With Season One of the series fully aired, cast members from the show can now speak more freely. To take advantage of that fact, GateWorld sat down exclusively with series regulars Brian J. Smith and Alaina Huffman the day after the finale aired. Both actors were guests at Creation Entertainment‘s Official Stargate Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Despite the fact that some viewers were vocal in their belief that the first half of the season moved too slowly, Huffman believes it was a story necessity.
“I’m really proud of the time that we took to develop the characters,” Huffman said. “I know there was a little bit of negativity surrounding that and that [some people thought] it was too character-driven. But I feel like the consequences are greater. Now it’s a story about these characters that we know and the circumstances they’re in, as opposed to it just being about the circumstance.”
Huffman’s sentiments were echoed by cast member Brian J. Smith.
“I think it was a controversial choice, but the smart choice, to start out with these characters and to develop them as much as we could right off the bat,” Smith said, “so that once they get into situations like ‘Time’ or ‘Justice’ or ‘Space’ or ‘Incursion,’ you have an idea of who these people are. And you have a criteria. You know this is characteristic, and you know this is not characteristic. Basic character-building type things.”
The pair also discussed how pleased they were with the way Season One came to an end, despite the issues that the characters they portray are facing.
“For me what was great was seeing Scott start to fracture a little bit,” Smith said. “He views Young as this father figure or mentor. And now Scott is starting to see him becoming something ugly and demented — keeping information from him, possibly engaging in torture, attempted murder, Rush getting left behind. It all adds up.”
“He can forgive, though, and he can learn,” Smith continued. “He’s still got a lot of learning to do. A long way to go. A lot of knocks to take. And I’m happy to say that some of that will be addressed in Season Two.”
The final scenes of Season One ended on a particularly brutal note for Tamara Johansen. For Huffman, she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“[I loved] that it just kept you on your toes!” Huffman said. “I thought the script was great and I hope the fans liked it. It was action-packed, and it showed that there are consequences. There is an aftermath. And you’ll see some of that aftermath in Season Two.”
Season Two premieres in October. For more from the cast of Stargate Universe, keep your browser locked on GateWorld! An exclusive, full interview with Brian J. Smith is just days away, and our conversation with Alaina Huffman arrives later this summer.
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I never saw the Scott/Young relationship as a father/son (militerized it may be) one but more commander and subordant. Was/is Scott even the XO? Where are they coming up with this idea that Scott is starting to fracture as well? If they mean questioning Youngs actions and being indecisive with things such as if they should stay on the planet or go gate hopping I would say that is normal.
Personally I think Young at least has the right idea in regards to their situation. They are billions of lightyears from earth, all on their own, have to gather everything themselves and are being hunted by aliens who right off the bat attacked and kidnapped a crewmember. Throw in the LA and subversive elements from his own crew its quite amasing that after the failed attempt to take over the ship by the civvies he didnt space Rush and Wray.
In regards to TJ, I saw it coming that the baby would be put in jeopordy if not killed, its just too good a device for a writer to not use. The story arc that they did in Atlantis with Taylas baby was confussing and mind numbing and I have to wonder if perhaps the writers felt the same and instead used the baby as a character development tool.
Im pleasantly surprised that this season didnt have a clip show and wonder if those have been put to an end finally. Whenever one of those aired for the other two shows I would go channel surfing. It would be interesting to find out though if it was just a fluke or indeed they will no longer do clip shows.
“I know there was a little bit of negativity surrounding that and that [some people thought] it was too character-driven. But I feel like the consequences are greater. Now it’s a story about these characters that we know and the circumstances they’re in, as opposed to it just being about the circumstance.”
I have to say I complete disagree with her statement. I had more invested emotionally in both SG1 and SGA’s characters in the first year than I have with any of these guys. In fact, I find most of these characters still to be quite detestable and I wish for the sake of the show they would actually get rid of some of them. In SGA and SG1 they didn’t need to focus an entire first half of the season on the characters in a brutally slow plot pace for me to get involved and bond with the characters, mostly because the those characters were interesting, well-written and just plain fun to watch every week. The SGU characters (not the cast) are my biggest issues with SGU. I can honestly say that while I thought the season finale was decent, I really don’t care who lives or dies from the finale. The first half of the season, and even many episodes in the second half turned me off to these characters so completely I am not sure I will actually ever like any of them.
I will tune in next season to see if the writing and especially the characters improve, but to me the characters are very one dimensional and not compelling at all. I especially found the scenes between Chloe and Eli in the finale to be incredibly high schoolish. Chloe’s rant about never having any real friends until she met Eli almost made me turn off the TV. As soon as she got shot I knew the writers were going to have her chatting constantly about her life and try to force some weird moment between her and Eli. It was painfully predictable. Her character has to be about the worst character to walk across the screen in Stargate.
Character-driven shows only work when you have interesting characters. Enough said.
