'Stargate Universe' on Syfy HD

I have been following this show for over a year now. I can't wait for it to start.

Hopefully this will be a decent series.
From everything I have seen and read it has a different premise than the other Stargate series.
Looking forward to the return of Sci-fi Fridays.

Jeez...Another spin-off (as with GALACTICA). I think I'll just follow the channel's advice (they certainly don't) and "Imagine greater."

A spin-off but skewed towards a younger viewing audience. So I imagine this series won't be so tied into the earlier series, and stand on its own.

The xbox (probably available on-line too) had a really long and new preview. It blew me away. The preview looked movie quality, I had goose bumps during it, soooo looking forward to this.

Was it like 5-6 minutes long? That's the one I saw online. It didn't do anything for me really, except remind me of BSG. The music did sound a hundred times better than what they used on the previous shows though, so that's a much welcomed change.

Here's the thing...it's virtually impossible not to see the similarities between this and BSG, especially when compared to the style used in the previous Stargate shows. They moved to the shaky-cam. They made the show darker (palette wise). It seems like they made it bloodier and more adult themed. So far, so good right? But my worry is that it's being made by the same guys who did the first two shows. Both shows were entertaining at times, but I don't think anyone would claim that they were genre defining, or anything even remote close to that. They were average shows with decent acting, passable writing, and mostly good special effects (ignoring the stupid puppets and what not).

I'm hoping they could surprise me, but my expectations are pretty low.

Not sure being compared to BSG is a bad thing. I personally wouldn't care if they copied BSG directly. That was an awesome show. If it makes SG-U awesome too, all the more power to them.

I'm excited, if cautious, about this.

Haven't seen the preview you are talking about. I hope there's an O'Neil/Mitchell/Shepherd type smartass on it.

Doesn't this have a Voyager type premise? I hate that premise because theoretically they should be travelling faster than word of mouth can preceed them, thus there ought to NEVER be any returning characters, extended arcs, or anything that usually makes a show interesting. I think Voyager had to struggle to get around this. Plus, are they really going to drag all those civvies around with them?

Well, we will see. I like the art direction and the cast leads, so hopefully it will suprise me. I liked Atlantis though, so my tolerance for sci-fi cheese is pretty high

You can watch the preview here: http://www.syfy.com/universe/

I've avoided it in hopes that I'll be really surprised and happy after Friday.

Never really watched the first two shows, would I be alright to start watching this without knowing what happened in those two?

Oh no...don't get me wrong. BSG is one of my favorite shows of all time. I have no problem if they copied it exactly either. I just don't know if the SG team (writers/actors/etc) are up to that task.


I don't think it's spoilery myself.


I think you'll be fine. I'm guessing there may be some stuff long-time viewers would appreciate more, but it's not a continuation of either of the previous shows.

This looks so good, my hopes are very high for this. This type of show is so much better when the characters are cut off from Earth, on their own in a strange place. I hope they don't deviate from the concept like they did with SGA.

As much as I love to complain about SciFi (um, SyFy), I do thank god they exist if only for the occasional 'space opera'

I gave up on 'Stargate SG1' long ago, shortly after the show left its original home on Showtime, and never bothered with 'Atlantis'. Occasionally, I'd tune in just to see if it had changed any, but it seemed to become awfully derivative. There were only so many plotlines, villains and quirky characters they could mix, match, combine, and reconfigure. But the idea that this new one would be "darker", maybe more "adult", has me intrigued. There's so little good, intelligent sci-fi on TV right now, at least until 'Caprica' debuts next year. We lost a really good one - T:SCC - last year because of viewer indifference, 'Virtuality' and 'Defying Gravity' never really got off the starting line, and 'Dollhouse' is on life-support. 'Fringe' is here only because it had the Big Karaoke Show as a lead in last year; now it's got to stand on its own (and I'm worried.). BSG is finished and LOST is ending next spring. Might as well check this out and hope for the best.

Don't forget V. I'm not sure how "intelligent" that will be...depends if they go more serious than the original was, but I have high/optimistic hopes about it.

Fringe won't last in it's current slot against Grey's Anatomy, The Office, and CSI. It's like they're trying to kill it. It got slaughtered last week although still did twice as good as Dollhouse did (which I would be surprised lasts more than a couple more weeks)

I am looking forward to SGU and do hope that can get beyond the same old tired plotlines and breathe some fresh life into the SG franchise. That being said, anyone wanna take bets on how many eps before replicators show up....again....for the 100th time?

I'm looking forward to this show as well. I was a fan of both incarnations of Stargate.

Started with the original movie and haven't stopped yet. I'm really excited for this one... not sure why, but I have a good feeling about it.

ABC is already dumping on V. They're pulling a 'Jericho' and splitting the season up, starting in November and then stopping for a couple months in the winter (http://www.tvsquad.com/2009/09/26/ab...r-some-reason/). Is Nina Tessler influencing ABC now?


This is Fox. Are we surprised? Space: Above and Beyond...killed. Alien Nation...killed. T:SCC...killed.

SG:U on SyFy? Since it's not some cheap-ass show ("Ghost Hunters") they'll throw money at the first season to get an audience, and then let it spiral down into SyFy hell (SG: A anyone?).

Ugh, so much for the hopes I had for that show.

Just set my series recording up for SGU...hopefully its as good as SG1 and SGA

The thing about SG1 and SGA was that they both had relatively high production values. SGU will have to maintain a pretty high level to be as good.

[quote=drcos;17271527]This is Fox. Are we surprised? Space: Above and Beyond...killed. Alien Nation...killed. T:SCC...killed.[quote]

And don't forget FIREFLY! Still miss that one.

Mo Ryan's review is up: http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune....erse-syfy.html

I tend to agree with her a lot, and she pretty much confirmed my fears. The fact that she said she probably won't write anymore reviews (she's seen 5 episodes) is less than encouraging.

Not that it really matters, but this is the first review I have read out of close to twenty that is mostly negative.
Reviews are completely subjective and by any means the last word.
Personally I like to watch and draw my own conclusions.

From what I've read they're about half-and-half (I'm ignoring the early reviews by those geek-fanboy sites), but like you said, they are completely subjective. From what I've read, the positive reviews come from reviewers who focus on how this SG compares to the previous two, and the negative reviews are from reviewers who focus on how it compares to other shows in the genre.

But like I said, I usually agree with Mo, and she's seen more episodes than the other reviewers. I'll still be watching, but I'll hold off any celebration until that October 9th episode (which she says is really bad).

The thing about Mo Ryan is she's a hard core and unabashed sci-fi fan. She was a stanch supporter of BSG, loved T:SCC and the brilliant 'Charlie Jade', and appreciates dark, complex genre stories told well. The hope is that SU can become more than SG-1 and SG-A aspired to be. Tell more intriguing stories, step up to the plate BSG just homered from. As I mentioned above, I got tired of all the derivative and repetitive storylines of the Stargate franchise and dropped out after awhile. Mo mentions that's one of her fears with this new show as well. She's afraid the showrunners may have forgotten the classic rule of TV drama: It's the characters, stupid. And many of us remember, not terribly fondly, 'StarTrek:Voyager' whose 7 year run consisted of maybe a dozen basic plotlines endlessly recycled. Nobody wants this show to boldly go where that one did. All valid concerns.

I have hope for FlashForward. Though it's only one episode in (ep 2 tonight), the writing will really have to be strong and consistent.