Today marks the latest of many Stargate anniversaries we are celebrating in 2019. Stargate Universe made its worldwide premiere 10 years ago today — October 2, 2009.
The third TV show in the Stargate franchise was unceremoniously cut short just two years into its run, with the rest of a planned 5-year story arc left untold. Sure, we got a nice comic book continuation last year. But what did the show’s writers have planned for SGU Season Three … and Four … and Season Five?
As we celebrate SGU 10 years later, we’re looking back on these 40 hours of epic television with 10 questions that the show left unanswered when the good ship Destiny sailed off into the void between galaxies. This includes the big, mythological questions, of course — but also several mysteries that are more specific to individual characters.
Happy Birthday, SGU! Let’s get started …
(10) Where did Franklin go?
Dr. Jeremy Franklin (played by Mark Burgess) was among the Icarus evacuees who faced new survival challenges on board the Destiny. He was a capable member of the science and engineering team, often seen working the problem of the day alongside Brody, Park, and Volker.
Then they discovered the ship’s chair interface system. Then Rush. Then Dr. Franklin got himself talked into sitting in the damn thing. Then … poof.
It’s not inconceivable that the ship’s systems needed an organic component. When the room was unsealed Franklin’s body was nowhere to be found (“Sabotage”). His decision to plug in to the computer either got him killed, or perhaps his consciousness was uploaded into the system. When he reappeared to Rush several months later (“Aftermath”) — alongside visions of Rush’s late wife — there isn’t much reason to think that this is actually the real Franklin we are seeing, and not a ship-generated hallucination.
So did his mind get uploaded, so that he still has some form of conscious existence? Or did Destiny actually … kill him? (There’s an unsettling thought.) And where did his body go?
(9) Can T.J. be cured of ALS?
One of the show’s most gut-wrenching revelations late in the second season concerns Tamara Johansen, a Lieutenant and the ship’s favorite medic. The crew finds the planet Novus, with an archive of the lives they lived in an alternate timeline. Long story short: the crew was thrown back in time, created a new civilization, got married and had kids, grew old, and died (“Epilogue”).
T.J. learns, however, that her alternate self went on to suffer horribly from ALS — Lou Gehrig’s disease. Because the illness is genetic, it means that our T.J. has it too. It is only a matter of time before she too begins to manifest the symptoms.
The episode “Epilogue” dangled the hope of a cure: in subsequent generations the advanced Novans seem to have learned how to cure ALS, and the knowledge would be stored in their vast database. Destiny only managed to download part of it, but the surviving Novans would also have a copy. If only we could go and find them, instead of being chased out of town by vicious drone weapons.
As the show headed into a third season, T.J.’s future illness would have weighed heavily on her character and those who loved her. And that includes the audience.
(8) Will Destiny continue to manifest as familiar faces?
Season Two of the show not only saw the discovery of the bridge and the crew gaining a measure of control over its systems. We also came to realize over the course of the first six episodes that the ship itself has a form of artificial intelligence. It spoke to Rush through the faces of his wife Gloria, as well as Dr. Franklin (unless, of course, these finally prove to be only his own fractured mind). And the ship put Colonel Young to the test, subjecting him a brutal scenario of the ship’s destruction in order to see if he was really up for the job of commanding this mission (“Trial and Error”).
Whether we can call any of this “consciousness” or not, who is to say? But Destiny was emerging as a character in her own right — one with a will, intentions, and many faces.
But after Rush shared his newfound discovery with the rest of the crew, the visions suddenly ceased. No more Gloria. No more Franklin. Now Rush had a crew, a team committed to seeing through the ship’s mission. It leaves us wondering: Is Destiny herself alive? Does she have an opinion about how to achieve the mission? Would we ever have seen the ship itself speaking to the crew through other familiar faces?
For that matter, what about Amanda Perry and Ginn? These two are real people, uploaded to the ship’s computer, and not Destiny‘s VR hallucinations. But thanks to Dr. Rush’s recklessness, the two women are now quarantined in an isolated part of the computer’s memory (“Hope”). We would have loved to see one (or both) of these characters become a fixture on the show and function as a sort of conscious, embodied mediator between Destiny and the human crew (not unlike Rommie on Andromeda).
(7) Who built the obelisk on Eden?
The crew visited numerous planets along the ship’s route — some more hospitable than others, but none populated by intelligent life (before Novus). When they stopped for a month at a planet the crew designated “Eden,” many decided to stay permanently (“Faith”).
Eden was uninhabited, but it did have a gigantic structure someone had left behind — a huge obelisk reaching from the surface of an extinct volcanic caldera 2,000 feet into the sky. More incredible still: Rush has reason to speculate that the aliens who left it there actually created the planet and the star itself.
