General Discussion & Recap/Review Thread: SGU Episode 02 - "Aftermath"

[Overmind One]

My Review of Aftermath. A surprise.

Stargate: Universe
Season: 2.0
Episode: Aftermath

Aftermath​

By Overmind One​

Synopsis:

The formerly stranded Lucian Alliance members who were non-confrontational have been kept together on Destiny in a separate area. But Ginn from the Lucian Alliance explains to Wray that Destiny might be capable of conferring “god-like” powers to its pilots or crewmembers, and that it might be capable of controlling time and space. Rush enters the Destiny’s bridge in this episode. Although this is the first time we have seen it, it is apparent that he has been there previously. Food and supplies are again a concern. Rush decides to stop the ship at a planet which has been designated “non-operational” by the system. He is assisted by “manifestations” of his dead wife and also Franklin who had been vaporized in season 1. Against their advice, Rush recommends sending a shuttle mission to the planet and the fact that the planet has a turbulent atmosphere and volcanic activity explains part of the reason that it was locked out. After entering the atmosphere, the shuttle loses power and crashes. The crash pinned Riley under wreckage, and it seems that the wreckage allows him to stay alive without bleeding to death. Destiny jumps, and Rush is unable to think of a way to hide the fact that he is responsible for the stop at the planet. The stargate on the planet is buried by tons of rubble, and the stranded aweigh crew uses explosives to clear it. Young gates through to the planet to assess the situation. Riley is hopelessly pinned, and Young asks to be alone with Riley. Riley begs Young to kill him so that the rest of the crew can move on. Young obliges, and kills Riley by suffocating him with his bare hands. Meanwhile on Destiny, the IOA has conveyed a list of Lucian Alliance members to be kept onboard, whilst others were to be left stranded on the planet. Varro, Ginn and a number of Lucian Alliance members are retained, and the others stranded on the planet. Rush decides to keep his discovery of the bridge secret and his “manifestation” of his wife says nothing of it. But the ship is nearing something, an object. This episode ends with the ship heading straight for the object as Rush and other crew members stand looking forward from the observation deck.

Review

In a nutshell - This episode surprised me in a lot of ways. First of all, overall I actually liked it better than I disliked it. Honestly, it was actually pretty well done. Its flaws were mostly writing and concept rather than the way it was executed. I was able to make it through the entire episode without a single WTF moment, but there were several negative head shakes and at least one genuine moment of excitement. The special effects in this episode are the best I have seen yet, and the new bridge set is very detailed and has cool displays and is actually well lighted! And overall, despite the VAST improvement (especially sedating “shaky camera dude” and making the effect much less noticeable), the episode failed to make me care about the characters enough to want to identify with one of them or even be anywhere near them.

This is the conundrum of this show…it has so much potential, and there are so many cool elements to exploit and interesting science to investigate, but the writing still breaks down to drama, drama and more drama until you have mental heartburn from it. I want science fiction first, and throw in some drama. My mind is unchanged as to the show being worth watching on a regular basis. But this episode could have been a strong beginning of a true science fiction/drama show named something other than Stargate. Standing alone without the name and as a different show, this episode would be most acceptable in my opinion. You could actually START a show at this point and move forward. But, that is not the case, and Im still remembering Chloe and Eli drunk in the nightclub from season 1, stone swap sex, and last week’s magical aliens who whisk TJ into a dreamworld. Everything about the show seems disconnected and convoluted, and unfortunately…unwatchable on a continued basis.

Review – The opener with Ginn telling Wray of the legends which say that Destiny might be capable of giving its crew god-like powers and possibly being able to control time immediately turned me off. But the reason it did is because of the canon established by SG-1 and Atlantis. The Destiny is OLDER than either Atlantis or the Milky Way gate system, so how could this ship have capabilities greater than Atlantis or any of the Pegasus warships or installations? In Atlantis, we learned that there were SEVERAL city-ships like Atlantis launched, and we even saw one which had been buried and occupied by natives. So, we have a plothole as big as the city of Atlantis to explain away.

A previous plot hole has been plugged! The Franklin “manifestation” states clearly that the ship is indeed more than a million years old, correcting Rush from last season who would say it was “hundreds of thousands of years old”. Rush enters the bridge and we see it for the first time, and I really liked the way they showed us that he had been there before. It made the scene very smooth. I would not have wanted to seen Rush wide eyed as he was seeing the bridge for the first time, running his fingers along dusty consoles and such. It was well done, and the controls and design of the bridge are interesting looking. But they don’t look Ancient at all. They do, however, match the Ancient-goth look they have created for this show. What I don’t like is these “manifestations” of Rush’s wife and Franklin on the bridge. If the ship has some sort of neural interface, or these are Ancients or whatever the case, Rush interacting with them smacks of Baltar’s Caprica 6 (a Cylon female seen only by Baltar). Carlyle’s acting is good in this episode, and not over the top.

