One Sentence Review

Fairly standard Time-Travel fair with good character development that will be negated by the reset button at the end

Episode Recap

We see a Kino recording of a large number of the Destiny crew exit out onto a jungle planet and start gathering resources. As Eli interviews people, the members of the team start to become ill. Due to the risk of spreading the illness, the team remains on the planet rather than returning to the Destiny.

This proves to be a mistake since when night falls they are attacked by Indigenous creatures that injure Lt Scott, and kill several members of the group including Chloe, they are then unable to escape through the Stargate as it’s malfunctioning. We then return to the Destiny and see the recording is being watched by several people including a very alive Chloe. The Kino with the recording on had been found by Eli when they arrived on the planet along with human remains.

On the Destiny everyone who went on the mission is put in Quarantine along with those they came into contact with. They then continue watching the Kino recording, which is the next day and the creatures are apparently nocturnal so the survivors are safe for the time being. It then turns out that Volker died of the illness and Scott is in a coma. They then retreat to a cave which should offer protection for the night. Back on Destiny people are starting to fall ill including Chloe.

On the recording Greer and Eli start to take the battle to the creatures and blow up several of their nests. Unfortunately the wormhole is still unstable so they cant return. Things aren’t much better on Destiny as more people are falling ill.

On the planet while things are quite for a time, the creatures eventually attack, and Rush decides to risk the wormhole, quoting Butch Cassidy’s last line as he leaves. The plan doesn’t seem to work and Eli and Greer are then killed by the creatures.

On the Destiny they then find that the illness did not come from the Jungle planet but was from the water from the ice planet instead.

On the Kino recording we then see Lt Scott wake from the coma and find everyone dead. He then finds the wormhole is still unstable but physically has recovered from the illness, he then sends the Kino through the wormhole which is back on the jungle planet and finds a dead Rush. Rush then realises that the wormhole had passed through a solar flare causing the Kino to go back in time. Rush also realises that the venom from the creature could cure the disease.

A team go to the planet but before they find the creature several people die including Chloe. After the team receive this news they get attacked by the creatures and most of them die. Lt Scott manages to survive and takes the Kino and pad to the gate. He then dials the Destiny and waits for the wormhole to become unstable, he then records a message for the “next timeline”, when the wormhole becomes unstable he sends it through.

Thoughts and Analysis

After last week’s controversial and disappointing episode Stargate Universe went back to its roots with one of the staples of the Sci-Fi Genre Time Travel. While last week I was frustrated over the lack of thought regarding the consequences of peoples actions, my main complaint this week is that all the welcome character details and development is erased through use of the reset button. Not to mention Lt Scott saved the day twice.

In terms of the plot it was your fairly standard time travel and medical affair, with the initial misdirection that the disease originated on the planet. The only issue I had with this part of the plot was that it was a bit convenient that the disease only afflicted people who went to the planet. It was also convenient that the cure happened to be on the planet as well, though given the way the Destiny AI works it’s possible it was deliberate.

Its actually quite hard to judge what the impact from this episode will be, as unless both Kino’s (Eli’s from timeline 1 and Scott’s from timeline 2) are found or Lt Scotts has more information than his message all of it will not have happened, which is what I hate about reset button episodes. One thing which I would have thought would happen but didn’t is that I would have expected the timeline 2 team to have a Kino prepared with everything they had learnt to send through back in time in case (as what happened) they could not retrieve the creatures in time.

In terms of what we learn, Eli again seemed for the most part to be the focus of the development and we learn more about what is wrong with his mother. Given how he is becoming more important to the team, and Stargate Command have access to several advanced healing devices, I wonder if he will be able to convince them to use them on his mother. I was annoyed though that his Kino stalking of Chloe and Scott continued, I just hope he gets over this before trouble arises from it.

Despite the lack of consequences due to the reset button message right at the end, this episode is still one of the best of the series so far. Unfortunately the preview for the next episode make it look like Stargate Universe could go back to it’s Soap Opera-ish worst.

Episode Rating

8/10