TV Review, Stargate Universe: Clearly Cylon In Its Design

Stargate Universe, highly anticipated and eagerly awaited, did not disappoint in its first episode full of gate-dialing, alien attacks, artistic jumps in time to keep suspense, cameos by its predecessor's more famous members, and the obligatory newcomer who got to experience the awe of the Stargate for the first time. The characters were each given brief outlines - a flittering suggestion of their problems - and that's okay, because a first episode should tease and not over-saturate. The hectic mayhem, liberal use of shaky-cam, and moral dilemmas of a people trapped on the run relate easily to the need to seduce those mourning Battlestar Galatica fans.

On a whole, these aren't bad things. However, ten episodes in and this sequel series seems to be missing some sci to its fi. There's been, arguably, two to three alien encounters and very little visible dialing of the gate - because of the ship suffering from power failures. Destiny, itself, is gorgeous but also underused. There's one man (well, not anymore) who knows how to function it in the slightest, and he spends most of the time in front of the same console battling a language we don't get to read. The premise is not terrible, but the lack of exploration and discovery is beginning to wear against its panic-of-the-week. Or, as some say, "What Are We Out of This Time". The argument isn't that people in this situation wouldn't butt heads as much as they are on SGU, merely that sucking the camp out of the show makes it lose the flavor of its namesake.

Of course, this isn't the same show, and it's battling bringing in people who have never wanted to watch the previous Stargates. The turmoil is real, the relationships thick and interesting; there's just an itch to know more and more about the alien part of the universe. On the flip side, the fact that every episode isn't treated as stand-alone is appreciated. Older Stargate episodes started to feel like nobody ever learned from what had happened previously-- Oh my, why is Daniel Jackson acting so crazy? Could it be.. because he's been infected by an alien parasite like has happened to us numerous times before? Naah, he must just be crazy! -- yeah, it happened.

Concerns aside, SGU is visually wonderful to watch, emotionally stressing (mostly in the good way!), and full of brimming possibilities that will hopefully get cracked out further in January after a very game-making move in this mid-season finale. Its return is definitely greatly anticipated.

Stand-Out Character: Dr. Nicholas Rush



There are many who would disagree with this purely on the standpoint that Rush is a nasty, underhanded man only out for his own intellectual gain, damn anyone in the way. This is only complimentary. Dr. Nicholas Rush is a fully-actualized, living, breathing, decision-making force on SGU - which is not just a little credit, of course, to his portrayer, Robert Carlyle. As the antithesis to Col. Young's straight-up, leave no man behind bravado, Rush must represent a perhaps less likable but occasionally more practical viewpoint. He is very much the "for the greater good" believer, calculating his every move not to cause harm to others but merely to nudge them in the right direction - his direction.

An argument once went that Rush's distasteful behavior in the opening episode made him a presence to dislike. And it's true, it'd be easy to hate him. But that doesn't make him a bad character. Even the first episode pointed to several moments of emotional vulnerability, making him instantly the most fleshed out, and potentially the most interesting simply for his suggested depth. Current episodes seem to be aiming towards his animosity with Young growing into something potentially more dangerous for both of them... however, there is some glimmer of chance that this much antagonism in the beginning could point towards an epic redeeming act further down the line. The deeper one digs himself, the more sacrificial the twist later on.

Only continued watching will unlock this dastardly doctor's true potential, as long as SGU keeps aiming true.

Struggling Character: It's a toss-up.



They conveniently took a photo-shoot of just the people I was looking for. It's almost like someone knew. The fact that several characters are listed as "struggling" is not a testament to the show being bad, itself, but just that it's suffering slowly under more characters than it seems to want to deal with. Then again, this is only mid-season. The show hasn't even reached its whole creative peak yet - so these concerns are vented with caution, and understanding that they could be blown out of the water by even the next episode.