In case this possibility was not mind-blowing enough, we saw more of their handiwork when those left behind on Eden showed up months later on a perfectly restored shuttle (“Visitation”). Evidently they found the human survivors dead, and rebuilt both them and the shuttle and brought them back to Destiny. But while the shuttle works perfectly, the re-built people began to die … in the same terrible ways they did back on Eden. Whoever brought them back is either limited in their power after all, or simply didn’t understand the human organisms they had found.
Who was this race? Why did they put a paradise planet along Destiny‘s path, and does that suggest they are still around and aware of the ship and its mission? Is there any connection between this race — “the number one all-time advanced civilization,” in Eli’s words — and the cosmic microwave background radiation that the crew ended up chasing?
(6) What did the Nakai learn from Chloe?
Among the crew’s most dangerous foes is the Nakai, the blue aliens who captured Rush and Chloe (“Space”) and tried relentlessly to seize control of the Destiny. As the weeks rolled by following their ordeal, Chloe realized that she was changing. The aliens must have done something to her.
Chloe’s slow transformation was a major plot point through the first half of Season Two. Her transformation gave her new insight into Destiny and its systems, but also began to transform her physically. Colonel Young faced the reality that she might become a danger to everyone — and so he might be forced to put her off the ship.
In the end Chloe went voluntarily back to the Nakai (“Deliverance”). On board their ship they performed some sort of extraction procedure, and then returned her to her friends — apparently none the worse for wear. Now she’s back to normal.
So … um, what happened there? What did they put in her, and what they take out of her? Was she a sleeper agent gathering information about Destiny? Did the aliens get what they wanted? The show never had the chance to come back to this one, leaving the year-long storyline deeply unsatisfying.
(5) Where are the Novans today?
One of the most interesting things that Stargate Universe did near the end of its run was to seed new stories by introducing a new race of humans, living in a galaxy far from Earth. The Novans are in fact descendants of Destiny‘s own crew, who in another timeline were thrown back two millennia to start a brand new civilization (“Twin Destinies,” “Common Descent”).
In “Epilogue” we see the Novans depart their home planet on board ships, and learn that they were bound for one of several planets they had previously scouted. The entire civilization was evacuated, fairly recently, in search of a world that can sustain them. But their ships are not F.T.L. capable, and so the journey will take the colonists hundreds of years.
Destiny hoped perhaps to use its own F.T.L. capability to find this convoy en route, perhaps securing the medical knowledge required to save T.J. But under attack by the drones, Destiny had to flee the galaxy instead.
So was that the last we ever would have heard of this advanced race? After SGU was cancelled executive producer Joseph Mallozzi revealed that one possible idea for rescuing the crew was to have the Novans show up, now further evolved with more advanced ships. (The more militarized Novans could have possibly even become the Big Bad for Season Three.) But whether we ever would have seen such a thing in the third season premiere … well, that’s a question that will never be answered.
(4) Will Earth go to war with the Lucian Alliance?
Stranded millions of light years from home, the crew of Destiny owes their original predicament to the Lucian Alliance. The alien attack on Icarus Base forced the evacuation that stranded them on the derelict vessel (“Air, Part 1”) — thanks, Rush — and in the years since things only went from bad to worse.
Commander Kiva led a Lucian invasion of the ship, nearly seizing control of Destiny (“Incursion”). While Alliance members like Varro tried to integrate with the crew, others like Simeon met the crew’s mercy with cold-blooded murder. And back in the Milky Way, the Alliance continues to escalate matters — even crashing a dirty bomb into the Pentagon in what can only be described as an interstellar terrorist attack (“Alliances”).
It seems likely that this attack was merely the prelude to a larger conflict. The Alliance seized a whole lot of Goa’uld ships and tech when the System Lords fell, and now that they are getting organized they pose a serious threat. More than a ragtag gaggle of mercenaries, the Lucian Alliance now has the ability to bring a very dangerous — and very public — conflict to Earth itself.
(3) How will the crew be rescued from stasis? And is Eli alive?
Here are two questions for the price of one — since they are so intricately related. The final episode of the series left a giant question mark on the crew’s future. In order to escape from the drone fleet, Destiny faces a long journey across the vast emptiness between one galaxy and the next. But the ship’s power is running dangerously low. Their solution: stasis chambers left on board by the Ancients, with enough in working order to put the entire crew into suspended animation.
… or almost the entire crew. Eli Wallace is the last one standing at the end of “Gauntlet,” and he knows he has a ticking clock. He is using up the ship’s valuable power. So he either has to repair the final pod and go to sleep himself, or eventually shut down life support to save everyone else.
How long was the crew going to stay asleep? A matter of weeks, or months, or many years? When they woke up and made contact with Earth again, would they find that General O’Neill and Colonel Telford are long since deceased?
