Stargate Universe: Earth – human resources disasters – oh and there are spoilers

I thought to myself, even if this episode is a weak filler like every single episode since the second one I’m going to keep with it, I’m sure at some stage or the other the show will become interesting and live up to some of the promise made in the pilot.

But the I accidental saw some of the one line descriptions of upcoming episodes and a prominent keyword in each of those is ‘flashback’. So I really don’t know if I can do this any more, I mean I’m not even disappointed anymore, I expect the next episode to be crap and frankly they are fulfilling that expectation.

So the other week we highlighted the stupid and exploitative scene where the nerds used a keno to check out the officer with the large breasts (honestly it is so annoying that this is all I’ve got to describe this character – the writers REALLY suck). A guy I work with had a really good point about the scene, the way that Young as the commanding officer handled it, rather than create a non sexist working environment and making sure that the two idiots knew that the behaviour would not be accepted he took on a boys will be boys kind of attitude and let it slide.

It doesn’t surprise me then, when we get to the episode ‘Earth’ so named because the writers are trying to be cool with their episode titles that the characters including Young act in such a morally reprehensible and inappropriate fashion with the borrowed bodies on Earth.

I’m sorry I know it is just a story device but to take someone else’s body and then go and have sex with someone!?!?!? You don’t know anything about that person, what if they have a disease, what if the person you are having sex with has a disease!?! I can’t even articulate the level of inappropriateness of this!

I thought it was bad enough using their bodies to go out drinking, what if they were alcoholics? Or have a condition? What if they just get drunk and fall down?? It’s so stupid.

It’s bad writing.

What did we learn this week?

Jack O’Neal looks bloody terrible!
Jack O’Neal sounds bloody terrible!
Jack O’Neal looks and sounds like he doesn’t want to be there, I know how he feels.
Oh cool the guy from 24 is there… OMG is this a crossover!?!?! Could Jack Bauer be on soon!!!
No it is not a 24 crossover.
You know what this show needs more of? Talking.
Not.
You know what else this show needs more of? Communication stones.
NOT.
Apparently they DO need some HR directives for people to follow… or BETTER WRITERS!!!
When someone you work with visits your mother apparently it’s not weird at all and they’ll make cookies!?!?!?
There is WAY too much back story in these characters maybe we could have some current story??
Young has become THAT GUY, you know, the awful ex.
Lou Diamond Phillips’ character is just an unpleasant to watch jerk, I thought the Wraith were lame but sheesh.
Oh look, they went to a club in Stargate… how much did that cost, maybe next time we don’t go to the expense of building a club set and filling it and we hire better writers.
I think Eli was driving a Porche? I could be wrong, it doesn’t make any sense… oh that’s right worst writing ever.
I really enjoy the Eli and Young Big Brother show.
NOT!!

Seriously does anyone think this show is really good? Better than SG1, hell better than Atlantis?? Because they cancelled Atlantis to produce this lame crap.

Posted in television | Tagged Earth, Stargate Universe, sucks, television

alien0

Hey guys,

i'm really sad what they did with the sg-franchise.
i can assure everyone that millions of sg fans worldwide are furious over this crappy turn syfy has called for.

please come over to http://www.sgusucks.com and express your doubts and your anger. sign our petition, it's worth it.

thx for reading!!

BG

this is show is ssssooooooooo bad! not to age myself but Dawson's Creek meets Dawson's Creek. We know more about the asian being a lesbian then the ships systems. It's good that Rush was in a previous movie where he was a cannibal, maybe they could write that into his back story. This show sucks, this show sucks, did I mention this show sssssssuuuuuuucccccckkkkkkkssssss!!!!!! Oh what the hell happened at the end of the episode "time", was that they ran out of "time" to finish writing the episode.

BG

this is show is ssssooooooooo bad! not to age myself but Dawson's Creek meets Dawson's Creek. We know more about the asian being a lesbian then the ships systems. It's good that Rush was in a previous movie where he was a cannibal, maybe they could write that into his back story. This show sucks, this show sucks, did I mention this show sssssssuuuuuuucccccckkkkkkkssssss!!!!!! Oh what the hell happened at the end of the episode "time", was that they ran out of "time" to finish writing the episode.

ESSGEETHREE

Finally watched this last night... you know things aren't going well when the wife says "Even if they ran into the wraith, it would be better!" If you knew how much she disliked SGA wraith episodes, you would know how well SHE thinks SGU is doing!

