Well, it’s arrived … sort of! The final season of Stargate Universe has now entered our homes on DVD. I feel the need to borrow the old lady’s words from the Wendy’s commercial. “Where’s the Blu-ray?”
No one knows. Fact is my iTunes copies are crisper in quality to what I’ve poked in my DVD player to write this review. But it’s important to point out that the iTunes copies do not have commentaries or special features, not to mention the nifty menus.
Like the other SGU “disc” releases, the main menu settles on a scene from the Destiny observation deck. But for Season Two they went ahead and added visuals of the ship coming out of F.T.L. near some stellar bodies (one of which you may recognize).
Every single episode of SGU Season Two has been given a commentary. Normally these pieces are filled with the writers, producers and actors who were key in bringing the episode to life. Sometimes they bring in one of the secondary characters for the fun, which is nice. Though Jennifer Spence may not have been a key player in a particular episode it is nice to have her voice brought to the scene. She and Brian J. Smith share a couple of commentaries together and the two make quite a set.
Special documentaries is one area where Stargate fans have anticipated good content for years, and Ivon Bartok and his team did not disappoint in this set. Season Two includes 20 featurettes ranging from two minutes to approximately 25 minutes. These clips cover virtually every aspect of Season Two, from visual effects to stunts.
I find the stunt featurettes particularly interesting, because you get to see just what a person will put up with to make a dramatic sequence for the screen. In “Lt. Scott Gets Hit By A Car”, we get to see an unedited cut of one of James Bamford’s stunt men actually getting hit by a vehicle. BamBam explains the secret pivot to how the stunt man prevents himself from getting seriously injured, but at the same time you can’t help but rewind the scene and watch him get hit again and again.
“Louis Ferreira vs. Colonel Young” had me laughing my guts out. The character of Young completely disarms you for the partying fiesta that is the actor behind the role. He tapes a mustache to his face and he’s someone completely different. It’s quite a treat that several of these moments were captured on film. Meanwhile they are inter-cut with the stoic and serious Colonel Young. It’s hard to believe these two are the same man.
“Deconstructing Destiny” is an entire disc of special features which delve deeper into the ship’s design. This is a truly fascinating piece because the folks in charge explain their reasons for why they designed the ship like they did. Brad Wright talks about turning built-in disadvantages into opportunities to tell great science fiction, like Destiny‘s Achilles heel in only recharging within stars. This crux has spawned some of the more interesting episodes in my opinion.
As with most of the DVD sets, Ivon and his team throw in a “spoof” documentary once again. This time taking the stage is Peter Kelamis and Patrick Gilmore, SGU‘s Adam Brody and Dale Volker, respectively. In “Pitches: A Journey of Friendship and Discovery”, these two men team up to pitch an episode of SGU. The joke carries on with clips from the cast and crew discussing the two actors as they write their opus, but after about ten minutes I began to look at my watch and wonder when it was going to end. Fifteen minutes after that, it did. A good farce which almost killed itself by running long.
As good as these special features are, the variety still falls a little short for my taste. The team is great about composing production and post-production featurettes, but what I’m really interested in is the pre-production stuff. I want to sit down in the writers room alongside the likes of Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper and watch them plot out the nucleus of an episode into a fully realized script. I want to see and hear the conversations that they have with one another about what works and what doesn’t, and the complicated rivers they must forge to get such an intricate product to the screen. In all these years of special features we’ve never gotten anything of that sort. It almost feels as though this is off limits. What we did get this year was Volker and Brody making a script, but that one was fake.
Missing yet again are the deleted scenes from the episodes. For one reason or another deleted scenes have failed to make the cut on Stargate DVDs. Yes, we have gotten them with a few episodes on the later SG-1 and Atlantis sets, but there is a large pool of them missing. We have to assume that the product that appeared on the screen at the end of the day is the journey the creative team intended for you to take, but still it would be fascinating to see the discarded bits of character development that were sacrificed to bring the show down to time.
