SGU, by far the most underrated series.

[garhkal]

While there was more of SGA i disliked than SG1, i would not give it up for more SGU..

[psl1]

I deffinately would trade any amount of SG-1 or SGA for more SGU.

[the fifth man]

SGU was growing very strong IMO. It is a shame it was canceled when it was.

[Macphisto]

I wouldn't trade any SG-1 or SGA for more SGU, but I'd love more SGU. I would agree that it was the pinnacle of the franchise in many ways and was firing on all cylinders at the end of S2.

But I think all three series were great. And reality is that there would be no SGU without the other two. I think each series created a different dynamic - and we even saw SG-1 basically reboot the tone with S9.

Atlantis started out with a bang and never let up. SG-1 took a few seasons to really find its footing, but by S3 it was hitting with most every ep. SGU built slowly, but was far more character driven. And at least there was some humor still there, unlike a show like BSG which was mostly humorless (great show, but it could be oppressive).

Though I will say that SG-1 makes me laugh the most, but that has much to do with the chemistry. RDA is hilarious. Amanda Tapping has her own unique mannerisms that make her funny. Shanks has a great sarcastic wit as Daniel. And Browder and Black bring much humor with them in S9 and S10.

I could use more SG-1, SGA, and SGU, to be honest. I think all three shows had plenty of life left in them when they ended, though SGU had the most direct path to a few more years of plots since there was seemingly a destination that was planned from the beginning.

[Zombies Rise from the Sea]

I am a Stargate fan so I watched all of SGA and as good as Joe Flanigan was, David Hewlett as Rodeny McKay was THE ONLY reason for watching that show. It was a very poor rip off of SG1 that had only McKay going for it.

Many people would dispute that; I mean it had the same basis as SG1 and much of the same cast but I wouldn't call it a ripoff, I'd call it SG1 in a different universe but I wouldn't call it a ripoff.

Now finally I am starting to get more mature and SGU comes out. Finally this is a Stargate that is for adults.

Just like the Arch Deluxe, just because it's mature does not mean it's automatically going to be great.

There is FINALLY real character development, real characters thrown together with different motivations and a real storyline. This is no longer our childish SG1 with the heros vanquishing the bad guys, go earth! This is a real drama with real people problems, a true show in every sense of the word.

I wouldn't call SG1 childish as it had some moments where it seemed dark and edgy... I'd call it more of a family show more than a childrens show as it was designed for the whole family to enjoy; I would call Seasons 8-10 childish because it dumbed down SG1 to the point where it made the characters into a bunch of goofups, changed the situations so that it'd seemed more lighthearted and focused more on being comedic rather then being straight sci-fi. If they removed the extremely violent stuff and they aired this on Disney Junior, absolutely everyone would think that this was a live action kids series created by Disney and no one would be the wiser of it's true origins.

One thing I dislike about SGU is how it's presented as "This isn't your old childish Stargate; this is a new, adult Stargate with real characters, with real edge, with real action & drama! SG1 and SGA were childish, this is hip, this is new, this is edgy, this is SGU!" I mean I get that it's something different but to use it as a praising point of the series, that doesn't entirely work.

We have a bunch of completely different people dealing with an extraordinary situation as best they can. This is a real human drama, and this is a series that can completely be taken seriously by the general populace. This is just a great TV show, nevermind the sci fi aspect.

