AWESOME REVIEW! Love the title...so fitting!
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!)
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Reminders Section:
Rac80 is scheduled to do the Recap/Review for this premiere.
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I really liked this review! I notice that your claws are out but you seem to be in the same calm smug state that I am in. Im no longer afraid that this show will continue and threaten the direction of Stargate. This show taught TPTB that you cant just arrogantly assume that an established fanbase of a given franchise will follow it over a cliff if it decides to get suicidal. They will simply watch it with heads cocked, then move on to a new franchise. In my case, its gonna go to Sanctuary, V and SG-1 and SGA reruns. The Stargate franchise as it existed died with the cancellation of Atlantis, and I expect the franchise to die in its present form. Perhaps in a few years, we will have a chance at a reboot for the franchise. That could revive interest, but ONLY if these writers are fired...all of them.
About the review:
I also noticed that David Blue lost some weight. A significant amount of it, in fact. Perhaps he read our fitness thread?
. And as you said, they dont explain it or pad him up any to give continuity to the second part of Incursion.
The whole Ginn thing...I agree, she seems to be based on Kayley from Firefly. And after seeing a marathon of Firefly recently, I am convinced that the interior of Destiny is most similar to Serenity than Battlestar Galactica. How can she just run to any console on the ship and program stuff and hack security and move around in the systems like she designed the damn thing? LAUGHABLE!
Robert Carlyle looks even dirtier, just like you said. And where the hell did Dupod come from? Its not like you could miss him in the original Incursion episode where they left the LA Icarus planet to board Destiny. Was he a bottle of Instant Hunk that that they added water to? Maybe he was miniaturized and hiding in somebody's pocket? :roll:
The show is quirky, disjointed and the continuity which was supposed to be facilitated by the "open ended story arc" is not there at all. Its just plain bad writing. Who the hell told them this show was more "mature" and "grown up"? What we see is what is there...not what we WANT to be there. The show sucks, plain and simple. I have changed my signature pic! :sgusucks:
) We haven't set up the reviews for those yet. You can pick whichever you want to review at any time if you decide on it. 
. Which episode am I doing again?
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