"Stargate Universe" Revealed (Spoilers)

[JME2]

Ninth Chevron...Locked!

Hmm...Well, after almost a year of teasing, the basic premise and purpose of Chevron # 9 has been revealed...don't quite know what to think just now. This could either prove interesting or get old very fast.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

So...from what I can put together, it's basically like a fusion of SG-1 and Atlantis, with a little of Star Trek on a intergalactic scale thrown in?

I guess it has the potential to work. There hasn't been a solid frontier space exploration show for quite a while. And it would allow them to get away from the whole Ancients thing that ended up dominating both shows...

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

Interesting. I'll give it a fair chance, but I can't say I'm very optimistic. I loved SG-1 because... it's SG-1. The universe it's set in, and thus the universe of any spin-offs like Atlantis and now Universe are only of secondary interest to me, if that. I like watching O'Neill, Carter, Jackson, and Teal'c go on crazy adventures and fight the Goa'uld. Significant deviation from that has to be really good to really catch my attention.

So, in other words, I'll probably watch the first season (if/when it comes out) and give it a fair appraisal, but I don't exactly have very high hopes.

[Netko]

If I recall correctly, there's been some talk about Daniel being in this one. Carter and O'Neill (both actors are done with being main characters) are potential guest stars as always if they don't cut the explorers off from contact. Teal'c is problematic because his character was simply tied to the whole Goauld plot and now that that is gone I don't really see a point of trying to fit him in into the new shows (his guest role on Atlantis was.... poor).

Anyway, even if they don't want to run it concurrently with Atlantis, I don't see Atlantis as a particularly long lived series at this point. The last season was weak and there is a serious problem of having undeveloped characters around (Ronin, Tayla) that is probably too late to fix now, even if they knew how (which they apparently do not). So I wouldn't be surprised if the next season of Atlantis was the last one, attempting to end it at a relatively high point and replacing it with this new series. It gives them a pretty good opening - at that time there probably won't be any other sci-fi space operas around (with Galactica sadly being the only one right now and that is shutting down this season), and when Star Wars steps onto the scene with the live action show they will have radically different themes.

So, cautiously optimistic on this one, although I would really love it if they went back and saw what worked in the early SG-1 seasons and tried to get some of that into the new series rather then the relatively bland storylines that are going on in Atlantis and SG-1 now.

[CaptainChewbacca]

I give it an 80% chance of 'not suck'. WIll look forward to seeing more.

[Vertigo1]

Like with Galactica, I'll give it a fair shot. I just hope they have a different writing team than the one currently writing for Atlantis.

[Ford Prefect]

I just hope they have a different writing team than the one currently writing for Atlantis.

Yes, a new writing team please.

[Havok]

So is this going to be like Stargate: The Next Generation or Stargate: Voyager?

[JME2]

So is this going to be like Stargate: The Next Generation or Stargate: Voyager?

Hopefully not VGR; they've already played out the cut-off-from-home angle more than enough throughout SGA.

[Ford Prefect]

If it is, I hope they decide to take into account the importance of keeping a track of resources and damage to their ship. Stargate is pretty pedantic about continuity, usually, which means that it's already one step ahead of Trek, but we'll just have to wait and see.

[PREDATOR490]

This entire concept seems stupid to me and a major waste of time.
Putting aside the fact this has the makings of being a Star Trek rip off, I dont see how they can effectively create a new series based on how far the previous series have progressed.

The previous two series have all had a link to the Ancients but if I understand the premise of this one correctly, this is going to be some sort of 'new frontier'.
Stargate has always been rather languid with it's arcs with lots of fillers but having an entire SERIES based on that kind of attitude like TNG or VOY is going to be boring as fuck. Giving the writers a little credit over VOY dosent help much when this series ends up being a clone of Atlantis as a result.
I dont see the budget being available to keep Atlantis, SG-1 sets + actors around and using it in such a manner is only going to end up with low budget filler episodes. Hence, the very likely reality it will be an isolated ship like Atlantis was. Now, for our 'menacing arc villain' the writers will bring in some race they encounter, like the Wraith.
Finally, add in an ancient ship that will have all kinds of 'labs' and funky technocrap systems that cause problems for our 'disaster' fillers and you get - ATLANTIS.

I really hope the writers dont decide to fall into old habits by bringing in the Asurans, Replicators or Ancients (Ascended or otherwise). If this is supposed to be a series that goes where no Ancient has gone before then who are these explorers going to meet anyway ?
They cant be meeting humans every episode because no Goauld are around to spread humans as slaves or Ancients to 'seed' Atlantis populations this time. Additionally, I suspect any 'villans' we meet are going to be brought in as a credible threat which would require some decent technology.

I will wait for this new series to appear before I start getting hopes up about it being decent. Unless the writers want to pull off an epic premise like this ancient ship jumping into the Star Trek galaxy or Star Wars, I dont see it being much more than fillers, rehashes and flashier effects.

