Stargate Universe

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Stargate Universe
Stargate Universe 2009 logo.svg
Genre Military science fiction
Created by
Based on Stargate
by Roland Emmerich
Dean Devlin
Starring
Theme music composer Joel Goldsmith
Country of origin
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes40 (Episodes)
34 (Webisodes)(list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
EditorMike Banas
Running time43 minutes
Production companies
Original release
Network Syfy
ReleaseOctober 2, 2009 (2009-10-02) 
May 9, 2011 (2011-05-09)
Related

Stargate Universe (often abbreviated as SGU) is a military science fiction drama television series and part of MGM's Stargate franchise. It follows the adventures of a present-day, multinational exploration team traveling on the Ancient spaceship Destiny several billion light years distant from the Milky Way Galaxy. They are now trying to figure out a way to return to Earth, while simultaneously trying to explore and to survive in their unknown area of the universe. The series, created by Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper, premiered in the United States on Syfy on October 2, 2009. The series featured an ensemble cast and was primarily filmed in and around Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. A second season of 20 episodes was announced by Syfy in December 2009. [1]

Contents

The first 10 episodes of the second season were aired in the United States beginning on September 28, 2010, [2] and the final 10 were shown beginning on March 7, 2011. [3] Syfy announced on December 16, 2010, that it would not be picking up Stargate Universe for a third season. [4] The second season of SGU ended as a semi-cliffhanger. [5]

There is an ongoing comic book series set after the end of season 2, but the original creators and writers are not involved. [6]

Premise

Stargate Command (SGC) created Icarus base on a remote planet whose Stargate is powered by large naquadria deposits throughout the core. The team, led by Dr. Nicholas Rush, postulate that the power from that core could allow them to use a 9-chevron address to "dial" into the Stargate, allowing them access to locations far remote from their galaxy, but lack the means to translate the writing of the Ancients to understand how to dial this properly. Dr. Rush designs a video game used across Earth to find brilliant minds to interpret the puzzle, which Eli Wallace, a young mathematics genius, is able to solve. Although Eli is reluctant, he is brought to the Icarus base along with a contingent of guests of honor aboard the Hammond, a Daedalus-class starship battlecruiser; the guests include Senator Armstrong, who funds Icarus Project, and his daughter Chloe. They are introduced to the base's military staff, led by Colonel Everett Young, Colonel David Telford, First Lieutenants Matthew Scott and Tamara Johansen, and Master Sergeant Ronald Greer.

Title card SGUTVlogo.jpg
Title card

Dr. Rush and Eli work together to discover the means to dial the ninth chevron, just as the base is attacked by members of the Lucian Alliance. Colonel Telford aids in the defense with F-302 fighters with Colonel Samantha Carter in command of the George Hammond, while the base starts dialing Earth into the Stargate, finding that the planet's power core is about to explode. Dr. Rush realizes that the explosion would follow them through the base back to Earth, and instead redials the Stargate with the ninth chevron, successfully opening a wormhole. The surviving Icarus Base members flee through the wormhole before the planet explodes. They find themselves aboard an old abandoned spacecraft made by the Ancients, which Dr. Rush finds was named Destiny. Around eighty survivors begin to assure the safety of their team, Senator Armstrong injured and realizing he might not have long, sacrifices himself to seal an air leak in one of Destiny's shuttles.

As the rest of the team works to make the ship habitable, Dr. Rush, Eli, and other scientific members of Icarus Base start to understand the function of Destiny; they are not able to directly control the ship, and find that it will drop out of faster-than-light travel to allow its Stargate to connect to a number of nearby worlds for a fixed period of time before it continues; it fuels itself by diving into the outermost layer of a nearby star and collecting energy from it; the first time the Destiny did that, the crew feared the worst, until they understood why it happened. The crew is able to remain in contact with Earth via the Ancient communication stones that Dr. Rush brought, and are told to continue the Stargate mission of exploring that galaxy, while searching for a way to return home.

The team's mission adapts in season 2, when the Ancients' mission for Destiny is discovered in "The Greater Good". Dr. Rush cracks the ship's master code, gaining control of the ship's systems and discovering that the Ancients found an artificial pattern to the cosmic microwave background radiation said to be a remnant of the Big Bang. This discovery suggested the possibility of life before or immediately after the Big Bang, and Destiny was launched millions of years ago to study and gather data regarding this possibility. While Destiny has not solved this riddle after millions of years of research, the series ends with the team continuing its fight for survival while also dedicating itself to researching this possibility of an originating intelligence.

