Stargate Universe ”Gauntlet” Detailed Analysis & Review

Nerd heaven

So here it is. My podcast on the final episode of Stargate Universe. Gauntlet. This was intended to be a season finale, but never a series finale. But with the tragic cancellation of the show after the end of season 2, there was nothing more to come. So how does this episode function as a series finale? Well, surprisingly well. At least, as a series pause. Grab a comfy chair and listen as I explain what I mean, as we delve one final time into Stargate Universe.

----more----

Transcript

Welcome to Nerd Heaven

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of the Stars

And I am a nerd.

This is episode 91 of the podcast.

Today, we’re talking about the final episode of Stargate Universe. “Gauntlet”

And if you’d like to check out my original science fiction books, head on over to AdamDavidCollings.com/books

The description on Gateworld reads

Cut off from every star and every planet in their path, the crew takes a stand against the drone command ships. Meanwhile, Eli comes up with an extreme plan to escape drone space for good.

This episode was written by Joseph Mallozzi (whose name I’ve apparently been mispronouncing for the last two seasons, sorry about that) and Paul Mullie.

It was directed by Andy Mikita

And it first aired on the 14th of May 2012.

It’s with something of a heavy heart that I share with you my thoughts on Stargate Universe for the last time. This, of course, was never meant to be the final episode, just a season finale.

I’ll talk about the premature cancellation of this show at the end, but first, let’s take a look at the episode itself.

TJ is removed Park’s bandages from her eyes. She’s in good humour, jokiig about not having had this much rest in weeks. Greer stands faithfully by her side.

Park is hoping she’ll be able to see now. She’s looking forward to getting bleary eyes looking at data. She’s been seeing occasional flashes of bright light.

The moment she TJ tells her to open her eyes is the moment of truth. That’s when she’s gonna finally find out if she can see or not. It would be a nerve-wraking moment. I’d be hesitant, knowing that the moment I open my eyelids, I might have to face the worst. Until I open them, there’s still the possibility I might be able to see. Right?

Sadly, after she opens her eyes, it’s still dark. She can’t see anything.

She can’t see the light TJ shines in her eyes.

Eli has found a way to track the done command ships by isolating the subspace frequencies they use to comminicate and plugging them into the ship’s long range sensors.

This means they’ll be able to avoid them and find safe star systems to refuel next time we have to.

But the news isn’t good. The drones are waiting at every gate between Destiny’s current position and the edge of the galaxy.

Eli sums it up effectively when eh says “we’re screwed.”

On earth, Rush explains to Telford that going off the grid won’t work. The seed ships have already done the legwork and found the needles in the haystack, and plotted a course for Destiny accordingly. So with drones at every gate, they have no way to get supplies.

They’ve got a month’s worth of food. They could really use a supply line from Earth but the Langarans are still refusing to help. Woolsey continues to push diplomacy but he’s not having much luck.

TJ doesn’t know if Park’s condition will improve. She should have shown some improvement by now. If they don’t heal by themselves there’s nothing more TJ can do. But TJ isn’t really thinking about Park. She’s thinking about her own death sentance.

It sounds like a horrible way to die. Eventually, she’ll become fully paralysed, but her mind will still be active. She will have no way to interact with others. No way to express herself. She’ll be a prisoner in a body that no longer works. That sounds like hell to me. Like, I can’t imagine hell being any worse than that. It’s horrific.

Rush is discussing the possibility of going on the offensive when they need to resupply. They choose a target, go throug hte gate, and take out as many as needed to get what they require. They have the advantage of surprise now that they can track the drones. And they still can’t track us.

He’s actually got a pretty good idea for boosting the effectiveness of the shields.

Destiny’s shields rotate through various frequencies, because different energy weapons will use different frequencies. The closer the shields are to the frequency of the weapons, the easier it is for them to absorb the energy. But since they know they’ll be facing the drones, they don’r have to guess. They just tuine the shields to the narrow band of frequencies that the drones use.

