Stargate Universe S1 E18: Subversion

"I am not a spy." -Colonel David Telford-

"Right now I'm thinking of the greater good." -Colonel Everett Young-


Many series have their ups and downs. Shows graced with two or three seasons sometimes struggle to find their footing before cancellation. A podcast by James McLean and John Kenneth Muir dubbed First Season Wonders/Second Season Blunders (June 2018) explores those missteps in entertaining fashion.



Buck Rogers In The 25th Century (1979-1981), War Of The Worlds (1988-1990), Space:1999 (1975-1977), Seaquest DSV (1993-1996) and Millennium (1996-1999) are among their targets of analysis.

As this writer approaches Stargate Universe Season Two with SGU, Season One, Episode 18, Subversion, one wonders if this rendition of the franchise won't struggle in its own right after being so strong in its first season.



Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper's reinvention of the franchise was under tremendous pressure in its first season. Criticism was lambasting the series from all corners of fandom and sometimes unfairly so and without proper perspective or understanding of trajectory.

There was a strong desire by many viewers to see SGU (2009-2011) share more in common with its sister series Stargate SG-1 (1997-2007) and Stargate Atlantis (2004-2009). The call for change on the show put considerable weight on the shoulders of the creators. Instead an effort to drop it sometimes comic book-styled adventure roots was dropped in favor of a more exploratory science fiction journey into the unknown with an emphasis on the human nature of its diverse cast of characters.



As Season One comes to a close with Subversion (the first of the last three episodes) we see the series connecting more and more, beyond communication stones, back to Earth.

The sense of isolation that truly shined for the series' first season seems to be the victim of an invasive mission creep of the SGC making a play to alter the vision of Stargate Universe. Was this originally the intention of Wright and Cooper or were the creators caving to some pressure from the outside to see the show change? Existing Stargate fans were vocal. One can only hope this was all part and parcel of the original playbook and series bible as it were.



We shall see if SGU remains the wonder it has been for the bulk of Season One into its final trilogy of entries and beyond especially into Season Two. As someone who enjoyed some aspects of the changes found in Year Two of Space:1999 as well as Buck Rogers In The 25th Century. Will SGU remain as substantial for its second season or will a blundering misstep ensue?

This writer can't imagine SGU would undergo that radical transformation. Yet, will it feel different from the show's initial seventeen episodes? We undertake that exploration as SGU closes out its journey into the stars, the darkness and the unknown with its fantastic first season. We can hope a second season gem is set to follow.



Subversion sets the table for the conclusion of the final three episodes of SGU Season One. It's the opening to a thread that comprises the season's final trilogy.

Revealed are deeper top secret underpinnings within Stargate Command (think Section 31 or the Federation in more current iterations of Star Trek) as the mission of Colonel David Telford is revealed and how that work was connected to the Lucian Alliance. That aforementioned entity is brought into the SGU fold from the world of Stargate SG-1 including a special guest appearance by Richard Dean Anderson (General Jack O'Neill) and Michael Shanks (Dr. Daniel Jackson). One wonders if the show's backers were getting nervous?



While it's likely a pleasure for some to see these worlds collide for fans of SG-1, SGU developed such a different flavor and atmosphere the two worlds seem ultimately at odds. The third series had its Richard Dean Anderson guest appearance in Air but here we were going back to the well again. Though as much as SGU feels entirely like its own entity, its own unique creature, it is still connected to the world of Stargate and bridging the worlds makes sense to a degree. Those connections were made between SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis and they are made here indubitably to the delight of SG-1 fans. "I know what makes me special." Even the old Jack O'Neill's humor cannot be suppressed from infusing some fairly intense and serious moments. But it all does run against the grain of a more serious Stargate.



As someone who thoroughly enjoyed SG-1 the Lucian Alliance was always something of a bore for me personally. Further, SGU is a thoroughly more engaging animal than anything the Lucian Alliance could add to it, but I'll reserve my final judgment on this trilogy until the season's end.

To delve deeper into the potential conspiracy Colonel Everett Young and Nicholas Rush hatch a plan to make contact with the Lucian Alliance through the communication stones. The stones return Rush back to Earth using the body of Colonel Telford. Is Telford a Lucian Alliance mole or spy or is he an American patriot? Is Rush the mole or is he experiencing memory bleed from his previous connection to Telford in an earlier SGU entry? Whatever is in play the Lucian Alliance is indeed a threat to Stargate Command and the ship called Destiny.



Subversion's suspense over the question of divided loyalties is threaded nicely and all of it is complemented by a moody, thriller of a score by the late Joel Goldsmith. His outstanding compositions continue.

The episode ends on a cliffhanger setting up the final two-part finale dubbed Incursion.