Cast

The Stargate Universe cast at Comic Con 2009 Stargate Universe Panel Comic Con 2009.jpg
The Stargate Universe cast at Comic Con 2009

Production

Conception

Stargate producers Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper conceived Stargate Universe as "a completely separate, third entity" in the live-action Stargate franchise [25]  – as opposed to Stargate Atlantis , which was created as a spin-off from the first series Stargate SG-1 . They wanted to produce a stylistically and totally different TV series with a more mature and fresh story approach so as not to get too repetitive. [26] Wright and Cooper originally planned to write the pilot script for Stargate Universe during the summer of 2007, making a 2008 premiere possible. [25] Since their ambitions with the previous live-action Stargate series were often restricted by the low budget and risked coming across as silly, [26] they pitched the show as "an expensive series" to the Sci Fi Channel (now Syfy) in the last quarter of 2007. Although the pitch was well-received, [27] the project was put on hold because of the ongoing work on Stargate Atlantis and Stargate: Continuum , and the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. [25] [27] The series was given the official greenlight for a 2009 debut by Syfy on August 22, 2008, shortly after the cancellation of Stargate Atlantis had been announced. [28] It was given an initial order of 40 episodes across two seasons. [29] Joseph Mallozzi explained that a new series would have lower salaries and licensing fees than a new sixth season of Atlantis would have had. [30] MGM co-funded the project. [31] According to co-star Robert Carlyle, each episode had a budget of $2 million US dollars. [32]

Brad Wright pitched the series and its first five episodes to the Stargate Atlantis writers and producers in mid-September 2008. [33] Wright, Cooper, and Carl Binder produced the show, while Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie served as writers and consultant producers. [34] Stargate Atlantis writers Martin Gero and Alan McCullough contributed scripts, but were not part of the regular writing staff. [35] New writers were initially sought for freelance scripts and possible staff positions. [31] Author John Scalzi was hired as a creative consultant, "a background rather than foreground sort of job". [36] Most of the Stargate Atlantis crew, such as stunt coordinator James Bamford and composer Joel Goldsmith, moved over to Universe. [37]

Casting

Short character breakdowns for the series regulars (created for casting calls) leaked on the internet on September 17, 2008. [13] [38] Joseph Mallozzi explained the largely negative initial fan reaction [12] [33] [34] as a passionate response to the preceding cancellation announcement of Atlantis. [34] Brad Wright dismissed negative comments as a sole reaction to the wording of the network; character breakdowns are written to aid casting directors and agents in the selection process, and "always sound shallow, and if they're written to appear 'deep' it's just ridiculous". [12] Robert C. Cooper replied to concerns of young age that the SG-1 cast was also quite young in their first season. The producers were "looking for people who are a little more identifiable and contemporary," with an "everyman on the street point of view" after being challenged by the situation. [38] Martin Gero considered Stargate Universe as an ensemble show, more than the previous two Stargate live-action series were. [39]

Auditions were held in Los Angeles. [40] The producers were looking for well-known names for the lead roles, but intended to mostly cast "either new faces, or people you've seen in other stuff but maybe aren't as aware of". [38] BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning actor Robert Carlyle was the first announced series regular in mid-December 2008. [11] The casting of Louis Ferreira, David Blue, Brian J. Smith, and Jamil Walker Smith as series regulars was announced in mid-January 2009. [41] The casting of Alaina Huffman and Elyse Levesque was announced in late February 2009, along with other actors whose status as regular or recurring cast has not been established. [24] The cast is American (Blue, B. Smith, J. Smith, Wen), Canadian (Ferreira, Levesque, and Huffman) and British (Carlyle).

Writing and filming

Stargate Universe was filmed at The Bridge Studios in Burnaby, Canada. Bridge Studios.jpg
Stargate Universe was filmed at The Bridge Studios in Burnaby, Canada.

