Stargate Universe "Light" - Detailed Analysis& Review
02/21/21 • 21 min
The second half of this Stargate Universe 'two-parter' brings a lot of emotions to the surface as the crew deal with their own mortality. With Destiny on course for a star, only 17 of them will survive to struggle on a barely habitable planet. The rest will burn up. This episode has some fantastic drama. I love this episode. Listen along with me to find out why.
----more----
TranscriptWelcome to Nerd Heaven.
I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars
And I am a Nerd.
This is episode 54 of the podcast.
Today we’re talking about the Stargate Universe episode “Light”. This one picks up directly where we left off last time with “Darkness”.
I’ve been holding off recording the intros and outros of these podcasts, so that I can comment on any topical nerd stuff that might happen. But that’s preventing me from uploading and scheduling them ahead of time. I'm thinking of switching to do little mini-updates in between episodes to use for that purpose. That might be especially effective now that I’m on a fortnightly schedule.
Speaking of things to comment on, by the time this episode goes live, we’ll have seen the trailer for Zack Snyder’s Justice League. So I may have already done the first of these mini updates.
The Description on Gateworld reads
With the ship on a collision course, Young conducts a lottery to determine who will escape certain death and try and find a habitable planet with the shuttle.
This episode was written by Brad Wright.
It was directed by Peter DeLuise
And it first aired on the 23rd of October 2009.
This is a very emotional episode. It’s got some fantastic drama in it.
The random Keno interviews continue to be interspersed through this episode.
Greer’s interview allows him to show an uncharacteristic moment of vulnerability.
Young has gathered everyone together to explain the situation. They’re on a collision course for a star, and there’s nothing they can do to change course. They still haven’t figured out how to take control of the ship. Its flight path is all completely automatic.
They have one day before burn up.
Destiny has a working shuttle and there are three planets in this system that may be habitable.
Young believes the ship dropped out of FTL here to give them a chance. It has shown intelligence and even care for its passengers before.
There’s only room and life-support for 17 people on the shuttle. Young will choose two people. The remaining 15 will be decided by lottery.
Can you imagine having to give this kind of news to a group of people? I certainly wouldn’t want to be in Young’s shoes right now. Of course, I wouldn’t want to be in any of their shoes right now. Imagine knowing that unless you were one of the 15 lucky ones, you would be dead within 24 hours. It’s unthinkable.
When Young announces he’ll be choosing 2, one to fly the shuttle, and one necessary for survival, somebody makes a smart-alec comment. This is when Young chooses to reveal that he’ll be taking his name out of the lottery. Confirming he’s going down with this ship no matter what. He then invites the smart alec to keep talking if he wants his name removed as well.
Young currently holds the power over everyone’s lives. That’s another hard thing to imagine, the threat of having your name removed. I tell ya, I’d be very well behaved.
Eli is looking for Chloe, but he finds her in Lieutenant Scott’s arms. So this is when it starts.
They’ve chosen to spend their last hours alive making love. They’ve been getting close since episode 1, when Scott offered Chloe comfort after the death of her father.
This is a common trope in stories, having sex at the end of the world. On one hand, I kind of get it. You might as well end it all doing something nice with somebody you love.
But when I really think about it, the prospect of certain death doesn’t exactly fill me with sexy feelings. I suspect I’d find it quite a turn-off.
But then, I’ve been happily married to my wife for 17 years. I have no regrets in that department.
But for Chloe, this may seem like a case of now or never.
But what about Scott? What does this act mean to him? Is Chloe just one last notch on his belt before the end?
Ever since I saw the scene in episode 1 where Scott and James are having sex in the storage room, I’ve had a pretty negative view of Scott. I misremembered that he and Chloe got together at the end of the pilot, in the wake of Senator Armstrong’s death, further confirming to me that Scott was a dirty-rotten womaniser who chewed women up and spat them out, taking advantage of Chloe’s pain.
Well, I was wrong about that. He just comforted her in the pilot. And this is when they officially get together.
I can’t know Scott’s heart. But I do know that this relationship is going to continue...
