'Darkness' (104) General Discussion

[reddevil18]

Okay...BEST.EPISODE.EVER!

Sure...we're just 4 episodes in, but I absolutely LOVED it! I was disappointed with the music (or lack thereof), though the silence did kinda work with the darkness.

The visuals around the gas giant were superb, there was a lot more humor and I generally just loved watching this episode. Can't wait for "Light".

[MattSilver 3k]

The part where Young used the stones to see his wife was the only part I found unnecessary but I can live with it.

I thought the same at first, but then I looked at it differently: What if this was Young's goodbye to her, for real? I mean, if he survives the whole power outage, then the water outage and all kinds of hell, and he does get a chance to see her again... and he decides not to. If she does turn up again and he sees her, this'll be rendered redundant, but I like thinking that scene is their goodbye...

Another cool thing I noticed this episode: they tackled the bathroom issues right away! Brody mentions waste sanitation systems, and we all know the showers run on some kind of steam... now.

[reddevil18]

In regards to Young and his wife...Well, it did seem a bit unnecessary, but I wouldn't want Young to just turn up later in Telford's body and jumping her bones right away...

[The Mighty 6 platoon]

This was the first episode that made me go "That was just 43 minutes!??"

Rush is still awsome. Coffee crazy or not.

Let's hope we get more scenes with Chloe in the shower sometime soon.

Eli and Riley um.. "making a wrong turn" was childish and immature. I liked it

The part where Young used the stones to see his wife was the only part I found unnecessary but I can live with it.

The CGI and the secondary characters both deserves an honorable mention.

This episode is better than all the episodes of the fifth season of SGA combined! All IMO.

9.7/10

I totally agree, it was awesome and a very fast 43 minutes or so. I found it very funny in places, the grim humour that came from people struggling to survive (recipes, for the love of God recipes), I found myself chuckling away at places, loved Volker trying to compare Rush to composers. I also loved the fact at the end instead of having to signpost the approach to the sun with some clunky dialogue, they just had a brilliant simple shot of the Destiny heading straight for a far off sun.

As for people complaining about the lack of action not every episode of past SG’s was filled with action, and besides they slingshoted through the upper atmosphere of a gas giant, how is that not exciting? All in all a damn find episode, though I find Emily Young to be very unsympathetic, however that’s probably the intention, oh and Camille Wray while in awesome human resources mode at the start needs to be in it more.

[reddevil18]

Oh, and I found t amusing how, during the slingshot maneuver, the Destiny had the same silhouette as a Wraith dart...

[MattSilver 3k]

Oh, and I found t amusing how, during the slingshot maneuver, the Destiny had the same silhouette as a Wraith dart...

It was rather dart-shaped, and the head looks rather Hat'ak-esque... oh those crazy Wraith and Goa'uld, stealing designs from the ancients when it came to ships...

All the other designers were busy on leather clothes (Wraith) and fancy dresses (Goa'uld).

[Buzz Lightyear]

I am shocked anyone would say this is a good episode. It was another boring and slow moving episode that brought us nothing.

1) Show is moving at an incredibly slow pace. That might be ok but the story and character development during the slow time in non existent. Sorry but the Kino recordings offered up nothing. Just random facts about not liking earthquakes and other crap. We still don't know who the characters are and what they are good at.

2) They are leaning heavily on the sex. Chloe showering and then another scene of Chloe getting dressed. Then they zoom in on the other chicks large breasts. Sorry this is all lame.

After 4 episodes we still know nothing. Literally. The character development is NON EXISTENT!

Well, maybe if you'd stop looking just at the boobs, you'd notice the character development already pointed out by others.

[Landers]

I don't get all the "Amazing!" or "Best ever" comments either. This was slow and I really learned nothing, except:

Chloe took a shower. Hey, why couldn't we see ELI taking a shower? Why are the young girls always the nakey ones? Chloe is afraid of the dark and needs "rescuing". Sorry, I have had enough of this one. She is close to being worse than SGA's Keller (who had her own "triangle" going on SGA), and I've always considered Keller the worst character ever created in Stargatedom.

Col Young leaving the scene of an emergency to visit his, wife/ex-wife, whoever she was? That was one of the worst ideas I've ever seen! And some people think we got such wonderful character development from Young in this episode? He left his post? He left his people in mortal danger? All to go visit a woman who doesn't even like him? Give me a break!

The videos patterned after SGA's Letters from Pegasus. Talk about total copy. I can still hear Rainbow Sun Franks saying, "We can edit that out". Sheesh writers, can we be ORIGINAL here? However, in LFP we actually learned about the characters. These guys were lame, immature, and I can't understand how they got their jobs in the first place. Some guy comparing himself to Salieri? Salieri was a LOSER! Some giggly lady rambling about fear of earthquakes? Hello? And some engineer guy who I wouldn't want working on my kid's scooter! None of these people showed any confidence, heart, soul, intelligence. LFP was where I fell in love with Zelenka, but I don't even remember the names of these people.

