Stargate Atlantis

I haven’t felt much like reading lately, too busy reading for my job to want to read in my free time.  So I’ve been using streaming Netflix at night before I go to bed and catching up on television series that I missed the first time around.

First I watched Veronica Mars, all three seasons.  I wrote about it here. I just finished watching Stargate Atlantis, all five seasons.

I’ve written before about how much I enjoyed Stargate SG-1 and how I was disappointed by Stargate Universe.  So I wasn’t sure what to expect from Stargate Atlantis. 

I liked it.  I’m not sure I liked it better than SG-1 but I liked it.  I think, in many ways it was better made than SG-1 (at least better made than the early years of SG-1), with higher production values.  It had a lot of the same kind of humor.  And there was real synergy among the cast.

Most of the cast I was not familiar with, at least in the first three seasons.  The exception was David Hewlett who reprised his Rodney McKay character from SG-1, but tempered to make him more bearable.  In season 4 they brought in Amanda Tapping’s character, Samantha Carter, to be the commander of the base.  I love the character of Sam Carter but really felt that the writers didn’t know what to do with her.  I was sorry she was gone in Season 5 and was not sure that replacing her with Roberto Picardo’s long running character, Mr. Woolsey, would work.  I shouldn’t have doubted him.  Picardo had been playing Woolsey on SG-1 for many guest appearances and, once made a regular character, did a great job showing the growth of his character (some of you will remember Roberto Picardo as the holographic doctor on StarTrek the Next Generation).

You may recall that one of the problems I had with Stargate Universe was that the writers did not create a unique “Big Bad” for the new galaxy.  Stargate Atlantis didn’t have that problem, they created a big bad right from the beginning and they were very Big and very Bad.  The Wraith were scary.  They looked scary and the concept behind them (that they fed on human lives) was scary.  Not scary like the Reavers on Firefly, who literally raped and ate their victims.  The Wraith were less monstrous and more alien.  And one of them, Todd the Wraith, was a sometimes ally. (Todd, you ask?  Well, they had to call him something.)

Another difference between Atlantis and Universe was that the writers didn’t hesitate to kill off characters.  Well, they killed them off in the way that Stargate characters get killed off – they come back as clones or memories or whatever.  But they do get killed off.   Stargate Universe needed to kill off some characters.

Like SG-1 and unlike Universe, Atlantis was filled with strong women characters.  The leader, Elizabeth Weir, is a scientist and no pushover.  Teyla Emmagan, a member of the team of explorers, is an alien woman who is the leader of her people.  The Wraith have queens who are VERY scary.   In Season 4, Jewel Staite joins the cast as a doctor and while she is not a military person, she is a smart and capable doctor.   There are, in fact, more strong women characters than there ever were on SG-1.   Universe, of course, had women characters who bored me.

The other cast members were very good.  I’d never seen Joe Flanagan in anything before but his portrayal of the main character, major (then colonel) John Shepherd, was very winning.

In general, I think five years is long enough for a series to run.  I thought SG-1 got a little tired by the last few seasons.  On the other hand, I have no idea why they shut down Atlantis and replaced it with Stargate Universe.  Atlantis was a much better show.

So now … what next.  I’m thinking … Doctor Who? 

Stargate Universe – Not There Yet

Regular readers will know that I was a big fan of Stargate SG-1 and that I was watching the first season of the new spinoff, Stargate Universe. The next season will be starting soon so I’ve been thinking about whether I want to watch it this season. I think I’ll give it a chance even though I’m somewhat ambivalent.

My take on last season? Lots of potential. Not even close to reaching it. Most of it was a big yawner. Why?

Here are my thoughts in no particular order.

First and foremost, there were way to many “oh my god we’re all going to die!” episodes where no one died. Or at least no one that we’re supposed to care about died. That would be ok if the “we’re all going to die!” part of the episode was just running background for something else (like it did on the original Star Trek) but it isn’t. The theme of the entire season has been “oh my god we’re all going to die!” I regularly found myself wishing that someone would die.

Which leads me to …

Chloe needs to die but the writers refuse to kill her. They must have figured out at some point that the character of Chloe was too stupid for words but instead of doing the right thing and killing her off (thereby solving the “oh we’re all going to die but no one really does” problem at the same time) they decided to have her be captured by experimenting aliens who … did something to her. We don’t know what they did but now she’s smart. Uh huh.