I really like this. It’s nice to get some techy details on how the shields work. It makes sense. You can design something to protect you from a known quantity. But Destiny was made to go out where nobody had explored. The ancients didn’t know what races they might encounter, let alone what kinds of weapons they might have. So they had to invent shields that would protect the ship from unknown weapons not yet encountered.

Rush has a clever plan, and it should help the ship to withstand attack in a significantly improved way.

They’ve plotted a course for one of the command ships. They going to try to jump in, take it out, and jump away again. That’ll be one less command ship, at least.

We get a nice exterior shot which makes it clear just where in the ship the bridge actually is. It’s right up the top of the big high-rise pyramid thing at the back.

Chloe is so good at plotting these FTL exists that they drop out right on top of the command ship, so close, in fact, that they scrape along its hull. Given the unimaginable vastness fo space, that’s amazing.

The plan seems to be working. The drone weapons are having almost no effect.

The command ship is smart. It realises immediately that the weapons are not working, so it instructs the drones to make kamikaze attacks against Destiny. And because the shields are tuned to that specific frequency, it can’t stop them.

They manage to destroy the command ship pretty easily, but they’ve taken a lot of damage from the drone collisions.

They’ve bought time to get some supplies, not that there was much on the planet.

Eli has a plan that could get them out of all their troubles.

This galaxy has turned out to be a pretty rubbish place, infested with all of these drones. As Eli puts it, a hostile environment. So why don’t they just skip it. Fly one continuous FTL jump to the nearest edge of this galaxy, and then on through the void to the next in the seed ship’s path. Just the drones behind and try the next galaxy for size.

It’s not a bad idea, but they have power issues, the distance between galaxies is a lot longer this time, plus damage to the FTL drive. So it’ll take three years.

How will they survive three years without food and water? We use the stasis chambers that Rush, Eli, and Brody found a few episodes back. They spend the next three years in cryogenic suspension.

The big problem with this, of course, is if they miscalculate the amount of power needed by the slightest fraction, they’ll have to drift at sunlight the last bit, and that could take thousands of years.

Rush is convinced it’s too risky. But Young orders Eli to make preparations. It’s at least an option. He gives Rush 24 hours to come up with a better idea.

Camille wants to give everyone one last trip to Earth to say goodbye. That makes good sense, and it’s a nice idea, but they’ll have to be really quick about it. Every minute they delay this plan means they’re losing more power.

Rush’s real problem isn’t so much about the margin of error. It’s about the mission. The ship wasn’t launched to arrive at some final destination where all the questions will be answered. It’s meant to gather information bit by bit by bit as it travels. If they skip this galaxy, they might miss a vital piece of the puzzle. And I share his concern about that. It’s a real worry. It could make the entire journey all for nothing. That’s something Rush couldn’t live with.

And I wish I had a solution for him.

Chloe has some wise words for him, though. It boils down to this. If they stay, and Destiny is destroyed by the drones, then it really is over, and all for nothing. If they get out of this galaxy, even if the crew die, Destiny will go on, still searching for the answers it was created to find.

And so, the plan goes ahead.

They’re starting to put people into stasis.

The Lucian Alliance are among the first. Makes sense. They were never meant to be part of this expedition anyway.

Eli goes home, via the stones, to say a quick goodbye to his Mum.

The way he starts, “I just wanted to come and say goodbye” was not the best way to go about this. His mother will obvious jump to the wrong conclusion. Is he dying? Is this the last I’ll ever see of him. I guess at least the trust is not as bad as any of the scenarios she’s be imagining at that moment.

But, he plains it all to her.

Eli feels really guilty about this. He feels that he’s abandoned his mother. He thinks if he’d made different choices, she wouldn’t be alone right now.

But his Mum won’t have any of that. Which makes perfect sense.

Any parent will tell you that they want their children to live a fulfilling life. Eli is seeing amazon things. Living an incredible life. That’s what we all want for our kids.

Of course, there’s still the pain. If one of my kids was as far away from me as Eli is from his mum, it would hurt. I’d miss them terribly. But I’d also be glad they were living an amazing life. Proud of them.

