'Gauntlet' (220) General Discussion

[the fifth man]

Even though this was the final episode, I enjoyed it thoroughly from start to finish. While I would have liked this to just be a season finale, I actually think it is a lot better end than I thought we would get.

[AndSoItBegins]

I agree with you completely that the second half of the second season was much better. It was far closer to what the majority of Stargate fans have come to expect.

The show's creators made a catastrophic mistake. They took way too long to run through the "whole wrong people in the wrong place" story arc. It should have been completed midway through the first season and not well into the second. The dark and depressing gloomy atmosphere of the entire first season drove off most of the established fans and many new viewers.

Too bad...

Too bad only that the Whiny Brigade was too stubborn to appreciate something that dared to be a bit different instead of repeating what had already been done for fourteen years.

TPTB of SGU has no reason to hang its head.

They gave me a good first season. Not great, probably not very good. But good. Certainly better than the first season of classics like TNG, DS9 and B5.

They provided a first half of the second season that was indeed very good. No, SGU's second season didn't become worthy only during its second half. It was delivering fantastic episodes and terrific human drama from the very beginning of its sophomore run.

They also provided a stellar second half of season two that no other Stargate series can touch. And that makes the second season of SGU as strong as any as the Stargate franchise has ever put out. And, please, don't use ratings as a measuring stick because that would suggest all shows, movies, books, songs that were popular were also all of high quality while all of those that didn't find large success were inferior works of art. There is an overwhelming amount of evidence out there that would suggest otherwise.

Thank God TPTB allowed these characters to EARN their trust and respect one another. Because the payoff in these final episodes would not have been nearly as strong if they all were so chummy from the start like the crews of SG1 and SGA. Some of us love human conflict and how some disagreements and weariness are never completely overcome. There is nothing wrong with that. And if going that route was a "catastrophic mistake" financially for TPTB (in terms of keeping an audience) it was a winner artistically. And I respect the latter more than the former. As a fan of SGU if I had to choose between the show going five years by taking the SG1/SGA approach or the show going out in two years by doing exactly what they did, then I'd pick the two year scenario. At least I'll get a show that isn't afraid to touch adult themes rather than provide only cartoon escapism. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

[Jim of WVa]

Was this a mistake?

http://cms.scifi-nexus.com/wp-conten...011/05/ftf.jpg

[Corona]

In a way, we do know what happens to everybody. We saw the Kino movies and know how they lived and died. That makes the stasis ending a little less final.

Eli has a good life and he knows that only a part of him will die on Destiny, (or not). There has to be a peace that goes with that.

The Enterprise never did finish their five year mission either. Dumb decisions never die.

[traylormatt]

I thought it was fantastic. I felt the exact same as when I saw the Lost finale, I absolutely hated it and thought it sucked when I first saw it but then I thought about it for a while, re watched it and loved it. It is how I imagined it ending when I first heard about the series cancellation and saw spoilers about the stasis pods, though I imagined it being more like 1000 years they would be in the stasis pods, not just 3. though 3 years is a long time of course.

My only qualm with it was how "lucky" it was they had the perfect amount of crew to fit in the stasis pods, bar one. Had a few of the Novus people wanted to stay or some people hadn't died along the way, they would have been screwed (well the writers would have just given x amount more pods, leaving one again) but hey, I guess it makes for gripping television, and I did enjoy it as that was my one little niggle about it all.

In the 3rd season, it would be so cool to see what Eli would get up to, fixing pods, walking around the ship, drawing a mural of himself on Rush's "chalk" board for when they all wake up.

The second season was fantastic, the second half of the second season was some of the best television and Sci-fi I have ever seen. It was a lovely ending.

I know a lot of people will keep saying "that wasn't a series finale, it was a cliffhanger"
Well obviously, that is because it wasn't written to be the true ending. What it seems a lot of people ignore is that there can never really, truly be a cliff hanger for Stargate unless everything basically is destroyed. SG1 would need to have something drastic happen to the stargate program of EVERY ONE of the main characters would have to retire, anything else would only fulfill YOUR idea of a good ending. Atlantis would need something similar, everyone leaving at one time or Atlantis actually gets destroyed because answers could be made regarding where it is, what it is doing, but there will always be more missions and more to do.

