A Strange Crossroads

I am the first person to admit that I have always watched way way too much television. It's been like that for a long time, and I tend to get pretty emotionally invested in most (if not all) of the onscreen universes that I visit each week. While I suppose I have my definite preferences in genre or format, I also think I've got a pretty broad range of what I enjoy. I also just unilaterally stay away from anything "unscripted"* (generally considered "reality" television) unless it is Jeopardy! or Wheel of Fortune (which to me are much, much more real than anything that falls under the "reality" umbrella). I think overall the common theme for me when it comes to what I consider good (or at least enjoyable) television is the characters. I can handle a lot of different ridiculous plots if I care about what happens to the people experiencing them.

Probably a lot of people would still say I watch too much television, but I have noticed a steep drop-off in my regular programming over the last year or so. Probably a lot of that has to do with my daughter--she gets dominion over the television until after Sesame Street most days and I have been making a concerted effort to leave the television off for most of the afternoon. Spending time with her doesn't leave me a lot of time (or the luxury) of sitting around watching a lot of television during the day. So yeah, there's that. But I have also noticed that the shows I do watch regularly have been coming to an end with more frequency of late. Series I watch ending this season (that we already know of) include: The Closer, Eureka, and In Plain Sight.

Yet I am finding in myself no real desire to replace them. As new shows launch, each season, there just isn't that much any more that sounds interesting to me. I used to give many new series a try every season, checking it out if it sounded even remotely intriguing or had a actor I liked or a science-fiction flavor. But those things really aren't enough to draw me in any more. Even the stuff that does sound interesting from initial previews or descriptions, or that has an actor I really do like to follow, will end up being left off my viewing schedule because I just don't feel like trying to get invested in something new.

That isn't to say that I don't still try new shows. I absolutely loved both Terra Nova and Alcatraz this season (though I am pretty sure neither is returning this fall), and USA has a new cop dramedy coming out next month that looks kind of amusing to me. But still, there are a lot of shows currently on the air that I suspect I would really like, but just never got into and don't really feel like making the effort to do so now (examples: Community, The New Girl, True Blood). Part of this, I am sure, is that there is so much crap to wade through nowadays that finding those few gems without watching everything is just impossible. It's not worth the effort, and so you make your gamble and roll the dice. Sometimes you win, sometimes you miss out. Then, the internet people try to tell me "OMG you have to watch this show it is fantastic!" and I dig in my heels and just refuse (even though I also do this same recommendation flail to my friends about shows I love all of the time). I am getting cantankerous in my old age, apparently.

So I find myself wondering just what it is that actually convinces me to try a new show these days. Again, I think it is the characters more than anything else. When I first hear about a show or see that preview, there has to be something there in the people on my screen that grabs my attention and taps on either my funny bone or my curiosity nerve. Still, it seems like it is getting to a point where every season there are more shows going off the air (or that I make the decision to walk away from) than new series I decide to try watching. This is probably a good thing in the long run. As much as I hate that feeling of knowing I am missing out on some great stories and shared experiences, it's not like it's gonna hurt me to do so. My life is still pretty awesome. It's not devoid of meaning because I missed out on getting into something my personal or online community all loved when it was new and fresh (or ever).

It just feels weird to me. Part of me is really looking forward to not having to try to find the time to watch nearly so much television--maybe I can use that time to read the quite literally impossible** pile of books I have stacking up (both physically and digitally). But...I don't know. I am not even sure what the point of this post is, other than this is something I have been thinking about for a while now and I wanted to get it out there.

I think...I think I am just starting to realize that as a culture we are getting way too damned creative, in that we are creating so much stuff that there's no way not to miss something great.

It's a weird sort of problem to have, isn't it?

*That "unscripted" title is crap, by the way. That is such a huge lie. Those people are so coached about what they are saying. Gotta enhance the "drama" dontcha know?


**Impossible in that I honestly do not know when I will ever find the time to read all of them but oh my goodness I so do want to find that time. I want to read them all! Then read some of them again. Sigh. And I keep adding books to the pile.

The Thing About Eureka

So this past week the internet (well, the part of it that I frequent at any rate) has been all abuzz about the breaking news that Eureka was "cancelled." I put the quotation marks in there because I honestly feel that "cancelled" is not actually an accurate term for what has happened here. The actual situation is this: Syfy officially decided not to renew the series for a sixth season. Currently airing on Syfy right now? The back half of season four. Season five is currently filming and about to wrap up, but will be aired in full next year.

