Stargate Universe Recap 1.08: Time

Despite the inconsistent beginning to Stargate Universe, I’m beginning to think, after last nights planetary bombardment of wicked called “Time”, that we may really have a Sci-Fi show that wants to be something good. “Time” had some of the classic elements of a really memorable episode for any Sci-Fi show. Let’s review.

I was deeply confused. A landing party of non Redshirts gate into an alien jungle hellhole. They’re looking for food apparently. All the action is captured by floating ballcam Kino. People start feeling a little woozy. A quarantine of sorts is arranged. That night, as the healthy tend to the sick, nasty leech like screeching chest burrowers drop out of the jungle and begin to chomp on a few of the lesser known crew members. The danger is wicked and real. The only problem with all this is the previews that we saw either at the end of last weeks tepid “Earth”, or during our travels here at The Cool, the mothership of Sci-Fi news. How much more awesome would the beginning of “Time” have been if we didn’t know that there was some alternate temporal shenanigans going on? Because soon after some of the lesser known cast (but still not Redshirts) bought the farm, our dear Chloe herself was pounced on by a jungle chest invader and was structurally compromised in a horrifically believable way. What if, up to that point we had no idea of the larger picture?

After Chloe’s lovely upper parts were desecrated by the sulfur loving jungle worm, Bam! we return to the Destiny and see Chloe and the rest of the gang watching themselves struggle and die on the humid hell planet. Wouldn’t that have been an even more awesome twist if we didn’t see it coming? Oh well, we still have some classic Sci-Fi building blocks here. One of the things I really loved about this episode was the assumption that the audience had a clue and didn’t have to be led through the plot by the nose. The crew of the Destiny were confused and so were we. Answer? Figure it out yourselves.This is what adult Sci-Fi should be. Turns out that a solar flare was about to, but had not yet, twisted the Stargate around to the right planet but at an earlier time. As I write this I’m still having to figure out what the hell happened. Any episode that forces synaptic activity is at least heading in the right direction.  When a small landing party of Eli, Dr Rush and a couple of others go to the planet, they find the Kino on the ground, full up with the tales of jungle fever and alien attack.

Twists were the strategy of the day in “Time”. Turns out that jungle fever was really a nasty case of bad water from Ice World. Back on the Destiny, after watching everyone but Matthew Scott get aired out by the creatures on Kino-Vision, we once again have principal cast members bite the big one from the bad water, including Chloe for the second time. When Chloe dies again, you know right away that another twist has to be coming. Back in the Kino footage it’s revealed that Mr. Scott is the only survivor and after he wakes up from having been bitten by our slithery foe, his earlier case of bad water is cured. The venom of the leech cures the water illness! How cool is that!.

So, let’s organize this. We have Time One, where the crew gets munched except for Mr. Scott and then we have Time Two, where the crew of the Destiny is dying from the bug. In Time Two they realize a cure is possible after watching Matthew report feeling better in Time One. Another landing party is organized, this time with Colonel Young, Matthew Scott and Roland Greer. Their mission? Venom for the cure.

You need a roadmap to make sense of how this was to all unfold. In the end, once again, only Matthew Scott survives this latest mission. His last message is to an even earlier time, before the first Kino with the recordings of the first ill fated mission is discovered. This Kino is to be found by the original first travelers before any munching or infection has taken place. That’s where we leave it. I thought for a second before the preview for next weeks show came on that this was to be a two parter. It seems that instead we are left to figure out for ourselves how it all turned out. That’s fine with me. Another juicy mystery was what happened to Dr. Rush. Was Rush holding his own skull that he found in an earlier timeline? I think this is likely. Likely and awesome.

StarGate Universe has given us weak episodes and strong ones. The quality of the show though is generally aiming skyward. Characters are getting flushed out and the scripts are trending to more challenging and adult. I think we should be at the point now that we in the community should show a little faith in the direction of SGU. I like the characters on board the Destiny and I’m really beginning to care what happens to them. Hell, I even watch the show in low-def and that my friends, is showing the love. Though it is my dream to see lovely Chloe in non pixelated form, my commiment to SGU is unwavering. It’s a programming highlight of my week and is now even more so.