This year I started following the Stargate Saga after I finished Battlestar Galactica, which I will also review soon. It's a really cool adventure series, with an added touch of Indiana Jones to space travel.

Because of the orientation of this blog, I think I'll start my review of this epic francise with the last spin off, Stargate Universe.

Following its predecessors, Stargate Universe is action-packed and full of wonders. In this series the resident scientist, a thin, bearded, sinister scottish guy,who was hell-bent on dialing the 9th chevron, finally got his chance amid a massive crisis. They enlisted a math wiz who was able to solve a very complex ancient math problem that was embedded in an online game.The cast is significantly younger, possibly averaging at 27 years old. By this time, Gen. O'neill's idea of an off world base was already in operation but due to some unforseen volcanic activity in the planet, they were forced to evacuate. Instead of going back to earth, the mad scientist dialed the 9th chevron and they found themselves in a starship as big as a city, in an unknown region of the universe with dwindling supplies and low power.

This would have been a good premise except that it looks so much like the storyline of... Battlestar Galactica! The whole being in an old starship, in the middle of the universe and the prospect of having to find a planet to live in and populate, really feels like deja vu. This series only lasted for a season and was abruptly ended. There are a lot more holes in this show and I felt like they were trying to ride on the Lost phenomenon as well and our obsession with youth. I'm not sure about other people but the whole finding themselves in the middle of the universe, in a middle of conspiracies and not knowing who to trust is a tiring to me.

The young people who were supposed to carry the story lines were dissapointing not because of lack of acting skills, but their inexperience goes against what Stargate culture. From watching Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis, I believe that Stargate values expertise and knowledge that can only be accumulated by people who immersed themselves in study for a long time. I suspect each SG teams have at least 1 person with a PhD. In this case recent graduates of Yale and an MIT drop out (due to financial difficulties) cannot arouse the sympathy of a regular Stargate Otaku. In SG-1 we are so sure that we can trust the main core characters: Gen Hammond, Col. O'neill, Maj. Carter, Dr. Jackson and even Teal'c, there is no questioning their allegiance after the first episodes. I this series, almost everyone is suspicious! Their resident scientist seemed to be sabotaging the survivors and is always quarelling with the ranking military officer, who in turn is also under scruitiny of the HR person looking out for the regular folks.The other Stargate shows hinted on sexual tensions and attractions, but now this group are acting out on their desires on every episode.
To wrap it up, I am dissapointed with the show, that seem to insult its viewers by lowering their standards and even the scientific soundness of their situations. I mean, a starship the fuels by going through a star? OK it's pretty innovative, I admit, but what about heat conduction? That was a really thin energy shield separating the ship from total annihilation. Where does the ship collect it's power? Is there a battery? Maybe I don't understand now because it's a space story and one day, half of the physics law will become theories as it would not work on every planet.

Anyway, I still watched most of the episodes and for the most part I enjoyed watching David Blue and Lou Diamond Philips.

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