General Discussion & Recap/Review Thread: SGU Episode 01 - “Intervention”

[Overmind One]

TOTALLY SUCKED. Full of magical garbage and new furniture and stuff. Is it now fantasy/drama?

I will wait for Rac's review but I just watched what I could of the episode and it was one of the worst yet. After seeing the Lucian Alliance casually operate all the ship's consoles and their little redhead female scientist (Eli's future love interest?) can hack all the systems on the level of McKay. Its just stupid. Im positive that the review will not be kind. It deserves no mercy at all

After all the complaining about the communications stones, they STILL use them in the premiere episode? This show is definitely doomed! Ill wait for the review to come up before I say anything more, but I think we may have gotten our sub-million episode easily. The ratings will be available later today!

 

[tetrion]

Lets see...

1/2 episode of TJ dream... skipped over...
1/4 of the episode of pensive looks, forced arguments, and yelling and screaming.
1/4 of the episode of fire fights, with Scott and Token Angry taking down most of the Leather-chaps Alliance.

- Chloe can now add Wolverine-type healing to her ever growing abilities of (cunning) alien linguist, xenoarcheology, astrophysics, counsellor and sexual relief.

next week, Marquis (Leather chaps alliance) get a bit of tail with the crew...

 

[iratecaller]

Lets see...

1/2 episode of TJ dream... skipped over...
1/4 of the episode of pensive looks, forced arguments, and yelling and screaming.
1/4 of the episode of fire fights, with Scott and Token Angry taking down most of the Leather-chaps Alliance.

- Chloe can now add Wolverine-type healing to her ever growing abilities of (cunning) alien linguist, xenoarcheology, astrophysics, counsellor and sexual relief.

next week, Marquis (Leather chaps alliance) get a bit of tail with the crew...

You certainly have a way with words. LOL.

It gives me a good idea of the disgust you felt while watching (FF'ing over) the show.

 

[Overmind One]

It was bad, wasnt it?

Lets see...

1/2 episode of TJ dream... skipped over...
1/4 of the episode of pensive looks, forced arguments, and yelling and screaming.
1/4 of the episode of fire fights, with Scott and Token Angry taking down most of the Leather-chaps Alliance.

- Chloe can now add Wolverine-type healing to her ever growing abilities of (cunning) alien linguist, xenoarcheology, astrophysics, counsellor and sexual relief.

next week, Marquis (Leather chaps alliance) get a bit of tail with the crew...

I couldnt watch it all the way through continuously. It was so slow in parts I thought time itself had slowed. And yes, the Wolverine-type healing thing was a bit much. But worse was the reference to the aliens who built the planet in season 1. Magical aliens...thats a new one. Loved all the new medical beds, fresh medicines and IV racks evidently designed by the Ancients. :roll:. I saw an entire rack of new medical instruments that the LA evidently pulled out of THEIR magical survival kits. And the redhead chick can just go to any console on the ship and move around in the systems better than McKay, Daniel or Rush could? How is that possible? You would think it was a Lucian Alliance ship the way they did the episode. Its so totally Maquis/Federation/Cylons BSG wannabe. They dont get it...BSG style is OUT of style.

 

[stclare]

I couldnt watch it all the way through continuously. It was so slow in parts I thought time itself had slowed. And yes, the Wolverine-type healing thing was a bit much. But worse was the reference to the aliens who built the planet in season 1. Magical aliens...thats a new one. Loved all the new medical beds, fresh medicines and IV racks evidently designed by the Ancients. :roll:. I saw an entire rack of new medical instruments that the LA evidently pulled out of THEIR magical survival kits. And the redhead chick can just go to any console on the ship and move around in the systems better than McKay, Daniel or Rush could? How is that possible? You would think it was a Lucian Alliance ship the way they did the episode. Its so totally Maquis/Federation/Cylons BSG wannabe. They dont get it...BSG style is OUT of style.

OH DEAR.

this seems like the same old same old. lack of forthought? people can suddenly understand/operate things, that well, they realy shouldnt be able to. equipment appears as if by magic and someone or lots of someones scream!

 

[ChromeToasterX]

I'm really impressed by this episode. Somehow, someway, the producers have managed to make SGU worse than it already was. Horrific pacing, no tension, the lame reveal of Scott and Greer being alive, the return of Nutter Caine and the Magical Bullshit Aliens just so they can avoid killing a baby, the over the top Alliance crazy guy, bad cinematography, and to top it all off, the montage at the end. I mean, I like the concept of the montage (brilliantly used in American Psycho), but honestly, it's more suited to making things seem ridiculous (like the sex scene with Patrick Bateman and the two prostitutes).

