In the US: Fridays, 9/8c , SyFy
In the UK: Tuesdays, 8pm, Sky1/Sky1 HD
We’re three episodes into Stargate Universe (if we count the launch movie as a two-parter, which we do since the producers do), so time for a third-episode verdict.
On the whole, not bad. I’m not feeling enthused by it, but coming out of episode three – which actually made a brave stab at not being either Stargate Anything or Battlestar Galactica – I’m feeling pleasantly surprised by the whole experience.
In the US: Fridays, 9pm, SyFy
In the UK: Tuesdays, 9pm, Sky 1/Sky 1 HD. Starts tonight!
It’s odd how genres change. Look at science fiction. For over 10 years, Stargate SG-1 was it as far as sci-fi was concerned, having in turn inherited its mantle and style from Star Trek: The Next Generation: amiable wisecracking soldiers with no personal lives turn up on planets full of primitive people, have fights with bad aliens in silly costumes then kill them all. Everything’s right in the world again. Nothing truly bad happens. The end.
Then Battlestar Galactica came along. Suddenly, all that went out the window, in favour of grittiness, misery, handheld cameras and terrible things happening to everyone. And Stargate started to look silly – well, sillier. Stargate Atlantis suffered even more from that and as a result, only made it to half the run of Stargate SG-1, despite its best efforts.
Now we have Stargate Universe, which while pretty impressive in a lot of ways, is kind of like ‘Battlestar Galactica lite’ – it’s BSG but with half the depth. While it’s light years ahead of Stargate in tone, it’s still not quite the show it wants to be. But you never know.
Apologies if any of this is old news!
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