By Lisa Fary
Stargate: Universe had my interest with three words: Lou Diamond Phillips. I’ve had a crush on him since Young Guns and even watched him this summer on I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here. No, I’m not proud of that last bit. I do, however, feel that after watching that jungle mess, I’m owed a little more LDP on SGU.
Acronyms! Woohoo!
“More LDP” can mean either more total scenes with him or fewer scenes with fewer total clothes. SyFy execs, I’m counting on you, here. You couldn’t give me Anders naked in a tub of goo on BSG; you’d better damn well get me some shirtless LDP.
So, Stargate: Universe. Derivative, but once you get past the first hour of messy flashbacks, pretty damn entertaining. It can be thought of as a Stargate spin-off/ Battlestar Galactica inspired space drama, without the emo torture of having a civilization destroyed, plus the promise of aliens (and hopefully no effing angels. Yes, I’m bitter).
It begins with a refugee situation. At an off-world military base, Dr. Rush and Eli Wallace, boy genius, are working on a nine-chevron address for a stargate. They get it working just as the base is attacked and the planet is about to explode. Being the only option to evacuate, as many survivors as possible pass through the stargate, despite not having any idea where they’re going to end up.
Where they end up is a large ship traveling in hyperspace. It’s old, in disrepair, and has problems with the life support systems. While that’s being addressed, we’re treated to dreaded flashbacks about how the various crew members wound up in this place.
“This place” is the ship Destiny, an Ancient vessel, flying on autopilot and programmed to drop out of hyperspace and stop in range of other stargates. Of course, Dr. Rush and friends have no idea how to get back to Earth. They’re stuck on the ride for now, going through the stargate when it opens for supplies and such.
Eli is the newbie audience stand in. He’s also the only character who has any sense of wonder. For Eli, every new bit of technology he encounters is awesome, everything is an adventure. He’s beamed out of his house against his will, taken on this ride, and is only given an orientation video hosted by Daniel Jackson to get a quick overview of the stargates to get him acclimated.
There was a short, throwaway exchange between Eli and Dr. Rush that was very telling. Rush has discovered the purpose of the ship: the Ancients sent this ship, and others, out unmanned with the intent of boarding them via Stargate when they got far enough into the galaxy. But, they learned to ascend before that time came, so the ships were abandoned.
Eli says, “Ancients? That wasn’t in the video.”
Rush replies, “There’s more than one video.”
I took that as, yes, there is a lot to the actual Stargate universe, but to enjoy SGU, this is really all you need to know.
I can see why longtime Stargate fans may be turning their backs on SGU – it essentially renders 15 seasons of mythology almost unnecessary. It must be frustrating to get invested in something like that only to be told by the network and creative team that it’s all expendable.
Lucky for me, I’ve never watched either series, so that’s not a problem. Having only seen the movie with James Spader half a million times, I was able to view SGU without feeling the least bit lost. In fact, I probably would have been OK going in totally blind.
It is, however, derivative of other shows and properties that have come before. Observe:
Lost – The gorram flashbacks. Please, please don’t make those a staple of SGU. I will lose my mind. Who these people were doesn’t matter as much as who they’ll become on this journey.
Hmmm. That sounded like a graduation greeting card.
Battlestar Galactica – We have a band of ragtag fugitives who escaped the destruction of a planet, trying to find Earth.
Lost in Space and ST: Voyager – A crew lost in unknown space, visiting unknown worlds and alien races (presumably – SyFy doesn’t seem to be about aliens anymore, so much as human drama).
The Last Starfighter – Eli is plucked for this mission via his mad gaming skills. Dr. Rush was unable to crack the nine-chevron address on his own. In an effort to find someone who could assist, he embedded a puzzle in a video game, hoping someone will inadvertently crack it and solve his problem.
Now, this could have been awesome if it had been acknowledged to any degree whatsoever. Imagine this:
Eli: So, you planted a puzzle you couldn’t crack in the game hoping that someone would crack it?
Rush: Yes,
Eli: Oh, so you’re gonna take me to fight Xur and the Ko-Dan Armada now, right?
So far, I’m pretty happy with what I saw. Stargate: Universe has a spot on the DVR for now, and not just so I can make fun of it. Which is more than I can say for some other shows (I’m looking at you, Heroes).
Lisa Fary is a graduate of the creative writing program at Florida State University and holds an advanced degree in Special Education. Her earliest influences are Princess Leia, Rainbow Bright, Astronaut Barbie, and her 6th grade teacher, Ms. Palmer. She’s angry that it’s almost 2010 and she still doesn’t have a hovercraft, but will accept a jetpack as consolation. That jetpack had better be pink with a rhinestone monogram.
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Lisa Fary's earliest influences are Princess Leia, Rainbow Bright, Astronaut Barbie, and her 6th grade teacher, Ms. Palmer. She's angry that it's 2011 and she still doesn't have a hovercraft, but will accept a jetpack as consolation. That jetpack had better be pink with a rhinestone monogram. 
I went into this one expecting a big bad case of the "meh." But I was pleasantly surprised – I missed the talky, flashback-y first hour, but that second hour was pretty entertaining, and definitely got me interested in more.
I know there was a lot of upset fans over the canceling of Stargate:Atlantis, but I'm glad for the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a new Stargate series.
Being a fan of both previous Stargate series, I don't feel slighted at all. In fact, I'm enjoying this new direction so far. For a franchise starting its 16th season, it was fresh and exciting with just enough throwbacks to its predecessors to connect the three shows without making them interdependent. Yes, some of the exposition was a little heavy handed for those of us familiar with SG-1 and SGA, but overall I think it was a pretty good introduction to a slew of new characters and the world they're going to inhabit.
My only major quibble was Eli's shirt that says "You Are Here". Yes, he's the audience proxy. We get it. No need for the wardrobe to break the fourth wall.
Mostly unrelated: In my Girl Guide days, LDP stood for liquid disposal pit.
Young Guns! Ah, the memories. Lou and Kiefer. Hubba.
One thing that is bugging the bejeezus outta me about SGU is the Old School sci-fi slant toward placing the female characters in alluring scenes but not the guys. (I'll back your LDP suggestions, and I'll throw in my own for Louis Ferreira, as Colonel Young has suddenly pinged my radar like crazy.) The Darkness episode last night pushed me over the edge with the gratuitous peepshow scenes of both Chloe in the shower and Sgt. James wandering around in her underwear and filmed by the boob cam (SRSLY?). And fair enough if they're going to do that as long as we get some equal opportunity objectification with the male characters. At least BSG did that for us!