Water

 DVD, Stargate Universe S1 (Water)

Return of the sand creature. And yet there isn't that much to write about, for some reason. The same tensions resurface between Colonel Young and Dr. Rush, with Eli caught in the middle wanting the Colonel to be told the truth as it happens, while Rush and TJ (left in charge when Young and Scott venture onto an icy planet in order to procure pure ice to save their depleting water supplies), keep some of the truth back about what's happening so as not to concern him. There's also the tension between Scott's former girlfriend (if you can call James that), and his current one (Chloe). And the tension with some of the civilians unhappy about various things and suspicious of the military. Yes, it's another bitty episode. Not a bad one, and certainly after forcing myself through the first several episodes of 'Strange New Worlds' it is head and shoulders above it, just for being all round better executed (you wouldn't think I'd be saying that about a 'Stargate' compared to a Trek, but that's the weird world we're in where Trek has shifted in its quality so much to become quite a drag to watch - 'DSC,' 'Picard' and 'SNW,' anyway). It is good to see a competently put together space series without yoofy chatter and smug 'sass' (okay, so there is some of that with Eli, but he's the exception, everyone else speaks like adults!). There's a hierarchy and following of orders, and while there is dissent, it's not in the military camp.

Other than Spencer, the powder keg waiting to blow who is accused of stealing supplies, although he does claim he had the ration packs when he came to the ship (I'm sure they'd have asked everyone to pool all resources, however, so even if true, he was hoarding for himself), but it doesn't explain how he comes to have a jerry can full of water. I'm not sure if he did steal it or not because we find out the sand creature(s), is/are using up water supplies. I loved the swirling particle design of this entity, as I did when I first saw it in 'Air,' but I was somewhat disappointed they were never able, nor did they even make efforts to, communicate with it/them. It seemed to be able to recognise faces as it recreates them (like the embodiment of the Matrix AI in 'The Matrix Revolutions'), but nothing further was forthcoming and this was one area where 'Stargate' is more apt to fall down compared with (some) Trek, where the latter is much more likely to work to make contact than go all out to destroy the 'enemy.' I also felt like Young should have been more resourceful in rescuing Scott from the crevasse, but instead he relies on brute strength to carry him through, and that's not what I got from the character before - he did seem to be a thoughtful type that could revolve situations around in his mind to find solutions. When he looked over at the makeshift kino sled I thought he was going to jury-rig that into something that could pull Scott up, but in the end he is simply fortunate that the place is so unstable a tremor frees the unconscious soldier's form and allows him to be lifted out.

No one really excels themselves in this episode, perhaps that's one reason I didn't like it quite as much, and it's more about stumbling around happening upon solutions than really great teamwork. Saying that, Johansen is brave to choose to stand outside the door where the sand critters are trapped behind, baiting them into the barrel of water and securing the lid, especially after what happened to the other guy - his being injured was her fault for failing to advise at least all the military personnel about the likelihood of these creatures appearing, as then perhaps the guy wouldn't have futilely opened fire on them: did he really think that was going to do anything? It's difficult to judge what the right course of action was there, however, since the pattern the sand was moving in looked like the kind of mesmeric display that a predator might use to freeze its prey before striking. In this case we'd already seen the benevolent side of the entity, once when it helped Scott find water in 'Air' and then in this episode when it duplicates TJ's face, so the likelihood was that it would have been benign. Even then, unless they found a way to speak to it, it would have been a threat to their water supply, so the situation was a bit of a quandary. I wonder if the ship would have sought out a planet rich in water if it dropped below a certain level, as suggested by someone?

I'm not sure on the ethics of leaving a seemingly sentient creature from a desert planet to die on an ice world, but then, once again, 'Stargate' isn't known for its ethics, it's more about gung-ho soldiery, shooty stuff, one reason it has less depth than the Treks of old. But what 'Universe' does have is that mystery of what could happen next. If even their smallest needs are at risk it makes for a different dramatic setting than the traditional 'SG-1' or even 'Atlantis' style of story where they have a problem to resolve. It's still about a problem to resolve, but in this case (much like 'DS9'), they're stuck with whatever course of action they take, they can't swan off to the next mission the day after, these issues have to be worked out permanently, or at least until they can buy more time. One thing they could have done was use the resource of the communications stones to bring in a fully qualified surgeon to give the injured soldier his best chance of survival. And when I think about it, shouldn't they be regularly using the stones to send individuals back to learn survival skills, or TJ could be getting taught advanced medicine to enhance her range and abilities? Perhaps they don't like to rely on Earth too much in the stories, but they should realistically be using every avenue and resource at their disposal. The next episode's called 'Earth' so maybe that will play a much bigger part next time? Finally, I'm not sure why Young and Scott couldn't head right through the 'gate instead of it being deactivated when the sand creatures were sent through. Unless it was to prevent them from going back through.

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