I know there doesn't seem to be a big sci-fi following here, but I figure I might as well start a thread on SGU being I'll be watching and will probably want to comment (to myself) now and again.
I just finished watching all of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis (epic 6 month long Netflix marathon) and although I do not have very high hopes for the series, it is a continuation of the Stargate franchise and thus I feel an obligation to give it a shot.
The early word on the street is that it is going to have a darker feel to it and in some ways mimic the deep character development of Battlestar Galactica. Hopefully they can bring the best of what I loved about the early years of Stargate SG-1 along with a gritter feel and new original story arcs.
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl5AOJatwYg]YouTube - SyFy Stargate Universe http://teaser-trailer.com[/url]
[QUOTE][B]Stargate Universe[/B] will be set on the Ancient ship Destiny, which was part of an Ancient experiment to seed the galaxies with Stargates millions of years ago. While a first ship was sent to seed the galaxies with Stargates, the Destiny was to follow a pre-programmed mission to explore these galaxies until the Ancients ascended and left the ship unmanned. In order to reach this ship, an address would have to be dialed consisting of nine chevrons, a possibility that had been unknown in the previous Stargate series.
The series begins when a team of soldiers and scientists from present-day Earth step through the Stargate to find the Destiny after their base is attacked. They are unable to maneuver the ship or even return to Earth, but they can use the Stargate to visit planets when the Destiny comes into the range of another Stargate and stops for brief periods of time. Life support including air supply is also a problem at first. There will be three major deaths in the pilot episode and one suicide by episode six. The writers have discussed the possibility that each season represents a voyage of the Destiny through a different galaxy.
Stargate Universe is written to appeal to both veteran fans and newcomers. It will be firmly entrenched in pre-established Stargate mythology without relying on it too often. Although it will still have the familiar Stargate themes of adventure and exploration, the show will focus mostly on the people aboard the ship. SGU will be more serialized than its predecessors, but the writers attempt to resolve each character story within the episode. There is a conscious effort to avoid making SGU too serialized, and the serialization will mainly stem from character development. The industry describes the show with the buzz words "dark and edgy". According to Robert C. Cooper, the essence of the story is "that sort of fear and terror of a tragedy combined with the sense that there is hope for us in the basic ways in which human beings survive". The increased levels of drama will still be balanced with humor to avoid pretentiousness. The differences between good and evil will be less apparent, as the ship will be populated with flawed and unprepared characters who were not supposed to go here. According to Brad Wright, the show will "hopefully explore the truly alien, and avoid the rubber faced English-speaking one". There will be aliens, but not a single dominant villain race like SG-1's Goa'uld and Atlantis' Wraith.
[[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_Universe"]wikipedia[/URL]][/QUOTE][B]
Cast[/B]
Robert Carlyle - Dr. Nicholas Rush
Justin Louis - Everett Young
Brian J. Smith - Matthew Scott
Elyse Levesque - Chloe Armstrong
David Blue - Eli Wallace
Alaina Huffman - Tamara Johansen
Jamil Walker Smith - Ronald Greer
Patrick Gilmore - Dale Volker
Julia Anderson - Vanessa James
Peter Kelamis - Adam Brody
Jennifer Spence - Lisa Park
Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman - Darren Becker
Ming-Na - Camile Wray
Lou Diamond Phillips - Colonel David Telford
SGU will debut on October 2, 2009 (Friday at 9 PM)[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_Universe#cite_note-syfyairdates-2"][/URL] as a two-hour movie and then begin regular weekly airings on Syfy.