The writers started drafting stories for the first season in mid-November 2008. [8] The United States Air Force and Marine Corps reviewed the scripts, and disaster geophysicist Mika McKinnon served as a science consultant. [35] [42] The projected film start of Stargate Universe was initially slated for February 4, 2009, [43] but was moved to February 18, 2009. [44] The show was filmed on stages 2, 4 (Destiny set) and 5 (Icarus Base set) at The Bridge Studios [45] [46] (SG-1 and Atlantis had been filmed at stages 5 and 6) [44] and on location in and around Vancouver, British Columbia. [43] "Air (Part 3)" was filmed in and around Alamogordo, New Mexico from late April through early May 2009. [47] Stargate Universe showed computer-generated worlds filmed in digital sets. [12] Stargate Universe had a markedly different shooting style for more reality and immediacy with inspiration from Cloverfield , as if "a documentary crew were to ride along on this adventure to outer space". [26]

Pre-broadcast marketing

Sci Fi Wire published concept art of the Destiny in October 2008. [48] The first promotional picture of the cast (out of costume and in casual clothing) was released on March 20, 2009. [49] The same day, Syfy began airing thirty-second trailers of Universe, showing various clips of the Universe team aboard the ship and the SG·U Stargate with the first visual effects. [50] MGM revealed its revamped Stargate Universe website on July 8 with an interactive virtual set tour of the Destiny, interviews with the cast, character profiles and videos. [51] Joseph Mallozzi began posting concept art and behind-the-scenes photos of the SGU set on his blog afterwards. Brad Wright, Robert C. Cooper and most members of the main cast appeared at an SGU panel at San Diego Comic-Con on July 24, 2009. Behind-the-scenes material was shot for future online and DVD use. [14]

Themes

Stargate Universe is set on the spaceship Destiny, which was launched by the race known as the Ancients from the Milky Way galaxy several million years ago. [52] Several ships were sent ahead of it to seed the universe with Stargates. The Ancients had planned on using the Stargate aboard Destiny to board that ship when it was far enough out into the universe, but they eventually abandoned the project after looking into ascension and other endeavors. 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, due to energy constraints and the lack of any nine-chevron addresses recorded anywhere until Destiny's address was discovered in Atlantis' database. [27]

The series begins when a team of soldiers and scientists from present-day Earth escape through the Stargate and arrive on the Destiny after their base is attacked. [53] Many of its primary systems are damaged or failing, and they are unable to return to Earth or even maneuver the ship. However, the Destiny periodically stops to dial the Stargate to planets with necessary supplies to repair the ship, and sustain human life. [16] [26] The writers have discussed the possibility that each season represents a voyage of the Destiny through a different galaxy. [54]

Stargate Universe was intended to appeal to both veteran fans and newcomers, being firmly entrenched in established Stargate mythology without relying on it too often. [26] [33] It retained the familiar Stargate themes of adventure and exploration, [26] but focused mostly on the people aboard the ship. [34] SGU was also more serialized than its predecessors, although the writers attempted to resolve each character story within the episode. [26] There was a conscious effort to avoid making SGU too serialized, with the serialization stemming mainly from character development. [14] The industry described the show as "dark and edgy". [26] 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". [26] The planned increased levels of drama were balanced with humor to avoid pretentiousness. The differences between good and evil were meant to be less apparent, as the ship was populated with flawed and unprepared characters who are not supposed to go there. [26] According to Brad Wright, the show would "hopefully explor[e] the truly alien, and [avoid] the rubber faced English-speaking one[s]". There were aliens, but not a single dominant villain race like SG-1's Goa'uld and Atlantis' Wraith. [12] [26]

Broadcast and release

Home media

SeasonProductEpisodes DVD release date Blu-ray release date
Region 1 Region 2 Region 4 Region A Region B
1 Stargate Universe - SG-U: 1.0 [55] 10 February 9, 2010 (2010-02-09) [55] February 9, 2010 (2010-02-09) [56]
Stargate Universe - SG-U: 1.510 July 27, 2010 (2010-07-27) [57] July 27, 2010 (2010-07-27) [58]
Stargate Universe - Complete Season 1 [59] 20 October 5, 2010 (2010-10-05) [60] July 5, 2010 (2010-07-05) [59] January 12, 2011 (2011-01-12) [61] October 5, 2010 (2010-10-05) [62] July 5, 2010 (2010-07-05) [63]
2 Stargate Universe - The Complete Final Season20 May 31, 2011 (2011-05-31) [64] July 4, 2011 (2011-07-04) [64] November 2, 2011 (2011-11-02) [65]
1–2 Stargate Universe - The Complete Seasons 1-240 August 29, 2011 (2011-08-29) [66] November 2, 2011 (2011-11-02) [67] January 15, 2021 (2021-01-15) [68] January 15, 2021 (2021-01-15) [68]