[Vertigo1]

Another thing, I really hope they don't start playing the "super advanced race that can make super cool shit, but are total dipshits when it comes to tactical know-how" card they kept playing with the ancients and the asgard. I'm sorry, but that got really fucking annoying a LONG LONG LONG LONG LONG time ago. Just ONCE I'd like to see an enemy (or friend for that matter) that can kick ass, take names, and NOT fall for a trick a school child would know to avoid.

[NecronLord]

Another thing, I really hope they don't start playing the "super advanced race that can make super cool shit, but are total dipshits when it comes to tactical know-how" card they kept playing with the ancients and the asgard. I'm sorry, but that got really fucking annoying a LONG LONG LONG LONG LONG time ago. Just ONCE I'd like to see an enemy (or friend for that matter) that can kick ass, take names, and NOT fall for a trick a school child would know to avoid.

We've already had that race. They were called Asurans.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

Don't forget Ba'al. True, though, it's been pretty rare to have villains worth even a shred of respect in Stargate. The best ones, in fact, are arguably not even all that villainous - Todd, for example, and even Ba'al has worked with SG-1 a number of times.

[Stargate Nerd]

Sounds pretty good, although I would have preferred a new series set in the future after the Stargate program has been revealed. Possibly with a villainous United Earth Government waging a war to bring all human worlds in the Milky Way and possibly the Pegasus under it's rule. The Odyssey and the Asgard core could have been destroyed in the tumult right after going public, so Earth has lost most of the advanced Asgard tech and has to rely on what they have already scavenged from the core and the Goa'uld tech.

[Jon]

You'd have hoped they might have learned what too many dreadful spin offs did to the Star Trek franchise... this sounds awful.

[Oskuro]

The 9th chevron links to an explorer ship? Wow, thats..... underwhelming.

[NecronLord]

The 9th chevron links to an explorer ship? Wow, thats..... underwhelming.

I would have assumed that it was another distance calculation.

[Zac Naloen]

The 9th chevron links to an explorer ship? Wow, thats..... underwhelming.

I would have assumed that it was another distance calculation.

Well we don't know where this explorer ship is.

It could still be that the ninth chevron is a distance calculation.

We already know that only certain DHD's in a galaxy can dial beyond seven. The one compatible with the 9th in that galaxy may well be on this explorer ship.

[Themightytom]

The 9th chevron links to an explorer ship? Wow, thats..... underwhelming.

I would have assumed that it was another distance calculation.

Well we don't know where this explorer ship is.

It could still be that the ninth chevron is a distance calculation.

We already know that only certain DHD's in a galaxy can dial beyond seven. The one compatible with the 9th in that galaxy may well be on this explorer ship.

My understanding ws taht not every stargate could dial the eigth chevron because they would need a ZPM. have they ever said that some stargates can't use the eigth chevron either way? I feel like its a waste of effort to build a chevron that doesn't work which is why I am pretty sure taht the gate in the SGC can dial chevron 9 because... It has a Chevron 9.

That said, i think this premise is weak. I agree that the purpose of the 9th chevron is underwhelming. it seems completely unneccesary to me anyway, why explore other galaxies when theres so much left in the known galaxies to figure out, has anyone ben to Ida lately?

With hindsight I wish theyd gone with the "Stargate Command" pitch for rebooting the SG-1 series, that would hve been more of what I want to see.

[SilverWingedSeraph]

My understanding ws taht not every stargate could dial the eigth chevron because they would need a ZPM. have they ever said that some stargates can't use the eigth chevron either way? I feel like its a waste of effort to build a chevron that doesn't work which is why I am pretty sure taht the gate in the SGC can dial chevron 9 because... It has a Chevron 9.

I'm pretty sure all the Stargates in the Milky Way Galaxy can dial the eighth chevron as long as they have the necessary power source, but it has been established in Stargate Atlantis, I believe, that the Atlantis gate is the only one in the Pegasus Galaxy that can dial Earth, and presumably, the rest of the Milky Way Galaxy, or any other galaxy. I may be wrong, though.

[Zac Naloen]

My understanding ws taht not every stargate could dial the eigth chevron because they would need a ZPM. have they ever said that some stargates can't use the eigth chevron either way? I feel like its a waste of effort to build a chevron that doesn't work which is why I am pretty sure taht the gate in the SGC can dial chevron 9 because... It has a Chevron 9.

I'm pretty sure all the Stargates in the Milky Way Galaxy can dial the eighth chevron as long as they have the necessary power source, but it has been established in Stargate Atlantis, I believe, that the Atlantis gate is the only one in the Pegasus Galaxy that can dial Earth, and presumably, the rest of the Milky Way Galaxy, or any other galaxy. I may be wrong, though.

That's pretty much how i've understood the dialogue in atlantis as well.

I had assumed the same would be true of the Milky Way.

It would appear you can make other DHD's dial earth. But you need a specific dialling chip.

O'neill reprogrammed the earth DHD software to allow it to dial 8 chevrons in The Fifth Race, unless I'm misunderstanding the purpose of all that machine code.

[PREDATOR490]

The obvious question this 9th point brings up though is who they intend to connect the ship to. SGA is the only series currently running and it seemed to me they dont want to run two series at the same time so that makes it fairly apparant the 'launch' build up will come from Atlantis.
With that in mind Atlantis is the only reasonable place you would expect to be able to dial this 'magical ship'.

