'Air, Part 2' (102) General Discussion

[Briangate78]

There was the occasional episode where you saw that they could do a different kind of show if they wanted to. "Heroes" in SG1 was an outstanding example. "Vegas" in Atlantis was an another.

Yup, there were many others, imo, but then you had SG-1 and SGA filled with stand alone eps, and simple comic relief eps. There is no doubt about it that past Stargates were simple fun. I can see SGU having those fun eps but being more serious. I liked Stargate when it took itself seriously, but I also enjoyed the fun light humor.

[Coronach]

Yup, there were many others, imo, but then you had SG-1 and SGA filled with stand alone eps, and simple comic relief eps. There is no doubt about it that past Stargates were simple fun. I can see SGU having those fun eps but being more serious. I liked Stargate when it took itself seriously, but I also enjoyed the fun light humor.

Speaking of humor, I lol'd at the scene where Eli is dictating to the Kino and making everyone uncomfortable. And then he goes to say something else and Scott yells "Eli!!".

The humor is definitely still there.

[Briangate78]

Speaking of humor, I lol'd at the scene where Eli is dictating to the Kino and making everyone uncomfortable. And then he goes to say something else and Scott yells "Eli!!".

The humor is definitely still there.

Eli and Scott are going to become good friends. I can tell right off the bat. They had some conflicts, but they also could relate to eachother's lack of experience.

[Madwelshboy]

Speaking of humor, I lol'd at the scene where Eli is dictating to the Kino and making everyone uncomfortable. And then he goes to say something else and Scott yells "Eli!!".

The humor is definitely still there.

Its just a different type of humour IMO.

[Coronach]

Eli and Scott are going to become good friends. I can tell right off the bat. They had some conflicts, but they also could relate to eachother's lack of experience.

Most definitely. I enjoyed their dynamic so far

[Stormtrooper]

Ok, that was boring... Certainly the worst Stargate pilot to date

The special effects were no better than those of SG-1 and SGA, the acting was average and uninspired and the story was plagued with plot holes.

The show still has an interesting premise, but I doubt the current creative team will be able to fully realize its potential.

6/10

[Terra Atlantus]

It's nice to see so many good (positive) comments here on the last pages. It seems that all the haters is focusing on starting new threads in the general forum and bashing the show on their blogs. Unfortanely it's always the negative comments that gets most attention but I hope the people behind the show know that the people writing on forum and blogs only constitute a small part of the shows viewers.

I enjoyed the two episodes. And I like Louis Ferreia, and I love his voice, it's poweful.

[TheLastSunset]

Since Air Part 1 and 2 are kind-of like one episode I'll post what I said in the Air, Part 1 General Discussion topic:

I thought it was an ASTOUNDING episode. It exceeded my expectations. I thought the characters interacted so well for being the pilot episode. The acting was great from everyone and the show was so realistic. I really enjoyed the characters, especially Rush. It was wonderful to see Jack, Daniel, Sam, Walter and Lee. Am I forgetting even more that were in the episode? I love the concept of the show. It's the perfect progression from where Stargate's gone before. The sets were quite appealing and the CGI was even better than it's been before. The only thing I didn't like were some of characters moralistic reactions to Rush's logical words. But it's realistic that people just aren't there yet in terms of thought-ability.

[thekillman]

i loved the dynamic, and the almost greek-tragedy approach of Young and Armstrong. both leaders, both injured, and both having their puppets. i liked how Rush showed a human side to Chloe. and he was right and chloe was wrong. chloe accused him of her fathers death, but Armstrong did it himself. i am still wondering: did Armstrong die because of his disease or whatever he had, or due to lack of air?


i think in general, there were not alot of plotholes. infact, not one. merely a few pooly explained things, like Rush stating that the ship was thousands of years old (producers said millions), and the ascension thing. here, however, it is implied to be rush' guess of what happened, not what the producers said did happen.

i like it how rush merely takes the blame of them ending up there, and comments that the situation they are in, is not his fault.

the plot was driven by a story, not by action. there was plenty of action, it was cool, and when the episode ended, i could only think about what would happen next.

also, the destiny has guns. BIG GUNS. in the first zoom-in, you can see two massive guns at the right. they are AWESOME


i also liked the guest-starring. the SG1 people had nice, small roles with all the light to shine on the new people. Daniel's role was perfect, perfect for him. O'neill and carter, Lee, so many SG1 people and all with a normal role and no major ones. i liked it, it was perfect

[s09119]

Ok, that was boring... Certainly the worst Stargate pilot to date

The special effects were no better than those of SG-1 and SGA, the acting was average and uninspired and the story was plagued with plot holes.