I did like that Rush is once again proven to be one of, if not the most competent member(s) of the crew, and this was after he was tortured by the Alliance and returned to a body that had the shit kicked out of it. I also liked that Young got shoved off-screen for most of the episode, since the character is just a horrible mess, although I didn't like how the writers had to piss on Lt. James again. I think Varo or whoever the guy who played Odeli Ventrel is playing would be much better suited as a lead than Louis Ferreria because he's got some charisma even though his character isn't that great.

Edit: I guess they can handwave the Alliance guys knowing how to work the consoles with Telford's intel, but it still doesn't explain how good the Alliance people are at working with systems they have never actually physically interacted with.

 

[sp23]

That was quite seriously the very worst Stargate season premier I have ever seen. I wasn't expecting much, but, damn, this succeeded in being so much worse than I had ever imagined. I mean, I'm used to the Stargate writers pulling unbelievable solutions out of their asses. After all, in the premier of S2 of SGA, the Daedalus showed up just in time to beam Sheppard out of the Jumper, and McKay & Zelenka came up with a plan to cloak the city and pretend like it had been destroyed which fooled the Wraith. But, dammit, it was exciting to watch! This? Went from boring (TJ's dream/hallucination/magical mystery tour), to unbelievable (Scott & Greer managed to get all the way around the fucking ship in a matter of minutes because that ship really isn't miles and miles wide and long), to stupid (bald-headed insane LA leader).

Speaking of TJ, I was wondering if the writers would reach into their pants and find the balls to actually go with a tragic dead baby storyline and its impact on not only TJ & Young but the others on the ship. But, no, of course not. They fished around in their pants and came up empty, and wrote a ridiculous 'my baby's not here because it's safe and warm and loved on planet Faith with the Faithers and their god-like alien benefactors.' What total crap.

How can this shit be written by the same people who gave us SG-1 & SGA? HOW??????


:sgufan:

 

[SexyDexy]

Not that I'm surprised or anything...

...but oh my, how they handled the baby thing was just so much stupider than I ever would have been able to come up with, if I was trying to come up with the stupidest thing possible! I fast-forwarded all but about two minutes of the TJ "dream" stuff. If I'd tried to watch all of it, I'm sure I would have fallen asleep.

BTW - where did Knepper come from? Suddenly he is just there, like he'd been there all along? Was he hiding behind some pillars in the last two episodes of season 1 or something? WTF?

 

[ParagonPie]

Edit: I guess they can handwave the Alliance guys knowing how to work the consoles with Telford's intel, but it still doesn't explain how good the Alliance people are at working with systems they have never actually physically interacted with.

Don't forget that the LA also had devices to open the doors which they have never seen or on tested before, and the fact that these devices also contained Destiny's computer coding language so it could overwrite the command lock out code. Man Telford must have a really good photographic memory or something.

Anyways, this was a very anti-climatic episode, going from the 'oh shit' moment as the creators put it to a 'everyone is gonna be all right'. The dream sequences made me feel ill because for some reason I get the feeling that the people they left behind are actually dead and/or in another realm of existence and that is where the baby conscious went (sort of like the ending to lost). Not being funny but to me BSG went down hill ever since it added the mystic/mysticism edge to things, and it is a sign the SGU is going to follow the same pattern.

There is no such thing as science fiction anymore is there? Just fantasy.

 

[sp23]

(haha, all of you forgot to put spoiler tags on your comments, but really, who cares?)

Sorry, I'm new, and I want to do things right next time, so... this is a review thread. Are we still supposed to spoiler tag in a review thread?

 

[Mr. A]

Waiting for our dear friend RAC80 to put the episode on the Rack. But from the all the spoilers (haha, all of you forgot to put spoiler tags on your comments, but really, who cares?) I gather:

This guy Robert Knepper Suddenly Jumps out of a cake
TJ Miraculously does NOT have a miscarriage (when in real life miscarriages happen in a slip and fall (let alone shot in the gut)
The 2 nimrods on EVA escapes with their lives, and re-appears with Starbucks Coffee
Telford Obviously not a Science Guy, described the consoles to the Marquee (I mean the Lucian Alliance), and suddenly the Chic-Hacker is running the show like a DJ with two turntables. (This really bugs me since I'd like to describe a gui of a hitherto unknown distro of Posix written in Ruby mixed with Machine language to someone who has only worked with a commodore 64, and dare that person to write an interface to show blu-ray movies in a holodeck in a couple of days. Yeah, That's so real life and totally possible, When Hobo & fatboy barely understands if they are coming or going)

 

[ChromeToasterX]

What have they done with James? Did she cry again over Scott?

