That’s right, I’m finally up to date with Stargate: Universe and this weeks episode “Water” left me wanting more. Now I have to wait a week between episodes, unlike when I discovered Battlestar 
where I watch the entire show in less than two months.
Speaking of Battlestar, all this daily blogging almost made me forget! The Us release of The Plan, the final BSG special, happened last week! Very excited about that, hope to get the chance to check it out very soon! Also, remember that the pilot for V airs tomorrow, come back to the blog soon for a full length post on that event!
Anyway, this is the third week in a row that I’ve talked about BSG when I’m supposed to be talking about SGU. But that is probably because of the similarities between the two shows. They are both Syfy productions, although when it started to produce BSG the Sci Fi Channel still had a proper name *sigh* Each show has a 3 letter callsign instead of its full title. Each show featured an 
episode called “Water” in their first series, but most importantly of all, each had an ensemble cast.
If you go back and watch Battlestar Galactica you will notice that all the minor characters that eventually become reasonably well known were all there in the start. Jammer, Celix, Hotdog, Racetrack and more. Stargate too has its minor characters that we see milling about the ship, just waiting for the right subplot to drag them into the limelight. Unlike shows like Lost, where the directors bring in whoever happens to be hanging about on the beach that day, Syfy seemed determined to create that living atmosphere that I loved so much in BSG.
Like Battlestar this show has a limited number of people, however, BSG had thousands, where as SGU has probably less than 50. So unlike it’s predecessor SGU cannot kill characters off willy-nilly, which in some ways reduces the sense of dramatic tension. Certainly, killing a major character in Battlestar simply opened a position for a new star to step in from “somewhere in the fleet”. However Destiny (the ship in SGU) has a finite crew, all with defined roles and levels of importance. Simply put, if 
someone had a skill that was of use to Col. Young, we’d know about them by now.
But if this “you can’t kill him because you can’t replace him” syndrome leads to a lack of tension in general, it also opens up the door to incredible story telling possibilities. What do I mean? Well, if they can’t replace a character, for example TJ the medic or Scott the pilot, then the crew would have to adapt and find ways to survive without them, were SGU brave enough to actually kill them off.
Just to be clear, I am not advocating killing TJ, she’s far too cute for that!
Anyway, that’s about it for today. Come back tomorrow for My Heroic Two Cents!
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