Now I normally wait until I’ve binged watched an entire series before I review it but after the devastating news that SyFy are dropping Stargate Universe thought I’d write about it. Now I have been a Stargate fan from the beginning, from the fantastic movie the great SG1 (my huge love for Daniel Jackson), the rather terrible Atlantis (I’m sorry it just wasn’t that great compared to SG1) and now the fantastic SGU. Stargate has been a fandom for like 16 years that nearly half my life, it is now my longest running fandom and I am distraught that they want to let it die!!!!! What are SyFy thinking axing a show only into its second series that has such a huge fan base I’m mean it’s called the bloody SyFy channel you think they want to keep one of the longest running and highly praised sci-fi series out there alive. Any way I’ll rant more latter for now if you haven’t watched SGU then this is why you should be before they take away this gem of modern science fiction.
Stargate Universe is one of best sci-fi shows out there and yes I am a long-time fan so would have jumped all over this series anyway but it really is a bit more interesting and new compared to a lot of other sci-fi shows out there. Now you take a great franchise like Stargate and you add one of my fav brit actors as the main and you have me as an instant fan. Robert Carlyle as Dr Rush is an amazing bit of casting, I’ve followed his career from Hamish Macbeth to The Full Monty to 28 weeks later he is an amazing actor and the shows creators have given his a great meaty character. Dr Rush is so grey area its unbelievable, I love these kind of characters he’s tortured genius that just about seems on the edge of a psychotic break most of the time. He is brilliant but cunning manipulative but tragic. Inside him there is so much confliction and pain and I really believe he would be happy if he was left alone. I get ahead of myself really don’t I I’m trying not to rant about the show getting axed or how much I love Rush but haven’t really said anything about the show, this is a rather backwards review so let retreat and start again.

SGU is a strange mix of Voyager and Lost with the tone and harshness of Battlestar galactica. It follows in Battlestar footsteps in taking sci-fi into the gritty harsher world where the human interactions and problems and live of your cast are a very important driving force to the series. But it goes beyond the characters and storylines you find watching something like Star Trek (which I also love) and pushes them further and to darker places. Star Trek never went this dark there wasn’t a harsh realism to the cast’s predicament like there is in SGU. I believe many a modern Battlestar fan would have been watching SGU now because of the similarities in Tone and the fact that these aren’t family sit down with your kids Sci-Fi’s. These are shows for us sci-fi fans that want something darker and realer. I for one enjoy watching the torture and slow deconstruction of people mind, body and souls (I’m a David Cronnenberg fan). I love how real SGU feels, what always made Stargate great was the fact that it wasn’t the future it wasn’t a galaxy far far away it was here and now. I love SG1 because of the re-appropriation of history and mythology. I love SGU because its real people in a situation that could be so real, we are watching a survival show with that sci-fi twist that unlike lost didn’t lose the plot kept us focused and with them. Sometimes watching the show is like watching politics or war, seeing how people battle for power, try to do what’s best, fail, survive and fight.
The main plot is while discovering the 9th Chevron a team on an alien planet are attacked by the Lucian alliance are forced through the Stargate with no idea where they’ll end up but it’s their only chance of survival. So like Lost a group of people are now stranded together on what turns out to be an ancient ship called the Destiny and Like ST:Voyager they are light-years away in another galaxy and have to try and get home. The series centres around the military personal, the civilian population and the scientists that now all have to work together not only to figure out how to survive in this situation, but who is in control, how are they going to get home and how will they fend off any unknown threats. Queue fights for control civil uprisings, military rule and general loggerheads from the top representatives of each group. To make matter worse they are indeed in dire situations, with a proper doctor, medical supplies, food and knowledge of where they are. This is a real and gritty tale of survival, the power plays of authority and the quest for knowledge. I talked about Dr Rush earlier he is a brilliant but most often than not self-serving man, he wants nothing more to explore and study destiny and although he does save the day mostly it’s because it’s helped him understand something more about the ship. It’s as if he wants to get everyone home and off Destiny so he can sit alone on her and spend his days researching. But because he is smart and cunning people think he is genuinely trying to help them and he can be very convincing, this is not to say he’s a bad guy because he does save people and puts 100% into every task he undertakes, though he may be going slightly mad as well. There are other interesting characters and very likable characters such as math geek Eli who cracked a government problem hidden in a game and got himself a free pass into the world of Stargate. There’s also those of the military which I’m less fond of because I’ve never like military types and there general ethos nor do I like the hero boy soldier types like Scot. The other great character is Camille that represents the civilian population. Not only is she a strong and confident female character, intelligent and fighting for a non-military way of doing things. She is also one of the few lesbian characters on TV that you can respect.

I have a lot of praise for the creators of SGU for having a gay character something that has never been seen in American sci-fi, us brits at least have Captain Jack Harkness. But what makes Camille so brilliant is the fact she isn’t a stereotype, she’s not there for sex appeal and a bit of fan service, she’s not clichéd and has no sad coming out story. In fact it’s not until her back story is revealed later into the first series you even know she’s gay. She a leader first, she has a job and a responsibility first it just so happens that back home she is in a long term loving lesbian relationship. Another magical and very real touch to the series. These people have their lives back home that are so separate and distant from their lives on the ship.

Of course it wouldn’t be Stargate if we didn’t also go through star gates and explore new worlds but this galaxy is so very different from what we’ve seen before and it’s based around the exploration of cultures as it is a giant fight for survival. We do get strange alien worlds and their disasters; particularly memorable was a planet with giant spiders and one with strange blue fungus and evil flower vine serpent creatures. The aliens we have started to encounter now aren’t people that have been re-populated their aliens. The designs and the graphics that have created these aliens are amazing and I can’t wait to find out more about these strange being and what they’ve done to a character called Chloe. See now you have to watch the series because you also need to know what they’ve done to her. See what are they axing the showing it was a little slow burn to start with but it had a lot to set up and now its flying. Every episode ends of a cliff hanger with me desperate to find out what’s happens next. I need to know more about destiny, about Rush and his madness (why is he seeing people), what’s up with Chloe is she turning into an alien, what’s up with the aliens and also now the Lucian Alliance are also in the picture. There is so much goodness so much plot and intrigue it’s just bloody good television and I for one and very pissed at SyFy for axing the show in its second series. I mean come on you’re the channel that should be promoting great shows like this!!! They changed the time slot from Friday night to a Tuesday and then complain about a ratings drop. Most people now are watching online or buying the box sets. The show hasn’t fully come over to England yet and you’re saying it’s just not popular enough. Why not wait until you get more figures and count sales after series 2 comes out on DVD. What about all the money you get of merchandise and conventions come on people why kill of not only something that is actually really good but also a fan favourite with a huge fan base. Well I for one have been signing the petitions and joining the campaign so as a side not to please watch this great show if you do and want it so keep going, the creators have a five years story arc planned, then please also help save my oldest fandom.

http://savesgu.weebly.com/
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/savesgu

Don’t forget to check me out on facebook at: Let Zoe Spoil You and Twitter as: lonedreameryaoi