Producers considered a number of options for rescuing the crew in Season Three. But which solution would they have gone with? The final fate of this unlikely family remains one of the series’ biggest unanswered questions.
(2) Will the crew ever return home?
We have a vibe of a Star Trek: Voyager crossed with Quantum Leap going here. On the one hand, SGU can be a very hopeful show. Destiny is manned by a crew who, as of the end of the second season, actually want to be there. And they now think of each other as family.
On the other hand, though, this mission to explore the origins of creation might very well be a one-way trip. Everyone knows it. But Everett and Nicholas, Matt and Chloe and Eli, Ronald and Lisa, Camille and T.J. and Adam and Dale and Vanessa and the rest … they are committed to it anyway.
That might have ultimately led Stargate Universe to a Quantum Leap-style ending where, infamously, the time-hopping Dr. Sam Beckett never returned home. There was an ending to that show — and it was “happy,” after a fashion. But the hero’s story ended up being a tragic one. So too, Destiny‘s crew might never have returned home.
(1) What’s at the end of Destiny‘s road?
The team discovered early on that the ship is not simply exploring the deepest reaches of the galaxy, but actually following a programmed course. The Ancients sent Destiny to discover the source of a pattern detected in the universe’s cosmic microwave background radiation (“The Greater Good”). This fingerprint seems to imply some kind of intelligence, present at the beginning of the universe.
So what was it?
Of course this was SGU‘s $64 million question, and the writers probably wanted to pay it off only at the end of the series. It’s an incredibly intriguing proposition. What (or who) is at the end of the journey? It seems likely that the answer was going to be more profound than simply “really old aliens!” Why is there a pattern in the very fabric of the universe itself? And how could this discovery have changed the course of human existence?
What questions did Stargate Universe leave you with? Or which one of these do you most want answered? Post below!
Im s missing SGU. For me, it was one of the best Sci-fi shows out there. Im still hoping that one day Stargate Universe will come back.
Farscape was cancelled with this type of cliff hanger, then we got a 2 ep mini series to close the show. That should of been done here,
I’m just tired of false hopes on the return of Stargate.
In one episode rush said quickly the person was in the computer
One can figure out the change to the two people, that’s how they reproduce, they were changing into the alians
A computer that powerful can be programmed to waken them, after another stat dive.
The question I get left with is “It’s such a great show. How in the holy hell did it get cancelled?” Of course we know why but still.
My wife and I just watched the entire series, with the finale a few moments ago. SGU just came out before it’s audience was ready for it. When we watched it during its first run, we felt it was trying too hard to be like BSG. Watching it now and it’s shot, framed and written as though it just premiered in the last year or two. BSG was non-stop depression. SGU, OTOH, struck a perfect balance of “real” with the right mix of “Stargate”.
Really a shame it didn’t continue. Just an excellent series.
To answer part of #8, Rush turned off that part of Destiny’s systems:
RUSH
I’ve seen and spoken to Doctor Franklin many times now on the bridge.
ELI
So that’s what happened to him? He was uploaded to the ship?
RUSH
Well, I can’t say for certain, but I do know that Destiny has a neural link with the people on board this ship that’s caused us to see things before.
ELI
(looking around)
Are you seeing him now?
RUSH
No.
(turning to Young)
I managed to sever the link shortly after your experience with the alien battle simulations.
I watched SG Universe and found it to be decent. The producers weren’t really sure if they wanted the stark, grunge look. Also, that business about the stones and living in another body was just plain confusing.
All, S 03 please.
Ï am missing SGU cant believe its been 10 years..still remember watching it like it was yesterday
Is there still chance to revival?
I would be happy for anything from SG franchise i heared that Brad Wright is talking about something
5 – the Novans, what everyone forgets is the Nvans are in the same galaxy as the killer drones, if/when the arrive at their new planet they would soon be attacked and could easily be wiped out just by the number of attackers.
so unless someone finds a to send a shutdown command to them the Novans will all die
The drones are only attracted by the subspace signals of gate dialing. As long as they don’t use gate travel, they should be left alone. At some point, the drones will go dormant. I’ve always wondered how much time that would be.
(10) Where did Franklin go? and later rush 2.0, my guess is that they were uploaded 100% into the ship’s computer, the body dies so it was removed, unlike the 2 ladies these men were not setup to be separate operating programs but instead became part of the main operating system they became upgrades to the overall system
(9) Can T.J. be cured of ALS? short answer – no, the destiny is leaving the galaxy so they will not be able to find and ask the Novans for help, and even if the cure is in the files loaded into destiny just the amount of files to look through will make it near impossible to find the right info, try walking into any library with no labels or titles on any of the books to find that 1 book about a subject, that could take you a lifetime,
(8) Will Destiny continue to manifest as familiar faces? yes, the ship was built with some amount of mind reading ability, but not for humans, as such the ship has to dumb down the interface as best as it can, and that limits what it can do to help, also it seems it only happens when there is a need that activates it, Rush working hard to find the master coding, and maybe after understanding that it now has a crew and had been attacked several times, testing Colonel Young
(7) Who built the obelisk on Eden? would most likely remain an unknown, these beings did not make contact they got rid of the unwanted people on their new planet,
and the whole did they take the babies soul, my guess is that as they reached out to find where to return they people they took a moment to calm/comfort T.J.