Many of the situations seen on the ship reminded me of soap operas and barely any of the characters on the show could have been considered to be really human (except for Rush, Eli, Young and Greer). To me, TJ, Wray, Scott and Chloe and all the other characters seem mostly robotic in their acting; portraying themselves to be characters reading lines and not really getting themselves into the situations, there are very few times where the characters actually shine (Chloe for example.) but for the most part they're stuck acting as if this was a soap opera in space; but without any of the believability or humanism of the characters. I think it's first season couldn't exactly find a balance between sci-fi, action and character and that's what doomed the show; in a character drama I want to get to know the characters the best that I can and I want to see what the characters do on the ship itself, (which is what "Life" did perfectly.) without knowing the characters and without me getting involved with them, I find myself being detracted by the episodes where there are action, situations on the ship or even tensions between various factors. I don't want to find myself thinking about the flaws or knowing that they'll be back or even wondering if they'll even keep the changes posed in the episode (aside from cosmetic damages, there was barely anything that had an ever impacting change on the crew.), I want to be immersed in the action and so far SGU has failed to do that; it has shown it's flaws more then it has welcomed me with open arms.

I don't want a show like this to use sex, action, moments where the characters are trapped or even sci-fi tropes in order to entrance the audience; I want a show like this to focus on the characters and grow them, something which the show did not do as much even when given the chance.

Basically my point is that this show might have been completely limited by Stargate name. This is the 3rd maybe 2nd best sci fi show of all time, but it got cancelled since it was in the same vein as the awesome but still childish SG1 which is just such a shame.

The reason it got canceled is still up for debate. Some say it was due to SGA being canceled for SG1, some say it was because of the backlash from SGA and SG1 fans; I personally like to think that it couldn't captivate the audience enough to succeed. There situations they had the characters in (As much as other people like the Rush/Young conflict, I disliked it), the attempts to make the show deep and even the characters themselves were working against SGU from the start; with one thing you like comes another thing you just find tasteless. Some argue that the show gets better in the second season (and that might be true) but this is a space opera/serial, meaning that you have to consider and watch the episodes of Season 1 no matter disappointing/bad they may be and that alone harms the entire series since the episodes themselves aren't standalone. You can't skip Season 1 and jump into Season 2, that's not how it works.

If I win the lottery the first thing I do is finance a Serenity sequel, the second thing I do is finance a SGU movie. Can't believe that this show got only 2 seasons <Snipped >

What can I say, the mechanics of show business can be a pain in the ass sometimes and it's not like they weren't given a fair chance to gain their share of viewers.

SGA got 5 seasons and even that SG1 got the Ori years. I would trade 5 years of SGA + 2 years of Ori SG1 for ONE MORE SEASON OF SGU!!!! Please tell me I am not the only one.

I feel the same way but I would only trade the Ori SG1 for the remaining three seasons.

And to add my two cents on the matter. I wouldn't say SGU was underrated; in fact in my opinion it was overrated because the people constantly praised the show as if it were a masterpiece when I couldn't see anything that made it as grand as it seemed; don't get me wrong, there are good episodes but the series as a whole is overrated. Underrated is when something is truly good, truly amazing in every sense of the word but barely anybody pays it any mind; there are barely any mentions of it or even websites for it, even the fanbase for it could be considered a niche in it's own right.

Do you know what's truly underrated? "Babar (1989-1991)", barely anybody has heard about the show and there is barely any information about the show itself, compared to SGU which I'm sure got a lot of mentions on the web and etc. during it's run on Syfy. I mean have you seen the number of vids dedicated to SGU? If I win the lottery the first thing I'll do is try to bring back "Babar" because I felt it had more stories to tell and more people should really discover the magic and wonder that is this show.

[Gatefan1976]

I'm glad I didn't have to say that, I would just be called a "H8ter"

As for Babar, it *may* not be well known it the US, but my kids watch and enjoy Babar most days, so perhaps you may want to consider the "where", rather than the "what" in this instance?

[rushy]

I would trade the Ori seasons, the final Atlantis season, the entire DS9, the entire Infinity(SG animated) and possibly the entire TAS(Star Trek animated) for at least 1 extra SGU season.

[Gollumpus]

I had a number of issues with SGU, however, I felt it was developing into what was going to be a great a show.

One of the things which annoyed me about SGU was the (IMO) poor use of the "kino" net-based material. I'm fairly net aware and I didn't know of their existence until perhaps somewhere in season two.

