Nobody on board the Destiny has an excuse not to have a good suntan. How will the crew survive a ship that’s flying right into a star?
21 replies on “Stargate: Universe Discussion – Light”
This episode was the last straw: I could overlook the bad science that is a staple of scifi, but there’s only one likeable character on the show (Scott). Many are actively annoying, Rush in particular, without any of the characteristics that made Baltar (or even Rodney) interesting. The capper last night was wasting an entire showsaying goodbye when you knew damn good and well it wasn’t. They’re trying to be Stargate: Battlestar Voyager, but using the bad parts and none of the good parts.
Stargate: Battlestar Voyager
What about Lost? Maybe, Lost Stargate: Battlestar Voyager.
There were good parts to Voyager?
Funny you think the guy who is humping his way through the ship is the most sympathetic character *g*
I’m not usually one for spotting plots, but the fact that Destiny was going to recharge from the star I saw at the end of the last episode. It’s clear Destiny knows more than anyone else aboard the ship.
I’m enjoying it, but it does seem to be trying too hard. And the turn around at the end where it was suggested that Rush knew all along. That was a bit cheap.
Okay, now I’m putting myself off.
Is that seriously what they did? (I haven’t watched last night’s episode yet, but I was sorta guessing that would be what happened since last week.)
The star thing? Yes.
The Rush thing? The suggestion wasn’t directed at the viewers, but the other characters.
Really, I think any character with a science background should have known it – refueling from gas giants and stars is a science fiction staple.
My only gripe is that the ship really should have refueled in the gas giant – perhaps it’s slower to get enough hydrogen there, but what’s time to a multi-100,000-year-old ship versus the orders of magnitude greater risk of diving into a star?
My only gripe is that the ship really should have refueled in the gas giant
Agreed, especially since they were actually IN the atmosphere of the gas giant.
Unless the gas in the gas giant was composed of helium, nitrogen, water, ammonia, and/or methane instead of hydrogen but that’s pretty obscure.
Actually, I’m surprised that the ship let the shuttle undock. I would have thought that the ship would have prevented anybody from leaving until after the encounter with the star. After a previous comment on last week’s show, I think I’m going to have to re-read the Rama books. The parallel here is really spooky.
That’s a good point about the shuttle. By letting the shuttle go, I was really hoping they’d actually maroon it (kill it off). The odds were slim with some of the main stars on board, but this is “Stargate, only darker”, right?
The really unbelievable part was Young instructing Scott to fire the maneuvering thrusters. Not only did he not think of that, but it made enough of a difference. There should have been far more damage from that rough landing.
My biggest problem with the show (and I’ve got several) is that we’re five episodes in and it doesn’t feel like anything’s happened yet. Every single episode seems to consist almost entirely of building up tension and waiting for something to happen.
We spend a lot more time listening to people say goodbye into their video diaries or to people on Earth than we do watching interpersonal relationships, and those relationships seem to consist entirely of Rush being a jerk to everyone and the kiddie love triangle.
I’m gonna give it one or two more episodes, but if they don’t stop making me feel like the last hour could’ve easily fit into a five-minute recap with nothing lost, I’m gonna dump it without looking back.
I, too, was insulted by the expectation that we didn’t know all along the ship was refueling. At least the comment at the end (about rush knowing it too) was a slight nod to the fact that it was, in fact, obvious to anybody with a clue.
Still though, the last Starfighter should have certainly known that as wello. And if the commander had reported the problem to earth, almost every geek we’ve ever seen in SGC shold have spit that off the top of their head, too.
I think I’m starting to get done with the “trying to survive the flight from base” and ready for something (anything) else.
I just registered so I can post this.
Everyone on this board sounds like Comic Book Guy — “Worst…. Stargate…. Evar.” I just don’t understand it. I’m loving this show so far – I think they stylistic changes they’ve made, while similar to what was done with BSG and other serials – are fantastic. I was yelling at Chloe for sucking up to Eli the entire episode while screwing pilot what’s-his-name. Yes, I called the refueling thing at the end of the previous episode – but that’s ok. I knew what they were going to do – it’s not what they’re going to do that mattered at that point, but how they’re going to do it. The fact that they are powerless over their situation, and anything they try to do to improve it can only make it worse, is a great plot element. That’s what they were trying to drive home with this one.
All in all, I’m hooked on this show; I hope others will stop complaining enough to give it a chance.
If you’re enjoying it, more power to you, but I think the complaints about this show are well justified. There are programs about murderers and other criminals that manage to make their characters more sympathetic, and definitely more interesting. I’m very interested in the ship but it could flush every single human on board out airlocks and I’d probably be just as interested in another 10 or so episodes of space travelogue.