Rush decides to stop the ship at the planet even though he had data on the planet, and his “manifestations” advise him he has made a dangerous oversight. But it doesn’t work for me. He has the entire bridge, all the displays and controls and at the last minute he calls the shuttle to warn them of turbulence? Okay. But that was to lead up to the single moment of true “excitement” in the episode. The shuttle enters the atmosphere and encounters turbulence. It suddenly flames out and crash lands on the planet. The effects were superb in this episode. Very well done. Nausea-cam was greatly reduced. The shuttle hits a mountain, and crash lands on gravel. It continues to slide towards the face of a cliff, and I was genuinely thrilled by it. The way looked when it crashed, and the immediate reaction of the crew was done well. Riley is pinned, and from the moment he said he couldn’t feel his legs, I knew he was going to die. More on that later.

Break time…

This space normally reserved for WTF moments is actually empty this time. A first for me! And even though some of you might be thinking “has Overmind lost his mind?”, no…I haven’t. I still don’t like the show, but I liked this episode even better than Time.


Back to the show…

The rest of the crashed crew finds the stargate on the planet buried under tons of rock. COMPLETELY buried. Even with explosives, the SGU spinning stargate shows us its flaws by showing us its base in the rubble, unobstructed by rubble or dirt, and evidently in a neat crater. That induced a major eyeroll. Eli dials the gate to Destiny and the crew can get back to Destiny now. But Riley is still pinned.

The next few scenes were disturbing, and were the only actual “dark and gritty” scenes I have seen in any of these episodes to date. We see the tenderness of TJ who is willing to remain with Riley for his last moments, but Riley knows that time is limited. Riley and Young are left alone in the shuttle, and The two men speak to each other. Riley asks Young to kill him and put him out of his suffering. Young doesn’t want to do it, he offers to get TJ to sit with him, but Riley begs him to do it. He looks at Riley, and the pain in his eyes and courage he was building up came through. He puts his hands over Riley’s mouth and nose and suffocates him to death as they maintain eye contact. Creepy and moving at the same time. Gritty…dark. Surprising. They killed off a character whose name I actually remembered! The guy who made the red fire truck for the sappy baby shower. It’s a shame that the only connection I made to this character was to one of the silliest, soapiest scenes from Subversion of last season. But I was surprised at the way this was done.

The crew returns to the ship, and we get a music montage showing the crew drinking to Riley in the “still room”, we see the Lucian Alliance members who get to stay, and we see those who must leave walk through the stargate to the planet to be stranded.

We are OFFICIALLY in “Voyager mode” now, folks. We have a Federation/Maquis consolidation situation, with Varro as Chakotay, and Ginn as B’Elanna Torres. Eyeroll.

In the background we hear Riley narrating his beliefs, while Eli watches it on a console. And we get more of Rush and his “manifestation” of his dead wife. Rush expresses remorse that he is responsible for the shuttle crash and Riley’s death. But then the console springs to life and alerts Rush that the ship is approaching something. Rush summons Volkker and Brody to the observation deck, and the Eli and Scott hear on the radio and go to the deck as well. The episode ends with the ship approaching something. “Rush says “we are heading straight for it”.

Conclusion:

As I said earlier, this episode for me was the best I have seen this show deliver to date. Its still not enough to pique my interest to watch it further, but it was not bad. This was the fairest review I can write for the episode. But honestly, I still think the show is doomed because I still don’t like any of the characters. The new characters are interesting, but did not get as much air time as necessary to make me accept them. But already I like them better than the original crew. Perhaps thats because the writers haven’t yet had a chance to ruin them. I don’t like the “manifestations”, and I don’t like the implication that Destiny has capabilities greater than any of the other Ancient tech we have seen in previous shows. I don’t like the reference from Wray that the Lucian Alliance might be preparing to attack Earth either. I don’t buy the Lucian Alliance suddenly being elevated to a threat status unrivaled even by the Goa’uld and the Ori and the Wraith.

I see this episode as a lucky roll. But in the end, it still loses everything because of the risks it took early on.

 

[Overmind One]

Believe me, I really WANTED to hate it. But its worth watching this one.

I can tell that you really put a lot of effort into this one and that you wanted to give a serious review. Looks like you might have followed a bit of my formatting too.

Reading your review actually makes me want to download the episode and see it for myself because a lot of the comments I have read from various people, even fans of SGU said that this episode was disappointing or bad. However, there were also people that liked it, so I don't know what to think.

I used your EXACT formatting! I thought you would like that. . And you are right, I wanted to give a serious review so not only did I watch it TWICE, but I watched the previous episode Intervention again so I could frame the episode. Intervention totally sucked to me. And that may have made Aftermath seem just that much better. But as I said, I watched it TWICE before writing this. There are definitely writing flaws and shredding of parts of canon, but overall this one is one out of 22 episodes worth watching, IMO. You know me well enough to know Im being honest.