The thing is, now that she knows the amazing things that Eli is doing, his mum is a much happier puerson. Her deep depression is gone. And she has friends in a similar situation. Friends like Sharon, who understand.

So, his mum asks him the one question, the only question that matters. “Are you happy?”

And despite everything, he is.

That’s all she needs to hear.

That’s good enough for her.

This is such a beautiful scene.

But, Brody and Volker have found a problem. Wouldn’t you know it?

The last section of pods have taken damage. Possibly before they even came on board. They can’t bring those pods online. They’re not gonna have enough for everyone.

They’re 8 short.

In order to repair them, they’d need metals, alloys, from a planet that’s seen a lot of meteor activity.

They’ve found one. It had a gate. But it’s locked out, because it’s not hospitable to humans.

The drones don’t know what kind of planet humans need to survive. They just know that planet has a gate. So there’s a command ship there.

Even if Destiny survived the fight, they’d use up too much power. They’d never be able to make it to the next galaxy, which defeats the whole purpose of going.

Those 8 people won’t be able to survive on the ship. The power needed for life support for 8 people would make them fall short. So….they need 8 people to commit suicide for the good of the rest?

That’s impossibly dark.

I couldn’t enact a plan like that. I couldn’t even ask for volunteers. I just couldn’t do it.

Could those 8 people try to find a planet to settle on? Maybe, but the drones would find them and kill them anyway. Either way, it’s suicide.

Park is really worried that Greer is going to volunteer to be one of the 8. And he admits, he might do it, but he wouldn’t ask 7 other people to do it with him, and he doesn’t think Young would either.

It’s funny how my opinion of Greer has changed so much over two seasons. He’s becoming one of my favourite people on the ship.

But Park has an idea.

Use a shuttle as a decoy, to draw the command ship away from the planet. Make it simulate a gate dial.

While the drones are away, slip in an get the minerals they need.

They can even ram the shuttle into the command ship and blow it up.

It’s risky, but it’s a good plan that coudl very well work. It’s certainly better than asking 8 people to kill themselves.

Greer’s right. Young was never going to do that.

The command ship takes the bait. So they have a go.

I have to admit that watching that command ship explode as the shuttle collided with it brought a big smile to my face.

They got the supplies they needed.

Scott has to go say goodbye to his son.

And it’s hard.What do you say to a kid when he doesn’t even know that you’re his father? You’re just a guy who pops around every now and then.

His mother is a good person, but Scott is worried that she’s not a good parent.

It’s a hard situation.

When Camille went back to say her goodbye, she told Sharon it wasn’t fair on her anymore, and she should move on. And that’s a hard thing.

I see Corporal Barnes in a new way, now that I know she and Eli got married on Novus. I can’t help but wonder, could anything happen between them in this timeline? I know that to an extent, they got together because they were kind of among the last few left that hadn’t found anyone. But, they made it work. Maybe this version of Eli and Barnes could make it work as well.

During the montage of people saying goodbye and getting in to the pods, we see a shot of Park, in well…a park. It’s raining, and she’s crying. It took me a moment before the true impact of that hit me.

She’s in someone else’s body.

She can see.

This might be the last time she ever gets to see anything in her life.

There’s a positive to all this.

All the food they’ve collected, other than the non-perishables, like the canned goods, it’s all gonna go to waste. So they might as well have a feast before they go into stasis.

And I really like that they get to do that. For the first time in a very long time, they’re full. Really fully. Of course, Greer can fit just a bit more in.

This is a really nice scene. It’s a god moment to round off the show with. Our main cast are sitting around a table having dinner. Young makes a speech, acknowledging that they have become a family. They were far from that at the beginning of season 1, but now, yes. They’re a family.

I love how Rush doesn’t object to Young calling him the slightly mad uncle who still manages to come through for you. I like that Young and Rush have reached this place. There’s no real conflict between them at the moment.

There’s a real camaraderie in this scene. I know this was written as a season cliffhanger, not a series finale, but this scene really works for its place as a final episode. I can’t help but wonder if this scene was added, or modified slightly, when they knew it would be the last.