Another big problem with Season One was the lack of a Big Bad. No one wants to watch a ship full of crabby people fighting among themselves week after week. Realistic though that may be.

When they finally met the aliens who were out to get them and do experiments on them I thought .. aha! Finally. A Big Bad. But that didn’t really go anywhere and by the end of the season the writers had imported the Lucien Alliance to be an enemy. The Lucien Alliance? Hello? These people on Destiny are supposed to be in a galaxy far, far away from the galaxy where the Lucien Alliance is and they CAN’T GET BACK and no one from earth CAN GET TO THEM (except virtually but that doesn’t count) but the Lucien Alliance (a leftover from previous Stargate series) manages to figure out how to use a Stargate to get to them? Now, I admit that the episodes with the Lucien Alliance were great. But also frustrating. The writers couldn’t come up with anything new? They had to import an old enemy in order to liven up the show?

Another problem for me is that I dislike the way the women characters on this show are written. I miss Carter. I miss Janet. I miss a show where the women characters are really smart. But I could live with no smart women characters. After all there are few really smart men on this show either – only Eli and Rush. I could live with no smart women if any one of them had a little power. In the end they imported the Lucien Alliance to be the enemy and guess what? It partly worked because the leader was a very VERY strong woman character. An evil woman. But a strong woman. Why are there no strong good women characters on this show? Which leads me to …

T.J. is pregnant. Of course she is. bleh. What I don’t understand is, why isn’t every woman of childbearing age on that ship not pregnant right now? Did I miss the episode where they discovered birth control pills on a planet? Also, I find it interesting that the writers made T.J. a medic and not a doctor. Sure it makes for dramatic tension. But see above. Not a single woman on that ship has any power in the chain of command.

Sigh. Ok. Next.

Rush needs to take more baths. He perpetually looks dirty and smelly.

Too much reliance on the stones.

This show needs more Eli (but not with Chloe). Eli is the best character on the show. MORE ELI, MORE ELI, MORE ELI !!!

Back in the 200th episode of Stargate SG-1 the writers had a character who was a television producer who played with the idea of making a “Stargate Movie” and who tossed out ideas about what would it be like. One idea was a “Young Stargate“ team full of all the angst of youth, constantly having sex. Carter buries her head in her hands at the idea. Well, that’s Stargate Universe and I find myself burying my head regularly. In the first season I lost interest in seeing episodes immediately and would catch up on hulu later. I can see where I’ll lose interest completely if something isn’t done next season. But I’ll probably give it a chance for a few weeks and see if the writers learned anything from the first season.

I leave you with Young Stargate:

And as a bonus, a youtube in which someone took that soundtrack from Young Stargate and put it to the real Stargate Universe:

A Galaxy Far, Far Away

Stargate Universe returns this Friday for the second half of its first season (and by the way, I dislike these split seasons). For those of you who don’t remember, this is the show about a group of humans who are suddenly transported to a decrepit old alien vessel in a galaxy far, far away.
As I wrote in November:

A group of persons, most of whom never really wanted to do space travel, were transported to an old spaceship whose operating code they cannot crack. Like The Flying Dutchman the decrepit old ship just sails on not needing a live crew. But the newcomers need to figure out how to replenish the power, the water, the food supply. Every day is a struggle to survive.
All of that might be realistic. If you happened to be transported to a decrepit old spaceship you probably would be concerned with those things. But it isn’t particularly fun to watch. Mostly the passengers all just want to go home and I can’t blame them. The problem for the producers is that I have no limitations on my ability to leave the ship – all I have to do is change the channel (or, in my case, turn off hulu).

I was thinking about this as I’ve been working my way through the DVDs of FarScape (I’m now in the first half of season 3). Like SGU, FarScape involves an astronaut suddenly transported to a galaxy far, far away who is stuck on a spaceship with a group of people who have a hard time getting along. Unlike SGU there are tons of great special affects to watch when the arguments get boring.

The first thing that struck me about FarScape was that it was an expensive show. The original Stargate:SG1 was laughable in its lack of effects. Every planet they went to looked like the boreal forests of Canada – because they were the forests of Canada. Most of the aliens were humanoid (and spoke English, which was never adequately explained). The first four or five years of the show I described it as cheesy because it was so low budget compared to a sci fi movie, or even a Star Trek series. Later, they got more of a budget and things improved. SGU has more effects but mostly these people are stuck on a spaceship that is visually uninteresting (and dark).

