Faith

 DVD, Stargate Universe S1 (Faith)

Much more positive this time. For the most part. An unknown planet, Earth-like, sunshine, fruit, grass, green and trees... With a mystery to solve, but no time to solve it, got to be moving on. That's Destiny's curse, she can never stop for long. In this case it's a good month available for a team to harvest and explore this place while the ship 'slingshots' very slowly around a star, but it's still not enough time and the mystery must remain unanswered. It gives some of them the chance to discuss viewpoints on faith and belief, some interpreting things cynically, others with a baseless wonder and hope. It sort of shows that no one there has genuine faith in a specific God since it's all rather vague and based on their feelings rather than revelation and certain hope. I suppose that's the trouble with most TV depictions of faith, that it's got to be some kind of weird, uncertain vagueness that has to be embraced without any evidence or experience. That way lies accepting anything, regardless of any facts, but either way it becomes a bit of a downer for what had been an upbeat episode of people enjoying life on land as it was meant to be lived. Obviously we don't get to see much of it, it being only one episode, the time lapse suggested by a montage intercutting exploration and life on the planet with exploration and life on the ship.

It is a bit frustrating, we can feel Rush's disappointment in being unable to have enough time to even approach an understanding of how an alien race could have built this planet and the star which lights it, leaving their mark with a giant obelisk. I don't recall if there was any further discussion of what happened, whether we see any of those people who stayed behind, or whether that was it, but they do at least have a faulty shuttle to use in emergencies, so like Rush escaping his doomed situation on the planet Young exiled him to, it does suggest the possibility of meeting up again in future. I wasn't actually entirely sure that anyone had stayed, but I assume they did - this is at a time of peace between military and civilian, to the extent that even Greer is forcing grumblers to co-op-er-ate, as he likes to e-nun-ci-ate! That was quite a fun moment, as was Eli's reference to the Genesis Device and 'Wrath of Khan,' though no one else seems to have a clue what he's on about. 'Stargate' became a sort of home for those of us who were missing Trek in the late 2000s and most of the 2010s, so it's a shame it was all cut short as Trek had been before it, but at least they sometimes showed an understanding of the audience they'd inherited.

The trouble comes when after being treated so equitably it gives some of these happy campers ideas above their station - it may be the military that are under orders, but every one of them is an expert in something and has a great deal of use and importance to the survival of the community. It made me think of the 1970s BBC series, 'Survivors' (something I watched in the time since I first saw this series), for thoughts of how you go about building a life in such conditions. I don't know what the minimum requirement would be of beginning a new community, and I know some of them were pinning their hopes on the possibility the aliens who built the place would come back, take pity on them, and give them a free ride back to the Milky Way and Earth, as slim a chance as any of that happening within their lifetimes as it was. But still, they must have expected to live there for some time and how could you? It would be really roughing it. Sure you have fruit to eat and water to drink, warm sun to feel on your skin, but what then? What if someone was sick, what if... those what-if's are endless, and as Young says at one point, everything they do is a risk. But it's still less risky to remain on Destiny than try to start a new life on an alien world you know nothing about for who knows how long, no matter what your 'feelings' lead you to believe. It's so ironic that when it suits his purpose Rush is very keen for the military to flex their muscles and stop people leaving, in direct opposition to his previous position, but that's the key: when it suits his purpose.

It was a bit of a shock that Scott would be one of the people who chose to stay, even though he's not allowed in the end, but I couldn't work out if that was because of his devotion to Chloe, despite their distance after she sided against him in a previous episode, or if he genuinely felt an obligation to help those leaving, especially TJ whom we discover is pregnant from her time on Icarus Base. I could imagine him being a very capable leader, though he can be a little too soft sometimes, going with what people want, because he wants to keep everyone happy, and that's not always possible, as he's found out on occasion. But his strong compulsion to duty means he's not going to go against the Colonel's decision, because he is a good man: a discreet friend, he doesn't tell anyone about TJ; someone who genuinely wants people to get along; optimistic, but also able to obey orders he doesn't like when he has to. He still seems rather conflicted about his beliefs, not opening up about what he personally thinks when the others are talking of such things, and considering how much we've seen of his past it makes you wonder where he is in that, but however you look at it you'd want him on your side, and Young isn't about to lose his strongest ally.

It was good that the Colonel had learned enough from his recent experiences not to force the issue, other than with those under his command, not going in all guns blazing for the greater good, allowing these people to make their own mistake, because why would you abandon ship just for the chance of a bit of sunlight and fresh food - it does show how shallow human decision-making can be, that those comforts that remind of home can be enough to sway people from their jobs and their role in the Destiny community. On the other hand you can understand to some degree Johansen's horror at the thought of raising a child in such a dark, miserable environment, but it's the closest they have to civilised existence and there is always that possibility of the Stargate, which shouldn't be discounted, not to mention the many other areas of the ship that haven't been explored, the technologies and potential improvements that aren't yet known. It's a relatively gentle episode, much needed after recent events, but it's one of those that doesn't really go anywhere and could easily have been extended across multiple episodes, but they seem to prefer keeping things tight when it comes to alien worlds, not spending too long there, but getting back to the heart of the series: the ship itself.

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