Stargate Universe
Our Review
The Stargate franchise grew up, and fans never forgave it. SGU strands a mixed crew of soldiers, scientists, and civilians aboard the Destiny, an ancient starship billions of light-years from Earth — unable to go home, barely able to keep the lights on. Where SG-1 and Atlantis were cheerful adventure-of-the-week shows, SGU was a serialized survival drama: darker, slower, meaner, closer to Battlestar Galactica than its siblings.
Robert Carlyle’s Dr. Rush is one of sci-fi’s great difficult men: a genius who lies, steals, and sacrifices people because he’s usually the only one who understands the ship. The communication stones (letting characters visit Earth via borrowed bodies) produced the show’s most-hated subplots — the body-swap adultery — but also its best human moments. Season 2 is a genuine leap: the Lucian Alliance boarding arc, the drone-war gauntlet, and Gauntlet, a finale that ends on the most heartbreaking cliffhanger in the franchise. Canceled after two seasons; it deserved five.
Verdict: Watch it. The ugly duckling of Stargate that was becoming a swan.