While Subversion is generally fine as an entry in the series, my problem with it lies in the fact I've enjoyed so much of what has preceded it. Ironically, the title itself is an accurate reflection of that reversal within the series for me.



SGU has been expertly weaving this seamless mix of humanity's inner conflicts whilst it barrels headlong within the Destiny into the unknown of space. It has been a nearly flawless mix of the internal struggles against a back drop of the external outer space exploration and mysteries of space that draw the sci-fi fan in all of us. That element of SGU made it special. It's likely why it likened itself to a good degree to the often forgotten science fiction effort that was Space:1999. Space:1999 was filled with wonder and mystery and SGU has established some of that approach within a more contemporary context. With Subversion SGU turns inward to the human struggles and betrayals and ultimately the franchise for linking to an established mythology set within Stargate SG-1.



There was something entirely fresh and spectacular about the SGU series until writers Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie seemingly subverted that rhythm with a kind of U-turn backward tying us back to the familiar faces and world of the SG-1 past. Not to be too hard though as it would seem Mallozzi and Mullie were damned if they did or damned if they didn't. All of that said perhaps every move by the team was entirely as they envisioned it and this writer just isn't enjoying the move away from space. That simple.



Subversion retains the mood, atmosphere and style of the series to date, but feels a little more earthbound with the switch to the Lucian Alliance. This either sits well with the viewer or doesn't depending on what variables and expectations or not the viewer brings to the series.

The episode does however bring the season full circle tying the back end to events from Air that opened the series setting the table for the Incursion finale. SGU intends to weave a darker human undercurrent through its politics and military command structure and Subversion serves the story to that end nicely.



Subversion, as good as it is, stands as a great example of what a tightrope it was for Mallozzi and Mullie and this new series to walk with the long established franchise. In most cases, it simply gets harder and harder to traverse that line.

Writer: Joseph Mallozzi/ Paul Mullie. Director: Alex Chapple.

Stargate Universe S1 E17: Pain

"The stress of life on this ship day after day and not knowing what's ahead it's a wonder more people aren't cracking up."

While this writer fully appreciates Stargate Universe (2009-2011; SGU) as a work of art in progress from the audio visual components to the performances, its complete success in execution also rests, as always, in the writing.

Stargate Universe, Season One, Episode 17, Pain feels a bit like an exercise in filler. Now that's not entirely fair because Pain is by no means a terrible entry in the franchise but if I had to pick one episode from the first season in the lower tier Pain would be at the bottom of my list.



Sure the writers and creators put their own spin on the ghostly apparition concept or the sense of being haunted by hallucinations. The writers offer viewers a credible reason for such nightmares in the form of an off world space tick that has embedded itself in the back of people's necks.

Again, our wayward crew aboard the Destiny has discovered something unexpected in space and brought those terrors aboard her. See the consequences of Episode 4, Water as another example.



But there is a sense of regurgitation here with a number of ideas coming back to plague the crew that have played out previously in the series. Pain draws upon the familiar connections for various characters and fleshes them out a bit further. Having said that, as an episode taking on established ideas Pain is an entirely original spin on familiar ground. It is a far more interesting story than an episode like Stargate SG-1, Episode 21, Politics in its first season. Fortunately Pain isn't boring or, well, a pain, but it's far less intriguing than previous Episode 16, Sabotage.

We get a little taste of all that has transpired to date and even throw a few of those translucent aliens in for good measure.



The cast, as always, is uniformly excellent and more than compensate for one of the weaker stories.

Though there is this air of familiarity about the entry the episode likely sets us up for a rousing trifecta of fine science fiction television to wrap up a rather underappreciated, underreported and stellar first season of science fiction in SGU.



Pain, if among the least interesting entries in the first season, still manages a sense of ghostly isolation. Claustrophobia and distrust is sown to good effect in this fairly haunting outing. That sense of loneliness and isolation is captured rather effectively throughout. The frustration of those on board Destiny is summed up fittingly by an exasperated Camille Wray when she mutters regarding a return to normal aboard the ship---"whatever that is."

And despite these encounters and setbacks the episode ends beautifully by establishing a wormhole to move forward in the hopes their luck will change. Exploring. Discovering. Survival. Looking for resources and answers and maybe a way home. These are all wonderful and important elements that make SGU a science fiction trip worth taking.



But truly SGU continues to be a gorgeous bit of production and execution and the substance is there to back up everything on the surface.

Watching the series this writer never stops considering in retrospection what a unique version of the Stargate franchise it really is. The very existence of the Stargate on the series places it in that universe. At times a reliance to lean back upon the mythology of that universe clearly connects it there (as we see in future installments). Yet sometimes the series feels like something else entirely. SGU is indeed at its best when it parts company with the previous iterations and establishes its own special identity.



Writer: Carl Binder (Life S1, E9).
Director: William Waring.