It seems that SGU is on a very clear path to becoming another great series in the Stargate franchise. After last week’s episode, “Darkness,” that became pretty clear. What the episode did, mixing some light comedy into the darker plot of Stargate Universe, was what I think fans have been looking for.
On top of that, “Darkness” had some very well-acted performances by both Robert Carlyle (Rush) and Louis Ferreira (Young). Episode 104 also had the advantage of having veteran Stargate director Peter DeLuise at the helm (who also happens to have a bit of a cameo in this episode).
Some of the best parts of this episode came from the acting. I mentioned Robert Carlyle and Louis Ferreira earlier, but David Blue (Eli) also gave an outstanding performance. In “Darkness,” we got to see a different side of Eli: while he seriously underestimates himself and isn’t sure of what people think of him, he can hold his own, as we saw while he was being questioned by some of the crew. It’s nice to see that Eli is getting some character development and isn’t just this funny slacker guy. This was a great episode to also get some development of characters we normally won’t see as much.
Out of all the acting performances in this episode, Louis Ferreira was the best of the bunch. While Colonel Young definitely is in command, that really came out in this episode, and I felt Ferreira really came into his role. The mess hall meeting scene was really well done, as were his scenes with both Rush and Dr. Volker. As we get to know the character of Young more and more, you can tell that he is a no-B.S. kind of guy and that was played very well.
Robert Carlyle is a terrific actor and he doesn’t have any problem letting that come out in SGU. He really got to go deep into his character last night and go a little crazy. Obviously it was mentioned that a lot of that had to do with caffeine and nicotine withdrawal, but I would like to think that some of it has to with Rush regretting his decision to dial Destiny — but that’s probably not the case.
Instead, the ship is an obsession for him that he so eagerly wants to fix to the point that he hasn’t even slept since coming on board. That was extremely evident as he was yelling at people throughout the episode to turn systems off to conserve energy; he almost looks at the ship as if it is a child. I thought between the characters of Rush and Young, Carlyle and Ferreira stole the show last night.
For the most part, “Darkness” was a well-balanced episode. One of the main reasons it was able to stay that way was because Brad Wright (who wrote the episode) mixed in enough comedy and enough serious moments so you didn’t want to jump off a cliff after the episode’s end. This is a big reason why I think SGU is such a different animal than Battlestar Galactica so far. There was not a whole lot in Battlestar to smile about, but with the character of Eli and the mess hall scene, along with some hilarious sexual innuendo, viewers are given something to laugh and smile at — which will make this show very successful.
The only problem with “Darkness” is that, without getting too much backstory, Colonel Telford comes across as a total jackass and not a very likable character when he comes on board the ship. It would have been nice to have some development on Telford before he started bossing everyone around. Hopefully in the very near future we’ll be able to get into his character a little bit more.
Overall, another great episode. I think SGU is a keeper!
Episode reviews represent the opinion of the author, and not that of GateWorld or its owner.
I loved this episode, classic Stargate humour mixed in with great acting. Oh and for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet, keep an eye out for a special cameo….
way better than the first episode(s)! (thank god)
dying to find out what will happen next episode
Julian, great review.
I’m so glad you acknowledged Ferreira’s performance. I was impressed with Young from the beginning and that impressioned jumped with this episode.
I too would like to know more about why Telford is so quickly on Young’s case, but sometimes with backstory, it pays not to throw it all on the viewer at once.
Question: as Rush could use help from people of Sam Carter and Rodney McCay capabilities in learning how to operate the ship, why not use several of the communication stones so that such people from Earth could do so via several folk on the Destiny?
the humor part at the very beginning was the best part. Rush would have to be put down to make him any better. Still hoping it will get better. Might end up like STNG…have to wait a whole year before it’s truly watchable.
i lol’d when i saw peter deluise’s cameo
This show is terrible. As I watch it I can only wish that each of these people dies a horrible and painful death. They are all morons and they all complain and cry too much. You guys stopped making Atlantis for this piece of garbage?