Greer (far right) suffers in that he hasn't had an episode focusing on himself yet, but each episode should be able to reveal at least one new thing about its cast, and so far he hasn't done anything to really bring him out of his stereotype. Scott (pictured far left) is the least in danger, but his dizzying-ly fast hook-up with Chloe (just right of him) has relegated her to mere make-out status when her emotional issues over her father and career should have given her so much more to do than lip-lock. As for Tamara (second from the right)... well, who is she? Besides patching up people and feeling bad, she has very little to contribute so far. It hasn't been yet that anyone of them are badly written, only that they haven't been exposed enough; the characters are all primed. Excited to see when they get to put their best foot forward again.

Eli Wallace (pictured middle) is, naturally, supposed to be the viewer's "in", as the youngest, most clueless member who gets to ask the obvious questions so people who don't know the world can get some idea. He's also a math whiz. Mostly, we see him as Kino-Operating Expert - which gets him in trouble with people more often than not. (Kinos are like floating video-cameras, allowing him to constantly vlog about his depressing circumstances for posterity) As a character, he isn't terrible. He isn't even bad; it's just a sort of "waiting in the wings" thing. He cracks jokes and makes lol references to sci-fi movies that none of the hardcore military elite understand; he's the everyman.

Except.. he's got more to do. He's supposed to be an intellectual and moral baseline for 1) the aforementioned military elite who do everything their way, and 2) the uppity and questionably sane Dr. Rush. But he's been frequently left out of the scientific debates now, and his relationship with Rush seems to have stalemated for the purposes of pitting Rush against Young instead. It's this viewer's opinion that he could be better utilized than just as a punchline, and there's hope to see him come into his own in the future. Him turning to the older intellectual and spouting "... Well, you are [crazy]"? More moments like that, please. (Although recent episodes may make that slightly more difficult...)

So far, no one seems to be a lost cause - it helps that all of the actors are splendid, making the most of the melodrama, and that SGU is really just gearing up and could easily jump every one of these hurdles with the rest of its season. More power to it!

Current TV Shows 2010: Put Down The Remote

Since everything is going on fall break and leaving me in agonizing pain and denial.. I felt it would be a good time to address this topic -- Television.

Back when the leaves were turning and the world seemed new, I began charting the progress of television shows that would be premiering or returning soon and that I was eager to see. At the time, I titled this picture "TV Rules My Life" for the obvious reasons of how it was clearly dominating my schedule and, should I be obeying its every notation, I would barely have a night not sitting in front of the TV for several hours. Except Tuesday. What's up with Tuesdays?

As it were, I was subject to the limitations of living in a home with my parents at the time, and they, themselves, had a number of programs - most of which were wildly separate from my own. This caused a bit of a clash when it came to watching, but more precisely when it came down to that the TiVO they owned could only record two shows at a time and then you weren't allowed to watch a third station if that was happening. Really, the most problematic time came on Mondays. Monday, Monday, Monday... I wanted to watch Heroes ( God knows why ) and Trauma and Lie To Me... the parents wanted to have recorded Big Bang Theory and Two And A Half Men and How I Met Your Mother and House... and Lie To Me. During these times, I'd take myself into my bedroom and watch Heroes and Trauma on my own with my iffy antenna - iffy because perhaps, maybe one of them had been snapped in half and hastily replaced....

Lie To Me got recorded, though, so Mondays were never a total loss as far as TiVO went.

Time went by, though, and shows premiered, and leaves fell and the sky darkened... and I began weeding out those shows that I knew would start becoming a chore instead of a pleasure to watch each week. The last cuts were made, in fact, only a few days ago, so I share that new image with you now.




Shows that got the axe: House, Law & Order: SVU, Flash Forward, Dexter, White Collar, Better Off Ted

House: I really lost interest in keeping up with the show a while ago, but since it was supposedly taking a new direction this season, I'd at least been curious to catch the premiere, despite that I'd missed a good deal from earlier. As it turns out, I wasn't actually that interested since I missed the premiere, put off watching the premiere when my parents kept it on the TiVO for me, and still have only seen one episode since. However, that episode was great because it was about Wilson ( which wasn't the great part ) and in the background it lampshaded its own predictable formula of how the sick patient cases go by having House's team occasionally run past shouting weird diagnoses or lamenting that they'd gotten it wrong and now the person was crashing.