In my mind, a show has been cancelled when it has a season in filming and the plug is pulled in such a way that filming shuts down at that point and/or the network yanks the show from the air, declining to show the remaining episodes (or burning them off in the summer well after the show is pulled from the regular schedule). Alternatively, I would consider a series cancelled when the current season has finished being produced, but not aired, and the series is not allowed any sort of chance to resolve the story of the show. Neither of those situations is the case here.

Now this isn't to say I'm not still upset about the news. It's just a little hard for my nerdrage to get a full head of steam when I know that there is a full season (and then some) left to go before I have to actually say goodbye to these characters and this story. Also, unless Warehouse 13 is also not picked up beyond Eureka's swan song, it isn't as if we won't still have an avenue to revisit these characters. With the crossovers the two shows have been doing of late, the door is wide open for characters from the quirky little town to meander over to the warehouse from time to time.

Do you want to know what really upsets me over this whole thing? It's not that a show I truly love is going away--that happens all the time, I am sadly getting used to it, and I will have the entire series on DVD to watch again whenever I want. It's not even that just last week, Syfy had gone on the record as stating that six episodes had already been ordered for the show's sixth season (said statement having been issued in order to reassure the fans that the show hadn't been cancelled, no less). No, what bugs me is that, justified or not, I think that this is just an idiotic move on Syfy's part.

Lemme 'splain.

The reason that Syfy has given, officially, for choosing not to pick up a sixth season is that right now the cost of producing Eureka can no longer be justified by the ratings it is receiving. Okay. That makes a modicum of sense, until you actually stop to think about it. Because there is still an entire season of this show to be aired after the current season wraps up (and a holiday episode). Has Syfy all of a sudden started employing fortune tellers? Do they already know what Eureka's season five ratings will be? Somehow, I don't think so.

Look, there are a number of factors that can influence a show's ratings. Among them are things that Syfy totally has within its control, such as what time of year to air a show, what day of week, what time of day, etc. Then, there is the show itself. As of yet there is no telling how this season's finale will impact what the viewership looks like when the show returns for its fifth season. In between the fourth and fifth seasons Syfy will have plenty of time to crunch some data and decide if and where to move Eureka on their schedule to attempt maximizing viewership and determine if the series is worth a sixth season pick up or if it is not. Based on why Syfy says it declined to continue the series, this only makes sense if they aren't planning to air the fifth season. That realization makes me nervous. While it would seem a ridiculous waste of their precious money to go that route, the network's track record isn't really reassuring.

I completely one-hundred percent understand their position that right now it doesn't make financial sense to renew the series for another season. The problem with that position is that it technically already has been, they are looking at the season after that. So why does that decision have to be made right now? Granted, I am not a television producer and I have no desire to get into the business. At all. But if it were me? I would have decided to wait and see. I would have held off on ordering/beginning production on anything for season six and given the show the first half of season five to find out what was up. Then I would make my decision. From what I can tell (thanks to my trusty friend, the internet) that is, after all, still the standard procedure for scripted television these days.

My suspicion is that it has to do with the cast. For one thing, there are contracts to consider. Five is a nice round number, and for many shows the goal in order to allow syndication. I don't think syndication is really a concern of Syfy, and Eureka tends to have shorter seasons, so that's likely not a factor. But maybe the actors' contracts were all originally for only five seasons and Syfy doesn't want to undergo the process of renegotiating and renewing them, especially given that doing so would probably mean they would all get a pay bump. Then, there is the matter of availability. Surely the actors need to know if and when they will need to be available to start producing the new season so that they can take that into consideration when offered or seeking other work. This trickles down to the crew as well, I am sure. But it sounds like the internet was informed before any of the cast or crew about the show's denial of a sixth season (another trademark bonehead move on the part of Syfy). Those that I follow seem genuinely surprised and upset about the situation. I think it is more than possible many of them would have accepted that the decision on season six had been delayed as long as they had a date on when they would be told for certain yes or no so they could get on with their lives in the mean time. But I am (more or less) an eternal optimist.

Putting all of that aside, however, this is still a frankly stupid move on Syfy's part, the way this went down. Because this? What this says to me, and to all of the other people out there who pay attention to this kind of stuff:

"Sorry kids, we just have no faith whatsoever in Eureka season five. We think it is crap. Don't even bother watching."