FarScape is a visual treat. I recently read somewhere that George Lucas was planning a live action sci fi television series set in the years immediately before Luke meets Obi Wan. It wouldn’t involve any of the Star Wars major characters. They ought to salvage the old FarScape sets and costumes for it because that’s what FarScape looks like (when they actually get off the ship). The aliens (created by the Henson Creature Shop) are truly alien just as they were in the bar scene on Tatooine in the first Star Wars. In fact, I keep expecting the FarScape cast to eventually walk into the bar on Tatooine. Two major characters are aliens that are depicted by puppets (as jabba the hut was). But the humanoid aliens are often very different from regular humans, especially their eyes (which make me think of something out of Dune). Even the space ship is a living character and is visually interesting.

The main characters of FarScape are interesting because none of them are human except Crichton. And, unlike, SGU, it isn’t a cast of thousands. There were originally four passengers and a pilot on the ship (and some small animal-like mechanical creatures very reminiscent of the one Chewbacca scared on the first Death Star). There were a couple of additions made over the years (and one loss, so far) and there are a couple of bad guys (well, one is reformed, we think). It’s easy to keep track of who is who, unlike on SGU where you have no idea who all those people are (I hear that they are introducing a new character who they are going to claim has been on the ship the whole time. Presumably, in the great mass of unnamed people who mill around at meetings.)

The acting on FarScape is better than the original SG-1 actors (and, so far, the SGU actors) – although maybe that’s because the dialog is written better. SG-1 had better jokes but the drama was cheesy. FarScape is almost all drama with a few jokes here and there from Crichton (that mostly the other characters don’t get). Ben Browder and Claudia Black later joined the Stargate SG-1 cast and I’m amazed at how Claudia Black’s facial expressions are totally different on FarScape than on SG-1.

But where FarScape and SGU unfortunately collide is in the plotting. Yes, being stuck on a spaceship would be hard. Yes, wanting to go home is a natural feeling. Yes, sometimes tempers flare when people who aren’t alike are stuck together. But after a while … watching it gets old. Especially in the first season of FarScape I felt like I was caught in a never-ending loop where the plot would involve some big crisis where everyone had to learn to trust each other (because otherwise they were all going to DIE!) but then the next episode would start and it was as if that other episode never took place. (Maybe this wouldn’t be so obvious if one were watching on a weekly basis rather than back to back episodes on DVD.) Recently, in my season 3 viewing the character of Pilot sent two characters off on “shore leave” because he and the ship couldn’t take their bickering any more. I approved.

Just as I said in my discussion of SGU, it would help if they had a mission. Star Trek had a mission and it worked. Star Trek Voyager didn’t have a mission and was just trying to get home and it didn’t work so well. Firefly had a mission – smuggling etc. It worked. SGU has no mission. It is, so far, not working. FarScape really doesn’t have a real mission; they aren’t positively trying to achieve anything except getting home. They are trying to achieve negatives: elude the bad guys who are chasing them.

Everyone fights a lot. Everyone tries to avoid getting killed (week after week of WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE, just like SGU). It’s a wonder I’m still enjoying it. And I am. I just keep hoping that the characters will stop fighting so much. I was very happy when, in season 3, the crew split off into two parts and half stayed on the original ship and half went with the gunship Talon. It made for a change. So far season 3 seems different than the first 2 seasons and I’m hoping that the writers finally figured out where they were going with the plot. Although it won’t matter; I’m hooked despite the flaws and will watch it all the way through.

I’ll also keep watching SGU for the remainder of season 1 in the hope that they turn things around. But I really REALLY hope they get off that ship more or at least stop arguing with each other.

Stargate Bye Bye

My Stargate Sg-1 viewing has come to an end with the end of the 10th season on hulu. Hopefully they’ll start putting up early seasons of Stargate Atlantis at some point.

If SyFy hadn’t canceled it, and if the actors probably weren’t incredibly tired of doing it, I think Stargate SG-1 could have gone on forever. The writers figured out (a la Joss Whedon) how to have a Big Bad each season with an overarching story arc but with stand alone episodes interspersed here and there. So the mythology was consistent but the stories were always (relatively) fresh. They also figured out (a la Joss Whedon) how to successfully introduce new characters while never quite losing old characters.

