Stargate Universe: Light – spit lines are gross… spoilers ahoy

I think that possibly over the last couple of weeks I’ve given the wrong idea about how I feel about Stargate Universe despite my positive opening review. It’s been hard to say nice things about the show since. So this week it will possibly come to a surprise to some that I’ve got mostly positive things to say about the episode Light.

Mostly.

As always this is your second call for spoilers, those wishing to avoid spoilers should vacate immediately or at the very least go read my top five movie posts!

So this episode picks up on last week’s moderately improving episode Darkness and follows the trend with improving on that episode. The Destiny is about to plunge into a giant sun and everyone is going to die – gasp! I know I know, we have to put our heroes in peril to make good drama but was anyone out there under even the slightest amount of tension or angst over the whole sun thing?

We all guessed it last week, so the whole danger of the episode was really a going through the motions affair and so we turned our attention to the characters themselves.

I beg them to drop the keno ball diary room shtick that they’ve got going so the characters can tell us that they are developing rather than us just seeing the character developing!! I really hate that they did the ‘we have a lesbian character’ announcement using the stupid keno ball. It’s 2009, we’re intelligent viewers, we’ve encountered lesbians before, it’s great you’re embracing diversity, just don’t make a big deal out it. (I might be reading too much into it to be fair).

Jerk of the week awards:

bald guy heckling who got punched out by Greer (last fortnight’s jerk of the week), military discipline mean nothing to you?? I’m glad Greer decked him.
Chloe/River – “I feel really close to you man and I think this could be our last night and you know this is the new sexier Stargate… wanna do it?” ”Oh hi Eli, how’s World of Warcraft going? Sucka!!”
the writers for trying to make out like Rush who wasn’t a jerk for 3/4 of the episode suddenly becomes a jerk at the end in the worst written scene so far.

Creep of the week:

Dr Rush because pretending you knew the ship was going to dive into the sun to recharge makes you a creep, of course it doesn’t help that you have jerks writing that scene.

Things we learnt this week:

Greer who wants to go out in a Blaze of Glory listens to Bon Jovi WAY too much.
Greer also wants to go out nakid
Spit lines are gross when two people are kissing on high definition with the sun in the background… GROSS
Eli’s flashbacks are pretty much as boring as mine would be, sleeping in, can’t find dream job…
Sometimes you’ve got to do something just to appear that you are doing something – 15 people are not going to get rescued on the other side of the universe and they are sure as shit not going to be rebuilding the human race but if you don’t at least put it out there they will think you’re a bastard.
HR people think they are important enough in a survival situation to get picked over military types with training in survival.
Math boy always comes in last… in love.

I do wonder if there will be some kind of fallout from the rest of the crew towards the ‘people with lines’ lottery winners who got to go on the shuttle, I suspect bald guy is going to have to dropped out an airlock.

Again enough with the keno balls – almost the least interesting piece of technology possible on the ship getting a lot of air time.

I also worry about how Dr Rush is going to get iTunes updates.

This was a much more watchable episode this week, certainly perfect and far from excellent but I didn’t hate it as much as I hated the desert episode, I expect next episode to be a good one, they are due.

riGby

that ending had me all like wtf!?

No way Rush knew. I don't think he even had any suspicions about it.

Strange.

Lee

Yeah it was a pretty stupid reset ending

PW

Hey,
Any chance you can fill me in on what the last line spoken in the episode was? It came through mumbled here.

Lee

Yeah it was pretty mumbled - I think he said "a lot of work" - but I can't be 100% sure as it is too hard to hear.

PW

Cheers,
I've gone back to it a few times, "Lotta work" seems the most likely. I just think his whole "knowing" idea is bogus and I'll be very very upset if they continue with it, it looks like one person wrote the first 3 minutes and the last 3 minutes and another (dare I say, better) person wrote the middle.

Lee

Without that end sequence I would have said I quite enjoyed the whole episode regardless of my general gripes (I can find gripes in anything!) but that ending was so badly put together and so stupid that it tarnished the whole episode.

I should have titled the review 'shame about the ending'.

If he knew or suspected then the whole point of the episode is just stupid and he's a bigger jerk than I thought. I guess if it were better written you might suspect he kept it to himself because he didn't want any one else's life reliant on his choice ... that's if it was better written :)

Garth

Rush is probably smart enough to know that getting an iTunes update will remove features from his iPod, and so wouldn't want to do it anyway.