That can't be the message they are trying to send, not with a whole season of the series left to air and viewers to lure to their network, can it? But that is sure as hell how it sounds. Wil Wheaton has been heavily involved in season five, however, and he seems to think it is actually going to be a pretty fun ride. As he is a gentleman of discerning taste, I think I will go with his recommendation, rather than Syfy's mixed messages. They have already (frequently) proved themselves to be of questionable judgement. At the very least, I would like for someone at the network to sit down and reexamine the way they are producing these shows. Short seasons are fine, but call them what they are, don't give us six months (or more) between halves of one season. I would be perfectly fine if you wanted to break up the year into three or four "seasons" with six to ten episodes a season and have a year between full seasons as long as that's what we are admitting is going on. The British model is fine, it actually makes for some much tighter and much more amazing story telling. But the way you are trying to do it, Syfy? You are doing it wrong. Don't produce stuff so far in advance that you have no way of knowing if the expense will be justified. These practices aren't working for you, Syfy. Just stop.

I just feel like this network is on its way out. I am incredibly saddened by this, because Syfy has been the home to many wonderful, innovative shows that I just can't imagine on any other network currently in existence. I don't know where else we can go. But even though they keep trying out new shows, they always seem to be too scared to move much past the trial period, rather than giving the shows time to actually gather some steam--unless that show is not actually science fiction. But in trying to rebrand itself, Syfy has completely lost all sense of identity that it once held. It has consistently alienated the people it orginally (as Sci Fi Channel) set out to cater to. There is something to be said for sticking by the people who have been there with you from the beginning, rather than shoving them out the back door as soon as the general public starts to take notice of you. But Syfy isn't listening any more. Not to us. It is not enough to be financially/business savvy. You also have to build a loyal customer base, and you can't do that without a quality product. But once you have that loyal base? You have to maintain it, folks. Acting like you don't really care about them any more is only going to make them turn away, and that will make it triply hard to get them back once you realize you still need them. Yes, you're a business, but even if all you want is our money? You have to make us feel like we matter to you, too, or we'll go spend our time and money elsewhere.

Sigh.

I totally didn't mean to turn that into a rant. I guess my nerdrage did managed to kick in after all. The whole point of writing about this was to point out that I don't think the ending of Eureka, as much as I love it, is worth a rant. I just think it's stupid. Once it's over will I miss the show? Yes, I think I will. It was fun and silly and interesting and entertaining. I do my best to watch it live. I voted with my wallet and bought it on DVD. Syfy didn't think that was good enough. It is their call to make. I just wish sometimes that I didn't keep getting the message--especially from a network that started its life catering to exactly my kind of crowd--that what I like isn't worth it, you know?

New TV Scorecard: Alphas

Well Syfy finally premiered its summer shows this week. We won't discuss those weird pseudo-reality series they have debuting/premiering, but among the actually anticipated series (by this viewer, at any rate) were Eureka, Warehouse 13, Haven (premiering tonight), and new series Alphas.

I have to say, getting David Strathairn to head up one of their series is a major coup for Syfy. So off the bat I had high hopes for this series. The addition of Ryan Cartwright, most recently seen as one of the revolving squinterns on Bones and Laura Mennell, who will be a familiar face to fans of recent genre shows, are definitely nice bonuses. Along with a guest appearance by Callum Keith Rennie, yum. I don't have much to say about the rest of the cast yet, but as a whole the group seems to have a nice chemistry. They feel very much like a team that has an effective and efficient rhythm down despite the dysfunctional family dynamic they have going on.

The basic premise is nothing terribly new, a group of "evolved" humans, each with their own special ability, assembled by a super secret government branch work together to foil bad guys, said bad guys also being super-powered in most cases. We've got the chick who can use mind-control, a young woman capable of enhancing any one of her senses at a given time, a guy that can hulk out when needed, another able to see all electromagnetic frequencies (i.e., see all television/internet/cell phone signals in the air around himself), and another with crazy insane perfect aim. Then there's the goodly doctor who keeps them all in check and doles out the missions.

The pilot introduces the group to us and more or less demonstrates the recruitment process--the guy with ridiculous aim starts out as the puppet of the bad guys but is drafted into the White Hats (well, more like blackmailed, but it works) after he helps them right the wrongs he unwittingly committed. We learn of a group called Red Flag, also made up of Alphas (the people with powers) who are set on destroying the White Hats. That looks to be the big overarching season plotline right there. The episodes themselves look to be aiming toward a super-powered baddie of the week formula, but I could be wrong there.