SGU I doubt could ever have reached it's true ending of finding the signal unless they were all willing to go into stasis for millions of years, unless they happened to gate to the ship within 10 years of it reaching its destiny, which is unlikely, so I see this is how it could have ended in a few years time but only knowing they were going into permanent stasis until they reach their destiny. The only other option for SGU, in my mind, obviously others will have what they would have preferred, was the ending of the Novus people. To see them grow old and populate the galaxy. That obviously made a lovely joint ending with this one.

[dvdrts]

Was this a mistake?

http://cms.scifi-nexus.com/wp-conten...011/05/ftf.jpg

what do you mean exactly?

[Tonton Beber]

Well, didn't see the vertical writing on the right ?
It's clearly written "***** the French"

If it's an internal joke, then it's a very bad one.
It is completely nonsense and useless, Rush even did not have anything to do with France in its character background.

As a french speaking people, I feel insulted.

This will even probably be the last thing I will remember from my previously beloved Stargate. And this makes me feel very happy of the cancellation. So exit TPTB and welcome to a brand new team for a future reset.

[flappo]

You have to look closely at the right edge. Something very impolite for French people...

[Shylodog]

Wow. Just skimmed to that point and saw it is indeed in the show. Very inappropriate, whoever the set designers were. Personal political views by the [set]crew have no place making it on-air, though I'm suprised anyone caught it. At least they edited it by removing the "U". Now I'm wondering who wrote it.

[Beka]

The picture is on the MGM site, too.

http://stargate.mgm.com/view/content/2846/index.html

Here is a big version of it:

http://stargate.mgm.com/assets//Stil...220-0014xx.jpg

[Shylodog]

It would have been funnier if it had said "The Cake is a Lie...." or something like that.

[LtColCarter]

Was this a mistake?

http://cms.scifi-nexus.com/wp-conten...011/05/ftf.jpg

Oh wow...didn't see that before...

And hello from a fellow West Virginian!

[rushy]

I agree with you completely that the second half of the second season was much better. It was far closer to what the majority of Stargate fans have come to expect.

The show's creators made a catastrophic mistake. They took way too long to run through the "whole wrong people in the wrong place" story arc. It should have been completed midway through the first season and not well into the second. The dark and depressing gloomy atmosphere of the entire first season drove off most of the established fans and many new viewers.

Too bad...

Well, it depends on the point of view. I think that the gloomy atmosphere was only there for the first 10 episodes cos they were basically all bottle shows that made it a bit boring. No aliens in those episodes, just the Rush vs Young/survival arc. For me, Air started this awesome show, while Space really brought it alive like those artificially created Kull Warriors. Body is created first, then mind. SGU had a lot of potential to be the best series ever(which it almost was). Too bad the writers decided to end doing the Wormhole effect since Air. Too bad that Destiny was so dark(sth. I enjoyed, especially when they went to Earth as a change. The light blinded me). I did enjoy the changing shuttles. Air-Faith we have Normal Shuttle and Broken Shuttle. Faith-Aftermath we have Normal Shuttle. Aftermath-Visitation we have no Shuttle. Visitation-Twin Destinies we have the repaired Broken Shuttle. Twin Destines-Gauntlet we have Faith Shuttle and an alternate future Faith Shuttle. Gauntlet- we have Faith Shuttle. Those changes were funny.

[Baltic]

The series was great. And the ending solution was also great. It may possible they someday continue the whole franchise.

But you may look this thread: http://forum.gateworld.net/threads/8...ate-Chronicles

[Flibby]

It would have been funnier if it had said "The Cake is a Lie...." or something like that.

"The cake is a lie" is just about as funny and 10 times more annoying. Actually, it's a lot less funny, because at least this whole French thing is amusing, seeing all these people losing their heads over it.