The show still has an interesting premise, but I doubt the current creative team will be able to fully realize its potential.

6/10

The other points I'll chalk up to personal taste, but that's just not true at all; the effects were miles above the best Stargate ever had to offer, and were such a relief after the cartoony animations we got in late Atlantis.

[Cashmere]

The show was so boring! I kept on checking my watch. At the end of the SG-1 and Atlantis pilots I couldn't wait to come back for more. With Universe i was waiting for it to end!

A slow show can be good and drive anticipation but only if the characters are interesting. I thought all of the Universe characters were dull! It was like the actors were bored! Rush mumbled through his lines. Greer was an over the top caricature and the rest of the military were forgettable. Eli and his quips were irritating. The women were either weepy or powerless.

Nothing drew me in and there was nothing to keep me coming back for the next episode. Very disappointing.

[TheLastSunset]

and comments that the situation they are in, is not his fault.

Exactly, most people would be fake and say "it's my fault." But he was honest. I especially like that.

[Coronach]

Exactly, most people would be fake and say "it's my fault." But he was honest. I especially like that.

I agree. If there's one thing I surely like about Rush thus far, it's that he's honest. One of my favorite lines was when Scott informed him that a lot of people wouldn't mind killing him and he just responds with: "I don't care".

It really says a lot, as you can tell Rush realizes that despite people's contempt of him, they realize they need him. And that keeps Rush safe from harm. You even see it when Scott tell him he has his back, but that Rush better work on finding a way home.

And, as Brian mentioned, another of my favorite lines was: "What makes you think I won't try?". Man, there were a lot of very good gems in this episode that I feel people are forgetting.

[Coronach]

So, I typed up a review on my LJ last night and I decided to post it here, as Jelgate reminded me I hadn't yet .

What a ride. You know, I distinctly remember first coming to GW last Spring. Now, after months of waiting we've finally been treated to the premiere of the show we've been waiting for. If you don't feel like reading my lengthy review, then just scroll to my overall thoughts. Otherwise, read on.

Spoiler:

Wow. Right off the bat, I need to make one thing quite clear: I thought "Air" parts 1&2 were excellent. While there are things that I felt were lacking, that in no way tarnishes my overall impression of this wonderful premiere. So, without rambling on about the events that lead up to tonight (most of you will know about it anyways), here we go.

The Opening Scene

Wow. I expect to be relatively alone in this, but I felt the opening title sequence was astounding. It was simple, yet it set the mood absolutely perfectly. The way the Destiny slowly floated into view of the camera, and how the camera weaved through the dark, silent halls of the Destiny as we began to see it power up. Wow, it was perfect...and something I was not expecting.

And then, all hell broke loose. I absolutely loved how people just started piling onto the ship, and the level of frantic-ness rose as each new person fell onto the next and scrambled to get out of the way. The darkness of the gate room (lit only by the stargate) really made the scene perfect.

The Flashbacks

So it seems my opinion on these is echoed by quite a few people. In short, I felt the 2nd half of the premiere was much more solid (overall) than the first. Not saying I didn't enjoy the first half (see above ), but the combination of commercial breaks and some of the flashbacks led to the momentum waning at points of the episode. Ideally, I'd have watched the entire episode commercial-free.

Still, the flashbacks did provide some very interesting material. We learned a lot about some of the characters, given just how much they had to try and cram into this episode and it leaves me excited to learn about the rest. Which brings me to probably my most lengthy section:

The characters

Wow, massively positive and optimistic in this regard. My biggest issue was not that I had a problem with any of the character but, rather, that we didn't get to see more of some of these characters. In no particular order:

Rush: First off, Robert Carlyle is (unsurprisingly) immensely talented. I simply cannot say enough good about him and his portrayal of Rush. And seriously, can you believe Rush? I am so unsure as to what I think about him at this point. And given what TPTB have said, I feel this is exactly the reaction we're supposed to have. I'm looking forward to even more Rush

Wray: If I have one character complain, it'd be that we didn't see enough Wray! Then again, I cannot seriously fault TPTB for this. With an ensemble cast, it's not easy to balance the screen-time. So we're going to see (as season 1 goes on) that different characters are emphasized at different times. I'm willing to forgive TPTB in this respect, especially considering the storylines she has coming her way.