The show itself didn't really bring anything new or fresh to the table, I'll admit, but it was entertaining enough. It has definite potential. The premise may not be fresh, but the execution was interesting, as were the characters. Not their powers, necessarily, but how they deal with those powers in their everyday lives. We are shown right off the bat that most of them have families at home who are unaware of what they do for a living. I will be curious see how things play out over the first season. As long as they can steer clear of the missteps made by other super-powered humans stories *cough*Heroes*cough* and avoid stealing too much for the comic books then we might have a pretty decent show on our hands.

One thing that makes me think Alphas might be headed in the right direction is the indication that these powers aren't unlimited or without repercussions. The woman who can hyperfocus, for instance, loses access to her other senses while she does so (i.e., she can't hear anything if she is "seeing") and the guy who hulks out can only go for so long before his body starts shutting down. I like that and look forward to how that gets explored as the season progresses.

I also really, really, like the fact that they drive around in a mini-van. It is actually a logical choice for their operation and the low profile they are trying to keep (their office seems to be in a building fronted by a bowling alley). Also, it's funny.

First Impression Rating: 7/10 (With fingers crossed and a hopeful optimism.)

Strange Convergences

I know I said last week that on Friday my friend and I were going to go out and see The King's Speech, but unfortunately it didn't pan out. The show was sold out when we arrived, because apparently I failed to take in how ridiculously hopping the 7th Street Movie Tavern would be last Friday. Sigh. So we were bummed we couldn't see the movie, and there didn't seem to be anything else playing soon that looked interesting to us, so we decided to just grab dinner instead. It would give us the chance to chat anyway, rather than just sitting next to each other in silence. We picked a restaurant, went in, and were told it would be an hour's wait. Sigh. Nope, not so much.

While I had been driving around looking for a place to park (the garage was, like the theater, packed), I had noticed that I ended up close to a restaurant called Dos Gringos. Now, I have driven past this restaurant often in the twelve years I've been in Fort Worth, and I have mocked its name relentlessly in that time, but I have never actually eaten there. But, it was off the main stretch, away from the throng of hipsters who were thwarting our evening out, and the price point seemed to fit what we were looking at, so we figured what the heck and gave it a try. Okay, the food, it was not spectacular, and the service was a weensy bit lacking, but it wasn't terrible, and my friend and I had a mostly enjoyable meal and some good conversation, so the evening was not a total loss. We had fun, it was good. But I gotta say, the place was weird. My friend commented on how it just had a lot of pieces that didn't seem to fit together correctly, as if someone had dumped the pieces of two different puzzles in one box and mixed them up. The primary example of this was the live band in the bar. I'll be honest with you, I didn't even realize the band was live until about halfway through dinner, I really just thought they had a classic light rock station on. What's that, you say? Classic light rock in a Mexican restaurant? (Well, Tex-Mex.) Not Tejano? Not Country? Nope. Strange. Even the list of songs they played was a strange mix--ranging from Neil Diamond to Tom Petty's "Last Dance With Mary Jane." Also, their bathrooms were freezing.

Oh well, at least now I have a valid reason to mock the place, right? Also, my friend and I had a good time, which was the important thing.

I have to say, I was a little bummed I wasn't gonna get to get my Colin Firth on though. So I was super excited on Saturday when I discovered that Syfy's cheesy movie of the week was one I hadn't seen starring Kavan Smith. Yay! This week's monster flick, Iron Invader, was actually pretty darn amusing to me, I have to say. It had a super silly plot about alien bacteria that feeds off of metal taking over a big statue made out of scrap and wandering around a small town in Idaho, killing people by sucking all of the metal out of their blood. The effects were spectacularly low-budget (I am pretty sure the "bacteria" was just neon green paint with iron fillings mixed in that were manipulated with a magnet). But it was the casting, man, the casting is what really got me.

Here is the conversation I imagine the casting people had when putting together this movie:

"Hey, who is our lead for this one?"

"Kavan Smith."

"Oh, hey, yeah. He's cool. I loved him in Stargate Atlantis, and isn't he on Eureka now, too? Oh, and he had a brief appearance in Battlestar Galactica....dang, I think he's been in just about all of our big franchises, hasn't he?"