The second half of this Stargate Universe 'two-parter' brings a lot of emotions to the surface as the crew deal with their own mortality. With Destiny on course for a star, only 17 of them will survive to struggle on a barely habitable planet. The rest will burn up. This episode has some fantastic drama. I love this episode. Listen along with me to find out why.
----more----
TranscriptWelcome to Nerd Heaven.
I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars
And I am a Nerd.
This is episode 54 of the podcast.
Today we’re talking about the Stargate Universe episode “Light”. This one picks up directly where we left off last time with “Darkness”.
I’ve been holding off recording the intros and outros of these podcasts, so that I can comment on any topical nerd stuff that might happen. But that’s preventing me from uploading and scheduling them ahead of time. I'm thinking of switching to do little mini-updates in between episodes to use for that purpose. That might be especially effective now that I’m on a fortnightly schedule.
Speaking of things to comment on, by the time this episode goes live, we’ll have seen the trailer for Zack Snyder’s Justice League. So I may have already done the first of these mini updates.
The Description on Gateworld reads
With the ship on a collision course, Young conducts a lottery to determine who will escape certain death and try and find a habitable planet with the shuttle.
This episode was written by Brad Wright.
It was directed by Peter DeLuise
And it first aired on the 23rd of October 2009.
This is a very emotional episode. It’s got some fantastic drama in it.
The random Keno interviews continue to be interspersed through this episode.
Greer’s interview allows him to show an uncharacteristic moment of vulnerability.
Young has gathered everyone together to explain the situation. They’re on a collision course for a star, and there’s nothing they can do to change course. They still haven’t figured out how to take control of the ship. Its flight path is all completely automatic.
They have one day before burn up.
Destiny has a working shuttle and there are three planets in this system that may be habitable.
Young believes the ship dropped out of FTL here to give them a chance. It has shown intelligence and even care for its passengers before.
There’s only room and life-support for 17 people on the shuttle. Young will choose two people. The remaining 15 will be decided by lottery.
Can you imagine having to give this kind of news to a group of people? I certainly wouldn’t want to be in Young’s shoes right now. Of course, I wouldn’t want to be in any of their shoes right now. Imagine knowing that unless you were one of the 15 lucky ones, you would be dead within 24 hours. It’s unthinkable.
When Young announces he’ll be choosing 2, one to fly the shuttle, and one necessary for survival, somebody makes a smart-alec comment. This is when Young chooses to reveal that he’ll be taking his name out of the lottery. Confirming he’s going down with this ship no matter what. He then invites the smart alec to keep talking if he wants his name removed as well.
Young currently holds the power over everyone’s lives. That’s another hard thing to imagine, the threat of having your name removed. I tell ya, I’d be very well behaved.
Eli is looking for Chloe, but he finds her in Lieutenant Scott’s arms. So this is when it starts.
They’ve chosen to spend their last hours alive making love. They’ve been getting close since episode 1, when Scott offered Chloe comfort after the death of her father.
This is a common trope in stories, having sex at the end of the world. On one hand, I kind of get it. You might as well end it all doing something nice with somebody you love.
But when I really think about it, the prospect of certain death doesn’t exactly fill me with sexy feelings. I suspect I’d find it quite a turn-off.
But then, I’ve been happily married to my wife for 17 years. I have no regrets in that department.
But for Chloe, this may seem like a case of now or never.
But what about Scott? What does this act mean to him? Is Chloe just one last notch on his belt before the end?
Ever since I saw the scene in episode 1 where Scott and James are having sex in the storage room, I’ve had a pretty negative view of Scott. I misremembered that he and Chloe got together at the end of the pilot, in the wake of Senator Armstrong’s death, further confirming to me that Scott was a dirty-rotten womaniser who chewed women up and spat them out, taking advantage of Chloe’s pain.
Well, I was wrong about that. He just comforted her in the pilot. And this is when they officially get together.
I can’t know Scott’s heart. But I do know that this relationship is going to continue...
Previous Episode
Stargate Universe "Darkness" Detailed Analysis & Review
Today we discuss the first regular episode of Stargate Universe after the extended pilot. Destiny now has breathable air but there are a lot of other problems. The most immediate is the mysterious lack of power. As the crisis pushes our characters toward breaking point, can they find a solution?