Welcome!
I both agree and disagree with you, though I’d like to think that I sound more like Randall from Clerks in my complaining about SGU than Comic Book Guy. While the style is a nice departure from the other Stargates, there’s no substance underneath it. We’ve had four episodes, with four different crises, and honestly that’s stretching it since really there’s only one crisis (they’re on Gilligan’s Island the Destiny with no way home). I’d be more forgiving if this hadn’t been done already, several times – Lost in Space, Land of the Lost, Quantum Leap, Star Trek Voyager, Battlestar Galactica, Lost, The Incredible Hulk and Gilligan’s Island all spring to mind, some better some worse – and right now they seem to be heading towards the ‘worse’ side of the critical response.
The only reasons I’m still watching are because 1) John Scalzi consulted, and I like his work, 2) Robert Carlyle is awesome and 3) I’m really hoping they decide to go dark like BSG and aren’t afraid to start killing people off and dealing with the ramifications (what you already forgot about those guys that went through the Stargate on the desert world and didn’t come back? I think the writers did too!).
Hopefully this will pick up (and I think it can!) and we’ll all swing around to your view – we need some good scifi while everything in the UK is on hiatus!
When did Scott go from fraking the Air Force woman to fraking Chloe? Did I miss something?
I agree with the Lost Stargate: Battlestar Voyager premise. I think they’re trying to be too edgy and different from the other Stargate shows while still being in the same universe.
I really, really dislike the whole talking to the kino part of the show. It’s what really ruined Virtuality for me.
I do like the fact that most of the people who went to the desert planet are still sunburned, especially Eli. That’s something a lot of show would have forgotten to keep doing.
RE: the sunburn. I, too, thought that was a nice touch. I get the feeling the producers were going for a BSG-style miniseries pilot, but instead just got a regular timeslot.
Am I the only one who is really bugged by the Eli character? I can see them adding a few odd apples due to the way they were assembled, but Eli just seems like a Mary Sue but a member of the audience instead of the writer. The character just strikes me as completely out of place, just jumping in occasionally to trump Rush in some math related way. Maybe he’s supposed to be the link between the civilians and the military but I just don’t like how they’re handling him.
Eli is just a *VERY* poor Daniel, not quite as geeky and NO personality.
This episode was the last straw: I could overlook the bad science that is a staple of scifi, but there’s only one likeable character on the show (Scott). Many are actively annoying, Rush in particular, without any of the characteristics that made Baltar (or even Rodney) interesting. The capper last night was wasting an entire show saying goodbye when you knew damn good and well it wasn’t. They’re trying to be Stargate: Battlestar Voyager, but using the bad parts and none of the good parts.
Stargate: Battlestar Voyager
What about Lost? Maybe, Lost Stargate: Battlestar Voyager.
There were good parts to Voyager?
Funny you think the guy who is humping his way through the ship is the most sympathetic character *g*
I’m not usually one for spotting plots, but the fact that Destiny was going to recharge from the star I saw at the end of the last episode. It’s clear Destiny knows more than anyone else aboard the ship.
I’m enjoying it, but it does seem to be trying too hard. And the turn around at the end where it was suggested that Rush knew all along. That was a bit cheap.
Okay, now I’m putting myself off.
Is that seriously what they did? (I haven’t watched last night’s episode yet, but I was sorta guessing that would be what happened since last week.)
The star thing? Yes.
The Rush thing? The suggestion wasn’t directed at the viewers, but the other characters.
Really, I think any character with a science background should have known it – refueling from gas giants and stars is a science fiction staple.
My only gripe is that the ship really should have refueled in the gas giant – perhaps it’s slower to get enough hydrogen there, but what’s time to a multi-100,000-year-old ship versus the orders of magnitude greater risk of diving into a star?
Agreed, especially since they were actually IN the atmosphere of the gas giant.
Unless the gas in the gas giant was composed of helium, nitrogen, water, ammonia, and/or methane instead of hydrogen but that’s pretty obscure.
Actually, I’m surprised that the ship let the shuttle undock. I would have thought that the ship would have prevented anybody from leaving until after the encounter with the star. After a previous comment on last week’s show, I think I’m going to have to re-read the Rama books. The parallel here is really spooky.
That’s a good point about the shuttle. By letting the shuttle go, I was really hoping they’d actually maroon it (kill it off). The odds were slim with some of the main stars on board, but this is “Stargate, only darker”, right?