Eli: I loved Eli! He got incredibly ample screen time, which does make sense given the importance of Eli's character as a parallel to new stargate fans coming into the franchise. David Blue is an awesome actor, and his mannerisms and subtlties he added to the character of Eli were excellent. And wow, despite the darker feel to the show, he really added some well-placed humor that I laughed out loud with. I sound like a broken record now, I'm sure, but I'm quite excited to see where his character goes too!

Chloe: I apologize in advance. I don't mean to fanboy so much, as my stance on Chloe up until now was no secret to anyone. I liked Chloe as the show went along, but (due to the pacing of "Air") I felt that we just weren't learning much about her and was expecting her to be another "she'll get more in future episodes" character. That was, of course, until that scene where her father died.

I don't expect people to agree, and I can say I honestly don't care in this instance. But this scene with Chloe (as well as with her and Scott in the observation deck) were two of the most powerful moments of the episode. It was one of the key moments in the episode that really made me empathize with a character. I felt truly upset for Chloe in that scene, and I felt Elyse absolutely dominated that scene. She's a newer face, to be sure, but her acting ability is (at least for me) no longer a question...though I never thought it would be.

Furthermore, her scene where she started attacking Rush was just icing on the cake. Elyse pulled off that extreme range of emotion (despair-->fury) with stunning precision, and I loved every minute of her character in these scenes.

Scott: I can't lie here, I was familiar with Brian J. Smith's previous work before the pilot of SGU. I had read up a lot on all of the actors, but I took special notice of Brian after I saw his phenomenal performance in his guest-starring role in Law and Order. So it is with great pleasure that I say his performance as Lt. Scott lives up to my expectations. SGU is graced with extremely talented actors (as were the previous shows), and he is a character I am SO looking forward to getting to know more of.

Brian adds such nuance to Scott that it's almost hard to put into words. For example, did anyone else notice how timidly he approached Dr. Rush in the observation deck? Or how about the uncertainty in his voice when he was trying to get people's attention in the gate room. And (probably my most favorite), the almost inaudible "Fair enough" he says to Chloe in their scene in the observation deck. In fact, I thought the scene with Matt and Chloe on the observation deck was spectacular. I don't expect others to agree, but I really liked it for various reasons.

There are many more than just this, but I felt like articulating a few just to see if anyone else noticed as well. That's not to say other actors didn't do this, I'm just trying to keep this entry below novella-length.

TJ: For the relatively little we saw of her, I must say I cannot complain. She seems like a wonderful and caring character, and I love the "in over her head" sort of impression you get with the character. The "I'm just a medic." line really said it all for me. I'll be looking forward to more backstory, and I'm very interested to see how she handles being the new chief medical officer on board. I suspect she will have great triumphs and devastating failures in the future, and it will give great character material.

Young: Interesting character. I can't say he "stood out" for me yet, but that's certainly no cause to think he's a bad character. He'll be an interesting one to watch, and I did take notice of his level-headedness in most situations. I am quite looking forward to the dynamic between him and Rush as well.

Greer: Didn't see much of him, did we? That'd be my only gripe about his character. He is already interesting in a mysterious kind of way, and I'm left wondering a lot about his character now. Looking forward to some meatier scenes in upcoming episodes.

Telford: By far the least screen time, but I'm not really surprised given what we knew about the cast coming in. Still, I'm thinking Telford will also have some cool scenes coming up later on, so here's to the rest of season 1!

The Plot:

Fairly solid. Could it have been better? Maybe...but I'm not sure that's the way to approach a pilot like this. There's SO much information to get across about the backstory and the characters that even 2 hours isn't enough it would seem. This is not a major gripe of mine, and I'm not going to extrapolate anything about SGU as a whole from this episode. I look forward to some more action in future episodes, yet, but the character plot was excellent. TPTB really proved to me that they can, indeed, write a character drama...so hopefully that complaint begins to wane over the next few weeks.