There is stuff in those (heck, all of them) which could have been included into a regular TV episode, and had that been done, may have helped with their falling ratings. They provided humor, pathos and added to character and plot development in so many ways.

"Drop the Sirs", "Not Being There", "All the Stages", "Like a Hug", and "Wait for It" are some of the best.

regards,
G.

[KEK]

Underrated is when something is truly good, truly amazing in every sense of the word but barely anybody pays it any mind; there are barely any mentions of it or even websites for it, even the fanbase for it could be considered a niche in it's own right.

Na, underrated is just when something is rating as being worse than it is. It's a misnomer in this context anyway. It assumes there is an objectively correct rating, which there can't be by definition.

[Wulfmann]

Not sure how anyone gets the idea their desire to swap one for the other has any relevance.
What is the point?

I liked SG1, I liked SGA more and SGU was by far in a class by itself

Perhaps BSG embarrassed the SG producers who felt they wanted to play in the grown up arena of TV medium as even the music was BSGish.

That is not a bad thing. Porsche did not invent the SUV but they sure make a great one now and SGU may have been strongly influenced by the quality of character interaction and more realistic uneven human behavior of BSG but they did it in a way that separated it as well as give it a quality level that almost removed it too far from the simplistic first two series.

Bad economic timing

The only thing deserving of more seasons was Firefly

Wulfmann

[psl1]

Zombie from the sea....

You need to think about melodramas and soap operas more , because your communiction above is confused at best.

I think it's first season couldn't exactly find a balance between sci-fi, action and character and that's what doomed the show; in a character drama I want to get to know the characters the best that I can and I want to see what the characters do on the ship itself, (which is what "Life" did perfectly.) without knowing the characters and without me getting involved with them, I find myself being detracted by the episodes where there are action, situations on the ship or even tensions between various factors. I don't want to find myself thinking about the flaws or knowing that they'll be back or even wondering if they'll even keep the changes posed in the episode (aside from cosmetic damages, there was barely anything that had an ever impacting change on the crew.), I want to be immersed in the action and so far SGU has failed to do that; it has shown it's flaws more then it has welcomed me with open arms.

I haven't a clue what your trying to say here -really, other than the fact you are frustrated because the show doesn't work for you? You want action but don't want to have to deal with the fact that it involves people who are essentially flawed as most people are?

Do you realise that you will only get out of a TV show , what you invest into that TV show? If so- then the simple explanation from your quote is that you just DON'T LIKE THE SHOW and so you are no willing to waste the time investing in it. Thats OK and perfectly fine. I feel the same way about SG-1 & SGA. Which is also why I don't go on those sites and blab on and on about why I don't like that show.

I just ignor them and focus on the things that interesting to me and are important to me.

[jeri]

Do you realise that you will only get out of a TV show , what you invest into that TV show? If so- then the simple explanation from your quote is that you just DON'T LIKE THE SHOW and so you are no willing to waste the time investing in it. Thats OK and perfectly fine. I feel the same way about SG-1 & SGA. Which is also why I don't go on those sites and blab on and on about why I don't like that show.

I have said this a few times myself, psl1. Although I like SG-1 and SGA was okay.

Sure, there are a few things I would have done differently with SGU, but I enjoyed it the most of all three shows. And that's saying a lot, because I really, really like Stargate. But all the mud slinging that has gone on about this show has soured my enjoyment of all of Stargate.

I just don't get what people want out of bringing fans down. If I don't care for a show, I don't bother with it.

[Zombies Rise from the Sea]

Zombie from the sea....

You need to think about melodramas and soap operas more , because your communiction above is confused at best.

I did; and it reminded me several times of soap operas when I was watching it; the plots, the line delivery, the situations...

I haven't a clue what your trying to say here -really

I think it's pretty clear.

In a show like this, one element cannot stand out; all elements have to form a balance in order for a show like this to work, the action has to contribute to the characters, the characters have to contribute to the action and the sci-fi has to contribute to both.