No, they had her take a near hit from some lightning. Not as bad as the crap they pulled in Space and Pain, but I think its really bad when the writers make characters into punching bags.

 

[circle square circle]

Wasn't sgu supposed to be the darker stargate show? None of the main characters died in this episode or last season. TJ's baby didn't die. Stone swapping sex isn't remotely considered rape. Whoever believes sgu is darker than sga or sg1 really drank the twop kool aid.

 

[iratecaller]

Wasn't sgu supposed to be the darker stargate show? None of the main characters died in this episode or last season. TJ's baby didn't die. Stone swapping sex isn't remotely considered rape. Whoever believes sgu is darker than sga or sg1 really drank the twop kool aid.

I think what has been figured out (and mentioned on this site several times), is that SGU is physically darker, that's it. The lights aren't as bright. The producers were just messing with fandom when they said SGU was to be darker. Some of us interpreted the promise of 'darker' as being of emotional consequence, but the joke is certainly on us. The show's lights are just dimmer, that's all.

I can't beleive I fell for that. Gosh gee that Joe and Brad sure are kidders!
Ah shucks, really funny guys!

.. the joke's over right? ... right? Brad , Joe? WTF???

 

[PegDIG2004]

I'm on the edge of my seat!

Based on everyone's comments so far, I can't wait to read Rac80's review.

 

[SG-Rocks]

So what happened? Did I miss any Wraith? Looking at the screen caps it looks like the Venus drug has worn off a few people. Intergalactic biker gangs with Ph.D.s? I too await the pronouncement of egregiousness from the Rac and await the tally of the hundreds of thousands on Neilsen families that bothered to turn the TV to the SyFy channel on a Tuesday night.

And remember this ain't your father's Stargate!

 

[Rac80]

Rac80's review

Intervention​

The FINAL Season Premier​

By Rac80​

Synopsis:
The storyline of SGU had the usual A story and B story. The A story was the conflict between the Lucian Alliance (LA) and the people from Earth (I will use the Stargate term Tau’ri for simplicity) for control of the Destiny. The B story was TJ’s dream/hallucination/out of body experience dealing with the loss of her unborn child.
The episode began with a long recap of not just the previous episode but the entire first season.
In storyline A, most of the Tau’ri are put off the ship by Dannic, while Varro is the voice of reason. Those left on the ship are trying to find a way to retake it and survive the next radiation burst from a nearby pulsar. Varro has conflict with Dannic and then is sent to the same planet the Tau’ri are marooned on. Rush saves the day. Storyline B is mostly in TJ’s mind…whether reality or not we do not know, but her body never leaves the ship. She is on the planet from the episode Faith with those that stayed there and her baby daughter (whom she names Carmen). She is told about the life they are building on the planet and how they believe the aliens who made the planet are watching over them. She is told her baby will stay there but she must return to the ship.
The episode has the Tau’ri finally retake the ship after Ginn kills Dannic. They bring the people back from the planet, and imprison the LA that sided with Varro along with the rest of the LA on the ship. TJ awakes and discovers she never left the ship, but sees the same nebula/pulsar in the sky she saw on the planet.


Critique:
The story:
The episode jumped around constantly and I often had to pause and rewind my copy to get a clear idea of what was happening. There were several instances when I couldn’t see how events had happened…how they reached the caves on the planet so quickly, what happened to the other civilians/doctors, how they returned to the ship. It seemed very incoherent at times as usual. Chloe’s miraculous healing was obviously part of the plotline, but was TJ’s? Shortly after abdominal surgery and losing a baby at what 6 or 7 months of pregnancy, she sits up and walks around. I have had abdominal surgery and miscarried at child at 5 months and let me tell you, there is no way you can sit up on your own, much less walk without help for at least a week afterwards from either incident, and if it is both at the same time, I am sure recovery time would be extended. I found Telford’s level of incapacity more believable.
I felt that Ginn repeatedly shooting Dannic spoke of overkill and wondered mildly about their history. She had seemed so passive, so for her to suddenly take a dominating role in the death of their leader seemed out of character. I did find it interesting that Varro seemed to be the only one who understands HOW the stones should really be used: to bring doctors on board to try to save the injured. He really has more sense than the entire USAF at this point! There was an obvious attempt to paint the character of Varro as SGU’s Chakotay, the reasonable rebel who has compassion for his enemy. He was willing to rebel against his own leadership when he felt they were wrong.