Some of the things you listed are WTF moments for me. I know that they have to conserve bullets (or that they should) but seeing as they've casually wasted bullets on everything else, I'd have thought that out of kindness a mercy that Young would have chosen the more human option of a bullet to the head with Riley instead of the painful and more drawn out method of suffocation.

TJ, Scott and Volkker were right outside the shuttle when Young was in the shuttle with Riley. A gunshot would give it away. Riley asked him to do it. And the way they handled it was...dark. Hard to describe.

Second WTF moment from what you've said is that Franklin only says that the Destiny is over 1 million years old. Well, Atlantis is 10 MILLION years old. So, saying that Destiny is merely over 1 million years old (which I understand could be any number) is almost as bad as Rush's hundreds of thousands of years statement - and THIS is AFTER they already knew from the fans that they slipped up on the time line. Why didn't they just have Franklin say that the Destiny is more than 20 million years old or something more definitively "older" than Atlantis.

You are absolutely correct. But at least its not the ridiculous statement of "hundreds of thousands" of years old. It was wrong, but at least an attempt to correct the previous HUGE plot crater and make it only a sinkhole.

Oh, and I don't think that they ever said that several city ships were launched on SGA. There was similar structure in The Tower episode that was probably a city ship, but that's the only other one built by the ancients that I can recall in the series. It was occupied by the inhabitants of that world, but I don't think they buried it. Vegetation just grew over it after it was abandoned by the Ancients was what I understood.

Again correct. But in The Tower, we saw that the sunken structure was another city like Atlantis which had been buried after either crashing or being damaged somehow. We saw another one on the Replicator planet which also has expansions. So, they did not specifically SAY that there were several, but we know more than one was built and that they all share the same basic design and engines. I think that the object they are approaching is the seeder ship that looks like Destiny which I see in the trailer. But still, the ship doesnt fit in the canon and fails to impress me with its alleged ability to give "god-like" powers and "control time and space" :roll:.

I also don't know about the "cool elements" of the show. I've seen pictures of the bridge and they didn't impress me. I did notice the lighting was a lot brighter, but I don't know if that's just the picture or if it transfers to the show.

I'm just going to have to see this episode for myself to form an opinion. I find it hard to believe that this is better than Time, which I only found mildly okay (I mean just barely), and that's just based off of your review.

Cheers buddy. And thanks again. I'll be back once I've seen it.

I hope you will watch it, and then you will understand why it was hard for me to completely hate it. But one episode out of 22 is not a good statistic! Thanks for reading it.

 

[Overmind One]

I would rather you watch it first then you might see whay I kinda liked it.

I don't doubt you're being honest about what you think. After all, you seemed to like Time a lot. So, I guess this is another Rob Cooper thing that worked for you in this show. I'm just saying that based on everything that you wrote, I doubt that I will like this episode in the least bit. Like I said, a lot of people didn't like this episode - even fans of SGU. So, I'll see what I think about it later.

I can easily see why the current fans of SGU might not like it. Its because its less like "their" Stargate and more like the old style. But one episode does not a success make! The show still SUCKS. But this episode was "less sucky" than the others, including Time which is the only other episode which I would give a "pass". I wasnt aware Coop wrote it until the end. But that makes sense. I am being completely honest what I think, trust me! Watch it and see...

I can describe it. It sounds off to me. I understand that Riley was asking to be put out of his misery, I'm just saying that the humane way would have been better than the dramatic way. That's all.

You have to see it.

But see - THAT'S the problem. Right there. You just said it. If they were "attempting" to correct their time line mistake, then why didn't they just do it? It's not like them saying something that would actually make sense would hurt the continuity of the show. That's already off, and it's been that way.

I completely agree. Lots of stuff is still way off, and the show still sucks, and there are still plotholes and I still hate these characters. Dont take this review as an endorsement from me, because the show still sucks. But since I chose to review this particular episode, I watched it all the way through and was a bit surprised to find myself engaged in it. They could have fixed that plothole. Maybe they will try to modify it before the show is cancelled midseason.

Did they say that about the city in The Tower? I don't recall an explanation of why the city was left there. I just assumed that the Ancient abandoned it when they also abandoned the SGA team's Atlantis. The one on the replicator planet was made by the replicators, not the Ancients. They created it (and built upon the design) to be like their creators. So, that one doesn't count.

Im referring to the scene where Rodney has displayed the sunken city on a console, and we can clearly see that its like Atlantis, although damaged and destroyed in many places. Also, the engines are intact, but the ZPM has been basically depleted. But the point is that the Ancients built at least two city-ships, and the design was also known to the Replicators who built a third, and true it doesnt really count. They did not say anything about how the buried city came to be on that planet if I recall.

"Object they were approaching..." ??? I don't know what you mean there. If you're saying that SGA ever made anything close to the slightest reference of these seeder ships and the Destiny, uh, I don't think so buddy. Uh-uh.

I will watch it and come back with my report because I really don't see it from your review. I really don't, but I appreciate your efforts here. I'm still thinking that they're 0 for 22.

