Changing the order of season one

[actuallyliam]

Was looking at the episodes in season one. I dawned on me that the episodes are perfect, they're just in the wrong order. Now the storyline doesn't make sense with them out of order, from an arc value. But moving the episodes around whilst writing them would have made the season slightly less as the SGA viewers called slow. Whilst still keeping in character moments and the tone of the show.

This was just a ruff move around, Any suggestion of possible episode orders, that differ from the aired one? Would it have helped with your viewing, if you found Season One slow?

Air Part One
Air Part Two
Air Part Three
Faith
Life
Justice
Pain
Earth
Water
Space (Par t 1)
Divided (Part 2)
Human
Darkness (Part 1)
Light (Part 2)
Lost
Time
Sabotage
Subversion
Incursion (Part 1)
Incursion (Part 2)

[SGFerrit]

In my opinion, SGU could have been saved by having Justice air in the place of Life, and having the important aspects of Life spread across other episodes. I didn't mind the episode myself, but the ratings had been improving again and the show looked like it could have gotten back over the 2million mark at that point. Had it gone Time-Justice-Space, I think the show and franchise would have been OK. From what I've seen people seem to think SGU improved every half season, so I think that's all it would have taken.

[Calluna]

In my opinion, SGU could have been saved by having Justice air in the place of Life, and having the important aspects of Life spread across other episodes. I didn't mind the episode myself, but the ratings had been improving again and the show looked like it could have gotten back over the 2million mark at that point. Had it gone Time-Justice-Space, I think the show and franchise would have been OK. From what I've seen people seem to think SGU improved every half season, so I think that's all it would have taken.

This might have worked really well. Time-Justice-Space would have been a good arc, especially in an "it's Stargate but darker" way. We saw how "Time" rated and carried the momemtum to "Life" which killed "Justice" dead. I'd have scrapped "Life" altogether and rewritten the info and character backstory we get there, especially for Scott. I would remove the very, very heavy focus on the Stones that 1.0 had. way too much drama taking place on Earth, not enough characters forced to interact and learn about each other on the ship.

Time is a case where they actually talk and start to bond a little, even if they still don't really like or trust each other (shame they don't remember it really), which was sorely needed. I'd have split the "ship is out of Air, power, Water" episodes up a little too. It's a good idea but six episodes before we do anything else was too much, especially the way they are paced and only a few of the characters seem to do anything and to intersperse those with eps where were spend most of the time on Earth killed a lot of the momentum for me.

[DigiFluid]

I don't know about rejigging the order, but I think some different pacing/slightly different writing might've done it some good in season 1. If I were to rework the show's first year using mostly the same ideas only structured differently, it would look something like this (and this is obviously just a rough sketch):


1.01-03 "Air"
(untouched)

1.04 "Fire"
Condense Darkness/Light into one episode as was originally planned. I like both episodes as is, but in my recent rewatch I found it really slowed down the pace more than it should have this soon in the series run.

1.05 "Water"
Having gotten all bro'd up at the end of "Light" (Fire), Greer goes with Young to the planet instead of Scott. Scott stays aboard Destiny in charge there, and has to be the one to deal with the critters who saved him back in "Air". Insert spooky ethereal pseudo-religious stuff here, and throw in a guest appearance by the priest while we're at it.

1.06
Comm stones episode. No specific drawing from any specific episode here, just something to ground this episode back in reality after the spacey ethereal stuff of the previous two episodes. And a good way to develop some characters a la Season 2's "Pathogen".

1.07 "Time"
Don't touch it. It's perfect as is.

1.08 "Life"
Pretty much as-is.

1.09 "Justice"
As-is.

1.10 Space Part 1
Big fight with the aliens. No sign of Rush, Chloe gets abducted.

1.11 Space Part 2
Blast some Smurfs and run away, rescue Rush and Chloe

1.12 "Human"
Almost totally the same, but skip the part about leaving people behind.

1.13 "Earth"
Trying to dial Earth from inside a star, unsuccessfully. Focus Earth-side on Eli and missing his mum, gut the moronic whiny Chloe and stupid concert parts. Unsuccessful dialing attempt.

1.14 Faith 1 / Destiny
They find the mystery planet and drop off a bunch of people (mostly civvies) there for the month. Then we don't see them again for the rest of the episode. Spend this part covering the month as seen from everyone who stayed on the ship, and use the opportunity to explore backgrounds of characters like James as well as flashing back to scenes on Icarus to explore their relationships with one another. End with them coming back in range of Eden.

1.15 Faith 2 / Eden
Pick up from when the group was dropped on the planet. Cover their month there, how they relax and get used to a non-military environment. Do a better job of explaining Scott and Chloe's reconciliation, of TJ coming to terms with pregnancy, and of exploring Dr. Caine without making him sound like an idiot who has his head in the clouds. End it pretty much like the actual episode "Faith" (what with Young forcing the issue).

