Stargate Universe Season 1 Review

I was a massive fan of Stargate Atlantis so when I got asked if I wanted to review the first season of the latest in the Stargate franchise, Stargate Universe, i jumped at the chance.

The producers of the show obviously thought the second spin off to the highly successful TV series (which itself spawned from the movie, Stargate which was directed by Roland Emmerich and starred Kurt Russell) needed an actor with some heavyweight calibre and brought seasoned British actor, Robert Carlyle on board. Carlyle has starred in many big movies such as Trainspotting, 28 Weeks Later, The World Is Not Enough and more recently in a TV movie episode of 24, Redemption.

The supporting cast includes Louis Ferreira, Brian J. Smith Elyse Levesque, David Blue, Alaina Huffman, Jamil Walker Smith and Ming-Na. In Stargate Universe we see a mission to a planet go wrong and the cast of the show ending up using the gate to dial a ninth symbol which leads to an unknown destination. That destination turns out to be Destiny, a spaceship that was built by ‘The Acients’ hundreds of thousands of years, if not millions of years ago and has been travelling at light speed away from Earth since that time. Unfortunately for the crew, the ship doesn’t have enough power for the gate to dial back to Earth and they find themselves stranded on the ship with seemingly no way to get home.

The difference with Universe compared to Atlantis is the way in which the series is scripted. It’s not so much about the journey of discovery, finding new races etc, it’s about the struggle for those stranded to get home. Season 1 is very much a season which sets the scene, gives us some character development as we learn about each of the back stories relating to that character.

The writers of the show have also found a way which we can include Earth in the story by using ‘telepathy stones’ to communicate with Earth. These stones allow the person using them to take over a body back on Earth allowing them to interact.

I am very much enjoying Stargate Universe but I am finding rather a few similarities with Star Trek: Voyager who found themselves in a very similar predicament to the situation that the writers of Stargate Universe have created. As I said, season one is very much setting the scene for where this series can go.

If you’re a fan of the original Stargate series,  Stargate Atlantis or have never seen them before but like a good sci fi series, then I think Stargate Universe is well worth checking out.

Stargate Universe is available to buy on DVD & Blu ray now.

Below is an interview with Robert Carlyle which gives us a bit more information on the series and why he joined.