It's episode 9 of Stargate Babies - i.e. Universe - and the plot has still gone nowhere.  The weekly sex scene has now ballooned to two or three a week, this week with a little lesbian sex thrown in for good measure. 

There's no strong antagonist.  It's nothing but a soap opera in which the people happen to be in space hopelessly distant from Earth.  Oh wait, they can still travel back to Earth to engage in jealousy with their spouses.

Eli, Mr. 10,000 cliche joke comments a week, is getting really tiring especially when he ends every sentence like a question?  But it's good to see in the writers' minds a slacker who dropped out of school and never studied anything or applied himself to anything can instantly pick up alien technology.  He doesn't even apply himself to that, but somehow gets it.

The show is spiraling into a meaningless drone, worse even than the moral relativity of the new BSG - "the bad guys are just like us."

I don't watch tv. I prefer to waste my time responding on the Internet to threads about tv shows that I don't watch. 

I got bored with Stargate right about the time Apophys came back from the dead the first time.

I think, they ran out of ideas and are trying even kind of tricks to "spice up" the series. I'm hoping that SGU will be more exciting but alas, it's facing the same dilemma as another familiar SF franchise(ST). They already got 2 good movies out of SG franchises and now they are trying to prolong its demise. Whatever for??!!???
:b_tonguewink:

I totally agree. I caught an episode last week while channel surfing, and at the end, i couldn't care less if they all lived or died. Visit alien planet, get alien disease, get caught in time loop, find antidote blah blah. Next thing I watched was an old episode of Dark Angel. What a contrast !!

SGU + Sanctuary = Total Dead Horse Beatings

The problem with sci-fi is that it is hard to craft a decent ongoing story.  Adding drama is an easy out.  Drama is why I stopped watching the new BS:G series. 

heh. no ones got any patience anymore. Next Gen and Deep Space 9's first seasons where terrible.. but they settled in and matured into great shows...

what happened to ppl's perceptions? suddenly a show's got to be mature and what it will become from day 1. but a show that does that is rarer than rocking horse crap...

Quote - I don't watch tv. I prefer to waste my time responding on the Internet to threads about tv shows that I don't watch. 

Self referentially responding on the Internet to threads about tv shows that you don't watch.

Quote - Next Gen first seasons [was] terrible..

Absolutely yes

Quote - but it settled in and matured into a great show...

  Absolutely no,

I loved DS 9, but I can think of exactly 2 good episodes of next generation.

Sorry about editing this after your post, but I wanted to make it clear which program I despised.

thats my opinion, it may differ from yours ;)

It's economics.   Take the premise of the pilot for SG:A, add the mood/flavor of the recent Battlestar series - add a big new cheaper cast and cut overhead (use exteriors and one big re-useable set instead of paying to make new sci fi themed sets every week).
Like BSG I can watch it, but only when I'm in a specific mood - too dark and aimless to watch just for fun, but worth following in case there's an underlying theme or direction that's not yet obvious (not enough new Sci Fi of any kind on TV to saturate my appetite, however poorly conceived).  They'll probably come up with some evil race or baddie to give it a more traditional space opera framework to hang the hackneyed recycled plots that SciFy's movies are noted for.

Patience has nothing to do with it. BSG never got any better IMHO. Sanctuary is on Season 2 and going downhill from the Internet broadcast stories in Season 1. They appear to be just trying to stretch out Amanda Tapping's SG fame in a poorly written fantasy series. Don't get me started on Melrose Space AKA "V" the remake. SGU could get better if they start writing real stories instead of bland formulaic Skiffy. They've got a whole new universe to play with but right now it's weekly softcore porn and a tad bit of drama.

Quote - > Quote - Next Gen first seasons [was] terrible..

Absolutely yes

Quote - but it settled in and matured into a great show...

  Absolutely no,

I loved DS 9, but I can think of exactly 2 good episodes of next generation.

---

Sorry about editing this after your post, but I wanted to make it clear which program I despised.

oh no problems at all

I loved DS9 as well. ever since Sisko punched Q in the face :)
why that hadn't been done before....

Skiffy on TV - and most movies for that matter - is usually total bobbins. 

Define real stories in relations to Sci-Fi.

Quote - Define real stories in relations to Sci-Fi.

Larry Niven's Ring World series, Anne McCaffery's Dragonriders of Pern, or Power Lines series, Anything by Andre Norton, Issac Asimov, Heinlein or Arthur C. Clark. Not all "Sci-Fi" is "Skiffy"!

Quote - Define real stories in relations to Sci-Fi.

Well or course "real stories" is a subjective term
I personally prefer "Hard" Sci-fi with some political intrigue Like Frank Herberts Dune.
I was even a Fan of Farscape
because, Like "Babylon Five", it had really interesting aliens and was So far removed from  "Earth Culture"wich gave such a good contrast to the main antagonist "John Crichton"

I even Found at SG Atlantis tolerable most times
but I can see what the people complaining about BSG and the new SGU mean.