House quickly went off my schedule because I just wasn't thinking about it enough.

Law & Order: SVU: While it still remains my favorite L&O, it is no longer my favorite cop procedural and I've found that, in watching it, I'm more amused than invested. The characters have always been sort of one-hit-wonders in their own boxed up cliches, but I liked Stabler and I liked the way the cases were handled. Now, I just have seen too many episodes of it and the appeal is waning. To break out, they'd need something new - but to change too much would no longer be the right show. It's a great thing to sit back and catch up on when you need some entertaining noise in the background, and I'm glad it's still going for that, but I can't make myself keep up with it in a weekly fashion.

SVU left the schedule because I couldn't be bothered.

Flash Forward: Here's a more interesting one, because Flash Forward I was initially very excited for and sat down to watch as it premiered. I was intrigued, as I usually am by large puzzles, clues that need to be added up, and actors with the last name Fiennes. But two things had already started to bother me once it was over. 1) Everyone seemed to be hamming it up, acting melodramatically and giving me a bad feeling. 2) Puzzles were solved too quickly. Now, I understand that the audience needs to feel like something happened in the episode, like they are receiving new information, or they'll quickly become frustrated by having more questions than answers ( Hey, Lost ). However, I like a little time to suss things out myself. It seemed like they'd introduce these huge epic plot twists just to have them solved by the end of the episode - or sooner! Sometimes even by the next scene. After missing a few episodes, I found that I was dreading having to catch up with it rather than hurrying to do so...

Flash Forward was dropped because of its over-the-top acting, plot twists, and uninteresting pacing. And, man, I didn't even make it to Dominic Monaghan.

Dexter: Oh, this one's easy. I love the show, but we didn't get the station it was on. Showtime wasn't offering episodes, so I just got busy watching other things.

White Collar: Another one I was super excited for. I really like cheeky criminals one the one side, and Tim DeKay on the other, so, seemed like a surefire hit. Now, this is unfair because I only watched the Pilot, but I watched wowed off my feet by it. I liked Neal, but I didn't like how he instantly got the better of his FBI handler by smoozing his way into that nicer apartment. It would've been nice to see him struggle a bit. There was also a good deal of focusing on how he was running, oh they knew he'd run why did they ever trust him, and then him... not being running. I'd say stretch that one out a bit, so the tension can build a bit more about why he's doing or not doing certain actions. Anyway, like I said: unfair because I only watched the first episode.

White Collar was dropped mainly because I wanted a shorter schedule and I wasn't knocked off my feet by it.

Better Off Ted: Now this is a show that I just went crazy for every episode. I cannot possibly describe right now how much I did enjoy this show. And since this post is already too long, I won't. Better Off Ted premieres again soon, so maybe it'll be back on my schedule. Or maybe I'm afraid that it won't be able to keep up what it had.

Shows that actually got the axe: Dollhouse, a lot of deserving sitcoms

Yeah, well. Whatever to you, too, FOX.

Shows that survived: Trauma, V, Stargate Universe

Trauma: I didn't even expect to watch Trauma, except that it came right after Heroes so being the kind of lazy person I am that leaves the TV on until something that really sucks comes on, it's a natural progression. Also, I'd seen the ads ( I really like the new NBC brand right now ) and thought I'd recognized one of the actors. I really wanted to know who he was because I felt like I liked him for some reason. As usual, my character-instincts were strong, and Rabbit became one of my fast favorites from the very first instant he was on. Trauma isn't radically different than other medical/procedural shows out there, but I like what I'm seeing so far, and I like seeing the different cases and how some of them aren't huge epic disasters but just, say, small accidents or even people scamming for a drug fix. It's nice. ... and kind of gross.

V: I'll start off by saying this one is edging closer. Again, unfair, because I only watched the first episode. Actually, I watched the whole old miniseries and then the first episode, and I like some of the changes that were made, but I wasn't so hooked as to eagerly skip right to the next episode either. This means that either I'll catch up one of these days and plug along, or I'll forget about it for a while, realize I've missed too many episodes to bother, and drop it.

