Stargate: Universe Season One (www.the-usher.com)

Air Part 1, 2 & 3
A research team studying the Stargate's ninth chevron is forced to flee through the gate when their secret base is attacked by an unknown enemy. They end up stranded on an Ancient ship named Destiny, billions of light years from Earth. The evacuees from Icarus Base discover that the life-support system on the Destiny will fail in a matter of hours. Lt. Scott and Dr. Rush travel to a desert planet to locate a mineral essential to Destiny's life support system.

Darkness
Dr. Nicholas Rush tries to find out why the ship's power reserves are critically low. Colonel Young orders everyone to limit the power consumption. Eventually everything apart from the life support goes out. However, Destiny reaches a solar system with three planets giving them hope to live another day.

Light
The crew is in close proximity to one of the three planets. Colonel Young tells everyone that only fifteen people can go in the shuttle and a lottery will determine their fate.

Water
To replenish their supplies the crew attempts to harvest water from an ice planet. While Young and Scott gather the ice, a swarm of alien creatures attack a soldier and threaten the rest of the crew.

Earth
The Ancient communication stones are used to allow a few crewmembers' consciousnesses to return to Earth to go over a risky plan that could bring the crew home.

Time
On a mission to a jungle world, an away team finds a Kino with footage of themselves they haven't shot yet.

Life
Some of the crew uses the Ancient Long Range Communications Device to reassure their loved ones that they are okay.

Justice
When one of the crew becomes the prime suspect in a crime, the others must determine the individual's guilt.

Space
When the communication stones malfunction and transport Young's consciousness to an unknown alien vessel, the crew of the Destiny reveal themselves to a powerful race.

Divided
Several of the civilians on Destiny execute a coup and take over control of the ship from the military personnel.

Faith
Destiny stops near a planet with an abundance of food and water but its countdown clock isn't running.

Human
While experimenting with the ship's computer, Rush flashes back to a time of personal tragedy.

Lost
Greer is trapped in rubble and left for dead on a desolate planet, while Scott, Eli, and Chloe try to navigate the Stargate network to try to get back to Destiny before it leaves the galaxy.

Sabotage
When one of the 16 FTL drive modules on the Destiny explodes due to an apparent overload, the crew calls upon a brilliant scientist from Earth to help find a solution.

Pain
The Destiny crew is plagued by visions of their worst fears when a parasitic infestation strikes an away team.

Subversion
Rush believes someone involved with the Destiny has been spying on them for the Lucian Alliance.

Incursion Part 1 & 2
Commander Kiva of the Lucian Alliance manages to board the Destiny and take several of the crew hostage. As Young and Camille attempt to resolve the hostage crisis with Kiva, Destiny suffers from power fluctuations and blackouts due to its proximity to a binary pulsar.

After two extremely successful TV series, can the third Stargate show keep up the momentum of the SG1 and Atlantis?

When Robert C. Cooper and Brad Wright brought Roland Emmerich�s �Stargate� movie to the small screen in 1997, little did they know that they were creating a franchise that would grow to rival the stalwart of science fiction television, Star Trek. Taking the story of the film and creating a whole new mythos, the series mixed action and drama to become one of the most watched sci-fi series of all time. Even when �Star Trek� disappeared from the small screen, �Stargate SG-1� and its spin off series �Stargate Atlantis� grew in popularity and as both series came to an end, Cooper and Wright introduced the third live action �Stargate� series, entitled �Universe�.

Some could argue that the two spin off series from �Stargate SG-1� have similar themes to the �Star Trek� shows, with Atlantis taking place in a mobile city/space station like Deep Space Nine and now �Universe� taking place on a ship lost in another galaxy, similar to Voyager but the new show does follow some of the trends set by Trek and other equally successful Sci-Fi shows, most noticeably �Battlestar Galactica�. The difference between the two previous shows is that Universe is clearly aimed more at drama than some of the fun episodes that became part of SG-1 and Atlantis. Here we have a make shift crew of civilians and US Army troops having to work together after they are transported to an Ancient ship called Destiny. This is a ship that predates the Ancient ability to achieve ascension, with the ship traveling the universe carrying a stargate so they could gate in from anywhere within the universe. This means that ship is extremely old and therefore is even more dangerous than been transported to a whole new galaxy. Destiny is also on autopilot, only dropping out of faster than light travel (FTL) when an inhabitable world with a stargate is within reach, meaning the new crew is just along for the ride. This creates drama through the premise of survival and how the military and the civilian population cope with the continuingly dangerous situations.

