Stargate Universe has not lived up to my expectations and at my end of year review of how I’ve been spending my time, I decided SGU just wasn’t something I wanted to invest my time in. Although I really enjoyed Dr. Rush and Eli, not a single other character on the series has caught my attention and made me like them despite the little I know about them. ("Like" being like as a character with promise, not like as in I want to be their friends!)

The thing is, I love Chuck, Eureka, and Warehouse 13 and unless I suddenly start to hear great things about Stargate Universe, they’ll have to be enough to keep me occupied.

If you’ve missed an episode, catch up. I have no proof, but I have a feeling that this show is going to rely heavily on previous episodes as each new episode airs. One of the things I always appreciated about Stargate SG-1, and even Stargate Atlantis, was the tendency of the show to revisit previous arcs even though many episodes were stand-alone fare.

I’m hoping we’ll get to see some stand-alone episodes of Stargate Universe, but I am looking forward to the more complexly woven storylines I believe we’ll be seeing.

What about you?

There’s also going to be a live chat with Stargate: Universe’s Lou Diamond Phillips and executive producer Brad Wright on Thursday at FANCAST. Can’t wait!

Are you as excited about the upcoming premiere as I am? I can handle the evolution of the Stargate series as a whole, but I do so hope the show is just enough like the others to keep me interested over the long haul!

I’ve just seen the images for the new gate that’ll be in Stargate Universe and immediately was struck by the continuation of a “bug” in the design that’s bothered me for years.

Why isn’t the floor demolished when the stargate kawooshes?

In fact, how can the gate form a wormhole at all if the wormhole is supposed to appear in the circle of the gate?

In Stargate Atlantis, I first noticed the introduction of a gate that was sunk into the floor of the gate room. Pictures of the gate in Stargate Universe show that that particular design element is still in place.

See the pictures below?

Take a look at the floor. The second image shows what I’m talking about better than the first, but they both show the floor piece that’s in the way of a clean wormhole formation.

Wouldn’t that little piece of floor disappear the very first time the gate formed a wormhole? In fact, wouldn’t most of the walkway be destroyed since it’s apparent the walkway is above the bottom edge of the forming wormhole? Seriously… This has bugged me for years. They need to do away with the sunken gate, because it makes no sense!

What do you think?

**The originals are on Joseph Mallozzi’s blog where you can see them at their full size. This link is to the main page, where you’ll need to click through the images to get beautiful, full size images.

Highlights of “Stargate to appear at Comic-Con 2009”

• The cast of SGU: Stargate Universe will be at Comic-Con on Friday, July 24th (tomorrow!) at 10:30 am in Ballroom 20
• You can meet up with cast members Robert Carlyle, Brian J. Smith, Elyse Levesque, David Blue, Alaina Huffman, Jamil Walker Smith and Ming-Na
• You can meet series co-creators Brad Wright and Robert Cooper
• You’ll get a first look at Stargate Universe show footage
• You might get some autographs
• There’ll be a Stargate booth (#4319) with exclusive SGU content, giveaways, and special prizes

The article “Stargate to appear at Comic-Con 2009” can be found using this link to the news item at stargate.mgm.com.

Debuting at San Diego Comic-Con 2009, this Stargate Universe adult t-shirt is available for a limited time only! Highlighting the much anticipated new show, the center of the black t-shirt has "SGU: Stargate Universe" printed inside a Stargate. Below the Stargate, "Comic-Con 2009" is listed amid rows of scrolling text of planet names, ending on the last line, "Where will destiny take you?". Buy your shirt today–you won’t be able to buy this shirt after 8/21/09! Available in adult sizes.

One thing I especially liked is that this can be gift-boxed and shipped in the U.S. and internationally. So I can give them to my friends!

And of course, “destiny” is the name of the ancient ship everyone is stuck on in Stargate Universe.

Get the Stargate Comic-Con 2009 t-shirt at MGMStore.com

I wrote “Will Stargate Universe stay true to Stargate as we know it?” a while back and in it I quoted Joseph Mallozzi as saying “there will still be plenty of opportunities for humor and the series will be firmly rooted in established Stargate mythology.” That humor is essential to my enjoyment of the series.

I love science fiction, but I have a pattern of abandoning shows that don’t show a lighthearted side often enough to keep the show from being a dark morass of emotion and anxiety (The Sarah Conner Chronicles, Deep Space Nine).

Battlestar Galactica is one of the few dramatic sci-fi series that has ever held my attention to the end, and likely the only reason I stayed with it was because of the overly long breaks and the knowledge that it had a set end date coming up at the end of season four.

Here are what I consider the most important parts about Stargate Universe from a recent interview with Michael Shanks posted by Sci Fi Wire. If you’re interested in more that just the bits about SGU, follow the link to read the entire interview.

…it’s obviously a very different show than the previous Stargates. There are some darker elements to it. It’s visually stunning. Great cast. And I really look forward not only to seeing it [completed, with finished visual effects], but also the audience’s reaction to it. It’s not your father’s Stargate. It’s a very different kind of show. “It won’t be quiet on the bulletin boards” is the best way to put it.

Followed by the news that Shanks has a cameo in the two-hour premiere in October on SCI FI.

It’s a cameo. It’s a popping in, popping out kind of thing. They’ve got a lot of cast that they definitely need to facilitate. Certainly the Stargate audience knows my character and Richard’s character and Amanda’s character and the others that show up very well. So they have to spend some time developing their world and fleshing out their characters. So I’m just a face.

He (Daniel Jackson) apparently won’t be back in season one of SGU, but I don’t see how that would work out anyway. If the ship does as all reports indicate, there’ll be no opportunity for beloved characters to appear in the series, unless they’re on Earth, while the new crew is not.

Do you think it would be a good idea to find a way to work in beloved characters from previous Stargate series into Stargate Universe?

His answer excited me.

Given the premise of the series, it will be darker and more serialized than SG-1 or Atlantis. That said, there will still be plenty of opportunities for humor and the series will be firmly rooted in established Stargate mythology. Yes, the series will focus on survival, but it will also focus on exploration and adventure – and, by extension, the occasional alien encounter as well.

I feel a huge amount of relief to know that the humor I so love the Stargate series for is still going to be around, even though they’ve attempted to update the series for a younger audience. I hate to tell them, but as a representative of the fans of Stargate, I’m not getting any younger but I am ready for something fresh and new, but which stays true to established Stargate mythology. Maybe they’ll stay away from the ascended beings for a while, though. That’s still one of my most hated plot directions Stargate SG-1 ever took.

Personally, I can already see the modernization attempts in the new font they’re using for the logo. Very clean, very cool, and I love it.

I do have hopes that Stargate Universe will stay true to Stargate as I know it, but I also can’t wait to see what new things the writers, producers, directors, and characters will bring to the show.

What hopes do you have?

Here it is, the much too dark trailer.