History Series / StargateUniverse

In June 2017, the series ''finally'' got a continuation in the form of a comic book series picking up immediately after Season 2.

* ShownTheirWork: The student's answer to Rush's question in "Human". They might as well have used some technobabble, but instead it was a completely accurate description of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shors_algorithm Shor's algorithm]] pulled straight from TheOtherWiki.

** "Water" contains one for ''TheEmpireStrikesBack'' when Eli mentions that they've "entered the Hoth system," in which he also takes a jab at the prequel films by refusing to call it "Episode V".

The - thus far as of 2016 - final installment of the ''Franchise/{{Stargate|Verse}}'' franchise that began in 2009 and ended in 2011.

** A lot of astronomy and astrophysics concepts are presented realistically (e.g. Park's explanation of some of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitability_of_red_dwarf_systems#Tidal_effects barriers to habitability]] for planets orbiting red dwarf stars), or at least in a way that isn't technically impossible (such as the accretion-driven radiation bursts of the binary pulsar system in the Season 1 finale).

** A lot of astronomy concepts are presented realistically, such as Park's explanation of some of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitability_of_red_dwarf_systems#Tidal_effects the problems]] with habitable planets in red dwarf systems.

** Some astronomy concepts are surprisingly well-researched, such as Park's explanation of some of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitability_of_red_dwarf_systems#Tidal_effects the problems]] with habitable planets in red dwarf systems.

** Eli again ([[SarcasmMode surprise]]) jokingly refers to an energy signature in "Resurgence" as [[TwoThousandOne a black monolith]].

** More depressingly, MGM financial woes were one of the main factors that contributed to being SGU cancelled. Likewise, due to the immense momentum behind WWE's Friday Night Smackdown (which SyFy acquired the rights to broadcast), SyFy had to pick only one show to keep on Fridays. They picked Sanctuary which did strongly enough to gain additional seasons while SGU was moved to Tuesday with no other original programming to support it and going up against the likes of ''Series/DancingWithTheStars'' and NCIS.

** More depressingly, MGM financial woes were one of the main factors that contributed to being SGU cancelled. Likewise, due to the immense momentum behind WWE's Friday Night Smackdown (which SyFy acquired the rights to broadcast), SyFy had to pick only one show to keep on Fridays. They picked Sanctuary which did strongly enough to gain additional seasons while SGU was moved to Tuesday with no other original programming to support it and going up against the likes of DancingWithTheStars and NCIS.

* PetTheDog: Rush to Eli, [[ButchCassidyAndTheSundanceKid "For a moment there, I thought we were in trouble."]]

** Dr. Rush, surprisingly, does one in "Time" with ''ButchCassidyAndTheSundanceKid'', saying Butch's famous last line as he dives through an unstable wormhole, then again when it is revealed they're all going to die soon. Young recognizes the quote and explains that the film is a favorite of his, too. The quote itself is also sheer FridgeBrilliance, since it foreshadows the BolivianArmyEnding to the episode. In keeping with the role reversal, Eli does not get the reference.

* ColonelBadass: For the first few episodes, Col. Young appeared as if his his character should've been named Col. [[{{Peanuts}} Charlie Brown]]. But... after finally deciding "enough is Enough," he hauled off and kicked three kinds of ass. And he did it to the show's two resident {{Jerkass}}es, using some pretty neat cunning to pull it off, too. Yep, he's officially a BadAss.

** Though see the AllInTheManual entry above - the volunteers who switch with ''Destiny'' crewmembers apparently sign a consent form allowing this use of their bodies, and requiring that they don't do anything that could "negatively impact relations on the ship." These volunteers assume "personal" use of their bodies, but the ''Destiny'' crewmembers typically assume that won't happen with theirs (though it isn't explicitly disallowed).

** Getting to the point where this might need its own page. Eli has another in "Life", referencing ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}'' when he describes the catastrophic effects attempting to dial home as "dogs and cats living together."

* AlmostOutOfOxygen: The subject of "Air", specifically the [=CO2=] poisoning variety.

* ArcWelding: The Lucian Alliance subplot, which was left unresolved during the final season of ''Stargate Sg-1'' is picked up here.

* ExcessiveSteamSyndrome: For some as of yet unexplained reason, there are [[strike:steam]] [=CO2=] vents on the floor of the gate room of the ''Destiny''. They fire every time the wormhole closes.

* AbortedArc: In universe, Destiny itself is an aborted arc. The Ancients built it as part of a project [[spoiler:to investigate a signal seemingly built in to the universe itself]] that they abandoned once they achieved Ascension.

** One point clarified in the webisodes is that the volunteers who trade bodies with Destiny's crewmembers sign consent forms allowing "personal" use of their bodies. Without this knowledge, there's been a fair bit of [=Fridge Logic=] Squick from fans who wonder about what these people would think.