Cheers.

No, me saying something about the object they are approaching has nothing to do with Atlantis or anything on Atlantis. Everything in Stargate Universe is COMPLETELY distinct from Atlantis, SG-1 and anything Stargate. Im not sure where you thought I was connecting it. But again, the best way to understand my review and why I wrote it the way I did (without much acerbic criticism), is to watch it. Dont light the fire yet, buddy!

 

[Overmind One]

Yep!

Okay, I'll hold off on responding to you until I've seen it. What you described doesn't sound like the "old style" to me.

Anyhoo, I'll just respond to the SGA item.



Okay, the bolded is basically what I just said buddy. So, I take it that we agree on that then. I actually had to take a screen shot of that scene to prove to someone else at GW that Rodney didn't say that this city was identical to our Atlantis, but that's similar or in McKay's words - "almost identical."

Anyhoo, back to the point. When did he say that the city was damaged and destroyed in many places? I don't think McKay ever said that in the episode. We don't even know if the city in the Tower episode was actually built as a ship because they didn't say. For all we know it could have been built as just a city and the chair could have only been used to fire drone for protection. However, I wouldn't doubt that it was a ship too. My point is that we just don't know.

But back to the episode at hand.
.
..
...



Good, thanks. I wasn't sure, so I'm glad you cleared that up for me. I appreciate it.

I'm not being acerbic, and I'm sorry if you're taking my comments based on what you said happened in the episode that way. I'm just going off of your review. I'm not lighting any fires, my friend. Not at all. There's no fire behind me saying that the episode doesn't sound like it's good. There's also no fire behind mentioning that the time line is still rather off and should have just been corrected if they were going to address it at all, or in any of my other comments.

I can understand if your defensiveness. You put forth a good effort and said what you think. That's very good. I just don't think I'll agree when I see the episode, but you never know. Pigs have been known to fly.

(Just kidding. )

Yep! When I saw this pig fly, I shocked myself! You might not like it, but you will see why I wrote my review the way I did. Check out these shots for laughs :icon_e_wink::

See Greer's foot? Its standing on a barely visible buried stargate if you look closely.



But in less than 2 hours or so, it looks like this! Keep in mind, the only people helping to clear it are Scott, Volkker, Greer and Eli. TJ is back at the shuttle with Riley. LAUGHABLE! Especially the base which has to spin the gate. They got the rubble from beneath that too? They used explosives to clear most of the rubble, but its just too deux ex machina for my taste. Not a WTF moment, but still an eyeroll moment.

 

[Overmind One]

Rac80 will be disappointed...no "hunk shots" this episode!

All I wanted to hear was RAC80's tagline of "It was vomit inducing". Now you make me want to watch it. Curses..

Her eyecandy didnt go shirtless or do anything "hunky" in Aftermath, and Ginn didnt get lovey dovey. Another thing in this episode is that even though evidently Telford used the stones to get his list of LA members they were going to keep, we didnt SEE it at all. . And NO kissing, groping, or boob-cam shots. That was refreshing.

You know me...would I write an "okay" review if it was really completely shitty? I wanted to write clever sarcastic criticisms and couldnt bring myself to do it this time. But the show still sucks! Just because it didnt make me upchuck my dinner doesnt mean it was great.

 

[Tomm]

plenty of WTF moments

this episode was indeed better than average for SGU. however it still suffers from the same problems as the rest of this series.
first of all it was a big improvement because there was no Chloe in it. I have a feeling they will soon either kill her off or turn her into an alien or something.

secondly, there were still plenty of WTF moments in this episode.

first of all, how come the Lucian alliance didn't bring any supplies with them. yes they were under attack but so did the Icarus base crew and they didn't even plan on going anywhere for a long period of time. the Lucians did plan to go there. so how come they brought nothing at all except guns.

the whole reason for them wanting to go there and get stuck is still unexplained. so they heard some legend about it and that's it? that's enough for them to risk getting stuck forever on some rust ship. and they had a spy (Telford) so they knew what's it really like and they knew they didn't find anything worth of value on the ship at all. so unless they had some really big information, it wouldn't make sense for them to go there since they already knew there was nothing on the ship like the legend said.

are there really so few planets on the Destiny's path? they seem to have such trouble resupplying that must mean there are barely any planets with life anywhere on their path. and their gate only seem to be able to dial 1 planet at a time, making the Stargate nothing more than a Transporter like in Star Trek. they are only able to "beam" down to one planet at a time, and don't go to other planets via the gate. thus it basically renders the entire stargate idea meaningless. now the stargate is just a transporter. why would the ancients even bother seeding such primitive gates to planets if these gates are unable to dial any other gates.
(if the destiny isn't able to dial more than 1 planet at a time that must mean that most of the time it's also impossible for planet-to-planet travel as well. so what's the point of these gates if they are not all connected to each other!?)


when the fight broke out between the Lucians and the crew which side was Telford on? I couldn't see him until after the fight was over. did he side with the Lucians to "keep his cover" even if it meant they could all break out and possibly kill people?
this was not shown and thus an indirect plothole.

