Closing Time: Stargate Universe Pt. 1

Now that Stargate Universe has gone off the air and it looks like the book is being closed on the franchise, I wanted to give some thoughts on why the show, and consequently the franchise, didn't reach its... final destiny.  I'll be reviewing the pros and cons in a 3 part series.

I. The top 3 best and worst main characters


The Best  

1. Sgt. Ronald Greer: Despite being the formulaic "strong black guy", Greer is one of the strongest I've seen of this type.  Unlike characters like Teal'c or Worf, Greer is human and is thus relatable instead of some alien novelty.  His calm exterior harbors more than just rage, or emotional turmoil, there's a fierce loyalty to his friends and the mission, while still enjoying the adrenaline rush that comes from combat.  As a military man, he's a strange composite of extremes in that he obeys most orders without question or hesitation, but if he's pushed the wrong way, he will snap rather violently and unexpectedly.  There were very few moments when I did not enjoy watching him on screen.  He shined both in the action AND dramatic scenes of the series while managing to be believable in both. 
2. Dr. Nicholas Rush: He is perhaps the most interesting and dynamic of the Stargate scientists and was always a treat to watch.  As the franchise has grown, the lead scientists have grown progressively less liked by the other characters.  Carter was a brilliant, beautiful, daring woman who could contribute to saving the day in any situation.  McKay was equally brilliant, but had a massive ego and often had to be reminded to put other needs ahead of his own.  Both characters earned a professional, and later personal, respect from their peers.  Rush on the other hand was always struggling, both personally and against the situation.  His brilliance outstriped everyone on the ship, save Eli, and his ego outdid even McKay, but it was never quite enough.   His interpersonal conflicts with the rest of the crew were appropriately funny and dramatic as needed, and the fact that this cold, logical genius couldn't crack Destiny's full control right away added to the seriousness of the situation.  In addition, his lack of humanity stemming from his wife's death would give even the abrasive Spock a chill.
3. Lt. Tamara "TJ" Johansen: Admittedly, it was a hard decision for this spot.  Eli and Camille were both great characters as well.  The reason I went with TJ was she has more facets than the other two.  Her obstacles are more numerous than just being trapped on Destiny.  She's a field medic who is stuck being the only doctor for 80+ people.  Her former lover is her commanding officer, AND she's 3rd in command for the entire crew; all of which is before the whole pregnancy thing.  Alaina Huffman is a very talented actress who plays the character well while wearing these different hats.  She has far more to her than most doctor characters do and her reactions to every situation are a believable mix of trained poise and unfamiliar stress as she deals with each one.  The only shame is that the love triangle between her, Young, and Varro wasn't developed to its full potential. 

Special mention goes to Richard Dean Anderson as Lt. General Jack O'Neill for making a flawless transition from action hero to likable desk general.  

The Worst:

1. Chloe Armstrong: The main reason I despise Chloe is because she was never a strong enough character to be part of the main cast and, as such, was on screen more often than needed.  She was such a weak character that the writers had to give her super powers in the second season so she could be on screen more often.  Most of the time,  she didn't have anything to do.  If something on the ship broke,  she couldn't help fix it.  If the ship was attacked, she was usually captured or hurt.  Most of the time, all she did was talk with Eli or sleep with Scott.  I can't tell you how bummed I was that she didn't die at the end of season 1, it would have given Scott and Eli more depth and made room for any one of many better characters.  The only time she did something useful (that wasn't a deux ex machina super save) was in Justice when she defended Young.  Sadly, this aspect of pairing her with Camille as a member of a de facto civilian government was never explored further.  Another serious drawback was the Scott/Chloe/James triangle.  I'm a little disappointed that the writers didn't realize that making Chloe "the other woman" immediately made her less likable.  I couldn't help but cringe every time she talked about how awesome her relationship with Scott was.   Alas, unlike Atlantis's Lt. Ford, Chloe's super powers made sure she stayed on the show, yet somehow didn't make her any more interesting or likable and only marginally more useful.  More importantly, the writers were slow to realizewhat a great character they had in James. 
• Lt. Vanessa James: If you're wondering what I like about James, let me spell out her situation for you.  She was having an illegal relationship with a superior officer, but his eye started getting drawn away to someone else.  She wanted to say something, but she was never clear what kind of relationship they had and doing so would involve exposing themselves publicly, which would be awkward and could invite a court martial if she ever made it back to Earth.  Plus, a lot of people already knew about the affair and whispered about it behind her back.  She should have been humiliated when Scott picked Chloe, but and maybe she was, but she kept it in check.  We saw she had fantastic "friend chemistry" with TJ, as seen in Space and Lost.  All of this is in addition to being stuck on a ship in the middle of deep space.  There's a word for all of this: interesting.   My point is, James should have been main cast, and Chloe supporting because James was a more interesting character and often had more reason to be on screen at any given time.  (On a personal note, I think Julia Benson is more attractive than Elyse Levesque, but that's just me). 
2. Lt. Matthew Scott: Most of Scott's drawbacks draw from his unbelievable handling of the Chloe/James situation.  The character was clearly meant to be a young, wholesome, sensitive, officer with a tragic, but strongly moral upbringing.  This is another case of the writers apparently not realizing what they were writing.  Let's examine Scott's life choices.  He was mostly raised by an alcoholic preacher that he apparently looked up to.  Now, I can buy that, since they never said the preacher was an angry or violent drunk, just a little irresponsible, so okay.  When Scott was in high school, he got a girl pregnant.  These things happen and he clearly felt bad about it, so I can let that go, but then he never bothered to follow up with her!  She told him she was having an abortion and he just said, 'okay,' and never saw her again until 9 years later when he found out she didn't go through with it.  Okay, he started getting into douchebag territory at this point, but at least some blame can be laid on the girl for not telling him earlier (like when he was still on Earth) and he did take some responsibility by volunteering to pay child support.  So then what happened?  He dumped the woman he was seeing for a younger one without so much as an "I think we should see other people" speech and carried on like he's the luckiest guy on the ship.  What's even weirder is the rest of the crew treated them like a happy, normal couple when most of them knew exactly what happened.  On top of all this, Brian J. Smith just didn't have the performing range for the kind of character the writers wanted.  He was watchable in military situations when the character was relying on training, but whenever he had to be really emotional, I had a real hard time buying it.  It was usually way over the top.  This character was just an douche who thinks he's a nice guy played by an actor who couldn't really do either. 
3. Col. Everett Young: I actually loved Col. Young in the opening episodes.  He made quick and usually logical command decisions, and his humorous remarks stemmed from a no-nonsense attitude rather than the laid back one we'd seen in O'Neill and Shepherd.  Like Rush, I thought he was a great leading man for the new direction of the franchise; however his character went off the rails pretty quickly.  In Earth his no hesitation attitude was suddenly replaced by a desire to make everyone happy and to put things to a vote, and then there was the rather pitiful begging at his wife's door.  In Incursion he suddenly decided to spare Telford rather than take action to stop a foothold situation.  Bear in mind, he was willing to risk killing Telford in the previous episode to find out about the attack in the first place.  Then, during early season 2, he had a drinking problem.  This was just too many incompatible flaws for one character.  His hard edges and authoritarian command style were enough of a character flaw and were more enjoyable to watch.  Episodes like Darkness, Light, Divided, Faith, Subversion, & Twin Destinies had some his best moments, while episodes like Earth, Space, Incursion, Aftermath, & Trial and Error took his character in a very poor direction that clashed with his other actions.  None of the other characters had this much fluctuation between really good and dismally bad. 

Next
Best and worst episodes...