Cheers

Gotta love Dune! I just wish there was a way to truely do it justice on film!  Babylon 5 was FANTASTIC when it comes to original stories and well crafted plots! I'm not an elitist by any stretch of the imagination though. I love Doctor Who, which is one big long formulaic series, but it's fun to watch.

I'm on board with those, wolf.  And the classic Sci-Fi writers were always in touch with what fans crave in such stories.  However, remember many authors interjected social comments and observations in their stories, and made readers think and reflect, for a change, on human conditions and the direction we're heading.  SGU is a daring departure from the standard franchise which is rather refreshing but could easily fall by the waistside if the writers don't or can't come up with decent storylines.  So far, it's an intelligent Sci-Fi show which has some credibility but it is not for everyone.

Quote - > Quote - Define real stories in relations to Sci-Fi.

Larry Niven's Ring World series, Anne McCaffery's Dragonriders of Pern, or Power Lines series, Anything by Andre Norton, Issac Asimov, Heinlein or Arthur C. Clark. Not all "Sci-Fi" is "Skiffy"!

Strongly disagree.  Sci Fi is Skiffy.  If it's good enough of a term for Ian M Banks, it's good enough for me.

And, yes, you're absolutely right about Dune.  Superb.

"So far, it's an intelligent Sci-Fi show which has some credibility but it is not for everyone."

Please explain what's intelligent about it.  The same thing happens every week and the characters still don't know what's going on.  

• They need something, so ship takes them somewhere to get it.

• Nobody realizes the ship is taking them to what they need, so they treat it as a major problem.

• At some point the light bulb goes off and they realize the ship took them to what they wanted.

• In between all this is Eli ending every hurried sentence with a sarcastic question mark?  Then he breaks into child-like philosophy which makes one of the adults cry, but nobody bothers to tell him he's acting like a child.  Oh, and somehow the flying camera always gets some air time.

By the second time it happened even an idiot would realize the ship takes them to what they need.

• Then at the end it's hinted that Rush knew all along and wasn't telling for his own nefarious reasons.

Somewhere sprinkled in all that is:

• Someone has sex.
• Someone goes back to earth to visit their family but can't tell them what's going on
• Someone goes back to earth to visit a family member who is security cleared for some reason
• Colonel Telford visits the ship to subvert Young's authority and maybe boinks Young's wife
• Lieutenant Scaa, who has a lot of the sex, snitches on Telford to Young and cuts off the last word of every sentence he speaks.

"I'm lieutenant scaa" for scott.
"We have a situatiaaa" for situation

etc,

I'm thinking that the only reason they keep beating on the corpse of Stargate is two-fold:

1) SciFi (before they changed their name) paid a friggin' mint for the rights to the original movie, and likely has yet to see enough of a return on the original investment (solution: flog it until even the most die-hard fans turn up their noses at it).

2) They don't have anything else better to do - Joss Whedon left a long time ago, and no writer who is worth a damn really wants to see their works get crucified by the network execs.

==

Quote - And, yes, you're absolutely right about Dune.  Superb.

I can agree to that. In the realm of "real" SciFi, there are books (and even a few movies) that simply rock the house. Philip K. Dick stands out as a (largely unsung but absolute) master of the art. Heinlein and Asimov really stand out as well. Clark? Sure - I can give a grudgingly respectful nod to 'im. EE "Doc" Smith could readily drag your brain kicking and screaming into another existence, but when you got back you were damned glad for the trip. Even Carl frickin' Sagan could do a workable turn of the "Fi" in SciFi. There's plenty more where those gents came from as well... :)  

On TV and movies...

Rod Serling is just shy of a demi-god. Gene Roddenberry? Well, not so much, but the kitch is pretty damned irresistible, and no I'm not a Trekkie. Stanley Kubrick? When sufficiently motivated, the man simply knew how to kick theatrical ass. Shirow Masamune (linked) managed to influence SciFi cinema and TV, way the hell beyond the anime/manga realm, and few people will ever know it. Same with Shinichirō Watanabe (yep, linked again). Joss Whedon? All I can say is, damn I wish he'd do another SciFi show - movie or TV, I don't care.

George Lucas? Pfft! He can go eat a, err, well - 'nuff said (mind you, this opinion only came about after those cinematic abortions known as Star Wars, Episodes I - III ). Same with Steve Spielberg, and I'm saying it in spite of the fact that I really liked Close Encounters of the Third Kind (seriously... ET... WTF? It's like his brain shorted sometime during the early 1980's).

Quote - > Quote - > Quote - Define real stories in relations to Sci-Fi.

