SGU 1x03 - Air: Part 3
Oct. 11th, 2009 04:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
castaliaYay, alien planet! Either they found a new sand dune area to film in or they've CGIed all the building out of there and made it a big lighter than Abydos typically looks. Either way, yay, no Vancouver forest! Very good choice for their first excursion.
I really wish they hadn't brought in the body swapping stones thing. It's too convenient and really showcases how these writers have never really been able to do the "cut off from Earth" thing completely. They especially annoy me b/c of how different they are to the Ancient device we've seen on SG-1 and SGA, which they never really figured how to use safely anyway. Maybe they'll discover a downside to using them, a side effect or what have you.
Also, for some reason I had it in my head after the pilot that Telford was on the Destiny with them. Don't know why. I have mixed feelings about him so far. I didn't agree with his orders about dialing the gate every 20 minutes (wasting power) and working around the systems to find out why certain gate addresses were locked out, or with abusing Colonel Young's body while it should've been recovering. Hurrah for TJ sedating him; I think she did absolutely the right thing there. I liked her a lot in this episode, for her unapologetic attitude and taking charge as CMO.
This week in Canadian Actor Bingo: Megan from The Sentinel! Man, she's kinda stuck playing moms lately. And faking her accent this time.
Y'know, I like that I don't always side with the same characters all the time, or even can choose a side at all in some scenes. When Rush was griping about the pace, I did agree with him b/c yes, it's dumb to push yourselves too much and get too far from the gate then not be able to physically make it back. It's also dumb for the soldiers to do that without taking the civilians into consideration. Yet I enjoyed seeing Rush get kicked by Greer, b/c he was making his point while being rude and condescending. And in the end he was wrong to turn back and not try harder. Not so cut and dry and I like it.
Greer is one of my favorite characters right now, partially b/c I'm very impressed with the actor and his delivery of just about everything and partly b/c he's just the most interesting to me so far. The poor background is kind of a cliché but from how casually he dismissed Rush's attempts to psychoanalyze, I doubt that's what's driving him. I loved him going back for Scott (and damn, he went further than anyone else and was still running at the end) and forcing him up and not taking any "I can't do it" shit. I'm going to like them being on a team together. Scott tries hard and Greer is the perfect support and motivator, a really solid soldier. I was also surprised that Greer showed the same easy trust of Eli that Scott did, so early on. They may make a nice trio.
I've never seen a show invest in so much religious imagery and context yet completely avoid saying the word "God" ever. So Lt Scott got his girlfriend knocked up at 16 (and it sounds like she had an abortion, glad we didn't get any outright condemnation of that from either Scott or his foster dad) and scrapped original plans of going into the priesthood (all TV Christians are Catholic, of course. Not quite as interesting to me, but I sort of like the idea that his whole life is being lived as a sort of penance. Just wish it was for something a little more interesting than premarital sex.
The sand/water alien was cool! Playing around with Scott a little, helping him out, but never really revealing itself much. I like that. I like that this show, although very different already, still has that basic part of a Stargate show: exploring alien worlds.
Fail for getting rid of the only female character to get to do much offworld this ep without really any idea of what's happened to her or the other soldier. I hope we're not going to start losing redshirts right and left; sure, it shows the peril involved but we hadn't spent any time with those two characters so we really weren't invested in losing them. Safe choice. And it still didn't explain just why those worlds were blocked out.
I really do like Young, even though we still don't know much about him. I hope they fix that, b/c he seems like a good leader who cares a lot. We need him to balance out Rush.
Good song choice there at the end. I've been enjoying the music in general so far, even though it still reminds me of BSG at times. This one gave it a more western feel instead of Celtic, which was a nice change-up.
I liked the scene between Scott and Chloe, though I do hope they keep it platonic for a while at least. It'd be nice to see some friendships develop on the ship.
Oh yes, and hurrah for Jack having a scene! Being all serious and honest with Young and acknowledging the gravity of their situation. He's still slated for several more eps, so I guess we'll be seeing more of Homeworld Security and everything, which might be nice.
Ming-Na had pretty much nothing to do in this one. WTF, people? Why is she there if you're not going to do anything with her but show her sitting around reacting to things? More of the women in general, please. I'm not sure the show has managed to pass the Bechdel Test yet.
What the hell was that thing that broke off the ship there at the end? It looked like a small ship of some sort, or a pod, and it was shielded. Did someone abandon ship? What?
Okay, I admit it, I'm successfully hooked. I'm enjoying it.
I really wish they hadn't brought in the body swapping stones thing. It's too convenient and really showcases how these writers have never really been able to do the "cut off from Earth" thing completely. They especially annoy me b/c of how different they are to the Ancient device we've seen on SG-1 and SGA, which they never really figured how to use safely anyway. Maybe they'll discover a downside to using them, a side effect or what have you.
