The guys over at the SGU trailer editing department really do deserve an Oscar. Another top quality promo.

Very psyched for the new season, now.

About twelve months ago, with ill-deserved confidence, I foretold the early and untimely demise of Stargate Universe as a result of creative failings and writing ineptitude. The article certainly got people’s attentions, with Universe producer Joe Mallozzi declaring himself “alarmed”, but considered the article merely my “thoughtful, nicely presented opinion, but an opinion no weightier than yours or mine or those who thought SG-1 wouldn’t last or those who predicted Atlantis would crash and burn.” Good on Joe, who approached the dilemma with a calm and assured rationality. I, on the other hand, leapt wrongly on the negativity bandwagon.

Of course, Joe gets the last laugh here. Sod’s law. While Stargate Universe has certainly not been without criticisms, and its ratings have barely risen above the concerningly lacklustre, the show has surprised me creatively. I’ve been widely impressed by the acting, the production and even the storylines. Yes, the show may lack the quirky humour of SG-1, but after fifteen seasons of SG-1 and Atlantis milking the same cash-cow, I don’t believe that’s a bad thing. Robert Carlyle and Louis Ferreira have evolved as effective leads as Rush and Young respectively, and the supporting cast have been strongly developed over the course of the first season to form a genuine and effective ensemble. Good stuff!

I find myself even eagerly anticipating the second series. The final shot of season one of Young and co. being forced to their knees for execution makes me tingle in anticipation, although I realise they’re not all going to be shot. The second season could still disappoint, a la Earth: Final Conflict, but I don’t imagine it’ll be a train wreck by any stretch of the imagination. The foundations and groundwork is there to craft a strong series of television. I look forward to uncovering new parts of Destiny, new characters and new intrigues and revelations.

All I hope that more people will open their minds in the same way I have been forced to by the quality of the show, and stop clinging to the hope that Richard Dean Anderson return full-time. The show doesn’t need it. Heck, it doesn’t suit it. And Universe is more than capable of standing on its own to feet with Robert Carlyle carrying the torch for the franchise.

Stargate: Universe show-runner Brad Wright has revealed that the dark atmosphere of the show’s first season was only the beginning: the show is set to get darker next year.

"When you try to adopt a more realistic tone, where frankly we don’t win every time, then there have to be real-world repercussions like death and injury and loss," Wright said. "You can dig deeper into characters and the deeper you dig the repercussions can get bigger. We are going to some places with these characters, and already have really, that we would never go with the heroes of our other series.”

And things don’t bode will for Everett Young, played by Louis Ferreira. 

According to Robert C. Cooper, "After everything he’s been through – and it gets worse for him initially at the beginning of Season 2 – it’s impossible to imagine that a person wouldn’t go to a very dark place at least for a short period of time.

In other news, according to GateWorld, we’re set to see some Stargate Atlantis actors guesting on Universe next year.  No word on who, or to what extent yet, however.

Press Release:

SYFY’S FRIDAY NIGHT SPRING SEASON OFF TO ROUSING START AS STARGATE UNIVERSE DRAWS 1.5 MILLION TOTAL VIEWERS, UP 11% VERSUS SEASON ONE FINALE

Stargate Universe delivered 1.5 million total viewers

The series also grabbed 936,000 Adults 25-54 (+11%) and 768,000 Adults 18-49 (+12%), while averaging a 1.2 HH rating (+9%).

Stargate Universe delivered 319K page views and 164K video streams the week of March 29th, the highest week since December 2009

Despite network television generally losing ratings, Universe actually gained on its mid-season finale.

I was amongst the first to predict the show would flop, but I’ve been forced to eat my words.  The show’s actually been entertaining me, especially the last episode.  Very Q-Who.

Nice to see some decent character glimpses.

Despite my much criticised negative stance, I won’t be reversing it just yet.  But at least this has partially improved my outlook.

Stargate: Universe.  It’s an unusually usual title compared to SG-1 and Atlantis.  And I fear the show itself may end up being similarly usual.

The Stargate franchise today is a far cry from the creative strength SG-1 displayed some six or so years ago.  Why?  Simple.  The writer’s room has suffered from the same affliction that suffers all long-running sci-fi shows.  It happened to Star Trek, The X-Files; some would argue that Lost is suffering from it already.

The problem lies in the fact that no show is infinitely sustainable.   Individual concepts will last longer than another – SG-1 for instance lent itself well to an episode-of-the-week format that was likely to be able to survive quite a long time.  And it did – ten whole seasons.  Atlantis had a similar concept – episodic adventures of the week – but this time there were half a dozen years of material already written by essentially the same writers team.  Could originality really by expected for another ten years?  The show lasted exactly half that, and was arguably weaker than its predecessor.  What fate Universe, therefore?

There are several things going for the new sequel.  Namely, it has the potential – note: potential – to shake up the format a little.  Robert Carlyle’s character – the lead of the show – could well be the first lead character of a Stargate show to be devious and manipulative rather than the clichéd and stoic American hero the writers have known to embrace.  Coupled with the supposedly darker nature of the show, Universe has the potential to rely further upon character conflict than previous Gate incarnations. Certainly the acting talent is there. Ming-Na and Carlyle for instance are tried and tested actors with a great array of talent. Then again, David Hewlett was a fantastic talent for Atlantis, and there’s only so much individual talent can do to shore up collaborative failings above.