I really like this new show, and i’ve been a fan of all three series for quite awhile now. I really thought it needed a new direction..not that the old one was bad…it wasn’t…but it was becoming predictable. I think this show balances a good story..with a very good amount of suspense…and well placed humour where its appropriate. I think this episode marks a first in the ‘entire’ SG franchise in that I don’t ever recall an SG episode where there was definitely some nipple. I know the original cut of ‘children of the gods’ had nudity in it…but you… Read more »
I enjoyed this ep more than the previous ones, can’t wait for the rest of season.
The last shot of the Destiny heading towards their ‘new’ problem coupled with the great music was just epic.
I’d have liked the episode more without the little “personal videos” interspersed in there. All of those people were annoying as hell. I’m enjoying Eli’s character, though.
So much better than this crappy Atlantis!
I enjoyed this episode a lot more than the 3 part opener. Seeing the ‘crew’ bonding at the start was very reminiscent of the meal scenes in Firefly.
No payoff to the pod/shuttle/thingy that left Destiny at the end of the last episode, though.
@ civicboy1981
“The Broca Divide”, when Carter forced herself on Jack in the locker room.
While I wouldn’t call “Darkness” GREAT, I’d say the episode demonstrated potential for the series. SG-1’s first season was often cringe-worthy yet I stayed tuned and was most definitely rewarded once they got past the ridiculous ‘Carter is a woman’ issues of Emmancipation and Broca Divide, as well as the embarrasing ‘O’Neill can Kirk’ business in Brief Candle. David Blue has been repeatedly quoted as saying that the series really falls into place around episode #7. In the meantime, there’s enough pearls in these early episodes to offset the cringe. My only concern is that as of yet, the women… Read more »
Person first, woman second? WTF? Women in many cases make their decisions based on their nature and character as well as the males.
There is nothing wrong with women on SGU. If you sat down to watch it as quite realistic character drama – this is how it is in real life. Most women are whiners, except those who are born and developed as truly Persons or had special training like the military chicks.
BTW Military girl with the huge boobs was classy, Eli should never trust her at all. :D
I fell asleep twice on my first viewing of this idiotic episode. First, we have the recycled plot device from Atlantis telling everyone there last words into the camera. Then we have Eli and the annoying girl in some back story which adds nothing. What really got me is there they are having a full power failure with Destiny and commander Young feels it necessary to go back to earth and tell his wife he loves her instead of trying to get the ship fixed for Christs sakes. You would have thought he rushed back their to get a hold… Read more »
@pervasive: There are many reasons why Carter and McKay might not be able to help Rush. For example: Rush, as we know doesn’t like taking help from anyone, he has showed that on many occasions. Second, we don’t know were McKay is, depending on the Atlantis movie, they might already be back in the Pegasus with Atlantis. Third, Rush might have told O’Neill that he can handle the science on the ship. And we don’t know if Carter is busy fighting the Lucian Alliance. But then again this is a new show and they can’t have the old characters be… Read more »
I am not sold on this new Stargate show. I didn’t like the last episode. It was dark and there was too much shouting. How interesting can it be if they are stuck on a spaceship for years? It will be tough to measure up to Stargate SG-1, and Stargate Atlantis.
another ridiculous episode. Rush who supposed to be smart, but doesnt solve a single problem on the ship. But he does find time to push everyone around. Oh right that is great drama. And why exactly cant Samantha carter or Mckay help out??? I am sorry I know that Rush wants to work alone..but I dont really think the air force would care about that .. do you??? But then again how would Rush push Mckay and Carter around. They have decided to copy a season 1 episode from Atlantis. But in Atlantis we got to get to know the… Read more »
@Nikst I don’t really think it matters where Carter & McKay are. That’s not really the point. SG history suggests they’d find a way to bring one of them on board. But, assuming they have better/more important places to be, there ARE more qualified experts on Earth than, say, Cloe and pretty much anyone on that ship that could help out Rush. Someone qualified to help. Whether Rush would let them help would just be a matter of added drama, not a reason to simply avoid the topic as though the possibility hasn’t crossed someone’s mind. It falls into the… Read more »
@dmoas: I see your point. You’re probably right, maybe they were afraid of having too many characters and didn’t want to stretch the cast further, there are 9 of them and some extras that have reoccurring roles. But yeah, like Telford they could have had an extra scientist. But if you look at the continuity thing, SG1 and Atlantis was faaar worse at that. The 200 episode of SG1 made fun of allot of those mistakes. Maybe they will address it later, who knows. But I like this new show, I like them all, SG1 SGA and SGU. I don’t… Read more »
I pretty much agree with all of what you just said. It’s just one of those little distractions that ultimately doesn’t detract from the show being good. And I’ve definitely seen much worse errors on shows that I also thoroughly enjoyed.