Also, for some reason I had it in my head after the pilot that Telford was on the Destiny with them. Don't know why. I have mixed feelings about him so far. I didn't agree with his orders about dialing the gate every 20 minutes (wasting power) and working around the systems to find out why certain gate addresses were locked out, or with abusing Colonel Young's body while it should've been recovering. Hurrah for TJ sedating him; I think she did absolutely the right thing there. I liked her a lot in this episode, for her unapologetic attitude and taking charge as CMO.
This week in Canadian Actor Bingo: Megan from The Sentinel! Man, she's kinda stuck playing moms lately. And faking her accent this time.
Y'know, I like that I don't always side with the same characters all the time, or even can choose a side at all in some scenes. When Rush was griping about the pace, I did agree with him b/c yes, it's dumb to push yourselves too much and get too far from the gate then not be able to physically make it back. It's also dumb for the soldiers to do that without taking the civilians into consideration. Yet I enjoyed seeing Rush get kicked by Greer, b/c he was making his point while being rude and condescending. And in the end he was wrong to turn back and not try harder. Not so cut and dry and I like it.
Greer is one of my favorite characters right now, partially b/c I'm very impressed with the actor and his delivery of just about everything and partly b/c he's just the most interesting to me so far. The poor background is kind of a cliché but from how casually he dismissed Rush's attempts to psychoanalyze, I doubt that's what's driving him. I loved him going back for Scott (and damn, he went further than anyone else and was still running at the end) and forcing him up and not taking any "I can't do it" shit. I'm going to like them being on a team together. Scott tries hard and Greer is the perfect support and motivator, a really solid soldier. I was also surprised that Greer showed the same easy trust of Eli that Scott did, so early on. They may make a nice trio.
I've never seen a show invest in so much religious imagery and context yet completely avoid saying the word "God" ever. So Lt Scott got his girlfriend knocked up at 16 (and it sounds like she had an abortion, glad we didn't get any outright condemnation of that from either Scott or his foster dad) and scrapped original plans of going into the priesthood (all TV Christians are Catholic, of course. Not quite as interesting to me, but I sort of like the idea that his whole life is being lived as a sort of penance. Just wish it was for something a little more interesting than premarital sex.
The sand/water alien was cool! Playing around with Scott a little, helping him out, but never really revealing itself much. I like that. I like that this show, although very different already, still has that basic part of a Stargate show: exploring alien worlds.
Fail for getting rid of the only female character to get to do much offworld this ep without really any idea of what's happened to her or the other soldier. I hope we're not going to start losing redshirts right and left; sure, it shows the peril involved but we hadn't spent any time with those two characters so we really weren't invested in losing them. Safe choice. And it still didn't explain just why those worlds were blocked out.
I really do like Young, even though we still don't know much about him. I hope they fix that, b/c he seems like a good leader who cares a lot. We need him to balance out Rush.
Good song choice there at the end. I've been enjoying the music in general so far, even though it still reminds me of BSG at times. This one gave it a more western feel instead of Celtic, which was a nice change-up.
I liked the scene between Scott and Chloe, though I do hope they keep it platonic for a while at least. It'd be nice to see some friendships develop on the ship.
Oh yes, and hurrah for Jack having a scene! Being all serious and honest with Young and acknowledging the gravity of their situation. He's still slated for several more eps, so I guess we'll be seeing more of Homeworld Security and everything, which might be nice.
Ming-Na had pretty much nothing to do in this one. WTF, people? Why is she there if you're not going to do anything with her but show her sitting around reacting to things? More of the women in general, please. I'm not sure the show has managed to pass the Bechdel Test yet.
What the hell was that thing that broke off the ship there at the end? It looked like a small ship of some sort, or a pod, and it was shielded. Did someone abandon ship? What?
Okay, I admit it, I'm successfully hooked. I'm enjoying it.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-12 02:37 am (UTC)They actually shot the desert scenes in New Mexico. It was apparently...less than pleasant.
I adore Greer, too.
I liked that they brought in the stones in part because then you have f'd up situations like Telford coming in, making bad decisions for them and misusing Young's body. I think it's going to be interesting when the Destiny is in real need of something that can only be found on Earth, and all the people on Earth can do is sit and watch.
I also love TJ, specifically because she sedated Telford. I'm looking forward to seeing what she does next and how she evolves.
I believe we'll find out what broke off from the ship in the next episode - maybe. Who knows, maybe we'll find out what happened with the soldiers who went through the Gate, too.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-12 02:51 am (UTC)I think it's going to be interesting when the Destiny is in real need of something that can only be found on Earth, and all the people on Earth can do is sit and watch.
Hm, that could be interesting. As long as they use it well I won't gripe too much.