Season 1 (first time viewer)

[Energizer_Vs_ZPM]

Why are you even watching the show? You clearly don't like serialized storytelling and probably need every episode to have a self-contained story and a nice wrap-up in the end.

On the contrary I do however like snowman the memory flashbacks and weird conversion from the normal SG way of telling a story was just not right. Clearly the producers realised this as they did away with it in season 2. To quote you below:

You're WRONG!

Wrong



Wrong



Maybe it's time to take off that tin foil hat you're wearing?

Get a grip mate. I said I couldn't remember didn't I. I imay be wrong about when it was canned but thats what I read somewhere out there on the interweb. If that was wrong then clearly so am I but that is how I understood it. Don't take it so personally and stop being so abrupt about your criticism. Instead why not explain it if I'm so wrong and you're so right? - You didn't even do that did you but just posted one word because thats about all you're capable of it would seem.

The setup is "This is the wrong people in the wrong place. We need to get this people home"

Just because you don't like the setup doesn't mean they failed to include it.

The setup was showing the characters backgrounds and how they came from nowhere to suddenly becoming the cast of our show without the characters we've known from the previous two shows. Sure the wrong place wrong time thing played a part but the show also needed to introduce us to new characters.

[Snowman37]

Energizer_Vs_ZPM, I'm glad to read that the flashbacks eventually go away. I don't mind flashbacks if the story calls for it. Everyone arrives on Destiny, we flashback to how they got there, then resume story. That would have been fine. However, a lot of the flashbacks were pointless and did nothing to move the story forward. "Air, Part 1" could easily have been a half-hour show. I don't care if they're copying BSG, I never watched the show, thus BSG references are lost on me. I had to skip a lot of your post as you're talking about episodes I haven't seen yet. Eli, the character, is fine. It's his backstory that is retarded. He couldn't have been recruited from a math school? Predictable, maybe, but realistic. By the way, the show was canceled mid-way through Season 2. If it'd been mid-way through Season 1, there'd be no second season. As for Buffy inspiring a bunch of supernatural shows, you're right. I avoid them, though, as they are very unChristian. I don't think of Brad Wright and friends as having killed the franchise. They all said they were going to move on once they finished with Universe. It was planned to run for five years, and it was cancelled after two. They had a great concept, but it was bogged down with emo drama that no one cared about. If they'd focused on the adventure from the word go, the five-year plan might have played out. MGM started selling and auctioning SG props, set pieces, and so on long before SGU was cancelled. This was being done, because the studio was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Anything that was not specifically for SGU was sold or auctioned off. The Daedalus-bridge set pieces were being auctioned off while SGU's second season was being filmed. That meant we'd never see the George Hammond again. Apologizing to the fans would not save the show. Telling good stories and entertaining the casual viewers would save the show. If the ratings are that bad, how does anyone save a good TV show? You introduce a new character played by a well known actor. That works almost every time. People tune in to see the actor, see what's going on, realize the show changed, and stick around. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine brought in Worf (from TNG) half-way through the show's run. Star Trek: Voyager brought in Seven of Nine half way through it's run. This was more due to creativity than ratings, but no one can deny that the ratings went up when she joined the cast. SG-1 added Browder and Black from Farscape and Beau Bridges after Davis and Anderson left. When Mulder left The X Files, Robert Patrick stepped in and kept the show going two more years.

OutandAboot, who said I don't like serials? I like Jericho, Surface, and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I loved the story arcs in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Enterprise, and come on... Stargate SG-1 & Atlantis are full of long-term story arcs.

I know the setup. Read what you quoted more carefully. I was asking why the setup cannot be condensed into the opening three episodes. Why does it take an entire year? This just sounds stupid to do.

[Energizer_Vs_ZPM]

It's revealed later that Eli is in fact a MIT dropout if that makes you feel any better. I don't recall it being explained why he dropped out but presumably due to his mothers health. Therefore it's plausible that he's actually smarter than just a gamer and may well have been training to be an astro physicist himself. That would explain his importance.

Anyway you will get to like SGU when you get into it. Season 2 is more Stargatey than season 1 but when you get to the end of that you will be pining for more of it I can assure you.

Destiny is also a ship that is artificially intelligent. I won't spoil it too much but it looks after the crew in mysterious ways even giving Rush food for thought (trust me, you'll know the bit I'm talking about when you see it - it's brilliant!),

[Dale Volker]

The first season is not all setup. I mean, it has a lot of setting up which could have been done with in the first 3 Eps. But there are some good episodes in the first season. Stick with it, the second season is AMAZING. You need to see the first season to appreciate the brilliance of the second.

[Snowman37]

I don't care how brilliant the second season is. I'll never get there if the first season doesn't hold my interest. Tonight, I watched "Air, Part 2." A vast improvement over Part 1, no flashbacks. I'm not against using flashbacks in a story, I just don't like how SGU uses them. Unfortunately, nothing really happened in Part 2. The senator died, the air filter is broken, Eli found flying camera balls, and Rush learned some of the ship's mission from the database. Did I leave anything out? I hope Part 3 is better. I'm bored already.