This episode, and the next, closely tie together. They were originally intended to be one single episode. I'm glad they ended up splitting it in two because it allowed them to really take their time and delve into the characters. It's a great mini-arc.
----more----
TranscriptWelcome to Nerd Heaven.
I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars
And I am a nerd.
This is episode 53 of the podcast.
Today we’re talking about the Stargate Universe episode Darkness.
MGM have just released the whole of Stargate Universe and Stargate SG-1 on Blue-ray. Previously, the first season of SGU was available on blu-ray but the second season wasn’t. That makes this the perfect time to watch along with me
Of course, these are American releases, but it will hopefully lead to releases in other countries as well.
The early seasons of SG-1, which were shot on film, have been re-mastered for this collection.
And speaking of re-mastering. There’s big new about Babylon 5.
We fans have spent years talking about how a remaster is unlikely to ever happen because Warner Bros doesn’t seem to care about B5 as a property any longer. And now we’ve just learned they’re spent the last 6 years re-mastering it. It’s a shock, but I’ve never been happier to be wrong in all my life.
Babylon 5 was shot in widescreen but framed for 4:3. All the CGI was done in 4:3. The DVD transfer of the show was terrible. They used the full 16:9 frame of the live-action footage, and then cropped and stretched the CGI to fit the frame. That made it look terrible low-res. The scenes to suffer most were those that included both CGI and live-action elements. You could literally see the pixels in these shots. It was horrible.
This new version is back in the original 4:3 so none of those problems exist. But more than that, they’ve re-scanned the film at a higher-resolution, plus they’ve upscaled the CGI. Note, this doesn’t mean they’ve re-rendered the CGI, but from all accounts, the show looks better than it ever has. And that’s very exciting.
One final bit of news before we launch into today’s episode of Stargate Universe, we have a release date for the Snyder Cut of Justice League. The 18th of March. STill no indication that HBO Max will be available outside of America by them, but Zack did say he’d make sure there were international distribution options in place. Let’s hope they’ll all be ready to go on day 1. I’ll admit I’m pretty nervous as I wait for more news.
Anyway, let’s talk about Darkness.
The description on Gateworld reads
The Destiny suffers a power crisis, putting the lives of the stranded crew in jeopardy when even the emergency reserves run dry. Dr. Rush pushes himself to the breaking point.
This episode was written by Brad Wright
It was directed by Peter Deluise
And it first aired on the 16th of October 2009.
So we’ve solved our most immediate problem. The need for air. But this is a multi-million year old spaceship that hasn’t been maintained since it was launched. There are plenty of other problems. This episode will address the next of these.
They’re eating some kind of group. Powder mixed with water. It could just be protein powder. At least that would give them some calories. But water is very limited. They have to ration it carefully, and they certainly can’t use it for washing. But Eli has found a shower. It doesn’t use water. It sprays some kind of mist.
There’s a nice camaraderie that has already started to build between these people, as they banter about who smells the worst. I really like it.
Also, nice to know they’ve figured out how to make the toilets work. Very important.
But it’s not the water, or the food, or even the toilets that has Rush concerned. It’s the power. Their power reserves are extremely low and Rush can’t figure out why.
They’re been turning on systems since they arrived, sure, but this ship had power to last millions of years of interstellar space flight until now. It seems very coincidental they'd arrive just as its batteries finally give out. There’s got to be more to it.
Rush has been working through the night and he’s getting really testy.
Eli is still playing with the kenos. He’s wanting to get people to say a little something about themselves, to document, not just the circumstances of their situation, but the people involved.
And already, we get a joke, as Eli quotes Planet of The Apes. Once again disproving the notion that Stargate Universe is without humour.
The Keno interviews are inter...
Next Episode
Nerd Heaven News Mini Update (Sndyder Cut in Australia, Star Trek Prodigy, Spiderman No Way Home)
In this mini news update:
Zack Snyder's Justice League to show day 1 in Australia
First look at Star Trek Prodigy Characters
Spiderman No Way Home title announcement
If you like this episode you’ll love
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