Stargate Universe: The Beginning of the End
By Angela Roberts
March 9, 2011
Since Tuesday night marked the return of Stargate Universe to our TV screens, I thought it would be a good time to address this excellent series and its unfortunate imminent demise. Yes, this was the first of the last ten episodes of SGU to air before its way-before-its-time series finale. SGU was the second Stargate spin-off and the shortest-lived, barely making it one-and-a-half seasons before SyFy Channel gave it the axe. Predecessor Stargate Atlantis made it five seasons. Kind of sad when one considers that the original show, Stargate SG-1, made it ten. But Stargate has had a troubled run. It’s an expensive show to produce, and SyFy has a notoriously wavering commitment to good, compelling, dramatic SF (Caprica, anyone? I mean, I got a little bored with it, but I can still admit that Caprica was at least trying to make a more elevated genre drama than the usual dreck you find on SyFy and even Space. Seen Scorpion King 2? So bad they couldn’t even get The Rock to star in it. – end side note). And Stargate Universe is good, compelling, dramatic SF. So, of course, to the TV Powers That Be, that must mean it must die.
SGU isn’t Stargate as it was known and loved by millions of fans. That’s true. Yes, it’s sort of the Voyager of the Stargate franchise, but unlike that show, it took the concept, it took the franchise, and it evolved it. Voyager was still just Star Trek lost in space; the look was the same, the characters behaved about the same, and really, by the time the writers decided that it should be different, it was too late; not enough people cared and those who stuck around were just offended by the cheap attempts to curry favour with outsiders (Seven of Nine!). SGU decided it was time to shake things up; new design, new relationships, new characters, new opening credits. Apparently, the trend is towards short credits. That’s cool. No more lengthy theme songs. The show became darker to fit its bleaker subject matter. The lighting was dark, the characters more mussed up (even in Atlantis everybody seems to have a good laundry service – here not so much), people (get ready, this is a biggie) paired up, had sex, formed bitter rivalries, wept over failures. I can see how this could turn off the more diehard fans, and maybe that contributed to the show’s cancellation. But mostly I think the execs at SyFy are no-talent dicks. Stargate fans are some of the most devoted and vocal geeks in fandom. They wear full costumes at cons, form ‘honour guards’ for stars; they even brought a character back (two actually) to the show by the force of their letter-writing. Along with X-files fans, they practically invented online fan fiction. And people certainly seemed to like the show and its endearing cast; the line to see David Blue (Eli) was massive at Fan Expo last year. The man has a solid fan base for life; no other job would ever do that for him.
Really, it was poor scheduling that did it. The hiatus between halves of seasons was much too long; when the network starts releasing your seasons in halves, trust me, the hiatus is too long. Syfy also moved the show from Friday to Tuesday in its second season, causing a decline in ratings. Space, it should be noted, kept it in the Friday timeslot. But they’ve been more supportive in general. The move meant the show was up against some much more difficult competition from other networks, and it won’t improve, as they’ve moved it again to Mondays.
The theory is that, with enough advance notice, the writers will have time to tie up loose ends. Certainly, some of that was done in tonight’s episode. I’m not saying what; if you didn’t see it, go to Spacecast.com or SyFy.com and watch it. Because that’s the only way you can honour this awesome show, by watching. Do a Firefly on it; watch the shows, buy the DVDs, make it a sensation after it’s gone. Because it just might be the end of one of the longest-running SF franchises on TV. And the good drama isn’t getting a fair shake in North America. Remember Scorpion King 2. Now go watch SGU.