SGU: Stargate Universe

SGU: Stargate Universe
[DVD SGU]

I'll have to admit, I was much more a fan of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis than I was of this 3rd Stargate spinoff series - both of those earlier shows, while serious much of the time, had a lot of innate humor in the dialog and character relationships. Stargate Universe, in comparison, was dark, dour and generally humorless -- taking its stylistic cues from the SyFy network's other hit serious of the time, Battlestar Galactica, which focused on gritty realism and ultra dark storylines. SGU, in a nutshell, finds a group of military, scientific and civilians thrust through a wormhole into another galaxy, where they are trapped aboard an ancient, poorly functioning starship with very little hope of returning to our known space. The stories involved intense character conflict and drama. Despite the unrelenting darkness and essential lack of humor, I still recommend this series mainly for the cast, who were uniformly excellent, particularly Robert Carlyle as Dr. Nicholas Rush (who's the best thing on the show!), Justin Lewis as Colonel Everett Young, David Blue as nerdy young genius Eli Wallace and Elyse Levesque as Chloe Armstrong. Definitely different in tone than any other Stargate product, but worth sticking through to the end of the second season. My only major complaint -- the producers, knowing that the chances of being renewed for a 3rd season were unlikely, none-the-less ended the series on a major cliffhanger. [If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the original Stargate movie (not currently available on DVD from the libraries), Stargate SG-1 (10 seasons), Stargate Atlantis (5 seasons), Battlestar Galactica (the newer 2000s version, not the 1979 series).] -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library [Subscribe to Scott's monthly booklist newsletter It's All Geek to Me! - on the Books, Movies & More newsletter sign-up page].

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this series ] | [ official Stargate web site from MGM ]

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