The really unbelievable part was Young instructing Scott to fire the maneuvering thrusters. Not only did he not think of that, but it made enough of a difference. There should have been far more damage from that rough landing.
My biggest problem with the show (and I’ve got several) is that we’re five episodes in and it doesn’t feel like anything’s happened yet. Every single episode seems to consist almost entirely of building up tension and waiting for something to happen.
We spend a lot more time listening to people say goodbye into their video diaries or to people on Earth than we do watching interpersonal relationships, and those relationships seem to consist entirely of Rush being a jerk to everyone and the kiddie love triangle.
I’m gonna give it one or two more episodes, but if they don’t stop making me feel like the last hour could’ve easily fit into a five-minute recap with nothing lost, I’m gonna dump it without looking back.
I, too, was insulted by the expectation that we didn’t know all along the ship was refueling. At least the comment at the end (about rush knowing it too) was a slight nod to the fact that it was, in fact, obvious to anybody with a clue.
Still though, the last Starfighter should have certainly known that as wello. And if the commander had reported the problem to earth, almost every geek we’ve ever seen in SGC shold have spit that off the top of their head, too.
I think I’m starting to get done with the “trying to survive the flight from base” and ready for something (anything) else.
I just registered so I can post this.
Everyone on this board sounds like Comic Book Guy — “Worst…. Stargate…. Evar.” I just don’t understand it. I’m loving this show so far – I think they stylistic changes they’ve made, while similar to what was done with BSG and other serials – are fantastic. I was yelling at Chloe for sucking up to Eli the entire episode while screwing pilot what’s-his-name. Yes, I called the refueling thing at the end of the previous episode – but that’s ok. I knew what they were going to do – it’s not what they’re going to do that mattered at that point, but how they’re going to do it. The fact that they are powerless over their situation, and anything they try to do to improve it can only make it worse, is a great plot element. That’s what they were trying to drive home with this one.
All in all, I’m hooked on this show; I hope others will stop complaining enough to give it a chance.
If you’re enjoying it, more power to you, but I think the complaints about this show are well justified. There are programs about murderers and other criminals that manage to make their characters more sympathetic, and definitely more interesting. I’m very interested in the ship but it could flush every single human on board out airlocks and I’d probably be just as interested in another 10 or so episodes of space travelogue.
Welcome!
I both agree and disagree with you, though I’d like to think that I sound more like Randall from Clerks in my complaining about SGU than Comic Book Guy. While the style is a nice departure from the other Stargates, there’s no substance underneath it. We’ve had four episodes, with four different crises, and honestly that’s stretching it since really there’s only one crisis (they’re on
Gilligan’s Islandthe Destiny with no way home). I’d be more forgiving if this hadn’t been done already, several times – Lost in Space, Land of the Lost, Quantum Leap, Star Trek Voyager, Battlestar Galactica, Lost, The Incredible Hulk and Gilligan’s Island all spring to mind, some better some worse – and right now they seem to be heading towards the ‘worse’ side of the critical response.The only reasons I’m still watching are because 1) John Scalzi consulted, and I like his work, 2) Robert Carlyle is awesome and 3) I’m really hoping they decide to go dark like BSG and aren’t afraid to start killing people off and dealing with the ramifications (what you already forgot about those guys that went through the Stargate on the desert world and didn’t come back? I think the writers did too!).
Hopefully this will pick up (and I think it can!) and we’ll all swing around to your view – we need some good scifi while everything in the UK is on hiatus!
When did Scott go from fraking the Air Force woman to fraking Chloe? Did I miss something?
I agree with the Lost Stargate: Battlestar Voyager premise. I think they’re trying to be too edgy and different from the other Stargate shows while still being in the same universe.
I really, really dislike the whole talking to the kino part of the show. It’s what really ruined Virtuality for me.
I do like the fact that most of the people who went to the desert planet are still sunburned, especially Eli. That’s something a lot of show would have forgotten to keep doing.
RE: the sunburn. I, too, thought that was a nice touch. I get the feeling the producers were going for a BSG-style miniseries pilot, but instead just got a regular timeslot.
Am I the only one who is really bugged by the Eli character? I can see them adding a few odd apples due to the way they were assembled, but Eli just seems like a Mary Sue but a member of the audience instead of the writer. The character just strikes me as completely out of place, just jumping in occasionally to trump Rush in some math related way. Maybe he’s supposed to be the link between the civilians and the military but I just don’t like how they’re handling him.
Eli is just a *VERY* poor Daniel, not quite as geeky and NO personality.