Larry Niven's Ring World series, Anne McCaffery's Dragonriders of Pern, or Power Lines series, Anything by Andre Norton, Issac Asimov, Heinlein or Arthur C. Clark. Not all "Sci-Fi" is "Skiffy"!

Strongly disagree.  Sci Fi is Skiffy.  If it's good enough of a term for Ian M Banks, it's good enough for me.

And, yes, you're absolutely right about Dune.  Superb.

To each their own. Skiffy to me is "Sci-Fi Light". Probably my own definition, but there you have it. Certainly not worth disagreeing about though. I've never read any Ian M. Banks or even heard of him til just now so what can I say?

And I must stand with Flibbit's on the subject of the intelligence behind SGU. I'm just not seeing it!

Hey Peng, are you familiar with the Bowie song, "Starman"?  The plot of Close Encounters is remarkably similar, even down to Bowie ripping off Somewhere Over the Rainbow for the chorus and the tune itself being used in the movie. 

Quote - Hey Peng, are you familiar with the Bowie song, "Starman"?  The plot of Close Encounters is remarkably similar, even down to Bowie ripping off Somewhere Over the Rainbow for the chorus and the tune itself being used in the movie. 

that would make sense, come to think of it...

I think the amateur bungling accidental explorers of SG: Universe, make a good metaphor for the amateur bungling writers and actors of this series. Most likely the whole season is already in the can, but maybe, if it survives to another season, the one dimensional flaky characters will be fleshed out, and the gimmicky simplistic plots will become more sophisticated. Given the generally poor offerings on virtually every other cable channel, SG:U is not quite the bottom of the barrel.

Much worse by far are the made for cable, SiFi channel movies that are much more poorly written, acted, and produced. They are uniformly implausible, uncoordinated, inconsistent, and boring. These “movies beg the creation of a new grade of SiFi movies, the “F” grade.

I loved the work of Frank Herbert in “Dune.” The ramblings of his son to “complete” the series are another matter. Some of the books were so bad that I could not make myself finish them. They lack any real understanding of the senior Herbert’s work. If you have not already read these books, don’t. Let the work of Frank Herbert stand on its own.

lmk

Being a fan of Stargate and BSG, SGU sounded like it was right up my alley.  Even my hubby who could never get into SG started watching the first few episodes with me, because he enjoyed BSG so much.  Sadly, it's already getting really old really fast.  Hubby has already stopped watching.

Hopefully things pick up.  I know they had 18 episodes already finished when it premiered, so they've still got time to win me over.  That is, if they can stop with the gross misuse of the communications stones.  Shouldn't they be bringing over scientists to help Rush instead of going out clubbing and using someone else's body to bang their SO's?

And I agree, Dune is awesome.  Loved the books and especially The Children of Dune mini-series (and the soundtrack makes for great background music when playing in Poser).

Quote - Much worse by far are the made for cable, SiFi channel movies that are much more poorly written, acted, and produced. They are uniformly implausible, uncoordinated, inconsistent, and boring. These “movies beg the creation of a new grade of SiFi movies, the “F” grade.

Yeap... SyFy (hate that name, but that's how they spell it) seems to sink to new lows every year. > Quote - I loved the work of Frank Herbert in “Dune.” The ramblings of his son to “complete” the series are another matter.

This is the same reason why I love Heinlein's work to death, but won't go near his estate's efforts to monetize every half-done manuscript and scribbling they could scrounge out of the poor guy's desk.

Probably heresy but I enjoyed the "House Atriedes/Harkonnen/Corrino" set immensely.  "The Butlerian Jihad", however, is unbelievably bad. 

Personally I think it's a refreshing change of formula from the first 2 stargates where the run headlong into a horrible bad guy and practically draw him a road map to earth. It's a bit slower, but it's a serial. Like Lost or Heros it takes a while to develop.

FYI: the spelling of SyFi is now a trade mark for the old Sci-Fi channel, because they could not trade mark the Sci-Fi word.
Does anyone remember the tv series "Firefly", which was a good show but like all good shows it only lasted 14 episodes. Star Gate wasn't that bad, Atlantis was the same as Star Gate but with different bad guys. BSG got better after the first season, and for the Cylons that look like us is that there is only 12 models. V which is the remake of the old tv series, which started of slow too, but picked up.
Also on Jan 22  Caprica is to start, which is suppose to take place before BSG and by some of the previews the 12 Cylones came from Caprica, or more like programmed clones.
It is becomming more of remakes of old movies and tv series with an endless supply of spin-offs. With story lines the same but told in a different way, that is what it is all about, not thinking required, "Brains not included"!!!

I tend to think of it as 'BattleGate Galactica'...;) but for some reason I think they're channeling an old (Hitchcock?) movie called 'Lifeboat'....;)

I watch it, but it hasn't really stirred me. They haven't really run into anyone but themselves....