If SGU shows action that barely shows the characters personality or gets me invested in the characters then I'm just watching action and nothing else. That may be good for those who love action but in a character drama like this, the action needs to be substantial, it needs to truly play a part in the characters. SGU did not make me feel like the action truly played a part in the characters because to me it felt like people doing action stuff while minorly referencing their personality.

As for the sci-fi, it does build the world but it doesn't go deeper; it doesn't effect a majority of the characters (only Rush and Chloe who's alien encounters are the only sci-fi bits the characters have.) and it doesn't correspond to the flawed characters at all; it's just there to build the world and expand stuff relating to Destiny; there are times where it does effect the characters but those moments are far and few in-between.

other than the fact you are frustrated because the show doesn't work for you?

That's not it at all, there are some parts where the show does work but from what I've seen, it doesn't work.

You want action but don't want to have to deal with the fact that it involves people who are essentially flawed as most people are?

I didn't say I wanted mindless action and I love to deal with flawed people in action sequences; it's just I wanted substantial action. The action in "Space" was somewhat exciting but as time passed it began to felt boring due to the lack of substantialness in it.

Do you realise that you will only get out of a TV show , what you invest into that TV show?

I watched the first season (almost about to watch the second) and I invested a reasonable amount of time into the show. There are elements that show some promise but it's not as brilliant as people make it out to be; throughout the show (and my reviews) I have noted flaws such as bad acting. (I honestly couldn't see mostly everybody as realistic or human.), an overreliance on edge (Sex and flashy death sequences are one of the most common things on the show) to set the show apart from previous SG's, the overreliance on conflicts that went nowhere (Young and Rush for one.) the reliance on certain conflicts that almost seemed contrived (The "devidiance" on the ship never seemed to work out as far as the show is concerned.) and the unwillingness to make major changes involving the characters. (Rush, Eli, Scott, Chloe and Greer all managed to return within a few episodes and even the stuff shown in "Justice", "Divided" and "Faith" never seems to effect the show much in it's timeline (the characters do mention it but to me it doesn't feel like those events truly effected the show.) and the show putting characters in dangerous situations ("Water") just to grow them rather then letting them walk around doing their business as usual (there is a lot you could learn by just watching him do only that.) and those flaws always seem to be prominent in the show almost always dragging the episodes down, including the really good ones like "Human" and "Life".

Point is; I want to focus on the good parts rather then the bad ones but the bad ones get in the way to much to ignore.

If so- then the simple explanation from your quote is that you just DON'T LIKE THE SHOW and so you are no willing to waste the time investing in it.

I'm not blind, I list stuff in my reasoning that describes why I dislike the show rather then just saying "SGU sucks, it's a soap opera in space and it doesn't feel like Stargate." And there is stuff that I like in the show, just because I dislike the show does not mean that I think of the show to be terrible, just really disappointing and amateurish.

Thats OK and perfectly fine. I feel the same way about SG-1 & SGA. Which is also why I don't go on those sites and blab on and on about why I don't like that show.

There is a difference between calmly pointing out what's wrong with the show and just going onto every thread and listing your reasons whether or not you fully watched the show or not. I'm not trying to be like a fan who likes SG1 and SGA more then SGU; I'm trying to be like someone who analyzed the show from a mostly non-SG/character drama perspective. And even them, I'm not one of those people who posts in every thread about why it sucks; only to provide my perspective on certain things such as cancellation, whether or not it was forced and the underratedness of the series.

I just ignor them and focus on the things that interesting to me and are important to me.

If you ignore something then how will you improve anything? Not everything perfect can't have a flaw and not everything terrible can't have something that you'd like; it's just the way the world works... Reviews exist so that people can know what they loved about it, what they hated about it, what worked and what didn't and so that people can improve on their work by working towards addressing those concerns.