Rush saying that young isn't fit to command because he's mentally unstable is very funny coming from a man who sees and talks to his dead wife, unable to sleep, had mental breakdowns, and yet thinks he is fit to command.
why exactly he keeps the bridge secret also makes no sense. what is he afraid they'd turn the ship around to go back to Earth? that would take a million years so I doubt anyone would suggest that. so what exactly would change if anyone else know about it? nothing.

so what ever happened to Franklin? still unexplained. what about the alien baby kidnappers? still unexplained. what about Destiny's mission? still unexplained. what were the blue fish alien after? still unexplained.
all this stuff probably never will get explained because the writers themselves dont know the answers. maybe they're lurking around forums waiting for some fan to come up with ideas which they can steal and use, because obviously they ran out of imagination a long time ago.

the biggest WTF moment in this episode was Young's "Mercy Killing"

first of all they killed one of the best supporting characters. Riley was maybe the only character who was like the old SG1 or Atlantis kind of guy. a guy who was moral and actually good at science. and they killed him off.
first he says he's unable to feel his legs at all. then when they try to get his legs out he screams in pain. so does he feel them or not?
then they say they're unable to get him out. but they had like 5 guys who they just sent out to look for the gate. if they all did it together i'm sure they'd be able to get him out.
so they know he's dying and plan on leaving him there. they say they can't get him out because it would increase his bleeding. but since he's going to die anyway why not take the chance, get him out and take him to the gate. maybe he will survive. (the gate didn't seem to be very far since they were constantly going back and forth to the shuttle).
but they didn't even try and just decided to leave him there. then he asked for Young to kill him (again saying he's in pain even though he earlier said he doesn't feel anything at all).
Young has a gun which he can use to quickly end his life. but instead he slowly suffocates him to death.
i'm pretty sure a quick round of bullets to his head is a lot quicker and less unpleasant than to slowly chock him. it would take at least several minutes for a person to die from that! (not the seconds it happened on screen). and it's a very lingering and torturous way to go. I would prefer to bleed to death and not suffocate.
the only explanation is that young did it just so the others wouldn't know he killed him. but he didn't even ask him if this is how he wants it to be done. surely he would have preferred they injected him with drugs to make him loose consiousness and then shot him in the head. would have been a much easier death. instead he was slowly chocked to death. some mercy killing.
they probably didn't even bury him either just left him there to rot. why not take his body and use his meat for food. they are starving aren't they? at least that way his death wouldn't have been for nothing and it would have at least gave the others a few days longer to live.
but of course they would never even bring that subject up. that would be too dark and edgy.
maybe they cooked TJ's dead baby off screen. we also still don't know what happened to the Senator's body or all the other men that died on the ship and whose bodies mysteriously disappeared. so maybe they did eat them in between episodes. who knows.

 

[Mr. A]

Thanks

Hey OM1, I respect your honesty in presenting your position after writing this review. That's what I expect from our reviews, not blatant nit-picking just because we're on SGUsucks! And I especially depend on them as I won't be able to watch the episodes even if I wanted to until they air in my area.

I despise SGU just as much as anybody here and wish to see it cancelled, but I myself rather enjoyed Time, Space and Lost in spite of their glaring shortcomings. So I don't see why they couldn't put together another watchable episode.
The only issue I might have with the episode in seeing the sneak peek was the slooooow pacing. Is that representative of the whole episode? Any thoughts on this?

 

[Overmind One]

The LA did bring supplies.

this episode was indeed better than average for SGU. however it still suffers from the same problems as the rest of this series.
first of all it was a big improvement because there was no Chloe in it. I have a feeling they will soon either kill her off or turn her into an alien or something.

secondly, there were still plenty of WTF moments in this episode.

first of all, how come the Lucian alliance didn't bring any supplies with them. yes they were under attack but so did the Icarus base crew and they didn't even plan on going anywhere for a long period of time. the Lucians did plan to go there. so how come they brought nothing at all except guns.

Yes, they brought several crates and cases containing (?) Hell, the Destiny crew managed leather couches, medical microscopes, seeds, etc...This is what the LA brought, and it had been prepared in advance, unlike the escaping Icarus morons.

In this picture on the left wall is a stack of crates, cases and other stuff which they are seen preparing as Rush finishes his calculations:



Here is a shot just after the gate on the LA Icarus planet is dialed, and you can see them carrying the crates and cases, and again as they enter the gate and land on Destiny.

the whole reason for them wanting to go there and get stuck is still unexplained. so they heard some legend about it and that's it? that's enough for them to risk getting stuck forever on some rust ship. and they had a spy (Telford) so they knew what's it really like and they knew they didn't find anything worth of value on the ship at all. so unless they had some really big information, it wouldn't make sense for them to go there since they already knew there was nothing on the ship like the legend said.