"Huh. I guess he has. Hey, you know what would be funny?"

"What's that?"

"Let's cast a bunch of people from all of the other Syfy shows he's been in!"

"Yeah, right on!"

So....this resulted in the cast being rounded out with:

Nicole de Boer, who appeared in the Stargate Atlantis episode "Whispers."

(Interesting fun side fact number one: She was also in the movie Cube with another SGA alum, David Hewlett.)

Donnelly Rhodes, who you may know better as Doc Cottle from Battlestar Galactica.

Paul McGillion, who you may know better as Doctor Carson Beckett from Stargate Atlantis (and who in this film for some strange reason had a southern accent, even though he was playing a small town sheriff in Idaho).

(Interesting fun side fact number two: Donnelly Rhodes was also a series regular on Canadian series Da Vinci's Inquest--which is, as far as I can gather, the equivalent of Law & Order in the Canadian acting community--and Paul McGillion made a guest appearance on that series back in the day.)

Chris Gauthier, who you may know better as Vincent from Eureka.

(Interesting fun side fact number three: Paul McGillion and Christ Gauthier and Kavan Smith have all made guest appearances on Syfy's Sanctuary.)

I know people joke about Syfy owning the actors that appear in their original series and "forcing" them to do these silly made-for-television movies, but dude. My head was seriously about to explode going over how connected all of these actors were. It was crazy. In the most awesome way possible.

I think that, along with The Room at the End of the Hall (or The Nightmare at the End of the Hall, depending on which country you are in), Iron Invader will be one of those television movies that I regularly record whenever it comes on. You gotta love those guilty pleasure movies, eh?

Merry Christmas, Have Some Eureka!

Alas, the SGU mid-season hiatus has begun, so no Stargate Wednesday for a while.  To tide us over for a bit and get us into the holiday mood, however, last night Syfy did air all-new holiday episodes of Eureka and Warehouse 13. 

While I enjoyed them both immensely, the main effect these had on me was to remind me how psyched I am for the back half of Eureka's current season to start airing.  The holiday episode that aired last night (in both cases, actually) was a completely stand-alone episode.  It didn't touch on any of the current season's plot lines (other than to keep up the status quo with the altered time line established in the first half of the season).  There were hints at some of the romantic pairings we've seen so far this season, but nothing overt, so that anyone watching wouldn't assume something was going on if they didn't already know about it.  Also, sadly, there was no Deputy Andy.  (Three guesses who plays Deputy Andy.  The first two don't count.)

The casting tidbits alone for the rest of the season have my inner geek practically salivating.  Wil Wheaton appeared in a couple of episodes in the front half of season, and from what I have heard around the web, he is back in a big way when the show returns.  In addition, Felicia Day will be coming on with a fairly meaty recurring role for the rest of the season.  Other lined up guest stars include Wallace Shawn, Aaron Douglas, and Dave Foley.  The idea of any of these people puttering around in America's secret little genius haven is splendid, but all of them?!?  Now, please!

Eureka is one of those shows that I absolutely adore, but also somehow manage to forget about when it is not airing.  But then, as soon as it starts back up, I fall in love with it all over again.  There is a lot in it that should be cliched or trite, or has just plain been done before.  It shouldn't be nearly as awesome as it is.  But somehow, every time the episode starts, and the problem is identified, you think to yourself, Oh, I know where they are going with that! and then the show promptly does a 180 and heads off in a completely different direction altogether.  The show deals with some heavy issues without ever forgetting its lighthearted base.  It also completely embraces the quirkiness of the premise and refuses to take itself too seriously.  Viewers have fun watching this show because this show is not afraid to have fun with itself.

Seriously, how many shows would make the main character's house one of the major secondary characters on the show?  And then give that house a boyfriend?  (The town's artificially intelligent police deputy, no less.)  And oh yes, that plot line will apparently continue throughout the season at least.  Color me delighted.

Also, the writers (who are all insanely talented) realize that the true heart of this show is its characters, and they continue to focus on them season in and season out.  We care about these people, we want to see them succeed and grow and find happiness. This is helped along not only by the crazily talented writers but also by the wonderfully talented cast.  These people exude a charm and chemistry with each other that hands down beats that of almost any other show on television.  My mom and step-father, neither of whom would remotely consider themselves genre fans, absolutely love this show too.  And the reason for that is because it is a completely fantastic television series that just happens to also be a science fiction show. 

