The third spin-off television series in the Stargate franchise has now hit our screens with a new take on the way Stargate stories are told. There has been a lot of criticism over the choices SyFy channel have made with this series, but now that we've seen it - is it any good?
Most of the trailers and literature I'd seen about this series prior to it airing made me worry that the newly rebranded SyFy channel had ruined a perfectly good franchise. It wasn't until the more recent theatrical trailer shown some promise that I thought that this series may be in with a chance of lasting.
The basic premise for this show centres around the ninth chevron of the Stargate; the purpose of which has remained undiscovered until now. This is the purpose of the "Icarus Project", a Stargate on another world which taps into the radioactive core of the planet has enough power to dial the ninth chevron but they had no way of calculating how much power was actually needed. It was then the idea of a Californian senators daughter that they put the problem into a computer game so that players can solve it. This is where Eli Wallace (David Blue) comes into the story as an unemployed, lazy, ex-MIT student who is capable of solving the equation but whose mother is very ill. He is visited by General Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) and Doctor Nicholas Rush (Robert Carlyle) who ask him to sign an NDA. Before he can agree to it he is beamed aboard the starship "George Hammond" (named after the character played by the late Don S. Davis who died in 2008).
Eli is the character who is there to be the comic relief for the series and is in someways a similar character to Rodney McKay in that he is a genius (and who can forget the comical banter between him and Sheppard!) but instead of being in the military or having some amazing job, he is instead someone who was previously unemployed. The purpose of this character and the many "unqualified for the job civilians" is that it brings a sense of familiarity to the audience - it allows them to picture themselves in that situation easier so they can identify with the characters. This does lead us on to what has been the problem for most people though - the average age of the cast members is around 25 which combined with the fact it's on a ship billions of light years from home earned in the nickname of "Stargate Voyager 90210" (also referring to the Star Trek: Voyager series that had a similar plot line).
So, following on with a basic outline we soon see that their first attempt at dialling the ninth chevron fail leading some of the people there to believe it's not going to work and is a waste of resources. Whilst relaxing over dinner in the Officers' Mess the base comes under attack by an unidentified faction using Goa'uld Ha'tak ships (and from the looks of it also a couple of Al'kesh ships amongst the gliders). The "gate operator" is ordered to dial Earth, but before he can finish Rush interrupts him after Eli figures out that the point of origin should have been Earth instead of the planet they are on. This new attempt works and they manage to evacuate the base before the planets core explodes taking the attacking Goa'uld ships with it. Up until this point you don't really see much chemistry between the different characters, the only ones who are interesting up until this point are Rush and Eli as the main focus is on them getting the Stargate working.
On the other side of the gate we see them aboard the Destiny, an unmanned spaceship built by the Ancients to explore the far reaches of our Universe. This is actually the first thing we see in the episode as everything that leads up to how they got there is seen through flashbacks dotted throughout the pilot episode. It didn't bother me too much, but one friend commented that it was distracting.
There were other problems with the episode too - Earth ships now have very powerful weapons using Asgard technology so should easily have been able to fight off those Goa'uld ships and defend the planet. Of course though that wouldn't have given them a reason to force the wrong people into the wrong place at the wrong time.
Getting back to the story, they soon learn about their circumstances and most of the new crew are eager to find a way to get the Stargate running so they can return home, however they are going faster than light and are getting ever further away from their home. Just as when the Atlantis expedition reached the Ancient's city, they have the same problem here with little power, no water, and a rapidly disappearing air supply. They sound out teams of three to scour the city to see what they can find and before long they find some shuttles, one of which is badly damaged and leaking air. A quick check of the shuttle shows that the door can only be closed from the inside and was most likely jammed open so someone could escape (though later they say it was unmanned). It's obvious someone will have to sacrifice themselves to save what air they have left so hopefully they can survive long enough to find a way to restore the badly damaged CO2 scrubbers.
Rush understands this necessity but Chloe Armstrong (Elyse Levesque) disagrees as asks for a list of the crew so he can determine who to send. His explanation to her is that politicians often send soldiers into war to sacrifice themselves for the many, but I think his explanation did seem to suggest he thought it should be her injured father (the politician). As expected he does sacrifice himself and they are bought an extra day of hour to find a solution to their problems.
By this time Colonel Everett Young (Justin Louis) has started to recover from his head injury and discovers that there could be a way to dial the gate back to Earth. As he starts to dial however an alarm goes off on Rush's console and he rushes to intercede. He explains that they don't have enough power and that an attempt will only drain more of what little they do have. Before they can cancel the dial their FTL drive disengages and Rush predicts the Stargate will dial out - which it does.
Noticing that they seem to have only 12 hours before the ship's FTL drive starts back up they prepare themselves for an away mission to the planet in search of supplies.
Overall I wasn't amazed by the series, nor was I overly disappointed. I think it will be a few more episodes before I decide whether I will be watching this series but I am starting to see a few hints that it does actually have some potential. For a pilot episode I would have liked it to have left a lasting impression with me eager to see more, unfortunately that was not entirely the case. Regardless, I would recommend at least checking out the first episode as it's currently free to watch in the US on Hulu.
UPDATE: After seeing the third and final part of the first episode titled Air, I'm starting to find some more confidence in this series and can say that it does offer some potential albeit with the same predictability (come on it was obvious someone was going to try one of those other addresses and that they'd get back to the gate at the very last minute). It was nice to see a planet that did not resemble a Canadian forest though.
UPDATE 07/12/2009: The first ten episodes have now finished airing and it's been a bit of a mixed bag, but the majority of the characters have no real substance with the exception of Rush whom is showing potential. I will of course give the second half of the season a try when it starts back in the new year but it worries me that this series may run the franchise into the ground.
