episode review of Faith
Apr. 21st, 2010 02:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
okelayI just finished watching Stargate Universe's “Faith”
I really liked it. I'm not a big fan of the show but this episode was nearly perfection as far as this show goes.
The basic premise of the show, if you've never heard of it, or don't watch it is this: a ragtag bunch of misfits trapped in a Ancient spaceship adrift in space, with no way to get home. There's the usual problems of lack supplies and constant tension between the Military and Civilian factions.
This episode's premise i simple s: they've just found a planet that shouldn't be there and the ship will spend nearly a month orbiting the sun so a group decides to go down and stay there for the month.
Since the planet shouldn't be there, some of the scientist theorize it must've been built by a very advance race, but they don't know how or why and the only proof of alien contact in the planet is a large monolith with strange writing on it
they've been stuck on a starship for months now. So most of them jump at the chance of sunlight and fresh air, while others are too afraid of a possible alien attack to go down even if they too wish for sunshine and fresh air.
The people on the planet take a little getting used to the new view and different chores, most of them are scientists who don't have much field experience or even camping experience.
Some of them take to it like fish to water. Dr.Caine is seen meditating near a river and thinking of his mother, who was a devout believer of God and seeing this planet has renewed his faith. He slowly becomes convinced the planet was designed for them and that whoever built it will come back and help them. And even if they don't, planet life seems like a much better prospect than ship life. There's plenty of food and water, both lacking in the ship, plus actual sunshine,and it seems to be a lot safer.
TJ, the ship's medic, seems to bloom under the sunshine. She lets her hair down, her face regains colour, she is a better mood, and as she thinks of her father, she wishes for nothing but to stay there forever.
The night before the ship is set to return, a beam of light shoots up from the monolith to the sky, making them wonder if this means they aliens are coming back. The military is scared of contact and wishes to go back to the ship. Several civilians aren't sure it's the right choice.
Much too soon the Destiny returns and they are faced with the choice to go or stay. A choice which the CO of the mission isn't sure they have. The lead scientist certainly doesn't think they should stay. But at least this times, Col Young listens to the civilians and allows them to stay, even leaving them a shuttle for protection, but only if all military personnel returns. Due to personal issues, a couple of soldiers wishes to stay.
But since Status Quo is God, all regulars go back to the ship, leaving the civilian behind, Dr.Caine being the only knew we actually knew.
Even as they leave, a soldier raises the question “What if it was our lifeline? And we just let it slip?”
It brings echoes to my mind of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and their planet-builders, and of Arthur C.Clarke's The Star. But it also reminds me of Battlestar Galactica, and the show certainly has aimed for that for most of its run. In BSG, they come across New Caprica, a planet which can barely sustain life, but after being on ships with limited supplies for years, it is paradise.
In here, they come to a wonderful planet which literally seems to be designed for them. And yet staying seems like such a hard choice. It is clerly a far better choice than life on the ship, which seems to be worse every episode and they little to no chance to get home. About as much chance as the crew of BSG had of getting to Earth after their planets were burned. They spent years and years and years looking for a new home, all the time cruelly chased by cylons.
The people of SGU don't have half their problems, they don't have a great enemy (yet) and their planet is still intact. And they're lucky enought to come to this amazing gem, and don't take it?
Seems incredible.
By the end of the episode, Dr Caine is convinced the planet was put there for them, or someone like them, to help them, and it seems hard not to believe it,
of course it is possible the ship will come back and realize the aliens came back and killed them all and it was really a trap at which point I'll stop watching cause Dr Caine made me wanna believe the planet was their lifeline, that they were meant to find it and that perhaps their whole ordeal so far had been leading them here.
Sure, it's the only planet in an otherwise dead galaxy and they don't know it very well, but so is the Earth and most of us don't know it that well either.
By the credits, I was also convinced the people in the planet would make for a much more interesting show than the people left in the ship. I must say I was surprised at the quality of the ep, considering the previous ones.
