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Retro Review: Stargate: Universe

Time for me to voice some unpopular opinions. If you know me well, you’re used to such things, and if you don’t, well, let’s just say my tastes are sometimes a little odd. And by sometimes, I mean usually. And by a little, I mean very.Universe is the third TV spin-off of the ’90s sci-fi action movie, Stargate. The previous two, SG-1 and Atlantis, enjoyed a fair degree of success. In fact, SG-1 was the longest running sci-fi TV series in history. Universe, however, lasted only two seasons, and is generally bashed for killing the franchise.

The reasons for this aren’t hard to understand. It was a major departure from the previous two series. Instead of a bright, peppy show about well-groomed heroes saving the universe, we had a gritty tale of a small group of scruffy refugees trying to survive aboard a decaying alien starship, Destiny, at the far edges of space. Changes like that–sadly–tend to bother people. And to be entirely honest, the first few episodes simply weren’t very good. They were slow, dull, and smacked of “trying too hard to be serious.”

But all that doesn’t mean it was a ultimately a bad show.

Even during its shaky beginning, Universe had a lot of things going for it. For starters, a unique concept. We’ve all seen the Voyager model of a crew trying to find its way home, but SG:U was a different take on the idea. They weren’t flying home; they couldn’t. They didn’t possess the access codes necessary to run the ship, and they were simply along for the ride. It added an extra element of peril; if one of their away teams didn’t make it back to the ship before it jumped back into FTL (Faster Than Light), they would be permanently marooned.

Destiny itself was a character. The ship, while not exactly an entity as we would understand the term, was capable of thinking, and it had a plan. One of my favourite things about the show was the constant question of, “What is Destiny up to this week? Why did it bring them to this planet?” In fact, I’d go so far as to say Destiny may have been my favourite character, and that’s no small feat, which brings me to my next point. The greatest strength of every Stargate series has been their casts, and SG:U was no exception. Whereas previous casts were mostly plucky and likable, Universe’s refugees were a little more rough around the edges, but no less interesting for that.

Virtually everyone was deep and multifaceted, and the acting was universally strong (no pun intended). Particular stand-outs included Robert Carlyle as the brilliant but pathologically dishonest Dr. Nicholas Rush and Louis Ferreira as reluctant commander Colonel Everett Young, whose characters constantly butted heads (sometimes literally) throughout the series, making for and endless amount of wonderful drama. But even initially weaker characters such as Elyse Levesque’s Chloe Armstrong quickly found ways to become more interesting, and by the end of the show’s short run, there wasn’t a character I didn’t love seeing.

Most important to note, though, is that the mediocre story-telling of the first few episodes didn’t last. Things slowly improved, and then the quality shot upward with the stellar cliff-hanger in the middle of the first season. After that, with only a few brief exceptions, we got nothing but interesting episodes full of action, human drama, mystery, and suspense.

Unlike the rather straight-forward plots of previous Stargate incarnations, SG:U featured a lot of mysteries. “What is Destiny‘s purpose? Why did the Ancients launch it into the far reaches of the universe?” I won’t spoil anything, but suffice it to say that some of those questions were answered, and SG:U was shaping up to be truly epic and awe-inspiring before it was cut down prematurely.

Finally, one other thing that made Universe very unique is the way it portrayed the feeling of being lost in deep space. I’ve watched a lot of sci-fi TV in my time, and it never really felt right. Space was just a backdrop that added nothing to the story. But SG:U hammered home the lonely isolation of being adrift in the cold depths of space. It had a haunting feeling that stuck with me long after the episodes ended.

The worlds and the alien creatures really felt foreign. It illustrated both the wonder and the horror that space has to offer.

I think SG:U actually may have been the final nail in the coffin of my Star Trek fandom. Star Trek is supposed to be about uncovering the mysteries of space, but SG:U did more boldly going in its two seasons than any Star Trek series did in their longer runs.

