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convince me that SGU is worth watching...

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    #16
    Originally posted by The Urban Spaceman View Post
    Knowing that it wasn't supposed to end there, and the writers had to come up with a last minute deus ex, I wasn't as disappointed in the episode as you were. I think he should watch it and form his own opinion.
    What a crap reasoning... knowing it wasn't supposed to end? and they had to come up with a deus ex?
    Right...
    A black hole swallowed this sig pic.

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      #17
      Originally posted by Jper View Post
      What a crap reasoning... knowing it wasn't supposed to end? and they had to come up with a deus ex?
      Right...
      I'm sorry if you find my reasoning to be insufficient. Unfortunately, due to TV channel issues, I wasn't fortunate enough to watch the SGA ending (or most of the last season) at the time it aired. Therefore, I'd already read about it in advance, and knew that it wasn't supposed to end there. And later when I listened to the commentary on the DVD, it discussed the wormhole drive.

      Therefore I most humbly beg your forgiveness if my life/TV viewing/posting has inconvenienced you in any way.

      But I still believe that people should watch a thing and form their own opinion of it rather than being told how to feel. Just because it's more fun to see people howling at the moon than bleating in the field with the rest of the ruminants.
      Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.


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        #18
        Originally posted by Major Clanger View Post
        I watched the first ep (and have completely forgotten it) but I do remember that it was too dark and the youth of the crew made this ol' Clanger a bit grumpy.

        So - does it have good points? What does it bring to the table to enhance my Stargate viewing?
        Or should I go back to S8, 9 and 10 of SG-1 and try to like those instead?
        It's not worth it. SG-1 and SGA are both superior. SGU was a promising show but with no pay-off and so unless you have nothing better to watch and it is a good show then give it a go but I would prioritise other shows over it.
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          #19
          SGU is certainly worth it. Much more so for me than SGA, I felt it lost it's way story wise. I loved SG1 but I felt like it was comic book compared to SGU. I loved the more realistic approach to the characters.

          I understand that the first few eps of SGU turned some off, but I found enough interesting material there to stick with it, and am happy I did. It only improved as they found their footing with the show. Heck the first season of SG1 wasn't great either.
          sigpic

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            #20
            I am currently on my first full rewatch of the show and personally I am liking it more and plus the advantage of watching episodes one after the other instead of weekly/ monthly breaks helps too.

            Watching SGU in a continuous run is much better as the story is easier to follow and you remember the characters actions and notice their growth.
            I think that was the problem with sgu when it first aired the story is that more complex character wise and its tone having large gaps of time between each epsiode isn't appealing for most people
            1week per episode till episode 10 then a 4-6 month break then another ten and repeat for season 2.

            Ok I went off on a side rant of sorts but since the show is only 2 seasons just watch the whole thing believe me there is much worse television out there.
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              #21
              It takes most of season one to lay the foundation, so it is a case of sticking with it, the pay off comes in season two.

              Developing the characters that are thrown into a situation they wouldn't even know where to start dealing with. But they do, it's worth watching them adjusting, dealing with fear and tragedy, most of all keeping a sense of hope alive. A group of vastly different personalities have to live and work together on a ship that has seen better days, on course to who knows where really. What awaits them is anyone's guess, how they deal with it is the joy of watching SGU. You will praise and condemn their actions, they can all be villains and heroes in the way they deal with things thrown at them.

              It's all built on gradually, by the end of season two you'll be wondering why such an engaging look at the lives of people who had changed so much facing all the challenges over the course of two years wasn't continued.

              Sure it's different, darker and grittier realism than the other 'gates', but the difference makes it worth watching as darker views of the Stargate world and the people who inhabit it, only tentatively touched upon in the other series' are embraced fully in this incarnation. When the Stargate humour comes into play it is made more meaningful and fun, given they appear spontaneously in serious situations on occasion and used as a coping mechanism.

              Give it a go and keep an open mind. It is good drama and it might sneak up on you and you find yourself really enjoying it, I know I was glad I stuck with it, the same thing could happen to you, but you'll never know if you don't watch!

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                #22
                You know, it might be even better to watch it in one long bit, since the story really does continue episode-to-episode, than how we first watched it, week to week with long mid-season and between-season breaks. Like a mini-series (or not-so-mini-series, there are 40 episodes, after all!).

                One more thing that makes it worth watching, probably already mentioned somewhere here, the special effects, sets, CG, etc. are really, really good. The technical folks that worked on SGU were obviously top-notch, and it shows. Lovely work!
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                Goodbye and Good Travels, Destiny!

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                  #23
                  Originally posted by IcarusAbides View Post
                  It's not worth it. SG-1 and SGA are both superior. SGU was a promising show but with no pay-off and so unless you have nothing better to watch and it is a good show then give it a go but I would prioritise other shows over it.
                  I wholly disagree.


                  SGU compared to SGA and SG1 is apples and oranges. The reason i toss SGA and SG1 on the same heap, is cause their formula is pretty much identical.

                  SGU was different, and yes the writers needed some time to make things go better. It's why season 1.0 takes some patience to get through. But there are many rewards for that patience through the seasons. It's a show that makes you feel that many "secondary" characters are just as important as the heroes.


                  the Young-Rush interaction is definitely one of them. The caffeine shortage one, definitely shows Young as the commander he really is.

