I just watched the final episode of Stargate: Universe. Some of you may recall that I discussed the show when it debuted. Read on for my thoughts about the series as a whole.
The show got off to a shaky start, but that is not unusual. The first season focused a lot on finding supplies and figuring out how to survive aboard the Destiny. It was largely formulaic, consisting of some introductory stuff, Destiny dropping out of hyperspace, a countdown clock starting, a planetary exploration through the stargate, and some tension caused by elements either on the visited planet, aboard the Destiny, or both. Even so, the formula was played with and outright dropped by the end of the season, leading up to a pretty powerful season finale involving an invasion of Destiny by the Lucian Alliance.
The second season threw away the formula and concentrated more on the goings-on aboard the Destiny and the fallout from the fight with the Lucian Alliance. There was also some additional complications as a result of aliens encountered previously which led to much drama involving Chloe. The back half of the season concentrated on a new threat from anti-technology drones and the complications that arose from them, as well as the fallout from a failed attempt to gate to Earth using a rather complex plan involving dialing within a star which led to a rather touching arc about a civilization descended from quantum copies of the Destiny crew who ended up gating back in time 2000 years and setting up an advanced civilization. I will touch on the finale in a moment.
Throughout the series, there is an underlying sense of desperation. This shows through in the set design and the performances of the show’s stars. There is also a continual theme of choosing the least of two or more evils, and even desperation plays. But the true tension of the series came from the interplay between the strong lead characters.
Now for the finale. The final episode shows an impossible situation. Every known supply point on the way through the galaxy is blockaded by the drones. There is nowhere to resupply and they haven’t the firepower or other resources to fight through. Eventually, a plan is created to bypass to the next galaxy and make use of the recently discovered stasis pods to allow the crew to survive the three year journey without a resupply. Cue some inevitable tension, some emotional scenes between the Destiny crew and a few scenes on Earth.
At the last moment, it turns out one of the stasis pods is too damaged leaving them one short. A bit convenient, but I’ll give them that one. Hey, it could be the case. So one of the three final people must stay behind to fix within two weeks or die. Rush volunteers but Young decides it should be him. Then Eli insists he should be the one. In the end, Eli gets his way leading to the final scenes where Young and Rush enter stasis, we see the Destiny powering down non-essential systems, and Eli watching out a window as Destiny flies on under FTL. Then we pull back to an exterior shot that shows Destiny disappearing into the distance.
I think the finale itself can be considered the series’ crowning moment of awesome. From Chloe’s speech to Rush while he is trying to find a better solution, to Young’s toast to the core crew, to Eli’s conversation with Young, and even the subsequent dialogue between Eli and Rush, we see just how far all the characters have come from when they were all first thrust together aboard the Destiny. And, perhaps, Eli most of all, given his expression during his final scene. It is also somehow fitting that the show both started and ended with Eli Wallace.
Taken on its own, Stargate: Universe was an awesome show. Given the chance, it could easily have carried on the Stargate franchise for years to come. But, perhaps, it was too different from what came before. It seems a combination of executive meddling and apparent active sabotage by fans of previous Stargate series was simply too much to overcome.
Here’s hoping that there is some possibility that the show has some way to change networks, that there is someone else willing to give it a chance in the future and no impediments to doing so. It’s a slim hope, but not entirely unprecedented. Perhaps DVD sales will be strong enough to at least give us a feature movie or miniseries. But in the absence of such a result, the finale as it stands is a most excellent ending.