Warning: This post contains spoilers if you have not seen the episode

One Sentence Review

An excellent introduction to the latest installment in the Stargate Franchise, the only minor let down being that we have to wait until next week to discover the episodes resolution

Episode Synopsis

The episode opens with a large group of stargate personnel and civilians doing a hasty exit through a Stargate onto a massive abandoned starship. It soon becomes clear that they have no idea where they are, and have been fleeing an attack. We later learn that the personnel come from Icarus base, which had been built in order to investigate the mysterious 9th chevron as it was the only planet which had a natural power source sufficient to allow the 9th chevron to be accessed.

Icarus base had come under attack from force in Goa’uld vessels (suspected to be Lucien Alliance), which had caused it to be necessary to evacuate the planet. The chief scientist Doctor Nicholas Rush rather than dialing Earth to escape dialed the 9th chevron address instead in part because the attack had caused the planet to become unstable and about to explode and the force could be transferred through the Stargate to Earth and because it could be their only chance to dial the 9th Chevron address as it had taken 2 years to find the planet the base was on. This causes considerable resentment towards Rush from the rest of the personnel when they discover what has happened. This isn’t helped when he reveals he has a way to contact Earth through an ancient artifact and that he has already contacted General O’Neill who has placed him in charge.

On the ship which we learn is called the Destiny, it quickly becomes apparent that there is a major problem with life support which is caused by a combination of hull breaches which are probably the result of attack and faulty air scrubbers. The ship will run out of air in a few hours if the biggest leak isn’t sealed, but this will only buy them a day due to the faulty scrubbers and can only be solved by someone closing doors inside the room with the leak. This problem is solved when Senator Armstrong sacrifices himself by sealing himself inside the room having suffered severe injuries in the attack on Icarus base.

In the Destiny’s Gateroom Colonel Everett Young is informed that there is an 8 Chevron address in the computer that should lead back to Earth which he orders dialed. When Dr. Rush finds out he immediately tries to stop it as he believes it wont work and will just cause a massive drain on the ships power. At this point the dialing automatically stops and the ship exits FTL, the gate then starts dialing automatically to a nearby world which Rush claims will have what they need to survive, the only problem being their time on the planet is limited to 12 hours after which the Destiny will continue its journey.

Thoughts and Analysis

After the surprising cancellation of the excellent Stargate Atlantis, there was much trepidation about the direction of this latest member of the Stargate franchise, which was rumoured to be aimed at a younger audience and be more highly sexed than its predecessers. While the first episode Air has already showed indications that this may be the case, the high quality of the episode has allieviated most of my worries in this regard. All that remains to be seen is if the quality is maintained as the series progresses.

This impression is actually quite surprising given that after the first 30 odd minutes of Air I had a strange feeling of Deja Vu as if I was watching the first episode of Stargate Atlantis again or was I thinking of the first episode of Star Trek Voyager, you could even throw in the pilot episodes of Farscape and Battlestar Galactica in there as there are elements that could be taken from all of them though the parallels are biggest for Stargate Atlantis.

In Rising the first episode of Stargate Atlantis, they discover that Atlantis is running out of power and has limited resources and they have no way back home, which is awfully similar to the situation on the Destiny which is old and damaged with limited resources and they look like they have no way home. The main difference is in SG Atlantis they expected to be out of contact with Earth while in SG Universe they did not expect to be put in the situation at least not at that point in time, and they also have a method for contacting Earth. So the plot while solid is fairly generic for a pilot episode of a Sci-Fi series.

I also had a small laugh when I realised that this is the 2nd “Icarus Project” in recent years to have a bad ending in a science fiction series. The first one being the Icarus Project in Babylon 5 which found the Shadows leading to the death and enslavement of most of the crew of the Icarus. I always wonder why anyone would want to name a space related project after a mythological character who died after flying too close to the Sun. It just seems to me to be asking for trouble.