Reception

Critical reception

The series holds a score of 58 out of 100 on the review aggregator website Metacritic. [69]

Stargate Universe was well received by several major media outlets upon airing of the pilot episode. Mike Hale from The New York Times was generally positive towards the pilot episodes, saying the Stargate franchise was "catching up" with the long-running Star Trek franchise. Hale also agreed with Syfy's promotion of it being an "edgier" Stargate. [70] The Boston Globe reviewer Joanna Weiss also reacted positively towards the pilot episodes, saying it felt like "early Lost ", while the story arc followed the patterns of Battlestar Galactica . [71] Mark Wilson from About.com gave the episode four-and-a-half stars out of 5, saying Universe accomplishes what Stargate Atlantis was not able to, and said it was "exceptionally well made" compared to other shows. [72] The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette both praised the show, calling it "intriguing", for not abandoning its premise as Star Trek: Voyager did and criticized it by pointing out that the characters spend "far too much time wandering a desert planet" in "Air (Part 3)". The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette summarized their review by saying that, "given time, Stargate Universe may become worth watching if it develops its characters and continues to mine its premise for stories." [73] David Hinckley, a reviewer from The New York Daily News gave the episodes four out of five stars, saying that "Eli's not the only one playing a high-stakes game here." [74]

Among reviewers who were negative towards the new installments was Maureen Ryan from the Chicago Tribune . The reviewer wrote that the "gloomy, underwhelming Universe seems to have ditched many of the elements that the previous "Stargate" shows had, notably camaraderie and a sense of adventure, without adding much in the way of narrative suspense or complexity." The only characters she felt were "worth following" were Eli Wallace and Nicholas Rush. [75] Vince Horiuchi from The Salt Lake Tribune , while not overall positive to the series, said the cast and characters were a "little more likable and interesting" than previous entries in the Stargate franchise. [76] Reviewer Laura Freis from Variety concluded her review with "Sure, SGU is grittier, darker and psychologically deeper than previous versions. But so far, it's also a lot less fun." While negative towards the show, she called Robert Carlyle an "excellent" actor. [77] The Hollywood Reporter noted a lack of "intelligent" and "surprising stories" and was overall negative towards Stargate Universe. [78] The show has also been criticized for its similarities to the reimagined Battlestar Galactica. [79] [80] [81]

Ratings

In its second season, SGU had declined in viewership ratings. [82] Series co-creator Brad Wright attributed this decline to its change in timeslot (from Friday night to Tuesday night, and then again to Monday night), stating:

I don’t think if we, for any reason, go away, it is an issue necessarily of the quality of the product that we’ve been making. I think getting moved on the schedule has hurt us. And the fact that some of the fans that liked SG-1 and Atlantis were so angry that they have deliberately hurt us, which is unfortunate. [82] [83]

After the cancellation of Stargate Universe, Stargate fans reacted angrily towards Syfy. On May 12, 2011, Syfy released a letter explaining its reasons for the series' cancellation. [84] The letter discussed the fact that ratings during the first season had fallen significantly on the Friday timeslot, dropping over 25% of its viewership during the long hiatus between the first and second half of the season. This prompted Syfy to start the second season in the Tuesday slot making room on Friday for wrestling, the change from Friday to Tuesday being a major factor in the reduction in viewership. [84]

Awards and nominations

The episode "Time" won a Writers Guild of Canada Award for best one-hour TV series [85] [86] and both "Air" and "Space" were nominated for Outstanding Special Visual Effects For A Series at the 2010 Primetime Emmy Awards. [87]

Robert Carlyle won Best Performance by an Actor in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role for the first-season episode "Human" at the 2010 Gemini Awards. [88]

Related Research Articles

Stargate SG-1 is a military science fiction adventure television series within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Stargate franchise. The show, created by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner, is based on the 1994 science fiction film Stargate by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich. The television series was filmed in and around the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The series premiered on Showtime on July 27, 1997, and moved to the Sci Fi Channel on June 7, 2002; the series finale aired on Sky1 on March 13, 2007.

