Stargate Universe, Defying Gravity

2009 has not been kind to sci-fi. It's been the year of the great forgetting. Writers, producers, directors - cumulatively discarding the very essence of sci-fi's attraction. Gone are wonder, amazement, awe. We've been given in their place soapy dilutions; story arcs that forget to tell a story; characters that are neither introspective nor dynamic, merely boring. Who in his right mind would send these casts of mediocrity off planet, let alone into what should have been our great adventures?

Placing 'Stargate' before 'Universe' does a great disservice to a very good body of work. Nearly everything in the 'Stargate' canon has been discarded. A good idea gone bad in its telling. A tedious use of stones to return to earth merely for bad episodes of daytime television. Can we find a single character onboard this variously dated ship with whom we'd actually want to share a beer or dinner? A series cluttered with whining, needling and berating wannabes.

Great anticipation, awful letdown. That sums 'Defying Gravity', ABC / CTV 2009. Interminable stretches of pre-ship relationship failures, career bumps, drinking bouts and gyms. Enormous chunks of filler material with hardly any payback for our patience. 13 episodes to reach the first stop: Venus. Our reward? I'm still waiting.

I've recently watched Star Trek: Enterprise again. Most of the 4 seasons, anyway. Whatever its failings may be, the writers understood forward motion. They understood movement, both in time and space. They understood that a series needs flow, anticipation, satisfaction. They threw ideas at their audience with abandon. But more on Enterprise, as well as Voyager and Babylon 5 later.

Ratings for these two clunkers: 3 stars out of 10. It is the Holiday Season, after all.