What made the episode for me though was the characters and their interactions with each other, and if the first episode is anything to go by the core cast probably consists of the following 6 characters:

Dr Nicholas Rush (Robert Carlyle)

Unless the producers are pulling a fast one (which is possible given the status of the actor) looks like he is going to be the main character driving the story along this season unless they kill him off quite early on in a surprise move. From the first episode he seems obsessed with solving the problem of the 9th Chevron and seems to be hiding something. We currently only have his word that General O’Neill placed him in charge, but I assume that will be confirmed as soon as someone else uses the ancient artifact. If anything from this episode it appears that Dr Rush fits into the “shifty temporary replacement Commander of a base/ship in a 2 part episode” mould than that of the main Commander, and it will be interesting to see how his story progresses.

Eli Wallace (David Blue)

Seems to be the “everyman role” having just become aware of the Stargate project when recruited after he solved a mathematical proof which Dr Rush had been trying to solve that was hidden in the Prometheus video game as the Dakara Weapons Puzzle. Very intelligent and had attended MIT but has been unemployed prior to solving the puzzle and trying to take care of his mother who was ill. His main initial interactions seem to be with Dr Rush and Lt. Scott and my initial assessment of his character is of a younger less confident, more likeable Rodney Mckay

Colonel Everett Young (Justin Louis)

Currently the senior military officer on the Destiny, and recovering from an injury gained in the evacuation of Icarus base. Seems to be more of a “by the book” officer than we are used to for leading characters. From the flashback it appears that his job was causing marital difficulties and it is unclear what impact his injury and marital difficulties will have in the future.

Lt Matthew Scott (Brian J Smith)

Currently 2nd in command of the military forces on the Destiny and after watching the first 2 parts of air my gut instinct is that he will turn out to be the “Aiden Ford” of Stargate Universe as I probably found him to be the least compelling character. It probably didnt help my impression of him that the first time we see him he is having sex with a female crewman in a storage room on the USS General Hammond. Its still early days so its possible he could redeem himself

Lt Tamara Johansen (Alaina Huffman)

A medic who is currently the most experienced medical person on the Destiny after the Icarus Base Doctor was killed in the attack. Underqualified and inexperienced with inusfficient equipment and is fully aware of this fact. It also appears that she should not have been on the Destiny or Icarus Base having received a scholarship to a University which should have begun 2 weeks earlier, and from a Flashback it seems that her not taking up the scholarship may have been due to some pressure from the IOA representative Camille Wray.

Chloe Armstrong (Elyse Levesque)

The daughter and political aide of the now deceased Senator Alan Armstrong whose death she blames on Dr Rush. My impression is that she is the female counterpoint to Eli in present a more normal perspective on events in Stargate Universe. Given that she has not yet presented any particular skills appropriate to the situation the crew are in it will be interesting to see how her role and personality develops.

Moving on, I was pleased to see Cameos from several Stargate Alumni, though I was mildly dissapointed that Michael Shanks role was hosting introductory videos. While I could see his character doing that role I would have found it more amusing if he was meant to go along on the 9th Chevron mission but had been on the General Hammond when the attack occured preventing him from tagging along as often seemed to happen with missions to Atlantis. While I was dissapointed that there were no cameo’s from Stargate Atlantis characters (discounting Carter who is primarily SG-1), given that we dont know what happened to Atlantis post Season finale there could be a good story reason why they are not involved when their experience of Ancient technology would seem to me to make them a natural choice for the 9th Chevron mission.

There was also some good setting up for potential future story arcs and character conflicts, as we see one soldier “stealing” food bars, which given the limited supplies could become a major issue. There are also a number of unanswered questions about the situation in general beyond character flashbacks as it is inferred that someone leaked information about Icarus base to the Lucien Alliance (or whoever attacked the base) implying that one or more of the people on the Destiny could be a traitor. There is also the question of who/what attacked the Destiny and are they likely to return, while this is something that could be ignored and not damage the story too much, it is also something that could be used in the future.

Overall, while not the most original plot the opening episode shows enough promise to keep me watching Stargate Universe for at least the next few episodes.

Episode Rating

8/10

Destiny Death Count

This Episode 1 death

Senator Alan Armstrong