I will end this with, this is just my opinion and I mean no offense to anyone who likes these characters and the show more than I do. And for those who ask why I watch the show if I dislike the characters so much, the answer is I want to give the show a chance to change my mind. It’s made some good changes in the second half, but I am just speechless that a character-driven show has such forgettable characters.
jjs
I really like SGU, but I have to agree with you in part re the above point regarding characters. I do like all the younger players in the series or, more specifically, their characters. But, as for Col.Young and Rush, I could easily do without either one of them. In fact, I really thing SGU would be even more interesting and appeal to a larger audience if it happened that both Rush and Young were killed early on Season 2 and Scott and all the rest were therefore forced to take up the burden or chore or opportunity (however one might view it) of being the first in command. Without Young and Rush, I think much of what some apparently don't care for in the series would he largely eliminated - though I will say that Young's character began to come along way around to being a bit more interesting in the last 3 episodes. As for Rush, he's simply a very selfish person who also happens to be highly intelligent. I've seen enough of Rush to last a long time. But, either way, I personally love the series and have come to really like Eli. Chloe and many of the other characters.
jjs: i completely agree with what you are saying. With the exception of eli, i have a hard time actually liking the characters. Which is something that i really liked about SG1 and SGA. The characters drew me into the show and were fun to watch. don't get me wrong, i watch and enjoy SGU. it has its ups and downs but i still like it. I find their situation believable, the drama and action realistic but the characters are OK. I am hoping that everything that has happened so far will ultimately help define the characters and make them stronger for season 2. They need to work together as a crew of the ship and put aside their petty differences. i want to like Young but i just can't sometimes. He has the right idea about survival, i absolutely agree, but he is such a flawed person. He has an affair with someone under his command. O'niell and Carter flirt with this ALL through the series but are professional enough to know that they cannot be together. Thats why that drama was so good. Are they? aren't they? Young not only hooks up with someone under his command but does it with someone half his age AND gets her pregnant. And to make him more despicable he cheats on his wife to do it. How can i respect someone like this? I also agree that Choloe should be killed. Maybe this will help scott and Eli grow up a bit. I was hoping that getting captured by aliens would help her grow up but i have yet to see this. And most importantly, MORE GREER. he is clearly the bad ass of the crew, lets see him kick some alien ass. I hope they develop the Greer eli relationship a bit more. We saw a taste of this when they go off world. Similar to Mckay Ronon relationship. They respect each other and would take a bullet for one another but don't really get along. The "unspoken bond" that Mckay refers to. On one hand i can see why they took so long to make these characters so rough, so that in the long run it will make them stronger. to quote spock "a horse must first be broken before it can reach his full potential." if they develop the characters to be a bit more like able, and all around better, either that or get rid of a few and replace them with better characters, like ford and ronon. If they improve this, i think SGU could easily become the best series so far. I also would like to give the show a chance to change my mind, they have the right idea, just to refine a few things.
Long live SGU! Can't wait for October :)
first id just like to say i mean no disrespect for the comments already posted but some of u really need to pay attention to wots happening in this show,
kellx u got it spot on about young been a flawed person but thats a good thing it makes it more realistic more believable, every character is flawed in some way or another, youngs relationship with tj makes a lot of sense to me and as much as i love the o'neill/carter moments it got boring after the first couple of seasons and something i personally would not have had in the series.
jjs i completely disagree with ur point on sg1 and sga as not having to use the first halve of there first season to show who these characters were yes they didnt do it to the extent of sgu but u fail to realise that they only needed to give back story to carter/teal'c and hammond as o'niell and jackson had theres set up in the movie and with sga mckay and wier had theres set up in sg1 so they only had teyla/ford and shepard to set up but with sgu theres 8 characters main characters to set up so its right that the back story would take up a lot of episodes but besides the backstory i think the first season has been fantastic, there has been some great character moments and the story's have been solid except for 1 minor convenience with rush been collected by the aliens that attack the destiny so he conveniently found his way back to the ship.
I think the show has greatly improved in the second half of the season. Unfortunately, the 1st has was so slow it may have turned off a lot of viewers as evidenced by the poor ratings. I hope that they're able to bring in some new viewers in season 2.
@jjs
I have to say I completely disagree with your statement. You had way more time with Sg-1 and SGA characters than SGU since it's only been on one season. These characters aren't detestable (not all of them), they just aren't pristine paragons. The pace of the show isn't slow. It's arc driven. We don't get the same cookie cutter formula 'action' show where everything is saved in 45 minutes. Where almost everyone is one dimensional and change little.
I will tune in next season because I actually care what happens and this is the most interesting and exciting version of Stargate ever.
Action shows only work when the action isn't repetitive. Enough said.
Disclaimer: just my opinion.
I like the characters of SG1 and SGA since the first episode of those series. And I have seen enough of SGU to be sure, that I will never like any of the SGU characters. I think they are unlikeable and/or boring.
It is indeed true that SGU had to set up many characters compared to SG1/SGA. But its how you get to know them I guess. In SG1/A We slowly learn about them, little tidbits at a time. In SGU, it seems they just dedicate one episode to a character, one week, its Eli, next its Chloe, then Rush, then Greer and so on. Whether or not you like that is your choice, but to me, it seemed like they rushed those characters down your throat and forced them into place.