Stargate Universe (Spoilers)

[Slothy]

Bah, the Ori weren't that bad. At least they brought in Morena Baccarin which is cool.

Anyway, I did watch the Universe premiere over the weekend and I liked it more than you seemed to Skyblade. It's a solid premise for a show as long as they avoid the Voyager trap and my only real gripe was that it was a bit too similar to the beginning of Atlantis.

I like the dynamic brewing on board where things are barely being held together by the Colonel at the moment, with no one trusting Rush (and for good reason). They seem to be laying the ground for tensions to really start to build very quickly. I also like that many of them have little to no experience with being off world just because we've had two series filled with people who are professionals and have done this for years. As hard as the situation on Universe would be for them, it should be even harder for these guys and seeing them try to cope has a lot of potential. The biggest problems I see for this show are differentiating itself from Voyager and Battlestar Galactica, and since they'll be traveling through numerous galaxies, the lack of a main villain to give the show focus. The premise isn't new and they could easily run the risk of ending up a little too close to Voyager or Galactica depending on which way they go. Hopefully they can keep the keep the things that make Stargate great while also finding their own voice for the show.

Also, the cast isn't really as young as you thought, though I agree they seem young. I'm guessing you forgot about Ming-Na who is a regular and in her 40's. Hell, the guy who plays Eli is actually thirty though he doesn't really look it. Only one is actually under 25. I didn't really get the vibe of them trying to cast it young so it would be edgy and sexy (sex scene near the beginning aside). It just wouldn't make much sense to have inexperienced lieutenants and staff sergeants in their 40's. If you're going to go with inexperienced characters in this kind of setting you're pretty much stuck with 20 something military personnel or civilians.