So there's this Stargate Universe show now.

Yea. I'm really happy for you. It looks like a great television serial. Now, it's not just a world. Or a solar system. It's an entire universe of possibilities. Universal appeal. Universal ideals. I mean, Atlantis? Those were just the undersea exploits. That's small potatoes compared to the entire universe.

A universe, that's bigger then a galaxy. Bigger then a nebula, even. Kinda like how the Galaxy class starship was bigger then the Nebula class starship on TNG. Wonder why they never built a Universe class? They seemed to think a Galaxy class was big enough. Didn't wanna get too cocky, too ambitious with the universe.

I didn't actually watch it, but my friend did. Said there was about 30 seconds of... Lou Diamond Phillips. And I said, "Oh...you mean... La Bamba." That's what that guy's gonna be known for, for the rest of his life. Not the guy in Courage Under Fire, not the father figure in that Aquaman pilot... not even as the guy in Stargate Universe. Just La Bamba. They're gonna have to carve that into the guy's tombstone. "The Actor Who Played La Bamba."

I don't see it lasting 7-8 years. The Stargate series are now like Power Rangers series. Have you noticed that? They last a short while before changing. Permutating. Lots of permutations. Remember how Power Rangers would turn into Space Power Rangers, and then Power Rangers Full Auto, and then Power Rangers Galaxy Police, etc? It was insane. I think it's an apt analogy. Well, ya know, those Power Rangers shows changed every season. The Stargate shows last a bit longer. But it's cause kids have shorter attention spans then adults. And a kid nowadays, wouldn't even remember the original Stargate movie. I hardly remember it, heh.

Who knew the Stargate franchise would last so long? At this point, think about it... Stargate's almost got as many tv series as Star Trek. Just think about it. We have a name for Trek fans. Who knows what the name of a Stargate fan is? Gaters? Gators? No, that's some sorta football fan in Florida somewhere. They've got alligators down in Florida, not crocodiles. Maybe a gar or two. Gars are those freaky ones with the really long narrow jaws, right? Has anyone even come up with a name for Stargate fans?

So Robert Carlyle is also in it. Hopefully he can redeem himself for that performance in 28 Weeks later. God, that movie was terrible. Did I tell you how much I hated that film? It was awful. And ya know, I liked the first movie. 28 Days Later was quite good.

Yea. I'm really happy for you. It looks like a great television serial. Now, it's not just a world. Or a solar system. It's an entire universe of possibilities. Universal appeal. Universal ideals. I mean, Atlantis? Those were just the undersea exploits. That's small potatoes compared to the entire universe.

A universe, that's bigger then a galaxy. Bigger then a nebula, even. Kinda like how the Galaxy class starship was bigger then the Nebula class starship on TNG. Wonder why they never built a Universe class? They seemed to think a Galaxy class was big enough. Didn't wanna get too cocky, too ambitious with the universe.

I didn't actually watch it, but my friend did. Said there was about 30 seconds of... Lou Diamond Phillips. And I said, "Oh...you mean... La Bamba." That's what that guy's gonna be known for, for the rest of his life. Not the guy in Courage Under Fire, not the father figure in that Aquaman pilot... not even as the guy in Stargate Universe. Just La Bamba. They're gonna have to carve that into the guy's tombstone. "The Actor Who Played La Bamba."

I don't see it lasting 7-8 years. The Stargate series are now like Power Rangers series. Have you noticed that? They last a short while before changing. Permutating. Lots of permutations. Remember how Power Rangers would turn into Space Power Rangers, and then Power Rangers Full Auto, and then Power Rangers Galaxy Police, etc? It was insane. I think it's an apt analogy. Well, ya know, those Power Rangers shows changed every season. The Stargate shows last a bit longer. But it's cause kids have shorter attention spans then adults. And a kid nowadays, wouldn't even remember the original Stargate movie. I hardly remember it, heh.

Who knew the Stargate franchise would last so long? At this point, think about it... Stargate's almost got as many tv series as Star Trek. Just think about it. We have a name for Trek fans. Who knows what the name of a Stargate fan is? Gaters? Gators? No, that's some sorta football fan in Florida somewhere. They've got alligators down in Florida, not crocodiles. Maybe a gar or two. Gars are those freaky ones with the really long narrow jaws, right? Has anyone even come up with a name for Stargate fans?

So Robert Carlyle is also in it. Hopefully he can redeem himself for that performance in 28 Weeks later. God, that movie was terrible. Did I tell you how much I hated that film? It was awful. And ya know, I liked the first movie. 28 Days Later was quite good.

I did actually watch the 2 hour premiere and I have to tell you, my initial response is surprisingly positive.  The show is very different from its predecessors in style and (what I gather at this point) story line.  It actually seems to have been strongly influenced by the new Battlestar Galactica series.  You can see that in the cinematography of the production.  It has that dark washed out look that Galactica had.  
 
[Some Spoilers Ahead]
 
The show begins with a bunch of people coming through a Stargate into a very dark unknown room.  They are Earth-human evacuees, injured and carrying whatever they could before leaving.  They are a mixed group of maybe 30 people, some civilian others military.  The show then uses flashback to introduce us to the main characters of the show.  I got the impression very quickly that this would be an "ensemble" show, which means there would be no primary leads.  This is different than S.G.1. or Atlantis.  As the episode unfolded, one scene surprised me given the previous nature of the franchise.  There was a pretty graphic sex scene early on as a two soldiers grabbed a quickie in a supply room.  There was no nudity, but all the motions and sounds were there.  I think this was included to inform the viewer that this is not your father's Stargate.  Over the course of the rest of the show, we met other players in the cast including an M.I.T. genius who was drafted into the program after solving a complex mathematical puzzle created by the Ancients (Stargate builders), the daughter of a U.S. Senator, a hot-headed soldier who was in the brig before the evacuation began, and medic who was supposed to have been out of the army a week earlier.  The strongest dynamic for conflict is between the commanding officer and a civilian scientist who had been in charge of finding the answer to the puzzle.  There are several things that are unique to this new show within the franchise.  Two things primarily strike me so far.  First, there are no good guys among the cast.  Everyone is flawed and could do the wrong thing as easily as the right thing in a crisis.  During the course of the show, I thought I'd figured out who was the one the audience was supposed to like only to see them do something that made me dislike them...and then they'd do something good again.  This type of behavior was true for all of the actors.  All of them feel like they could go either way.  Second of all, there is no apparent "bad guy" alien race.  No Goa'uld, no Wraith, no Ori or Replicators.  So far, it's just the human cast isolated and trying to figure out how to get back home.
 
Stargate Universe seems to be an attempt by the franchise to create a more adult show which could have a much stronger serial episodic structure.  It does remind me a lot of Battlestar Galactica, but also Earth 2 and Space: Above and Beyond.  It's gritty, dark and many of the characters are both potentially heroic and unlikeable.  I'm not sure where the show is going, but I am eager to see if this flavor continues or if it reverts to the tired and familiar plotting of the first two series.

I liked it, but I hope it's not going to go down the road of dark living hell that BSG was.  Don't get me wrong. I loved BSG, but I hated the constant feeling of shit all the way through it. You know, like everything was hopeless, and they might as well kill themselves (like some did in bsg) to end it.