If the writers do have the Destiny crew use the communication stones to ‘trade bodies with scientists and engineers, I would hope they explore the privacy/modesty issues. I’ll refrain from being more specific as the writers’ interpretation of copyright law might preclude the ideas, not that they’re great ideas. They could also explore EXTREMELY long distance relationships. I’d like to echo those above that continuity and other flaws do not keep me from enjoying the show. It/they do make the suspension of disbelief, which is part of the audience’s means for entertainment, laborious and distracting. But I still enjoy SGU.… Read more »
agreed
agreed was directed toward dmoas
At the beginning, people complained about the communication stones, they wanted to see isolated people, without resources, now they are mad because they don’t use them to bring back McKay, Carter or another scientist.
What a joke
For those wondering why don’t they use the communication stones to bring experts board please read the description of Episode 16 ‘Sabotage’:
“When one of the twelve FTL (Faster Than Light) drive modules on the Destiny explode due to an overload, the crew calls upon a brilliant scientist from Earth to help find a solution.”
SGU is shaping up to be what I expected, which is both good and bad. The show is interesting enough and the acting and storyline good enough to make it on my must watch list like the past Stargate shows. The characters, however, are not really likeable enough in the first 4 episodes for me to really care for them (and really, once us viewers start to invest emotionally in them, we are likely going to lose some of them). Anyhow, highlight(s) of this episode was definitely James (Julia Anderson) in her underwear. That along is good justification for Gateworld… Read more »
The only thing I didn’t Like about this episode is that the ending was spoiled to me by space. they showed the teaser for next weeks show during a commercial break for this weeks show. Other than that I thought it was really well done. Except another overdone planet of the apes reference by Eli, the character was pretty well done and Young and Rush were amazing in this one. One thing I found interesting was the line where Rush says that if Young wanted to be helpful he would have sent Eli instead of volger. To me this shows… Read more »
I don’t mind the slower pace or that the show is gritty. The main problem for me is that the drama seems forced and overdone. Like Dr. Rush pushing that airmen against the wall, way overdone. Second of all, yes SG-1 and SGA had flaws, but then again those shows did not take themselves to seriously. They were part action part comedy and good entertainment. Here they are trying to make it grittier and as people who like the show say more realistic.If that is the case should’nt they avoid the obvious flaws, like not using the communication stones to… Read more »
I have been a Stargate fan for years and thoroughly enjoyed both SG1 and Atlantis. I also enjoyed Battlestar Galactica as I thought it was a well written show with great characters. Sadly however I am not a fan of SGU. I think the premise of the show is great, but between my dislike of almost every character and the overwhelmingly depressing tone of the show I think the writers and producers missed the mark. One of my biggest issues with the show is I don’t like any of the characters nor find any of them believable. The show is… Read more »
@jjs I also watched and enjoyed the shows you mentioned but I felt BSG took itself too seriously. SGU will hopefully be less over the top and has been thus far (but they all start out innocently don’t they?). With respect to you character issues, I couldn’t disagree more. Thus far the only character I ‘like’ is Rush but I understand the others. Breaking stereotypes for the sake of breaking stereo types is a pointless, I’d rather have 10 richly detailed plastic characters and 2 completely ridiculous characters. With respect to the whiney girl, she has lived a protected life… Read more »
@majatt You bring up some good counter points. I think the discussion from our two posts outlines the divisive nature of the show. You either really like the show or really dislike it. One thing I thought of after I posted earlier was an example to illustrate my issue with the believability of the characters. If the characters from SG1 or Atlantis would find themselves stuck on this ship in the same situation I think you’d see a much different demeanor and more believable portayal of what a joint civilian and military expedition would resemble. You would see the Sam… Read more »
