SGU

SGU is a new series which premiered last month. It’s the third franchise spawned by the 1994 film. Roger Ebert subjected the film to a witty and scornful review. While I basically agree with him as far as he goes, it’s a rather lopsided review. I think he takes the film too seriously. If you treat it as pure entertainment, then I think it works fairly well on its own level. A fun popcorn movie.

In particular, Kurt Russell is enjoyable in all the films I’ve seen of his. He brings a down-to-earth, all-American presence to his film work which is increasingly rare in Hollywood. That lends a deadpan humor to his role in this outing.

I saw the first few episodes of SG-1. However, it was too campy to retain my interest. I never saw SGA, which had some aging retreads from other SF series. For all I know, it may have been a fine series.

Thus far, SGU is promising, although it’s promise may be limited. Unfortunately, the female characters seem to be fairly bland, so I don’t see much potential for character development in that department.

Two of the male characters play conflicted loners. There’s Dr. Rush, an obsessive and somewhat misanthropic scientist. He’s not exactly evil. However, he’s prepared to sacrifice human life to satisfy his scientific curiosity.

Then there’s Lt. Scott, a lapsed Catholic. He’s an idealist who fell short of his ideals.

Thus far, these are the two most compelling characters. And they have the most dramatic potential.

You also have “Math Boy,” who exists for comic relief.

Col. Young is played by Louis Ferreira, a Canadian actor with proudly aristocratic Iberian features. To my recollection, he’s the at least the third Latino actor to play the commander of a star ship. Thus far he’s rather low-key. A steady hand at the helm. He lacks the dramatic range of Eddie Olmos or the melodramatic flair of Ricardo Montalbán.

Of primary interest is to see the way in which, if at all, a SF series deals with religious themes. Thus far, SGU strikes that chord on two different registers. There’s a Christian or Catholic subtext involving some of the characters. This is exemplified by the Lord’s Prayer.

There is also a “living dust cloud” (reminiscent of the Exodus) which guides Lt. Scott to an oasis in the desert.

The dust cloud is some sort of (intelligent) alien lifeform. However, aliens often represent the transcendental dimension in the SF genre. A secularized version of God.

We’ll see how the series develops–for better or worse.