SGU: Stargate Universe – The Complete Final Season DVD review

Stargate Universe was of a much higher quality than other SG television series, and I was puzzled when I heard SyFy was canceling the show after only two seasons. But that’s exactly what they did. However, SGU: Stargate Universe – The Complete Final Season box set is filled with enough features and extra material to keep the show’s memory alive quite well.

The crew of the Destiny begin the season fighting for control of their ship and then attempting to deal with the members of the Lucian Alliance, who have proven to be a dangerous and capable enemy. Other story lines include the discovery of Destiny’s twin, Dr. Rush (Robert Carlyle) gaining access to the Destiny’s bridge, his internment in a virtual prison, and the discovery of secondary versions of the show’s main characters. The character-driven story lines of SGU: Stargate Universe is what sets it apart from the past Stargate shows, creating a richer cast of characters while still maintaining the heavy sci-fi mythology previous efforts are known for. Unfortunately, there’s no closure to the story because of the abrupt cancellation, which will probably leave Stargate Universe fans hoping for a direct-to-dvd movie to truly wrap things up.

Bonus Material

The SGU: Stargate Universe final season 5-DVD set comes loaded with featurettes, but none of them address the series’ premature cancellation. However, all episodes have strong audio commentaries featuring cast and crew feedback about the show’s ending.

A featurette on Disc One contains the cast and crew discussing Robert Carlyle’s direction of the episode “Pathogen” and Andy Mikita’s direction of multiple episodes, including the season premiere “Intervention – Part 3”, “Resurgence – Part 1”, “Awakening”, “Trial and Error”, “The Hunt”, “Blockade”, and the finale “Gauntlet”. Also discussed is Brian J. Smith’s combat training for his first big hand-to-hand fight in the show, the CGI planning and filming of the shuttle crash, the creation and filming of the tight Seed Ship set, and a send-off for Sgt. Riley (Haig Sutherland). Lou Diamond Phillips also ranks his favorite guests, discusses his experience working with green screen.

On Disc Two, James Bamford discusses his stunt as Lt. Scott, Writer Brad Wright talks about shooting the episode “Cloverdale”, a dream-like flashback episode, the cast and crew talk about the cable work in the stunt that emulates Lt. Matthew Scott being sucked into space, and finally Stargate Universe’s cast and crew give fans a tour of their set in the Badlands of New Mexico.

Disc Three has a series of featurettes titled “Deconstructing Destiny” which offer insights into how certain parts of the ship operate. Each segment is 3 to 4 minutes and does a good job as retrospective looks at how the ship unfolds.

Disc Four’s featurettes center on a behind the scenes tour with Jamil Walker Smith, who plays Master Sgt. Ronald Greer, along with an explanation of how they filmed a deep space medical episode, a character analysis of Varro with actor Mike Dopud, a chat with the set design crew about the creation of the Destiny’s bridge, and a comparison of Louis Ferreira’s actual jokester personality and his character – Colonel Everett Young – on the show.

The Fifth and final Disc has a 25 minute interview with Peter Kelamis and Patrick Gilmore fielding questions and discussing the development of an episode, from the writing to the acting. The second featurette is sad, as it was clearly shot without the awareness of the show’s end, with everyone in the cast and crew talking about future seasons.

Series Creators: Robert C. Cooper, Brad Wright
Directors: Andy Mikita, William Waring, Peter DeLuise, Alex Chapple, Robert C. Cooper
Writers: Robert C. Cooper, Brad Wright, Joseph Mallozzi, Paul Mullie, Carl Binder, Martin Gero, Alan McCullough, Remi Aubuchon, Linda McGibney
Cast: Robert Carlyle, Louis Ferreira, Brian J. Smith, Elyse Levesque, David Blue, Alaina Huffman, Jamil Walker Smith, Peter Kelamis, Patrick Gilmore, Julia Benson, Jennifer Spence, Ming-Na, Lou Diamond Phillips, Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman, Haig Sutherland, Mike Dopud, Mark Burgess, Darcy Laurie, Leanne Adachi, Josh Blacker, Julie McNiven, Vincent Gale, Robert Knepper, Ryan Booth, Glynis Davies, Primo Allon, Tygh Runyan, Richard Dean Anderson, Michael Karl Richards, On a Grauer, Louise Lombard, Kathleen Munroe, Michael Shanks, Anna Galvin, Ian Butcher, Andrew Dunbar, Reiko Aylesworth, Alisen Down, Rhona Mitra, Bradley Stryker, Christopher McDonald, Trevor Carroll, Christina Schild, Gordon Grice

Specifications

DVD Release Date: May 31, 2011
Format: AC-3, Box Set, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
Screen Format: Widescreen
Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
Audio: English 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 2.0 Dolby Surround
Subtitles: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese
Total Run Time: 16 hours and 43 minutes

Film

Extras