Technical aspects:

The lighting (naturally) was horrible whether they were on the ship or either planet. You couldn’t always see what room the scene was supposedly in or who else was in the room. I have often wondered if the bad lighting is a way to disguise the reuse of the sets from SG1 and SGA. There are a couple of hallways that I swear were on a Ha’tak. Scott and Greer on the outside of the ship was the only acceptable lighting there was…you could actually see what was happening. I was surprised to see the cabin TJ was in also suffered from poor lighting, hadn’t the aliens heard of windows? And naturally the Tau’ri arrived on the rocky planet in the dark (almost).

The costuming is a joke as always with SGU. The LA costumes look like something leftover from a Goth party. They are also self-mending; Varro’s jacket and shirt were ripped in one scene (which I did not mind one bit) then were perfect when he showed up on the planet. The clothing of everyone looked rather neat and clean, a few wrinkles here and there, but how do the Tau’ri soldiers keep their uniforms so spiffy? Even the LA women seemed to have brought make up and combs along with them.

Sets were problematic as well, they obviously visited the quarry near Bridge Studies that was used in SG1's Season 7 ep Enemy Mine and it became the planet the Tau’ri were sent to. The supposed Faith planet was a typical Vancouver forest that TPTB had promised us would not be seen in SGU, but I am sure finances played a role in that. The Destiny is obviously cobbled together from bits and pieces of ship sets used in SG1 and SGA, which makes me wonder what exactly the extra budget was spent on.

Shaky cam was there as always, these people don’t understand the phrase “too much of a good thing” do they? Yes, there were a few scenes where it worked, but not in every scene. This added to the incoherence for me. I couldn’t tell what they were trying to emphasize in the scenes.

The performances were all over the place. The new characters were more enjoyable and likable than the old ones. Here are some specifics.
The Tau’ri:
I noticed at the beginning of the episode that David Blue (Eli) has lost some weight and gotten haircut, the only problem with that is his scenes from the previous episode are supposed to flow seamlessly into the new scenes. A wig and padding would have helped for continuity. David also badly over acted in this episode, to portray peril I suppose, but it fell very flat.
Robert Carlyle has also gotten scruffier in the course of what is supposedly one day…his beard was thicker and his hair longer. Unless he had some Miracle-Gro around, the makeup department should have taken care of that. He also doesn‘t seem to be interested in playing the role, it feels like he is just reading his lines.
Alaina Huffman did the best with the material and direction she got. I felt her character was very under played, but I do not know if that was the actress’s choice or the directors. Her losing the baby should have resulted in a highly emotional response (been there done that) not the cold calm shown on screen.
Lou Diamond Phillips (Telford) was finally given something to do and delivered as he always does.
Louis Ferreira, Brian J. Smith, Ming-Na, and Elyse Levesque all performed far below the level needed for a daytime soap opera much less a prime time drama. LF, BJS, and EL were all very wooden. BJS was moving in several scenes as if he were constipated, maybe a colonic would help. Ming-Na seemed to be overacting. I was very surprised as she is an excellent actress.

The Lucian Alliance:
Ian Butcher did an excellent job as Dannic portraying a rather over-the-top villain. He is familiar to the audiences of SG1 from his appearance in Beachhead as the Ori Prior. I did not see any over acting on his part, his character was believably nuts.
Julie McNiven played the LA geek Ginn. While she is lovely to see, I had the feeling she was based on Kaylee of Firefly. A young girl who knows more about the technology than anyone else? She is a sympathetic character and did an excellent job. I just do not see her as being a member of the LA.
Mike Dopud was a delight to watch as always. He excellently portrayed a level of compassion not expected to be seen among the LA. His character was believable and interesting to watch. I feel his performance added greatly to the episode. He portrayed Varro’s interest in TJ very realistically, he did not fall to his knees and proclaim everlasting love, he simply expressed a desire she survive. Mike Dopud is the only reason I would watch another episode of this show.
Overall, I see the meshing of these two crews, Voyager-style, with the LA being the nicer and more sympathetic characters. Varro will obviously provide the voice of reason for Young as Chakotay did for Janeway. The benefit of Mike Dopud as eye-candy will only be realized if TPTB kill off all the Tau’ri on the ship.