It’s an emotional sendoff. And honestly, it works as well as the poker game at the end of Star Trek The Next Generation.

The last of them are going into pods now. Chloe, Scott, Greer. Camille. TJ.

As the pods close, only Young, Rush, and Eli are left awake.

While Eli and Rush finish the automated programming for the ship, Young checks in with Telford. It’s a shame they couldn’t get Richard Dean Anderson for one last O’Neill cameo here, but in a way, it is more poignant that it’s Telford. He’s the one Young has all the history with.

He’s not going to go say goodbye to Emily. Their marriage is over.

And Telford tries to apologise, even though it was the Lucian Alliance programmed personality that cheated with Young’s wife.

Young stops him. His marriage was broken a long time ago. He has nobody to blame but himself.

And while I grieve the loss of his marriage, I like the way he takes responsibility for it like this.

It’s nice to see thes men, who have been such bitter enemies in the past, now parting as friends. Telford promises they’re not going to give up on the people on board Destiny. Another beautiful scene.

But, wouldn’t you know it. There’s still one final problem.

They repaired those 8 pods, but one of theme was more damaged than the others. It came online, but has just died.

They’re gonna be one pod short.

They can’t fix it.

If two of them go into stais, they’ll have about 3 weks for that one last person to try to find a solution. To get the last pod working.

Rush has vontunteered, but Young can’t trust him.

What if Rush really can’t get it working. Will Rush sacrifice himself at that time for the rest of the crew? Can Young trust Rush to do that?

They’ve put most of their conflict behind them, but there’s still that doubt.

And when push comes to shove, I can’t tell Young that he’s wrong.

Rush is not a martyr. He’s not a self-sacrificing kind of guy. He’s selfish and he has a strong sense of self-preservation.

Ould he do it? Would he kill himself so the rest could live?

I can’t guarantee that he would.

I don’t think even Rush can guarantee that honestly. He doesn't try to argue it.

Young is going to stay. He can’t fix the pod, of course, but he’ll sacrifice himself.

But Eli has another idea. He’ll stay.

If Young stays, it’s automatic suice. If Eli stays, he has a chance.

He’s sick of staying in Rush’s shadow. Being the reager young protoge.

He’s not afraid to say it anymore, and all three of them know it.

Eli is smarter than Rush.

And that may well be true.

It’s not fair.

One of the most good-hearted people on that ship has to be the one that will very probably die.

Young doesn’t want this, but he knows it’s the only answer.

Rush and Eli have a nice last scene together. Rush doesn’t want Eli to be the one to volunteer.

He doesn’t say it often enough, but Eli has amazing potential, and they’re going to need him on the other side.

But as Eli says, “what the point of having potential if you’re not going to step up when you’re really needed.”

And I can’t argue with that logic.

I don’t think Rush can either.

I did laugh when Rush said “You’ve come a long way from that video game slacker,” and Eli says “You’ve been pretty much consistent.”

So Eli puts both Rus hand Young to bed.

And there he is. Alone.

On a space ship full of sleeping people.

He turns out all the lights where they’re not needed.

He shuts down the stargate.

This is all very symbolic of the show ending. Kind of like how JMS turned off the lights on the station in the final episode of Babylon 5.

But even more than it, it mirrors the pilot episode, when we first see Destiny, and all the lights are coming on, as we pan through the ship. It rhymes like poetry.

And so there he is ion the observation deck, looking out at the wispy blue of FTL.

The last man standing.

Eli gives a little smile as Destiny sails off into the distance.

I’ve heard some speculation about that smile.

Is he just appreciating the wonder of where he is?

Or does he have an idea? And idea that will change everything?

We don’t know.

Probably the only person in the world who knows the truth is Brad Wright. I just hope he gets the chance to tell us some day.

And so there ends Stargate Universe.

It sounds like Brad had some really cool ideas for season 3.

As cliffhangers that ended up being finales, it’s not a bad way to go.