As for the wrong, wrong, WRONG body-switch scenarios... AAAAaaaaarrrrggg....!!!

Jingez

Give me wraith stuff any day over this crap that's been aired week to week. I feel like I'm watching badly written episodes of LOST merged with the twilight zone. Heck those were at least good shows.

This show's character's lack lustre, and all of them have no personality what-so-ever. All the attitude from all the characters really piss me off.

Lee

LOL yeah the Wraith would be welcome characters at this point, heck even the bugs they evolved from would be welcome :)

Will

ANY bad guy would be welcome right now! Or even a sentient alien (and no, I don't count the stupid bug swarm). I suspect the majority of people watching this are just clinging to the hope that maybe...just maybe...the next episode they watch might have an inkling of that "Stargate" feel that we fell in love with in SG1 and SGA. I don't care what they call this show - this is not stargate.

Queen Bee

God knows I've tried to like this SG, but the ugly truth is it's like being trapped in a boring marriage. Every episode I hope I'll learn to love it, and every episode I find myself despising them for not giving me what I want and myself for not having the guts to move on.

I WANT to like SGU, I really do. And the idea of Robert Carlyle in Sci-Fi is like hog heaven, but the writers seem to be bent on creating the most generic, tedious, steaming pile of poo they can. It's a cast of characters I find neither interesting or endearing. I don't care what their pasts are because they don't interest me in the present. The vlogs are vomit-inducingly twee and are incredibly dull. I don't care about Eli or the sour drab he seems to have the hots for (a sub-plot that is mind-numbingly predictable) or any of the other interpersonal dynamics.

What is most heart breaking is there is a HUGE Sci-Fi vacuum for a quality show the standard of a Next Generation from the US. There is a market for it and obvilously there is a budget available (SGU has some brilliant effects). What's missing is the writing - where's the vision and imagination? Where's the posing of conundrums and moral delemas? Any chimp can write a corny soap opera and whack it in an outer space setting, but who wants to watch it. SGU is repairable, plenty of shows have had dodgy first seasons, but the writers need to get it together soon. Otherwise, I hope Mr Carlyle has an escape clause in his contract.

Lee

I know what you mean, I feel essentially the exact same way. I almost feel like I'm betraying science fiction by not defending this but it isn't good television.

I am still holding out for a really good episode but I fear I might be waiting a while.

We'll see how V and Flash Forward pan out (I quite enjoyed the latest episode of Flash Forward which surprised me!)

Queen Bee

Quite true - and I think that's how the show hasn't been pulled thus far. There is a core group of Sci-Fi fans who will stick with shows because 'if it's Sci-Fi it must be good' rather than seeing it objectively as good or bad entertainment. And because this group accept a poor standard of writing unflinchingly the bar gets lowered more and more and the writers just get lazier.

Shows like SGU, Flash Forward and V are 'okay' ....and nothing more. On the other side of the Atlantic, the writers of Doctor Who and Torchwood show us how fresh and exiting Sci-Fi can be with terrific writers like Steven Moffat, and even with a much smaller effects budget. (Ironically, Robert Carlyle was bandied about as being the next Doctor, and I bet there are days where he wishes he'd taken it).

Like you, I'll keep hoping for better things.....

Captain Incredible

I don't hate it yet. I don't hate it yet. I don't hate it yet. I don't hate it yet. I don't hate it yet. I don't hate it yet. I don't hate it yet. I don't hate it yet. I don't hate it yet. I don't hate it yet. I don't hate it yet. I don't hate it yet....

Lee

You keep telling yourself that :P

Arjan

I wonder why I clicked play on SGA instead of on Sanctuary, Fringe or Legend of the seeker, I've had episodes of all of the above ready to watch.

the wrong guy having sex was funny..but they should only use these stones for really USEFUL things like getting some good writers on board. I will watch tis to the end though..just so I know they fucked up.

Lee

I'm with you man, let's see where this fucked up ride takes us.

Jeff

I can't say I dislike it as much as you. It definitely has problems, as you point out, but I'm still on board. I actually think this episode was a little better than I expected. I also think we're going to discover that Telford is already having an affair with Young's wife. So far, everything we've seen in these episodes has seemed to me to have potential as laying the groundwork for something later. Unfortunately they're taking their sweet time making it exciting, and they might lose out because of that. They definitely need to take a break from day-to-day and "dire" and start working on "wonder".