The Telford incident (which was too short) and Rush and his breakdown were the only highlights. Carlyle continues to make the rest of these actors look like amateurs. The only "new" improvement was the medic TJ, who I actually started to like. The rest remain angry and unlikeable and I'm sick of them hating each other.

So the development I saw was, girl in shower, girl afraid of dark, girl afraid of earthquakes, stupid man who worries about girl instead of his dying soldiers, promiscuous guy saying prayers (nothing worse than a hypocrite), and girl with big boobs. Hmm, yeah maybe there was character development, just not interesting development.

[senilegreen]

The character development is NON EXISTENT!

Disagree. The problem with the character development isn't that it is not there but rather that it is artificial and forced.

As someone mentioned just upstream, the characters are not acting as one would really expect people to act. What the writers are giving us instead are reworked stereotypes (especially among the scientists), and human interaction from a juvenile perspective, by which I mean the characters are shown as a teenager might project (perhaps based upon believing what they see on TV is an accurate reflection of real life) adults would do in various situations. This is not uncommon when someone tries to synthesize an experience with their imagination versus experiencing the real event.

With episode 4 the producers are showing us a bit more of whom their targeted audience is intended, though with mixed results. The adolescent/college age male (e.g., boob shots) who will like the implied sex and the focus on the female anatomy, but unfortunately for the producers an audience that will bore quickly from lack of "action" (i.e., killing people and blowing things up.)

Also, as I mentioned last week, the show is more and more appearing to be intended for the sci-fantasy-watching young demographic which over the years was targeted by everything from Buffy to Roswell. Note that is not necessarily a bad thing, but it leaves out some of the traditional SG-1 audience.

One of the problems is the super-intense Rush scenes don't fit well with the camp or teeny-romance stuff. It feels awkward to shift between moods so quickly in only a 43 minute show.

Summary: if more episodes of SGU turn out like this one, the show will likely lose me as a viewer.

[wargrafix]

The Rush nervous breakdown scene was awesome.

[Landers]

Disagree. The problem with the character development isn't that it is not there but rather that it is artificial and forced.

One of the problems is the super-intense Rush scenes don't fit well with the camp or teeny-romance stuff. It feels awkward to shift between moods so quickly in only a 43 minute show.

Summary: if more episodes of SGU turn out like this one, the show will likely lose me as a viewer.

You said it better than me. We have the BSG look and feel, along with the BSG sex angle, but most of the characters behave as if they are teenagers. Giggling, immature, lack of confidence, neediness, oogling at boobs, etc., doesn't cut it in the BSG world, where soldiers, doctors and engineers were kick ass and tough. There is a jarring disconnect on this show and I wish TPTB would decide which way they want to go - hard core scifi (BSG) or teen froth (Charmed/Buffy). Combining the two isn't working.

[DigiFluid]

I'm thinking that 98% of the people accusing SGU of copying/borrowing liberally from BSG haven't actually watched the series.

I love SG-1, all of it from beginning to what is currently the end. I loved BSG, from day 1 right up until its end--and really thought there were a lot of things they were doing that the Stargate franchise could benefit from. And that's as a fan of both series who is currently enjoying SGU quite a bit. But the reality of it is that this just has not been the case.

There are a myriad of valid criticisms of any and every TV series out there. This is not one of them.

[MediaSavant]

Disagree. The problem with the character development isn't that it is not there but rather that it is artificial and forced.

As someone mentioned just upstream, the characters are not acting as one would really expect people to act. What the writers are giving us instead are reworked stereotypes (especially among the scientists), and human interaction from a juvenile perspective, by which I mean the characters are shown as a teenager might project (perhaps based upon believing what they see on TV is an accurate reflection of real life) adults would do in various situations. This is not uncommon when someone tries to synthesize an experience with their imagination versus experiencing the real event.

With episode 4 the producers are showing us a bit more of whom their targeted audience is intended, though with mixed results. The adolescent/college age male (e.g., boob shots) who will like the implied sex and the focus on the female anatomy, but unfortunately for the producers an audience that will bore quickly from lack of "action" (i.e., killing people and blowing things up.)

Also, as I mentioned last week, the show is more and more appearing to be intended for the sci-fantasy-watching young demographic which over the years was targeted by everything from Buffy to Roswell. Note that is not necessarily a bad thing, but it leaves out some of the traditional SG-1 audience.

Well, I'm a 52 year old female and I totally disagree with that observation. I don't see this show targeted all to the typical Male 15-24 who makes movies like Transformers II into megahits. If it had been, it wouldn't have any character development at all.

