What Stargate Universe Needs

I’ve now seen 3 episodes of Stargate Universe, or SGU, and I have an urgent message for the writers. For God’s sake, pick a hero! And do it quick.

No book, TV show, or movie can survive without a hero, a leader with whom we can identify. Never is this more true than in an action piece. Quick, go get Blake Synder’s Save The Cat or Christopher Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey or any book on writing. You don’t have to take my word for it.

Since SGU was created by Stargate alumni Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper and written by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie, also writers of the previous Stargate series SG1 and Atlantis, I know they know better. So do the other Stargate alumni writers Martin Gero and Alan McCullough who are contributing writers. Creative consultant John Scalzi, though not previously part of the Stargate world, is the author of Old Man’s War, likened to Heinlein’s Starship Troopers.

All of you guys have lost sight of the single most important point for successful writing: give the audience someone to like, to follow, and to root for. By someone, I mean 1 person, not a group of people.

Hero Identified

Ask this question of anyone who watched SG1: “Who was the hero?” Immediately, the answer is given: Jack O’Neill (2 L’s, not one).

Who was the hero of Stargate Atlantis: “Colonel John Shepherd.”

Who was the hero of Battlestar Galactica? “Admiral William Adama.”

Even if you’re trying to create an ensemble show, which is what I suspect, (and which I think is ill-advised) there still must be one person who gets more attention, who stands out, who we look to as leader, for lack of a better label. Galactica, really an ensemble show with many characters all having personal arcs and were spotlighted or receded from week to week according to the overall story arc, had Adama, the old man. He was the one they all looked to for guidance, for hope. He was heroic, even with his flaws, and they all trusted him to take care of them because that’s what a hero does.

Storyline

Soldiers, scientists and civilians from earth are on another planet when their base is attacked. They flee through the Stargate and end up, not on another planet, but on Destiny, an ancient spaceship that’s falling apart. They must find a way to meet the basic needs of survival in the hope that they’ll live long enough to learn the secrets of the ship and the on-board Stargate so they can return to earth. The PR material says those “on board the Destiny will reveal the heroes and villains among them.”

Cast

Robert Carlyle as Nicholas Rush. Carlyle is an actor that I like to watch. He’s remarkable. He gets top billing so you’d think he’d be the hero of this piece instead of an irritating brainiac who reminds me of all the irritating mad scientists in movies and television. Send his characer to a Dale Carnegie course.

Louis Ferreira as Everett Young, the top-ranked soldier who’s possible hero material. Brian J. Smith as Matthew Scott, the sensitive and hunky soldier with a burdensome moral conscience. Elyse Levesque as Chloe Armstrong, the senator’s daughter. David Blue as Eli Wallace, the required under-achiever genius geek on board. Alaina Huffman as Tamara Johansen, the gorgeous medic. Jamil Walker Smith as Ronald Greer, the malcontent who’d been in the brig. Ming-Na as Camile Wray, the required Lesbian. Lou Diamond Phillips as David Telford, the required hard-ass military man.

A few other people round out the plot in typical stereotypical roles, but the ones above are the ensemble we’re supposed to care about. Trouble is, hardly any of them elicit any sympathy for their plight though Jamil Walker Smith as Ronald Greer was surprisingly touching in Episode 3 when he poetically and profoundly talked about death. We’d been led to believe that he was a screw-up that was twitchy, in a bad way, and now we see he has a sensitive soul. Nice surprise . That gives me hope for the others, but there’s still the problem of no hero because I know a minor character won’t be filling that role.

I read that new writers are being auditioned for freelance scripts and possible staff positions. Well, I’m not game for a staff position because I won’t move from Texas, but, hey, if you want some ideas from me on a freelance basis, just give me a shout. We’ll do lunch. Some place with a nice shrimp cocktail, okay? I don’t do vegan.

Takeaway Truth

Not all good concepts succeed. That’s because between imagining and execution, something falls off the table.

Tags: sci fi, sg1, sgu, stargate, stargate atlantis, stargate universe, syfy