Lee

I like a lot of science fiction, certainly would be a fair comment to say I like pretty much all of it which is why I can't work this one out, I think I have to just admit it, I don't like this show.

It hurts every fibre of my being to say I dislike this show, I want to love it, I want it to be awesome but for me it is not a good show, too slow, unlikeable, poorly put together, whatever the reason I just dislike this show. It feels like the makers of Stargate decided they really wanted to cross a Stargate show with Lost and BSG.

The problem too is that I'm going to keep watching it, maybe in the long run it will all pan out but right now I can think of at least twenty scifi shows I'd rather be watching!

yanick

I really, i mean really miss SG1 and SGA. Im a huge fan, got all of the dvd's...why you say? because these showed were cast right! I miss Mckay so much, but i hate everyone of the characters on SGU, what are they doing there? The new show is soo boring, i just fast forward all the boring parts, which do add up to atleast 25% of the each show...and the visiting home part? holy c....what a filler..and the sex..wtf...sg1 and sgu was about teams going through the wormholes and having adventures...if something aint broke, dont try to fix it..please fire the directors and get real lovers of the show involved..I do love the franchise and i want it to continue for years to come, dont get me wrong now, but something was wrong with SGU from the start and thats trying to appeal to a wider audience,,,Sci fi isnt for everyone and trying to add some 90210 to sci fi..well we all know how that turns out...

Lee

One of the problems Yanick is that the writers and directors are all from previous Stargate's and they are trying to break out of that, they want to be more like BSG because that show was so highly praised I expect.

I honestly respect these guys, I really do but they really need some new blood, and if they did hire new people then they need to take a better look at who they've hired and what environment that they've given them to work within.

It's not like it couldn't be salvaged either, they could still turn this around.

red

Ummm...bad writing? The whole body-switching thing opens up a whole lot of moral issues. It's pretty damn good writing, especially with Telford showing up at the end, potentially intending to deceive Young's wife into having sex with him.
It's quite complex and I like it a lot.

Only if the writers fail to approach the moral issues later on(say, by season 2 or so), will I say it's bad writing. But for now, it's a very good set-up.

Lee

I'm going to respectfully disagree with you, I'm contracting with the Government and the other day I had to do a presentation away from the office. In order to take my laptop with me I had to have three people search for a form for around fifteen to twenty minutes, then I had to fill out the form with information such as how much the laptop was worth, why I was taking it and the exact address I would be taking it to.

Then that documentation had to be filed on site by another person, then when I returned 6 hours later someone had to verify that the laptop was indeed back.

Now that is for a laptop and I don't work for a department that has nearly as many security concerns than Stargate Command would.

They are taking people's bodies off base and using those bodies in any matter they just feel like, they are being given permission to reveal to civilians the greatest secret in the Stargate series.

This is lazy writing in that they just assume that the military would not have considered these legal liability issues alone and would be keeping closer check.

I agree it is a really interesting moral dilemma but I think it is territory being covered much more effectively by Dollhouse (from what I've seen).

But like I always say with these shows and it's the reason why I asked the question, each to their own and it's great that you are enjoying it!!

Rob Brown

Sorry for the double post.

Lee

That's ok let me know which one you'd prefer deleted :)

Rob Brown

Last week's episode might've seemed promising, and there may yet be episodes worth watching in the future - even the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica had one really good episode - but I'm not going to watch them, if I have to put up with 99% of really bad drama-filler.

I'm out. I'm done. Screw this show.

Rob Brown

Last week's episode might've seemed promising, and there may yet be episodes worth watching in the future - even the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica had one really good episode - but I'm not going to watch them, if I have to put up with 99% of really bad drama-filler.

I'm out. I'm done. Fuck this show.

Sean Bennett

I kinda liked it.
You failed to mention Rush's little plot - I like him.
Chloe can foadiaf - could happen.

I haven't watched Stargate before (and I'm not really inclined to go back and start at the beginning) so I'm fairly intrigued by probably mundane Stargate things that have been done before. It's all new to me.

So far, I'm wanting to see what happens to these people.

Lee

I actually came close to liking Rush in this episode which is a concern!!!

I don't know if it is my previous knowledge of Stargate that is making the show harder to watch, I just really hate some of the more stupid stuff such as using someone else's body, it's just poorly handled by the writers.

I too though still want to see what happens to them, but my expectation right now is that it won't be that much :)