again, all the hype of the cliffhanger (Incursion to Intervention and Resurgence to Deliverance) resolved itself too quickly and patly. You spend nearly ten episodes building up these galactic expectations and then spend five or ten minutes sweeping them under the rug, then take a tangential turn in plot and character development leaving me scratching my head and wondering why I bother watching.
Case in point: I’ve spent this entire series loving to hate Nicholas Rush (portrayed by Robert Carlyle). Cowardly, self-serving, manipulative, obsessive (genius on the event horizon of insanity). I cheered out loud and replayed the scene from The Greater Good a half dozen times, when Col. Young took down Rush with a fantastic choke hold. I screamed at my television (and DVR) for Young to finish the job. Very rarely have I so strongly wanted a character to stop breathing.
So, here we are, four months later (at least in Earth time outside the Stargate Universe) and Rush ends this episode consoling and comforting Chloe with a slight smile on his face. Heh? Is he prepping himself for his next gig, transforming himself into a kindler, gentler guy? I’m all for character growth that includes forgiveness and redemption, but this attempt (if that was what the writers and director were aiming for) failed. The switch in Rush jolts and rings hollow. Of course, that would be true-to-form if Rush has something hidden up his sleeve … again.
And are we to believe that Chloe is cured by their old alien nemesis from the other galaxy and returned ‘unharmed’ to Destiny’s shuttle while a battle rages around them? And that the newly allied/quickly betraying/renewly allied aliens (the last handful of their kind in existence) willingly sacrificed themselves (and an Ancient seed ship) as a diversion for Destiny and it’s crew during said battle? And that Destiny, once Ely managed to ‘save the day’ again and temporarily fuzz the drones, could so easily destroy the drone command ship (probably in less than five seconds of screen/battle time)? And the attempt at comedy between Brody (holding flashlights distractedly while texting, or so it appeared), Volker (complaining about said flashlight’s lack of focus) and the shield generator repair closets seemed strained at best, and out-of-place otherwise.
I’d rate this episode maybe at three stars out of five and I sincerely hope the renaming nine raise the bar.
How many different ways can you dish up revenge? Stargate Universe explored several possibilities in last night’s episode ‘Malice‘.
The Lucien Alliance loose canon, Simeon, not only escapes and kills his tag-along guard while free roaming Destiny, he continues his killing spree, taking down two civilians at once and multiple marines, raids the armory, takes a hostage and flees with her to one of the three planets in range of Destiny’s stargate. Rush, oddly enough, is first through the gate before it closes while Colonel Young et al. are still scrambling to catch up.
The IOA back on Earth wants Simeon alive, believing he and only he holds information regarding a Lucian Alliance attack on the home planet. Those chasing after the resourceful cunning Simeon are not convinced he will impart the information even if captured alive or that the information is reliable.
The rest of the episode consists of a cat and mouse game with Simeon playing the cat to deadly and explosive effect. Colonel Young didn’t heed the warning of the leader of the Lucian Alliance prisoners on Destiny, not believing that one man could prove so fatally dangerous. The surprise, to everyone but me perhaps, is who finally outwits Simeon.
Many characters who are normally optimistic, forgiving and peace-loving, reveal their weaknesses during this crises, but forge ahead and prove their mettle. Small steps with big results.
Next week’s episode trailer left me with a bad feeling. Do we really need to ‘magically’ meet up with the stranded survivors who chase to leave Destiny last season? And they ‘magically’ bring back a shuttle to Destiny? Pshaw!
Postscript on the location … eerie and alien … can you say ‘New Mexico’? Here’s an excerpt from the link in the first paragraph above:
“We went back to New Mexico. To the Bisti Badlands. Not the same desert as we went to in the pilot, but another desert that is incredibly alien-looking. I went to the location for some of the shoot, and it was … I’d never seen anything like it on earth. It was a bizarre formation created by melting glaciers, and it is just … there’s these things called hoodoos, which rise up out of the ground, and there’s mineral deposits all through them. And so it looks truly alien. It looks incredibly remote, ’cause it is. We were in the middle of nowhere. Fifty miles south of a place called Farmington, N.M.”
(Executive producer Brad Wright, in an interview with Blastr.com)
Tonight’s SGU episode, ‘The Greater Good’ provided greater plot and character development than I’ve seen this entire season. I couldn’t help but cheer when Young finally got a choke hold on Rush … too bad he stopped so soon. Young is more naive than I thought if he believes Rush has had a change of heart and ‘given his word’ (Ha! … if he believes that, I’ve got a bridge I could sell him) to work with Young and not against him. So far Rush’s track record does not support this affirmation. At least the other scientists now have access to the bridge and all of Destiny’s systems. Rush no longer holds all the cards … thank goodness!
Next week’s episode looks even better … more action and more tension, this time with the Lucian Alliance leftovers.
The summer spouted science fiction shows but the autumn left me with but one lonely final frontier … Stargate Universe. Just a few weeks ago I couldn’t keep up with recorded episodes of Doctor Who (via BBC America), Eureka, Warehouse 13 and Haven (all via SyFy). I gave up on Sanctuary within a half dozen episodes in the first season and managed to make it to the end of the first half of the first season of Caprica and was actually overjoyed to hear of its recent imminent demise.
So my Tuesday nights are my only venture into SF viewing territory. Each week I join the stranded inhabitants aboard the Destiny via Stargate Universe.
I subscribe to, but don’t necessarily read routinely, the RSS feed for Stargate Universe at Gateworld. I recently stopped by the forums and read some of the reviews for these season’s episodes, many of which I sympathized with.
I admit to being disappointed with the season opener, Intervention, which wrapped up the cliff hanger in record time and introduced a supernatural subplot that made me cringe. Aftermath seemed pointless, except to further demonstrate how dangerous Rush has become. I actually enjoyed Awakening for the same reasons Scott and Grear got excited. The fate of Telford, unlike Riley, may still come back to haunt us. I liked half of Pathogen, the half where Eli rushes back to Earth (psuedospiritually, not physically) because his mother has stopped taking her meds and is dying. Some great acting by David Blue and Ming-Na. We see more evidence of Rush’s continue fall from grace (and/or sanity). Cloverdale (actually filmed in the town of the same name) confused me at first and then just left me angry.
Last week’s episode, Trial and Error, left me wondering if Destiny can discern the difference between Rush and Young and choose wisely.
I really need a distraction from the dwindling mesmerization of Destiny’s stowaways. Maybe I’ll request BSG from Netflix and try to convince myself I haven’t seen them all before.