My understanding of this maybe flawed but is this ship supposed to be going to DISTANT galaxies via some unknown method or is it using an Ancient drive system ?
The former would logically require epic amounts of power to reach and continue operation. ZPM power which Earth has not demonstrated anywhere near the ability to replicate but the latter can already be done.
They can already send ships to other galaxies, it takes weeks but then I dont see this ship doing any less. If it can travel from galaxy to galaxy in the space of days / hours then the 'cut off' from help angle is rather lost.
If this magical ship has the ability to create it's OWN ZPM level power then I find it highly unlikely Earth would risk sending it out rather than turn it into a power production plant.

Overall, this concept sounds like they are trying keep the cash cow rolling with an off hand suggestion in a brainstorm session without much consideration of WHAT exactly this show will be about.
Of course, this has the makings of being a Voyager/Farscape kind of story in which the crew 'magically' find them on it trying to find their way home etc. With any luck, they will at least get someone like McKay or Jackson into the mix.

[Zac Naloen]

The obvious question this 9th point brings up though is who they intend to connect the ship to. SGA is the only series currently running and it seemed to me they dont want to run two series at the same time so that makes it fairly apparant the 'launch' build up will come from Atlantis.
With that in mind Atlantis is the only reasonable place you would expect to be able to dial this 'magical ship'.

My guess is that they'll find the ship in the Milky Way somewhere. But the "plans" will be found in the Atlantis Database.


It specifically states in the Link that the idea for the mission was devised "probably before they even sent the city to Pegasus" so that makes the most sense.

My understanding of this maybe flawed but is this ship supposed to be going to DISTANT galaxies via some unknown method or is it using an Ancient drive system ?
The former would logically require epic amounts of power to reach and continue operation. ZPM power which Earth has not demonstrated anywhere near the ability to replicate but the latter can already be done.
They can already send ships to other galaxies, it takes weeks but then I dont see this ship doing any less. If it can travel from galaxy to galaxy in the space of days / hours then the 'cut off' from help angle is rather lost.
If this magical ship has the ability to create it's OWN ZPM level power then I find it highly unlikely Earth would risk sending it out rather than turn it into a power production plant.

Presumably it's a ship with lots of zpm's to power it for potentially hundreds perhaps thousands of years of power. We know three ZPM's can run a shield for 10,000 years with the constant pressure of hundreds of meters of water. Get enough of these things together you have an awesome amount of power.

Keeping it for a power source takes away a chance whole idea of exploration, one of the main reasons for the Stargate show. I don't think it does make sense to keep it as a power plant. What does make sense it study it whilst they use it. They have the perfect chance to properly explore the other galaxies using a presumably powerful ship. Hopefully it doesn't sound too much like Crusade... I'm getting memories of that botched attempt at a exploration show.

Overall, this concept sounds like they are trying keep the cash cow rolling with an off hand suggestion in a brainstorm session without much consideration of WHAT exactly this show will be about.
Of course, this has the makings of being a Voyager/Farscape kind of story in which the crew 'magically' find them on it trying to find their way home etc. With any luck, they will at least get someone like McKay or Jackson into the mix.

I think cash-cow is a bit harsh.

The writers obviously enjoy writing for the show and think about it, all this particular company has ever done is stargate. They just want to keep a general pay-check coming in by doing something they know... but in a new way.

Hopefully it will be a large ship, perhaps even a early concept city ship like Atlantis. In which case they can basically send a small army of humans off into the galaxy to explore. Once there, they can dial home using the 9th chevron if need be for resupply.

An interesting concept would be if it was so large it actually had agriculture area's. In which case they could be completely self sufficient.

There's a lot of potential in the series. I just hope it has legs, which is something I think Atlantis really lacks. Although i'm actually thinking that the fault there is more the quality of the writing staff. They just seem lacking in the same quality the main SG-1 writers had.

[PREDATOR490]

If this ship has a rechargable power supply that allows it to venture to other galaxies then that makes it the equivelent of a battery for ZPM level power. Sending this ship out to explore dosent make sense when they can use this ship to power Earth's defenses or even soup up X304s engines to the kind of speed that got one from Earth to Atlantis in 3 days.

Sending out a souped up X304 would be more sensible since it is more expendable rather than a one-of-a-kind-cant-build-anymore supership.
Getting the 'plans' to such a ship dosent make any difference. The Asgard obviously had the level of power for their ships allowing travel between galaxies and yet we havent seen Atlantis mention anything about Asgard power systems being developed.
Either they lost the plans, which underlines the need to keep a unique Ancient supership for study, or they are having issues developing such power systems.

Attempting to field the idea that people like the IOA are going to let such a prize get risked on the frontline when they have been consistantly shown to be selfishly inclined against exploration dosent work. The more I think about it the more it sounds like this ship is going to pull a Voyager lost-in-space plot for the launch. Otherwise, this show is basically a copy of Crusade and that show fell hard on it's ass with it's shody premise.