GateWorld Podcast: ‘Earth’

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• Regarding the title, the first four stories were obviously referring to the elements: Air, Fire, Water, Earth.

• I don't think think Jack was out of character at all. He's in a position where he must rely on the experts given to him. I think he's always relied on the experts that he's had.

  Regarding Telfords orders: I believe O'Niell was referring to the objective, not the cut-n-run bit. It seemed that he only stated that Telford was under orders because it was appropriate. While one hopes that a soldier will go above the call of duty, it cannot be expected. I think it is obvious in the scene that Jack loses respect for Telford.

  I find Young to be pathetic and hard to watch. He deserves anything Telford can dish out. I think for this guy to grow, the comm stone will have to stop working.

  I hope you're wrong about Rush doing all this to get his wife back. I don't want to see a repeat of Window of Opportunity.

• In the beginning of this podcast, you seemed surprised and confused by the level of dislike SGU has drawn from some people. Let me see if I can enlighten you a bit by summing up the core principles that make the discussion so idiotically extreme:
  Point 1 - SGU is named Stargate.
  Point 2 - One of the expressly stated intentions of SGU is to not be Stargate.

  This is all dramatically further exacerbated by point 1a - SGU is currently the only thing named Stargate, which means that nearly all of the people and places that were interested in previous Stargate shows are now interested in SGU.

  Imagine if every major pizza store replaced their pizza with fried chicken, but still called it pizza. Or if you want a more sci-fi television related example, imagine if Torchwood had been released as Doctor Who: Cardiff and regular Doctor Who had been canceled.

  So for people who like SGU, something they loved has just been brought back in a new form that they love even more. But for people who don't like SGU, something they loved has just been stolen from them and taken over by people who only talk about how wonderful it is that this has happened.

• @far_wanderer all 3 series are part of the same franchise though. Good comparison would be Star Trek: DS9, Voyager & Enterprise are different from one another and all had different fan bases but both had "Star Trek" in front of the name.

• Far_Wanderer, I think we made it clear in the ultimate outcome of that pre-Main Topic discussion that all fans are entitled to their opinions. If I had any surprise, it came from some of the wording that was used. Like Darren says, previous Stargate viewers, like you far_wanderer, are not necessarily going to like SGU. Do you understand that that's OK?

  Just don't cry about me not supporting your beliefs. I'm not crying over you.

  My very best.

• @far_wanderer: If anything, what I wanted to get across in the opening segment is that not every Stargate fan likes SGU, and that's OK. I have a lot of respect for Maureen Ryan, and she articulated a common sentiment very well in her follow-up editorial.

  We thought it was worth pointing out to listeners, and talking about. David and I aren't mystified why some viewers don't like Universe. If anything, I think this show gave some voice to that perspective.

• Perhaps I was not clear enough. The thing you seemed confused by, and the thing I was attempting to explain, was not the source of the outrage and sensitivity but the magnitude of it. The fact that some people dislike the show is not a mystery, the mystery is why both people who don't like it AND people who do like it are so absurdly sensitive and hot-tempered.
  I'm one of the people who likes the show, and the fact that the behavior of other people who also like the show is starting to turn me away from it is something that I have to assume is not normal. That heightened sense of antagonism on both sides is what I was attempting to shed some light on.

• I think the one thing that was missed here was that this was a "checkout" episode for many viewers. I was going to shut it off the first minute but gave it yet another benefit of the doubt for another 30 minutes and finally said, "What's the point?" The Mo Ryan write up really expressed succinctly what many former fans have been saying without resulting to the mudslinging that has been going on. And the producers reming me of the waiter that serves you dirty cutlery and a fly in your soup and then virulently complains about the tip.

  D & D have done a good job keeping these boards in check during this turbulent period of transition. But what I fear is the progression towards a schema where all the posts will now distill down to a predictable "wasn't that great" by the ones that remain. My standards are higher than what the franchise has sunk to. And "Earth" was my personal checkout like many other people.