Darkness

 DVD, Stargate Universe S1 (Darkness)

Either the first proper episode of the series or the fourth, depending on whether you count the pilot as one or the three parts as individual. Let's call it the first standard-length episode. Last time it was air they were short of, this time it's power, hence the title (all making sense so far). At this stage it remains difficult to judge the series, either on its merits or its story, but certainly its sense of place is working and there's an attempt to solidify who these people are in our minds thanks to the device of having many of them record their name, age and job, plus what they think of the situation on the floating camera orbs Eli dubbed kinos. It was helpful because there are so many characters, but at least we now know most of them in small part: there's Volker, the astrophysicist ordered to work with Dr. Rush, Riley, Brody the engineer guy, Spencer the soldier, the science lady (who didn't give her name), TJ the medic, James another soldier... Curious that in Scott's moment he says a prayer since you don't often see specific beliefs given time in TV (especially Christian), and after his behaviour in 'Air' where he was not exactly holding true to such a faith in certain moral ways, leading you to assume his faith had lapsed, or maybe that's the point and this position has brought it back into focus for him? I'm not sure you could say there was a strong story holding things together so far, perhaps due to the serialised nature of this most experimental (yet also following the herd in terms of what was popular at that time and since: serialisation, the shaky cam, the images of the ship that look as if they're being captured for real by documentary meaning they aren't the perfect space shots...), entry in the franchise, so it comes across as quite bitty.

Multiple character arcs are being set up while under the overall plot of the latest survival situation: in this case whether it was all for nothing because the ship isn't doing anything. They should trust the ship, that's all I'm saying. I have the advantage of knowing what's going to happen, and it does look dire, but it usually ends in some beautiful turnaround so no need to worry. The real trouble comes from the humans aboard Destiny for the most part as we see friendships forming (Eli and Chloe), rivalries more evident (Rush and authority), and even the hints of potential mutiny when Eli is brought before a group of people that think he knows what's going on and demand he tell them. As would often be the case, it's Rush's story that is most interesting as he goes from his standard level of irritation, to cranky, to violently angry, shoving Riley against a wall and later collapsing as he feels the pressure and rants as the only one who can really comprehend all the systems, leading to a physical breakdown. It made a lot of sense that it wasn't stemming from conscience: we ultimately find out from Johansen he's going through caffeine (and nicotine), withdrawal, which was a very realistic and believable problem that people would have if they suddenly went cold turkey after the evacuation of Icarus Base - just like the science experiments in 'Air' where you see beakers and chemicals there's a real world style that is often missing from much modern sci-fi, making it no better than fantasy. It's good to see 'Stargate' doing things differently (not that they never used fantasy elements, but it was usually science fiction more than anything else), and makes their predicament much more real.

We also have the fleeting images of the ship in space that continue to be majestic and beautiful so that the only complaint is they don't linger on them long enough. The people problems are apparently the main focus of the series, in opposition to the usual 'Stargate' manner of telling stories, so there is much conflict, much uncertainty and seeds of trouble planted all over. Time is allowed for Young to make a communication stones trip back to Earth which gives Colonel Telford another chance to sow dissent and try to stir up trouble as he believes Young is a problem (Director and actor Peter DeLuise gets a cameo as the guy Telford comes to relieve just in time to make the stones' swap - he must have a sixth sense!), while we see a little of Young's life as he takes the opportunity after reporting in to visit his lady whom we saw in flashback last time accusing him of putting his job first above her and she can't accept the sci-fi explanation of him showing up in Telford's body. I'm assuming he wasn't supposed to have told her what was going on as it would be all top secret so maybe there'll be ramifications if that gets out, but it shows a little bit of where he's coming from. And he does a good job of keeping things together in a difficult position, dealing with this mix of civilians and soldiers in various stages of obedience - while Rush may give the impression of seeing the crew as children compared to his great intellect, he is also quite childish and Young deals with him in a very mature way.

I don't know why they insist on presenting Earth-based scenes in such a washed-out tone, almost moving towards the sepia, but perhaps it's meant to emphasise the unreality of it compared to the real business of life on Destiny? As is common with early episodes of more serialised series' the story is taking its time to get going as multiple payoffs and storylines are set in motion for the future which leads to individual episodes not being quite as satisfying an experience in themselves - the series remains nice to look at, it has all kinds of avenues of promise, and it's enjoyable to be on this ship with all its potential for story and drama, this breathtakingly vast concept of travel beyond what we can really understand, but that inability to quite grasp the magnitude of the situation also means it is yet to be fully compelling storytelling. So far it is merely events and opinion, argument and setup. Once the characters are fully laid out it will improve, not to say it isn't a positive viewing experience, just not enough to rate strongly at this point in the development of the series. And when I first saw it I was disappointed we didn't get an opening credits sequence, the modern way of having a brief logo flash up, then cast names over the opening scenes to squeeze more time in the hour for adverts, a despicable practice, but just one more example of it edging away from the traditional 'Stargate' towards more mainstream popular drama. Shame it didn't work out for them...

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