* ApocalypticLog: Eli is smart enough to realize that he should put one together, since they could all die at any moment. His comrades think this is silly, but it saves all their asses in "Time" and proves Young innocent in "Justice". And in "Common Descent", [[spoiler: his Kino logs end up as a sort of big book of how to's for a civilization founded by the Destiny's crew 2000 years ago.]]

** Nope. He was uploaded to Destiny's computer.

** Subverted in the following episode, "Epilogue". Despite having lost ''Destiny'' and being forced to start over from scratch on a brand new world, the alternate Destiny crew are shown to have lived far richer, happier lives. What's more, their descendants went on to build a great Ancient-esque civilisation based the strong work ethic, curiosity and optimism of the characters. Except for that whole Cold War period they went through, but luckily extinction proved a bigger motivator than their petty differences.

* BecauseDestinySaysSo: The characters find themselves dependent on ''Destiny'''s needs for their own survival (like material to get the air filters working), but ''Destiny'' conveniently brings them to planets where they can gather the necessary materials. Some characters early on decide to [[ScrewDestiny Screw]] ''[[ScrewDestiny Destiny]]'' and abandon ship, but most of the crew members view the ship's presence at a location as proof enough that it is worth exploring.

** Eli's t-shirt. In "Lost" they get stranded in an underground labyrinth, and Eli laments the race that built it didn't think of making a map with a big red dot marking your location, like they have at malls. He opens his jacket and points at his t-shirt, which has the same red dot and text;

** Later shown, even [[InsufferableGenius Rush]] has to admit that Eli being able to pilot Destiny through a Blue-Supergiant is something even ''he'' didn't think was possible to do.

** Though see the AllInTheManual entry above - the volunteers who switch with Destiny crewmembers apparently sign a consent form allowing this use of their bodies, and requiring that they don't do anything that could "negatively impact relations on the ship." These volunteers assume "personal" use of their bodies, but the Destiny crewmembers typically assume that won't happen with theirs (though it isn't explicitly disallowed).

* Expy: Jason and Ellie in "Common Descent" seem to be this to Eli and Chloe. [[spoiler: Justifiable as they're descendants of the "Twin Destiny" crew]].

** [[spoiler: The final fate of Eli Wallace, if you interpret his final interaction with Rush and Young to be an acknowledgement that he was lying to everyone about being able to fix the last stasis pod, because he wished all of his friends to survive. This certainly would cast light on [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYnCuXQF6nQ the look of peaceful resignation he displays during his last scene, staring out of Destiny's viewing deck at the stars]].]]

** Of course, we later find out that it's a hallucination created by Destiny after scanning his mind in "Human", meaning Rush was essentially arguing with the ship in that scene. Which is only slightly ''less'' insane on the face of it.

* JitterCam: While ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' probably was an influence, the producers have mentioned shows like ''{{Series/Firefly}}'' and even ''Series/TheShield'' when discussing this element. They even had ''The Shield'''s director of photography working on the pilot to help them establish it. There's one bit where Eli manages to find a remote-controlled hovering camera, and he looks into the lens in [[TheOffice much the same way Jim does]]. The later episodes seem to tone down the use of the jitter save for instances where they're trying to establish a certain feel such as when the crew does [=EVAs=] on the hull of the Destiny.

* {{Nerf}}: The Destiny Stargates. Semi-justified in that they're millions of years old and were the first prototypes, so they lack both the range and many of the failsafes the later Stargates posessed.
** A single Drone Ship is able to blow a hole through one of the Gates that snaps part of it like a twig... compared to the later Gates that could withstand naquadah-enhanced nuclear weapons, proximity to blackholes, direct meteor-impacts, and being thrown into Stars. The Destiny Stargates seem to be remarkably fragile, though this could be justified as well. Destiny Stargates are designed for portability and ease of assembly & placement, rather than durability under extreme circumstances - essentially the difference between a prefabricated shed and a sturdy frame house with a solid foundation.

** Also averted in the UnwinnableTrainingSimulation in "Trial and Error": the aliens just surrounded Destiny and started shooting it
** Mostly averted in "Resurgence": Destiny doesn't really maneuver around (it's kind of pointless since they are a huge target and the drones are fast and have pretty fast projectiles) and the drones are only flying circles around it (and get shot frequently, but there are lots of them).

** [[{{Jerkass}} Telford]] gets one of these every once in a while - he's not exactly a pleasant person, but it's still clear that he cares about the Destiny's crew every bit as much as Young does, just in a different way.