I agree. The whole idea that this ship is somehow more important than all the other Ancient stuff which happened later is lame. Its like saying a 2011 Camaro with a twin-turbo V8 should be afraid of a Model-T with a two cycle engine "just because" legend has it that the driver of the Model-T will suddenly transform into a god and control time and space. Really?

are there really so few planets on the Destiny's path? they seem to have such trouble resupplying that must mean there are barely any planets with life anywhere on their path. and their gate only seem to be able to dial 1 planet at a time, making the Stargate nothing more than a Transporter like in Star Trek. they are only able to "beam" down to one planet at a time, and don't go to other planets via the gate. thus it basically renders the entire stargate idea meaningless. now the stargate is just a transporter. why would the ancients even bother seeding such primitive gates to planets if these gates are unable to dial any other gates.
(if the destiny isn't able to dial more than 1 planet at a time that must mean that most of the time it's also impossible for planet-to-planet travel as well. so what's the point of these gates if they are not all connected to each other!?)


when the fight broke out between the Lucians and the crew which side was Telford on? I couldn't see him until after the fight was over. did he side with the Lucians to "keep his cover" even if it meant they could all break out and possibly kill people?
this was not shown and thus an indirect plothole.

Rush saying that young isn't fit to command because he's mentally unstable is very funny coming from a man who sees and talks to his dead wife, unable to sleep, had mental breakdowns, and yet thinks he is fit to command.
why exactly he keeps the bridge secret also makes no sense. what is he afraid they'd turn the ship around to go back to Earth? that would take a million years so I doubt anyone would suggest that. so what exactly would change if anyone else know about it? nothing.

so what ever happened to Franklin? still unexplained. what about the alien baby kidnappers? still unexplained. what about Destiny's mission? still unexplained. what were the blue fish alien after? still unexplained.
all this stuff probably never will get explained because the writers themselves dont know the answers. maybe they're lurking around forums waiting for some fan to come up with ideas which they can steal and use, because obviously they ran out of imagination a long time ago.

the biggest WTF moment in this episode was Young's "Mercy Killing"

first of all they killed one of the best supporting characters. Riley was maybe the only character who was like the old SG1 or Atlantis kind of guy. a guy who was moral and actually good at science. and they killed him off.
first he says he's unable to feel his legs at all. then when they try to get his legs out he screams in pain. so does he feel them or not?
then they say they're unable to get him out. but they had like 5 guys who they just sent out to look for the gate. if they all did it together i'm sure they'd be able to get him out.
so they know he's dying and plan on leaving him there. they say they can't get him out because it would increase his bleeding. but since he's going to die anyway why not take the chance, get him out and take him to the gate. maybe he will survive. (the gate didn't seem to be very far since they were constantly going back and forth to the shuttle).
but they didn't even try and just decided to leave him there. then he asked for Young to kill him (again saying he's in pain even though he earlier said he doesn't feel anything at all).
Young has a gun which he can use to quickly end his life. but instead he slowly suffocates him to death.
i'm pretty sure a quick round of bullets to his head is a lot quicker and less unpleasant than to slowly chock him. it would take at least several minutes for a person to die from that! (not the seconds it happened on screen). and it's a very lingering and torturous way to go. I would prefer to bleed to death and not suffocate.
the only explanation is that young did it just so the others wouldn't know he killed him. but he didn't even ask him if this is how he wants it to be done. surely he would have preferred they injected him with drugs to make him loose consiousness and then shot him in the head. would have been a much easier death. instead he was slowly chocked to death. some mercy killing.
they probably didn't even bury him either just left him there to rot. why not take his body and use his meat for food. they are starving aren't they? at least that way his death wouldn't have been for nothing and it would have at least gave the others a few days longer to live.
but of course they would never even bring that subject up. that would be too dark and edgy.
maybe they cooked TJ's dead baby off screen. we also still don't know what happened to the Senator's body or all the other men that died on the ship and whose bodies mysteriously disappeared. so maybe they did eat them in between episodes. who knows.

The show is doomed. Now, to see the ratings! I dont predict much change, but possibly a small uptick.

 

[stclare]

Yes, they brought several crates and cases containing (?) Hell, the Destiny crew managed leather couches, medical microscopes, seeds, etc...This is what the LA brought, and it had been prepared in advance, unlike the escaping Icarus morons.

In this picture on the left wall is a stack of crates, cases and other stuff which they are seen preparing as Rush finishes his calculations:

View attachment 1227

Here is a shot just after the gate on the LA Icarus planet is dialed, and you can see them carrying the crates and cases, and again as they enter the gate and land on Destiny.

View attachment 1228



I agree. The whole idea that this ship is somehow more important than all the other Ancient stuff which happened later is lame. Its like saying a 2011 Calaro with a twin-turbo V8 should be afraid of a Model-T with a two cycle engine "just because", ot legend has it that the driver of the Model-T will suddenly transform into a god and control time and space. Really?