Overall rating: 8.8/10 If you haven’t seen it, I strongly recommend giving it a try. Just don’t let its slow start throw you. And if you have seen it, please comment and tell me what you think, especially if you enjoyed it–I’d dearly like to discover that I’m not the only SG:U fan out there, which is how it feels sometimes.

You can buy Stargate: Universe DVDs on my Amazon Affiliate. In addition to the DVDs of the two seasons, I’ve included a download of a single second season episode, “Malice.” Normally I wouldn’t recommend skipping ahead like that, especially on a serialized show like SG:U, but “Malice” was masterful, and if you’re a skeptic, it might just win you over.

Retro Review: Genesis of Shannara:

If you’re a fan of fantasy literature, you’ve probably at least heard of Terry Brooks, if not read some of his books. He’s one of the biggest names in the fantasy field, a bestseller and author of no less than three large fantasy series: the high fantasy Shannara, the urban fantasy the Word and the Void, and the satirical the Magic Kingdom of Landover.

The Genesis of Shannara trilogy–“Armageddon’s Children,” “The Elves of Cintra,” and “The Gypsy Morph”–is both a prequel to the other Shannara books and a sequel to the Word and the Void. That said, it doesn’t draw too heavily on the other series, and you could easily read it and enjoy it even if you’ve never read a Terry Brooks book before.

Set in the late 21st century, Genesis of Shannara depicts a world utterly destroyed by war and environmental disaster. Diseases and radiation blight the landscape, creating various strains of mutants, and armies of nightmarish Once-men ravage all in their path. Worse still, Demons lurk in the shadows, working tirelessly to extinguish what life remains in the name of the Void. The few survivors that remain are forced to cram into tiny, Spartan fortress-cities where the weak and infirm are cast off, lest they divert resources from the more worthy, or eek out a meager existence on the streets, where disease, Once-men, and other gangs are a constant threat.

It’s hammered home early in the series that our world is dead. Not dying. Dead. Those few who still survive know they won’t for much longer.

It’s this bleak feeling–even more so than it’s utterly different setting–that sets this apart from the other Shannara books, which had frankly become rather dull and formulaic up until Genesis. Whereas the other recent Shannara books had tended to be lacking in character and emotion, Genesis is haunting, rich with feeling, and has a stellar cast of characters.

Most memorable of these for me are the Ghosts, a gang of street children trying to survive in the ruins of Seattle. They sum up the books’ sorrowful feeling perfectly with the ritual greeting they give when meeting other gangs: “We are the ghosts. We haunt the ruins of the world our parents destroyed.”

Every Ghost came to their little family with a tale of tragedy. But it’s not all misery with them. There are lots of quiet little moments of peace that contrast wonderfully with the horror that occupies the rest of the books. Some of the best scenes in Genesis are the more familial moments, such as Owl, the “mother” of the family, reading bedtime stories to the younger children.

And that’s what really makes Genesis of Shannara so brilliant. If it were all sadness and doom, it would simply be depressing. But remember this is a prequel. It’s not just about the death of our world; it’s about the hope that a new world might rise from its ashes. It’s this mix of hope and sorrow that makes these books so special.

Now, the series does a lag a bit in the middle with “The Elves of Cintra.” Brooks’ Elves have never been anything special–they always just come across as humans with pointy ears, and the parts of Genesis that focus on them feel as tired as his previous Shannara books. And if I have to read about the Blue Elfstones one more time, I’m going to punch Terry Brooks in the face.

Luckily, the story picks up again in “The Gypsy Morph,” and overall, the books maintain a high level of quality.

One other nit to pick is that it is somewhat confusing that this series features two largely unrelated groups of creatures that are both referred to as Demons. It makes a little more sense if you’ve read his other books, but only a little. But once you figure out which Demons are which, it’s not much of an issue.

Genesis of Shannara combines a lot of different elements in very unique ways: fantasy and science fiction, high fantasy and urban fantasy, hope and despair, epic scale and intimate character moments. It’s a very moving and intriguing series that I highly recommend to anyone with an interest in science fiction or fantasy.

Overall rating: 9.4/10

You can buy the Genesis of Shannara books on my Amazon Affiliate.

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