[Dale Volker]

Be like that if you want. But good things take time.

[Snowman37]

Be like what? Am I being unreasonable for dropping a show if it takes some 20 episodes to get good? I'll be watching "Air, Part 3" later tonight. Part 2 was better than Part 1, so I have some hope that Part 3 will actually go somewhere interesting. We'll see...

[Infinite-Possibilities]

The show definitely does improve in Season 2, but they premise and formula doesn't change. It's still the same sort of show: a character drama. It's a less dull and slow paced one but still it's the same show as Season 1. It's worth noting that SGU also improves slightly before that too. Most notably the second half of Season 1 is an improvement on the first. And the most of the first half of the season is an improvement on the first 4 episodes.

I remember finding "Air, Part 3" and "Darkness" to be among the slowest, most boring episodes in the history of the Stargate Franchise, personally. "Light" was when it first started to pick up again slightly.

I'd personally say if you were really looking for a place to gauge whether the improvements will be good enough for you to continue I'd say until "Space," Episode 1.11 That would be my recommendation at least.

[Snowman37]

If the show is boring for ten episodes, I can't promise I'll get that far.

[Dale Volker]

I will give you an example. I'm suppose you're into the Treks as you wanted to watch Voyager. The first time I watched Star Trek TNG, I thought it was the most rubbish show I had ever seen and the next season confirmed my theory. But I stuck with it because of the advice of the people who had watched the entire series. I am so glad I did. TNG is one of my favourite shows now. Had I not endured the tedious episodes of the 1st and sometimes 2nd season I would not have appreciated the growth and development of the characters and the story lines. SGU is the same deal. Nobody is forcing you to watch the show. My personal opinion is that the show is good and worth watching.

[YceQueen]

I'm glad more people are giving this show a chance, but I have to ask; You are clearly not a fan. You have never bothered to hide your dislike for this show and how different it is from SG1 and Atlantis. So then why are watching it anyway? To come back to this thread after every episode and tell us how much you dislike? How bored you are with it? That's just kinda rude towards the fans who DO like this and are trying to keep our little part of the fandom alive with nice things.

[Dale Volker]

^ amen

[KEK]

I don't care how brilliant the second season is. I'll never get there if the first season doesn't hold my interest. Tonight, I watched "Air, Part 2." A vast improvement over Part 1, no flashbacks. I'm not against using flashbacks in a story, I just don't like how SGU uses them. Unfortunately, nothing really happened in Part 2. The senator died, the air filter is broken, Eli found flying camera balls, and Rush learned some of the ship's mission from the database. Did I leave anything out? I hope Part 3 is better. I'm bored already.

Now you know how the forum feels every time you let us know that the show didn't grab you, again.

[Energizer_Vs_ZPM]

I don't care how brilliant the second season is. I'll never get there if the first season doesn't hold my interest.
<snip>
Unfortunately, nothing really happened in Part 2. The senator died, the air filter is broken, Eli found flying camera balls, and Rush learned some of the ship's mission from the database. Did I leave anything out? I hope Part 3 is better. I'm bored already.

Part 3 sees them running around in the desert looking for a substance you'd have no hope in hell of finding normally. Strangely though one of them gets help from some sort of alien and then find the lime. I think thats about it for that episode from memory.

As for being bored and not continuing, you are wrong! The producers themselves have made it clear that its not the show, it's the fans at fault for abandoning it and thats why it was cancelled! I must inform you there is nothing wrong with SGU at all. It's just you because you don't like it and it's all your fault they couldn't hold you as a viewer

Seriously, you see why it went downhill so fast don't you. The rest of S1 isn't good (ok some of it is ok but its not gripping). S2 is superior. If possible I'd recommend you just skip straight to it if I'm honest.

[Energizer_Vs_ZPM]

I'm glad more people are giving this show a chance, but I have to ask; You are clearly not a fan. You have never bothered to hide your dislike for this show and how different it is from SG1 and Atlantis. So then why are watching it anyway? To come back to this thread after every episode and tell us how much you dislike? How bored you are with it? That's just kinda rude towards the fans who DO like this and are trying to keep our little part of the fandom alive with nice things.

On the contrary, I disagree. We all liked SG1 and SGA for what it was - thrilling and gripping and full of aliens and tech. We expected to see the same with SGU but it turned out to be some boring drama thing which dedicated scifi fans didn't expect nor want.

The fact that snowman is just saying the obvious should be accepted: SGU is boring and can't hold peoples attention in the first few shows. THAT is what makes or breaks a show. You can have all the drama you want and the producers patting themselves on the back for their elegant work as much as you like but if the viewers say its crap repeatedly then thats the bottom line.

Sure, I love SGU but I didn't like the way it started either. It got better but I still didn't like those episodes and for me they are what killed it. Season 1 was so bad that PickTV showed it 2 eipsodes at a time until they reached season 2 here in the UK. Once they hit season 2 they started showing them one a week. That says something.

There is no point defending the indefensible. Season 1 of SGU was crap. I stuck with it because I am a SG fan and I wanted to see if it got better. It certainly did but it also wasted time of my life that I'll never get back.