Time

 DVD, Stargate Universe S1 (Time)

A cliffhanger ending? Or are we to assume they got the second time-travelling kino and thus none of these events happened? Is it a kind of two-parter? I don't remember, that's the fun of seeing these episodes again, and while this wasn't a bad episode, hard sci-fi, time travel shenanigans and all that, it comes across as unfinished and slightly unsatisfactory. I can't say I was overly keen on the device of having the vast majority of the story take place through the eyes of the kino. They really love that, don't they! Ironic then that even the non-kino camerawork is quite similar, the camera loves to sway gently in the wind as if hovering there, and that, more-so with the kino, can be a touch tiresome! It was a story, that's for sure. And it was shocking when people start dying - quite gory when Chloe gets bored by a burrower bug like something out of the 'Alien' film Eli had already mentioned. And it's equally creepy for the characters to be watching what happened to them, or technically, though they didn't know it at the time, what was going to happen. Having the kino record everything and then get sent back due to a solar flare is fine, and it would be horrible to have to witness the deaths, gradual or quick, of your friends and associates, Chloe throwing up, Greer exiting the room, others riveted to the unfolding story. I sort of wish it had been as riveting for me as the audience, but while it's okay, much like that episode of latter 'Atlantis' where they were simply aping zombie horror films, this is just one of those sci-fi horror escapades they clearly wanted to try out.

In saying that what I mean is there aren't as many of the elements of the series that make it of interest over and above a slick production. We do learn things about the characters (such as Eli's Mother is sick from HIV which she got in an accident in her job as a nurse, or Johansen has a sister), but we're never that close to them, either through the kino or the hovering camera style always makes them seem slightly removed. So Eli baring his soul to the dying Chloe, which should be a tremendous moment was not quite the big moment. It doesn't help that I find the pair of them a bit drivelly! As much as I like the characters, they can come across as among the most annoying in a series that does feature the kind of typical 'Stargate' hero types alongside ordinary civilian bods. Chloe's a bit oblivious and self-obsessed, while Eli's her shadow, following her around like a mewling kitten pathetically begging for friendship while jealous of others. Even Young annoyed me a little when he's too soft on Scott who's just heard Chloe's died (for the second time!), when they're soldiers and should be concentrating on their mission, which is to save everyone else. Scott redeems himself by twigging to the idea of sending a kino back once again so they can get a heads-up that it's the water they got from the ice planet that's causing the terminal illness, and the bug venom that can cure them, so it did at least have a good ending.

It's not that it's a bad episode! Again, it's fine, perfectly competent, looks good, though a little desaturated with so much happening through the eyes of the kino. It's just that it's difficult to care that much since it is called 'Time' and we do have time travel and so there's clearly a way out for anyone who died, however many times it happens. And I do know that most of the characters are around till the end, so there's that, I know. There's a deal of chatter or philosophising which decreases the pace of the story even more - odd that it's barely discussed whether anyone believes in life after death (you'd think Scott would be chiming in on that conversation), and then without skipping a beat they're talking about the Ancients and how they learned to 'ascend' to a higher plane, as if that's somehow different. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but there wasn't a lot of depth, either in the story or the lore they had to play with. They still haven't got the balance of a 'modern, dramatic series' with a 'Stargate' show, by trying to be all things to all people. I always love time travel stories, but this was more like using time as a tangent than being used to full potential. As it is there isn't that much to write about. Maybe I should lob my laptop back through the 'gate and it can warn me so I can take notes on next viewing...

**