Few characters ever died a final death on Stargate Sg-1. They either came back to life, or returned as the same person from an alternate reality, or appeared in flashback-type scenes. If their character was in the USAF the writers didn’t have to kill him, they could just promote him to the Pentagon where he would disappear into its bowels for months at a time. Or send him on a mission to Atlantis.

As the show evolved it continued to work although in all honesty I think the middle years were the best. The writers replaced the commander of Stargate Command three times and made it work. The writers managed to replace Richard Dean Anderson and make it work.

Since Stargate SG-1 constantly made comedic references to other sci-fi movies and sci-fi television series it seemed appropriate that, by the end of the series, 2 out of 5 members of the SG-1 team were refugees from the cancelled FarScape series and the Big Bad for the last season was the cancelled Firefly’s Morena Baccarin.

In the show’s 200th episode the writers brought back one of my favorite characters, Marty the alien. Marty showed up in two earlier seasons, first as an ordinary looking guy who is convinced aliens exist. It turns out he is an alien who has had his memory wiped and a human memory implanted. But the memory of finding this out gets wiped too, although maybe not completely. Marty shows up in a later season as a writer for a television series about a space transportation mode that looks suspiciously like a stargate and with a cast that looks suspiciously like the SG-1 team: USAF colonel Jack O’Neil, Archaeologist Daniel Jackson, USAF Major Samantha Carter and Teal’c the alien . A hilarious episode.

For the 200th episode, the writers brought back Marty. His TV series was cancelled after only 3 episodes but now he has convinced a studio to make a movie out of the concept.

Daniel Jackson: Who makes a movie out of a TV series that only lasted 3 episodes?

Teal’c (the alien who loves human pop culture): It allegedly performed well on DVD.

The SG-1 Team is supposed to act as script advisors.

For all the FarScape fans out there, here’s the clip where Claudia Black’s character, miffed to find that the movie is still going to use the old SG-1 team and there won’t be any character based on her, tries to sell Marty on other script ideas. As an alien, Black’s character has been spending time acquainting herself with Earth television and movies. First she floats an idea that sounds suspiciously like The Wizard of Oz. Then she tries this:

My family is so cool that, even though none of them watch Sci Fi, when I said someone should find me a FarScape DVD for Christmas my sister did. So I’ve watched a couple episodes (all Season 1) which is enough for me to sort of get the parody (although from youtube comments I guess it includes characters from later seasons).

Now I’ve got something else to watch as I withdraw from my nightly Stargate-before-bed fix.

I’ll leave you with one of my favorite moments from the last couple of seasons of Stargate. The alien, Vala Mal Doran (Claudia Black), has been missing for months and has returned to tell SG-1 that she has suddenly just “found herself” pregnant without doing any of the things one does to get oneself pregnant. The Airforce team (Ben Browder, Amanda Tapping and Beau Bridges) are speechless but the other alien, Teal’c (Christopher Judge), is not:

Such a Small Universe

In an earlier blog post I said that the only person I’ve ever been able to talk Stargate with, live-and-in-person, is one of my cousins. But he lives in Madison Wisconsin and I don’t see him much.   So it was nice having him in town for Thanksgiving to talk TV. (Turns out he’s also a big Farscape fan; so now I’m even more determined to find the DVDs and watch them.  And he and his wife are working their way through The Wire so we three had a nice chat about that.)

What’s a Body to Do?

Fox has taken Dollhouse off the air during sweeps month ( a bad sign if you ask me) but the production folks have still been busy.   New character “Senator Daniel Perrin” has been twittering. 

Wherein I Admit to Being a Stargate Geek

In the fifth season of Stargate SG-1 there is an episode called "Ascension" in which Air Force Major Samantha Carter is told to take a little time off.  A workaholic, Carter protests that she wouldn't know what to do with herself at home.  But the General in charge of the Stargate facility doesn't relent.  

That evening, at home, Carter's doorbell rings and she answers it to find two of her team members on her doorstep.  One is her immediate superior, Air Force Colonel Jack O'Neill (played by "MacGyver" - Richard Dean Anderson).  The other is Teal'c.