I have been holding out on having an opinion, but this last episode finally did it. I was hoping for more but alas found less. The acting is way over the top and melodramatic. I know the other two SG series were somewhat campy at times, etc. but thats what I expected. I watched BSG where the darker/edgy material was much better presented. This show just seems to not have an identity. It trys to do too much in all directions. I don’t really like any of the characters. There flaws are way to convenient and they whine too much.… Read more »
The review above was very nicely written but gives a little undue praise. I have no idea realistically what will be in the next episode, but it seems to me that the plot of this series will be – they need something, the ship does something about it, they panic because the ship is doing something they don’t quite understand, they do something rash and nearly ruin everything, they realize what is happening, the ship saves the day. This lends credence to the critique that these folks are out of their league which makes no sense given the rigorous nature… Read more »
Yeah, I’m disappointed too. I mean.. usually, The characters are TOTALLY my best friends after one one episode. I mean SG-1 totally didn’t suck lemons for half its first season. Everyone knows a show is only good if everyone likes it right off that bat, that’s why FOX is the greatest network ever! … and I’m totally not a whiny d-bag for saying that.
This episode reminded me a little of Letters from Pegasus, which is a little worrying if they are rehashing ideas already. But it was still enjoyable and i understand why they are doing it, which is to introduce a few more of the supporting characters.
Three words: yes, yes and yes!
Air Part 3 had me worried for a moment – it felt like one of the uninspiring filler/story-of-the-week episodes which occasionally crept into SG-1.
Darkness felt much more like the progressive, gritty, character-driven story I was hoping SGU would deliver. More please!
Only thing i can say is that they do have some HOT women on this show. That the only thing i like about that ep. Stop with the dam apes jokes are we going to get one each ep of this show?? The 1st one was good but i hope they can come up with some new jokes .. Just saying
people complained + people complained that’s it gave a rate of one !!! I have never done that in SG + SGA tv ep rate on this website until now.
I’m really sorry but if this series wasn’t based on the Stargate franchise then it would have been axed. The writing is terrible, and i think the reason for that is you’re having the same writers trying to do something they just don’t know how to do. Hence you have pointless over the top acting ‘to add’ drama, rather than maybe some actual drama. I was excited to see this episode, since the little shuttle thing left the ship at the end of the last one, i actually thought that something might happen in this one! Instead i found myself… Read more »
I have been a SG fan for many years and loved the first two. I am still trying to like this new show a lot. Will give it a chance.
One thing they need to change fast. Telford’s role. They are totally wasting a good actor’s time. They need to develop the role a lot more. Get him on the ship somehow? Just a waste of time for him.
More comments later .. will wait and see the first 10 shows to draw my final conclusions.
Seriously, when are you people going to stop complaining? Just enjoy what you have, you know if this shows gets cancelled you guys are only going to have 1 or 2 movies per year do you really think that the series will be brought back with all this constant complaining about bringing back SGA and SG-1. You know all this complaining is killing off is going kill off the franchise. Don’t get me wrong I love SGA and SG-1 but I also love SGU as well. SGU is a lot better than SGA, there is slow plot development, but I… Read more »
10 quid says we will still have people complaining and being episode specific (why are they watching again?) by the end of the season. Any takers?
Complaining does not kill of a franchise, a very poor show with bad writing kills off a franchise you may find.
We complain in the vague hope that someone important somewhere might actually read this and attempt to improve the show by taking on board all the comments.
@bluecat a lot of the complaining has been counter productive to be honest since all evidence so far in MGM’s eyes suggests that SGU is going to be a success. Even Gateworld episode polls show that there are a lot more people who like SGU than those who don’t.
Constructive criticism could help but certain peoples comments just out right saying that SGU sucks doesn’t help anyone and sadly those type of comments are more common.
Also keeping in mind that season 1 has more or less already been shot, so in the unlikely event that someone did come on here and make changes based on comments they wouldn’t be noticeable until season 2.