The show is doomed. Now, to see the ratings! I dont predict much change, but possibly a small uptick.

My God what was the costume dpt thinking with all that leather? it looks like a BDSM meet and greet party!

also nice review. ratings may uptick slightly, but the general trend was downwards last year. i can see no reason why it shouldnt continue. the 1.175 was a surprise i think to everyone.

 

[Overmind One]

Im almost embarrassed about it. But its what I felt.

Hey OM1, I respect your honesty in presenting your position after writing this review. That's what I expect from our reviews, not blatant nit-picking just because we're on SGUsucks! And I especially depend on them as I won't be able to watch the episodes even if I wanted to until they air in my area.

I despise SGU just as much as anybody here and wish to see it cancelled, but I myself rather enjoyed Time, Space and Lost in spite of their glaring shortcomings. So I don't see why they couldn't put together another watchable episode.
The only issue I might have with the episode in seeing the sneak peek was the slooooow pacing. Is that representative of the whole episode? Any thoughts on this?

This episode wasnt slow, and I thought it would be because of the trailer. There was enough action (fights, shooting, shuttle crash) to carry the dead spots. The stupidest concept (and also derivative) is these "manifestations". They act like Ancients taking human form in characters which Rush understand, EXACTLY like they had Morgan LaFey helping Daniel in The Quest in SG-1. But then again, it could be something entirely uncool like the ship doing it...I dunno. Its too vague and silly. But without them on that bridge it would have been even more boring. Its still lame.

Thanks for reading it!

 

[Rac80]

Even the best episode sucks!

OM1-- great review...nice to know I didn't miss any hottie moments. I am not surprised at your Varro/Chakotay linkage...I could see that coming in Aftermath, but Ginn/B'Elanna is one I didn't get...good catch! So Eli=Tom Paris? Uh don't think so...Paris was a bit of a "bad boy" . I too agree with others that Young should have shot Riley...faster way to die. They did it the way they did for the "dark and gritty" effect...when realistically Young would have simply shot him. Or as PSW said, break his neck. Or had everyone return to get the ship off him.
Rush= Baltar was what I saw from the first...even to the long-haired look. Seems like all "mad" scientists are scruffy to these guys! So no surprise with his "head!wife" and of course Franklin is now part of the ship.
If there were legends about the Destiny in the MW, why did no one ever inform the SGC about them? I hate it when they claimthings like "oh everyone knows about these legends"...we had heard about the Atlantis for a season before the sga spin off happened.

A4L- Having just seen Rising again, I noticed that the old city on Athos also was of the same design as Atlantis...maybe that was how they built cities? Built them in a central location and flew them to the planet they were needed on? Merely IMHO of course.

 

[Overmind One]

About the Riley mercy killing and the gun

Okay, TJ had spent the entire time at Riley's side, droning on about how her baby was safe, and how she had visited the Faith planet and was hopeful that who and what she saw there really happened on some level. Riley seemed to take some comfort in her words, but he is a soldier and not a sentimental one at that. But when the gate was finally dialed and Riley saw Young, he asked that they all leave the shuttle so he could have time alone with Young. He WANTED to die, and he also did not want TJ or any of the others to know that he was killed by Young and didnt just die on his own. Riley and TJ already knew he was going to die, but nobody knew how long he would last. Riley wanted to hasten the process, and he wanted Young to do it as discreetly as possible. A gun would have given it away.

If Young had used the gun, who would ever believe that he shot Riley in cold blood unless he told them he was going to have Young euthanize him? He has already tried to kill Rush and Telford and has disobeyed orders on multiple occasions. This time, he was ASKED to do it, and thats what made it dark. Im surprised these writers wrote the scene, and it was genuinely a "dark" moment.

Worth seeing how they handled it. Its hard to describe the feeling it conveyed.

 

[Rac80]

for PSW & myself

Here's an article about the actor who plays Riley with a pic...he was one of the few second tier characters I could name
http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/sho...ve-haig-sutherland-and-the-life-of-riley.html


now this is Stargate...they never really kill anyone off.....so will he return with franklin?

 

[Overmind One]

Thank you!

OM1-- great review...nice to know I didn't miss any hottie moments. I am not surprised at your Varro/Chakotay linkage...I could see that coming in Aftermath, but Ginn/B'Elanna is one I didn't get...good catch! So Eli=Tom Paris? Uh don't think so...Paris was a bit of a "bad boy" . I too agree with others that Young should have shot Riley...faster way to die. They did it the way they did for the "dark and gritty" effect...when realistically Young would have simply shot him. Or as PSW said, break his neck. Or had everyone return to get the ship off him.
Rush= Baltar was what I saw from the first...even to the long-haired look. Seems like all "mad" scientists are scruffy to these guys! So no surprise with his "head!wife" and of course Franklin is now part of the ship.