I'm seeing things in this show that I always thought was missing from the previous shows. For instance, in Young last night, I'm seeing an acknowledgment that many real-life military personnel are married and going on active duty and missions puts incredible strains on their relationships--even destroying them. (Right out of the headlines of our own soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan)

For years, I wished the Stargates would tackle real dramatic issues like this, but they didn't. I see this show as a graduation toward a more 3-dimensional character viewpoint than the previous shows had. It may not be as finely tuned or astute as, say, Mad Men or Breaking Bad--two character-driven favorites of mine--but it's an improvement over what we used to get. Improvement is good.

[Jper]

What happened to that alien shuttle that dislodged from the ship?

Good question. Although I think someone mentioned that it would be back in another episode. I hope it's going to return.

I must say, this is my favorite episode of the series so far. And the graphics were just amazing! I felt sorry for Rush in his little coffee-deprived rage. And I like it how we actually got to see a few things that we haven't seen before...like showers and stuff like that. It's just an interesting little detail, to me, anyway.

And does anyone else think Telford's an ass?

That's what I was thinking, that maybe the Destiny had some way to recharge the power from the star's energy or something. Or maybe there is something on those planets that could help them.

Yeah, the graphics were cool and the details are great.

I agree with you on Telford. What is his problem?

Also, that sounds like a good theory. The star's energy powering the ship.

Come on , cant they do better than this?? There is no action at all. NOTHING. Stargate is not supposed to be this slow and boring. Im really trying to like this show and want to support it but they are totally losing me. Im giving it 2 weeks and im done wasting my time with it. IF its so good then why is the gateworld poll for air 3 not above 35% for a 10 rating ????? Because its only a 4 and thats pushing it.

I would say it's different from SG1 and SGA. Certainly it's different. However, although I don't agree with you, I think you're expecting SGU to be like SG1 or SGA, which it is not. I think that's just great. It's something different and I like it.

Great episode. Loved the character drama and loved the beginning with everyone in the messhall. Great comedy moments and loved the Kino scenes.

Those were indeed very good elements of this episode.

Also, I loved the realism where they had to translate the controls in the shuttle and put little stickers with the English translation. That's realistic since most of these people can't read Ancient. This was a small tidbit, but I loved that.

Well, I completely agree. This is one of the best things of this entire episode. I just thought that was really good.

Rush was amazing. Robert Carlyle keeps on impressing me with his acting talents more and more, episode by episode.

Indeed. I agree. Rush was very good in this episode. And I found him very likable even. It was very human and realistic and although he did something very unlikable, he almost made it likable. He's good, but I have always know Robert Carlyle to be a good actor. I also really liked his acting in "28 Weeks Later". He's one of the reason I started watching SGU.

I laughed when I saw Peter Deluise make a cameo when he was waiting near the Communication Stones and Telford relieved him. That was funny.

Good catching on that. I'll have to rewatch it, seems I missed that.

Overall, brilliant performances. Everyone was great. I enjoyed the episode and can't wait for 'Light'.

Prediction for next week: Skimming the gas giant was to fill the tanks with some kind of fuel, and passing so close to the star provides the heat to process it. The ship's flying itself, it's not going to accidentally slingshot around a gas giant to fly itself into a star.

Good theory! You could be right! I certainly agree with you that the ship flies itself and that this can't all be just coincidence.

The supporting cast is excellent!!

Man, I loved the subtlety and nuance that each actor brings to their characters, and this is definitely evident even in the supporting cast as well. One of my favorites was Jennifer Spence's character (Lisa Park) giving her kino interview. Man, she had me cracking up with the fast speech full of science talk (geeky science talk kinda gets me...), and she just kept rambling on and on. It was incredibly endearing, and her character really stood out to me in that moment.

And, of course, the amazing performances by the rest of the supporting cast as well (which I'll detail in my full review, later). Some of the most humorous moments of the episode were in those kino shorts, and I really did like them a lot.

Was anyone else surprised by the supporting cast this week?

Yes, I agree with you. The supporting cast is very well chosen. Unlike Air with Chloe's mother, that was horrible.
All these details really made the episode. And indeed that interview was great. It was good and funny. I've been missing that.

[Skydiver]

I'm writing the boobs and contrived 'see, we got nekked women on here' as the director, Peter de Luise's 'fault'.....he's rather famous infamous for his crudity, especially on episode commentaries where he'd obsess over the jaffa looking constipated and eating too much cheese. (He gets himself a cameo in every eps he directs, he was the dude that telford replaced in the stone room in the pentagon, the one that got up and picked up the paper and left)

Peter's humor is juvenile at best,, (in my opinion) crude and boorish at worst. So i'm sure he thought the naked chloe in the shower and spying on the sgt was funny. and maybe it was in a way. but it was also so prediciibly cliche and trite that I just rolled my eyes.

as to young visiting his wife, hey he'd already reported in. he told the other officer 'doesn't take long to say that you're screwed', so he had time left so said goodbye to his wife. I don't begrudge him that.

Telford is, to me, totally untrustworthy and seems fixated on getting command of the mission