The first season of Stargate Universe continues through the production pipe, with episode orders and titles always subject to change. This week consulting producer Joseph Mallozzi (blog) confirmed that “Fire,” slated to be the fourth episode of the series (the first after the 3-part premiere, “Air”) has been extended to a 2-parter.

“Fire” is gone from the episode list, having now been renamed “Darkness” and “Light” with an extended script from series co-creator Brad Wright. The episodes are directed by Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis veteran Peter DeLuise.

Mallozzi said that “Fire” originally ran 20 minutes over time, though even then it was tight and briskly paced. “This episode was absolutely riveting,” he wrote last month. “GREAT — except for the fact that it’s about 20 minutes too long, and this isn’t even taking into consideration a bunch of scenes that Brad actually wrote but had to cut at the script stage for fear that the episode would run long — which it has anyway. And yet even though the running time is long, the episode is tight, moving along at a surprisingly brisk pace.”

The result is “Darkness” and “Light,” which are now set to air as episodes four and five.

GateWorld’s Season One episode guide has been updated with other episode changes as well, including another (perhaps not final) order reversal for “Time” and “Life.” The final order will be available when SCI FI Channel announces its broadcast schedule this fall.

Expanding episode four to a 2-parter has another ripple effect later on in the season: “Space” and “Divided,” originally to be the mid-season 2-parter, now falls into the eleventh and twelfth slots. It’s not yet known if SCI FI will air the first half in the fall, before the mid-season break, or hold off and show both episodes back-to-back when the show returns in 2010.

SCI FI has indicated that the second half of the season will air in the second quarter of next year, indicating a break of between three and four months (including the holidays).

Stay tuned to GateWorld’s SGU Launch Center for the latest updates! Stargate Universe premieres in October on SCI FI in the U.S., Sky One in the U.K. and SPACE in Canada.

(Thanks to PG-15 for the tip)