Watched the first two episodes of Stargate: Universe (SGU) on Hulu.com yesterday to see what the hubbub was about. In the Stargate fandom, there has been a lot of resistance to the show, mainly as it was seen as an excuse to cancel Stargate: Atlantis in its prime, due to rising salary costs after five season contracts expire. Rumor had SGU would be more edgy and darker, not exactly what the Stargate legacy has been about. So I decided to check on the show myself, despite a lack of interest, and streamed it from Hulu.
First impression:
Well, that was... bad. Catastrophically bad.
I'll try not to spoil the details in this review, so on to detailed impressions.
In an attempt to make an "adult" Stargate television series, what was aired is not a Stargate series like fans of the franchise have grown to love. Stargate has always been about adventure, with heroics leavened by good natured humor and a feeling that there was unlimited potential out there on other planets. With SGU, there was no sense of humor other than the cameo by Lt. General Jack O'Neil and little in the way of heroics. Instead it is clear that SyFy Network wanted a clone of Battlestar Galactica (the new one) and that overwrought, gloomy atmosphere is what was delivered. Galactica had a strong start, if oversexed, but decayed into a depressing amoral mess by the second season.
I will try to say one positive thing about the SGU. The CGI effects were very good, especially the assault on the base in the beginning. There, done with that.
The negatives... Everything else about the show. Bad acting, hackneyed writing, and terrible pacing were topped by the unlikeable characters. With nobody to root for, it was hard to get emotionally involved amidst all the chaos and canyon sized personality flaws. Though I will say some of the characters had no personality at all, so they can be excused from the latter.
The bane of all good camera work, the 'shaky cam', was ever present, sometimes distractingly wrong for the content of a scene. My guess is that it was used to make things feel more 'real' and to heighten tension for dramatic effect. It failed miserably on both counts.
Emotionally charged is what the makers were most likely going for, but the execution was hamfisted at best. Without spoiling too much, in the second episode one of the characters makes a major sacrifice that was clearly supposed to be the lynch pin of the hour. What were supposed to be a series of highly emotional scenes were curiously flat and mechanical, failing to evoke any emotion. Slow motion was used to interminably drag out the big scene and I could see this being MST3K'd very easily. Given that the following scenes depended on the big impact that didn't even dent and it has to be considered an epic fail in the annals of drama.
Bleh. I went in with low expectations and still managed to be disappointed.
Unfortunately, there has been a trend toward nihilistic and dreary television for some time. Stargate was a welcome refuge from that and sadly, that refuge is now lost. Comparing this two part premiere with Stargate: SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis makes Stargate: Universe look even worse. There were engaging characters and villains introduced in each, with a real sense of wonder present.
Much has been made online about the sex scene early in the first episode and yes folks, Stargate is no longer family friendly. It was another thing that made one of the main characters unlikeable. All I can think is that there had to be network pressure involved in this, because of the past history of the pilot for SG1.
Back in 1997, it debuted on Showtime and the producers were made to have a full frontal nudity shot of an actress that went on at some length. The producers were upset as they had a goal of Stargate being a family friendly series that would be syndicated on broadcast TV. After the pilot, they got their way and earlier this year released to DVD a re-edited version sans the nudity (plus some other questionable things) as Stargate: Children of the Gods. It is hard to reconcile this attitude with the new show.
Bleh. This dismal entry into the Stargate mythos is another example of how the word 'adult' has lost its meaning, or more accurately, has had it twisted. Instead of a word describing maturity and responsibility, it is used in place of other, more appropriate words: adolescent, sophomoric, and juvenile. Sex, explicit violence, nihilism, and characters with selfish motivations are all attractive to the young and rebellious. Our culture is doing its best to extend childhood with the result being a perpetually adolescent populace. Sadly, 'adult' was co-opted by the pornography business years ago and now the slide is complete in the rest of the entertainment biz.
So the new 'adult' Stargate is a huge disappointment and I think a name change is needed for accuracy. I now dub it BattleStarGatica.
No comments:
Post a Comment