People often wonder why genre shows have such a hard time succeeding in today's entertainment world, and I think that there is a very valuable lesson to be learned from Eureka, as well as the other successful genre shows, of which I can actually think of a few off the top of my head.  Start with your basic premise, and if it happens to be science fiction, that's great, but when you go on to build the actual show, if the only thing you're focusing on is the science fiction aspect of it, well, you're going to lose people.  Focus on the show itself--on the people and on the stories they have to tell.  That is what keeps people coming back for more, regardless of what category the show might get filed under.  "Good" is a cross-genre category, my friends.

And now, for your Wednesday viewing pleasure, and apropos of nothing, I leave you with this--The Princess Bride with light sabers:




Good day to you!

Stargate Wednesday: Resurgence (2.10)

Beware of spoilers folks.

There were quite a few things going on this week's episode of SGU, and of course you know it ended on a heckuva cliffhanger since this is the mid-season finale.  I thought the episode was pretty awesome sauce.  I just hope lots of people out there agreed, because I will, quite frankly, be extremely sad if the series doesn't get a third season pickup.  The decision about that is due to be made in the next month or so, before the back half of season two airs.  So, my fingers are crossed.  On to the episode!

Plot A dealt with the scientists on the bridge discovering an anomalous energy signature about a day's travel (in FTL) from Destiny's current location.  They talk Young into letting them go check it out, promising that it could be an energy source or some sort of cool new toy.  Or, possibly a new alien species.  Volker tries to point out to them all that the last three times they have encountered a new alien species on this trip things have gone horribly, terribly wrong.  No one listens, Park points out that you can't judge a neighborhood by a few bad neighbors, to which Volker retorts that actually that is exactly the standard you should be using to judge your neighborhoods.  He is overruled though, and they go check it out.  Guess who was right about what they would find?  Gold star to you if you said Volker.

They arrive at the energy signal to find out it is actually the combined signals of several ruined and derelict spaceships.  They have, in fact, discovered the remains of some old space battle.  Someone calls it a battlefield.  Camille says that's what it used to be, but now it's a graveyard.  Of course, they decide to explore the battlefield to see if they can scavenge any cool spare parts or toys that aren't broken too badly.  Scott, Greer, and Brody take off in the newly recovered shuttle (how convenient, eh?) and find a ship that appears to be mostly intact, with a bonus hole blown in one side for easy access, yay!  But just after Greer and Brody get on board the derelict ship (with a wonderful little byplay between the two), little spaceships start powering up all over the battlefield/graveyard and attacking Destiny.  If only they had brought Admiral Ackbar along, he would have been able to tell them what was what.  Of course, you know that Volker is walking around grumbling "I told you so." under his breath for the rest of the episode.

They try to defend themselves from the attack long enough for the shuttle to get back to the ship so they can then jump away into FTL.  The shuttle does make it back, intact, with all of its crew (yay!), but it is too late to jump, the ship's FTL drives have been damaged.  Damnit.  Fortunately, just then, right that very second when all hope seems lost, a seed ship appears!  The voice of Colonel Telford comes over the radio and says "Come with me if you want to live!"  Okay, he didn't really say that, but he did tell them to follow him, and proceeded to lead Destiny straight to, and then through, the nearest star.  Hooray, Lou Diamond Phillips is back!

As soon as they made for the star I realized what they were doing.  Destiny is fueled by starlight or something.  That means that it can withstand the heat of a star, which most other ships really can't.  It actually made such perfect sense that I had to stop and wonder why they needed LDP to show up and tell them to do that in the first place.  But hey, it brought back LDP, so I won't complain.  Indeed, we see several of the attacking ships try to follow and get burned up into crispy little cinders.  So they fly through the star and park on the other side, trying to figure out how to fix their ship and get the hell out of there before the attackers figure out they can just, you know, go around the star.

We find out what happened to LDP.  The aliens who took over the seed ship (the Ursini) were desperate try to get home, but they can't because there's a mother ship for all of those little attacker ships blocking their way.  Turns out those attacker ships are automated drones woken up by the Ursini a while back and they have been fighting the buggers ever since.  But if they can take out the command ship, all of the drones will shut down and they can go home.  That's why they wanted the seed ship, because apparently they didn't realize it isn't armed?  Whatever.  Anyway, they made friends with Telford and followed Destiny as soon as they could (we learn it has been a month since he got left behind).  The Ursini make a deal with the crew of Destiny.  They'll give them a lift in FTL to somewhere safe so that they can make the repairs to the ship if they will then use Destiny to take out the drone command ship.

