Stargate Universe - SciFi Wire: Exclusive: Stargate Universe Concept Art!

[digitalred93]

I have one large complaint (besides the fact that yes, the designs are very reminiscent of Giger's work on ALIEN). The copy says that Robert Cooper was the co-creator of SG-1... which is most certainly NOT the case. SG-1 was created by Bradley Wright and Jonathon Glassner

Sorry but that needed to be said.

[Acolyte Of Bli'l'ab]

I think sci-fi tv people need to start taking more risks IMO. I think the genre in tv-format has played it safe for too long and its become almost painfully stagnant for a very long time bar the occasional thing here and there. I say this as a casual fan of Stargate and not a hardcore one, but I think they need to up the standards and story-telling more and start taking more risks - neither pondering to the fans OR trying as hard as possible to gain "new" fans, but simply working on some ideas and concepts that will blow people away, then writing stories which are equally awesome. If they do that I think it will be a commercial success anyway, and most likely also garner new fans because id like to believe new fans will come to something because it is simply - good.

I understand they are in it for the money and not the art and want to earn a living, thats fair enough, we all need to live and eat! and if sci-fi fans want something artsy and underground theres people like me out there making weird abstract sci-fi shows, but I still think you can do something new and fresh with stargate and get something good that can still gain a decent sized audience. The artwork IMO however should make people go "wow! that looks so cool" not "its ok", so perhaps its time to try something a bit different and take a little risk ?

[digitalred93]

Originally Posted by Arthurdent: Deep Space Nine was intended to be darker and edgier than The Next Generation.

You know... you bring up an interesting point. The master of dark SF, IMHO, is Ira Steve Behr (Showrunner for Deep Space Nine and 4400). He's not on any projects right now... if the SG folks could pull him in, SGU could be quite a show worth watching. Amongst his talents includes the ability to recognize what actors bring to their roles and fold that material into the scripts. You'd be amazed how many writers don't do that.

[Jack_Bauer]

You know... you bring up an interesting point. The master of dark SF, IMHO, is Ira Steve Behr (Showrunner for Deep Space Nine and 4400). He's not on any projects right now... if the SG folks could pull him in, SGU could be quite a show worth watching.

not gonna happen, TPTB are too arrogant

[Mirel]

The style reminds of the ancient long range comms device Daniel and Vala used to inhabit bodies of the 2 persons in the Ori galaxy.

[flea247]

i think i like the designs, though im the only one to say it so far. i did initially imagine something more green , lol, but i think that given the time the ship was sent out it fits the level of the ancients at the time. and just remember this ship has been out there with no crew for how ever long, with no repair and maintenance so its bound to be a little dark and rusty.

[SGFerrit]

I like it. Even if they are taking a page out of Giger's book, that is by no means a bad thing. If I was going to make a SciFi show, Giger is where I would take my inspiration from for set designs, the man is fantastic. A loon, but fantastic.

Either way, this is only to give a slight indication. It's very early days yet, and we won't know how good it is until it appears on screen. As long as it doesn't look cheap and tatty, then I expect I'll like it. I'm hoping the Destiny's bridge/control room is bigger though.

Also, why does it say 'the shuttle' bridge?

The style reminds of the ancient long range comms device Daniel and Vala used to inhabit bodies of the 2 persons in the Ori galaxy.

Indeed.

[Atlanis]

ew....
I hope that was the rejected stuff...

I agree with you if thy're going for an industral look then I agree they've done their job but I think it should have the grace and style of Atlantis' arcatexure and it's beauty

[suqata]

Everyone fails to remember that the Destiny was contruscted LONG before Atlantis and their new fangled technology that uses crystals and glass keys. This ship is part of a different era of Ancients then what we are used to seeing and quit frankly I'm very pleased with CONCEPT art. It looks to be from a time not too much older then what we are now as if it might be something WE would construct in our future.

[sinfuldraconis]

I like it. I guess I'm in the minority.

[Puddle Splasher]

My main concern is visual continuity with ancient technology as depicted in Atlantis and SG-1

Agreed.

I've always felt Atlantis' complex and asymetrical architecture composed from simple geometric designs mirrored the Lanteans philosopical beliefs. They had a kind of simple, ascetic lifestyle: wardrobe, architecture, technology, but they had a progressive understanding about complexities of life and became biologically advanced and philosophically sophisticated. Their ascetic lifestyle was born out of their mental sophistication. That said...

whatever pre/early-Milky Way-Ancient designs that are created for Universe must have some vague similarity. We saw in Ark of Truth that the Alterans valued the keystone of an arch as conceptually meaningful, and that this understanding lead to the incorporation of this design as the chevrons of the Stargate. So variations of this and other fundamental architectural forms - such as the flying buttresses of Atlantis' central spire - should be incorporated. The etchings on the Stargate should also be used as motifs that are riffed/expanded on within SGU architecture. I would not any architectural structures or interface designs be as clean and efficent as seen in Atlantis, or of anything we've seen they created during the Milky Way-era.

My thoughts on the concept art...

-It does has vague Ori similarities, which is fine. It's not hard to image the Milky Way Ancients' art shared aesthetic similairites given how much closer they were in historical terms.