Stargate Atlantis is an adventure and military science fiction television series and part of MGM's Stargate franchise. The show was created by Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper as a spin-off series of Stargate SG-1, which was created by Wright and Jonathan Glassner and was itself based on the feature film Stargate (1994). All five seasons of Stargate Atlantis were broadcast by the Sci-Fi Channel in the United States and The Movie Network in Canada. The show premiered on July 16, 2004; its final episode aired on January 9, 2009. The series was filmed in and around Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

George Hammond (<i>Stargate</i>) Fictional character in Stargate

Lieutenant General George S. Hammond, USAF (Ret.) is a fictional character in the Stargate franchise. Played by American actor Don S. Davis, General Hammond serves as the commander of Stargate Command (SGC) in the first seven seasons of the 1997 television series Stargate SG-1. He is relieved of command in the series' season 7 finale "Lost City", but becomes head of the new Homeworld Security department at the beginning of season 8. Hammond's off-screen retirement is confirmed in SG-1's season 10, and the character's death is mentioned in the series finale of SG-1's spin-off series Stargate Atlantis, "Enemy at the Gate".

Stargate is a military science fiction media franchise based on the film directed by Roland Emmerich, which he co-wrote with producer Dean Devlin. The franchise is based on the idea of an alien wormhole device that enables nearly instantaneous travel across the cosmos. The franchise began with the film Stargate, released on October 28, 1994, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Carolco, which grossed US$197 million worldwide. In 1997, Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner created a television series titled Stargate SG-1 as a sequel to the film. This show was joined by Stargate Atlantis in 2004, Stargate Universe in 2009, and a prequel web series, Stargate Origins, in 2018. Also consistent with the same story are a variety of books, video games and comic books, as well as the direct-to-DVD movies Stargate: Children of the Gods, Stargate: The Ark of Truth, and Stargate: Continuum, which concluded the first television show after 10 seasons.

Cameron Mitchell (<i>Stargate</i>) Stargate character

Colonel Cameron "Cam" Mitchell, USAF is a fictional character in the 1997 American military science fiction television series Stargate SG-1, a science fiction show about a military team exploring the galaxy via a network of alien transportation devices. Played by Ben Browder, Cameron Mitchell is introduced as a main character in the season 9 premiere "Avalon", holding the military rank of lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force. Learning of the SG-1 team's off-screen separation after the previous season, Mitchell is assigned as new commanding officer of SG-1, which he remains throughout season 10 (2006–2007) and the direct-to-DVD films Stargate: The Ark of Truth, ending at the rank of colonel for Stargate: Continuum (2008).

<i>Stargate</i> fandom Fan following surrounding the Stargate series

The Stargatefandom is the community of fans of the military science fiction film Stargate and its spinoff television and web series including Stargate SG-1 (SG1), Stargate Infinity (SGI), Stargate Atlantis (SGA), and Stargate Universe (SGU).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vala Mal Doran</span> Fiction character from the Stargate franchise

Vala Mal Doran is a fictional character in the American military science fiction television series Stargate SG-1 about a military team exploring the galaxy via a network of alien transportation devices. Played by former Farscape actress Claudia Black, Vala was created by Damian Kindler and Robert C. Cooper as a guest character for the season 8 episode "Prometheus Unbound" (2004). Because of the on-screen chemistry between Black's Vala and Michael Shanks' character Daniel Jackson and the character's popularity with the producers and the audience, Claudia Black became a recurring guest star in season 9 (2005–2006) and joined the main cast in season 10 (2006–2007).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert C. Cooper</span> Canadian writer and producer

Robert C. Cooper is a Canadian writer and producer best known for his work in the Stargate franchise. He was formerly an executive producer of Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe. He also co-created both Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe with Brad Wright. Cooper has written and produced many episodes of Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe as well as directed a number of episodes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evan Lorne</span> Fictional character from the Stargate universe

Major Evan Lorne, USAF is a fictional character in the 2004 Canadian–American Sci-Fi Channel television series Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, two military science fiction shows about military teams exploring the galaxy via a network of alien transportation devices. Played by Kavan Smith, Evan Lorne was first introduced as a recurring character in the seventh season of Stargate SG-1, holding the military rank of Major in the United States Air Force. He joins the Atlantis expedition after "The Siege" as one of the personnel on the Daedalus class battlecruiser.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Woolsey</span> Fictional character in the Stargate television franchise

Richard P. Woolsey is a fictional character in the Stargate television franchise about military teams exploring the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxies via a network of alien transportation devices. Played by actor Robert Picardo, Woolsey made his first appearance as a member of the NID in "Heroes Part 2", an episode of season 7 of Stargate SG-1, and recurred in several SG-1 episodes until season 10. He was also a recurring character in seasons 3 and 4 of Stargate Atlantis before becoming a main character in season 5 of Atlantis.