There's a lot of back and forth wondering if the Ursini can be trusted, and if they should accept the deal but double cross them, or if they should just hold up the deal.  Young votes for holding up the deal if the Ursini will let the crew use the seed ship to dial Earth.  So, they hitch a ride, thinking they'll be in FTL for about four hours or so on their way to a safe place where they can make repairs.  But they drop out of FTL way too early and our crew finds themselves facing the command ship.  Turns out the Ursini decided to double-cross them, unwilling to let them make repairs and get the chance to escape before taking out their enemy.  So, they have a damaged ship that can't go anywhere and are severely outgunned by the command ship, which opens devastating fire on them almost immediately.  And there endeth the episode.  We've got to wait a month or two to find out what happens next.  Sigh.

But like I said, there was a lot of other stuff going on too.

Plot B revolved around Chloe's continuing transformation.  She's trying to push Scott away so it will hurt less when she's "gone." She doesn't believe her transformation can be stopped, and actually thinks it is getting close to complete.  At the end of the episode when they find themselves face to face (so to speak) with the drone command ship, a very non-Chloe sounding Chloe convinces Eli to take her to the bridge so she can help them fight the battle.  The guard outside her door starts to protest and she takes him out like it was nothing and then proceeds to beat the crap out of everyone in between her and a control room.  Eli calls for help and they try to seal her into the section but Super Chloe is wily and gets through.  Scott finally catches up with her just as she snaps out of her daze, and we realize she's done something to the ship, but won't find out what until the season starts back up again.

Mini-plot C revolves around Eli's growing crankiness and despondency over the loss of Ginn, and apparently Riley as well.  Oh Riley, I miss you.  So we got to see some interesting character growth with him.  He had some interesting heart-to-hearts with Rush and with Camille.  But there is no real forward movement.  He is still lost and hurt and angry at the world, and coming just a little bit more unglued every day, it seems.  We also learn, thanks to this mini-plot, that the crew has been aboard Destiny for ten months now.  Yay for establishing a timeline!

And finally, mini-plot C revolves around T.J. and her growing friendship with Varro.  We also find out how she's doing in the wake of learning that her baby was never on Eden (formerly known as Planet of the Crazy People).  She now believes that it was the ship trying to comfort and protect her through the neuro-link that caused her to have that vision when she lost the baby.  That is actually a really decent explanation for the nebula that was in her vision and that she saw from the window when she woke up.  So yay, plot resolution, huzzah!

I felt that this episode was actually an excellent example of something that SGU is doing right that the previous two iterations never really managed to get down.  The scientists.  In SG-1 it was more about going on missions and saving the day and being soldiers.  One of the scientists was also a soldier from the beginning, and the other, the roly poly academic type, quickly learned to be a soldier as well.  Atlantis took a step closer in the right direction with McKay, and gave him colleagues to geek out with in Zelenka and Beckett, but still, they were just ancillary characters and it always felt like the scientific part of the mission got pushed aside more often than not.  But in SGU there are five regular cast members that are purely scientists.  The soldiering is done by the soldiers, and they are trying to learn to work with the scientists, certainly, but neither group is trying to do the other group's job (with the exception of the failed coup, but they seemed to have learned their lesson there).  I loved SG-1 and Atlantis, don't get me wrong, but I am really enjoying the sciency (yes, I know that's not a real word) side of SGU.  In at least half of the episodes so far, there is no actual bad guy to shoot at, the problem is in figuring out how things work so that they can be fixed or kept working.  I am really digging that. 


All in all, an excellent episode, and it did its job, leaving me wanting more.  Too bad more won't be coming any time soon.  Stupid Syfy and your weird programming schedule.  Bah.  This episode had a little bit of everything:  character development, many little moments of humor, technobabble, a space battle, aliens, and artificially intelligent spaceships.  It actually felt to me like a classic Stargate episode.  I don't think every episode of SGU should feel that way, but every once in a while it is nice.

Bonus!  Next week we get holiday episodes of Eureka and Warehouse 13 to ease us into the hiatus gently.