** In ''Seizure'', after experiencing the Destiny simulation, which allows for true-to-life physical interaction, Rush notes that maybe he should let Eli use the program so he can ''physically interact'' with Ginn, who like Amanda Perry, is likewise trapped inside the computer.

* PromotionToOpeningTitles: Telford gets this in the back end of season 2 thanks to [[spoiler: being a BigDamnHero and thus getting stuck on Destiny with the rest.]]

** Eli. Especially when you consider that he was able to figure out the Ninth Chevron to get to Destiny, his alternate self was practically the father of civilisation on Novus, writing thousands of textbooks on various subjects and taught all of their descendants, and the mission of Destiny is to find ''evidence of God''.
** Furthermore, [[spoiler: one of the suggestions for how Eli might have gotten out of the situation at the end of "Gauntlet" was to [[BrainUploading upload himself]] into the ship, essentially making him a new avatar for Destiny. We already saw Amanda Perry was smart enough to figure out some of the ship's controls and effect the ship whilst she was in the main database, meaning that someone like Eli could eventually ''become'' the ship itself]]!

** The finale: [[spoiler: With grim prospects for Destiny's survival in the current galaxy, the crew plan a continuous, three-year, FTL jump into the adjacent one Destiny had intended to visit next. With only a month's worth of supplies, and rather than waiting out the journey, the crew instead man the ship's stasis pods, effectively putting the whole show on a bus.]]

** Averted with the [[spoiler:drones in the S2 mid-season finale]]. Destiny flies through a star in order to buy time for repairs since they'll have to circumnavigate the star.
*** Averted again with the drone ships later. The ships start position themselves at stars [[spoiler: which destiny needs to refuel]] and planets, which the crew need for supplies. When Telford states that the drones can't possibly be at every star/planet, it's pointed out they only have to be at the next one.

** Not averted in "Common Descent" however, where when Destiny cuts power to the sublight engines while they're trying to keep their distance from a threat, the ship is stated to have "slowed down"

* SpaceshipSlingshotStunt: One of Destiny's shuttle attempts the maneuver around a planet to catch up to Destiny itself.

*** Then even zanier in "Common Descent": [[spoiler:the crew of the other destiny didn't die, they reappeared about 2000 years in the past and started a prospering civilization.]]

** The two scientists from "Air Part 3" who create a work-around so they can dial a Stargate that Destiny intentionally locked out. Later attempts to contact them only produce static.

** Also simultaneously played straight and subverted by the countdown clocks. Large wall-mounted displays visible in every room/corridor/shuttle aboard Destiny counting down to the next FTL jump. They're large and obvious enough that they're clearly there for the viewers to see but all the characters are in Ancient. So unless you can read Ancient (or take the time to learn the pretty basic symbols for the numbers 0-9) they're effectively unreadable.

** You also know that when they tell you "No Escape", [[spoiler: having traversed into another Galaxy to chase Destiny,]] they definitely mean it.
* WhamEpisode: SG:U seems to be particularily fond of these. Best example though might be 2x07 "The Greater Good". [[spoiler: We learn Destiny's true mission, the rest of the crew finds the bridge, and Rush and Young appear to have hashed things out... and the ending? Lucian Alliance baddie Simeon has slipped his guard and looks about to [[IncrediblyLamePun kill two birds with one stone.]]]] [[spoiler: He does.]] And then, right after that one, we have [[TearJerker "Malice"...]]

** Because the planets that could power a trans galactic Stargate where created by the Ancients on the other side of the Universe. Add in the fact they cannot use the Suns to power a trans galactic Stargate without destroying the Destiny. Then yeah, the crew literally cannot go home again because there is no way for them to do so. Add in the fact that Destiny is focused on its originally mission that has taken hundreds of thousands of years, its also likely the Ship would simply refuse to go back until it completed its mission. No matter how long it takes.

The - thus far as of 2015 - final installment of the ''Franchise/{{Stargate|Verse}}'' franchise that began in 2009 and ended in 2011.

The show was canceled midway through its second season. [[KickTheDog The cast and crew only learned of the cancellation via Twitter.]] There was some speculation that the reason for the show's failure was a retaliatory campaign conducted by [[FanDumb angry fans]] of ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', due to the removal of the [[TheHeart Heart]] character of that show, Dr. Carson Beckett. SGU had a couple of fairly big name actors (Robert Carlyle, known for his role in the film ''Trainspotting,'' and Ming-Na Wen, a Chinese actress with numerous cinematic credits, who was probably best known for her role as Chun Li in the live action ''Street Fighter'' movie and ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'').

