Sgu Stargate Universe: Complete Final Season [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

Getting interesting when it was canceled

Rush is a great character but would have been better if at least one of the original SG series we’re on board, like Danial Jackson

It is a shame to see this excellent series go the same way as Firefly, V and many other science fiction TV programmes; it is less of a comment on the quality of SGU than an indictment of both the bean-counter mentality of the networks and a woeful lack of imagination on the part of American audiences who seem to crave nothing more than flash-bang special effects and shallow, easily digested gloop. As I stated in my review of the first season, SGU is very different from good old SG1 and is all together more grown up; SG1 was witty, light and fun while SGU is dark, grim, atmospheric, less episodic and, on the whole, more plausible (if you obviously put aside for a moment the entire silliness of the whole thing).SGU season two carries on where season one left off, with continued tension between the `original' crew of civilians & military from Icarus base and the Lucian alliance interlopers, who are as unwilling to be integrated into the crew as the existing crew are to have them integrate - there are clear Voyager parallels with the Maquis but SGU's handling of the situation is far more believable. The focus throughout the season is the development of the mythology, characters and plots and these are always in the forefront even on the occasional `away mission' episodes. The ultimate mission of the Destiny vessel has worrying undertones of the later BSG seasons but thankfully we don't start hearing Dylan tunes and it doesn't get mired in quasi-religious mumbo-jumbo. The improbable communication stones body-swap thing still doesn't work very well but it does relieve the claustrophobia and allow for additional characters and plot devices.As is often the case with TV shows, there are a few weaker episodes but these can be forgiven; the characters and taut plot carry the viewer along in a most enjoyable `lets just watch another one' rush. However, three episodes from the end, things run out of steam a bit with a mostly pointless and lack-lustre episode; I suspect this is point where the cast, crew and writers were told that services would not be required for a further season. Thereafter you could be forgiven for expecting a couple of cracking episodes tying up loose ends towards a satisfying finale but you'd be wrong. The ending isn't bad, it just left us feeling disappointed and a little deflated.We've gobbled this season up altogether too quickly but we will undoubtedly re-watch both seasons. It is a shame this excellent show has been cancelled, but future series' may have become a bit `samey', so perhaps, as Mr. Taylor says, "It's better to burn out than to fade away".

I love all things stargate, there are episodes I don't like or find less interesting than others as with any show. I first watched all of SGU when they aired and wasn't the biggest fan when compared to the originals, but now have come back to them I love them even more and can appreciate the divergence away from the original series! I wish they had continued but I'll have to settle for what we have.

Following an impressive first season, Stargate Universe came back and packed as much plot and action into its second season as other shows managed in an entire series, and still they cancel it? Unbelievable! Still, the good news is that the writing team knew it was coming before the final episode and managed to write a season finale that works well as a final episode and also as a cliffhanger, should some more intelligent TV network decide at some point to bring it back.I'm a Stargate fan from the start, so I loved SG-1 and Atlantis, and whilst they were fun, largely action-based series and the best at what they did, SG-U was done with a serious attempt at exploring human drama within a situation that Star Trek Voyager, for example, never made work. These people were the wrong people, in the wrong place, unable to get home. They experienced problems grounded in reality, and when they met aliens these were an attempt at true aliens, not humans or people in rubber masks with human attributes. Some Stargate fans will flame this series just because it broke the cozy formula they were used to, and their responses are predictable and groundless (e.g. "no characterisation", when that is the main selling point here). They were glad to see it fail so they could blame it for "killing off the franchise" (work that one out!), and their reviews smack of being vindictive, but there are always a few, aren't there?This season you really get to know the characters better, even the lesser known ones such as Park and Volker and there are moments of tension, humour and even some quite upsetting moments, which have real emotional impact. Even after 15 series of the other Stargates, the writers were able to think up situations and ideas that hadn't been done before. Oh, and they managed to get McKay and Woolsey into an episode, which was a nice nod to the Atlantis fans. It's a real annoyance to me that - for now at least - this is where the gates stop dialling.