but it’s a good bet they don’t want any more contact
(6) What did the Nakai learn from Chloe? less than they wanted, in fact Chloe was the wrong person for intel gathering, in fact they had to make her smarter to be able to understand the ship and how to send them info, someone like Brody would have been a better choice, they did learn about the ship but not so much about how it worked, like the shield can allow the ship to enter a star but not how to build the shields for themselves
(4) Will Earth go to war with the Lucian Alliance? more likely raids and terrorist type attacks, Earth ships are being upgraded with Asgard shields and weapons, Atlantis is now in the Milky-way maybe on Earth still.
add to that the possible help from the Jaffa and others that have been helped by Earth, also in season 7 ep 8 we learn there is a race that did fight off the Goa’uld and Earth is negotiating with them
(3) How will the crew be rescued from stasis? And is Eli alive? yes Eli lives, I choose to believe the last shot of Eli smiling means he figured something out, the crew does not have to be rescued, ship will keep heading to the new galaxy even if it runs low on power, it would shut down the engines to keep the crew alive, it would be moving slower but it would keep going until it got to the new galaxy, then it would find a star to refuel from, if the engine do shutdown the 3 year trip… Read more »
(2) Will the crew ever return home? that’s a hard one, Atlantis used a drive that allowed it to jump from one galaxy to another in only seconds, this could be used or built into another ship to go after destiny and bring them home even replace the crew, same as what was happening in the Atlantis show, or maybe Earth could send a ZPM to Destiny to have enough power to open a gate home, it would be very unlikely that Destiny could find a Icarus planet to use
(1) What’s at the end of Destiny‘s road? the ship itself will continue until it is ether told to stop or becomes to damaged to go on, even then the seed ships might be able to take over the mission, and because it was heading to the end of the universe it will be a much long time in the future before it gets there or finds out what the source of the signal is, then it would send a message back to ??? Atlantis, some unknown outpost, this would be the time that the Alterrans would send a crew… Read more »
10. Franklin’s conciousness was uploaded in Destiny’s database. 9. Yes. Joe Mallozzi already adressed this on his blog. 8. Yes. 6. The Nakai were’nt enemies per se. Much like humans, they were just interested to learn more about Destiny. My guess is that they would’ve end up working side by side with Destiny crew at some point. 5. Mallozzi adressed this too on his blog. 4. Lucian Alliance was just a plot device, nothing more. To have some stakes on the home front. 3. Joe Mallozzi talked about that, too. 2. No, I don’t think so. 1. That’s a wild… Read more »
7. Part 2. Based on what we saw about them and how Joe Mallozzi described them if Destiny’s crew are “God”, these aliens resemble angels.
And if you wonder how Destiny will be able to survive in that hot plasma medium in the very aftermath of the big bang, remember the ship is equipped with shields that allowed her to enter in a star, without being at full power.
SGU remains my favorite of the SG shows and is one of my all time favorite sci-fi programs – I rewatch it constantly. Such a shame it didn’t have a chance to continue.
SGU was a fantastic show. How I envision the ending is the crew aboard the Destiny are the ones who send the message at the beginning of time. Thus, causing The Ancients to launch Destiny. Creating their own Paradox in time. Somehow, Destiny goes back in time (via Solar Flair, etc.) This is just my own theory as to how the whole series can be one big “Destiny of all things…”
Zu Frage 10 gibt es ne Antwort. Die Autoren haben gesagt das die KI des Schiffs kaputt war.der Sprung des Schiffs in Hyperraum konnte nicht berechnet werden. Diese wurden dann aber mit den Gehirnzellen von Franklin repariert. Und sein Körper wurde aufgelöst da Franklin das nicht überleben konnte. Deswegen erscheine später die KI des Schiffs in Form von Franklin.
Oh man!! If only they would bring back this show. I just re watched this again,, its been so long, but it such a great story line… gosh it would bee great .. theres really no si fi competition out there.. may be they will help us out some day
WHY IS IT THE BEST SCIFY aLWAYS ET CUT JUST WHEN THEY ARE AT THERE BEST??
Would the writers ever consider collaborating to write a book or official comic book series. It wouldn’t cost so much to make as a tv series, but it would be able to continue the story and give the fans something. I would buy them and I know quite a few people who would do so too
YOU literally said nothing except more questions.