1.16 "Sabotage"
Largely the same as the actual episode, but add in a darker undercurrent. Civvie dissatisfaction with having to be back under military rule after a month on Eden, paired with military taking security a bit too far after the sabotage. Hammer that point home all episode long.

1.17 "Divided"
I hate to say "be more like x show", but honestly, if you're going to do a revolt episode you really have to look to BSG's Blood on the Scales/The Oath as your template. That show pretty much nailed everything you could possibly do right in a revolt episode. Rework it to be rougher and more violent, and most certainly not resolved by the timely arrival of aliens

1.18 "Subversion"
Mostly the same, but as a result of the revolt being so recent, emphasize the need for everyone to pull together in the face of the impending Lucian Alliance threat.

1.19-20 "Incursion"
Don't touch a second of it.

[Aewon]

I think that the bridge/Destiny's mission story should have been pressed into Season 1.5, with "Human" being the episode where Rush learns of the ship's mission, and also leading to him finding the bridge. Later, in "Intervention", when he and Brody are alone he realizes that the bridge can be used to tip the balance against the invading Lucian Alliance mercs and that leads to Col. Young finding out about the bridge.

[Mr Evil 37]

I don't know about rejigging the order, but I think some different pacing/slightly different writing might've done it some good in season 1. If I were to rework the show's first year using mostly the same ideas only structured differently, it would look something like this (and this is obviously just a rough sketch):


1.01-03 "Air"
(untouched)

1.04 "Fire"
Condense Darkness/Light into one episode as was originally planned. I like both episodes as is, but in my recent rewatch I found it really slowed down the pace more than it should have this soon in the series run.

1.05 "Water"
Having gotten all bro'd up at the end of "Light" (Fire), Greer goes with Young to the planet instead of Scott. Scott stays aboard Destiny in charge there, and has to be the one to deal with the critters who saved him back in "Air". Insert spooky ethereal pseudo-religious stuff here, and throw in a guest appearance by the priest while we're at it.

1.06
Comm stones episode. No specific drawing from any specific episode here, just something to ground this episode back in reality after the spacey ethereal stuff of the previous two episodes. And a good way to develop some characters a la Season 2's "Pathogen".

1.07 "Time"
Don't touch it. It's perfect as is.

1.08 "Life"
Pretty much as-is.

1.09 "Justice"
As-is.

1.10 Space Part 1
Big fight with the aliens. No sign of Rush, Chloe gets abducted.

1.11 Space Part 2
Blast some Smurfs and run away, rescue Rush and Chloe

1.12 "Human"
Almost totally the same, but skip the part about leaving people behind.

1.13 "Earth"
Trying to dial Earth from inside a star, unsuccessfully. Focus Earth-side on Eli and missing his mum, gut the moronic whiny Chloe and stupid concert parts. Unsuccessful dialing attempt.

1.14 Faith 1 / Destiny
They find the mystery planet and drop off a bunch of people (mostly civvies) there for the month. Then we don't see them again for the rest of the episode. Spend this part covering the month as seen from everyone who stayed on the ship, and use the opportunity to explore backgrounds of characters like James as well as flashing back to scenes on Icarus to explore their relationships with one another. End with them coming back in range of Eden.

1.15 Faith 2 / Eden
Pick up from when the group was dropped on the planet. Cover their month there, how they relax and get used to a non-military environment. Do a better job of explaining Scott and Chloe's reconciliation, of TJ coming to terms with pregnancy, and of exploring Dr. Caine without making him sound like an idiot who has his head in the clouds. End it pretty much like the actual episode "Faith" (what with Young forcing the issue).

1.16 "Sabotage"
Largely the same as the actual episode, but add in a darker undercurrent. Civvie dissatisfaction with having to be back under military rule after a month on Eden, paired with military taking security a bit too far after the sabotage. Hammer that point home all episode long.

1.17 "Divided"
I hate to say "be more like x show", but honestly, if you're going to do a revolt episode you really have to look to BSG's Blood on the Scales/The Oath as your template. That show pretty much nailed everything you could possibly do right in a revolt episode. Rework it to be rougher and more violent, and most certainly not resolved by the timely arrival of aliens

1.18 "Subversion"
Mostly the same, but as a result of the revolt being so recent, emphasize the need for everyone to pull together in the face of the impending Lucian Alliance threat.

1.19-20 "Incursion"
Don't touch a second of it.

While overall this doesn't seem too bad, I feel that leaving out the Eli, Chloe, Greer and Scott being left behind storyline as a mistake; "Lost" was one of the best episodes of the whole show and allowed us to learn more about the gate network, see loads of planets and explore Greer's past.