The journey of Stargate has come to an end on the TV screen for the time being, and I can’t ask for a better set of goodies to do the job.
For a DVD release, this set once again proves that Ivon Bartok and his special features team have still got it. No, it’s not Blu-ray, but I hold out hope that Fox will offer a complete series Blu-ray release in the near future should the numbers hold enough to make it worthwhile.
My advice? If you want the Blu-ray, go out and buy this DVD release. The price is right for the 20 episodes and hours of extras you get for it, and you’ll be showing that the DVD market still has a few Stargate fans left in it. You can always resell your DVD copy on Amazon. Atlantis has a complete Blu-ray set coming out, and if that sells well hopefully there will be an SG-1 set behind it. Let’s complete the franchise on Blu-ray!
Would it be possible for you to list who does the commentaries for which episode please?
I loved this show and I loved the direction that the writers and producers took. I certainly do not buy into the idea that SGU was a mistake or that the franchise neglected their fan base. It’s a shame the series was ended prematurely.
I have a quick question. Do DVD and BluRay sales primarily benefit the producers or does SyFy/Sci-Fi channel get any of the income? I have a tough time these days supporting SyFy and would rather try supporting the franchise some other way. Is Netflix or iTunes a better option for me?
There better be a Blu-Ray release at some point, or this will be the first Stargate season I will not own. And believe me, it pains me to say it…
im for sure gonna pick this up to complete my sg collection sadly it wont be complete when there is no real end to sgu
I’m sorry, but I won’t double dip anymore. I don’t have a job at the moment so I have to pick and choose my purchases, and I’ll be picking up Lord of the Rings Extended Edition on blu ray next week…which will be triple dipping – I own the EE on DVD but want the blu ray, and I bought the theatrical on blu ray knowing that they were going to release the EE at a later date, but I wanted both for my collection. I’m sorry, but the fact that they are not releasing DVD and Blu Ray at… Read more »
I don’t understand why they only release it on DVD. If they aren’t releasing it in both formats, it should be released only on Blu-Ray…in certain circles that format is what’s known as the “current generation.” Commit, for frak’s sake!
As much as I hate to not be supporting the show by buying it, I’m not going to buy the first season on DVD when it is available on Blu-Ray, and I’m not going to buy the first season on Blu-Ray when the second season is only available on DVD! Bad business decisions, as far as I’m concerned…
[…] Review: SGU Season Two on DVD: “Louis Ferreira vs. Colonel Young” had me laughing my guts out. The character of Young completely disarms you for the partying fiesta that is the actor behind the role. He tapes a mustache to his face and he’s someone completely different. It’s quite a treat that several of these moments were captured on film. Meanwhile they are inter-cut with the stoic and serious Colonel Young. It’s hard to believe these two are the same man. […]
@TV Junkie MGM is kind of notorious for bad business decisions, it sort of got them where they are now lol.
Will never buy it on DVD.
I have season 1 on blu-ray, and given the fact the the UK season 2 blu-ray has been cancelled, looks like I am stuck with just season 1.
Give me season 2 on blu-ray, or give me death!
SyFy is “alot of work” as Colonel Younge puts it.
@MadrickBay DVD BlueRay profits go to the producers and MGM. SYFY only gets money from advertiser spots in the show. When it airs on the network. That is why they kept telling people to watch it live. So when your show gets canceled it’s, because not enough people are watching it live. Or the producers don’t want to do it anymore. Networks are never tired of airing a show they will air it even if there is no more story to tell, and the show should have ended long ago as long as it has great rating. So SGU’s cancelation… Read more »
In my opinion the only thing in home entertainment more overrated than blu-ray is 3D.