In conclusion:
This is the usual dreck and drivel I have come to expect from SGU. The constant jumping around, the melodramatic musical montage, horrible acting from actors who should know better; are all symptomatic of what is wrong with SGU. TPTB seem to think that darker and grittier refers to lighting and set quality, not the quality of the writing. The stories are predictable and do not hold my attention at all. I did not wonder at the pulsar TJ saw at the end- it did not convey to me that she was “really” on the Faith planet; I still feel she was only unconscious and her mind provided a form of closure for her. I didn’t really care about any character other than Varro. I actually rolled my eyes as Chloe fingered her healed wounds in the music montage scene (while she was in bed with Scott), I did not feel any interest in how she got so miraculously healed. It was funny to see advertisements for Sanctuary that looked better than the SGU episode I was watching. I also saw several ads for the complete first season of SGU on DVD and Blue-ray and I wondered how they could expect anyone who had seen this horrible show would buy the previous season. The Lunesta (sleep aid) ad placement was very amusing….the episode was definitely a yawner.

I give it 1 star out of 5 (only because Mike Dopud is a delight to watch!)

 

[JACKS]

Sgu still sucks

Thanks Rac, excellent review.:shepsalute:

 

[SG-Rocks]

Watching it so you don't have to

So you're saying Rush looks like this now? I guess Caffeine withdrawal will do that.



My question is did TPTB address any of the fan complaints (Us and a million others) about this flaming shitbag of a show? They were going to "change some things" in S2 as I remember. Also this would be one made before Cooper's departure as well.

Was there any reason for the suckers to watch it again next week? I'm sure I'd get more enjoyment of 5 seconds of Siler onscreen in SG than this whole episode.

Anyway the dirty deed is done. edit - if it's still on the air!

And there'll be another episode to review in 6 more days. :beckettd:

 

[Robbie_Rocket_Pants]

Stargate: Universe
Season: 2.0
Episode: Intervention​

The FINAL Season Premier​

By Rac80​

Synopsis:
The storyline of SGU had the usual A story and B story. The A story was the conflict between the Lucian Alliance (LA) and the people from Earth (I will use the Stargate term Tau’ri for simplicity) for control of the Destiny. The B story was TJ’s dream/hallucination/out of body experience dealing with the loss of her unborn child.
The episode began with a long recap of not just the previous episode but the entire first season.
In storyline A, most of the Tau’ri are put off the ship by Dannic, while Varro is the voice of reason. Those left on the ship are trying to find a way to retake it and survive the next radiation burst from a nearby pulsar. Varro has conflict with Dannic and then is sent to the same planet the Tau’ri are marooned on. Rush saves the day. Storyline B is mostly in TJ’s mind…whether reality or not we do not know, but her body never leaves the ship. She is on the planet from the episode Faith with those that stayed there and her baby daughter (whom she names Carmen). She is told about the life they are building on the planet and how they believe the aliens who made the planet are watching over them. She is told her baby will stay there but she must return to the ship.
The episode has the Tau’ri finally retake the ship after Ginn kills Dannic. They bring the people back from the planet, and imprison the LA that sided with Varro along with the rest of the LA on the ship. TJ awakes and discovers she never left the ship, but sees the same nebula/pulsar in the sky she saw on the planet.


Critique:
The story:
The episode jumped around constantly and I often had to pause and rewind my copy to get a clear idea of what was happening. There were several instances when I couldn’t see how events had happened…how they reached the caves on the planet so quickly, what happened to the other civilians/doctors, how they returned to the ship. It seemed very incoherent at times as usual. Chloe’s miraculous healing was obviously part of the plotline, but was TJ’s? Shortly after abdominal surgery and losing a baby at what 6 or 7 months of pregnancy, she sits up and walks around. I have had abdominal surgery and miscarried at child at 5 months and let me tell you, there is no way you can sit up on your own, much less walk without help for at least a week afterwards from either incident, and if it is both at the same time, I am sure recovery time would be extended. I found Telford’s level of incapacity more believable.
I felt that Ginn repeatedly shooting Dannic spoke of overkill and wondered mildly about their history. She had seemed so passive, so for her to suddenly take a dominating role in the death of their leader seemed out of character. I did find it interesting that Varro seemed to be the only one who understands HOW the stones should really be used: to bring doctors on board to try to save the injured. He really has more sense than the entire USAF at this point! There was an obvious attempt to paint the character of Varro as SGU’s Chakotay, the reasonable rebel who has compassion for his enemy. He was willing to rebel against his own leadership when he felt they were wrong.