** To be fair they got one of the top experts in ancient technology and another expert of warp drives to try and fix the ship. However unlike [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/StargateAtlantis the other show Rodney couldn't just fix the Ancient Ship in one episode.]] Also while Doctor Perry was able to make improvements she couldn't simply reverse engineer or take control of the engines. The technology was too complex and unknown. Going with the original mandate of the show of [[RealityEnsues realistic problems and no easy solutions.]]

** To be fair they got one of the top experts in ancient technology and warp drives to try and fix the ship. However unlike [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/StargateAtlantis the other show Rodney couldn't just fix the Ancient Ship in one episode.]] The technology was too complex and unknown. Going with the original mandate of the show of [[RealityEnsues the show of realistic problems and no easy solutions.]]

** To be fair they got one of the top experts in ancient technology and warp drives to try and fix the ship. However unlike [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/StargateAtlantis the other show Rodney couldn't just fix the Ancient Ship in one episode.]] The technology was too complex and unknown. Going with the original mandate of the show of [[RealityEnsues the show of realistic problems and no easy solutions.

** Too bad the entire civilisation was later destroyed by an errant black hole passing through their system, forcing them to leave the planet. Where they are most likely going to be eradicated by the Berserker Drones, as already happened to the "[[InSeriesNickname Pittsburgh]]" colony.

* DirectedByCastMember: Creator/RobertCarlyle directed the season 2 episode "Pathogen".
** David Blue directed a number of planet scenes in the first season episode "Time".

* FranchiseKiller: On his February 11th 2011 blog, [[WordOfGod Joseph Mallozzi]] mentioned that ''[=SGU=]'s'' cancellation puts a definite hiatus to plans for further ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' and ''Series/StargateSG1'' films.
** Though they were also cancelled for the same reasons as ''Atlantis'', that the network decided they didn't want to pay the cost of the series with the current recession, and generally didn't inform the producers of the status of the series at any point along the line.
*** The cast were informed of the cancellation by ''fans'' via Twitter, who actually had heard it before they did... which pretty much sums how ScrewedByTheNetwork Universe was.

* FridayNightDeathSlot: Friday is actually Syfy's best night, so moving ''SGU'' to Tuesday was essentially the Syfy equivalent for the trope.

* PromotedFanboy: Eli's actor, David Blue, was a fan of Stargate even before joining ''Universe's'' cast. One of the creators even referred to him as an actor and technical adviser in one package, which is ironic given Eli's status as TheWatson.

* RecycledSet: Icarus base in the series premiere "Air" is a redressed Stargate Command set from ''Stargate SG-1''.

* ShrugOfGod: After the show's cancellation, the showrunners admitted that they did not have time to plan anything for Season 3, which means that there's no official answer to Eli's fate. However,they do point out that the silver lining is that fans can come up with whatever scenario they desire.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: [[http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com/2011/05/12/may-12-2011-stargate-universe-beyond-season-2-what-might-have-been/ This article]] spells out a lot of the possible plot lines they might have gone with in season 3 or in a made-for-TV movie/miniseries. What a shame...

* YouLookFamiliar:
** Bill Y.W. Butt (Balding Asian Guy) played a medic on ''Atlantis''.
** Mike Dopud (Varro) has played three other roles in ''Stargate'': the Russian Colonel in "Full Alert", the bounty hunter Odai Ventrell in ''SG-1'', and the Runner who captured Dr. Keller in ''Series/StargateAtlantis''.
*** It was ok when he only played Odai Ventrell and a Runner in Atlantis (being in different galaxies and all), and the Russian colonel looked different enough. But Odai Ventrell and Varro look identical and are supposed to work for the same organization (the Lucian Alliance). This has resulted in fanfiction that declares that they are actually the same person, that Odai Ventrell was an alias.
** Anna Galvin (Patricia Armstrong) played a hot scientist who was horribly murdered after sleeping with Mitchell in ''SG-1'', then another hot scientist created by an AI to communicate with Woolsey in ''Atlantis''.
** Ona Grauer (Emily Young) played the HumanPopsicle Ancient in "Frozen" and again in "Rising".
** Julia Benson (Lt. Vanessa James), previously appeared as one of Lucius Lavin's wives in the ''Stargate Atlantis'' episode "Irresistible".
** Patrick Gilmore (Dale Volker) has the unfortunate distinction of playing characters who have a habit of dying. He played a Genii soldier who was shot by Sheppard in ''Atlantis'', and an SG medic who died of an aneurysm in ''SG-1''. [[TemptingFate At least he has better luck this time around.]]
*** [[spoiler: That said, Time!Volkner died of the alien parasite. ''[[TimeyWimeyBall Twice]]''. Novus!Volker later died of kidney failure.]]
** Peter Kelamis (Adam Brody) played an Area 51 scientist who stole holographic mimic devices in ''SG-1'', and the HalfHumanHybrid race commentator in "Space Race".