Mythology of <i>Stargate</i> Mythology in the Stargate franchise

The mythology of the Stargate franchise is a complex and eclectic fictional backstory, which is presented as being historical, of the Stargate premise. A "rich mythology and world-building" are used to establish "a vast cosmology and an interesting alternate take on the history of Earth"; a defining feature is "its use of ancient mythology, with stories that take inspiration from multiple places around the globe". Narratives center around xeno-mythology as experienced by humans during episodic contact with alien races. Audiences across a variety of platforms - including TV series, novels, comics and movies - witness the people of Earth exploring a fictional universe using the Stargate. Species established early on in the franchise recur throughout, with one adversary often dominating a particular story arc, which can continue across several seasons.

"Adrift" is the 61st episode and the fourth season premiere of the science fiction television series Stargate Atlantis. The episode first aired in the United States on September 28, 2007, on the Sci Fi Channel, and subsequently aired October 9 on Sky One in the United Kingdom. It was written by executive producer Martin Gero, and directed by Martin Wood. The episode continues from the third-season finale "First Strike", where Atlantis drops out of hyperspace in the middle of deep space with 24 hours of power left after an Asuran attack.

Enemy at the Gate (<i>Stargate Atlantis</i>) 20th episode of the 5th season of Stargate Atlantis

"Enemy at the Gate" is the 100th and final episode of the science fiction television series Stargate Atlantis. The episode aired on January 9, 2009 on the Sci Fi Channel in the United States, and on January 13, 2009 on Sky1 in the United Kingdom. Written by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie as their fifth and final script in the fifth season, "Enemy at the Gate" was produced as the nineteenth episode of the season and was directed by Andy Mikita. It is dedicated to Don S. Davis, who died from a heart attack in 2008.

Matthew Scott (<i>Stargate</i>) Fictional character

First Lieutenant Matthew Scott, USAF is a fictional character from the 2010 science fiction television series, Stargate Universe, the third live-action series in the Stargate franchise, which centers on a group of soldiers and civilians trapped on the Ancient vessel Destiny. He is portrayed by Brian J. Smith. Matthew Scott holds the rank of First Lieutenant, and is described as a skilled and well-trained junior SGC member in his twenties, but is "mentally unprepared for the urgency of the situation" aboard the Destiny.

<i>Stargate Universe</i> season 1 Season of television series

The first season of Stargate Universe consists of 20 episodes. Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper wrote the three-part series opener named "Air", which was originally planned to be a two-parter. The first two parts of "Air" premiered on Syfy on October 2, 2009, with regularly weekly airing beginning on October 9, 2009. "Fire" was originally going to be the title for episode four, but the story and script was too big to be able to fit into one episode, so the producers changed it to become a two-parter called "Darkness" and "Light", therefore pushing all future episodes forward one slot. "Justice" was the mid-season finale. The back half of the first season aired on Friday April 2, 2010 on Space and Syfy.

"Air" is the three-part opening episode of the military science fiction television series Stargate Universe. The first two parts aired on Syfy in the United States on October 2, 2009, while the third part aired on October 9. In Canada, SPACE aired the first two in tandem with Syfy. Sky1 broadcast the first two parts on October 6, and the third on October 13, whilst Sci Fi Australia aired the two-parter on October 9, and the third part on October 16. "Air" was written by series creators Robert C. Cooper and Brad Wright, and was directed by Andy Mikita.

"Darkness" is the fourth episode of military science fiction television series Stargate Universe, and is the first part of a two-part story. The episode originally aired on October 16, 2009 on Syfy in the United States, followed by being aired in the United Kingdom and Ireland on October 20. The episode was directed by Peter DeLuise, who had previously directed episodes of both Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. However, he had not worked on the Stargate franchise for the previous two years. The episode was written by Brad Wright who co-wrote the pilot episode.

Human (<i>Stargate Universe</i>) 14th episode of the 1st season of Stargate Universe

"Human" is the fourteenth episode of military science fiction television series Stargate Universe. The episode originally aired on April 23, 2010 on Syfy in the United States, and on SPACE in Canada. The episode was directed by series creator, Robert C. Cooper and was written by Jeff Vlaming. The episode focuses on Dr. Rush working on modifying the chair interface, so that he can use it in an attempt to gain access to the master code while replaying the memories during his wife's dying days. The episode was viewed by 1.3 million Americans and was generally well received.

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