Technical aspects:

The lighting (naturally) was horrible whether they were on the ship or either planet. You couldn’t always see what room the scene was supposedly in or who else was in the room. I have often wondered if the bad lighting is a way to disguise the reuse of the sets from SG1 and SGA. There are a couple of hallways that I swear were on a Ha’tak. Scott and Greer on the outside of the ship was the only acceptable lighting there was…you could actually see what was happening. I was surprised to see the cabin TJ was in also suffered from poor lighting, hadn’t the aliens heard of windows? And naturally the Tau’ri arrived on the rocky planet in the dark (almost).

The costuming is a joke as always with SGU. The LA costumes look like something leftover from a Goth party. They are also self-mending; Varro’s jacket and shirt were ripped in one scene (which I did not mind one bit) then were perfect when he showed up on the planet. The clothing of everyone looked rather neat and clean, a few wrinkles here and there, but how do the Tau’ri soldiers keep their uniforms so spiffy? Even the LA women seemed to have brought make up and combs along with them.

Sets were problematic as well, they obviously found a quarry near Bridge studies and used that as the planet the Tau’ri were sent to. The supposed Faith planet was a typical Vancouver forest that TPTB had promised us would not be seen in SGU, but I am sure finances played a role in that. The Destiny is obviously cobbled together from bits and pieces of ship sets used in SG1 and SGA, which makes me wonder what exactly the extra budget was spent on.

Shaky cam was there as always, these people don’t understand the phrase “too much of a good thing” do they? Yes, there were a few scenes where it worked, but not in every scene. This added to the incoherence for me. I couldn’t tell what they were trying to emphasize in the scenes.

The performances were all over the place. The new characters were more enjoyable and likable than the old ones. Here are some specifics.
The Tau’ri:
I noticed at the beginning of the episode that David Blue (Eli) has lost some weight and gotten haircut, the only problem with that is his scenes from the previous episode are supposed to flow seamlessly into the new scenes. A wig and padding would have helped for continuity. David also badly over acted in this episode, to portray peril I suppose, but it fell very flat.
Robert Carlyle has also gotten scruffier in the course of what is supposedly one day…his beard was thicker and his hair longer. Unless he had some Miracle-Gro around, the makeup department should have taken care of that. He also doesn‘t seem to be interested in playing the role, it feels like he is just reading his lines.
Alaina Huffman did the best with the material and direction she got. I felt her character was very under played, but I do not know if that was the actress’s choice or the directors. Her losing the baby should have resulted in a highly emotional response (been there done that) not the cold calm shown on screen.
Lou Diamond Phillips (Telford) was finally given something to do and delivered as he always does.
Louis Ferreira, Brian J. Smith, Ming-Na, and Elyse Levesque all performed far below the level needed for a daytime soap opera much less a prime time drama. LF, BJS, and EL were all very wooden. BJS was moving in several scenes as if he were constipated, maybe a colonic would help. Ming-Na seemed to be overacting. I was very surprised as she is an excellent actress.

The Lucian Alliance:
Ian Butcher did an excellent job as Dannic portraying a rather over-the-top villain. He is familiar to the audiences of SG1 from his appearance in Beachhead as the Ori Prior. I did not see any over acting on his part, his character was believably nuts.
Julie McNiven played the LA geek Ginn. While she is lovely to see, I had the feeling she was based on Kaylee of Firefly. A young girl who knows more about the technology than anyone else? She is a sympathetic character and did an excellent job. I just do not see her as being a member of the LA.
Mike Dopud was a delight to watch as always. He excellently portrayed a level of compassion not expected to be seen among the LA. His character was believable and interesting to watch. I feel his performance added greatly to the episode. He portrayed Varro’s interest in TJ very realistically, he did not fall to his knees and proclaim everlasting love, he simply expressed a desire she survive. Mike Dopud is the only reason I would watch another episode of this show.
Overall, I see the meshing of these two crews, Voyager-style, with the LA being the nicer and more sympathetic characters. Varro will obviously provide the voice of reason for Young as Chakotay did for Janeway. The benefit of Mike Dopud as eye-candy will only be realized if TPTB kill off all the Tau’ri on the ship.


