trailer break: ‘Stargate: Universe’
Take a break from work: watch a TV trailer...
“Yes, that is planet Earth, and yes, you are on a spaceship.” And yes, I’d like to imagine myself in that position, as I’m sure most of the intended audience for this show could say as well, but c’mon: Do we really need to be pandered to with the inclusion of that pseudo-Jonah Hill as a pop-culture-referencing dork?
That’s the one thing that really cheeses me off here.
Other than that, though: woo, is there a whiff of Battlestar Galactica all over this, or what? Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing -- if BSG is forcing sci-fi to grow up some, that’s great. Gritty is good. Let’s hope SGU is as willing as BSG was to kill off characters as needed to keep reminding us that the stakes are high. One of the major problems with Stargate: Atlantis (and even SG-1, at times) was that it was too safe: the characters were never truly in jeopardy. It looks, from the trailer, that we’re meant to believe that the situation is very dangerous indeed. But we’ve got to really feel that to make it work.
I’ve always loved Robert Carlyle, and I can’t wait to see what he does with a regular character he can develop over the course of a series.
This trailer premiered at Comic Con. Damn, I shoulda been there...
Stargate: Universe debuts in the U.S. on SyFy on October 2, and in the U.K. on Sky One sometime this autumn (nothing more specific has been announced yet).
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comments
posted by WR (Mon Jul 27 09, 12:37PM)
Apparently you didn't watch SG1 or SGA as they did kill off characters. They bumped off the physicians with a bizarre regularity (Frasier, Beckett). What's totally bizarre is that the same writers who wrote the shows you didn't care for are also writing this one, so expect retreaded plots ;) After viewing the two trailers out there on the web, it seems they're borrowing a plot device from The Last Starfighter,and the list goes on ;)
posted by Newbs (Mon Jul 27 09, 1:47PM)
WR, Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis only killed characters when the actors wanted to leave the show. And even then, I think every single one of them came back in a later episode in some form or another.
posted by Ryan H (Mon Jul 27 09, 1:49PM)
Does anyone else think that the parallels between the Stargate shows and the Star Trek shows are really blatant?
-Star Trek TNG
-Star Gate SG1
-DS9 (TNG on a space station)
-Atlantis (SG1 on a space station)
-Voyager (TNG accidentally transported to the other side of the universe, trying to get home)
-Universe (SG1 accidentally transported to the other side of the universe, trying to get home)
What's next? Stargate set in the 1950's where they pay lip service to the previous continuity while sneaking in every cameo they can?
posted by Wr (Mon Jul 27 09, 2:36PM)
Newbs posted WR, Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis only killed characters when the actors wanted to leave the show.
I guess you didn't read any articles on the series.
Michael Shanks was the only one who wanted to leave the show. He chose not to renew his contract and TPTB decided to just kill his character for ratings. Teryl Rothery was just told they were killing Frasier (she was NOT happy). Carmen A (Selmac) found out his character was dying off when he got his script. Paul McGillion was called in the producers office, told he was doing a great job, and by the way, they're killing off Beckett. The producers dumped Weir - told actress you can leave or become a recurring guest role. She left instead. Couldn't blame her.
TPTB don't have a good track record.
posted by allochthon (Mon Jul 27 09, 4:15PM)
May I please have RDA come to my door and say "We're going to beam you up to our spaceship?"
Please?
posted by RogerBW (Tue Jul 28 09, 6:44AM)
Never mind Voyager, it looks very like Space: 1999 to me: we only have a limited time to explore the planet-of-the-week.
Apparently it is accepted wisdom that new viewers found it very difficult to get into the Stargate shows, so the new guy is an excuse to explain the basics all over again. Hey, at least the new guy (bearing in mind he's meant to be the audience's proxy in this role) is someone who's actually encountered science fiction before, rather than being a generic know-nothing-think-nothing.
The character writeups I've seen are not encouraging, but I suppose I'll give it a shot.
posted by PENNY SHANNON (Tue Jul 28 09, 10:33AM)
RDA still has a huge following. If you don't believe this check out the one Stargate convention he attended. It was a sellout immediatly. The original SG1 went down hill when he left. If you want a sucessful show bring RDA back with more than walk on rolls. I love to watch RDA and will be the first to admit he does need to loose weight.Still a very sexy man.
posted by bronxbee (Tue Jul 28 09, 11:10AM)
Penny Shannon: "If you want a sucessful show bring RDA back with more than walk on rolls."
i believe the fact that RDA left the show and then had "walk ons" is one of the best illustrations of maryann's statement:
"One of the major problems with Stargate: Atlantis (and even SG-1, at times) was that it was too safe: the characters were never truly in jeopardy."
it was RDA's decision to leave the show, although he remained as an executive producer. however, when SG1 then just left RDAs character hanging off-screen all the time, with barely any references to him, or the relationship he and carter had started, they cheated the characters and the audience. they should have had the guts to either kill o'neill off, have him and carter start a real relationship that required him to retire, or in some other way resolve the situation. instead, RDA just sort of drifted in and out of the show and made it seem rather aimless after so many really good years with real character interaction, which was the reason so many of us watched the show.
killing off doctors, although popular characters, not the main characters, was hardly daring. and if they *really* wanted to be daring on SGA, they should have blowed up Weir real good in the first season... she was one of the weakest parts of that rather wishy-washy series.