The whole device of everything going to sleep for 3 years gave us hope.

I remember thinking, well, if they can get themselves sorted out, they can always come back and do anothjer season, or a movie, in three year’s time. That’ll be a real-time look at when they all should be waking up again.

How cool would that have been?

Sadly, those three years went, and became ten years.

We still don’t know what happened to the brave crew of Destiny.

To Eli.

But Brad Wright had plans.

I remember him posting online that while the show was over, he was still fighting for something that would let him bring closure. Not a new series. It was going to be a TV movie. SG-1 had enjoyed some good success with TV movies that went to DVD. He wanted to make one that would combine the casts of SG1, Atlantis and Universe, one big grand crossover adventure to try to bring the crew of Destiny home.

Sadly, even that could not be greenlit.

And so the story was lost to history.

So what happened? Why did this show really end?

Was it the case, as I’ve heard some say, that SGU was cancelled because it sucked?

Obviously, I don’t think it sucked. It’s my favourite Stargate series. But did it have lower ratings that SG-1 and Atlantis? Given that a lot of fans of the previous shows didn’t like it, I’d have to say it probably did.

But there was so much more going on at the time.

MGM was going into bankruptcy at the time. Stargate Universe wasn’t the only thing cancelled because of this. They were dropping like flies.

And while the DVD movies had worked well for SG-1, the industry was changing. Direct-To-DVD was no longer a popular thing. Streaming was coming, but wasn’t quite here yet.

Stargate Universe was this show trying to survive in this weird void between times, where everything was in flux.

In the end, I think this show was a victim of timing. The world just wasn’t quite ready for it, in terms of audience expectations, but also in terms of how the industry was changing.

I will always grieve the loss of this amazing and wonderful show, but despite technically ending on a cliffhanger, I would heartily recommend people watch it. These two seasons give you a satisfying experience. It ends on a bitter-sweet moment, filling with questions, and uncertain hope. And that is perhaps fitting for a show with the tone that SGU had.

I’d like to say a huge thank you to the cast and crew of Stargate Universe, for making my dreams come true. Stargate Universe remains to this day, my favourite Stargate show, and one my my favourite sci-fi shows of all time.

So is there still hope of knowing more?

With MGM recently having been purchased by Amazon, it seems likely, if not certain, that Stargate will return some day soon on Amazon Prime.

Will it be the in-canon continuation that we all hope it will be?

I have to have faith and say yes.

Brad Wright has a pitch. A new show with a pilot script. Joseph Malozzi has read it and says of it

“The verdict? Fantastic. A perfect series for first-tiome viewers who know nothing about Stargate, but also a richly rewarding experience for longtime fans. Action, adventure, friendship humour, cool sci-fi, terrific characters, a compelling story - and one ulluva antagonist.”

There is a huge fan movement to convince Amazon Studios that they should continue with the existing canon of the last 3 TV shows, and use Brad Wright’s pitch.

And honestly, I think Amazon would be utter idiots to go a different direction.

They’ve got to know that this is what the fans want.

So…we’ll see.

Brad Wright has been open about the fact that if his new show gets greenlit, he will address the fate of Destiny, which makes me very happy.

So now…..we wait.

That was Stargate Universe.

I hope you enjoyed myt thoughts on this series. I certainly enjoyed watching through it again and recording them.

So one question remains.

What’s next for Nerd Heaven.

Well….I want to cover the Dark Knight trilogy. So next time, we’re going to start that by looking at my favourite solo Batman film of all time - Batman Begins.

After we’ve done these movies, we’re going to be launching into a new series.

Star Trek Continues.

You may have heard of it. It’s actually a fan-produced series, but doin’t let that put you off. It’s fantastic, and highly regarded by many, including Rod Roddenberry, son of Star Trek creator Gene Rodennbery, who says he considers it canon to the original series.

Basically, Star Trek continues gives TOS one final season, and also provides a big epic send-off, which the original show never had.

I can’t wait to delve into this show with you.

So, until next time,

Have a great two weeks

Live Long and Prosper

Make it so.