In conclusion:
This is the usual dreck and drivel I have come to expect from SGU. The constant jumping around, the melodramatic musical montage, horrible acting from actors who should know better; are all symptomatic of what is wrong with SGU. TPTB seem to think that darker and grittier refers to lighting and set quality, not the quality of the writing. The stories are predictable and do not hold my attention at all. I did not wonder at the pulsar TJ saw at the end- it did not convey to me that she was “really” on the Faith planet; I still feel she was only unconscious and her mind provided a form of closure for her. I didn’t really care about any character other than Varro. I actually rolled my eyes as Chloe fingered her healed wounds in the music montage scene (while she was in bed with Scott), I did not feel any interest in how she got so miraculously healed. It was funny to see advertisements for Sanctuary that looked better than the SGU episode I was watching. I also saw several ads for the complete first season of SGU on DVD and Blue-ray and I wondered how they could expect anyone who had seen this horrible show would buy the previous season. The Lunesta (sleep aid) ad placement was very amusing….the episode was definitely a yawner.

I give it 1 star out of 5 (only because Mike Dopud is a delight to watch!)​

*********************************************************************************************************************************
Reminders Section:
Rac80 is scheduled to do the Recap/Review for this premiere.
&
Fight for the cause!
Tell TPTB that SGU sucks, and we want well-written SGA and SG-1 movies!

Email: Syfy Pres. - dave.howe@nbcuni.com ..... Syfy Network: Feedback@syfy.com
Email: MGM ------ comments@mgm.com .... For more contact information click here.
​

Good review Rac, I am trying to watch the episode at the moment but it isn't going so well. Either way, from the 11 minutes I have watched so far or from the spoilers I have read about this episode to date, your review of the episode (& presumably the episode itself) don't tell me anything I didn't already know.

Here is my feedback.

- The LA Characters:

They were present during the last few episodes of season 1 but as there are so many of them in the LA ensemble & the scene/camera never stay on any given character long enough for the viewer to familiarise him/herself with the characters, I still don't really know who is who........... I may do after watching this episode if it keeps my attention long enough.

- The LA Uber-Geek Ginn:

I have yet to see her character (I may have at the end of season 1, I can't really remember) but from all I have read about her in character profile spoilers & from your review, her attributes simply aren't compatible with a band of brutal, thuggish space-pirates or with her executing the LA leader in cold blood. Don't get me wrong, it may be that the startling difference between her maths prodigy/sweet, little geek girl persona & that of the LA is the very reason for her killing Dannic:- perhaps we will see her history & discover that she was abducted by Dannic as a young maths-genius child or he killed her real parents & adopted her but she still held resentment towards him.......... who know? Not us that's for sure, the writers seem to have an almost sadistic fetish for leaving the viewers scratching their heads going "But why? WTF? How?". I'm sure we will find out in time (lots of time, by which point most people will have lost interest & tuned out).

- TJ's Dream Sequence/Reality:

Okay now this thing bugs the crap out of me, I can read between the lines a little but I expect the writers of a TV show to do most of the donkey work for me. Was that reality or wasn't it? Why did he say TJ's baby was alive & well with them on the planet & if, how? & if not, then why the convoluted & confusing dream sequence? Was she really speaking to God-boy on Planet Massive Phallus by extra terrestrial means? & if so how? Where those log cabins real? Meh.

- The Writer's Method of Story Non-Telling

FFS TPTB!!!! Tell us a fucking story for crying out loud!!! You are trying to be cryptic & attempting to make the viewers fill in gaps with their own speculation but this shit makes no sense & those kinds of holes can't be filled/made sense of because they are bottomless/nonsense. If the sequence of events is logical, consitent, makes sense & gives a few hints/clues which can allow for varying avenues of speculation then fair enough but those speculatory conclusions which viewers come to in their own minds have to make SENSE!!! TPTB say that these stories will not be wrapped up with a nice little bow in a 45 minute episode & are to unfold over the course of.......... however fucking long but they are failing in this undertaking because they are failing to engage the audience with compelling developments. Unfortunately some of these unknowns may never be known, they may just be "things which happened of screen" & are mentioned in passing or just never covered again & because of the writer's tendency to do this I for one, shall not be investing anymore thought in it.

Rant over.