SGU Stargate Universe: Light Rewatch
May 5, 2016 9:08 PM - Season 1, Episode 5 - Subscribe
Nearly out of power, Destiny has dropped out of F.T.L. and is flying directly toward a sun. The crew has no access to core systems and no way to change the ship's course. Colonel Young conducts a lottery to determine who will escape certain death to try and find a habitable planet with the shuttle.
Episode
* Transcript
* Watch on Hulu (requires subscription)
Trivia (From here)
* This episode won a Leo Award for "Best Screenwriting in a Dramatic Series" (Brad Wright) The Leo Awards are given by the Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Foundation of British Columbia, for the film and television industry.
* People who left Kino messages in this episode were Master Sgt. Ronald Greer, Camile Wray, Chloe Armstrong and Colonel Everett Young.
* It is suggested that Greer was detained for assaulting Colonel David Telford and that, while Young didn't condone Greer's actions, he agreed that Telford deserved it.
Criticisms
Colonel Young: "There's a rumor spreading that we're still here."
Dr. Rush: "We are. Destiny needed all its power reserves to protect itself, and us."
Eli Wallace: "Uh, guys? We're *in* the star."
Colonel Young: "That can't be right. We're talkin' thousands of degrees."
Dr. Rush: "Well, we've just flown through the corona, which is even hotter, to say nothing of magnetic fields, gravitational stresses. This is what Destiny intended from the moment it entered this star system."
Colonel Young: "You're telling me it flew into the sun on purpose?"
Dr. Rush: "Yes."
Colonel Young: "Why?"
Dr. Rush: "To replenish its reserves."
Colonel Young: "You're telling me this ship...."
Dr. Rush: "The ship is powered by the stars themselves. Solar powered, quite literally. There is no other explanation."
Episode
* Transcript
* Watch on Hulu (requires subscription)
Trivia (From here)
* This episode won a Leo Award for "Best Screenwriting in a Dramatic Series" (Brad Wright) The Leo Awards are given by the Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Foundation of British Columbia, for the film and television industry.
* People who left Kino messages in this episode were Master Sgt. Ronald Greer, Camile Wray, Chloe Armstrong and Colonel Everett Young.
* It is suggested that Greer was detained for assaulting Colonel David Telford and that, while Young didn't condone Greer's actions, he agreed that Telford deserved it.
Criticisms
There’s a throwaway moment near the end of “Darkness” that drew the ire of some viewers during the initial run. Riley (Haig Sutherland) is piloting the Kino and uses the camera to catch a shot of James in her underwear. It’s the type of scene that would probably not have made the cut if the story was just one episode. This isn’t the most forward-thinking moment on the show, but there are some great reaction shots from Eli and Young after Riley gets busted. It’s a character moment that adds a bit of levity to a pretty dreary situation. On the other hand, it also comes across like an excuse to get an attractive actress into less clothing. Given the boys club in the writers’ room, moments like this don’t help with efforts to depict three-dimensional female characters.Quote
Colonel Young: "There's a rumor spreading that we're still here."
Dr. Rush: "We are. Destiny needed all its power reserves to protect itself, and us."
Eli Wallace: "Uh, guys? We're *in* the star."
Colonel Young: "That can't be right. We're talkin' thousands of degrees."
Dr. Rush: "Well, we've just flown through the corona, which is even hotter, to say nothing of magnetic fields, gravitational stresses. This is what Destiny intended from the moment it entered this star system."
Colonel Young: "You're telling me it flew into the sun on purpose?"
Dr. Rush: "Yes."
Colonel Young: "Why?"
Dr. Rush: "To replenish its reserves."
Colonel Young: "You're telling me this ship...."
Dr. Rush: "The ship is powered by the stars themselves. Solar powered, quite literally. There is no other explanation."
This show seems more realistic than the average sci-fi just because of the terrible qualities of the 'leaders'. Imagine how stressed you would be under Young as opposed to, say, Adama.
posted by Trifling at 8:41 AM on May 6, 2016
posted by Trifling at 8:41 AM on May 6, 2016
I'm continuing to really dig the rewatch. I've been skipping around some Stargate: Atlantis for comparison, and it's hard to picture it even being the same universe.
Stuff:
* I noticed the reference to Telford right away. As hard as they're hitting that, it does make me wonder about protocols for psych evaluations within Stargate Command. I mean, they live in a universe where people are routinely used as meat puppets by evil snake monsters posing as Egyptian gods. It seems like they should be more concerned with erratic behavior than real world groups, but on the other hand, I guess it makes sense that they wouldn't adjust to this well.
* I thought Young's behavior - though extremely troubling - at least made sense here. The odds of the shuttle crew surviving weren't really a lot better than the ship. Putting it to a lottery with just a couple seats hand-picked felt as fair as anything else, and removing his own name from the running was good.
* Rush wasn't a total bag of dicks this time... well, not for a whole couple hours anyway. It's a little jarring. I can't remember if he knew the ship would survive or not, but I'm inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt on this occasion.
* The way James is treated really is extra grating on rewatch - Scott drops her for Chloe without so much as a note, she's spied on via Kino... I feel worse and worse for her as stuff moves forward.
* I'm also even more disgusted with Scott generally - his talk to Chloe about 'oh he totes has to pick you for my copilot' was so slimy.
* I wasn't sure about Greer on the first watch, at least not early in, but I like him a lot upon second viewing.