-I do not like that it has so much "curvature" (ie. the bridge chair, windows, consoles). It's entirely possible to understand that any kind of object will drastically become transformed over millions of years during a culture's evolution, through design development and technological progression, but it's hard for my (31 year old) brain to see how a culture evolves from employing such "curves" to complex architectural forms such as Atlantis that are fundamentally based on simple geometric shapes. (yes, I know the circle and sphere is fundamental). From a practical point of view, it would be more comfortable to sit in a chair like the one sketched out for SGU than it would to sit in the control chair of Atlantis. Or maybe it's just counter-intuitive to propose that a culture would first design ergonomicly curved chairs before they designed a straight-edged "La-Z-Boy" style chair. Contrast this comparison I'm making to the Ori bridge-control chair. That chair clearly was created by a Ori-lovin' designer.

-I like the vertical bunch of tubes that run into that brown object in the "Corridor Hub" sketch because it reminds me of the brown/rust colored brick-like blocks that run vertically in relief of the walls in rooms and hallways of Atlantis. (aside: I've always suspected that in reality they were once the molded styrofoam used in boxes that hold consumer electronics, , painted and intersected together, Tetris-style). Anyway, that part of the sketch holds some design continuity.

-Again, the airlock door looks nice, and it's circular motif is clearly found elsewhere in the sketches, but it has no *connectable* similiarity to any circular designs we've seen. I'm not claiming that it should look like a Stargate, but those design elements, such as shapes and etchings.

I think the designer is going for a counter-intuitive design. I suspect most people think that the hard, straight-edged lines (eg. Atlantis) would pre-date a soft, ergonomic style...

In the end, I haven't lived a million years so whadda I know about what is retro and what is futuristic.

[Kanetsidohi]

I guess if the ship wasn't intended to have a permanent crew, they didn't need to hide everything behind panels. Although I have to agree that is the kind of design to be expected from an alien ship.

I just hope the new human crew hasn't watched "Alien" or they're going to have a bad trip.

[Flyboy]

Agreed.

I've always felt Atlantis' complex and asymetrical architecture composed from simple geometric designs mirrored the Lanteans philosopical beliefs. They had a kind of simple, ascetic lifestyle: wardrobe, architecture, technology, but they had a progressive understanding about complexities of life and became biologically advanced and philosophically sophisticated. Their ascetic lifestyle was born out of their mental sophistication. That said...

whatever pre/early-Milky Way-Ancient designs that are created for Universe must have some vague similarity. We saw in Ark of Truth that the Alterans valued the keystone of an arch as conceptually meaningful, and that this understanding lead to the incorporation of this design as the chevrons of the Stargate. So variations of this and other fundamental architectural forms - such as the flying buttresses of Atlantis' central spire - should be incorporated. The etchings on the Stargate should also be used as motifs that are riffed/expanded on within SGU architecture. I would not any architectural structures or interface designs be as clean and efficent as seen in Atlantis, or of anything we've seen they created during the Milky Way-era.

My thoughts on the concept art...

-It does has vague Ori similarities, which is fine. It's not hard to image the Milky Way Ancients' art shared aesthetic similairites given how much closer they were in historical terms.

-I do not like that it has so much "curvature" (ie. the bridge chair, windows, consoles). It's entirely possible to understand that any kind of object will drastically become transformed over millions of years during a culture's evolution, through design development and technological progression, but it's hard for my (31 year old) brain to see how a culture evolves from employing such "curves" to complex architectural forms such as Atlantis that are fundamentally based on simple geometric shapes. (yes, I know the circle and sphere is fundamental). From a practical point of view, it would be more comfortable to sit in a chair like the one sketched out for SGU than it would to sit in the control chair of Atlantis. Or maybe it's just counter-intuitive to propose that a culture would first design ergonomicly curved chairs before they designed a straight-edged "La-Z-Boy" style chair. Contrast this comparison I'm making to the Ori bridge-control chair. That chair clearly was created by a Ori-lovin' designer.

-I like the vertical bunch of tubes that run into that brown object in the "Corridor Hub" sketch because it reminds me of the brown/rust colored brick-like blocks that run vertically in relief of the walls in rooms and hallways of Atlantis. (aside: I've always suspected that in reality they were once the molded styrofoam used in boxes that hold consumer electronics, , painted and intersected together, Tetris-style). Anyway, that part of the sketch holds some design continuity.

-Again, the airlock door looks nice, and it's circular motif is clearly found elsewhere in the sketches, but it has no *connectable* similiarity to any circular designs we've seen. I'm not claiming that it should look like a Stargate, but those design elements, such as shapes and etchings.

I think the designer is going for a counter-intuitive design. I suspect most people think that the hard, straight-edged lines (eg. Atlantis) would pre-date a soft, ergonomic style...

In the end, I haven't lived a million years so whadda I know about what is retro and what is futuristic.

Have you seen British architecture over the last 100 years?

[Stormtrooper]

1 - SGU concept art severely lacks, well, a Stargate?

2 - Destiny's symbol reminds me of a battlestar insignia.

[Arwis]

at the begining of the arc of truth you can clearly see what design of pe-ancients ship was. It's far away from ancients design. Now take the fact that at that time there was no stargate yet(because we saw how 1 of the ancients scientists took blueprints). So when they left ori galaxy and just after that introduced the stargate the design was the same as they left, so this ship must be old design ship. And I think it has similarities with that ancients ship which left ori galaxi, well we have not seen it from inside, but from outside it looked rly different from current ancient design.