The Extra Bits:

1) Just so he doesn't go unnoticed, props to Joel Goldsmith! Holy hell. The music was different, to be sure, but it was enrapturing and set the mood perfectly in every scene. He hooked me immediately with the opening sequence, and was unrelenting till the very end. As someone with an extensive musical background, I can only tip my hat to Joel. Well done. Also wanted to add that the instrumentation was also quite distinctly different. For example, the piano is featured quite heavily throughout and they are very dark, simple melodies in a lot of places. Man, I'm really looking forward to seeing what else Joel pulls out for this new series.

2) Speaking of mood, wasn't the set spectacular? I am in love with the Destiny already, and we haven't even seen every part yet! Very exciting to think about what other secrets the ship may hold. Oh, and TPTB were right about the lighting. Whatever they do to light the set, it looks incredibly natural and I love it.

3) I know I've already said this above, but I just want to reiterate a couple points here. And that is, it seems a lot of the complaints people had long ago are being proven completely false by this premiere. Two common ones were "it's not going to have humor" and "Same TPTB = same stories". To both of these, I'd argue that they are not true in most cases. I found myself laughing out loud at several moments. And furthermore, I found this to be a pretty drastic change from almost anything I've seen TPTB throw at us before. Yes, it is still Stargate and you can still feel that in the undertones of the show. But I can't help but notice (and love) just how different the show is looking to be.

Overall:

The Good: Excellent characterization, solid concept and lots of potential, great set, great music, stellar cast, and a great balance between drama and humor/lighter material.

The "Bad": Notice, I don't say it's straight up bad because I don't truly think it's the case yet. However, my concerns are eventual disparities in screen-time for some characters over others and the possibility that TPTB may focus too much on the character drama and less on the plot. I never thought I'd actually say that, and I am in no way saying I got that vibe to any great extent from the pilot. The pilot is a bad episode to judge things like plot on, as it's usually very fast-paced and tries to fit a lot in. I'll just keep an eye on this in the future and see where it goes.

[dunce_d]

Just some quick thought son the show and some reactions I've noticed on this board. First, I think that a lot of people are not used to the way that this story is being told. In SG1 or SGA, any significant event would be thoroughly examined within the confines of the single episode. In SGU there were all kinds of key scenes that occured and were not followed up on, in this episode anyways. For example the attack on the Icarus base is clearly the result of inside information. The attackers knew where the base was on the planet, where the Hammond was in orbit and what they had to do to invade. In SG1 or SGA this would have been one of the main focuses of the episode, as the characters tried to figure out who the spy was and there would have been some kind of resolution at the end. In SGU, the attack on the base is barely mentioned again in the episode and then only by people who were not on the Destiny. I'm thinking a lot of people who did not like the episode are just not used to seeing an episode of SG that isn't as neatly wrapped up as they are used to.
Second, this show has some to the worst military yet. For example, Lt. Scott and Sgt Greer, or as I call them Quickzip and Quickdraw. The first time we are introduced to these guys we are seeing them at their worst; Scott is shagging a subordinate in a storeroom and Greer is in jail. In the first episode of SG1 we were introduced to Col. O'Neil, Captain Carter and General Hammond, who set the bar for ethics and morals in military SG personnel. All the military people on the destiny are aware of Quickzip's and Quickdraw's failings but have no problem following their orders. Even when Quickdraw almost attacked Camille, (btw I loved how Ming-na didn't even flinch when he came at her) he didn't get more then a few warning looks as he was told to back down.
Third, why does everybody on Destiny hate Dr Rush? When Eli gets to Icarus someone says they're happy someone took Rush down a peg; there is the scene where Rush goes to the mess to get his box lunch and has to watch everyone toasting Eli, you definitely get the sense that no one ever toasted him; then there is the scene where Rush tells the group that Gen O'Neill put him in charge and everyone screams "No". Quickzip can say that Col Young put him in command and no questions it but when Rush, the only guy who is supposed to be on this mission, thereby making him the senior member of the team by default, states that he was put in command the crew nearly mutinies. What did Rush do that made everyone want to follow a green officer on his first mission (who can't keep his pants fastened) over him?
Well Space is rerunning the show now, so I gotta run watch it again...