Additionally, the setting is slightly different.  Set on a starship rather than fixed planet (yes, I know Atlantis was a city ship, but it didn’t go places often), the series should be able to tap into a wider array of story possibilities than the planet-of-the-week concept that has driven the franchise for over a decade.  However even then, the show has strong Battlestar Galactica vibes – which it clearly shouldn’t have if its aiming to be something original: something Stargate clearly needs. Whether the writing department realise that potential is, however, another matter.

Star Trek: Voyager promised isolation from Earth, real danger and character conflict in the form of the Maquis/Starfleet divide.  But the show was even lighter in tone than Deep Space Nine had been, and within a few years ways were found of limiting the extent of the isolation from which Voyager suffered.

Similarly, the Stargate writers have fallen into similar traps with Atlantis.  Another tale of isolation, Earth was involved within a series, and crossovers became a bi-weekly occurrence.  The tell-tale sign of a flagging concept: the child show falling back upon the success of its predecessor.  That Universe should be immune from such failings is a pretty optimistic outlook – they’ve been made by the same writers before.

However, is it really their fault?  If the network continues to order and accept the pitches for these shows, then the writers are just doing their job.  It is surely the job of Sci-Fi (I’m denying the change to the SyFy brand) to rectify that – for instance to demand more challenging scripts.  For the talent is surely there – see Atlantis’s The Shrine for further details.  The problem is an absence of ideas symptomatic of a show or idea on the air for far too long.

Shows like 24 seem to get by creatively (for the most part) by drafting in new writers each season from other shows in order to inject fresh ideas.  The Stargate team could perhaps do with a few outside views in order to ensure Universe doesn’t fall back into the same old tricks. 

Of course, such creative rejuvenation doesn’t automatically mean success.  Given the direction in which Sci-Fi/SyFy is heading, it wouldn’t be too surprising if  the channel drafted in the writers of The O.C. or some other teenage hit in order to sex-up and rejuvenate the show.  The whole younger/edgier nonsense works in some cases – even in some unexpected ones, when the talent is there (e.g. Battlestar Galactica).   Does the current writing team have the talent to pull of a directionary overhaul?  I fear not, given how Atlantis turned out.  Could they surprise me and create a good show?  Absolutely.

But for how long?  How long will it be before they can gate back to Earth each week?  How long will it be before Atlantis and SG-1 alumni turn up to save the day?  I hope my cynicism is proven to be nothing more than bitter, nonsensical rambling, but deep down I know the show will turn out something like Atlantis or Voyager, or even Enterprise: squandered potential.

Here’s to being wrong.

Another new trailer fresh out of SyFy’s new rebrand.  The BSG-style edginess continues – at least in the trailers – and it looks like we’ve got a very, very spinny Stargate this time around.

Seems that a few cast interviews have been released online for the upcoming Stargate spin-off, Stargate Universe.

You can watch the Robert Carlyle interview here, and catch all the others over at Gateworld.

In a recent interview, head honchos Robert C. Cooper and Brad Wright have spilled a few more beans on the upcoming Stargate Universe.  I’ve picked out the juiciest details, but the full interview can be found here.

While the teasers that have been aired so far for Stargate Universe (SGU) have been very dark (see “Frantic” and “Philosophical”), there will definitely be humor in the series. The teasers, created by Sci Fi Channel, are meant to set a mood and an energy, but the characters will have innate humor. The show is set in the here and now, and even in bad situations, people make jokes.

The aliens on SGU will be very alien. They won’t be humanoids with prosthetics, and they won’t speak English. They will be as alien as you’d hope to find in the far reaches of the universe.

The show will shoot in New Mexico in a couple of weeks. Those will be scenes from “Air Part 3″. They’re really looking to find new ways to have episodes that aren’t set in trees.

The style of SGU is different from the past. Cooper doesn’t believe they are emulating Battlestar Galactica. But, they want to shoot the show more like how a documentary crew would shoot on the ship if they were there documenting it. So cameras will be in non-standard places. The sets will be lit naturally, such that the actors can move around as if they’re on a stage, rather than having to be in one place for lighting reasons. Already as a result they are getting far more “real” performances from the cast. Viewers will feel as though they are there. It will feel less staged and less unrealistic. They hope this will help viewers connect with the characters very closely. One show they did look at as an example to draw from was Firefly. It was shot with hand-held cameras or non-traditional camera placements. So Firefly and other dramatic shows were somewhat an inspiration.

There will be two gay characters on SGU. Cooper started to say there would be one at least, and Wright clarified that there will be two. Cooper and Wright want the crew to represent our society, with all its complexity and realism. They want it to be identifiable to as many people as they can. Not for ratings, but to portray humanity.

The pair also discussed their intention to create a Stargate Atlantis movie, and noted that the third SG-1 movie would revolve around O’Neill and would not feature Cliff Simon as Baal.