Stargate Universe: Let's ignore for a second that the most recent episode did something by which I am baffled and put off -- and focus on how I'm enjoying it as a whole. Different, yes, than earlier Stargates. Perhaps, yes, attempting to channel BSG and LOST a bit too much... but not so much that it turns me off. I'm starting to feel like I'm missing the sci-fi element to it all, though. In focusing on some much-needed character development, it is still losing its touch that its a sci-fi show and should, hopefully, feature some more aliens, spaceships, and, well, sci-fi elements. I understand that they're in space, and in an old spaceship they're trying to figure out... but only one of the characters is really invested in doing just that, and he's shown to be an immoral, smarmy man who could be trying to get everyone killed. So. Not sure what SGU is trying to say about space discovery...

Shows I can't give up: Heroes, Lie To Me, Criminal Minds, Supernatural, Fringe, Dollhouse, LOST

Heroes: ... I don't know. I don't even know. I hate where this show has gone, the writing is the most sheepish retconn-y contradictory stuff I've seen in a while, and it's courting a love affair with a villain who should've properly met his end back when the show was good in Season One. But I morbidly tune in out of curiosity... and a love for superpowered carnivals. And Ray Park.

Lie To Me: Ever since Monk took off with the trend, and House spat out his first insult, quirky investigators has been a niche digging itself a large hole in the television environment. A grave? Perhaps. But since then, snarky misfit leads have been hit or miss as it whether their brutal intensity ( or stifling complex ) is endearing or annoying. Or both. To me, Cal Lightman is both. And I love him for it. It helps that Tim Roth is amazing and delivers lines that most other people wouldn't be able to get away with - much like his British-but-pretending-not-to-be companion Hugh Laurie. Except, unlike House, for me, I watch Lie To Me for its cases and its supporting characters, not just for its sadistic leader.

Criminal Minds: My new favorite cop show, having topped SVU, because of its focus on behavioral analysis. I'm a sucker for a good psychology, and I enjoy the way Criminal Minds delivers. It isn't stunning television by any means, and hits the same one-points as other procedurals, as well as occasionally seeming out of hand, but I like what it does when it does it.

Supernatural: I'll be with this one to the end. And it had better end. I don't want to see Supernatural's name dragged through the mud because it made the mistake many do of lasting longer than it had enough story for. Supernatural is some entertaining, good, flawed, television with some supremely entertaining actors at its helm who clearly enjoy what they are doing. I can appreciate that as much as I appreciate a good religious mythology.

Fringe: This is honestly one of my favorite shows now. I find myself excited to watch it every time there's a new episode. It has the mystery-of-the-day that lets you have some mode of satisfaction by the end combined with a smooth, over-arcing plot that is revealed over time without being rushed or ignored. I might not understand the "science", and half of it is likely bogus, but they make me believe, and I like hearing about things such as telepathy and teleporting as if it were a bit more grounded. But only a bit. Because.. ya know, fringe science.

Dollhouse: I wasn't sure how I felt about Dollhouse for a while. Although it had deep, human themes to it, I found most of the episodes to be just lightly entertaining and fun to watch. But as it went on, and, actually, through a second viewing of the first season after I bought it on DVD, I found I was even more caught. Unfortunately, it was then announced to be canceled. Thems the brakes when you're Joss Whedon, I suppose. I love the questions Dollhouse asks, and I love the world. I will miss it a good bit.

LOST: My introduction to loving LOST is a long and twisty story I will share another time. Now all we need to know is that I'm trapped in that world whole-hearted. I haven't quite found another one I like discussing and theorizing about more than this one, and I'm terrified and sad that it will be over. However, I am glad that it has a set end-point because we all know the worst fate of a TV show is to last too long. Then you're just left with a bitter note of what used to be good. No, I hope LOST goes out with a bang... which is... ya know, sort of backwards since.. that's what.. this season is starting with...


ANYWAY. These are the things currently fueling my love for television. Everything stated here is my opinion, and can be challenged. And, who knows, maybe one of my favorites will crash and burn. It's not like it's never happened before, Heroes.