I think that in your rearranged, "Life" should be cut, with important stuff in that episode being spread out throughout the season. Then, "Earth" should be after "Space" 1 and 2 but before "Human", which would be exactly the same, just with a better reason than shooting a spider for being trapped on the planet. They should also learn more about the civilization the ruins belonged to. Then after "Human" would be "Lost", as is, ending with the team being stranded once again. Then we have "Faith" 1 and 2, and then in "Sabotage" they reveal that the blue aliens captured the team that had been left behind and used their Kino remote to dial Destiny. They board the ship, kill one or two people, but quickly get beaten back. Scott, Chloe and Eli manage to escape, allowing them to go through the gate back to Destiny.

I also agree that "Divided" should have been MUCH more like BSG. The first 20 minutes, i.e. the scene with the shuttle unable to dock, should be left as is, but then the second half should have no aliens at all and be pure mutiny. And people should die, potentially a lot of people. This would also make the conflict between Young and Wray in "Subversion" more heated.

[garhkal]

I think that the bridge/Destiny's mission story should have been pressed into Season 1.5, with "Human" being the episode where Rush learns of the ship's mission, and also leading to him finding the bridge. Later, in "Intervention", when he and Brody are alone he realizes that the bridge can be used to tip the balance against the invading Lucian Alliance mercs and that leads to Col. Young finding out about the bridge.

That would have been interesting to see... BUT i think a lot of the impact of him finding it and using it as he did in 2.0 would have been lost.. such as rileys and Ginn/Perrys death.

[DigiFluid]

While overall this doesn't seem too bad, I feel that leaving out the Eli, Chloe, Greer and Scott being left behind storyline as a mistake; "Lost" was one of the best episodes of the whole show and allowed us to learn more about the gate network, see loads of planets and explore Greer's past.

Stupid of me to forget Greer's past, that was one of the best parts of Season 1 IMO.

But the trouble I found in rewatching recently, is that "Lost" comes across as so utterly pointless. With the 5 second, say pretty much nothing about it resolution in the real "Sabotage", they've turned "Lost" into an incredibly boring episode to rewatch. I thought it might happen when I first saw "Sabotage", and found that to be the case when rewatching.

Now, Greer's backstory would certainly be easy enough to work in elsewhere. I've suggested that perhaps he ought to have been the one with Young in "Water". That being the case, Greer would be the one who falls into the claustrophobic little crack. Perfect opportunity right there to tell his background.

[Briangate78]

Was looking at the episodes in season one. I dawned on me that the episodes are perfect, they're just in the wrong order. Now the storyline doesn't make sense with them out of order, from an arc value. But moving the episodes around whilst writing them would have made the season slightly less as the SGA viewers called slow. Whilst still keeping in character moments and the tone of the show.

This was just a ruff move around, Any suggestion of possible episode orders, that differ from the aired one? Would it have helped with your viewing, if you found Season One slow?

Air Part One
Air Part Two
Air Part Three
Faith
Life
Justice
Pain
Earth
Water
Space (Par t 1)
Divided (Part 2)
Human
Darkness (Part 1)
Light (Part 2)
Lost
Time
Sabotage
Subversion
Incursion (Part 1)
Incursion (Part 2)

Why do you automatically assume it is the SGA viewers who said it was slow. Your typical casual viewer could of thought it was slow.

As per the topic, I think "Life" should of never aired and like SGFerrit said break up the event into smaller parts over a span of multiple eps.

[actuallyliam]

Why do you automatically assume it is the SGA viewers who said it was slow. Your typical casual viewer could of thought it was slow.

As per the topic, I think "Life" should of never aired and like SGFerrit said break up the event into smaller parts over a span of multiple eps.

Yes, that's true, It was just SGA viewers seemed to be the most vocal. I can understand given their show was canceled the year before.

[Sp!der]

well, the pace were obviosly an factor and you can see that the writers noticed that so decided to go in the right direction in season two. Sadly, this did not help the show. If they did in season one what they are doing now (one great episode after another!) this show might have been saved for another season. Well, alas.

[maxbo]

This is an interesting thread and some of the ideas could have made a difference with Season 1 and the fate of the show. I remember reading a similar discussion on the Television w/o Pity forum and it was amazing how much of a difference just a few tweaks could have made to the pacing and flow of that season.

As others have mentioned, Life should never have been an episode, instead the personal drama portions should have been distributed throughout several episodes. And Destiny's mission should have been revealed or at least heavily alluded to by the end of the first season. In addition, although I didn't have a problem with Air as a 3-parter, those episodes could have been condensed into 2 parts if more time was needed to flesh out other aspects of Season 1.

In many ways SGU's first season reminded me of Defying Gravity because by the time that show started picking up the pace, it had already lost its audience. I believe it only got 10 episodes before it was cancelled and it wasn't until episode 8, I believe, that the audience started getting indications that something beyond the characters' personal lives was going to happen.