I hope they will continue to be this good but I think this was just a once-in-a-lifetime offer just like them finding that planet.
I really liked it. I'm not a big fan of the show but this episode was nearly perfection as far as this show goes.
The basic premise of the show, if you've never heard of it, or don't watch it is this: a ragtag bunch of misfits trapped in a Ancient spaceship adrift in space, with no way to get home. There's the usual problems of lack supplies and constant tension between the Military and Civilian factions.
This episode's premise i simple s: they've just found a planet that shouldn't be there and the ship will spend nearly a month orbiting the sun so a group decides to go down and stay there for the month.
Since the planet shouldn't be there, some of the scientist theorize it must've been built by a very advance race, but they don't know how or why and the only proof of alien contact in the planet is a large monolith with strange writing on it
they've been stuck on a starship for months now. So most of them jump at the chance of sunlight and fresh air, while others are too afraid of a possible alien attack to go down even if they too wish for sunshine and fresh air.
The people on the planet take a little getting used to the new view and different chores, most of them are scientists who don't have much field experience or even camping experience.
Some of them take to it like fish to water. Dr.Caine is seen meditating near a river and thinking of his mother, who was a devout believer of God and seeing this planet has renewed his faith. He slowly becomes convinced the planet was designed for them and that whoever built it will come back and help them. And even if they don't, planet life seems like a much better prospect than ship life. There's plenty of food and water, both lacking in the ship, plus actual sunshine,and it seems to be a lot safer.
TJ, the ship's medic, seems to bloom under the sunshine. She lets her hair down, her face regains colour, she is a better mood, and as she thinks of her father, she wishes for nothing but to stay there forever.
The night before the ship is set to return, a beam of light shoots up from the monolith to the sky, making them wonder if this means they aliens are coming back. The military is scared of contact and wishes to go back to the ship. Several civilians aren't sure it's the right choice.
Much too soon the Destiny returns and they are faced with the choice to go or stay. A choice which the CO of the mission isn't sure they have. The lead scientist certainly doesn't think they should stay. But at least this times, Col Young listens to the civilians and allows them to stay, even leaving them a shuttle for protection, but only if all military personnel returns. Due to personal issues, a couple of soldiers wishes to stay.
But since Status Quo is God, all regulars go back to the ship, leaving the civilian behind, Dr.Caine being the only knew we actually knew.
Even as they leave, a soldier raises the question “What if it was our lifeline? And we just let it slip?”
It brings echoes to my mind of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and their planet-builders, and of Arthur C.Clarke's The Star. But it also reminds me of Battlestar Galactica, and the show certainly has aimed for that for most of its run. In BSG, they come across New Caprica, a planet which can barely sustain life, but after being on ships with limited supplies for years, it is paradise.
In here, they come to a wonderful planet which literally seems to be designed for them. And yet staying seems like such a hard choice. It is clerly a far better choice than life on the ship, which seems to be worse every episode and they little to no chance to get home. About as much chance as the crew of BSG had of getting to Earth after their planets were burned. They spent years and years and years looking for a new home, all the time cruelly chased by cylons.
The people of SGU don't have half their problems, they don't have a great enemy (yet) and their planet is still intact. And they're lucky enought to come to this amazing gem, and don't take it?
Seems incredible.
By the end of the episode, Dr Caine is convinced the planet was put there for them, or someone like them, to help them, and it seems hard not to believe it,
of course it is possible the ship will come back and realize the aliens came back and killed them all and it was really a trap at which point I'll stop watching cause Dr Caine made me wanna believe the planet was their lifeline, that they were meant to find it and that perhaps their whole ordeal so far had been leading them here.
Sure, it's the only planet in an otherwise dead galaxy and they don't know it very well, but so is the Earth and most of us don't know it that well either.
By the credits, I was also convinced the people in the planet would make for a much more interesting show than the people left in the ship. I must say I was surprised at the quality of the ep, considering the previous ones.
I hope they will continue to be this good but I think this was just a once-in-a-lifetime offer just like them finding that planet.