For a series like this, you need a cast that can cope with drama for the entire run of the series. Were SG-1 and Atlantis had larger-than-life characters, superhero types like Jack O�Neil, John Shepard, Teal�c and Ronon Dex who would go into battle and save the day. For Universe, Cooper and Wright have brought together a cast of new real heroes but vulnerable, scared but driven individuals who clash at every opportunity. British actor Robert Carlyle is Dr. Nicholas Rush, a driven scientist who sees Destiny as his greatest discovery and a puzzle that he needs to understand, whatever the cost. Justin Louis is Colonel Everett Young, the officer thrown into command and conflict with the civilian population because of his methods. Brian J. Smith is Lt. Matthew Scott, a young but skilled soldier and Young�s most trusted officer. David Blue is uber-geek Eli Wallace, a gifted geek picked out by Rush after completing a video game designed by the scientist. Alaina Huffman is Lt. Tamara Johansen, a field medic turned doctor with a past that could cause problems. Jamil Walker Smith is hothead Master Sgt. Ronald Greer, who takes far too many risks and has a very short fuse. Elyse Levesque is Chloe Armstrong, the daughter and assistant to a US governor who is entangled in the whole situation. Leading the civilians is Ming-Na as Camile Wray, who wants control of Destiny taken away from the military. These main cast members are very different to what Stargate has done before, more believable and less �Superhero� like, this makes for a different kid of Stargate show.

With many shows contained within the ship, this has given the writers time to get to know more about the history and background of all the key characters, making this a very different Stargate series. Over the course of this powerful and drama filled first season, you will be invested in the characters and their situation from the off. Very different from SG-1 and Atlantis and all the better for it, Stargate Universe is more drama than fantasy but with enough science fiction to keep fans watching and little enough to attract a whole new audience. This is quality Sci-Fi and great human drama rolled into one excellent piece of television.

PICTURE & SOUND

The Blu-Ray disc presents the movie in High Definition wide screen 1:85 up to 1080p, with Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround sound.

BONUS FEATURES

Destiny SML (Star Map Log)
View the course of Destiny and how it relates to each key episode of the series

Stargate 101: Presented by Dr Daniel Jackson
The classic Stargate SG-1 character presents the full version of the intro video that Eli watched in the first episode.

Kino Video Diaries
Watch the crew kino dairies in full that were shown on the show and online.

Episode commentaries
Listen to episode commentaries featuring Executive Producer Robert C. Cooper, David Blue, Ming Na, Brian J. Smith, Louise Ferreira, Director William Waring, Elyse Levesque, Jamil Walker Smith, Andy Mikita, Jim Menard and Mark Savela.

David Blue: An Interview with the Creators of SG-U
Eli himself interviews the people behind Stargate Universe

Designing a New Race: Space Aliens
The completely new computer generated alien race for Stargate Universe are talked about.

Tanked! Elyse Levesque Goes for a Swim
Watch how Chloe is placed in a water tank after been taken by aliens

Chatting with the Cast: Peter Kelamis
The man who plays Adam Brody in the series talks about his character and Stargate Universe

Brian J. Smith: An Interview with the Creators of SG-U
Lt. Matthew Scott talks to the creators of Stargate Universe

Finding Destiny: A Tour of the Destiny Set with Chris Beach
Art director Chris Beach takes you on a trip around the huge set of Destiny

OVERALL

The Blu-Ray treatment for �Stargate Universe� is excellent. Fans of the series will rejoice in the featurettes but it is the commentary tracks that standout, making this a great value package.

BLU-RAY

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