Its more BSGish now than before, in my opinion. But this whole new Voyager/Maquis thing, its BLATANT. Varro and Ginn are exactly like Chakotay and B'Elanna, but Ginn is more cooperative than B'Elanna was in Voyager in the beginning. But its her, with some Kayley from Firefly thrown in. She is clearly the uber-geek of the LA crowd. Something else, I actually chose to watch Intervention after watching this episode the first time so I could understand how there were LA good guys, and why the LA members who were selected to survive earned that privilege. Thats when I saw Ginn moving around on those consoles and saying she could get around Rush's shenanigans with the computer. She seems to know more about the mythology than Rush does. But this whole Rush=Baltar is underlined and bolded now, and these "manifestations" irk me.

If there were legends about the Destiny in the MW, why did no one ever inform the SGC about them? I hate it when they claim things like "oh everyone knows about these legends"...we had heard about the Atlantis for a season before the sga spin off happened.

A4L- Having just seen Rising again, I noticed that the old city on Athos also was of the same design as Atlantis...maybe that was how they built cities? Built them in a central location and flew them to the planet they were needed on? Merely IMHO of course.

Its like they are trying to graft SGU onto Stargate and nothing matches up. You and I are old enough to remember the b movie "The Incredible Two Headed Transplant". SGU is the grafted, crazy head! It doesnt belong there. Cant wait till the ratings come out!

 

[Red Mage]

I actually felt this was one of the worst episodes of the show to date to go along side Earth, Life and Human. It felt like a throw away episode.

The biggest eye roller for me was where the bridge was located. It was a 30 second walk away from where they have been the whole time. Seriously, he was talking to Dr. Park, walked down a hallway, opened two doors and voila: the bridge. It was there and that CLOSE the whole time? Did they just never think to open those doors? I think this might not be the first time Rush has discovered the bridge.

The planet scenes were handled very lame. The shuttle crashed and they got stuck because the gate was buried. The solution of simply digging it out and it still being in perfect working order was a bit boring. In SGA or SG-1 the answer to the problem would require some novel thinking either by the home team or the stranded team to get the trapped people home. Not here. Just dig it out and go home. Too simple much like the way the ending of Lost was resolved in Sabatoge where Eli and the others just dialed in 30 seconds later.

I don't like that Riley was killed off. He was one of the few characters who seemed like a upstanding military officier and moral human being that would actually belong on an SG team. I guess since the baby is no longer in the picture, his ability to make toy cars was longer needed so TPTB wrote him off.

 

[Overmind One]

Wouldnt be surprised!

Riley might be taken away in a flaming chariot, to the "Benevolent Alien" Planet, As TJ's Baby's Nanny, where he'll moonlight as the local toymaker. Bet a bottle of Beer, that Sgt. Riley was thrilled to "fall down the Elevator Shaft", in this Soap Opera.

Sadly, there were several crew members in that Faith planet in TJ's dream who were so enamored with her baby and wanted to take care of it. And all the babble TJ was giving Riley about that place may have looked a helluva lot better to him than bleeding to death alone on that planet! Franklin came back, Rush's wife is dead but she is there too. The way they have set this gig up, the whole damn ship could already be exploded and they are all living this show as dead people.

They have gone too far into fantasy and magic with things. Too much vague otherworldly Ouija stuff. No science happening.

 

[Rac80]

Sadly, there were several crew members in that Faith planet in TJ's dream who were so enamored with her baby and wanted to take care of it. And all the babble TJ was giving Riley about that place may have looked a helluva lot better to him than bleeding to death alone on that planet! Franklin came back, Rush's wife is dead but she is there too. The way they have set this gig up, the whole damn ship could already be exploded and they are all living this show as dead people.

They have gone too far into fantasy and magic with things. Too much vague otherworldly Ouija stuff. No science happening.

So it's not BSG or Voyager...it's LOST!!!

 

[Tanith]

The biggest eye roller for me was where the bridge was located. It was a 30 second walk away from where they have been the whole time. Seriously, he was talking to Dr. Park, walked down a hallway, opened two doors and voila: the bridge. It was there and that CLOSE the whole time? Did they just never think to open those doors? I think this might not be the first time Rush has discovered the bridge.

The corridor outside the bridge looked different than the one he walked into when he left Dr Park. When I watched it I immediately thought that they skipped showing you the journey he took to get to the bridge. It even appeared that he entered some kind of code to get both doors leading to the bridge open.

 

[Rac80]

The corridor outside the bridge looked different than the one he walked into when he left Dr Park. When I watched it I immediately thought that they skipped showing you the journey he took to get to the bridge. It even appeared that he entered some kind of code to get both doors leading to the bridge open.

Show me some screencaps please. i think they just turned the lights up in prep for a fully-lit bridge!

 

[Tanith]

Show me some screencaps please. i think they just turned the lights up in prep for a fully-lit bridge!

Corridor he walked into when he left Dr Park:

Corridor outside the bridge:

About the door code you can hear him inputting it on the first door and you see him inputting it on the second (That wheel thing turns after he inputs it which shows that the door has now been unlocked):