                  For me, SGU was great, and it only makes it's 2nd season end feel more sour, as it felt like by that time, the Writers really knew what to do with the show and it's characters.


                  Is it darker? no it's not. SG1 and SGA were pretty dark, but they sugarcoated it in morals, and hope and stuff. SGU is just as dark, but it doesn't have that sugarcoat.

                  Sugarcoating isn't meant as a bad term, it's that the previous incarnations were family shows, and SGU was less focused on that aspect.


                  If you really go for SGU, and give it your faith, then it'll work. If you go by an episode-to-episode basis, don't even start, it'll just ruin it for you.

                  I can't promise you 40 episodes of awesome. There were some hits, there were some misses. But the Novus storyline alone, would make it worth the entire trip. To me, SGU showed the grandness of the universe once again, an aspect that to me was kinda lost in late SG1 and SGA.


                  And if you are still doubting: SG1 didn't exactly start off strong, now, did it? the COTG remake was much, much better. But still, all those years ago it aired with that episode, followed by Emancipation (community-voted to be the worst episode ever), and it sticked around. It took a while to gather the real momentum, and i think the best episode remain season 3-7.

                  For SG1, season 1 was the setup, the try-out. Season 2 started to properly build a world and get going in it. Then the payoff came.

                  For SGA, i think it peeked at The Siege (to me, The Siege is for SGA what Lost City is to SG1). Still, it takes at least 1 season to get things rolling, to establish the wraith properly etc. It takes less time because of the familliarity of the subject (the entire "hunt for the Lost City in SG1).


                  For SGU, it kinda was a whole new ballpark. It took some "why did we never hear about this kinda stuff", but i like to think it was something so novel, that even in-universe nothing was really known about it.
                  Last edited by thekillman; 06 October 2012, 11:47 PM.

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                    #24
                    Originally posted by thekillman View Post

                    Is it darker? no it's not.
                    Yes, it is.

                    For example, no matter how pissed off Jack got at Daniel, or how pissed off Sheppard got at McKay, neither Jack nor Sheppard ever kicked the crap out of Daniel/McKay and left them bleeding and unconscious on an inhospitable planet with no food, water, or hope of ever returning, and then lied about it to everyone else to paint it as a TERRIBLE accident.

                    In fact, the message in SG1 and SGA was universally the same; you never give up on someone, and you never, ever, leave your people behind. This is evidenced again by the fact that regardless of what Senator Kinsey has done, Jack tries to save him. And regardless of what Maybourne has done, Jack tries to help him. And despite Kavanaugh being a major pain in the ass, nobody decides to abandon him on Midway during the Wraith take-over.

                    Yes, SGU has its fine moments of people sticking up for each other, and sacrificing for each other, but it's heavily coloured by a much, much darker tone than either of its predecessors. SG1 and SGA were dark in the sense that the aliens were pretty damn scary and without morals, but in those shows, you always knew who the bad-guys were; you could tell because of their penchant for enslavement or their leather fetishes. But before the writers of SGU introduced an external enemy, they introduced internal conflict. The military officers who were, in SG1 and SGA, unequivocally brave, strong, loyal, and without any major flaws, suddenly became much less white and much more flawed -- much more human -- in SGU.

                    The tone was not only set in the writing, but in the visuals. What's the first thing that happens when the Pegasus team get to Atlantis? The whole city lights up and becomes a wondrous place of shiny white pretty miracles. And the first thing that happens when the Icarus team get to the Destiny? It stays dark and dangerous, full of unnatural sounds, bleeding people, and everybody nearly dies within two episodes. And there is a real sense of danger to that potential death, since the show is so much darker in tone, you really do believe that everyone could die. Unlike on Atlantis, where even though the shields are failing and the ocean's about to crush the city into tiny bite-sized Atlantis-bits, you never get the same sense of urgency and desperation.

                    You can also see the darker aspects of the show in its use of technology. The Atlantis control chair is a comfortable looking piece of equipment that shoots pretty glowing missiles, does the bidding of its user, and would make any gamer proud to own it. But the Destiny control chair?

                    Spoiler:


                    A more primitive incarnation which kills or incapacitates anybody who uses it.

                    Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.


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                      #25
                      oh thanks everyone - this thread has really piqued my interest
                      In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king

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                        #26
                        And hopefully not spoiled you too much.
                        Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.


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                          #27
                          by the time I get to see it, I'll have forgotten. Clangers have cotton wool for brains
                          In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king

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                            #28
                            *Puts MIB-style neuraliser away*

                            Glad to hear it.
                            Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.


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                              #29
                              Originally posted by The Urban Spaceman View Post
                              Yes, it is.
                              Well, our difference in opinion lays in the fact that what you just described, i consider part of sugarcoating.

                              In SG1, they were always high about moral and not leaving people behind. In SGU, that "it's the right thing" dropped. I don't think it's fundamentally darker, it's that the "halo" is gone

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                                #30
                                Personally, I do view attempted murder as a little bit 'dark', maybe even a tad 'edgy'.

                                I know, I know, I'm a crazy person!
                                Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.


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