Forbidden Panel

Wow, it's been awhile since I have posted here. Sorry my fellow bloggers. My bad.

This week I would like to talk about my addiction to SG-U.

And what an addiction it is.

When I had first heard about the original series I had my doubts. I was a big fan of the movie and thought to myself that the series would be cool. I sat down and watch the pilot episode when it had premiered on the SyFy (then Sci-Fi) channel and was disappointed. It was not all that I had thought it would be and with the cheesy and campy-ness I immediately wrote it off.

Flash forward about 10 years later. I was at the San Diego comic con heading into a Rob Zombie panel where he was going to promote his movie Halloween. As many of you Con goers know, when you go to a big panel you have to show up at least 2 or 3 panels beforehand and wait for the between panels to move forward into a better seat.

The panel we jumped into was the Stargate panel. This panel started of with SG-1 and ended with SG: Atlantis. Admittedly I sat there mocking the fans for their lack of taste and general wanna-be Star Trek nerdiness over this show.

Then something happened. The cast of Stargate: Atlantis came out and I saw Jewel Staite of Firefly and was taken aback. Woah there is one of my favorite actresses from one of my favorite (albeit short lived) TV shows. So I sat up and payed attention. They showed the trailer for the upcoming season and did the whole Q&A thing and then it was over.

I figured, OK, I'll go home and grab the first mini-movie/pilot thing and check it out.

I was hooked.

I loved the show. I ended up grabbing the entire series. I inhaled it. For 2 weeks that's all my life was. Come home from work, pop in the DVD and watch the entire thing before bed. I didn't realize just how empty my Sci-Fi needs were with the absence of Star Trek or Firefly on TV. This show filled that void.

In between season 4 and 5 I took a break and started watching SG-1. While not as great as Atlantis, SG-1 was still good. By then I was so deep with in the lore of Stargate I grew to love it as I had with Atlantis. Go Teal'C.

Oh and the episode where Teal'C and Ronan were sparring...AWESOME!!!!

Best episode is when Teal'C and Colonel O'Neil are having a groundhogs day type of day and they are caught golfing into the Stargate itself. Classic.

Anyway. It disappointed me to learn that Atlantis was not doing to well and that season 5 would be it's last. I held off for as long as I could in my complaints because it was turning out to be a really great season. I thought after the final episode that I would no longer be able to enjoy my SG fix. Even with the release of the 2 SG-1 direct to video movies I will still left wanting.

Then the announcement of SG-Universe came out. I was all giddy again. The trailer looked awesome, the cast seemed perfect, even the Star Trek Voyager type storyline was cool with me. And that's where we are today. Just watched the season 1 finale of the show and now I want to tell you all about it.

Well not necessarily the episode itself but the show. For those of you who aren't fans of SG I must implore you, take a chance. If you are like me, and are fans of shows like Buffy and Angel and Firefly (yeah yeah yeah I know they are all Whedon shows) and a fan of any of the Star Treks, then I can almost guarantee that you will enjoy all of the SG shows. If not all at least one of them. Because they are indeed good.

SG-U is slowly turning into one of my favorites though. SG-U is basically about a group of military personnel and scientists that were on a remote outpost when it gets attacked. They pop into a Stargate to escape and wind up on the ship Destiny. Destiny is an Ancient ship (you would know what this means if you watched any of the other shows!) and has been lost in space for thousands of years. The show takes you through the misadventures the new crew has while trying to not only figure out how to operate the ship, but also how to use the ship to get home.

This series takes a more dramatic turn in relation to the other shows. It dives in to more personal character driven stories while combining them with science fiction elements. It's almost soap opera-esque. I am digging it.

It's like they took aspects of Atlantis and mixed it with Voyager and gave birth to this. Where as the other shows (SG-1 & Atlantis) focused more on the military, this one tries it's best to combine both soldier and civilians as they learn to live together for a common goal.

I love the visuals, the acting, the stories and the environments. I think it has some of the coolest characters that I have seen in a while. Granted it is no where near the level of awesomeness as BSG but it does have some of the seriousness from Caprica.

I think fans of the SG series will enjoy the show and new visitors will like what they see. It is part of the SyFy networks Friday night lineup and I am sure will be on repeats through out the summer. It's a good time to catch up as we await it's return next season.