As I’m reading the comments, I see a lot of “Blu-ray vs DVD” arguments. Jesus, this is like the VHS vs DVD thing all over again. Except this time, Blu-ray costs too fucking much and DVD prices don’t stab the average man’s wallet in the jugular. Quit bitching over the lack of a blu-ray release. I find it VERY hard to believe you don’t still have a DVD player. It’s not like you’re migrating from a machine that reads TAPE to a machine that reads DIGITAL FORMAT or anything. And I use the word “you” in general and not to… Read more »
No, I will not quit “bitching” about the lack of a blu-ray release. Maybe you’re not so quality conscious that you have any need for HD, that’s fine, I’m not going to berate you for it. So please show those of us who do care about such things the same level of respect.
If YOU knew how superior blu ray is to dvd YOU would be “bitching” too. I’m sick & tired of showing SyFy that I “care” The way we watch television in the 21st century has changed, media formats have changed. SyFy needs to move into the 21st century or be left behind like the music industry was. oh and YOU need to move into the 21st century too.
I stuck out the slow start and got sucked into an awesome season 2, only to be left with an unfinished story, then to just add insult they release season 2 on DVD rather than Blue Ray (HD)…I feel like; I went in and spent hours negotiating with a high class hooker (season 1), finally got to the action (season 2), only to be be shoved out the door before finishing (syfy channel), then kicked in the balls by the pimp (MGM)…
@ Ugly Pig & Joeclubkid: I HAVE experienced Blu-Ray and I can honestly say that I see (and hear) NO DIFFERENCE in quality between a Blu-Ray disc and a DVD disk when watched on an HDTV. Not only that, but Blu-Ray is almost twice the cost of DVD–and the DVD is selling for $30. Use your maths. So it’s not like I’m “disrespecting” or “left behind,” I’m merely pointing out that A LOT of people have been sucked into the illusion that 120 frames per second is better than 60 frames per second–And it’s not. They’re the same quality. Blu-Ray… Read more »
Greenfire32 – I get it already… You think we’re just sheep following a trend, and the only reason we’re buying Blu-Ray is because we’re being fooled into believing it’s better than DVD when it’s actually not. Gimme a break. For your own sake, stop discussing this. You’re embarassing yourself, seriously. You just proved that you have NO idea what you’re talking about, whatsoever. What’s this talk about 120 vs 60 frames per second? That has nothing to do with DVD vs Blu-Ray. Nothing at all. What Blu-Ray brings to the table is, first and foremost; HD video. The DVD format… Read more »
@Greenfire32 – I’m sorry to hear you have glaucoma.
@Greenfire32 – you have experienced blu-ray, and compared it to a standard DVD and have seen no difference, on an HDTV set? please confirm, because i just cannot believe you have done this.
True HD is RAZOR sharp. There is one thing that I have noticed; my sister, my friends wife & my cousin (girl) are not capable of telling the difference between HD & SD. To them it looks exactly the same. Could it be more than a coincidence… ??? Could HD just be a guy thing…??? Women on here, please don’t hate me, I’m just making a statement that has happened in my household with the women in my life.
No Blu-ray for SGU? I love HD; DVDs are OK if there is no 1080p version on offer, I suppose. Oh well, back to my 1080i recordings, I guess.
“I stuck out the slow start and got sucked into an awesome season 2, only to be left with an unfinished story”
Season 2 was bellow average at its best. It only looks good if you compare it with the awfulness that was season 1.
It takes (much) too much time when those DVD`s and bluray`s arrive here in Finland. Whole process is too slow. I would buy dvd when it`s (with subtitles) here and upgrade it to bluray when that is available. But before even localized dvd is here everyone is probably travelling with spaceship or something.
What the frell is wrong with these people?? First they murder the entire Stargate franchise by canning SGU, and now they’re even going the extra mile to bury it deeply by not releasing it on Bluray??? WHAT THE FRELL!! They shot the whole frelling thing in HD so you’d think it wouldn’t be hard to slap it on some bluray discs. I had been long-time anticpating this bluray release. I’m even signed up on amazon.com to notify me when it becomes available (that’s probably screwed anyways). I don’t care if it was cancelled, I still want this show on frelling… Read more »