SGU Trailer Analysis

SCI FI Channel has aired three different video teasers to date that feature actual footage from the premiere episode of Stargate Universe. Now it’s time to take a closer look at them — especially the new SCI FI 2009-2010 brand spot, which includes several new (but very short) shots from “Air” — and see if we can figure out just what it is we are looking at!

Do beware of SPOILERS (and a dash of speculation) for “Air” in this report. As we analyze the shots below, we’ll spill the beans on much of what we know about the episode so far.

FIRST UP: SCI FI 2009-2010 Brand Spot. The new ad touts the channel’s original programming for this year and next, including several very short shots edited together from SGU, Caprica, Eureka, and other shows. View all screen caps.

This teaser actually was released last, but we’re looking at it first because it includes mostly scenes from earlier in the episode. Here are the new Universe scenes we spotted:

Welcome to the Icarus Base, Earth’s top-secret, offworld research facility. This is Chloe Armstrong (played by Elyse Levesque), aide (and daughter) to U.S. Senator Alan Armstrong. Senator Armstrong and Chloe pay a visit to the Icarus Base, perhaps for the purposes of a funding evaluation (see also: “Politics” and “The Ties That Bind,” two episodes of Stargate SG-1 in which the S.G.C. had to justify its existence to Senators who held the purse strings).

Senator Armstrong will be introduced to Dr. Nicholas Rush (Robert Carlyle), head of the secret project taking place at the Icarus Base. Rush has been tasked with figuring out how to use the Stargate’s mysterious ninth chevron, which Earth has never before accessed. A standard, 7-chevron address will dial the Stargate to a planet in our galaxy; and an 8-symbol address adds an extra distance calculation to reach another galaxy. So what’s that ninth chevron on the Stargate for?

Look familiar? The Gate Room on the Icarus Base is a remodeled version of the S.G.C. set. (See GateWorld’s new Vancouver Set Tour gallery for a closer look.) That’s Lt. Matthew Scott on the left and Colonel Telford on the right. More on them later.

Helping Dr. Rush in his ninth chevron project is a brilliant young tech wiz named Eli Wallace (David Blue). Here he gets a close look at the Icarus gate. Eli will be instrumental in making the ninth chevron work, allowing the team to dial to the Ancient ship Destiny in a distant galaxy.

Stargate Universe will be filled with many recurring characters, in addition to the ensemble cast of regulars. This is Lt. Vanessa James, played by actress Julia Anderson. (You might recognize her as Lucius Lavin’s wife Willa in the Atlantis episode “Irresistible.”)

Finally, meet Senator Alan Armstrong (Christopher McDonald). Here Armstrong appears to be arriving at the Icarus Base with Chloe … completely unaware of the fate that awaits them all when the base is attacked.

NEXT: The team reaches the Destiny in “Frantic”