As for the comment about trading all of SG1 and SGA for SGU; you do know that the film Stargate (1994) started the whole thing right? If you take SG1 and SGA away then you might as well call it "Universe" since there'd be no other connection to the series other then the Stargate movie which if both series were gone, would be questionable. You may dislike SG1 and SGA but if it weren't for those two series, SGU wouldn't even exist since a lot of the stuff Universe has can be tied back to both SG1 and SGA.

[psl1]

I had to suffer through decades of my wife’s soaps when we only had a 13 channel universe. I know what soaps are and SGU was never a soap. Essentially I had no problem with character development in SGU ,in fact I was surprised at how many 'extras' seem to get small parts..... but then I'm not expecting Oscar performances out of a weekly TV serial Syfi shows. I just wanted weekly sufficiently valuable escape fiction. Besides I’m more interested in the story behind the whole series. I can accept or ignore characters if there is a decent concept behind the show.

We are all looking for different things in these shows and that’s 'all good'. There will always be good parts and bad parts to any show. You can either except the shows flaws or ignore it and search elsewhere. You can take exception to how it has ruined your franchise that is of no interest to me. But no show has to be "all things to everyone". I suspect that the very worst thing a show like that could do is to listen to the critics and prostitute the concept to the public’s whims. As an artist I can tell you that’s a dead end. You end up with a committee and we all know that "a camel is a horse designed by a committee".

I think some people expect way too much in some areas. I get why people thought the first season was boring , but its emphasis on sheer survival was what brought me into the show in the first place. I boarder on loathing violent shows and have a rule that if someone is killed within the first part of a movie or episode in a show, I groan and "spin on" as Lister - in red dwarf- would put it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Dwarf




In terms of real science & space travel ; we are probably centuries away from being able to sustain human life in space travel for even the years it would take at light speed to reach anything of significance. If that doesn't change you can kiss good bye to Syfi since the only space travel will be done by tiny PS3 [000s] etc

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

ZRFTS,

I liked SGU because it didn't feel like SG-1 or SGA. I only watched those shows sporadically (well recently I have watched all of SGA on DVD. I still like SGU quite a bit more.)

[fatty.mcninja]

As for the comment about trading all of SG1 and SGA for SGU; you do know that the film Stargate (1994) started the whole thing right? If you take SG1 and SGA away then you might as well call it "Universe" since there'd be no other connection to the series other then the Stargate movie which if both series were gone, would be questionable. You may dislike SG1 and SGA but if it weren't for those two series, SGU wouldn't even exist since a lot of the stuff Universe has can be tied back to both SG1 and SGA.

No one here actually thinks we could trade SG-1 or SGA for more SGU. Its just a way of saying it is our favorite and that if the Stargate we have now is all we'll ever get... it would have been nice if the SGU format was a larger piece of the pie. Its not a put-down on the other shows.... Its a compliment to how much we liked SGU.

Sorry that you didn't like SGU.

[garhkal]

While i do feel it was underrated as a SG show, i feel the entire SG franchise (other than those canadian awards) were overlooked by the Emmies and other awards shows...

[Gatefan1976]

While i do feel it was underrated as a SG show, i feel the entire SG franchise (other than those canadian awards) were overlooked by the Emmies and other awards shows...

*points to SGA's PCA..........
Cough Cough.

Scifi generally gets NO recognition, unless it can be seen as an "Action flick with robots" or something similar. Unfortunately, the movie going public simply seems to not be able to accept that it loves scifi. Hell, even the record shattering Avengers is Scifi in a way, (unless we have flying aircraft carriers that I may have admitedly missed), yet it is sold as a action flick dispite, or perhaps BECAUSE of the scifi elements.

Sucks the bone really, but there it is

[garhkal]

Avengers is more fantasy than sci fi...

And what is the PCA that SGA got??

[Gatefan1976]

Peoples Choice Award
http://www.gateworld.net/news/2008/0..._peoples.shtml