NUMBER 4: CREATE BAD GUYS WITH PERSONALITY.
As cool as the concept of the Wraith was when Stargate Atlantis premiered in 2004, it took a long time for them to start to develop any personality. Recurring characters like Michael and Todd certainly helped. But they have never been as compelling as the colorfully over-the-top Goa’uld.
The Goa’uld were terrific for a number of reasons. First, they had very distinct, individual personalities. Apophis and his motives were quite different from Nirrti and hers, and no one could mistake a Zipacna for a Baal. They had a shared history, physiology, and allegiances, but that variety made a story like “Rite of Passage” very different from “Double Jeopardy” or “Insiders.” And it provided rich character layers for multi-Goa’uld episodes like “Fair Game” and “Summit.”
The Wraith, on the other hand, have struggled as an entertaining villain because — before characters like Michael and Todd — they were not personalized. They are a force of nature, like a swarm of insects (with space ships) at the top of the food chain. The result is a year or two of interesting development of the Wraith as a species, followed by the sudden realization that we still don’t know or care about any of them. We know and fear them only on a theoretical level.
And when we can take out their ships with our Asgard weapons and technology, and get in and out of their labs at will (and unscathed), even that fear begins to fade. Their fate is irrelevant to us as viewers; they are a plot device.
Stargate Universe needs a villain (or villains) who are as interesting as the Goa’uld, who the team can’t handily beat every time by the end of Year 2, and who — please! — have names. Of course, with the Destiny traveling between different galaxies, it is entirely possible that the show will have many different recurring villains. Whoever they are, and whatever super-powers they possess, we need to get to know them personally, on an individual level.
The fact that the ship will be traveling to many galaxies also means that, friend or foe, the peoples we encounter ought not be human. Hopefully part of Universe‘s hefty budget is in the prosthetics department, because we’d really like to see some truly alien civilizations populating the vast reaches of the Stargate universe.
NEXT: Risk-Taking
How is more character drama going to make it better? Viewers defiantly the younger viewers don’t wont drama
The whole thing should be based around Sci-Fi mythology that was the one cool thing about Stargate SG1 that made me watch it, I loved hearing about how everything is connected.
Stargate SG1 and Alantis had the right amount of drama, it wasn’t all action, it doesn’t have an expense. If you have to much drama it look unrealistic and cheesy. Yeah character are why people fall in love with a story and the character in SG1 and Alantis were perfect. The show made seem real unlike in other show of Sci-Fi and what seems to be the new show Stargate Universe there is so much drama that it doesn’t seem real, what kind of military officer would be crying or showing to much emotion in the middle of a mission?… Read more »
SG Universe sounds like a fascinating way of exploring how the Ancients developed the Gate system and expanded into the universe. I am interested in seeing what other adventures are in these other galaxies. I agree with composer01 in regards to linking the new show to the Sci-Fi mythology then expanding upon it. My concern is that the current characters listed are cringe-worthy and stretch the imagination way beyond the realm of science fiction as to how certain of these characters would be on a super-secret military base. When I initially read about the characters for SG Atlantis, I wanted… Read more »
“Hold-over viewers from the first two series, loyal as we are, will simply continue to age and lose interest.”
That explains it then! That attitude tells me that I’m not important to the producers of this show, which is why I have now given up. I gave it a few episodes to prove itself, but I’m not interested in a soap.
One more of your original fans have just “aged and lost interest” for good. What fools you are.