Lee

Funniest comment regarding Dr Rush EVER.

Bravo.

commentfirst

P.S.-Did anyone else notice Chloe totally had a "I just had sex." afterglow when she was doing the keno ball shoot?

commentfirst

I totally sympathize with Eli,being the guy that ends up being the guy a woman thinks of as,"A really good friend that I can confide in,now excuse me while I go and fuck the shit out of this other guy over here."

Lee

Yeah I would have expected the writers not to be so obvious with this one but there you go 5 episodes in and they've gone down that road with Eli.

Rob Brown

Okay, I'll admit, it got better towards the end and the music kinda grew on me...

Lee

I didn't even notice the music this week, I'm not a huge fan of the opener either.

Rob Brown

Well, I wasn't bashing ST: TMP, I actually liked it... not as much as Wrath of Khan, though. Anyhoo, I just remember alot of people describing it that way, i.e lots of impressive exterior shots of the Enterprise, but little else. Which is kinda true. ;)

Anyhow. About the "adult/youth"-issue. What kinda rubs me the wrong way, is the fact that they said they're going for realism. But I'm the same age as Scott, but his immaturity - especially for one who has been in the SGC long enough to learn piloting starships - just annoys me sometime. Is that realistic? His heroic struggle in the whole desert-episode, however, has left me optimistic in regards to his character's development.

You're totally right about the opener, leesargent. They need a stronger intro, something that sets the tone and mood... the current 5 second thing they got ain't good enough.

And yes, I know SGW is probably never going to see the light of day, but I can dream, can't I? :)

Rob Brown

Bleargh...

Another exciting adventure in... boredom.

Seriously, I need some action at this point. And all I get is more morose groaning from the children, some exceptional acting from the woefully underused adults - Young and Rush - and more tiresome vlogging. And then there's this infantile love triangle between Chloe, Scott and Eli. Seriously, it's really "90210" and I really think Eli would know better than to let such kindergarten-level antics bother him.

On the other hand, the lighting in this episode was really nice.

Anyway. This show better start getting its act together or it'll lose me as a viewer. More action, less talking and - for the love of God! - kill Chloe already.

And, oh yeah, good review, dude. Quityourdayjob.com is quickly becoming one of my favorite sites. ;)

One more thing: they really should get around to releasing STARGATE WORLDS. Why? Because there are a lot of SG-fans jonesing for a good SG-fix - myself included - and that game could provide a much more interesting, action-packed adventure than this... show.

Just one more observation: anyone notice that this show shares an attribute common with STAR TREK: The Motion Picture? Lots of impressive exterior shots, but very little else. :P

Lee

I never even thought of it that way Rob, the children and the adults example you give is excellent and it really does feel that way. I think the powers-that-be think after two series of Stargate with no sex at all that a good way to make the new Stargate edgy is to have lots of random sex. And yeah I agree Eli should know better and maybe they all should be a little more concerned about their situation rather than place so much importance on vlogging.

The lighting was interesting and I think I got the best look so far at some of the interiors, especially the gateroom.

Something I didn't mention in the review is how crap it is to be reverse parking the shuttle every time!! A ship that advanced and they don't have auto-dock??

I don't know about Stargate Worlds I'm beginning to think it's a bit of pipe dream, I wouldn't mind seeing a first person shooter though set in the Stargate world.

Why are you hating on ST:TMP?!?! Comparing it to THIS show!! :P

BTW cheers for the kind words

BioTeq

Your summary is better than the episode itself :D
As a geek and a scientist myself, I almost feel sorry for Eli... almost :P

The last scene... as I read somewhere once "everyone involved should be charged with human rights abuses on the grounds that innocent people actually had to view this thing. What has been seen cannot be unseen" :D

Lee

LOL thanks for that, I would have felt bad for Eli if it wasn't so blatantly obvious that's what they are doing, I'm shocked his flashback didn't include him playing World of Warcraft or playing Warhammer.

Actually I predict a flashback where Eli has been asked by the prettiest and popular girl in school to the prom and then when the limo arrives she pops up through the top and throws eggs at him...

Hang on I think that might have been done before.