* Destiny is actually pretty impressive for once. Ancients come across as shockingly dim a lot of the time - this is pretty much their hat throughout SGA - but the 'flies into stars to recharge' thing was fantastic. Great visual, great plot idea, etc.
Still looking forward to the next one.
posted by mordax at 9:08 AM on May 6, 2016
Stuff:
* I noticed the reference to Telford right away. As hard as they're hitting that, it does make me wonder about protocols for psych evaluations within Stargate Command. I mean, they live in a universe where people are routinely used as meat puppets by evil snake monsters posing as Egyptian gods. It seems like they should be more concerned with erratic behavior than real world groups, but on the other hand, I guess it makes sense that they wouldn't adjust to this well.
* I thought Young's behavior - though extremely troubling - at least made sense here. The odds of the shuttle crew surviving weren't really a lot better than the ship. Putting it to a lottery with just a couple seats hand-picked felt as fair as anything else, and removing his own name from the running was good.
* Rush wasn't a total bag of dicks this time... well, not for a whole couple hours anyway. It's a little jarring. I can't remember if he knew the ship would survive or not, but I'm inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt on this occasion.
* The way James is treated really is extra grating on rewatch - Scott drops her for Chloe without so much as a note, she's spied on via Kino... I feel worse and worse for her as stuff moves forward.
* I'm also even more disgusted with Scott generally - his talk to Chloe about 'oh he totes has to pick you for my copilot' was so slimy.
* I wasn't sure about Greer on the first watch, at least not early in, but I like him a lot upon second viewing.
* Destiny is actually pretty impressive for once. Ancients come across as shockingly dim a lot of the time - this is pretty much their hat throughout SGA - but the 'flies into stars to recharge' thing was fantastic. Great visual, great plot idea, etc.
Still looking forward to the next one.
posted by mordax at 9:08 AM on May 6, 2016
* I thought Young's behavior - though extremely troubling - at least made sense here. The odds of the shuttle crew surviving weren't really a lot better than the ship. Putting it to a lottery with just a couple seats hand-picked felt as fair as anything else, and removing his own name from the running was good.
I thought Camille had a good point. He should have hand-picked the crew of that shuttle to help try and insure their survival. Doing it randomly lessened their chances.
* The way James is treated really is extra grating on rewatch - Scott drops her for Chloe without so much as a note, she's spied on via Kino... I feel worse and worse for her as stuff moves forward.
Yeah, Scott comes across as a huge ass here. I didn't like the way he acted in "Life" (ninth episode) either, but we'll get to that soon.
The situation with James doesn't improve much as the show goes on. Camera angles often seem to keep James and Chloe's chests somewhere in the frame. The three other women in the main cast are TJ, Lisa Park and Camille but for the most part they don't get the same treatment.
posted by zarq at 9:42 AM on May 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
I thought Camille had a good point. He should have hand-picked the crew of that shuttle to help try and insure their survival. Doing it randomly lessened their chances.
* The way James is treated really is extra grating on rewatch - Scott drops her for Chloe without so much as a note, she's spied on via Kino... I feel worse and worse for her as stuff moves forward.
Yeah, Scott comes across as a huge ass here. I didn't like the way he acted in "Life" (ninth episode) either, but we'll get to that soon.
The situation with James doesn't improve much as the show goes on. Camera angles often seem to keep James and Chloe's chests somewhere in the frame. The three other women in the main cast are TJ, Lisa Park and Camille but for the most part they don't get the same treatment.
posted by zarq at 9:42 AM on May 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
I thought Camille had a good point. He should have hand-picked the crew of that shuttle to help try and insure their survival. Doing it randomly lessened their chances.
Eh. I honestly feel like the shuttle gambit was more to prevent a riot on the ship than to help anyone actually survive - they weren't even sure the planet had liquid water, but they knew the crew was going to panic and fight if they didn't have something to focus on.
And... huh. I guess I'm arguing that for once, I feel like Young was the Machiavellian schemer, and Rush should be cut some slack, so I'm suddenly not sure. :)
The situation with James doesn't improve much as the show goes on.
Yeah. I remember that. :(
posted by mordax at 10:06 AM on May 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
Eh. I honestly feel like the shuttle gambit was more to prevent a riot on the ship than to help anyone actually survive - they weren't even sure the planet had liquid water, but they knew the crew was going to panic and fight if they didn't have something to focus on.
And... huh. I guess I'm arguing that for once, I feel like Young was the Machiavellian schemer, and Rush should be cut some slack, so I'm suddenly not sure. :)
The situation with James doesn't improve much as the show goes on.
Yeah. I remember that. :(
posted by mordax at 10:06 AM on May 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
I am still pissed off at SyFy for murdering SGU and Caprica.
posted by Bringer Tom at 5:38 PM on May 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Bringer Tom at 5:38 PM on May 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
I am still pissed off at SyFy for murdering SGU and Caprica.
Yeah, the trailer for the season of Caprica that never happened was quite the taunt, and I'm still torqued about not knowing what happened after SGU's finale. :(
posted by mordax at 11:32 PM on May 7, 2016
Yeah, the trailer for the season of Caprica that never happened was quite the taunt, and I'm still torqued about not knowing what happened after SGU's finale. :(
posted by mordax at 11:32 PM on May 7, 2016
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posted by zarq at 9:14 PM on May 5, 2016